Both girls are working in Developmental Math. Last year was the first time we'd used this program, and it seems to be working great for them. Marissa had a very hard time with traditional math books that jumped from one concept to the next. She needed more time to master one thing at a time, and this program does that for her. We are also using it for Daniella, and it seems to work well for her right now. I'm just adding in telling time for her. I bought a $3ish little teaching clock from WalMart that also has a dry erase spot to write the time in. We also use large beads from WalMart and craft sticks for manipulatives. We work at their pace.
Daniella
is working on word lists in Alpha Phonics, along with their readers.
It has finally seemed to click a little this week. She could read some
of the individual words, but couldn't put them together. She is having
much more success with that this past week, which totally thrills her.
She also works in a little phonics workbook that came from WalMart or
somewhere. Each week I write a sight word on a tiny sticky note and put
it at her place at the table. She works on it during meals and anytime
she's at the table. She's learned to spell several that way. Marissa
does not have a formal language program right this minute, but I am
going to do some looking at some grammar books this week. Because of
her not being able to hear phonetically, traditional phonics and
spelling programs have never worked for her. She has learned to spell
by reading and writing. Last spring we started a butterfly lapbook that I had intended to finish over the summer. Summer was just too full of other great and busy things this year, so we picked it back up this week. They are loving working on them. It's okay that it isn't spring. We've seen some cool, big butterflies this week. Their lapbooks also incorporate their copywork, which also hits on grammar and spelling.
In about a week or 2, we will pick our history lapbook/notebooking back up. It's from the Time Travelers, and is on the American Revolution. Again, this will incorporate our copywork and much in the way of writing~sentence structure, paragraphs, self-expression, etc., not to mention spelling and handwriting (and cutting, pasting, folding, crafting, reading)
Our read aloud right now is Mik-Shrok. It is the story of missionaries in Alaska before Alaska became a state. Marissa and I are loving it. We have the 2 others in the series to read after this one.
Their dad also reads Nancy Drew to them at bedtime. Marissa is so very into Nancy Drew right now. : ) I was at her age, too. We have quite a few of my old books, and am about to order some more of the "originals". We actually have one ND that belonged to my dad. It's an original original! It has a tweed-like cover. After we finish the Mik-Shrok series, we will probably read a couple of Box Car Children to satisfy Daniella.
Science is very eclectic. Of course, we're doing butterflies right now. We bought them a great microscope this summer, and their dad helps them out on that. He does most of their science with them, and it will mostly consist of experiments, projects, and animal studies. They watch a show on Animal Planet a couple of times each week, and, Daniella especially, is very into learning about animals. We also do a lot of spontaneous conversations and researching~you know, those teachable moments.
For Bible we read from The Child's Story Bible, plus verse memorization through Awanas.
Daniella wants to learn Spanish, so I am posting a new vocabulary word each week for us to work on.
Marissa also works a good bit, unassigned, in Thinking Skills books and logic puzzle books. We incorporate lots of puzzles (word and jigsaw) and games. When a child knows how to think and reason, he has the key to much knowledge and discernment. They may or may not remember all of the facts we've thrown at them, even in fun lapbooks and projects, but learning to think and be wise will equip them for life.
Along those lines, I bought a game that we LOVE. (Except Briana. Briana hates it. LOL!) It is most fun with 3 or 4 people. Two is not very challenging.
That covers most of the bookwork of our homeschooling. Of course, there are other things that get thrown in from time to time, but that is the bulk of it.
Briana has been able to be home this past week for a fall break. We've loved having her here, of course. Since her week was pretty much completely free, she has spent some very sweet, fun time with Marissa and Daniella. Ashley has been able to take a break from her studies here and there, and they have all 4 had some silly sister escapades. She leaves to go back after lunch today, and Ashley is going with her for 5 nights.
Letitia
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