Slowly but Surely.......

We started our school year for 2015-2016 a little late this year.  We normally begin at the beginning of August.....but didn't begin fully until the beginning of September.  We have officially started 9th, 7th, and 4th grades!

Murrayshire is settled in now and our Co-op we joined is turning out to be a huge hit for us all!

I have updated my NC State History Page reflecting our year with our Co-op.  I am teaching this class to six children and it has been a blast so far!  On my page, you will see lots of schedules, printouts, links, suggestions, and pictures!  Hope it helps you in your state study!
I'll continue adding to it throughout the year!

At home, we are all in a World Geography Year.... I will update school year photos and our yearly line ups soon.  I only have Flower's school year noted on the 2015-2016 Page.
I will get to Bambi and Thumpers soon!

Our Review of Fix It Grammar

Bambi just finished up Week 8 of The Nose Tree, Fix It Grammar by IEW.  She absolutely loves it!  Already I can see the editing skills rolling into her writing.  We are using IEW Medieval themed writing this year and with now using Fix it, it just seems complete.  As of now, I don't foresee us going back to Analytical Grammar with Bambi.

Scheduling is so simple.  Checking work is so simple.  Along with the workbook that my child writes in, I also have her keep a 3-ring binder to store the vocabulary words and correctly rewritten sentences that eventually turns into a story.

New Week:  Days 1-4:

• Go over the new material called Learn it.

• Cut out any grammar cards.  Read over any you already have for review.

• Student reads the sentence, looks up vocabulary word, writes the best choice                               definition on how the word is used in the sentence, add it to the vocabulary                                 list in the back of 3 ring binder.

• Re-read the sentence, fix and mark the passage. Complete the rewrite after Mom checks for errors.

• Done!

I usually do Day 1 along with Bambi.  After Day 1, she completes it on her own and I check once she is completed.  Working so far and no complaining!
                                     
Flower is almost completed with the Shakespeare themed Analytical Grammar high school practice book.  I may have her take a short break after she completes that and give her the placement for Fix it to see where she falls.  I'm assuming she may place in book 2 of Fix it.

Borax Ornaments & Such....

I've been updating Thumper's Science Page, ES Grammar Bio, and it got me thinking that I never posted our ornaments that we made this year for our Christmas Tree. ( We got the idea from the Logic Stage Chemistry book).

I didn't post ANY pictures of us doing festive activities.  I guess it's not too late!  We volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House this past December and baked cookies for the guests staying there.  We baked & created A LOT at home....cookies, homemade marshmallows, rum cake, gingerbread houses, etc!  We usually always make a Christmas ornament for our tree.  This year we stole the idea from the lab in Elemental Science's Chemistry that Flower did for an assignment.  We started making all sorts of Christmas figures out of pipe cleaners, made the Borax solution, waited 24 hrs, and we had beautiful crystal-like ornaments!

Analytical Grammar to IEW's Fix It Grammar!!

So.... Flower used and is still using Analytical Grammar with much success!  Bambi used Jr. AG last year for 5th grade and did absolutely fine.  We just started using AG at the beginning of January with her and she is just not meshing well with it.  I don't want her to struggle with grammar because it isn't her cup of tea anyway!  So.......
Our plan as of now is to abandon AG Season 1 for now...... pick up IEW's Fix It Grammar for the rest of the year, The Nose Tree book 1.  We'll see how it goes and I'll keep you posted.  We can always jump into AG next school year if things don't work out with Fix It Grammar!

5 Months of Neglect!!

So I haven't posted in 5 months!  I have said before that I'm not an avid poster.  It is just hard for me to find the time.  But I'll get on it soon!  We have been working on Elemental Science experiments and will update the pages for that.  We are all getting ready to start Human Body together in February for 10 weeks.  I have enjoyed the easy going-ness of science this year!