Just for Fun, Finn!

Finny is a trooper and is always around as we journey through learning. He watches preschool cartoons, colors, builds with math blocks, stacks geometric shapes, build roads or train tracks, has coffee store dates with mom, etc...

 

Finn has learned to ride a bike this season, painted a birdhouse too, and is often seen dusting or sweeping, sorta, alongside his homeschooling siblings. He is learning too! And, his birdhouse turned out amazing- he even painted the inside!

 



 

 

A Day in the Life of Keiran

We have discovered that Keiran is a tactile learner, and this differs from his older brother and sister. We have had to veer off course from our previous books and dive into some new programs for him and it seems to be working well. This boy excels at science and math, and can figure out how any single thing works mechanically. He is the one who retains information well too. Here are some samples of the resources he is currently working through....

 

 

Morning Work:

 

 

Language Arts

 

 Keiran switched to a program called Reading Eggs and it is his cup of tea. He was having a lot of anxiety when doing daily readings and so this has replaced that for now. He has excelled in this program and worked himself through lesson 90. It is hard to take pictures as when he answers they pop off the screen, but hopefully this is a show of the words he is working with and the ability he has now. He has also been journaling and working through Explode the Code 4. He is building words and recognizing syllables. 

 

 

Math

 

Keiran is working though Math-U-See Alpha. He is excellent at math. He too watches his instructional video on Mondays and works through his workbook the rest of the week, often using the color coded math blocks.

 

 

 

 

Social Studies

 

Keiran is learning about Canada's provinces alongside his brother and sister. Mom reads about each province, the geography of the land, the industries, and the symbols. Keiran takes part in coloring each symbol and learning about the meaning of them too. He fills in his information as copywork.

 

 

 

 

 

Science

 

Keiran has finished off a year long study, experiments and observations included, on plants. He recently learned about moss, algae, and fungi; the last unit about unusual plants. His final experiment was growing mold on bread/a bagel. He made a hypothesis, spread some spit and germs on certain bagels (gross I know), and then left them for a week in specific places to see what would occur. Here is the evidence of what happened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afternoons:

 

 

Career Education

 

Keiran has been learning about daily life, such as preparing a meal and doing chores. He, along with his brother and sister, work on a chore list everyday (except Sunday) and take initiative to pick and complete a chore of their choosing and ability. These chores have been previously taught and the list is made depending on what mom needs accomplished, such as vacuuming upstairs or downstairs, laundry folding, emptying and filling the dishwasher, sweeping the kitchen, window washing, garbage (which includes emptying the garbage, recycling, and compost), bathroom garbage, cleaning the bathroom counter and mirror, or washing the kitchen chairs. There are many chores to pick from during the week but the usual ones are dishes, laundry, garbages.  

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Arts Education

 

Keiran made a panda planter out of clay at 4Cats Art Studio this term. He also painted a bird house for the front tree. I love how each child in the family painted one and they turned out so differently to match with their personalities.

 

 

 

Physical and Health Education

 

Keiran blew us away at the last part of his swim lessons. He was a little unsure to begin with and I think has very perfectionist tendencies, and then one class he dove under and kept going! It was a breakthrough and his fear left. I am sure it had something to do with praying about this on the way to swim lessons. Keiran also participated in Soccer Quest soccer, and TCC gymnastics this year.

At home he is biking, skateboarding, and jumping rope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Day in the Life of Gemma

My sweet girl has grown so much this year academically, as well as other areas, and is such a well rounded learner. Here are some samples that make up our weeks....

 

Our Morning Subjects:

 

Language Arts

 

Gemma is daily reading for our school time and multiple other times of day. She has been reading "The Imagination Station; Trouble on the Orphan Train" in the morning, and "James and the Giant Peach" at bedtime. She is also reading through the Owl and Chickadee magazines that she receives in the mail. Here is one of her recent grammar and spelling tests. She has grown leaps and bounds this year in her spelling capability. 

 

 

Math

Gemma has been working through Math-U-See Beta. She watches the instruction video on Mondays and then works through her workbook the rest of the week, usually doing two sections at a time. We move on when we have a grasp on the current concept- usually weekly. Gem had some trouble with remembering which number goes up top when one is carrying/regrouping but is doing very well otherwise. She likes math.

 

Our rotating afternoon subjects:

 

Social Studies

 

Gemma is learning so much about Canada, it's symbols and their meanings, the geography of each province, as well as industries province by province. She listens as mom reads about each province and then digs in her symbols book or on the internet to find what each symbols means, and then fills in her worksheet. We have only made it to New Brunswick but will plan on carrying on to learn in full the rest of the provinces during this next while. These  Dona Ward resources and text, "Geography Province to Province" are so rich in visuals, stories, and information!

 

 

 

Science

 

Gemma has been learning about plants, alongside her brothers. We had so much fun with this this year as we opened up plants (like our aloe), dug for roots, dissected flowers, and experimented with chlorophyll, and with plants and flowers from around our home to boot! This last while we finished off our "God's Design for Life; The World of Plants" text, learning about algae, mosses, and mold. Did you know that algae produce more than half of the oxygen in all of the world!!

Below is some of our reading, as well as a moldy experiment. Gemma and her brothers had a hypothesis about these bagels:

-sealed in fridge--> would go longer without mold

-touched and in the bathroom--> bad mold

-touched in the cupboard--> gross mold fast

-untouched in the cupboard--> don't think it will mold, maybe eventually

The results are interesting....

 

 

 

 

 

Other subjects carried out through the week and in the afternoons:

 

Career Education

 

Gemma is our expert laundry folder. She can fold three-four laundry baskets worth no problem now. She is such a blessing in that she does this cheerfully. Everyday she picks and writes her name on the chore list next to one-two larger chores such as this (little ones such as clear you plate from the table, etc are just routine), and completes and then checks off her box.

 

 

 

Arts Education

Recently Gemma created a clay panda planter at 4Cats art studio. We have not picked in up from being fired in the kiln yet. She also painted this bird house for our front tree. The neighbors have shared that they and their guests are loving these decorations.

 

 

 

Physical and Health Education

Gemma has participated in soccer, gymnastics, and swim lessons this year for extra-curricular classes. At home she never passes up the chance to play soccer, throw around a baseball, scooter, skateboard, practice jumping rope, hike, or bike. She has been going on special hiking dates with her date throughout the Lac Du Bois grasslands. Here is the swim badge she earned this term.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



A Day in the Life of Aiden

I wanted to share some samples of the kid's work a little differently for term 3. Here is what Aiden has been up to....

Language Arts

 

Aiden has been practicing writing stories in different genres this past while. Here are some of his free writing samples. The first three pages are a Science Fiction chapter book (he has not finished this story- he is stuck on the ending). Usually after Aiden finishes reading his chapter book and journaling first thing in the morning, he will work on one of these stories. He often starts with a story form (the story web is his favorite) and sometimes he just gets a great idea and puts it down on paper right away. He is very messy what his brain is inspired, but I love his illustrations and the visual aspects he adds to his writing. It shows his personality it a big way!



 

 

 

 This was a true story about what happened when Aiden was sleepwalking.

 

 

Math

After a quick break, Aiden gets into his math- Mondays we do video instruction and then work on the workbook pages after that. Aiden is working on Math-U-See Delta now, which is a division mastery program. He is finding it easy again, after struggling a bit through the many steps of multiple digit multiplication. I love that when the kids do the flip side it is so easy for them because their facts have stuck. We never learned how to skip count all the numbers! It is amazing.

 

 

 

Social Studies

Our afternoon is usually filled with Social Studies or Science (rotating). Aiden has been learning about the symbols, geography, and industry of each province of Canada, alongside his brother and sister.

 

 

Science

Aiden has been learning a lot about plants in our family study, God's Design for Life; the World of Plants. We usually read the beginner and/or intermediate lesson. Sometimes there are worksheets to go alongside, but often we are just observing plants in our home and yard as we learn about each part and function. For the last assignment we did an experiment about mold. The result were surprising!

 

 

 

Our other activities/courses are woven throughout our afternoons.....

 

 

Career Education

Aiden has become an expert at chores this year. Mom writes out a list each day and the kids fill in their names with the ones they want to accomplish, and then check off the boxes when they are done. Aiden is vacuuming the upstairs and stairwell.

 

 

Arts Education

Aiden has recently made a clay panda planter at 4Cats Art Studio. He also painted a bird house for our front tree.

 

 

Physical and Health Education

Aiden has taken soccer, gymnastics, and swimming this year as extra-curricular classes. He moved up a level in swim lessons. He also has been on his BMX and skateboard often. He likes to play ball, swim at the lake, climb at the park, and jump on his friend's trampoline to get in his daily exercise.