Living and Learning: October 2013

We did not do table-time this week because we had places to go and things to see. October is National Field Trip Month and you could really tell at our house. We just completed the busiest week and a half ever. While it was a lot of fun, I am now wiped out!!!!!!!!!!!

Hannah still had math and spelling assignments each day but she managed to get it all done.

These pictures were taken at a local park.

Pictures from our Art Co-op. The girls made fairies and they are adorable. What a fun art project.

Our Field Trip to Buttonwood Farms

The Corn Maze

Hay Bale Mountain

The hay ride through the farm (Avery doesn't look happy, but she was)

Southwick Zoo Boo Days

Homeschool Healthy Halloween Party

Hannah was an angel

Avery was Rapunzel

Stonington Gardens

Make your own scare crow and hay ride

Kids in the Pumpkin Patch

Life size checkers

Misc Autumn Pictures

The last two weeks have been filled with activity. We've been getting outside as much as possible. The weather has been sunny and cool. We've been playground hopping and playing in our yard a lot. It's only a matter of time before it is to cold to stay outdoors for any length of time. We've also been baking a lot. We made pumpkin muffins and home-made biscuits and breads. The delicious aroma adds to the feel of Autumn.

Table Time is also keeping us busy. It definitely adds order to our day. We've developed a routine. We start each morning out with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Alphabet song, followed by Avery's Daily Quizzer (questions about letters, sounds, words, vowels), Hannah and Avery take turns doing the date and weather chart and then we have reading. Hannah reads a book of her choice to us and then I read a book. (Usually pertaining to a topic we are learning about or a holiday or season) After reading our schedule varies. Sometimes Hannah and I do table time alone while Avery watches a video or uses the computer, or Avery and I have one on one time while Hannah works with her typing program, and sometimes I start off with a subject that we all do together.

These are the highlights of our last 2 weeks:

We made a Halloween countdown.
We made Autumn Wreaths

Hannah started her Spanish program but unfortunately we didn't like it. It is a good program but it wasn't child friendly. It seemed to be made for older children or even adults. We've decided to keep learning Spanish words and phrases without a program. Maybe we will attempt the Spanish Program again when she is older.

Hannah also started a Spelling curriculum. We have never done spelling before but it is an area that Hannah really needs to work on. She is doing very well with the program though. I've already seen progress.

Hannah has also started reading Sarah Plain and Tall. It's an awesome book but we aren't just reading this one for fun, we are working on reading comprehension and learning more about history at the same time.

Avery has been working with word families and printing her letters and numbers. She is also doing basic addition and subtraction.

We also started our state study for geography. We are learning about Arizona.

Hannah does 3 pages of Math each day on her own and then we review it the next day. She has started to do place value up to the thousands. For our math project, we did M&M Math. It was a tasty way to practice with estimation, sorting, creating charts, multiplication, addition and subtraction.

We learned about the scientific method and did a science experiment. "What freezes first, Fresh Water of Salt Water?" It was an interesting project and it is still in the works. 3 days later, we are still waiting for the Salt Water to freeze. Hannah doesn't want to give up on it.

Our other experiment is still in the refrigerator. (The Apple seed experiment that we did during the first week of table time.) We are waiting to see if they will sprout. They are due to come out of the refrigerator on Halloween. If they sprout, we will be able to plant them.

*FYI: One interesting way to tell if a family homeschools. Open up their refrigerator or freezer. If they have science experiments inside, the family probably homeschools.