Homeschool homework

Even with homeschooling there are evenings that we are still plugging away at homework needed for the following day. Sometimes not all work gets finished during the classroom time, so the evening studying and completing is needed so that we don't fall behind. It's important to have a good schedule and curriculum, so the homeschool classroom stays on task and also teaches good skills in staying productive.

Our Homemade Homeschool Easel

We are loving our new homeschool easel and the best part, it costs us under $50 to make. We couldn't find a decent easel online, or in stores, so we made our own. 

Jeff used pine boards for the entire thing and created the easel from a rough draft of mine. It is perfect for holding our dry erase board, our chalk board, and our posters/flip books for subjects. It also works out great for other things, as well, like painting, art, crafts, etc.

Here's how we made it:

2-63 inch boards (we used 2x4s) •THESE ARE THE SIDE LEGS

1-58 inch board •BACK LEG THAT HOLDS THE EASEL UP

1-26 inch board •ACROSS THE BOTTOM BEHIND THE LEGS TO HOLD THE SIDE LEGS TOGETHER

1-33 inch board •ACROSS THE FRONT SO YOU CAN ACTUALLY USE THE EASEL FOR PLACING THINGS ON THE EASEL FRONT

1-7 inch board •ACROSS THE TOP OF THE LEGS ON THE BACK SIDE TO HOLD THE EASEL TOGETHER AT THE TOP

1 large gate hinge

2-medium L-shaped brackets

We got out boards at Lowe's and they will cut your board to length. A lot of boards come a lot longer than you will need here, but you can get all of these cut from three boards. We used pine, but you can literally customize this and use any type of board you want.

Insect Observation ('Greenbottle' Fly)

Along with the observation of the honey bee, we were able to observe a Lucilia 'Greenbottle' fly this week. It flew into our house and was trapped along the windowsill. We normally capture flying insects and spiders in our house and place them back outside, but with this Greenbottle fly we kept it for a few extra moments to be able to observe it's structure and study it. Skylar noted it's wing structure, compound eyes, legs, as well as the thorax and abdomen. It was a good lesson in how flies are able to land and take off quickly and use their eyes to examine their surroundings. These flies are not the greatest flies to have flying around your home, or yard. They mostly, if not entirely, depend on decaying matter, or fecal matter. They are above all the most disgusting of the flies species, but even so, it's nice to be able to study them and learn about their life. Its body is 10–14 mm in length – slightly larger than a house fly – and has brilliant, metallic, blue-green or golden coloration with black markings. These flies live less than a month.

Download this sheet here, or right click and save the image above.

Download this sheet here, or right click and save the image above.

Download this sheet here, or right click and save the image above.

Download this sheet here, or right click and save the image above.

Board Lessons this Week

 

Board Lessons this Week

 

End of the School Year Fireworks

With the pandemic, our normal yearly state test that would have been in June, took place in November. Since we have to wait a few weeks to get results, which came at the end of December, we decided to hang onto a firework we picked up before New Years. This one was perfectly named "School's Out" and it was a perfect ending to a stressful and struggled year for us all. So, with the close of another homeschool year, we shot this sucker off with delight!

A classroom overhaul

We decided to completely overhaul the Red Snail Classroom.  It was not working for us and the clutter factor was getting way out of hand.  I've been on a mission to live more minimal over at South North South, so it didn't make any sense to not include our classroom in that mission.

Here is our classroom before.

 

 

 

Of course, if you notice, we have moved completely from the room in the back of the house to an actual spare bedroom in the front of the house.  We are still limited on space here, but it's a lot more room than we had before.

Classroom Update (December 30-January 10)

First of all, Happy New Year!  Hope your 2014 came in with happiness and lots and lots of love!

Here is two week update in the Red Snail Classroom.

Monday (December 30): (Math and Probability & Data)

Math: We covered a few passed lessons that Skylar was having some issues grasping.  One of the major ones was rounding numbers when the place value is different than the number value.  For example:

23,985 rounded to the nearest one thousand.  Grab the worksheet HERE!

We also covered a few lessons on decimal points and where the fall in certain numbers.  This was a minor lesson that will be taught further next week.  Here is a quick worksheet of what we did.

Grab this worksheet HERE!

We also fit in a few multiplication problems just for fun.

Probability & Data:

For Probability and Data we did a cool probability game using a deck of cards.  I really enjoy how Education.com goes into detail with helping educate on certain aspects of teaching.  You can learn how to play this game HERE.

We also did a bit of board work with a bar graph.

Who doesn't love ice cream?  :)

Tuesday (December 31):  (Social Studies, Science, and History)

Social Studies:  We learned more about Antarctica and the Emperor Penguin.  We have been making books for each continent and working with a certain animal that lives on that continent.  It's a great way to learn facts about that area and also help with researching information.

Loads of information on emperor penguins right at our fingertips on the internet.

Science:  We are covering the solar system again.  There is so much to learn from the solar system and it can be so much fun to learn while having a blast (pun intended) while doing it.  We also touched a little on minerals and rocks too.  And took a dive into how fire is made as well.

You can snag this entire workbook HERE!

History:  We are covering a bit of information on the presidents and started with Richard Nixon.  (More on this later)

Wednesday (January 1):  (Spelling, Vocabulary, Reading, and Writing)

Spelling:  For Spelling we covered new spelling words.  Of course, I have decided to move Spelling word review to Mondays, so that enough time is given for Skylar to learn them before the test on Fridays.  Our spelling words this week were:

1. body
2. music
3. color
4. stand
5. sun
6. questions
7. fish
8. area
9. mark
10. dog
11. bargain
12. certain
13. orphan
14. fountain
15. oxen
16. latitude
17. longitude
18. compass
19. absolute
20. equator
21. compensation
22. address
23. afford
24. bully
25. curtain

Vocabulary:  We reviewed our vocabulary words for the week.  Our words this week were:

1. absolute-To the point, to truth.
2. address-Postal code or house number, or to address someone directly.
3. afford-Not enough money, or time to do something.

Reading:  We are still reading "The Reptile Room" from book the two of "A Series of Unfortunate Events."

Writing:  Today we took the time to use New Year's as a good writing prompt for a story.  But instead of a story, we wrote down our New Year's resolutions we would like to see happen in the Red Snail Classroom before the end of spring break.  You can grab this worksheet HERE!

Thursday (January 2):  (Test Review, P.E., Art, Music, and Cooking)

Test Review:  We spent most of the morning reviewing for the Friday test on everything we have learned for the week.

P.E.:  For P.E., since it's been raining here lately, we decided to finish the classroom rearranging.  We decided the classroom needed to be a bigger space than it was, so the entire back dining room is now our classroom.  I love how it all came together and looks lovely.  Still a bit more to go through and get organized, but it definitely looks like a classroom now.

Art: We felt a Red Snail banner would look lovely in the classroom, so we started slowly painting a small one to hang above the board.  More on this next week when we put it all together after the paint drys.

Friday (January 3):  (End of Week Test)

Friday Test: On Friday we had a test on all that was learned from the week.  Skylar did great on most everything, but a few trouble areas will carry over until next week.

Cooking: For Cooking, which is going quite well, I decided to do a basic chocolate cookies.  We decided to spice them up a bit by adding some peppermint chips to the recipe.

YUM!

Music:  We are still working on the best way to work this into our day.  We talked a bit about certain music aspects, but stay tuned to see how this all comes together eventually.

Week Two:

Monday (January 6):  (Math and Probability & Data):

Math:  We practiced a bit more on rounding.  I think we are getting the concept of how to round large numbers to random place values.  I think we will stay on this again next week.

Notice the date on the board?  2013.....took me a few days to write 2014.  The years are flying by so fast!

We also took a minute to hang some quick money coins to the classroom walls.  Skylar is still learning a little on how to count back money, so these will be good reference for him to glance at from time to time.

Probability & Data:  We played the card game again, but this time there was another player.  It made it a lot more fun and the probability of certain cards was either spot on, or totally off.

Tuesday (January 7):  (Social Studies, Science, and History):

Social Studies:  We worked more with the emperor penguin and the continent of Antarctica.  We identified parts of the emperor penguin and will finish the rest of our animal books next Tuesday.  (pictures on that to come in the next two weeks update.)

Science: For Science this week, we incorporated Science and Art together and created a solar system mobile and a large poster of the planets.

History:  Still working on Richard Nixon.  So we just did a few facts about him and a color sheet.  Skylar thinks it's interesting how he was asked to resign.  (More on this later)  Grab this color sheet HERE!

Wednesday (January 8):  (Spelling, Vocabulary, Reading, and Writing):

Spelling:  We worked more on the week's spelling words.  Today I had him write the words down on his own notebook paper that he cut into flash cards.  This really helps with relating the word to how they sound.

Vocabulary:  We talked more about the vocabulary words from last week.  I think it works best for us when the vocabulary words are part of the spelling list as well.  Next week I will make them part of the spelling word list too.

Reading:  We read another chapter in "The Reptile Room" of Book the two in "A Series of Unfortunate Events."  You can grab your own copy HERE!

Writing:  Writing prompts are always fun!  We had a bit of a fun time coming up with random prompts to writing a story.  Skylar has such a great imagination too, so it really helped him focus on what he should write about.

Thursday (January 9):  (Test Review, P.E., Cooking, Art, and Music):

Test Review:  We reviewed the week's learning and went over a few back lessons.  This one was with math and reviewed even and odd numbers and how to go from largest to smallest.  You can grab the worksheets for this lesson HERE and HERE!

Notice the date again.....wrong year once more.  I will eventually get to where 2014 is first in my mind over 2013.  ha!

P.E.:  For P.E. this week, we worked on organization of Skylar's room.  It really came together for us and worked out great for an indoor activity because of the rain.

Cooking:  For cooking this week we did a quick worksheet on Herbed Popcorn. You can snag this worksheet HERE!

Art:  We finished our Red Snail Banner and stung it on some baker's twine.  We decided to hang it over the board so we can look at it everyday.  I love how it looks!

Music:  We studied a bit about the guitar and will continue to make this a better lesson over time.  This is something I am looking into for next week.


Friday  (January 10) End of Week Test!

Look for more updates in two weeks.