Thursday, May 31, 2012
Figuring things out...
This little o' blog has been hanging out here on auto pilot. It's been crazy busy here, and I've been thinking for a LONG time of how to intertwine that other part of my life {photography} with this part of my life. As it hit me today, there are no parts to my life...it's all me working together for what I pray is God's glory. I am a wife, mother, homeschooler, menu planning, coupon clippin', thrift shopper, spray painter, home decorator, photographer, and many, many, many other things that are all a part of my everyday life. With that all said, I will share about all of that, and more right here at the JoysofHomeschool:)
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Spring Changes
Happy Spring! We are chugging along over here, and well on our way to wrapping up this school year. It has gone by extremely fast, and it's getting closer to our summer break:) YAY! The kids have been working hard this year, and they've all made tremendous progress of their own. We are thankful!
ProGamer has developed his study skills, challenged himself more, and preparing for high school. Gulp.
Raven amazes me with how much she absorbs, her piano playing is sweet, and her writing is impressive.
Starfire is reading with ease, blasting her sight words, and spelling "big" words. :) Did I mention, Reading!!! Thank you God!! Consistency was the key.
As for me...remember I mentioned the possibility of starting a photography business a few months back? Well that photography business is now in full swing. I've teased about not knowing what I would be when I grew up (as in completing our homeschool journey), and I didn't think I would know until my youngest was in high school. I'm so thankful to be able to do something that I enjoy right now as we are all growing up together. I wanted to share this adventure with you after everything was all pretty and nice at the site:)
If you'd like to subscribe, or stop by from time to time to say hello, you can find me at
D's Family Photography.
So, here's what we've been up to.
ProGamer has developed his study skills, challenged himself more, and preparing for high school. Gulp.
Raven amazes me with how much she absorbs, her piano playing is sweet, and her writing is impressive.
Starfire is reading with ease, blasting her sight words, and spelling "big" words. :) Did I mention, Reading!!! Thank you God!! Consistency was the key.
As for me...remember I mentioned the possibility of starting a photography business a few months back? Well that photography business is now in full swing. I've teased about not knowing what I would be when I grew up (as in completing our homeschool journey), and I didn't think I would know until my youngest was in high school. I'm so thankful to be able to do something that I enjoy right now as we are all growing up together. I wanted to share this adventure with you after everything was all pretty and nice at the site:)
If you'd like to subscribe, or stop by from time to time to say hello, you can find me at
D's Family Photography.
So, here's what we've been up to.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Valentine's Day Recap
Our Valentine's Day celebration began on Monday with a party with a group of local homeschoolers in our area. Starfire was excited to be able to prepare her own valentine cards this year. So after our card preparation, candy storm, and assembly line of attaching candies, we headed out to the party. We enjoyed an afternoon of games, sweet treats, and an exchange of cards.
My husband knows how to get me all worked up when he's giving gifts. A box arrived on Monday, and I was clueless as to what it might be. He gave me a hint that it was "camera" related. Well, it was definitely camera related!! At first, I thought it was a lens, but as I looked closer to the box and examined my gift-it was a coffee cup!! LOL!! He got me, again!! Hilarious:) I don't think that I can drink out of though because it just seems weird. I think it'll be a great conversation starter once I find a home for it in the kitchen.
Hope that you had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with extra love:)
My husband knows how to get me all worked up when he's giving gifts. A box arrived on Monday, and I was clueless as to what it might be. He gave me a hint that it was "camera" related. Well, it was definitely camera related!! At first, I thought it was a lens, but as I looked closer to the box and examined my gift-it was a coffee cup!! LOL!! He got me, again!! Hilarious:) I don't think that I can drink out of though because it just seems weird. I think it'll be a great conversation starter once I find a home for it in the kitchen.
Hope that you had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with extra love:)
Friday, January 20, 2012
Reading and Phonics, Phonics and Reading
*LONG post with LOTS of pictures*
I have been spending a good chunk of our school time with my 6-year old for reading. I don't know what it is about math and reading, but they both can cause me to shake in my boots. On my list of what's important, they are at the top of the list. Reading would be number one. How many times have I read about each child learning differently, learning at their own pace, and all of sudden ahead of their "grade level"? Yes, over and over again have I heard these words, and I my husband reminds me of this often!
Many of the things that I'll talk about, and show you below, are things that we've been doing since we started school in August. However, everything that we use is more focused and incorporated each day.
We begin our phonics/reading with sight word review. There are few ways that we spend this time. I decided on Wednesday to begin this time reviewing new sight words that we are learning for the current week, and a quick review of the words that Starfire already knows.
Each week she has three sight word mini-books to complete. I pin those onto our school board, and take them down each day to review. I use the book below for mini-books. The book is divided into levels, 1-4.
After we review, then it's time to play a game. She loves games! We play POP every day. It doesn't grow old. Let me knock on wood. We empty all of the cards onto the school table, I remove the cards that she hasn't learned, and we include the POP cards as bonus points. Each card has a sight word. We play three rounds, 2-minutes each, and we write her scores on our new-to-us easel. Each round she tries to beat her score. I encourage, we celebrate, she's reviewing, it's fun. Her highest score is 55, minus 5 bonus points.
Other sight word activities, use old magazines, and have a sight word hunt. Have child cut out words that they are learning. I would limit it to two words at a time. Write a sight word on a piece of paper (space the letters), cut the word into squares, and have the child unscramble the words and glue them to a piece of paper. You may want to write that sight word multiple times, put the squares in a ziploc bag, and then proceed with them putting the letters together to make the sight word.
I also downloaded, printed, and laminated word-build-write. Not a favorite for Starfire, but we've used it.
We move on to vowels review. I make this a game too. I have misplaced her mini-office, boo, so we use the easel. I'll write two rows of vowels, with a short or long sound, and she says the sound as quickly as possible. We also have a file folder game or to that can be added.
We also review blends most days.
Next up, it's word family games/review. There all kinds of games for word family review. We use our homemade windows game, file folder games, I've drawn ice cream cones with a certain amount of scoops on top. Each cone represents a family, and she has to add words to the scoop that belong to that family.
Flip charts to practice word families.
I also purchased the scholastic book below. Instead of making small mini-books, she glued each page onto a larger page that's hole punched, and kept inside of a larger 3-ring notebook. There aren't enough stories to use this every day, so we may only do one a week, or every other week to spread them out.
Hot dots are here to stay. You can purchase or make hot dots for just about any subject!
For phonics, I ordered Abeka Letters and Sounds 1st grade to use this year, but we slowed down. I wanted to make sure that we weren't rushing through phonics rules, and that she was able to apply those rules. We also finished up Abeka K Phonics during the first half of our school year.
During phonics time, we first review sounds that we have learned. We use these cards for review, and we'll use our mini-office again as soon as we find it. We only go through roughly 10, give or take. I also review sounds that have been introduced via our phonics worksheets. Once again, I've been using our easel.
If we are learning a new sound, I teach that sound, and then she completes her worksheet.
Reading includes more phonics, oral reading, comprehension questions, and a worksheet activity. We use Bob Jones Reading 1. I love Bob Jones for reading!! The curriculum includes the teacher's manual, and books A-F. There are activities that we complete before reading the story, such as going over new words. We read one-two new stories each week.
So that's what we are doing for our Phonics/Reading time. I hope that this will help someone who needs other methods to teach reading to their little engine that could. I'm simply using what I have, can make, ideas from others, and what appeals to my 6-year old's learning style.
If you have any questions, leave me a comment below. I will try to come back and add some links to a few things mentioned in the post.
I have been spending a good chunk of our school time with my 6-year old for reading. I don't know what it is about math and reading, but they both can cause me to shake in my boots. On my list of what's important, they are at the top of the list. Reading would be number one. How many times have I read about each child learning differently, learning at their own pace, and all of sudden ahead of their "grade level"? Yes, over and over again have I heard these words, and
Many of the things that I'll talk about, and show you below, are things that we've been doing since we started school in August. However, everything that we use is more focused and incorporated each day.
We begin our phonics/reading with sight word review. There are few ways that we spend this time. I decided on Wednesday to begin this time reviewing new sight words that we are learning for the current week, and a quick review of the words that Starfire already knows.
Each week she has three sight word mini-books to complete. I pin those onto our school board, and take them down each day to review. I use the book below for mini-books. The book is divided into levels, 1-4.
After we review, then it's time to play a game. She loves games! We play POP every day. It doesn't grow old. Let me knock on wood. We empty all of the cards onto the school table, I remove the cards that she hasn't learned, and we include the POP cards as bonus points. Each card has a sight word. We play three rounds, 2-minutes each, and we write her scores on our new-to-us easel. Each round she tries to beat her score. I encourage, we celebrate, she's reviewing, it's fun. Her highest score is 55, minus 5 bonus points.
Other sight word activities, use old magazines, and have a sight word hunt. Have child cut out words that they are learning. I would limit it to two words at a time. Write a sight word on a piece of paper (space the letters), cut the word into squares, and have the child unscramble the words and glue them to a piece of paper. You may want to write that sight word multiple times, put the squares in a ziploc bag, and then proceed with them putting the letters together to make the sight word.
I also downloaded, printed, and laminated word-build-write. Not a favorite for Starfire, but we've used it.
We move on to vowels review. I make this a game too. I have misplaced her mini-office, boo, so we use the easel. I'll write two rows of vowels, with a short or long sound, and she says the sound as quickly as possible. We also have a file folder game or to that can be added.
We also review blends most days.
Next up, it's word family games/review. There all kinds of games for word family review. We use our homemade windows game, file folder games, I've drawn ice cream cones with a certain amount of scoops on top. Each cone represents a family, and she has to add words to the scoop that belong to that family.
 |
| from confessionsofahomeschooler.com |
 |
| from Jo-Ann fabric store! I think it was $2. |
I also purchased the scholastic book below. Instead of making small mini-books, she glued each page onto a larger page that's hole punched, and kept inside of a larger 3-ring notebook. There aren't enough stories to use this every day, so we may only do one a week, or every other week to spread them out.
Hot dots are here to stay. You can purchase or make hot dots for just about any subject!
For phonics, I ordered Abeka Letters and Sounds 1st grade to use this year, but we slowed down. I wanted to make sure that we weren't rushing through phonics rules, and that she was able to apply those rules. We also finished up Abeka K Phonics during the first half of our school year.
During phonics time, we first review sounds that we have learned. We use these cards for review, and we'll use our mini-office again as soon as we find it. We only go through roughly 10, give or take. I also review sounds that have been introduced via our phonics worksheets. Once again, I've been using our easel.
If we are learning a new sound, I teach that sound, and then she completes her worksheet.
 |
| these cards can be downloaded for free, click on the free printables tab in the sidebar to the right. |
Reading includes more phonics, oral reading, comprehension questions, and a worksheet activity. We use Bob Jones Reading 1. I love Bob Jones for reading!! The curriculum includes the teacher's manual, and books A-F. There are activities that we complete before reading the story, such as going over new words. We read one-two new stories each week.
So that's what we are doing for our Phonics/Reading time. I hope that this will help someone who needs other methods to teach reading to their little engine that could. I'm simply using what I have, can make, ideas from others, and what appeals to my 6-year old's learning style.
If you have any questions, leave me a comment below. I will try to come back and add some links to a few things mentioned in the post.
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