At the fencepost: 2012-2013 School Year Week 1

Rising Star Academy is back in session!

We started back to school this week. We had a very light summer schedule and then took a two week break at the beginning of August.

So we are back at it and trying to get into the swing of things! It always takes some time to get into routine and get the schedule down pat. I certainly didn't achieve that this week, but we are well on our way I do believe!

Day one went well...I had wondered how it would go because not only was it the first day, but we had plans to take the boys to see Monday Night Raw in Dallas. Of course they were unaware of these plans. I had to do a little finagling to get school done and get us together and out the door for a little shopping and errands! LOL We got it done, but it was tight!

This week we have worked on lots of stuff!

Bible: Mission story #1 and activity from Lad Magazine; continued working on two activities from Stick figuring through the bible and began memorizing Ephesians 4:9-10.

Math: Bug worked through lessons 7-11 of Teaching Textbooks 3 as well as Quiz 1. He worked on Sums of 10, doubles, little more than double and lines and line segments. He also worked on the three's multiplication facts and took a couple of 100 problem addition tests - he took 15 seconds off his time! Yeah Bug!

Math: Red worked on his calendar book; counting by 2's, writing numbers, addition and subtraction, inside and outside, +0 addition facts, and angles and sides of shapes. We also went over counting pennies, the season of fall, dividing solids into 1/2 and sorting by attributes. Later in the week we went over sets, pictographs, ordinal numbers and writing number sentences.

On Thursday both boys made a graph using data they collected while we delivered Meals On Wheels. Bug's question was Who answers the door - a boy or a girl. Red's question was - are they wearing glasses.

Spelling - Bug worked on Unit 15 and score a 100 on his final test!

Reading - Bug started the level 3 pathway readers and completed story one and the corresponding workbook pages.

Reading - I didn't get to Red's first lesson in the level one pathway reader this week, we just ran out of time. But we did do an activity out of a reading workbook.

Computer - Red worked on Time For Learning several days this week. He likes the language arts activities. Especially the ones where he gets to make a story using the interactive felt board. He just laughs and laughs!

English - Bug worked on daily grams a few times this week, just to practice those basic grammar skills like capitalization, punctuation and sentence structure. He also worked on his word of the day and learned about verbs. He completed a few lessons in his explode the code book and did some free writing in his journal. (He wrote about the kitties.) :)

Phonics - Red worked on a few phonics lessons and learned about sentence structure. He worked on letter J and letter K for dictionary skills, practiced sight words and worked in his explode the code book. He journal-ed about his favorite season (winter) as well.

Music Study - We began our first music study this week and started with Beethoven. Did you know he was deaf? I did not - can you imagine? I am just blown away by that little tidbit of info. We listened to some of his music and we read a bio about him. We also listened to a story written from the perspective of a little boy who lived downstairs from Beethoven. We mostly did a lot of listening and just trying to appreciate his works.

Library - We stopped by the library for a picnic and then went inside for a little learning! We completed our school work and looked for some books to take home with us. Bug found several books about tornado and hurricanes, his favorite subject these days!

Literature study - we have been reading a collection of bedtime stories at night before bed. Hubby picked up some great books from the D library for me this week, so we started The Wonderful Wizard of Oz last night as well.

Nature Study - the boys and I went to the cemetery after the library and we sat for a while and just took in nature. The boys drew pictures of what they saw and heard around them.

Art - Today we did the next lesson in our Draw Write Now book, The three bears.

Here is Red working on his calendar book. We put together a new calendar for August.

Bug working on math - teaching textbooks - he is doing so well and he loves having the time on the computer instead of "writing" so much.

Red's math lessons include addition and subtraction, so we used his civil war guys to act out the number sentences. He of course loved this part and we have kept it up all week. I think it has helped him to stay focused on his work. Yeah!

Smokey thought the calendar book (which was drying) was a good place for a little rest!

Lucky says "I'm Finished!" and we believed him since he was sitting in the finished basket! LOL

Red working on more math...drawing pictures of the number sentences.

We talked about seasons one day and we are all excited that fall is getting closer. Red drew some pictures representing what he knows about fall.

Bug started his new Reading curriculum. He started book one of the level 3 pathway readers.

Learning to graph...with civil war soldiers no doubt! LOL

Nature study - we delivered MOW and then went to the library to complete our school work - then we headed over to the cemetery to do a little nature study.