Yay for Friday

I am so glad that Friday is finally here. It's been a more challenging week than last week. I've had my fair share of sleepless nights and cranky mornings, but it's Friday and we've made it through another week of homeschool! So what's new? Gavin started karate on Monday. He loves it. He loves his uniform and he's now a white belt. This week we studied 2 Kings 6:5. His Bible verse was "Bus as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, 'Alas Master! For it was borrowed'." We learned that God is not only concerned about big miracles, but small miracles as well. He finished his story about what his life would be like if he were a pirate. He takes his spelling test today and he got a 100% on his math test that he took yesterday which reviewed all of the skills he's learned so far. In Social studies he is continuing to learn the state capitals. He knows them all from Alabama to New Mexico. In Science he is learning about clouds and a little more on the water cycle. He learned that evaporation leaves pollutants behind by freezing blocks of ice with food coloring. When the cubes melt and the water evaporates, the color is left behind on the paper. In reading he read "An Oregon Trail Diary" and learned about compound words, drawing conclusions, categorizing words and interpreting graphic information. He continues to do great with cursive writing. Next week we will be spending some time updating his blog, so be sure and check that later in the week next week. www.worldofgavin.blogspot.com


White Belt Gavin

Gavin and his karate instructor

Gavin's science experiment

Gavin with his science experiement

2 great websites

I just found 2 great websites today to help with homeschool. One is just for spelling, which I was in desperate need of. It is www.spellingcity.com. You can enter the spelling list and it will teach them the spelling and sound, play games with them and even let them take spelling tests. It's great! The other one is for various types of worksheets and help. It is www.superteacherworksheets.com. I hope someone reading this will find it as handy as I did!

Second Week of Homeschool

This is our second week of homeschool and overall, it's going great. I love having Aaron here to help me with Grisham. It's really helping Gavin and I focus more on schoolwork. I am doing all that I can to make this year the best one yet and keep things interesting for him. One thing that he really loves is "The Wheel of Destiny". I took the spinner out of the Twister game that never gets played and I put all of his subjects on a circle and added a couple extra things like re-spin, student's choice and teacher's choice. He spins before each subject to see what subject we'll do next. He is working on his own blog. You can check it out at www.worldofgavin.blogspot.com. We began homeschool last week. He had 3 full days of school and a field trip to the Frankfort History Museum. In math, he is learning a variety of new skills like coordinate graphing and calculating area. Spelling is his weakness. I am trying hard to keep that fun so he doesn't get too discouraged. In Science he is studying the water cycle. Social Studies, he's still working on his state capitals and he's doing an excellent job! In reading he read the story, "The Lion and the Mouse". He learned about irregular verbs, onomatopoetic words and also did some pages on sequencing, synonyms, categorizing words that describe character traits and recalling details and relating to personal experiences. He's sharpening his cursive handwriting skills, and I must say that his handwriting is the best handwriting I've ever seen from any child! Last, but certainly not least in our book is Bible Study. We began last week with the verse, "Work at everything you do with all your heart as if you were working for the Lord, not for human masters" Colossians 3:23. He had this verse memorized by the first day! We made mac and cheese the lazy way, by pouring everything in before the water boiled and not letting it cook as long. We didn't really read the directions well, so it wasn't very good. The next day we made brownies and followed the directions exactly. Gavin learned the lesson that we are greater rewarded when we do everything with our WHOLE heart!

THE WHEEL OF DESTINY