Perrin Academy--Lots of Learning Going on! (Week 3)

We have been busy learning and working hard! I am surprised every day by how quickly my sweet boys learn and master new concepts. So far most of what I have done with Jake has been a review of  what he learned last year. Jake has been reviewing his blends and special sounds in phonics. In reading, he has been been reading short stories and answering comprehension questions. He reads and understands very well. He could read stories that are much more difficult than the ones we are reading, but I don't want to skip over anything. In math we are reviewing concepts from last year as well. Something new this year is that he takes a timed fact drill every day. I thought this would stress him out but he LOVES it! He sees it as a challenge. It usually takes him about 24 seconds to do 10 problems. The only source of stress for Jake this year so far has been cursive writing. He actually is fairly good at it. He is just such a perfectionist that he gets frustrated when he can't do it perfectly the first time. Nothing is sweeter though, than hearing him squeal when he finally gets a letter right! He is actually writing small sentences in cursive now. I'm a proud momma. I also purchased a typing program for the computer to teach Jake how to type correctly. He gets a little frustrated initially but then catches on and does quite well.

Jared has been doing very well learning his letters and the sounds they make. We have also been practicing with sight words. He does very well reading his sight word books. We are working on writing his name properly (not in all capitals). He can do it but he would much rather write his name in capitals because it's easier. His favorite thing to do at school is cut and glue so I try to include at least one activity during the week that allows him to practice these fun skills. I have relaxed and try not to be so structured with him. The structure will come when he starts Kindergarten. We do lots of play learning activities. Most of the math I cover with Jared is done with his Calendar Binder in the morning. He learns place value, how to write his numbers, days of the week, months of the year, and keeps a chart of the weather.

A yummy way to celebrate learning the letter P.

This is a short video of Jared reading his sight word booklet. AND yes...we do school without our shirt on sometimes. :)

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is the flexibility it provides. We are able to go home and visit family during times most families wouldn't be able to because of school. Here is a picture of the boys getting ready to go "crabbing" with Daddy and Uncle Derek.

Well I guess I've shared enough for now...Just one more picture before I go. Here is our newest addition...baby #3 on the way due in March.

Our First Day of School

Yay! Our first day of school finally arrived. We had such a blessed, fun time together. Jake and Jared were both very ready to get to work. This really surprised me! First, I will share a few pictures of our classroom.

These are our "rules"or our Signs of Growing Up. I love the fact they are stated positively! We started off the day by talking about each one and what it meant.

This is our work table. This is where we sit to do guided work. I love this table. The height adjusts to grow with the child and it folds away for easy storage. I got it at Wal-mart. I do need to get the boys some better chairs, but we work with what we have for now!

This is our independent work space. This is where the boys work individually and independently when Mommy is working one on one with the other child.

 We are blessed to have an extra couch that we can use to read together!

This is where we do our "board" work. It is also where we store our manipulatives and school books.

This is our map and schedule. Jake and Jared both love maps. They love locating places we have been or places we are talking about in school.

These are the boys work boxes. I saw this idea on another blog. (Thanks Lindsey!) Each child has a box for each subject and the materials we need to complete the subject are in the box. This is a great way to keep me organized and give the boys and idea of how much they have left to do!

My sweet Jared ready for his first day of Pre-K. He was so excited to start Pre-K. I was honestly surprised with how intently he worked. I thought it would be more of an adjustment for him. (learning to sit still, follow directions, etc.) My little man is growing up too quickly. I feel blessed to be able to share this experience with him.

My sweet Jake on his first day of FIRST GRADE. I can not believe he is already this old! He is so excited about first grade. He has said since the moment he finished Kindergarten that he is in first grade. I wouldn't trade my experience of teaching him last year for anything! I am so looking forward to teaching him again this year and watching him grow by leaps and bounds!

The boys are working in their Calendar Binders in this picture. This is a concept I learned about from the website www.hubbardscupboard.com. This site is also where I will be getting most of the curriculum I use to teach Jared. In the Calendar Binder there are a series of pages they will work with each day. It is a great way to get in all of our morning activities and allow each child to participate in counting the days of school, working on place value, writing the date on the calendar, and singing the months of the year and days of the week. We also chart the weather, and review our letters/sounds. This link is directly to the calendar binder.  http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/character_activities.html#CalendarBinder

After we finish our calendar binder activity we spend time talking about our character quality of the week. We talk about what it means, learn a scripture that emphasizes that quality, and read a Bible story that demonstrates that quality. This week's character quality is "orderly". The story we read and talked about was the creation story. We also worked on learning 1 Corinthians 14:40. This verse states, "But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way."

This is a close up of Jared working in his Calendar Binder. He is creating a pattern by circling the day of the week with colors. I put the calendar in a sheet protector and he is using a dry erase crayon to create the pattern. This is easy to erase if he makes a mistake (which he didn't) and it's also something fun for him to use.

Jake is quietly working on his seat-work while I spend some individual time with Jared. When Jake finished his seat-work he was allowed to do something fun (playdough) until I was ready for him!

Jared worked very hard cutting out his pictures that started with the letter A. Then he glued them on a piece of paper and used the "Aa" stamp to stamp around the pictures. He really enjoyed using the scissors.

This year Jake will be learning to write in cursive. He was pumped up to be doing something that was "grown-up." He really disliked writing last year so I made an effort to really build up writing in cursive. Early on today, he struggled with it. Then I realized we (mainly me) had his paper slanted the wrong direction. Once we turned his paper the right way, he was good to go. He whipped out these cursive e's with little effort.

As one of Jared's independent activities I had him review the order of the days of creation. I wrote the numbers on the board and had him place the days of creation in order. I was stunned when I checked the board and saw that he had only gotten one wrong. WOW! I did NOT expect that!

Our last time of the day together is activity time. During this time we will do a variety of things. Some days we will learn about science and social studies. Some days we will sing and other days we will do art projects. I also plan to use this time to incorporate some computer activities as well. I bought Jake a typing software program. I plan to use this program during this time too. Today we read through Jake's Ranger Rick magazine. It's a great tool to use to teach science to little boys in a colorful and meaningful way. We read about Seahorses and then began to make our own seahorse. We will finish up our seahorses tomorrow.

I was a little worried about balancing teaching both boys. However today went very smoothly and we all had a great time. I can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds.