Our Curriculum for 2011-2012

We are so excited!! We begin another fun year of homeschooling!! I thought I would share what our curriculum will look like this year!

BIBLE

We will be using Grapevine. We will be starting the Beginning Old Testament. The lessons look fun as the children get to draw a picture as you read the bible story. My boys both love to colour and draw. This just helps the creativity as well!

Can be found at: www.grapevinestudies.com

My oldest will be registered in grade one this year. He is working on some grade two work. Since this is the first year we can actually register for homeschooling we thought we would start out in grade one.

MATH

Saxon is our favourite. We have been using this for a couple years now. It is hands on and engages the children in many ways. They use everyday examples of Math in order to make the lessons fun!

Can be found at saxonpublishers.hmhco.com

To supplement math we will also be using Sylvan and Math Ahead workbooks.

www.randomhouse.com/sylvanlearningbookstore

can be found at http://teachers.scholarschoice.ca

LANGUAGE ARTS

We have been using Sing Spell Read and Write for a year now and will continue to work through this.This is definitely an expensive curriculum, however just simply amazing! If you like songs and rhymes and colorful worksheets you will love this!

Can be found at: www.canadianhomeeducation.com

SPELLING

I am excited to try out All About Spelling this year! This looks absolutley incredible!!

Can be found at: www.allaboutlearningpress.com/all-about-spelling

Reading and Reading Comprehension and Responding ot Literature

This did indeed take me a while to decide. I found a great website that will facilitate our learning in this area. In the next couple months we will be working on:

1. Rainbows, colours, Noah’s Arc

2. Caps for Sale, counting and numbers

3. The five senses

4. Community Workers

5. Seasons and Weather

6. Plants

7. Animals

For each of these topics, we will be learning many Chinese words. The websites that have helped me to create our sections for these topics are:

www.teachercreated.com

delightfullearning.blogspot.com

www.homeschoolshare.com

homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com

www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

When we complete these topics I will indeed share with you where we found each lesson plan etc.

ART:

Can be found at www.amazon.ca

SPORTS

Both boys will be taking swimming. My oldest is involved in Kung Fu and my youngest will be taking skating lessons this semester.

TYPING

This is my husbands area….I will let you know what program he has chosen! Thanks honey!!

SOCIAL STUDIES

We will be using an excellent curriculum. This curriculum is absolutely incredible and we have already learned about four countries. My boys really enjoy this!

Can be found at: www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

SCIENCE

This in included in our Social Studies curriculum as well as our Language arts curriculum. Stay tuned for more blog posts about this!

LANGUAGE

As a family we will be learning Mandarin this year! We have incredible tutors as my inlaws speak Mandarin!! I did find a great curriculum for the kids! I will also be making file folder review cards. My husband and I will be usng Rosetta Stone. My boys are also enrolled in Mandarin school which is every Saturdays for three hours!

 

Can be found at: www.rosetta stone.com

Can be found at: www.betterchinese.com

PHONICS

My little guy will be using letter of the week to focus on the letters! He does know all his letters, however we will work on what each letter sounds like! We have used this curriculum with my oldest and just loved it!!! Thank you Erica for all your hard work!!!

 

Can be found at: www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

Let me know what curriculum you will be using!! Enjoy the school year!!

T is for tooth: The Tale of the Lost Tooth!

My oldest lost his third tooth today!! It was an exciting day in our home!

It started off with a sweet 6 year old realizing his tooth was extremely loose this morning. He showed his friends at church and even grossed out his teacher in class with wiggling it!! He tried pulling it out with tweezers, he twisted it around with his tongue and he even let mommy try and wiggle it out. It was his mission to loose that tooth today!! So after dinner he begged us for an apple. He took a couple bites of it and out popped on shiny white tooth!! What a BIG smile on his face!!

He reminded my husband and I that he got $5 for his first tooth and $10 for his second. He told me he was thinking the tooth fairy had a pattern and he would  get $15 for his third tooth.  He told me tonight when I was tucking him into bed that he “would be happy with anything more than $9.” I asked him why he had such a specific price in mind. He told me that he wanted to buy a Bakugan and they are “nine dollars plus GST!”

That is the tale of the lost tooth! I would love to hear your stories under the comment section!!

Bear Lapbook

We had so much fun learning about bears this week!

Many ideas here are taken from www.homeschoolshare.com.

1. We learned about the differences between polar bears, panda bears, brown bears and black bears.

2. We learned about where bears live within North America.

3. We sang the alphabet song (more for my youngest) and we made sure to focus on the letter B!

4. My oldest had some copy work to practice. We also read Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle. My youngest enjoyed matching the animals together (see the “heads and tails minibook in the picture).

5. Once we read Brown Bear Brown Bear by Eric Carle, my youngest made his own Look At Me book. We also had an incredible time learning the song “We’re going on a Bear Hunt.” We made a craft that also went with that story.

6. Once finished learning the song….my kids really enjoyed this You Tube video!! This was sooo funny!! We sang this over and over again!!

7. We also learned about Theodore Roosevelt (since I am American it was great American history!)

8. We talked about patterns. My youngest really enjoyed the story by Eric Carle. He loves book with repetition. We completed minibooks again from www.homeschoolshare.com.

9. We further learned about polar bears and enjoyed watching videos on you tube about how polar bears and brown bears hunt for their food.

                   

10. We loved watching these videos!

11.We had a little treat…. I mean we graphed gummy bears!!!

   

12.  We finished off the week by going on our own “Bear Hunt!”

   

Eventually we found a Bear!!!!!

Japanese Steak Rolls

I found this recipe in one of my favourite magazines Cuisine Tonight. I have adapted it a bit to suit my families needs. My boys absolutely LOVE these!

Ingredients:

 1 1/2 cups red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup agave nectar or white sugar

1/2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 lb flank steak trimmed

salt and pepper

asparagus spears, baked at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.

scallions, trimmed

6 tablespoons rice vinegar

6 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

Step 1: process or blend ingredients for dip. Boil for 5 minutes and cool to room temperature. (Bell pepper, agave nectar, cornstarch, red pepper flakes)

Step 2: Slice flank steak across the grain into thin strips about 1/2 inches thick. Pound each to about 1/8 thickness then season with salt and pepper. Place 2 asparagus spears (ones that are already cooked a bit) and 2 spears of scallions across the short end of a strip of beef. Roll beef around vegetables and secure with toothpick. Place in a shallow baking pan, pour some marinade over each piece.

Step 3: Broil steaks about 5 minutes until cooked. Once finished cooking pour extra marinade over and serve with rice.

Step 4: enjoy and know if your children give you the thumbs up…..it must be good!!!

                   

      

Circles and Squares!

In my little guys workbox this morning he found a special surprise! We went on a circle and square hunt! Who said math couldn’t be TONS OF FUN!! This was a great way for him to learn his shapes and how to find them in our everyday lives! It was a more practical approach and a great way to get them moving around. It is not easy to keep boys sitting down!! He’s already asked what hunt we are going on next!!

1. We started off with cheese squares and circular crackers.

2. He found a square picture frame.

3. Next was a circular planter.

4. Of course the door handle!

5. The stairs had some circle shapes!

6. Our rug had sqaures.

7. His favourite car had some circles!

8. Another cirlce!

9. The stool was a circle!

10. There were lots of circles in the kitchen!

11. Mommy’s favourite homework tool! Sticky notes!!

12. Our workbox tickets were square shaped!

13. The keys had both circles and squares!

14. Our windows had square shapes and the outside pot was a circle shape!

15. Our world is a circle shape!

16. And my oldest found a marble to finish off our hunt!