The Firmament

This week we learned about the atmosphere.

Monday: I don't remember.

Tuesday: We used our senses to discover "air".

• We felt air (fan)
• We smelt air (I sprayed some body spray in the air)
• We saw how air moves things by blowing bubbles by a fan
• We saw the power of air by launching a stomp rocket
• There were some other experiments we did, but I can't remember. I finished off the day by explaining that just because we can't see something, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Wednesday: We learned how air movement creates weather

• We made a hot air balloon by filling a garbage bag with hot air from my blow dryer
• Talked about hot/cool air movement make wind

Thursday: Water cycle

• I boiled water with a glass lid on it, the kids saw how eat made the water evaporate, and then watched the water condense on the lid. Occasionally I would lift the lid up and we would watch the water "rain" down.
• It happened to be raining that day, we set out a container to see how much rain we got in an hour. We measured the water.
• We discussed how different parts of the world receive different amounts of rain. I made the kids run around and get really thirsty. Then, I gave them the amount of water they would have received in a desert (it was so little, they wanted more). Then we measured with a tape measure how much water a rain forest gets.

Friday: Clouds

• We made the different types of clouds using cotton balls, paper, and glue
• We used a prism to separate light and talked about how water in the air can separate light and make rainbows.
  

The Creation

We learned about "The Creation" our first week of school. The can't remember everything we did this week, but the things I remember doing are:

Monday: Organized matter. I let them take out and play with all the toys they wanted. The living room was a mess as you can imagine. Then, I made them organize and sort them. I also used pom poms and muffin tins and had the kids sort the pom poms by color.

Tuesday:

Wednesday: We went on a walk and collected seeds. Each child had their own little bag to collect their seed treasures in. After the walk, we came home and cut open some vegetables and fruit to find their seeds. They each picked a seed to plant. Then we went to the beach (where the ocean and land meet).

Thursday: We did some light experiments, and talked about reflection.

Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday: We rested.

Sorry I can't remember the other things. Sad I can't remember...it was only a month ago.

In Theory

The name of this post is...

"In Theory"

...just keep that in mind.

Monthly

On the first Sunday of the month we do the following:

• Plan temple attendance date
• Plan HT/VT appointments
• Any other important scheduling items
  
• Sit down with each of our kids individually and have a heart to heart about their lives, their likes, their dislikes (a treat should be involved here to get the kids to sit longer than 5 seconds), and set a goal with them to accomplish during the month. I refer to the list of skills found in this book during our goal setting session.

Weekly

I plan our weekly school schedule on Friday evenings. Most of the scheduling is already done, but I do plan our week of science lessons and service project during my planning session.

We also go to the library weekly. I go on Mondays. We check out all the books on our given science topic to read throughout the following week.


Daily

This is our schedule

Devotional

• Sing primary song
• Read a chapter from the scripture readers
• Write and draw in our scripture journals (we use a 3x5 inch spiral notebook). I ask the kids what they learned from the chapter we read and then I write down what they dictate and then let them draw a picture.
• Family Prayer
• Scripture memorization (we memorize 2 scriptures/month). I pick scriptures that go with our yearly family theme. This year our family theme is "Listen and Obey" and I also use the monthly Primary scripture.
  
• Pledge of Allegiance
• Calendar (to learn months, days, and numbers)
• Watch a Mormon Message video
  

Spanish

This is my buffer time. I have two approaches to Spanish time. If I am showered and ready for the day, and Anna is fed, I sit down and play with the kids and only speak Spanish with them. We will play board games or puzzles or helicopters or something like that. If however, I am not ready or Anna needs some attention, I put in a Pimsleur Spanish CD and have the boys listen to it while they play or put puzzles together and I catch up.

Chores

This includes house cleaning, yard work, laundry, or anything else that needs attention in our home. We all just work together to get it done...I have found this is the time I need the most patience.

Science

Most of this blog will be devoted to the lessons I am teaching in science. I do all hands on learning and I supplement it with the books we check out in the library on this subject. This year we are learning about "The Earth".

PE

We always swim on Mondays, but the other days vary depending on the weather. Some of our favorite PE outings are bike riding, tennis, basketball, T-ball, trampolining, and on rainy days we'll do gymnastics. We just all play together.

Lunch

I make them help with preparation and clean up.

Reading

This is when we read those library books about our science topic and other picture books. I read to the kids. After we read some books, James and Anna go down for a nap and Daniel and I work on reading, spelling, and math.

Reading/Spelling

I bought a curriculum for these. For spelling I am using "Explode the Code". I love it. I am very happy with it. For reading we are using "Alphaphonics". I am not in love with it, but it is working. I don't have to do any prep work for this. I just pull out the books and we start.

Math

I also bought a math curriculum. We are using McRuffy math. I love it. Daniel loves it. It comes with all sorts of manipulatives. It has been a great experience so far.

Quiet Time

This is our private reading time. I read my book, Daniel reads/looks at his.

And that my friends, is the

"Theory"