And here's another picture that requires minimal explanation...

Curriculum updates...

Here is the latest on our curriculum - I made some changes and adjustments after working with Becca a little more.

Language Arts: For right now, I'm skipping Explode the Code workbooks. Rebecca seemed bored with them, and I don't want to be redundant because I wanted to be sure of her skill level. So we're just reading books of all sorts for her reading instruction. She's helping me read longer chapter books, and for her independent reads I try to make sure she's challenged.

Science: We have a bit more structure in it now, for which I'm extremely grateful! Thanks to some online help, I found Living Learning's Life Science teacher guide and student pages. It uses the same basic principles, but gives me more structure and direction. I am going to try and branch out and assemble a unit on horses - the girls are little horse nuts! I've also added a couple more spines - the Usborne Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Natural World and the Usborne Complete First Book of Nature. And Becca has decided that she does want an ant farm, so stay tuned for pics! First we'll be raising a frog, though. She's incredibly excited about her tadpole arriving. She's also anxious to raise real butterflies - they did a little project in preschool, but she was disappointed when she only found a paper butterfly inside her paper bag cocoon.

Math: Saxon was a total bust. I kept looking at it and trying to figure out how to make it work, but there was just no way to turn that into a mastery program. So again, thanks to some online guidance, I'm going with Singapore Math and Miquon. I'm planning to use them together. Miquon has a very unique approach that really intrigues me and makes logical sense, and Singapore is also highly regarded, yet a completely different program than Saxon.

At the very least, I plan to use the heck out of the manipulatives I bought for the Saxon program! Maybe spiral math will work for Sylvia.

Washable paint ROCKS!

Do I really need to say anything else?

Not just about homeschooling and the girls...

I've got to put some baseball in here.

Sorry guys... Roger Clemens' recent vague admission of "mistakes in his personal life" rings an awful lot like Jason Giambi's meandering confession of "doing stuff."

As in, what exactly is that supposed to mean? Does it mean what we think they mean, which is saying something without actually saying it? Like Sheffield saying he used the cream and the clear but didn't use steroids. Was it flaxseed oil? Do you WANT us to think you're mindless sheep who just bumble around doing what people tell you?

Whatever, guys. I get sick of people dancing around words to stay within legal loopholes, or to keep public opinion from reaching an actual conclusion instead of a continuing debate. And I am completely over Roger Clemens' desperate attempt to remain a painfully wronged "good guy."

What we have been up to...

We did a nice long study on ocean life, which we actually are still working on. We just do a little here and there, and the girls are having tons of fun. My main resource has been a book called In the Ocean from Teacher Created Resources. Those teachers sure know what they're doing! LOL I got every single penny's worth out of this book. Remind me of that the next time I'm wandering the toy aisle with the girls.

So here are two of our habitat posters - I'm sure you can tell which one the girls glued together and which one I did. Looking at it now, my tide pool looks a little forlorn.

One of the girls' favorite activities from this ocean study is Ocean Bingo. The cards only have nine squares, so I make the girls fill their whole card before they get to call Bingo. They added a silly little twist to it - when they fill their cards, they then stuff all the fish crackers into their mouths. Davey calls it a toddler version of a drinking game.

We haven't done all the projects with this study yet, but we did make some barnacles and bumpy sea stars - you can tell they're proud of their work!

We're also starting the very basics in history. We'll be having a lot of fun with ancient history this year, but first Becca needs a little idea of what history is. So we did a little timeline of her life.

And I received my Living Learning science curriculum today - I've decided to capitalize on our ocean focus and kick it off with a study on whales. I'll keep it around the ocean and we'll do seals and penguins next. Then I'm thinking we'll do frogs - so I'm going to send off for a Grow-a-Frog kit!

At least I'm not getting an ant farm.