Answered Prayers...

Last Saturday, my sister in law and I were at the Women of Faith event at Hope Lutheran Church here in Fargo. In-between sessions, I happened to mention to her that I was in need of a good daily Bible devotional/lesson for Isaac. I have bought a couple, but have not been impressed. I told her that what I really wanted was a daily devotional based on scripture only, with maybe a few application questions to go with it. It seems like what is out there for children is only daily devotionals that are stories, with maybe one Bible verse thrown in for good measure.
A few minutes passed, and it was time for door prizes. Keep in mind I NEVER win anything. I sat stunned as my name was drawn. I went up to the front to claim my prize, and it was this book:

It was EXACTLY what I had been looking for! The back of the book even says it is ideal for homeschoolers!
Each day, there is approximately one chapter of scripture to read, followed by five or so questions pertinent to the daily reading. And, these are not froo-froo questions. They have a little meat to them, which is how I like it. Also, there is a section under the scripture for further study of various words and their meanings, or other contextual things (just like an adult study Bible, except it is geared to children).
I LOVE it when our Heavenly Father answers prayers that quickly and that clearly. It doesn't usually happen that way, but when it does, it is such a good reminder that I am not in this alone.

Progress

We are mid-way through Isaac's first grade year, and Graham's 3 year old preschool year! I have lots of things planned for the rest of the year, and I am trying to avoid the mid-year blahs by re-vamping some things and getting re-organized. I took some time this week to re-organize my homeschooling closet. I took out anything related to scrapbooking and am using the whole thing for homeschooling activities. I needed to make it so everything was easily accesible for me. I have found that is the key for me. Not to sound lazy here, but if it is not easy or accessible, I have found I don't bother to do it. My life is busy enough the way it is, I need to SIMPLIFY everything I do.

Graham used his do-a-dot set that I got him for Christmas for the first time today. He loved it! It is such a good activity for fine-motor skills and color identification. It was also good for Graham to use self control as he colored. He likes to just scribble when using markers or crayons. With the do-a-dot printables I found online, he had to identify which color to use first and fill in the correct circles.

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Isaac is improving in his reading, although sometimes it is hard to see the overall progress. I know he is reading longer books, reading brand new material much better, sounding words out on his own and identifying long and short vowels better. I have realized how complex the English language really is. There are really no "absolute" rules with English. I wish I could tell him that EVERY word that has two vowels is ALWAYS long, but that is not true. There are exceptions to everything.
We plan to continue are current curriculum for reading, phonics, spelling and math. I plan on trying to find something new for handwriting, possibly, "Handwriting without tears," but we will see. I also would like to find a better daily devotional to use with Isaac.
Next week we will be starting a LEGO lapbook, this should be really fun for both of us.
Other unit studies we plan to do are: space, pirates, pioneers (may concentrate on Lewis and Clark and follow with a field trip to Bismarck) and Butterflies (in the spring we will do another painted-lady butterfly cocoon study). I would also like to do another spring trip to the farm during calving season, but I don't know if we will do a lapbook/unit study for that yet or not.
I plan to try to make Graham's preschool time more structured and to do a better job of keeping him busy without television!

Great Find!

I was at Sam's Club last night and found this super cool book for Isaac called "The boys Doodle Book." They have other versions as well--one for girls and one that is generic for everyone.
The book is filled with the beginnings of drawings which are to be completed by the child however they choose.

He was super excited about it and started drawing in it right away. The only down side is that it is hard to keep open while drawing in it because it is such a thick book. So, I think we will take it to Office Depot and have it spiral bound for him.

Spring study

I have recently stumbled upon a great resource for nature study resources here
We used some of the free downloadable worksheets to do a nature study today.
Isaac had to identify four signs of spring and record them on his worksheet. He noticed the grass turning green, the plants starting to grow, the buds coming on the trees and the sound of birds chirping.


Then we talked about the three primary types of clouds, and he identified that the clouds in the sky today were cumulus. We recorded today's weather information.

Lastly, we began our seasonal tree study of the Oak tree in our backyard. We saw that the buds are just starting to form, and are a bit behind the buds on the tree in our front yard. We will take another photo of this tree in a few weeks and compare them.

Dollar Store Finds

I love the Dollar store for homeschooling stuff! I hadn't found anything new there recently, but today I went in and they had gotten a new shipment of school things. I got several posters, some writing books, workbooks and games. Some of these things will be workbox items for next year. Graham will also be a lot more involved in our school activities next year, and will have his own set of workboxes. He needs some big help on colors especially. I found a really nice Sesame Street colors workbook that I think will be helpful and some color flashcards.
Here's a side note: Sometimes the most effective things are the easiest things, and also the things we don't think of! I got this idea from a homeschooling blog the other day and did it today with Isaac and it was very effective: take picture cards (most of us have something like this in our homeschooling stash), and letters (I used foam letters that came with the "My Father's World" curriculuum and have them spell out what is on the picture card. DUH. Seriously--did I need to read a blog to come up with that? But, its somthing I hadn't thought to do, and obviously needed help coming up with. He enjoyed working with the letters hands on, and got every single one correct (even the ones with digraphs--we have been focusing on those lately)!