Reading Review

For reading we use teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons , I started this with Riley a year before kindergarten and we got half way through it and she just wasn't getting it , so I knew she was not ready and we just stopped , so a couple weeks before we started school last year we started over and took our time and she finally got it , I am amazed at how well that she can read now , I didn't keep up with everything she read but over the year she read 26 little books like bob books and over 15 my first readers . Some of her favorite books she read -
Mud!
Found and Apple 
llama llama red pajama 
Biscuit 
Good night moon 
busy Dinah dinosaur 
Peanut and Pearls picnic adventure .

Here is a list of some of our favorite Read Alouds we did last year - 
In grandma's attic - we loved this book and will continue with the rest of this series this year .
Little house in the big woods and Farmer boy - we will continue with this series as well .
prairie friends
Twenty and Ten
A grain of rice
Here's a Penny - we liked this except the chapter about Halloween , but you could skip it . 
Mary on horseback 
My fathers dragon - Riley liked this book so much I had to buy it for her , kind of a silly book but I guess that's what kids like 
Charlotte's web 
The Boxcar Children .

History/Math Review

Last year for math we used Horizons and we really loved it , so we are going to use it again next year . I didn't like the history I picked last year and Riley was not at all interested , so this year I am going with Galloping the globe , I have heard so many good things about it and I hope it will help Riley love history a little more .

 

additional books I bought to go with the curriculum .

Kindergarten Science Review

For our Kindergarten year I went with Usborne for science Here are the books we used - 

we loved the science activities volume two and inquisikids DVD , with these you can do a project once a week for the entire school year , and Riley loves doing projects , so she had a lot of fun with these , along with these I used the Internet linked children's encyclopedia - 

we really liked this book but I did have to alter it for my needs because it has teachings of evolution in it and of course your typical millions of years ago , change that to a little over 6,000 and its OK . Riley loved the Internet links , we didn't do every one of them but the ones we did do was fun , sometimes it was games and instructional video's . Here are a few more books we read for science that I bought , this does not include books we read from the library - 

This was a really easy curriculum , I am going with Usborne for science again this year but will be adding some more to it such as the Kent Hovind creation videos and I also found these on amazon - 

These are also by Kent Hovind and we love learning about Dinosaurs .
 

I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING !

I can't believe my first year of homeschooling is almost over , it's went by so fast . I have really enjoyed it , Riley loves school so much that when were not doing lessons she plays school with Leah . She has done so good this year , Dallas couldn't believe what all we have done this year , she said all she can remember doing in kindergarten was ABC's and counting to 100 , she said they didn't do science or science projects . I am already excited about next year and trying to decide on curriculum , for those out there who are not sure about homeschooling you don't know what you are missing , I love being with my kids and love the fact that I get to be a part of their education and I get to decide what they are taught . One of the main things I learned this year is that days don't always go as planned and it's OK , even though I like for things to run like clock work , a lot of days you may have to do lessons here and there and sometimes at night , but it's not the end of the world when things go wrong , I think another thing I realized is that I really love teaching . 

OUR GYOTAKU

 

OUR GALLON GUY

Deuteronomy 6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children , and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house , and when thou walkest by the way , and when thou liest down , and when thou risest up .

Happy Weekend

Spent the weekend playing with the kids , had so much fun :) we went trail riding and camping , (the kids most favorite thing to play) we picked dandelions , played a board game and went for a walk . I love spending time with my kids . Hope everyone else had a great weekend to .

 

 

RIDING OUR PONIES

RILEY AND HER HORSE TRIGGER

 

LEAH AND HER HORSE S'MORES

LEAH WATCHING AN AIRPLANE , SHE LOVES AIRPLANES

Our Easter 2013

We have had a wonderful weekend , this is the first holiday we have had since Thanksgiving and not been sick . Yesterday we had nice weather so we went ahead and done our outdoor stuff . We spent the day at mom and dads house , they love to color eggs so I let them do that with the kids this year . We all had so much fun . The kiddos loved their Easter baskets , I think Riley and Leah's favorite thing from their basket was a sticky octopus from the Dollar Tree , they had a ball throwing them on mama's front door and seeing which one would come down first , Leah just kept jumping up and down yelling mine! mine! mine! I think she wanted us to know which one was hers . Job got little baby rings in his basket , of course he wanted what everyone else got instead  Dallas is on her way to the beach for spring break , one of her friends from school invited her . I miss her already , don't know what I will do when she goes to collage . We are not going to have a spring break , we are going to use that time to catch up . Hope everyone had a nice weekend . Some pics ....

 

Cabin Fever ?

This has seemed like the longest winter , it took me a good 2 months to completely recover from that head and chest flu , it was the worst and I took walking pneumonia on top of it . Not long after that we got the stomach flu and after that I was in bed again with a pinched nerve . Since then we have also had colds . I don't ever remember so many different things going around at one time , which makes me think they are releasing this stuff into the air , but I won't go into that right now . We are just trying to catch up on everything , we are really behind from all that sickness , I just thank God we got through it all and spring is around the corner :) here are a few recent pics of the kids . My camera is not working and looks like I need a new one so until then my pictures may not look so good .