2013 Homeschool Year

So today we start the second half of our second grade home school adventure.  I got up early to put up the new bulletin board, lay out all the books and copies, refill the pencil box and put a schedule on the door to help Dakota see what needed to be done.  He got up later than anticipated because I had to go and pick up my daughter and granddaughter when it was realized they had left their car keys in their other car, which was now parked at work with her husband in Virginia.  Thankfully I was an early riser and had all my things together and just let him sleep here with his brother while I ran out and took care of them.

So now it'snot quite 10am and Dakota happily (for the most part) started his work.  He filled out his "What a Year It's Been" highlight paper pretty easily and did a little of his morning work.  Then he chose to go and do his independent reading, The Big Show...a wrestling level 3 book my sister in law sent him for Christmas.  A schedule on the door helps him to see what he needs to do and if he's burned out on something, he knows he can choose another subject and come back and complete the task at hand later.  He can check off what's done and this helps him know what's left and how to budget his time.

We worked on a Scholastic News about bullying and did a main context worksheet.  The Scholastic News is actually a Social Studies activity, the the conversation that we ended up having about what bullying is, why it's wrong and what to do if it happens worked in nicely for a health lesson following our previous personality and character traits unit.

He decided to dabble in his morning work, so he went in and did his handwriting and his reading comprehension book workbooks and then decided to do art and music.  We made a large number template on tagboard of 2013 and he used different mediums to cover them with (glitter appliques, colored sand, yarn pieces and buttons) and we hung them on the bulletin board.  All the while we were listening to some of the top 25 country music songs of 2012 and singing along.

We did some more resolution writing and hung them on our board and then did some New Year's math worksheets and a timed test on the three tables in multiplication.  Rounding out the morning before lunch was a rousing game of Math War in which Dakota won by two cards :-)  More peaceful that way!


After lunch we settled in for our new literature studies where I will be reading good family oriented books to Dakota and all he is required to do is listen and enjoy.  I chose The Mouse and the Motorcycle for our first one because I know he likes that story and it isn't terribly long.  I want to read Charlotte's Web, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz and others.  It's a great winter activity on cold afternoons with a warm blanket and some popcorn. 

To wrap up the afternoon we needed to do science and history.  For science we started a unit on water.  We talked about all the things we need water for, the earth needs water for and what we do for fun that involves water.  Then he wrote a paragraph telling about three things you need water to do, illustrated it and we watched The Magic School Bus:  Ups and Downs video.  Following that we did the floats and sinks experiment from the MSB kit we have and did an alphabetizing worksheet on water related words.  History included a rereading of Egyptian Pyramids, a narrative sentence to talk about Cheops and the Great Pyramid and then we will finish by making a Duplo or Legos.  It's been a long day, but we are back on track and we got some fun things done.  Dakota will complain no matter what, but he mostly seemed to enjoy the activities and hopefully he'll be ready for another productive day of homechooling.  
                                      


Comments

Anonymous said…
Happy New Year Cindy! I love to keep up with you through this blog. Be well, my friend, and know I'm thinking of you!

Irina
Cindy Baublitz said…
I just love comments! Thank you, Irina! Happy New Year to you and Rob and Andrew!

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