Lately...

I haven't blogged in a while.  We finished our 2009/2010 school year the first week of June when the public school year ended.   Many of the kid's friends were off of school.  Since we'll be moving in a couple of months I felt it was important for them to soak up the time they have left with them.  Anyway, we took the first couple of weeks to relax a bit.  We went to the movies a few times, bowling, the pool, the mall, etc. Pretty much just chillin.  It has been great! 

In between chill time, I have been gearing up for our next school year.  I hit a couple of the used curriculum fairs. Which I am happy to say I made out.  I saved our homeschool budget about $500.00 by sorting and picking through many many tables and boxes.  It took quite a bit of organization and planning on my part but with that kind of savings I have to say it was well worth it.

I have decided to have the kids study American History this year.  Since both children would be studying the same thing I thought it would be best and probably more fun if we did it together.  We'll be using the Joy Hakim series A History of US  as our main text.  Adding in various literature selections, poetry, and music to co-ordinawith the study. Sweet girl will have three current event assignmets per week.  I am hoping she will post them on her blog but we'll have to see.  She doesn't like when I tell her what to post on her blog;). 
Science- Silly Guy Christian Kids Explore Biology , How Nature Works   and library books. 
Sweet Girl -Apologia's General Science.  I decided to go with General Science because after looking through the table of contents she covered a lot of Physical Science last year.  She is excited about Apologia. 
Math-  Both kiddos will be using Saxon (Silly guy- Saxon 6/5 and Sweet girl Saxon Algebra 1)
Bible-Both kiddos AOP Lifepac Bible
Language Arts- Silly guy-BJU English 5, Wordly Wise, and Spelling Power.
Sweet girl- Sonlight Core 100 writing, Spelling Power, Wordly Wise, , and
Easy Grammar 180 Daily Teaching Lessons
I plan on doing some nature studies once we reach our new home. We can't wait to explore!
Art- I am going to be pulling lessons/activities from various websites.  I am trying to stick to an "American" theme.  Deep Space Sparkle , Art for Homeschool, Artyfactory, Captain Watercolor, and Sketch Tuesday all have great ideas and lesson plans. 
So, needless to say we are most definitley eclectic homeschoolers. 

I have decided to start our school year next week since we will be moving in September.  I would love to take a couple more weeks off, but with moving the kids will be taking off quite a bit.  I want to get in a solid six weeks before getting on that big bird back to the mainland.  I am planning on having them continue Math, Language Arts, Literature, and possibly History while we are in transition.  Our household goods could take up to 45 days to get to our new home. 
Along with all of this planning comes organization.  But I will have to post about how I've been tackling that later(maybe tomorrow).  I just peeked at the clock and well I have to go to bed!!

Sketch Tuesday-Coral Reef

This week over at Harmony Fine Arts Sketch Tuesday blog the assignment was to sketch something you would see on a coral reef. The kids enjoyed participating in this assignment

as they always do!!

Silly guys crab and sea urchins

Sweet girl's jelly fish

Sketch Tuesday A Sunset

One of the assignments this month for Sketch Tuesday(hosted by Harmony Fine Arts)is to sketch a sunset. This assignment happened to work into our art curriculum. They used oil pastels to complete their sketches. They really enjoy the assignments and they always learn something new!

Sweet girl's sunset

Silly guy's sunset

Sketch Tuesday- Cloudy with a Chance...

This weeks assignment is to sketch a scene with clouds. I loved the kids ideas. Sweet girl wanted to sketch a balloon floating into the sky. Silly guy sketched a fighter jet soaring through the clouds. We decided we would use paint. I loved the colors they chose. Sweet girl's clouds are reflecting the sun set.

Sketch Tuesday-Van Gogh's Olive Trees

This weeks assignment:

You can sketch the whole painting or just a part of it for this assignment. If you would like to print out the painting, you can right click, save the image, and then print it out on your color printer. Here is a link to see the painting larger:Wikipedia: Van Gogh: Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the BackgroundTake some time to really look at the painting with your child. Have them view the painting for a few minutes and then have them tell you about the painting. This will help them to begin to really see all the details that Van Gogh used to accomplish this masterpiece. All ages of children are capable of completing this assignment so let them give it a try.Here is a child friendly link for Van Gogh:http://www.geocities.com/ljacoby_2000/vangogh.html

Mikaela's painting Blake's painting

This assignment was fun. The kids enjoyed using paint and playing with the colors. It is always more of a challenge to copy a painting ,but I love to see how they turn out.

Sketch Tuesday: These boots are made for walking

This weeks assignment was to sketch a boot of any kind. Well, living in Hawaii we only have one pair of boots in the house(dad's work boots). So the kids sketched their version of a "Hawaiian boot" and I sketched Jason's work boot. We really enjoy participating in Sketch Tuesday. The kids look forward to the slideshow and the sketching assignments.

Sketch Tuesday: Tropical Birds

Blake's drawing

Mikaela's drawing
This weeks assignment was to sketch a tropical bird.

Sketch Tuesday

This weeks assignment was sketch a street sign. I thought this would be easy and I think the kids did too.

They got the chance to work on lettering. Mikaela started drawing right away(hers is the one way sign). Blake on the other hand said," I think I need a ruler."(his is the no parking sign). So, he used a ruler and was a little more meticulous about his lines. He said to me, "You can't rush art." It is nice to see him really concentrate and work at something.