Our Second Week of Classical Conversations ( CC, cycle 3, week 2) and a Minecraft Art Lesson

Week #2 was SO much fun with our CC group and at home. 

Most of our review time is spent saying and singing, but we also like to do worksheets. I find if we use different methods (verbal, written, visual,etc.) it sticks in our memories better.The printables you will see all come from the wonderful ladies of CC Connected.

My 6 year old's journal entry about the CC review game time:

History:

 This is a homemade Mayflower my kids decided to make just for fun:

Math and Latin:

Science (yes, they gave the skeleton clothes):

The take home from our community for art (mirror image) 

and science experiment (water drop magnify glass):

And then we decided to have fun with Minecraft and mirror image art at home:

I drew one side:

 and then my kids drew the other side, 

teaching them how to draw shapes with symmetry:

 They didn't want to stop!

And that was our week 2!

How I Organize Classical Conversations, My Father's World 1st Grade , and Pre-K

Ready to go to our first day of CC (Classical Conversations)

The boys were so excited to get to go to school! My first grader even made a comment that it was so cool that he had two schools- homeschool and CC! 

Here is our take home art and science from week 1:

We started My Father's World first grade (and Jonah's Pre-k) curriculum a month earlier just so I could figure out how to manage everything at the same time. How on earth do mother's of more than two kids keep things straight? I decided my method for mischief managed would be the workbox system. Here is my organization set-up:

When we are ready to start school (usually 9am), I say "Get me box #1 and #2!" The boys race to get the boxes out and bring them to the kitchen table.

Box 1: MFW  Bible assignments (including Proverbs memory work) and my teacher's manual

Box 2:  MFW 1st grade workbook and phonics worksheet for the day. Sometimes I will add an easy reader in there for him to read. 

Box 3: Classical Conversations flip book (memory work put on 4x6 cards in a $1 photo album from Melody Stroud on CC Connected) and any project/library book to add for the day. We also review/listen to the songs and work on all memory work for the week. This week somehow became an obsession with ships (because we are learning about the ships the Nina, the Pinta , and the Santa Maria).

 This was actually part of our MFW curriculum to learn the blend "Sh"- we cut out a ship and wrote other words that began or ended in "sh".

 Little brother wanted a fold out ship too, so I wrote the names of Columbus's ships on it for him, and we reviewed the history sentence together.

Box 4: Has the number of the day laminated/reusable page with beans, coins, and other items needed

YELLOW Box 4 is for my yellow loving 4 year old. He can get this box whenever he is ready (usually when big brother is working through box 2). It has his coloring worksheet for the day along, with the teacher's manual for his Sing,Spell, Read and Write Pre-k curriculum. 

Box 5: Math workbook pages and manipulatives for the day. (Usually I place a few of the pattern blocks in there to remind me to get the box out)

Even pattern blocks were used to make the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria. This was all my four year old's idea:

We worked more on the skip 2's (from CC AND MFW)

My Father's World had the great idea of matching up socks, then looking at the matches as you skip count by two. This is a great visual for kids!(and a great way to get the socks organized). I actually used this when I tutored at CC and the 5 and 6 year olds liked counting the socks.

  Here they are putting two stickers in each box before they skip count by two:

Here they are singing the CC skip count by 2's song:

YELLOW Box 5: Pre-k extras for four year old (aka: what he gets when he wants more school). Other worksheet and library books

Box 6: Science and science related library books OR Art Project

our Science seed/ sprouts project

Art fun from Ed Emberley Book

Box 7: Read -Aloud book (right now we are reading a book about Squanto to get a head start on CC week 2)

BOX 8: Future worksheets (they do not pull this box out)

As I am a very visual when it comes to organizing things, I am hoping all my pics/visuals will help a fellow home-school mom who just needs to SEE how to put it all together. 

Reading Can Be Fun Too!

My son loves numbers and science, not reading. I am always looking for new fun ways to get him excited about reading. Give him a book, he acts like it is the end of the world (unless a little Bob book).

           Now, give him a Hulk and tell him to smash words....he thinks that is the best thing EVER!

It's very simple... write words on folded papers (Hulk doesn't like the color pink either), and say something like "Hulk smash the word "duck!"

 Hulk is in search...

Hulk SMASH!

Laughter will follow:), especially if you dramatically mourn the loss of the "duck."

This game was a smashing hit for sure! (Yes, pun intended)

Here is another game from our My Father's World curriculum that we played at the end of week 4:

There are 10 sentences on those pre-printed papers with actions for him to perform (but first he has to read the sentence).

For example, he is reading "Get a sock wet."

 

I love this set of pictures as you can see how they think this is such a funny/crazy idea!

Then, they look at me waiting for me to tell them if they REALLY can get a sock WET! LOL!

 There is nothing funnier than a wet sock at home-school. Who would have thought?

Oh, and thanks a lot My Father's World for making one of the sentences "Jump on the bed." He isn't allowed to jump on his bed....usually:). 

Another silly favorite was "Sip milk from a mug." Simple, yet silly, is the key. I'm not going to give away all the MFW sentences, but this game is easy to replicate with your own sentences. Just make sure to stick with the short vowel words, or whatever words your child is able to read. He read 10 complete sentences, and then I made about a dozen more because he didn't want to stop! He read more with that game than he had done all week! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! He will be a reader without even realizing it.

MFW First Grade: Math Can Be FUN!

Yes, math can be fun. Both of my boys can't WAIT until number of the day time! This is what the beginning set up looks like:

I found the printables for the number of the day on the My Father's World 1st Grade facebook group page. If you are using this curriculum, I highly recommend you join this group and download lots of wonderful goodies from the files! We have two cups for counting beans (my little one had to have his own), a cup for the coins we count, and I also added counting beads that they take turns putting on the pipe cleaner. 

 I laminated the printable and gave my boys a washable dry-erase marker:

on day 10 we glued the beans to a popsicle stick to show 10's and 1's. 

Here is day 11's number of the day work:

The My Father's World 1st grade curriculum comes with pattern blocks and an animal pattern book.

Bragging moment: My 6 year old did all three of these without any help from me:

It also comes with unifix cubes. They LOVE making patterns:

We took a break from Math-U-See Alpha (+9 was frustrating him), and we are using this book that comes with the curriculum. Honestly, it is too easy for him, but we are building math confidence back up.

Yesterday was Dozen Day. We celebrated the fact that we reached the 12th day of school! 

We read Madeline, a beloved book that my mom (and probably my dad too) can quote in its entirety. They read it to me and my sister SOOOO many times:).

(there are 12 little girls in case you don't understand the Dozen Day connection)

We counted a dozen eggs in the carton, and then we made a dozen hard-boiled eggs. (Hmmm, I just remembered they made two of them their pets and I should probably go find where they put them outside)

We also did a dozen jumping jacks, (we counted "1,2,3,4...11, a DOZEN!), a dozen squats, a dozen regular jumps, and anything else active they could think of.

I baked a dozen muffins, with a little help, but by that time they were over dozen day and ready for the weekend:). 

And who says math can't be fun? I may have a hard time convincing that math is fun when we get to Algebra, but for now... we shall count eggs and be happy!