Homeschooling

This year Liana is 4, so if we were sending her to school she would be in Kindy. So we are now officially (although we don't need to register for another 2 years) homeschooling. I thought I would post what we are doing for "school" this term.
FIAR: Our main curriculum is Five in a Row. We are just finishing up BFIAR and hope to start FIAR in a couple of months.

Bible: Joyful Heart Character from hubbardscupboard.org. We are also using her memory verse program. I love this website, I have used her 2 year old and 3 year old programs with Liana for the last couple of years and they are great.

Reading: Sight word booklets from hubbardscupboard.org. Reading lessons from readinglesson.com. We are just beginning blending sounds and cvc words.

Maths: hmmmmm, well, um, we are just learning naturally. Counting, measuring etc.

Artist Study: This term we are studying Vincent Van Gogh. So far we have looked at his pictures of the Roulin Family and painted our own family pictures. This week we are looking at The Olive Trees.

Music: Liana is still learning Suzuki Violin. Our composer this term is Bach. We are listening to the classical Kids CDs. Liam is also in the Suzuki Early childhood class and will start coming to Liana's violin classes to watch towards the end of the year.

Latin: We are part of a class called Kinderclassics which is for 3 to 6 year olds. It introduces the children to Latin through classics. Last term we read Aesop's Fables. This term we have been learning about Romulus and Remus. The children play games and sing songs and learn basic Latin words. Lots of fun!!

Both kids are still doing swimming lessons and loving it.

Phew!!! That looks like a lot but really most "subjects" only consists of about 10 minutes a day.

Liam is tagging along for the ride. I may start doing some of Hubbards Cupboard Bible Rhyme prog for 2 year old during the year. But at this point he is sooo not ready for anything structured.

Anyway, that is what our homeschool looks like this year. Will share some of our BFIAR lapbooks later.

Liana's 4th Birthday

Well, I finally got around to it. It is only 2 months after her birthday, but better late than never!! Liana had a great time at her party. She loooooved her princes dress and castle cake. the kids were all wonderful and everyone enjoyed playing and making and eating! So here are some pictures of the "GREEN PRINCESS PARTY" with the birthday girl and a few of her friends.

Birthday Blues (or greens in this case!)

So Christmas is over and I am already planning Liana's birthday. In fact, I sat down on Christmas night after Paul had gone to work and made up party invitations.....sigh.... 2 weeks to go. Oh, I just loooove having her birthday so close to Christmas.

Anyway, Miss Muffet has requested a green princess party - interesting combination don't you think? Have you ever tried finding a green princess dress?? Don't bother unless you plan on paying in excess of $80AU for a custom one. So I resorted to looking for green fairy dresses on e-bay. Given that we only had 2 weeks I figured I should only buy from our state. Anyway I found two YAY!!!!!! But wait, when I showed Liana she quickly announced that they weren't green???????? They were dark green and she wants light green....sigh....so its back to the drawing board.

Now don't even get me starte don the birthday cake!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!!

Blueberries for Sal

We have just finished rowing Blueberries for Sal by RobertMcCloskey. I looove this book. Liana never grew tired of hearing it and there were so many great things to do that we ended up rowing it for 2 weeks!

Here are some photos of the lapbook we made for this book. First is the open lapbook. Then we have a minit book on ways fruits grow. Next is cards for what bears eat. Then we have a sorting booklet for Sal, Little Bear or both. The basket shows different foods we can cook using blueberries. We made blueberry muffins and blueberry pancakes and ate lots of blueberries on their own!!! YUM!!! The last photo shows the life cycle of a blueberry bush.

We also did a blueberry painting and played lots of maths games using the blueberry and number cards.

Next up I think we will row Goodnight Moon.

Christmas Photos

We've just had some Christmas photos done by a friend of ours. Thought I would share a few of the cuter ones!

1 Corinthians 13 (sort of!!)

I love this Christmas version of 1 Corinthians 13. I've read it on several blogs so thought I would post it too!

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny glass balls but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.
.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.
.
If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.
.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.
.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way.
.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
.
Love never fails.
.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love will endure.

Now if only I can remember these things when Liana empties the flour all over Liam when we are cooking....sigh

A Star Is Born!!!

Liana has been learning Suzuki violin this year and today had her very first performance, a christmas concert. I was worried how she would go as she is not always co-operative in lessons, especially the group lessons. I needn't have worried though. The only problem we had was keeping her off the stage when she wasn't performing!!! She had an absolute ball.

At the end of the concert the littlies played bells while the older children played Christmas carols. Liana was VERY enthusiastic about her bell playing to the point where she was even standing up playing solo while all the others were sitting quietly during the slower carols.

The photos are not great as the lighting was bad but you get the idea. I will post some better video footage when we buy a lead for out new camcorder - YAY!!! Another new toy.