Week 5

We got some new manipulatives from Saxon.  The kids were excited to try them out.

We also had fun making the "paper doll" style ship from MFW.  This was a great way to review the "sh" sound.

Week 4

We had a busy week!  It rained a lot so we did not get outside as much as we wanted, but we found plenty of other things to do. This was our Wednesday PE class:

We continued our study of plants and flowers and used our previously dried flowers to decorate bookmarks.

We also continued watching our bean plants. They are really growing! 

On Friday, we constructed flowers and labeled the parts. Both kids were excited to complete this activity!

Fun at the Fair

A trip to our county fair tied in nicely with our study of plants. The kids enjoyed seeing all the different fruits, vegetables, and flowers that were being judged. 

Week 3

We continued our study of plants and flowers this week. On Monday, C made her scroll and we also constructed a worm habitat. We dug in the dirt piles around our shop, but were only able to find one worm since it has been so dry. The habitat consists of dirt and sand topped with dead leaves. We covered the top of our jar with tin foil and poked holes in it for air. The sides are covered in brown paper so the worm won't hide in the dark center.

We also went on a nature walk and collected different wild flowers. C is pressing them in a book and we will then use them for an art project. M also joined us for some lessons and worked on making AB patterns.

End of Week 2

We concluded the week by reading more library books about plants. I had already planned to do the MFW bean Science experiment, but C saw the celery/ food dye experiment in the back of one of the books and wanted to try that too, so we did!

We also made our Jewish calendar. Instead of the MFW number of the day activities , I've been having C use some freebies I found on TPT awhile ago.

Finally, we got out the pattern blocks and the pattern book and C practiced making a crab and an elephant.  

Crafternoon!

This afternoon, we took advantage of a wonderful offering created by our favorite local toy store, Pufferbellies Toys & Books.  Pufferbellies hosts a monthly "crafternoon" where families can create a unique craft or piece of art work. Today was fruit and vegetable printing on canvas bags and they came out beautifully!  I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful toy store in our sweet little town.

Week 2, Monday

We are finally back on track today! I added CLE Language Arts to our schedule because I feel MFW is a little light on grammar for first.  It only took an additional 10 minutes and I think it will be a great addition. Today C covered consonants and vowels. We began our study of plants and I will continue to pull in ant and worm info.  I think we are going to construct the worm habitat found in the old addition of MFW.

    Mason spent time practicing his ABCs using the felt board and was able to spell his name.  After that, he practiced cutting  construction paper and gluing the scraps with a glue stick.

   After we finished, I pulled out the pattern blocks for the first time and let the kids play. They were a huge hit!

Week 1

Our week got off to a rocky start when my husband broke his leg, so we had to use the weekend to finish a few activities. The kids really got into our study of ants this week and we took many opportunities to get outside and observe ants in action. The highlight was discovering an ant colony next to our house and watching an ant drag a dead grasshopper into the colony. I wish I'd had my camera!

  Today we finished up our ant and worm books. I've been using our public library to round out our Science selections.

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We also made some ant colony artwork. So much fun!

Tomorrow we will make our MFW scrolls and get ready to begin Week 2!

Our School Room

Here are a few views of our school room. We are using a corner of our basement that didn't really have a purpose before.

Instead of desks, we are working at a dining room table. On the end of the table, we keep our book box with our additional weekly reading. Not pictured is C's book basket, where she keeps her workbooks, reading book, and our devotional . I usually end up putting my teacher's guide in there too.

On the sideboard , we keep our bean and money count jars, along with our calendar months and numbers. To the right of that is our Math flash cards (those often reside on the table).  The expandable file folders contain our MFW worksheets, organized by week. Extra workbooks, teacher's guides, completed work, and additional textbooks are in the file organizers. Manipulatives and extra supplies are stored in the boxes on the far right.

This Rubbermaid organizer contains leveled readers and additional books that don't really fit with any of our themes.

An additional view of our room with our calendar and weather chart on the far left wall.

Welcome to our home school on the web!  I'll be documenting our journey as we begin our first year of homeschooling.  My son, M, will be attending preschool 3 days a week and joining us on Thursdays and Fridays.  The main focus of this blog will be my daughter C's experiences using the My Father's World First Grade curriculum.  I've learned so much from reading other homeschool blogs and I hope to share my own insights as we progress throughout the year.  Thanks for reading!
Tara