Grade 2 Math and Other School News.

J started Grade 2 Math this last week. So far it's mostly review and he seems to be enjoying it. One thing  I've noticed is different is that the paces are longer. Instead of 27 pages they are 35. Which makes me wonder if the paces get longer with every grade? Not having done ACE I have no idea. I've also noticed that the writing is smaller and there are more questions per page. That makes good sense to me as the grade 1 paces did have large early reader writing and larger numbers so the kids could see them better. So instead of finishing a pace a week I expect it will take 2 weeks. Which is fine as we are in no hurry and I'm just trying to keep him busy :) He is like his Papa. Got to keep that mind busy or else!

On that note we've also started a Responsibly for Boys a Biblical based book and Raz-Kids  . He LOVES the Raz-Kids and has already gone up 2 levels. He really enjoys reading the books, doing the test and then letting the website read the book to him and his siblings. They all really enjoy it and L and E are both waiting impatiently for next year when they can do it too! We've only done a little of the 'Boys' book but I like it because it's within his reading level and he seems to enjoy reading about the boy in the book who's name is Ben.

 I also got him a couple of creationist Dinosaur activity books and both him and L enjoy them.

 Mrs. T gave us a mini book on Canada last fall and now that we are doing Canada in Social Studies we brought it out and colored it and made a book out of it. J thought it was REALLY COOL that anyone could make a book! He then read it to his siblings who were also in awe of the little book. Note to self : Next year make a few little books with the kids. They love them! We also got a "All about Canada, Exploring Canada Series" book locally and we've done some reading and fill in the blanks in it. J learned the Canadian Anthem at Awana but we read the words over a couple of times and refined it a bit!! Part of the Canada unit is learning the capital of Canada.  He can now recognize all most all the provinces ( at least the ones closest to us.)  and territories and some of their capitals and where they are. As far as I know he doesn't need to know this all yet so we're just doing it for fun! Though if I remember correctly  I think it might be in the last 2 SS Paces.
J is still trying to read 15 minutes a day and it evens out. Some days he reads for 30 minutes or an hour and the next day no time at all. Yesterday he read "A Bugs Life" and it took him an hour. He's going to do his book report on it this week.
We are still doing Mind Benders and actually are almost finished the book. I got another book "Think A Minutes' of this type by a different company with pictures as well as words and we're going to start that one after MB. This new book is actually for grades 2 and 3 but it was the only one they had in stock when I ordered and if it turns out to be too much for him we'll just keep it for next winter.

We also have about 6 'extra' projects that his teacher assigned and we are slowly working through them. One is the book report, another is a science project which Papa is going to do with J. We have some fun stuff to do too. We get to make some clay critters and some marshmallow and toothpick creations (What fun Art and Math can be!!). We both enjoy doing these extra's and they break up the Pace work nicely.

One of the things I really love about homeschooling is that it takes only a couple of hours a day! So there is always time for fun! Now that the weather is warming up and it's actually melting outside the kids have been spending a lot more time outside. The water is starting to run on the yard and the other day I found J making rivers and helping the puddles drain off. He did a great job and the puddle completely drained. I can't wait till the whole yard is running with little rivers. We love to play in the rivers and train them to go this way and that. Blocking some and draining others! We've recently gotten some Gears Gears Gears after borrowing T's and loving them. The kids love to make robots and cars and pizza (R) with them. They are great fun! We also recently got some more play food so we dug around in the kids room and found all the Kitchen stuff and the kids have been having a great time playing chef and customer, Ice Age 3, and numerous other things with it. With the kitchen and the dinosaurs bag it's amazing what they come up with!

L and E will be starting Grade 1 this year and so I've been giving them little assignments as a start to schooling. Kinda like a mini kindergarten program that I'm making up as I go along. E learned to write and spell her name (verbal) and do dot to dots and learning to draw critters and things as well as counting the teens.  She also started playing Jumpstart Preschool which she LOVES and can't get enough off. L is more prepared as he's already been playing school games for quite a while and has a real short name and learned to write it awhile ago. So he is practicing the ACE songs and sounds and coloring pictures and following directions. They are both learning to recognize letters and numbers though L has a lot of them down already. I only decided to put them both in Grade 1 together in the last couple of months and E has a bit to learn before I do. I think she'll be fine though. She's determined and is a very fast learner.. another one just like Papa. She took to the Jumpstart  (we also have the grade 1 game) game like a duck to water and has an amazing memory. She already knows all the songs for the program and now it will just be matching the sounds and songs with the letters. R has NO interest in school except to sing a few of the songs, she doesn't even really like to color! She knows her full name and can count to 10 and all her colors and that's good enough for 3 years old. The other day I heard her singing the last part of the Old Testament song... so she's learning without even trying and that's how it should be at her age!

Oh and Thanks Sarah from Scott School for showing me how to link on a word!! :)