School update

 I couldn't be happier with how school is going this year so far. I have listened to Raelee's que's and we have gone from there. I have really made a point to do a lot of projects with her this year. She can do most of the work for them herself and that makes it more fun. She has a much better understanding of how things work than she has ever had in the past. It's awesome to see her face light up when the project goes as planned. We also do the projects first thing (her choice). I am finding that we actually get them done. If we wait to do them until the very last, chances are, it'll be put off until another day. With doing them first thing, they get done.  It's working great.

I have a handwritten lesson plan and that has gone great. I love checking everything off every day to show that I got it done. It's really holding me accountable. Raelee also has her own checklist so that she can see what she has to do for the day and what she has left to do.

I decided that we are going to go 'heavy' on the Language Arts. Specifically Grammar, Spelling and Writing.  All three of those are going great. Grammar is actually her 3rd favorite subject (History and Science are first) right now.  Spelling is going better and better. I keep waiting to see real life application, but it has been few and far between.  She was actually excited today during a science experiment when she asked me if she spelled 'soil' right. Indeed she did! Love to see her smile over the small victories. She really is trying to spell better, and that's all I can ask for.

Right now, in Science, we are learning all about animals. More specifically, simple animals right now. We have learned about Sea Jellies (Jellyfish) and worms so far. We have many more exciting animals to cover in the coming weeks. It's amazing how much I don't know about these animals. I'm learning right along with her!

In History, we talked about Nomads and the Fertile Crescent. We just started talking about the Nile River and Egyptians. We have lots of fun Egyptian projects planned and she is super excited about them. We are loving Story of the World. She asks to read more than what she is supposed to cover for the day. She is retaining it also so that's good.

Math is going great as always. We are still covering 2nd grade material in the book..just quick reminders of how to do things. In another few lessons, we will get into the 3rd grade material. I have no doubt that she can handle it.

That about sums it up. I'm super excited about how everything is going and can't wait to dive deeper into our 3rd grade year! 

Here are some pictures of what we are up to

Science project about worms with the help from Sunshine.

Caught...red handed...lol (she was trying to get the oats out of the bottom of the cup)

Honey and Sunshine helping with the worm science project. I don't recommend this at home as a few of our worms disappeared. Hmmmm.

Our worm habitat. Hopefully in a few days, we'll see how worms dig tunnels and combine layers.

Making a model of the Nile River. Again with the chickens help (do you see a pattern here?) Once again, I don't recommend this when you are dealing with grass seed.

Our finished "Nile". Grass seed planted and models put in. It wouldn't be a completed project without Littlest Pet Shop..rofl

History Pockets activity...just busy work really, but she loves doing it and I read to her while she colors. She retains a lot that way.

Cave Painting

Activity showing the correlation between time periods. This stuck with her and when she heard the words "Past, The Present and the Future" she came running to me saying that the people in the song took my words. Glad she gives me so much credit but I had to set her straight on that one.

Her little checklist

Our current read-aloud

We had an experiment to show that worms have senses just like we do. We had a series of little things to do with the worms that showed that they prefer one thing over another, etc. I wasn't convinced that this experiment would work all that well, but the worms didn't disappoint. Every test we put them through, they passed with flying colors. It was great. In our experimentation, we found that worms prefer dark, cool, moist soil. We knew that already of course, but the experiment was fun.

Worm project. This one was to see if worms liked dark or light better. We found that they much preferred the dark.