The first 6 weeks back to school Whoa!

It was such a fun start to the year! Even though it’s been hot and humid, we had a blast making a garden schedule, planting seeds and making garden beds, learning about Ancient India and aboriginal art, and reading books (like one about dog training).

We started off making a garden schedule for the new school year. While we have not stopped planting I wanted to remind the kids that gardening is a year round project and there are many things to consider.

Planting schedules, harvesting, bugs, preparing, canning or other forms of prep, and when to start germination for seeds. Plus we went over beneficial and not beneficial bugs, what to use instead of pesticides and how to take care of the problem before it gets too bad.

There were a few days of rain, and tons of humidity (which we are not used to) but overall this has been an exciting time. I’m looking forward to seeing all the new things we’ll be learning throughout the year!

Photosynthesis was our 5th grade topic and we learned how plants gather their food, water, and energy (light).

We also went over how plants absorb carbon monoxide and release oxygen for clean air.

We talked about why you would want a variety of plants in your garden as well as flowers to keep a small ecosystem of diversity.

6 weeks of math, STEAM, art, science and history

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As always, we are so grateful for our community who supports us with donations, shares our stories with friends and family, and helps us continue to grow.

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Week 6 is Complete

We had a very good week learning new things and reviewing what we have learned so far in Health for K, 1st, and 4th. We are almost done cleaning out our garden beds for the next seeds and plants. Even though we are not on track we will still be fine planting in the greenhouse and outdoors with some shade tarps. We also have a huge crop of eggplant which we are going to salt, skin, and cook down to use in soup bases and curries.

Always eager to learn. Our Kindergartner has been having so much fun doing story time with her older sister in 1st grade and she loves doing the coloring pages after we read the stories.

Letters and a cute quote I found

We have been doing old fables and stories each week and this week we did the story of Prince Darling and Stone Soup. These were such fun stories, I especially loved the stone soup story because it taught a valuable lesson why you should not judge someone with nothing. Then I found this cute funny page where it said “Gardening is a Revolutionary Act”. I liked this because we teach our students the value of a single seed. One see can produce food for many.

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  K is for King

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  Gardening is a Revolutionary Act

The pictures with letters allow the students to learn their alphabet and letters without getting bored with writing letters on a single piece of paper in order. Turns out they are learning without learning.

Lets get ready for Arts & Crafts week!

Week 5 is Complete

Learning is always something we do, this we had new lessons and new concepts we learned. When the students struggle they are letting us know they need a break to regroup and refocus. Just like adults, they get distracted, upset, unmotivated and grumpy. We need to make sure we allow time for them to decompress and then get back to businesses. We have found that coloring pages and the Time In Corner has been a great addition to our schooling.

Click on picture to learn more about Generation Mindful

Gardening & Animals Outdoors

We are getting ready to have the students plant the fall garden. We have 3 of the 7 planter beds cleaned out and ready for seeds. We just have to decide what seeds we want to go where and this time we really need to get some beneficial bacteria and bugs to help our garden not get eaten. This week we harvested one of our watermelons and it was 30 Pounds!!! We put a 5 gallon water jug next to the watermelon so you can imagine how big it is!

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Our Kindergarten and 1st Grader went on an animal track expedition in the back yard. While it was rather amusing to us they were not sure what to look for so we had them draw the different types of animals they saw.

Prodigy (Math Games)

We are finding ways to make math fun and so we created a free Prodigy account for the students. The first day this week they were on it after school! I don’t want them to get over stimulated with it so I will do limits of 30-45 minutes depending on the grade.

It is time for a Microscope

After these last few weeks in science it is time to get a microscope. The students have a small magnifying glass which has been good for them but you can see they are interested in more.

Which one will be based on our search this weekend.

As we closed out the week we learned about the last day of Summer and the first day of Autumn. We have also been collecting different items for art and crafts which we will be doing after week 6.

Morning Walk, Tomatoes, and Eggplants – Week 4

We began a new morning routine at 7:30am we walk around the block for 30 minutes, picking up seeds, flowers, leaves, or naming trees and plants along the way.

Mother Holle (Story)

We read Mother Holle this week for Kindergarten and 1st grade. It was a good story about hard work, kindness and being rewarded even when it is not expected. We had the students draw pictures about what happened in the story and they did an amazing job.

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Abundance from our Garden!

We are so excited about our eggplants and tomatoes. When we get a few more eggplants we are going to make Eggplant Parmesan. We also had a surprise in the garden when we saw some golden raspberries on our bush. Also, our bell peppers are in full bloom as well and we are getting some beautiful red bell peppers.

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Lots of Seeds

This week we gathered lots of seeds and learned the cycle of a seed. When the tree is ready to prduce its fruit it creates a bud, next a flower, then a seed, last a fruit, nut, or vegetable.

Life of a seed

1st: seed

2nd: sprout

3rd: Tree

Here are seeds we collected and discovered about this week.

Week 3 is Complete

So Music we did not start again because the kids go their dad as their substitute teacher on Thursday and Friday while I was at the Doterra Convention (online)!

Spanish has been a hit!

We have had all the kids on Rosetta Stone this week and they all enjoyed the Lessons. They did Lessons 1.1 to 1.3 and pronunciation. While our Kindergartner and First Grader struggled more than our 4th and 8th Grader they still were able to understand La and El in the Masculine and Feminine the other words like come (to eat) and bebe (to drink) were a little more tricky. I think because they sound familiar.

What about Khan Academy?

Khan has been used by our Kindergartner and 1st grader and it was fun to see our Kindergartner understand how to add 1 to numbers 1-5 and how to take away 1 from 1-5. We used blocks along with the lesson and the hands on was a fun visual. The lesson was a little more challenging for our 1st grader for adding double digit number even while using blocks. We will continue to learn about how to add with block and how to subtract.

Science was a blast!

1st Grade gathered leaves and looked and them under the magnifying glass to see their veins and drew pictures.

4th Grade we had a fern leaf that we looked under a magnifying glass. – – Now I wish we had a Microscope!!! We also looked at fungi on a leaf and talked about what fungi is as well as what it does.

Week 2 is Complete

We have gotten a good schedule going and we will be starting Music in Week 3. We had a little bit of acclimating to do and to allow the students to get back to their studies daily.

• Language Arts 3 days a week
• Social Studies 3 days a week
• Mathematics 3 days a week
• Science 2 days a week
• History 1-2 days a week
• Music (Recorder (K-4) & Ukulele (8th)) 1-2 days a week
• Health/P.E 5 days a week
• Art 3 days a week

Online programs

• Khan Academy – 1 day
• Typing.com – 1 day
• The Spanish Experiment – 1 day
• Rosetta Stone – 2 days

We decided this would give the students more freedom in their studies to decide how they want to plan their day. The 4th and 8th grader can choose what subject they would like to work on and use the schedule to plan accordingly. We utilized this schedule last year but instead of doing English and Math everyday we decided 3 days a week would be more adequate.

P.E. is scheduled monthly

Last year we did running once a week on Fridays and during the week we had them chose between riding their bikes, jumping on the trampoline or we would go to the park. On days it was raining or too cold we did You Tube Videos for stretching and exercises. This year we have monthly goals for students and have running a few times a week.

Smart Games are a Success

The Smart games are fun and challenging for all ages and we picked up a couple more games at our local Toy Store. We have Cube Puzzler GO, Diamond Quest, and

We have been busy making Pickles!!

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Week 1 is complete

The students are back to their lessons and refocusing their minds to stay on track and enjoy the new school year. This first week was a success for all of them. They love their new classroom set-up and the schedule for the week (which I am sure will be modified at least once this year).

• Language Arts 3 days a week
• Social Studies 3 days a week
• Mathematics 3 days a week
• Science 2 days a week
• History 1-2 days a week
• Music (Recorder (K-4) & Ukulele (8th)) 1-2 days a week
• Health/P.E 5 days a week
• Art 3 days a week

Online programs

• Khan Academy – 1 day
• Typing.com – 1 day
• The Spanish Experiment – 1 day
• Rosetta Stone – 2 days

We decided this would give the students more freedom in their studies to decide how they want to plan their day. The 4th and 8th grader can choose what subject they would like to work on and use the schedule to plan accordingly. We utilized this schedule last year but instead of doing English and Math everyday we decided 3 days a week would be more adequate.

Obsessed Reader Challenge

We also have an Obsessed Reader in place for our 4th and 8th Grader. For the obsessed reader challenge they have a list of subjects to choose from such as; history, nature, just for fun, culture and to name a few. We will do a library excursion once a week and they can choose books to read for the week. Our 4th grader has a list of over 4,500 books to choose from and our 8th grader has a list of over 1,400 books to choose from. If they complete their challenge they will get $100.

4th grader – 136 book challenge

8th grader – 72 book challenge

Photo by Janko Ferlic on Pexels.com

We also started some new seeds for our fall garden this week and we are looking forward to learning about how plants grow with our Kindergarten and 1st grader and have them draw pictures of the plants growth process for science class. Plus our watermelon is huge! I think it is over 20 pounds now.

We also went over what books the students will be using and how many pages, lessons or stories they will have each week which gives them an idea on what to expect. They also have activities they can do throughout the week to decompress and have a 10-20 minute break. We have the Calming Corner to help with feelings and moods, thinking putty, mosaic coloring pages, and at any time they can stop to read one of their books.

Almost done with Lessons and Sprouting

We are nearing the end of the school year and our students have almost completed their books. Our Pre-school student has completed 4 of 6 of her book and is almost done with the Pre-Reading activities. Our first grader already completed the Math you see Alpha and we have been giving her assignments in the Math you See Beta. She has 4 more lessons in All About Reading Level 1 and has come a very long way in her reading. She was reading at a 0.2 Level and now she is reading My First Reading books. Our Second grader is finished with Math you see Beta and we have been doing Math you See Gamma Lessons A & F daily, she is on lesson 13 already. She has been enjoying the Mystery of History Volume 1 book along with the activities. Our Seventh Grader has 5 more lessons in the Math you See Pre-Algebra and she is has 5 weeks of stories left in the Mosdos Pearl English book. She has made great strides in her writing, grammar and spelling with the Grammar Book and the Spelling you See.

We are very happy with the way the year evolved for all of the students and teachers. This 3rd-Trimester has been exciting for the students with the addition of more art and agriculture.

We found a humming bird nest on the light plug outside the house. It is so tiny and the humming bird kept coming back and forth but I was not able to get a picture of it.

Beautiful salad with homemade sprouts, lettuce from our garden and Veggies from the Co-op we are part of.

We have been learning to sprout. So far we have sprouted Lentils (pictured above), clover seeds, mung beans, and wheat berries.

Our mindful class has been coming along as well. We are teaching the students that negative behavior is not a way to act or to punish. Creating a positive environment in the classroom and in the home is a balancing act and should be something that allows each child and adult to grow. Communication is the balance of life and should be provided as a tool to excel. There is no reason to use negative punishments when you can communicate through the situation. Talk about what each person thought and understand what happened. Usually it is a matter of miscommunication and it turns out nothing was wrong to begin with.

SAT 10 Testing, Strawberries & Games

We began the SAT10 testing on Monday this week and it went really well and we will be sending the booklets and scoring sheet back to the company we ordered from. We are excited to see what the scores will be for our 2nd and 7th grader because it will give us the information for what books to get for next year. We are not going to focus on the actual grade as we are the level they are testing in. This way the students will not struggle with the curriculum and we can help them progress in their schooling.

Playing King of Tokyo and getting our art on with pastel colors.

Our strawberry patch is doing really well and we have been getting around 2-3 strawberries a day. Here are some pictures of our strawberries, potatoes, beets and spinach. The students have been enjoying their agriculture class and we will be learning about solar greenhouses beginning next week.

We are still enjoying the Qigong routine at 8am we have been doing different videos about 10-15 minutes long on You Tube.

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Garden Project

The spring garden has been planted and the students helped plant, water, and weed the yard and garden. Here are some pictures of the plants we planted this week together. We have lettuce, onions, strawberries, snap beans, tomatoes and cabbage.

Our mindful class has been coming along as well. We are teaching the students that negative behavior is not a way to act or to punish. Creating a positive environment in the classroom and in the home is a balancing act and should be something that allows each child and adult to grow. Communication is the balance of life and should be provided as a tool to excel. There is no reason to use negative punishments when you can communicate through the situation. Talk about what each person thought and understand what happened. Usually it is a matter of miscommunication and it turns out nothing was wrong to begin with.

Waldorf, Art, Gardening and Family Time

Spring Break is finally here and progress reports went out for the 2nd Trimester. While the students are out on Spring Break we gave them painting projects for them to decorate and purchased plenty of vegetable for our spring garden.

The garden is going to be a lot of to work on during spring break because the students can enjoy getting their hands dirty and planting food for the family.

We also purchased some games for the family to play and have game nights.

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We decided on the SAT10 for the students

SAT10 ended up being our choice for the testing because it included the testing guidelines we wanted and it also shows which grade level they are suited for in English, Math, Science and Reading. We only purchased the tests for our 2nd grade & 7th grade since our 1st grader is still developing her reading/comprehension skill.

Waldorf style learning –

For this next trimester we are excited to introduce a combination of our schooling and the Waldorf style of learning. We are going to include classes for music, art (more painting, pastels, and coloring), hand work such as finger knitting, stitching, crochet, and sewing.

We have a Ukulele, Guitar, and a keyboard for the music which we found some online learning and fun songs for the students to be excited about learning. Here is a website we found for the Ukulele which has all types of genre music for their style.

Since language is a part of our education already we are going to have language 2 or 3 times a week, continuing Spanish and adding sign language for the 3rd Trimester.