Starting First Grade!!!

     Just look at my precious boy! Isn't he the sweetest?!! This child is my Little Ray of Sunshine! If he is with me, he cannot let the day go by without LOTS of hugs and kisses! I just knew, when I was pregnant with him, that I was finally getting my little girl! But, no! Another boy! But, I don't know what I'd ever do without my Sweet Landon! And now, he is a whopping 6 years old!!! What?!! No way!!! He is so eager to learn! For years he watched his big bothers doing school, asking to do some too. I'd have to come up with "school work" for him. Last year, when he started Kindergarten, he was super excited! "Yes!" he said. " I FINALLY get to do REAL School!!" LOL!!! The only thing he'd rather do than schoolwork, is play his DS he got from the Grandparents a couple of years ago.

     And now, my Baby is a Big First Grader! He's excited about finally getting to do things like History and Science, now.

     This year, he will be doing Easy Peasy, Math U See, and Spelling U See. He's doing the Jack and Jill for Spelling, the same as Blake. For Math, he'll be doing Alpha, which focuses on addition & subtraction for single-digit numbers and other topics. He does his Math so quickly, though, that I think I'll be getting him the Beta very soon. This book focuses on addition & subtraction for multiple-digit numbers and other topics. At the rate he's going, if he doesn't slow down, I think he will soon catch up with Blake.
     As for Easy Peasy, he'll be doing Level 1 and Year 1.

For Level 1, he will do the following:

• Language Arts - This consists of Reading, English, Rhyme, Writing, and more. I believe I read in there somewhere, that he will be creating his own Comic Book! He's very excited about that!!
• Computer Skills - Once a week, he will study Basic Computer Usage, Internet Safety, Computer Vocabulary, Word Processing, and More.
• Thinking Skills - Once a week, he will develop his logical thinking skills while playing all sorts of fun games.

For Year 1, he will do the following:

• Bible - He will be reading through the book of Matthew and the historical Old Testament books from Genesis to Esther, then answering questions based on each passage.
• History - He will be studying Ancient History by studying the history of mankind from ancient Egypt through the renaissance. This will include: ancient Egypt, ancient China, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Mayas, Indus Valley, Greeks, Romans, Vikings, middle ages, feudal Japan, Mongols, renaissance, Reformation, and early explorers.
• Science - He will explore two branches of biology: human anatomy and plant life.
• Music - Once a week, he will listen to music from ancient times up through the renaissance. He will read about the development of instruments and how music was used in different cultures. He will learn about wind, string and percussion instruments and the basics of note reading and rhythm. All of this will tie into that week's lessons in History.
• Art - Once a week, he will study art throughout history from ancient cave paintings through the renaissance. He will study art of various cultures through history including Egypt, China, India, Greece, Rome, Japan and Viking. He will get to try to imitate artwork while learning about line, color, motion and perspective. All of this ties into each week's lessons from History, too.
• P.E. & Health - Once a week, he will be doing the same thing as Blake. He will study about health and do lots of activities to keep him moving.

     I'll be doing all of Landon's work with him, this year. He is good at reading, but is very slow, so he will need my help, to get through in time. So, not only will I be learning everything Blake learns, I'll be learning all of Landon's work with him! Yay me! :-)

     So, we're about ready to start! Monday morning, Lord Willing, if nothing happens, we will be starting our 2014-2015 School Year!

On a side note:
As you probably know, or else guessed by the name of the blog, we have named our little homeschool Lighthouse School for Boys. We came up with that name after we decided to do Book it! one year. Anyone who knows me well, can figure out why Lighthouse. And the fact that we have all boys just made the other part make sense. LOL!! So, we have a name for our school. This year, I think we need a slogan for this school year. We've been talking it over. We came up with all kinds of goofy ones that rhymed with 2014, like Lean Mean Learning Machines in the School Year of 2014!, or Getting Used to a Routine in 2014!, or Moving to a Submarine in 2014!, or School Will Convene in 2014!, or my personal favorite Minding the Queen in 2014! LOL!!! We could do Less Time on the Screen in 2014 but since all of the school work is done on the computer...... Jacob and I also came up with Letting Jesus be Seen, and Not Being Mean, as we do School in 2014!!, but it didn't flow very well. We decided the Letting Jesus be Seen in 2014 flowed better.
Then I decided that to make it rhyme with 2014 meant I HAD to change it EVERY YEAR. I may or may not want to do that. So, after talking to my Mom, Sister, and Sister in Law, I finally decided on this:

Make Us Like Jesus

 

What do you think? Tell me your thoughts! We'd love to hear from you!


God Bless!!

Matthew 5:14

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.