Summer Days

Wow!  Summer sure does fly.  We have been soaking it all in.  Here’s a little peek at what we’ve been doing the last few weeks.

Building and knocking over.

 

Observing and learning.

 

Dumping, refilling and drawing.

   

Spooning, pouring and soaking.

   

Hiding and sliding.

 

Driving and rolling.

  

Playing and racing.

   

To top it off, we’re taking advantage of summer movies and cheap crafts.

What have you been doing?

Please be aware that affiliate links may be present.  If you purchase anything through an affiliate link, you give back a percentage to our family…thanks!

Summer Read Alouds 2014

My son is a big fan of reading.  He especially loves having his Daddy read to him before bed.  So, this summer we are using Sonlight’s summer suggestions for elementary aged boys.  We actually purchased them through Amazon.

Here’s a short synopsis for each.

A Tale of Gold

GOLD! GOLD! scream the headlines in July 1897. Fourteen-year-old James Erickson, alone in the world after his father's death, is mesmerized when he sees the first ship of prospectors enter the San Francisco harbor. Caught up in the fever, he books passage on a steamer up to Alaska. Treacherous treks, con men and bitter cold await. Is fortune waiting around the next bend?

 

Floors

Welcome to the amazing Whippet Hotel, where there's an adventure on every floor, the guests are either mad or mysterious, and ducks are everywhere! Leo knows almost everything about the hotel (he is the janitor's son, after all). The mystery begins when four cryptic boxes lead him to hidden floors, strange puzzles and an unexpected friend or two.

 

The Adventures of Sir Balin the Ill-Fated

Many years ago, the storytellers say, King Arthur held court with his gallant Knights of the Round Table. But seriously, when "ill-fated" is part of his title, you know it's not surprising when things go sour (and often) for Sir Balin. Still, no matter the risk to life and limb or how dire the circumstances may appear, a loyal and gallant knight never refuses an adventure!

 

The Boxcar Children Beginning

Before they were the Boxcar Children, Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny lived with their parents at Fair Meadow Farm. Newbery Award–winning author Patricia MacLachlan pays loving tribute to the classic novel by Gertrude Chandler Warner in this story of the Alden children's origins and challenges faced before their boxcar adventures began.

 

 

Neither my husband nor I have read any of these, so we’re all a little bit excited to dig in.  I’ll let you know what we think of each one after we read it.

What are some of your favorite read-aloud chapter books?

Please be aware that affiliate links may be present.  If you purchase anything through an affiliate link, you give back a percentage to our family…thanks!

Summer Schedule

During the summer we usually take it pretty easy.  However, I like to have a schedule in place all the same to have a little bit of structure.  Our whole day is blocked out, but it is VERY flexible.  Really it is only a guide for days we don’t venture out.  Here’s our plan.

I also love the idea of having a theme for each day, such as one day a week going to the library, another day for fun outings, etc. (Thanks Pamela for the suggestion!) I just haven’t gotten that far.  You can check out more great suggestions on this Facebook post.

Do you have a summer schedule?  Any super summer fun suggestions?

Please be aware that affiliate links may be present.  If you purchase anything through an affiliate link, you give back a percentage to our family…thanks!

Summer!

This week we have been learning all about summer and enjoying it as well! 

Here is what we’ve been doing this week. Let us know what you think.  We hope by providing these materials to you free of charge, it will make your life easier! 

Lesson Plan: The lesson plan includes all the lessons for the week, as well as optional ideas. Items following the lesson plan are just the printables or links to websites we used to teach these plans.  (Please note: On top of our lesson plan we are reading books daily that relate to our theme.)

Memory Verse: This memory card is for daily use during our calendar time.  You can learn more about calendar time at 1+1+1=1 or Homeschool Creations.  Our weekly devotional is an object lesson that will help your child apply the meaning of the verse to them.

Day 1:

Summer Spelling- This activity will help your child begin to recognize that when letters are combined they form words.

Roll Graph Summer Clothes- This activity will introduce your child to data collection and interpretation. Make sure you bars are different colors for easier reading. Once you’ve completed the graph (first item to # of choice), make sure to ask simple questions.  Such as, “Which color is taller? What item is that?  Which color is shorter? Which item is that? How many times did we give the (item) a sticker?”  Make sure to show them how to use the graph, instead of just counting the stickers.

Dress for Summer- Allow your child to learn how to put on clothes that they would wear in summer. Encourage them to try and do things on their own, but help if needed.

Day 2:  

Beginning Sound Clip Cards- Helps your child to focus in on the beginning letter sounds he/she hears and then to identify which letter makes that sounds.

Color By Number-  This activity will help your child recognize whole numbers 1-6 and reinforce colors.

Melting Activity-Take a couple ice cubes outside.  Put one in the shade and one in the sun.  Have your child predict which one they think will melt quicker.  Observe what happens.

Day 3:

Sprinkler Beginning Writing- (Can also be used for cutting practice.)You can use this document over and over again if you laminate it and then have you child write with dry erase markers. (Black dry erase wipes off easier than color ones.)

How Many Beach Balls in the pool?- This activity will help your child begin to read, count and model whole numbers 1-10.

Summer Water Fun- Get outside and have some water fun.

We hope you enjoy these lesson plans and please let us know if you have any issues with downloading or using the items provided.  

Please do not sell or host these files anywhere else. You MAY link people here. When leading others to these printables, please link to THIS page, not the 4shared file page.  Thanks! (See TOU)

Summer Fun!

This unit offers a wide range of possibilities for field trips.  Summer in general is all about vacations and water. So, we headed to a near by splash park to get cooled off from the 90 degree weather!

   

The boy was a bit timid about really getting in there.  I’m not sure why.  Last year we were all over the splash parks.  But, one thing he couldn’t get enough of was the “mini” water slides.  If the line hadn’t gotten longer as the day went on, he may have never stopped going down them.

Here are a few other “field trip” ideas:

• Go to $1 Movies. Our local Cinemark is offering a morning movie a week for $1.  So, make sure to check your local theaters to find out if they have any special summer programs.
• Visit a city pool.
• Head out to the nearest body of water. Trips to the lake, river and even the ocean are a summer must.  (Highly jealous of all you that will have access to a beach this summer.  My CA roots longs to hear the crashing of the waves again.)
• If you’re looking to save money by staying at home, then running through sprinklers was always one of my favorites.  Don’t forget the old timer,  slippin’ slide.  Last, but surely not least, water balloons are bound to make a splash with your kiddos.

We want to hear what you do in the summer to stay cool!  We know you all are full of fabulous ideas, so leave a comment and share your awesomeness with all of us.

Shine Like the Sun

This week our theme is Summer!  Our verse comes from Matthew 13:43.

“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father”

Materials:

• The Memory Verse Card
• Some sunglasses

Directions:

• Say the verse above with your tot.  We suggest that you print the verse off and use it every morning with your calendar time.  If you don’t do calendar time still say the verse each morning with your tot before you begin tot school.
• This particular devotional will work best outside. 
• Follow the cues given in this devotional. 

Talk with your child about the following:
You know, we are heading into a very fun time of the year.  This week we have been doing things that talk about summer.  We’ve been learning about some of the things we do, and we’ve been talking about how it feels outside in the summer.  One of the things that we see a lot of in the summer is the sun.  The sun shines on us more in the summer than at any other time of the year!  The sun can be very bright, huh? 

Sometimes when its really bright outside, we wear sunglasses, like these, to help our eyes because the sun can be very bright and make it hard to see.  When we come outside on a sunny day, we can help but notice that the sun is out.   We see the light, we feel the heat, and we know the sun is shining.   

Our Bible verse today talks about the sun.  It tells us that when we believe in Jesus, we shine like the sun.  Just like we can’t help but see the sun when its out, when we have Jesus in our heart people can’t help but see that He’s there.  People will see the way we treat other people, and the way we love, serve, and help others and they will see God shine through us.  We want to shine so bright for Jesus, that everyone knows it!   Lets pray,

Dear Father, We know that you have made us to serve and bring Glory to you.  We want to shine so bright with our love for you that others will see you through us.  Help us to shine like the sun for you and your kingdom. 

Questions to ask:

• You might want to review last weeks questions with your tot.
• What should we shine like? The Sun!
• Who helps us to shine like the sun?  Jesus and God!

Summertime Books

This week we are learning all about summer!  Do you have any summer adventures planned?  I created a "What Can I Do? Can" with a big help from the Happy Home Fairy. If you haven’t checked it out, make sure you do.  Everything is already prepared for you.  All you have to do is supply the can!

Speaking of summer, we wanted to give you a heads up about our summer posting schedule. In order to take advantage of the summertime fun, we will be cutting back on our post to about 3 times a week starting next week.  We have some fun units planned, so make sure and stick around.

Now on to some book suggestions.

What are your favorite Summer books? Please leave a comment below. The more choices the better! Thanks.