Believers Academy

The Emond Family Gazette

2010-08-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

Trevor has decided that since we have so many blogs between the two of us, that it would be better to combine them all into one big family blog. So that is what we have done. I'm still trying to work out how to use the thing since it's not blogger, but hopefully i'll get it working good.

So continue following us go to http://www.z2ti.com/ "The Emond Family Gazette".

Money Math and Number Trains

2010-08-24T19:08:00.001-07:00

Glorianna gets to add a new car to her train every time she learns a new number. She eagerly awaits each new number, as she loves to make the train bigger. She is also working on her coloring at the same time, since I have her color the boxcar before she adds it to the train.

Zion is reviewing adding and subtracting of money, but is having fun with it this time, because he gets to use his school money to do the problem. So some he has to do on paper and some he gets to use the money for.

In this problem we had....$495 - $242 (he placed the total amount of money on the table and then removed the money he was subtracting)

equals $253

Glorianna is working on her shapes and colors. She already knew most of them, but while we are reviewing and learning them all over again, she is also learning to color correctly. I have her color whatever shape we are working on, and she thinks she is doing me a big favor. Can't you tell she is so proud?

School Update

2010-08-16T05:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we have completed 2 weeks of school, and will be starting on week 3, today. The kids are loving it. Zion has completed "Little House in the Big Woods" and will be starting on a new book this week. (updates on that a little later this week).

Azariah is learning to write in cursive and is doing very well at it. I do believe his handwriting is going to be much neater then his brother. But in Zion's defence, he is left handed. And I haven't met a lefty yet, who has neat handwriting. HA-HA!

Glorianna is learning a lot. I'm having to come up with extra stuff for her to do, tho, as she doesn't want to stop, when her lesson is over. She really needs to work on her coloring neatness. She loves to color, but is just not very neat at it. I realize she is only 4, but I know she can do better if she just sets her mind to it. So that is the biggest thing we are working on , right now.

I have discovered a few things about her curriculum that really aggravate me. So we will not be doing this one again next year, and I will not be recommending it either. For the most part, it teaches well and Glorianna is learning a lot from it, but there are just too many things i have to over look or skip, and that gets aggravating. So next year, we'll be looking for something different.

I may very well switch all 3 kids to M.B.T.P. So far, no complaints on that one.

Maple Bars and Scattering Seeds

2010-08-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

Zion is really learning a lot about "how things used to be" , in the Little House in the Big Woods book and he's loving it. Today he learned about how maple syrup is made. He now wants to try and get some "syrup" out of the tree in our back yard. I haven't decided yet if this is a good idea or a bad idea. We'll have to do some research and see if our tree is indeed a "maple syrup" tree.

After the lesson was over, he got to make "Maple Bars" with the original recipe from Laura Ingalls. (pretty cool, if you ask me)

He sifted the flour...

put all the ingredients together, spread it in the pan, and placed it in the oven, with only a little help from me.

Ta- Da! The kids love these. I'm not a huge maple fan, so I only ate a very small piece. I think I'll leave the rest to the kids.

We are learning all about plants, dirt and seeds, this week. Today's lesson was about "how the seeds get scattered".

So taking a handful of mixed seeds....

...we went outside and placed them onto a spread out sheet.

The Zion pretended to be the wind and "scattered" the seeds.

He will be making up a few projects over the weekend, since I hadn't made it to the store for some of the supplies. But he's excited about it. If your kids are excited about doing school on a weekend, I think its safe to say that you have found a great curriculium.

A Triangle

2010-08-05T05:55:00.001-07:00

Even tho Glorianna already knows most of her colors and shapes, the curriculum I am using covers all of the basics. But the awesome thing about it is, they teach the kids shapes and colors, in a fun and creative way. Glorianna will forever remember "Timmy Triangle" and what it feels like to be a Triangle.

You can't see the "shape" very well because of her dress, but you'll get the general idea. Not only is she learning, but she is also getting in some great exercises and stretches.

Triangle position 1 (the head being the top of the triangle)

Triangle Position 2 (imagine this triangle standing on it's top, or upside down, feet and hands being the top)

Go ahead and try it. I dare you.

Schooling Day 2

2010-08-03T12:29:00.001-07:00

I love, love , LOVE, "Moving Beyond the Page" . Its awesome!! Zion is loving it and so am I.

He is reading "Little House in the Big Woods" right now, and is learning all about how people lived in the "old days".

For Science we are learing about different types of dirt and plants, and which plants grow better in what kinds of soil.

Here's some of the experiments that came with the curriculum. He has a lot more to do, that involve every day stuff around the house. He usually does 1-2 experiments/activities per day.

These are the boys' Bible Charts that came with the "Bob Jones Bible". For every new person we learn about, they get to add them to the timeline. They love this part of it. The charts are made very nice, out of a heavy card stock and laminated. I love that part.

This is Zion's History Timeline that came with the M.B.T.P. curriculum. He will be adding lots of people to this before the end of the year. Right now we have only added "Laura Ingalls".

In order to keep track of each of the kids Bible verses, every week, I am using a dry erase board. This is working very, very well.

Azariah likes his video teacher, and is loving learning to write in cursive. This is his first year for cursive, but he's taking to it very well.

Glorianna is learning colors, numbers, shapes, and how to cut properly, and color in the lines. Today she studied the number "1" and made a "1" person.

Zion has decided that Saxon math is a lot of fun. He is getting faster at his adding skills, so therefore, is moving along at a very nice pace.

Thus ends day 2....

First Day of School

2010-08-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

Well...today was the "official" first day of the new school year. Even tho we did a bit here and there, over the summer, today marked the begging of the 2010-2011 school year.

All I can say is, "Boy am I tired!!"

There is still a few kinks to work out, with the scheduling and such, but for the most part I think we did very well. So here's a bit of what we are doing.

Glorianna is doing the "Answers for Preschoolers Curriculum", put out by the Answers In Genesis People. It covers Phonics, Math, Music, Colors, Shapes, Bible, Bible Memory and even some Physical Ed.

Azariah is doing Abeka. But instead of me actually teaching him this year, he's doing online streaming. I figured I needed a bit of a break since I was teaching 3 kids this year. The online streaming is cheaper then the actual DVD's and they also keep track of what he has viewed and for how long. I still keep his grades and report cards, tho.

Both boys are doing Bob Jones Bible. They really liked it last year, and I like it a lot better then the Abeka Bible, so we just went with it again this year.

Zion is starting a new curriculum this year called "Moving Beyond the Page". It covers Phonics, Spelling, Writing, Reading, Science and History. It comes with lots of experiments he is going to be doing, which he is really looking forward to. It also comes with charts, maps and lots of books!! That's the best part. Zion loves to read and this curriculum is mostly reading. All of his "schooling" is incorporated into whatever book he is assigned to read.

M.B.T.P. does not cover Math, tho, so Zion is doing Saxon Math. This is also new for him. (he did abeka last year) This one is mostly self taught with some parent guidance, so hopefully it will go smoothly.

I will be posting pictures soon. Just wanted to get Day one blogged. I still have a few things I need to finish up but for the most part we are ready to plunge along.

Stay tuned for more exciting school news.

Atoms and Molecules

2010-07-15T17:26:00.000-07:00

I guess if you homeschool, doing school during the summer isn't really considered "summer school". I prefer to think of it as "extra credit". After all, we pretty much do school all year round, we just don't do an actual curriculum all year round.

This is a Science Curriculium I bought a few years back, but never actually started until this past school year...and then we just didn't get it finished, because we were just trying to do too much all at once. But the boys love these books. We have one on Biology as well. They are full of great information as well as experiments. Not to mention cute and colorful pictures.
Today Zion decided to learn some more about Atoms and Molecules. Materials needed were the book, marshmellows (large or small), and toothpicks.

Ta-da!! A Molecule!

Book info...Aren't the little molecules cute?

Another Molecule.

It looks like the one in the book.

This is what happened when he just decided to make a molecule on his own, with no rules.

After he built them all, he drew pictures of the different ones he had made, in his workbook.

So what do you do with all those marshmellows after you are finished making Molecules??

You eat them, of course.

ok, so they didn't eat ALL the marshmellows, but they did eat a couple. The rest we just threw away.

Until next time!! Happy Molecule Making.

Keepers of the Faith Soccer Class

2010-07-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in previous posts, the kids are a part of our local Keepers of the Faith Program. One of the badges they can earn is a "teaching" badge. In order to earn this, they have to "teach" 2-3 classes all by themselves. So Zion decided he wanted to start things off by teaching a soccer class.

Here he is waiting for the "students" to arrive.

The balls, ready for the students to use.

The cones, ready for soccer drills.

Once the students arrived, Zion had them all sit in a circle, and asked them Soccer questions and gave them answers to the ones they didn't know. The kids did very well, and knew more about soccer then their parents gave them credit for.

Explaining how big the actual goal is, since the goal we were going to be using, was a lot smaller.

After the questions and answer session, Zion had all the kids line up and he showed them one of the soccer drills. This involved "dribbling" (or kicking) the ball in and out of the lined up cones.

Next on the list was stealing the ball from other players. This one was a lot of fun. They also had to dribble the ball across the field and make a goal. After class was over , the kids spent a little time just "playing soccer."

I think Zion did very well for his first "teaching class". All of the students were very quick learners. Good job everyone!!! Zion had a blast teaching.

Keepers Of the Faith Awards Ceremony

2010-06-18T12:52:00.001-07:00

Tuesday night we had or final Keepers Ceremony of the school year. The kids have loved being a part of the Keepers Program. During the school year, we can't work on as many "badges" as we'd like, so we're hoping to pick up the pace a bit during the summer.

At the beginning of the ceremony, several of the younger kids were getting their "Jesus Loves Me" badges. They had to memorize the entire song and be able to sing it in front of the group, to get their badge. They all did very well. Even Glorianna sang. I was quite proud of her.

Megan was working on her public speaking badge, so she led this month's ceremony. She did very well. Good Job Megan!

Elaine presents Azariah with his awards. He earned his "Puppetry" and "Origami" badges.

Elaine presents Glorianna with her badges. She earned "ABC's" , "Puzzles", and "Jesus Loves Me." She now knows all her letters, what sounds they make, how to write them and how to write her name. She can also complete a 100 piece puzzle all by herself.

Emily presents Zion with his "Missionary" and "Origami" badges. Zion corresponded with a Missionary over seas, for a couple of months, to earn the Missionary Badge.

At the end of the ceremony, Azariah shows off the puppets he made, and performed his puppet show that he wrote himself. Good job Azariah!!

Glorianna hangs out with her friends, Danielle and Kimberly.

It has been a fun and wonderful year. I can't wait to see what the next school year holds!

Flag Day

2010-06-14T17:50:00.001-07:00

Today is Flag Day. The day our country sets aside to remember the day we adopted our Flag. So on this special day, each of the kids made their own flag, using construction paper, glue and sticks.

Zion ended up attaching his to a HUGE stick and stuck it in the flower bed. I hope i remember to remove it before the next rain storm.

2010-04-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

Glorianna has decided she wants to do school now. So I am letting her work in a book I bought from Sam's Club. She's doing better then I expected. I was quite impressed. She knows all her letters and what sounds they make from watching Leapfrog movies, but she has never written them before. This being said, here's some pictures of her progress. Today is day 2 of schooling her.

Finding the "matches".

History Continued

2010-03-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Continuing on with the kids History, we come to another fun filled project.

Step 1: Dying the paper to make it look old. We did this by putting the paper into a shallow pan filled with tea. It didn't dye very dark , tho. I think next time we may try coffee.

Step 2: After the paper was dry, we had to burn the edges. The kids were not allowed to do this, much to their disappointment, and I ended up having to take it outside because it stunk so bad.

Step 3: Next came attaching the pages to the book back. This required sewing. Yes, you read that right. This was very hard to do, and the kids didn't make it very far, so I ended up doing most of it. But they helped when they could.

Step 4: Finally it was finished. I realize now, that i should have waited until the glue dried before taking a picture, but i'm sure you'll get the idea. These books were a lot of fun to make. The kids are really looking forward to "logging their adventures" in these books.

History Projects

2010-03-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

I have run across an awesome website that sells "unit study" type curriculiums for History. This one is the "Time Travelers" Study. The boys will be learning how to survive at sea, make a boat, make maps, make flags, tie knots and lots of other cool stuff. So far they are loving it and I'm having a blast with it.

www.homeschoolinthewoods.com

Here's some pictures of some of the things we've done so far.

Lesson 1: What is an explorer and why do they want to find new lands? One of the main reasons was spices. After studing the 5 main reasons for going exploring, I showed the kids how to make "Spice Cookies". They now know why spices were such an important discovery.

Rolling out the cookie dough before chilling it. After it chilled for a couple of hours, they boys cut the cookies and baked them. I forgot to take pictures of the finished products. They were very tasty.

Lesson 2: Thing Sailors took with them on their voyages. In this lesson, they learned the importance of "non spoiling" food and water. I showed them how to dry fruits and veggies and meat. While they didnt' think it would be very good, they realized it was a lot better then eating rotten food and getting sick.

In this lesson they also learned a few different ways to tie knots and the importance of them.

Both of the boys mastered the first knot pretty well. "The Stopper Knot".

Knot #2 was a bit harder. The "Bolin" knot. Zion finally figured it out, but Riah abandoned it after several tries. We still have to work on his knot tying before he can go on. Hopefully it won't take him too much longer.

"I did it!!"

Thoughts from the "Teacher"

2010-02-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

I have been homeschooling for the last 4 years. So far it has been a fun and sometimes stressful learning experience. I have learned new ways of teaching as well as learning, from other home school moms, blogs, conventions, workshops and books. Over the last year, I have become a little bit more "loose" with homeschooling and it has turned into a wonderful experience.

I started out being the "Traditional" home school teacher , where everything had to be "by the book". That was a nightmare and more often then not, days ended in tears. Mine moreso then the kids. Now, however, I would probably place myself in more of the "Unit Study" style of homeschooling. I have not totally switched from the "traditional" method, but am finding that there are several ways of teaching and learning.

It seems I have two very different type of "learners" when it comes to my boys. Zion, my 3rd grader, is a "Visual" learner, while Azariah, my 1st grader, is a lot like me and tends to be more of an "Auditory" learner.

I have really been looking into different home school curriculums for next school year. The things that work for one child just does not work for the other. Its become quite the learning experience for me. This being said, I am probably going to put Azariah, my "Auditory" learner on a dvd curriculum next year. He really seems to need the extra teaching methods that I am just no good at. So my biggest challenge right now is to find something what will work for my "visual" learner.

Zion is becoming harder and harder to teach as the year goes by. Some of the things he is learning, I have no understanding of. Example: Math: 16 quarts - 2 gallons = ? gallons.
It's problems like this that bother me. It doesn't matter how often I have gotten my husband to explain this problem to me, (he understands this with no trouble what so ever) I still have trouble doing these. Zion also has trouble answering the problems because of my lack of knowledge. Another example: Language: Do these words need helping words or not? Sung, Grew, Ridden, Thrown, (and so on). Helping words being had, have, has, is . When you don't have proper use of English to begin with, this becomes challenging to teach to your child. I sometimes think I need to go back to school.

Any ideas are welcome. Feel free to let me know if you have kids in these categories and what you have found that works for you and them.

Decoupage Class

2010-02-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

About a month ago the kids went to a Decoupage Class that one of the Homeschool Mom's hosted at her house. This was a first time experience for them, as well as me. We learned a lot and I had just as much fun as the kids.

The finished products.

School updates

2010-01-18T07:04:00.001-08:00

School blogging has gotten way behind. So here is a quick update. The boys are doing very well. Zion has been struggling with Math, but that is mostly my fault. It seems I never have enough hours in the day to do the proper schooling i need to do, keep up with a busy toddler and keep the house clean, and therefore even tho Zion gets 95% of his Math correct, he is not as quick at the oral problems as he needs to be. Trevor has taken pity on me and has started helping a lot with Math orals. Hopefully within the next month or so, we will see a huge difference in Zion.

As for other subjects, Zion is doing well above average. He is reading at a 5 grade level and is loving the fact that he can read a huge varity of books now.

Azariah has learned to read well, but is not as fast at it as Zion is, so he still struggles with the harder level books. Thankfully the home library as well as the public library is well supplied with level 1 reading books. We will probably put Riah on Abeka DVD's next year to see if we can get him a bit ahead of where he is now. He's doing very well, otherwise and loves school.

Glorianna has been watching Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD's and learning her ABC's and what sounds they make. She is loving it and thinks she's doing school too. I am planning on starting her in preschool next year. This will be an interresting turn in my teaching. 3 school aged homeschoolers. WOW!

Thankfullness Trees

2009-10-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

The kids got together with the rest of the homeschool group and made a Thankfullness tree. It was very cute seeing the things they came up with to be thankfull for. Glorianna was the only one to use all of her leaves. She thought of 90% of the things on her tree. I honestly didn't help her very much, once she got the idea.

Zion is thankful for: God, mom, dad, brother, sister, computer, wii, books, the seasons, the world, Jesus dying on the cross, food, plants, house, friends, water, and birthdays.

Azariah is thankful for: brother, sister, mom, dad, licorice, Christmas, food, God, friends, family, car, and house.

Glorianna is thankful for: shoes, hair, sharptooth (from the land before time movies), mommy, daddy, Zion, Riah, grandma, grandpa, Fiona, Ava, Ella, Sunny, Squeeky (her toy), Ponies, house, trees, swing, Glorianna (yes she insisted she was thankful for herself), and turtles.

School TIme

2009-08-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well, its that time of year again. The kids have started school. So far , so good. I think having the new school room has really helped. Over the summer, we changed a lot of things around, so that now the school room is just that...only a school room. No more sharing the school room with toys , computers or my sewing table.

Excuse the mess...this was taken at the end of the day, but you get the idea. This used to be Trevor's office. So now his office has been swaped with what used to be the schoolroom...thus making his office in the same room as the exercise stuff, my sewing stuff and the computers. Much much better.

Salt Dough Maps!

2009-02-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

For the upcoming historical/geography fair our homeschool group is having, the boys have created a couple of maps of the countries they are studying and presenting.

We made salt-dough, which is basically dough with lots of salt. It makes a playdough like texture, and is easy to mold. You then take carboard and trace out a country's shape. After that you mold the dough to the shape of the country. You make mountains and rivers, and can even make points of interest on the maps, and for fun, you can make those not to scale so they stick out. After you're done molding, comes the painting and tagging. We haven't tagged the maps yet, but we've got them molded and painted.

Here's some videos of the boys talking about their maps. First is Zion, who is doing a map of Brazil.

The next one is Azariah and his map of the United Kingdom.

Mercury

2009-01-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

The last few days we've been talking about Mercury. So today at the end of the end of the lesson, we got to make our own version of th planet Mercury.

1 cup of flour

1/4 cup of salt

1/4 water

1 teaspon of oil

...form into a dry ball. Once its a nice firm but dry ball, have your kids make crators all over Mercury by using a marble and a pencil eraser to make different sizes.

Why I Love Apologia Science

2009-01-12T11:02:00.001-08:00

We've been studying the planets, using the Apologia Science curriculum "Exploring the Creations Through Astronomy". Its awesome and the boys love it as well. Here's a little demo of just one of the activities that keeps kids interested while learning at the same time.

We Are Thankful For...

2008-11-19T14:11:00.000-08:00

Zion: my parents, family, friends, money to buy food with, my house, God, stores to buy food at and food.

Azariah: money and food.

Glorianna: kitty, doggie, baby and blanket.

WigWams and Crowns

2008-11-06T09:20:00.001-08:00

I love Bob Jones History. It really covers a lot and has lots of hands on activities which the boys really look forward to.

Today we talked about maps and colored and designed our own.

We also talked about the different types of houses people have lived in, then proceeded to make our own "Wigwams".

Riah decided that his made a much better "crown". How do you like Riah's shirt? He made it himself, during one of the Enrichment classes. He's very proud of it and its become his favorite shirt.

phonebook trees

2008-10-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

When i was a kid, we used to make Christmas trees out of phonebooks. I had forgotten totally about that, until my mom mentioned it the other day. So i decided it was time to introduce that idea to the boys.

Fold each page at an angle until the whole book is done.

Stand it up, tape the front and back covers together and "ta-da".

Of course we still have to spraypaint it and add decor. Hopefully we'll get that done soon and will post some pics of the finished product.

Math Wars!!

2008-09-27T19:22:00.001-07:00

This one was a fun idea i had about how to get the kids more interested in working on their math problems.

Azariah led the entire time, got stuck on the last 3 problems and Zion ended up winning! It was fun to watch them race. They both got all the problems right tho so I guess that's the important part.

Here's the video

-----------------------More Cooking

In History we talked about a dish the Indians made called "Indian Pudding". The recipe was in the history book, so we decided to give it a try. It wasn't too bad. Not great...just ok. We ended up throwing most of it out.

Playing Store

2008-09-27T19:20:00.001-07:00

Learning to Cook

2008-09-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

2008-09-27T19:16:00.001-07:00

The boys have been doing a lot in school lately, so we thought it would be nice for them to have their own blog to show off all their work.

Ok...so we stole the idea from Joe...sorry Joe...I hope you dont mind. It was just a great idea and we wish we would have thought of it first.