Addition Fact Lapbook

Today Kalie finished her addition lapbook from homeschool share. She loved it. Where every possible I had her write the answers to the problems. She glued all of the components to the folder. It was one folder with an extension on top. She was so very proud, as was I! She was so excited to show it off. We had to run an errand with Kasie today. When Kalie showed it to her we realized that on the underside of the extension flap she had glued all of the components on upside down. She was so disappointed. I love it. It shows who she is. At the end she started to decorate with a few stickers and hand drawn pictures. I know as she gets more into it, her lapbooks will progressively get more creative. I will try to attach pictures. Wish me luck as I am new to this.



The cover.



The back. You can't see it but she drew a picture of a math teacher with numbers surrounding him.



The inside with the extension cover closed. The colored squares are number stickers that she made into an addition sentence.



The inside with the extension cover open.

Tuesday ~ Where did the week go?

Wow! We must have had a busier week than I thought. LOL!

Thursday we had a calm slow, working school morning. We had to take Kasie to the neurologist in the afternoon. It was a good visit. This is a new doctor for her; he saw Kasie in the hospital and gave very good advice and treatment during her stay there. He said that she has regained about 90% of her strength back from the accident (Jan 10) and that will be about tops. This might seem bleak, but not to us. She is not paralyzed and the RSD did not spread to her back. Thank You Lord! That is a wonderful blessing. He is also starting her on a very old anti-depressant (it was not effective for depression) that has had very good results in neurological pain control. So once again we have a glimmer of hope.

Friday morning was the same as Thursday. Kalie is so funny at times. She hates workbooks, but did 5 or 6 "valentine" math worksheets that I had printed off. She loved them. I just do not understand her sometimes. LOL! I had also let her complete them in crayon, so maybe that was it? We had to take Kasie to pick up her new "custom fitted to her leg" knee brace. She had been so excited for the past few weeks to get this. About 2 hours after getting it, she was not happy and did not like it anymore. LOL! This new brace is helping to realign her knee into the correct position. It HURTS! I feel for her, but it is kinda funny. They are saying that she will have to get a new one in 6 months and then a third one (hopefully the final) 6 months after that. The third brace will be the one she will wear for the rest of her life. I am sure it will have to be replaced because of wearing out but hopefully she will not have to be fitted again.

Kalie went to a birthday party for a friend in Girl Scouts on Friday night. (I stayed with her.) I was very happy that she went. We stayed until about 8ish. We then met Katie at Wal-Mart. Kalie was very happy because she went to AU with Katie and spent the night in the college dorms. She was so excited to be a "BIG" girl. LOL! Katie took her to AU because I had a membership class at church (that I had tried to attend 4 other times) on Sat. So that means from 8:30 Fri night until 8:30 Sat morning I was ALONE! Completely alone for 12 hours! I do not remember the last time I have been alone for more that 2 hours. It was heaven! I really needed the time to recharge. The older I get the more time I need alone. LOL! I guess that is why I try to get up 2 hours before Kalie every day.

Saturday was a very good day. I was so happy to be able to finally attend the new member class. We have been attending Redeemer Presbyterian Church for almost 2 years. Every time I had signed up to attend the membership class something had come up or gotten in the way. God had his own timing. Redeemer has been so supportive to our family during the last few difficult months. I do not think I could have handled Karie refusing our gifts, Bill's death, Christmas and Kasie's accident all within 60 days if it had not been for our community group. His timing is always perfect. I know that membership will mean so much more to me because I know that I am truly part of this family. This is the first time in my life that I have received true unconditional Christian love. I am truly blessed to be part of this family (and now soon it will be official).

Kalie came home (really we met at McDonalds to trade) around 3:30 and Katie went to work. About 5 minutes after we parted ways Katie called me to say that she was exhausted. LOL! Kalie had just worn her down. I think it is funny when the girls take care of Kalie for a few hours and then are whipped out. And they wonder why I am always so tired. LOL!

Sunday we went to Church and then had a quiet day at home, just Kalie and I. It was very restful and relaxing. We went to community group for dinner and sermon discussion. We are slowly reading our way through Proverbs. I am at a point where I am learning so much about the Lord and myself. I have read Proverbs before but it means so much more to me than when I was younger (early 20's). I guess I look at it (the Bible, God, and Christianity) differently than some others (not everyone) because I did not grow up in a church. I am the only Christian that I know of in my extended family (which is very large). I do not have contact with most of my family so I do not know of their hearts or faith. I am just so happy that my girls will always (hopefully) know the Lord. Their life will be easier for it.

Monday Kalie and I woke up with the CRUD. So we spent most of the day in bed or in front of the TV. How much Hannah Montana and Animal Planet can one little girl watch? More than her mommy! HA! HA! We canceled Girl Scouts and just vegged all day.

We woke up feeling a little better this morning. We went to MMCC and had our Valentine's Party. Kalie was so proud to give her handmade Valentine's to all of the kids. She made a Valentine for all of the kids, even the kids in the other classes. She can be so kind and giving. I am so glad that I listened to the Lord and followed my heart and decided to homeschool her. I just wished I had listened from the beginning. (I do not always listen very well. LOL!)

After class we had to pick up our COOKIES. Yes it is Girl Scout cookie time. We will start our deliveries and booth sales on Friday. I am already tired just thinking about it. LOL! The girl's are very excited, though.

Kalie finished her addition facts lapbook. She wants to give it to a friend from church who does not know his facts yet. I was hoping that she could study it for a while first, but maybe not. LOL! She will probably have the subtraction lapbook done tomorrow. All she has to do is put it together. I made her answer all of the problems herself whenever possible. We did not use the answers provided with the lapbook. I will try to post pictures tomorrow. (I need to learn how first, LOL!)

Tomorrow we are staying home all day! We will do school and hopefully rest so we can go full force this weekend with cookies.

Wednesday ~ Another Great Day!

Another long day. Kalie was under the weather. She went to sleep late and woke up a few times last night so restful sleep did not come until late (or early this morning), which means morning came late also. I slept until 9:00. WOW! That is late for me as the cats usually get me up by 7:00. Kalie slept until almost noon.

When she woke up she was feeling better, but we still took it easy. Both of us stayed in our pj's until about 6:00. We did not have a day off from school, though. We had a very productive day.

She worked on her 4 current lapbooks. (4 at one time, we are crazy) 1. Books of the Bible (we are almost done constructing this one but we will continue to work on completing the "activities" for a long time. 2. Addition Facts (about halfway done). 3. Subtraction Facts (about halfway done). and 4. Valentine's Day (I hope we finish this one in time). She also wants to start the Little House in the Big Woods (we are waiting for the book to come in from another library branch) and a new one I found on Flat Stanley (we read this book last year when we created our "Flat Stacie" for Girl Scouts).

We also finished list #4 (out of 11) from the dolch words. She played 3 or 4 games by herself with the flashcards and I played a game with her. She did 3 math worksheets and we played a math card game. She choose 2 new animals for her Animal Notebook and started researching them. We also did 3 days of Moving Beyond the Page.

We showered at 6:00 and ran a few errands. We had to return movies to the video store, stop by the library, and get a few groceries. We came home about 8ish and made dinner. She is finally giving me a few moments of peace and watching Disney channel. LOL!

I am exhausted! Our school day lasted about 9 hours. This "child directed" learning is alot of work. BUT...she is learning so much more this way and is much happier. In November we would have struggled to do reading, math, science and social studies. The "school day would have been about 4 hours with 2 of that being a struggle/battle. Now we are doing 4 to 8 hours a day with very few struggles. It is a bit harder (really ALOT harder) for me though. I do not like having 5 or 6 or 12 projects going at one time. (But this is not about me.) I would like to start a lapbook or unit study and finish it before we move onto another but she enjoys doing a little bit of what ever strikes her every day. I have spent quite a few hours over the last week preping things for her. Like printing, laminating and cutting. She likes to cut but does not like to cut things out. Preparing the lapbook is my job. Her job is to color and create. LOL! She likes to find the information and tell me all about it. She does not like to write the information down. We are compromising and taking turns, She writes the short stuff and types the long stuff or I write the long stuff.

I am trying to figure out how I will "plan book" and "grade" this type of learning though. Does any one have any suggestions?

I hope this does not sound as if I am complaining. I am not. I would rather spend 4 hours "preparing" for her to learn and have her happily learn for 2 hours than go back to the way it was. In her mind lapbooking and project are not learning they are fun. A small step and huge leap in one. When she talked to Katie tonight the subject of school came up, she told Katie she was sick and did not do school today. When I talked to Katie we discussed everything that we (Kalie and I) had done for the day. Katie laughed and replied that Kalie thought she had the day off from school. I don't think that I will tell her it was a school day. LOL! Maybe we are on the right track to make learning fun again.

Tuesday

Today was a busy day. I am tired!

We woke up late and had to rush this morning. (I am so not a morning person so this was not fun!)

We went to MMCC this morning. It was the first Tuesday so we had to combine classes and move upstairs. It was very hectic, but we made the best of it. We made Valentines for our families and watched Hermie.

Then errands had to be done. Kalie and I had to go to county tax office and the DMV. YUCK! (and expensive) It took forever at the county tax office but I was able to convince them to waive the late fee since it was their fault. I was so worried about going to the DMV, thinking it might take hours! It was our lucky day though...it only took 7 minutes from start to finish. Can you believe it?

Kalie went to her first Art class today. She did very well. She stayed in the kitchen and I was able to sit in the living room (cutting out pages for future lapbooks). I could not see her but could hear her. She did very well. She participated and interacted with the other 3 children in the class. I was so happy! She had fun and did a wonderful drawing!

While I was cutting, I remembered last year. Kalie left public school in January of 2007. I made the mistake of trying to get her into "classes" too soon. She took an art class at a local art mission (school) that lasted all of 3 classes. I had paid for the complete semester ($120) and did not get a refund. What a difference a year makes. Not only in Kalie but myself as well. She has become more trusting and less anxious. I have relaxed ALOT and realized that it is not about me and what I want and need, it's about what is best for Kalie.

We did not get home until almost 4:00. It was such a nice day that we spent the next 2 hours outside on the back deck. Kalie playing with toy animals, bubbles, the cats and riding her scooter, while I continued to cut. My hands are cramping from all of the cutting I have done today. LOL!

The sun started to set, so we had to come inside. Kalie worked more on her Books of the Bible lapbook. She is taking a very long time to finish this lapbook because she is working so hard to make everything "perfect". I am very impressed with her diligence. She is very excited to show her sisters. She misses them so much during the week and then drives them crazy over the weekends. LOL!

All in all I would say today was 7 out of 10! I am very happy with a 7. I hope your day has been at least a 7!

School Day

Hey guys,

I only have a few minutes, but wanted to let everyone know that we had a great school day. We spent the morning playing some dolch word games, working on our Books of the Bible lapbook, math facts lapbook, reading Cinderella stories, some handwriting (yuck) and watched Animal Planet. I am so glad that we have changes our "school" to reflect more of her and less of me. A school day with only 2 disagrements! WOW! We have never had that. Kalie has been such a great little girl today! I am so happy!

This afternoon we picked up her (used, but new to us) loft bed. We will have to buy some lumber and fix it. I would like it to be a bit more stable before I let her climb into it. She is very excited. Maybe soon she will start sleeping in her own bedroom. LOL!

Tonight is Scouts. We will be working on our Caring and Sharing Try It. We are making Valentines for sick kids in the hospital. Our local Christian radio station is sponsoring this project.
I will try to post pictures soon.

I hope everyone else is having a great day!