Sleep How Much Are You Getting?

I have read some really interesting articles about sleep lately. Like the fact that children need at least 8-10 hours of sleep every night, and adults 8 at the very least. Do you get 8 hours of sleep, do your children get 8-10 hours. One of the reasons I decided to homeschool was because of just this fact. I would have had to get my kids up at 5:30 AM to prepare to be to the bus stop by 7 AM. Then they would not get off the bus until the earliest of 3:30 PM. With baths, homework, playtime, and other family commitments bed would come the earliest at 8 PM, and probably closer to 9. That leaves just enough time for sleep, if your child falls right to sleep, of course most do not. Add all the extra homework that gets added every year, and your child will slowly whittle away at their sleep. Sleep is when your body rests, and recovers. Without proper sleep you are more prone to illness, stress, poor grades, behavioral issues, just to name a few. I personally have seen what the lack of sleep does to people. It can destroy your nervous system. So get on a schedule, and get plenty of sleep.


Lesson Plans for 1/27/09:

Reading: Chapter 10 of Dolphins at Daybreak
Language Arts: Statements and questions, punctuation
Math: Multiplication, division, add 3 or more numbers
Writing: You are at Pirate Camp, write a letter home
Science: Animals, recalling facts about animals
Spelling: Lesson 17- write each spelling word, and circle the consonants
Vocabulary: Lesson 17- use each vocabulary word in a sentence
PE: 30 minutes

Which Subject Is Hardest, Lesson Plan For 9/11/08

First please lets remember the victims of the terrible 9/11 attacks, on the Twin Towers. I will talk more about that tomorrow 9/11/08.

Todays Homeschool topic, is what is the hardest subject to teach, and or learn. When I was in school, many moons ago, I found Language Arts, to be the hardest to learn. Probably because I found it intensely boring. I loved to read, but grammar and writing were torture for me. Now that I am teaching my own children, I find phonics to be the hardest to teach. My son, did phonics, in public school, so I only had to supplement that. He reads, at a very high level now. My 4 yr old, is just starting to learn phonics, and I am finding it difficult to teach. Knowing how to read, and teaching it is not easy. There are several different techniques, we are using. She is a visual learner, so the Internet, books, and even DVD's are very helpful to her. So what subjects did you find hard to learn, and or teach?

This is the Lesson Plan, for 9/11/08

Reading- Read chapter 7 of Dinosaurs Before Dark
Health- Dental Health, plus go to this website for more on teeth
Writing- Tell a story about a magic car
PE
Math- Multiplication, addition, subtraction, estimate sums and differences
Language Arts- Phonics review, nouns, choose the right tool
Spelling lesson 2- put your words in alphabetical order
Vcabulary lesson 2- try to think of a synonym for each vocabulary word
Spanish- Parts of the body

Day 1 Activities for 3rd Grade 09/02/08

The first day of school is Sept 2nd. I am posting the first day of class activities.

Tues 09/02/08
Spelling List Lesson 1: fast, bird, nine, life, since, kill, cannnot, egg, water, mark, person, quite, beside, sister, forest. Write each spelling word two times each. Once in print, and once in cursive.

Vocabulary words Lesson 1: fast, bird, kill, cannot, egg, person, mark, quite, forest, beside. Use your dictionary to look up and write the definition for each word.

Math: Add and subtract 2 digit numbers, multiplication single digit numbers,

Read 1st chapter of Dinosaurs Before Dark

Writing assignment: Things I want to learn to do.

Language Arts: Phonics review, Nouns, Building Sentences.

Science: Plants and animals of the sea lesson 1 Crabs. This is a multi week lesson, with various activities for each topic. At the end of Sept a field trip to the Ocean at Shyree Island is planned.

PE: 30 minutes

Recess: 30 minutes

At the end of the day, if there is time left over one of several things can be done. Take a tour of the marine mammal center at http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/learning/education/mammalinfo/mammals.asp
Secrets of the oceans realm learning page at http://www.pbs.org/oceanrealm/index.html
play online educational games, arts and crafts, play educational games on leapster l-max, music, or spanish lessons. Any educational documentaries on TV are also allowed at the end of the day.