On an Airplane

We are doing a poetry unit right now and so each day my son gets a new poetry assignment.
I loved the job he did on this one and couldn't resist sharing it.

On An Airplane
The ticket ladies are like giants
Then we run like cheetahs to get to our gate.
We sit and sit and sit
Finally, we get in a line with sweaty people
Their sweat reminded me of rain forests
Then we get on the plane
The airplane lady told us to put our seat belts on
The plane went up, up, and up
I looked out the window,
the people looked like ants
We passed the Grand Canyon
It just looked like a hole
I fell asleep
When I woke up
we got off the plane
Aunt May was there to pick us up, up, and up

6th Grade Spelling

My first non fiction book is live on the Kindle today, after 90 days it will be released via the Nook as well.

It was a trial and error experience learning how to format it correctly and we still have a few things to tweak when we figure out how on the Table of Contents but I hope other homeschool parents will find the book informative and useful.

I wrote up our complete spelling curriculum and offered over 300 words to use for 6th graders.  I divided up each day into activities that strengthen their writing, spelling, reading, and speaking.  I believe that while some standard spelling teaching methods do work it's important to implement other activities as well and experiment to find what fits your child perfectly.

With that in mind the book contains several ideas and you can modify it to fit your needs or methods.  If nothing else the extensive word list is worth the 4.99 price. 

Kindle owners can borrow it for free from the lending library.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007WYH3FC/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_3mMLpb1ACA3X4

There are other grades being planned and those will also contain 300 words each with various activities.  I spent a lot of time developing worksheets and small lessons that are included in these books.  

There is also an answer key included.

Layover: Humor

Yesterday we tested in most of our subjects and wrapped up unit studies.  Today is Friday and I'm really trying not to delve too deep into brand new units or chapters that he is going to forget come Monday.  So we're doing some busy work that fills space and gives me a chance to access where he is in his subjects.

So for writing, our Review unit was complete and I decided to go for an easy writing prompt.  Thinking I wanted something fun and light hearted because he had just completed a unit that was very intense and I expected a lot out of his writing for that.  I wanted to remind him of the lighter side of writing and bring some humor to our Friday afternoon.  I loved the website I found for writing prompts.  If you home school, you MUST check this out.  The prompts here are so good and look so fun, I think they just might become our Friday routine.  I can't wait to see what he comes up with.  It might even be good for his old, author mom to put her skills to the test next to him and let loose with a few of these.

Here's that link: http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/


Now today our prompt was: Things You Shouldn't Say to Someone Who Just Got Dumped

I laughed.  He's going to fuss at me for blogging this but here are some gems from my favorite twelve year old boy in the world:

"At least now I can date her."
"At least my dog still likes you."
"Want to go on a double date? Ooh, wait.."
"You'll never guess who just asked me out.  Well, maybe you can."
"You'll never find anyone like that again."

See...school isn't always BORING.  Have fun!!! Don't be afraid of the lighter side of life.  It engages their brains too.  I promise.

And here's a little photo of the couple we all wish would have broken up when one got eaten by a werewolf: