Dopp Family Homeschool

This week started off great!  We played Word A Melon a lot which is a super fun game for beginning readers!  We also worked on the garden some more and got the week block down and mulch put down on top of that. Eli mowed his grandparents lawn and did a great job.  He also started a new book called Johnny's Backyard.  We rotate reading pages as he still really doesn't like reading on his own and prefers listening to audiobooks.  He worked on his math quite a bit and is using musical multiplication to help learn his times tables a lot better.  He did his usual handwriting along with scripture dictation every day. Ivy worked on counting lots of money this week as part of her math.  She is also learning multiplication with a new musical multiplication activity we had.  She's really enjoying it. She finished a couple of lessons in her reading lessons, did her handwriting and did a lot more dictation. All the kids worked on Tech this week where we...

We had a really great week this week!!!  Spring is definitely in the air so we cut the week a little short and got out camping!  We found a really great place up Kimberley Mountain right along a creek that was the perfect depth for kids to play in (still quite cold though).  We went for hikes, built fires, played catch, played in the water, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and tested out our new camper!  It was terrific!!  Being up in the mountains is so good for us and good for me as I get out of the house and don't have to worry about normal house responsibilities!  A win win!!! We also got a bit started on the garden, although not much.  We mainly moved dirt this week from a big mound to one of our raised garden beds.  We still have a lot of work to go though :).\ Eli worked on his math, language arts and writing this week.  He's clipping right along with everything. Ivy worked on her math, language arts and w...

We got to go do a super fun Easter Egg hunt that our good friends the Shipp's do every year!  My kids walk away with so much candy and fun stuff!!  It's definitely a highlight of the year!   We also got new baby ducks and 6 baby chicks so we've been having lots of fun taking care of them.  The ducks have been living in our bathtub for a couple of weeks and we moved them out to the chicken's house this weekend.  They seem to be doing good out there with a heat lamp.  Everyone has been helping, which is great!!  It's nice to have the kids know what to do and be able to go check water and food.  We already get about 4-6 eggs per day from our hens so it'll be fun to be getting more when our baby chicks are bigger (still another 4-5 months away). Eli has been having fun teaching us exercise class. Eli is doing great on his language arts, handwriting and math. Ivy is also doing great with her reading lessons, handwritin...

Well, we had a great week overall, although I didn't feel very well. Eli did his math and is on lesson 23.  He's getting into more division and writing out larger numbers (millions).  He picks up new concepts very quickly.  His language arts is going well although he doesn't like to read very much at all.  He LOVES listening to his audiobooks, but his new curriculum has him reading more each day, which is tough for him, be he still does it.  He's also doing good with his Mavis Beacon typing program.  Ivy is focusing on math and is learning perimeters right now.  She's on lesson 42 of her reading lessons and is doing good. She gave a talk in church on Sunday and I was so proud of her.  She could read most of the words in the talk we wrote, but there were a few that she didn't know.  She was able to memorize the words she didn't know read her talk flawlessly!   Emmitt had fun doing school this week this week.  He's continu...

Our Commonwealth was great this week!  Eli and Ivy continued their art study and Emmitt did music study.  Eli and Ivy also worked on their memorization of the 7 Articles of the Constitution and the top 5 most commonly used clauses (Supremacy Clause, Treaty Law, Interstate Commerce Clause, Necessary and Proper Clause, General Welfare Clause). Eli is doing well on his language arts.  His level 4 program is lots of reading, writing and spelling.  I really enjoy it as it has a good rhythm to it.  He's on lesson 23 of his math so he has 13 lessons left to do.  He does well his math (although his handwriting could use definite improvement ;).   Ivy is on lesson 41 of her Reading Lessons book.  There are 53 lessons total so we are making definite progress!  She's really gaining more confidence in her reading.  Her math is coming along too.  She procrastinates on her handwriting a lot so my goal is to really get her writing more th...

We have had so much fun getting outside since we've been having warmer weather!  Our backyard is such a great space with a trampoline, a large cement pad where we can play basketball or ride our wiggle cars, and also the kids ride their bikes around! Our morning time has been going wonderfully!  We do our hymn, prayer and pledge.  Whoever does the prayer leads the pledge and it starts with Eli on Monday, Ivy on Tuesday, Emmitt Wednesday, Erik Thursday and mom on Friday.  Then we do our New Testament study with the Come Follow Me curriculum and then we do our poetry memorization.  This week's poem starts out ... "Little Drops of Water Little Grains of Sand Make the Mighty Ocean And the Pleasant Land..." Then we usually go into history, science or art.  This week we discussed the Constitution and worked on memorizing the 7 Articles in the Constitution.  We played a passing game where they had Eli is reading Johnny Tremain with his dad.  T...

We had a blast this week playing in the snow!  We built a snowman and then had a snowball fight!    Good thing we did it when we did because within an hour all the snow was completely melted and gone!!   Erik's Koala Crate was about Dinosaurs and reptiles... Grrr!!!  We had fun with making his costume and Eli's Tinker Crate was working with light and he wired up this cool spinner light!  The kids all loved it and had fun playing with it in the dark. Ivy, Emmitt and Erik all made creations around reptiles and dinosaurs.  We read our dinosaur book and watched videos on reptiles and dinos.  Not my favorite topic but the kids enjoyed it! Emmitt worked on his Kiwi crate with his friends.  It has to be redone as we must've missed a step.  It's supposed to be a manual little vacuum thingy but it doesn't spin. Eli keeps up on his math and handwriting every morning and is doing great!  He's on lesson 8 of hi...