First "ES" Meeting: On the Right Track!

Sooooo, we had our first meeting with our ES. In case you forgot, that stands for Educational Specialist...aka, certified teacher. Since I am teaching through a charter school, I am required to meet with her every 20 school days to go over our learning. Basically, you need to show progress toward California State Standards.

I first have to say that our ES is A.MAZ.ING!! She is so sweet & fun; someone I would actually hang out with in real life! LOL... And we hold our meetings at Starbucks, which gives her extra brownie points from me (and my girls because they go too)!

I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about our first meeting. I was not sure I was actually teaching enough. Basically, right now we are doing Math and English/Language Arts daily, and Science & History each twice/week. We try to squeeze some little extras in along the way too. Our math is okay, but I've ordered something that I'm pretty sure will be better than what we are doing. Language Arts is going very well...I love some of the texts that I've been using and Wordly Wise is an amazing vocabulary workbook. My favorite subjects are Science and History, but once again, I wasn't sure I was doing enough work.

Well, the night before our meeting, I completed a "Learning Log" for each child based on a sample given to me by my ES. Each log turned out to be about 4 pages long. Turns out, my ES said we actually learned a lot and that our learning logs were some of the best she has ever seen! Whew!!! Sigh of relief from me...knowing that we are actually learning! She also gave Emma an oral/written test and my older girls a Math/Reading test online, so we will get to see where they really are and what we need to work on. She said they all seemed to be doing really well, and that they are all smart...which they obviously get from their mother! LOL...hey, remember I can say what I want??? This is MY blog! =) Okay, okay, my hubby is a genius too! There.

**Can I add a little note to say that if you choose to home-school your child, please, please, please take it seriously! I would think that if you are teaching your children at home, it is because you want to give them more of that individual attention so they can truly excel. Well, some people take another approach and want to "un-school," but they take it (in my opinion) too far! That's it. I'll stop preaching now! Just had to put that out there!! =P Thanks for listening.

Until next time...
~Heather

Fun Stuff

We are working on some fun things this week. We learned about animal cells and plant cells and the difference between the two. We made construction paper diagrams of them both (I cut the pieces due to lack of time that day). They are now hanging on our classroom wall!

 

We also have been working on memorization. This week we are doing poetry, from none other than Shel Silverstein!! =) It was so cute! Click on the links below to see video of Emma and Sophia...sorry I'm not tech savvy enough to put them directly on here. I couldn't figure out how to compress the video! LOL...

Here's Emma:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j-8xfgPPIU

Here's Sophia:
http://www.youtube.com/user/hmolina822#p/a/u/0/cQ4mUUkG_Pg

So, I'll try to catch up on my blogging; I got behind because I was determined to figure out how to add video. =)

Thanks for tuning in!!!
~Heather