Easy Peasy: his 7th grade language arts

 

I’ve had quite a few questions about how I’m using Easy Peasy with the kids. I’m sure there are a lot of moms like myself. Curious. But hesitant. Because it’s free. And anything that’s *easy peasy* AND free must not measure up, right?

 

So I thought I’d keep writing the occasional picture marathon post. I’m visual so pictures always make it better. Although, you’ll have to pardon the blurry photos. I love great photography but my new smart phone makes it waaaay too easy to snap & upload. My poor Canon Powershot SX20 is busy collecting dust.

 

 

I’m still a fan of Sue Patrick’s workbox system. We continue to use our workbox totes. I really like Sue’s downloadable grid (free, along with other printable when you purchase her e-book).

I’ve tried a bazillion other methods of organizing and tracking their work but this one just fits us best.

So the picture above is a sample of today’s work load for my 7th Grader. I write his daily tasks – he then highlights as completed. I’m not going to line item everything listed. I really just want to focus on Easy Peasy in general…and how we’re using it for Language Arts in specific.

On line seven of his list you’ll see: EP – 60. That represents Easy Peasy Day 60. We started using Easy Peasy late in the year. He knows he needs to navigate to the Easy Peasy website then click on Level 7th and find Day 60. I expect him to complete everything listed for Day 60 minus Math & Foreign Language. We are using Easy Peasy for our Foreign Language too but he is on a different level.

 

 

So, for today he needed to read the second part of chapter 7. He’s looooving Call of the Wild! And then take the quiz.

He then needed to write for 20 minutes. He chose to write a story using five vocab words.

I consider Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, Spelling and Grammar all part of his Language Arts program. All work related to any of those will live in this notebook.

 

 

I quickly learned that using a notebook would help us keep his work organized & tidy. Some Easy Peasy students have a binder with tabs dividing their subjects instead.

 

 

When applicable, I have him type his work in Word and then print it out. We then cut and paste the page into his notebook. The effect is kind of scrap book-y. He digs it.

The first weeks of Easy Peasy’s Language Arts program is always poetry. After that the focus is more literature & writing.

 

 

There is not always printable work or even written work to add to the notebook. And really, if you don’t want the expense of printing you don’t have to print at all. You can teach your child how to screen capture and then copy & paste the screen shot into a Word doc for you to review later. It’s just easier for me, personally, to have them print out their work and keep it in a notebook.

The Easy Peasy Language Arts program can be a little confusing at first. Spelling is only occasional and consists of vocabulary words. Vocab words are taken from the current book. Grammar is spotty. Where Easy Peasy excels is the quality literature choices and the writing requirements.

Because my 7th Grader struggles with grammar I do supplement. This year we’re using Digging into Diagramming every other day & Daily Grams which we had left over from last year. I have him do his diagramming right in his notebook.  

 

 

I am definitely an Easy Peasy fan! The more we use it – the more I’m loving it! I’m super excited for his 8th Grade Easy Peasy program which will include GrammarLand. We had started reading it aloud last year and never finished. He really enjoyed it though…so I know he’ll be excited to see it on his docket.

If you have any other Easy Peasy questions please don’t hesitate to ask me either via email or our Raising Little Rhodies facebook page.

Happy Homeschooling!

…danielle

his easy peasy science notebook

 

 

Recently I shared what her Science notebook looks like while we’re following Easy Peasy’s Zoology.

It’s only fair that I show you the 7th Grader’s notebook too.

 

While there are less lapbooks for the older students…there are still some printables.

My 7th Grader likes the look of layered lined paper. So he writes on loose leaf and then we cut & paste it in.

We also like to find google images to match what we’re studying and print them out to add a little color to our pages.

He is really enjoying this curriculum. Some of the things I’m loving are watching his face light up as he learns new things and watching him develop study habits as he’s encouraged to research independently.

For instance, with the habitats he had to search a lot of the info out on his own.  He was SO into it too! Annoyingly into it! He’d stop and give me the play-by-play with each habitat!  

A great supplement to go along with this course would be any of the Apologia zoology books.

We’re reading Swimming Creatures for our read aloud time and it’s a great addition.

 

The more Easy Peasy we incorporate into our homeschool…the more we love it!

 

…danielle

we’re using Easy Peasy for Science

 

 

If you’ve been homeschooling for a bit by now then I’m sure you’ve heard rumblings about Easy Peasy or All in One Homeschool.

 

 

I’ve slowly been replacing other curricula with Easy Peasy.  Science being one of them.

 

 

Honestly, there is so much to love about this program. It’s well laid out and easy to follow. It promotes independent learning. It’s written to be aligned with PA homeschool standards. PA is among the more stringent states which helps me feel confident that what they’re learning is robust. Also, my kids are having fun! That’s not my guiding light when making educational choices for them…but it is a nice perk!

Learning is a blend of both online activities, readings, games and printables. Click here if you’d like to peek at the full Scope & Sequence.

 

 

Printables, like lapbooks, are linked in the daily schedules. This makes it SO easy to implement! I’ve always wanted to incorporate more lapbooks but I’m the girl that drools & thumbs her lips in the big box stores because there are too many choices! Too many choices paralyze me and trigger my “second guesser” instinct! That’s how I’ve felt about lapbooks. Easy Peasy makes it so…well…easy. And peasy!

I have found that for us using notebooks (rather than file folders) works best for our lapbooking. This way I can include other projects right into the same book. Plus, we’re enjoying the scrapbook-y feel. And it looks so neat and tidy! I have a thing for organized and tidy. This year I’m using composition notebooks. I like them best. Maybe it’s nostalgia?

 

 

The only thing I’m adding to our Easy Peasy Zoology studies is using Apologia’s Swimming Creatures as a read aloud. And that’s really only because a friend offered to let me borrow it.

 

Overall, I’m really enjoying this program and we will definitely continue to use it next year!

 

…danielle

my favorite curriculum choices this year

 

All About Spelling

If you’ve been homeschooling for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard of All About Spelling.

 

I decided to buy the first two volumes (pre-owned) to use with my daughter this year.  Also, to have on hand for my youngest who has special needs.  I’ve heard so many special needs mommies rave about the program that I thought it would be a good investment.

And I have NOT been disappointed when it comes to my daughter.  We used Abeka for her first two years at home and while she did okay…it wasn’t easy.  Especially with the spelling piece.  If had been keeping grades she would have flunked every spelling test.

 

This year has been SO much better!

 

I love that AAS doesn’t have weekly memorized lists and focuses instead on learning spelling rules.  Each lesson is fully scripted and organized.  Each lesson includes review…review…review…and lots of practice!  And the best news is…she’s successful!  In today’s lesson she wrote two sentences with a total of 15 words (we counted) and made ZERO mistakes!  She rolled her eyes at my excitement.  But I’m pretty sure she was feeling proud of herself too.  We’ll definitely be sticking with this curriculum next year!

 

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Math U See

My 3rd Grader was actually doing wonderful with Abeka’s math program but I decided to switch her over to Math U See this year anyway.  A friend was giving away a couple teacher’s manuals and dvds.  All I had to buy was the student workbook and manipulatives.  I couldn’t resist!  This was another program I’ve been eyeing with Trevy in mind.

 

My daughter is thriving with the program.  We both love the dvds and manipulatives.  We’re in Gamma this year and she’s getting the hang of multiplication. 

I’ve loved it SO much for her that I bought a used Primer set to use with him too!  I consider my youngest blended schooled.  He attends a wonderful public school program in the mornings.  And we do a lot of work at home evenings and weekends and snow days.  We’ve had a lot of them this winter!

 

Below is a sample of the Math lesson I did with him for today’s snow day!  I love how he added the 10 to the number line. 

We will definitely be sticking with Math U See!

 

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Homespun-School.net

I stumbled on Homespun-School in a FaceBook forum.  There was an ad sharing a free 6 week digital learning class.  Psssst…the next one starts on February 10th!

 

I was sold on the idea of a FREE computer class taught by someone other than me.

 

I wasn’t super sure what to expect.  And to be honest, in the beginning both my 7th Grader and I were quite overwhelmed.  But we stuck with it and went from overwhelmed to in love.  My son is learning SO much.  More than that…he’s LOVING what he’s learning!  It’s one subject he doesn’t complain about how much time it takes to complete.  He’s created his own website and is now learning how to create animations like the cartoon below.

He’s totally proud of himself.  I couldn’t be more happy we stumbled on HSS.  In fact, we’re enrolling in a Spring course!

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Draw Write Now

 

I love Draw Write Now because it combines art with penmanship/copywork!  Genius!  I’ve been borrowing the books from our library and perpetually renewing.  I should probably think about buying these!

 

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The Care & Keeping of You

A girlfriend mentioned how much her daughter was loving this book.  I thought it looked like a good choice for “Health”.  I had NO idea how addicted she was going to be!  She really doesn’t put it down except to hide it from the boys’.  We’ve had a lot of interesting conversations.  The topics range from hygiene to puberty to relationships.  Gotta hand it to American Girl on this one.  A great book for a tween-y health choice!

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Easy Peasy Homeschool

We’re using Easy Peasy for a number of things this year!

 

Science.  Reading.  Grammar.  Writing.  Spanish.  Thinking.

Easy Peasy is so great because it’s FREE!  But not just that…it’s quality.  Lee Giles, the developer, has spent a LOT of time & energy making these lesson plans available to moms like me for FREE.  It’s such a beautiful gift and I appreciate it to my toes.

A little sample of some poetry (above) and Spanish (below) that they’ve been working on with Easy Peasy this year.

We will definitely continue using Easy Peasy next year!

 

 

…danielle

why is choosing a notebook SO hard?

 

I started the year by having my 7th Grader do his Spanish work on loose leaf paper. He quickly drove me bonkers because he'd lose them! Or they'd get all crumpled. The whole thing was just a hot mess.

 

I’d tried different ideas and had been wracking my brain for a solution for weeks when such a simple idea finally clicked.  It was actually kinda embarrassing that it took me so long to think of it! 

 

 

 

 

Buy a notebook and have him paste in his work!  What we could salvage and/or find anyway.  As a side note…I make everything SO complicated!  I must have spent a good 20 minutes trying to decide WHICH notebook to buy!  LOL

 

 

Because by this time I was already quite annoyed with him, I decided to go ahead and get the project started by pasting in all the pages I could find.  Rather than put him in a position to further irritate me!  But I just knew that I knew he’d glue all the pages on upside down or the whole darn thing would be sealed shut.  Is it a boy thing?  Or just an almost a teenager boy thing?  He’s SUCH a slob!  He has many wonderful qualities that I need to focus on.  But the slob thing…ugh!

 

  

My original idea was to have him write right into the notebook but he thinks the pasted in look is "cool".  Can I call it art too?  Also, he's a lefty so writing on just a single sheet of paper works better for him. Plus, when he does screen shots we can print them and paste them right in.

 

…danielle

my new easy peasy show me your work before you cross it off set up

 

 

I have created and tried ALL sorts of schedules.  We’ve checked boxes, moved pictures, crossed out subjects.  I’ve created templates in Excel.  Have I mentioned how much I hate Excel before?  I’ve tracked down free clip art and pasted it into Word documents.  Printed and laminated a plethora of systems.

 

Nothing has really stuck.

 

 

It hasn’t stuck because it’s been TOO complicated!  A running theme in my life is complicating things that don’t need to be complicated!  I am a chronic complicator!

 

 

The thing is…the kids have been getting a little (little as in a lot) lax lately.  And I literally have to check on every.single.thing to make sure all of their work is completed each day.  It has been exhausting!

 

 

Isn’t there saying out there somewhere that mommy’s exhaustion gives birth to invention?  Wink wink.

 

 

In a moment of desperation I hand wrote what I wanted them to accomplish each day.

 

 

Typed it in Excel.

 

 

And printed it out.

 

 

The lines dividing the days are actually hand drawn in because I was too exhausted to figure out how to add grid lines with the program!

 

 

I glued hers to pink construction paper and his to orange.  Laminated.  Taped them to MY desk.  And told them from now on they need to show me their completed work before they can mark off (with dry erase markers) that it’s done for the day!

 

 

Why have I never thought to have it on my desk before!?  Seriously.  It keeps in fresh in my mind and makes it easy to see at a glance where we’re at for the day!

 

 

 

It helps keep them accountable.

 

 

It helps keep ME accountable.

 

 

AND an added perk is that it made it super easy for Daddy-o to fill in when I was down for the count with the tummy bug on Monday!

 

 

…danielle

an imperfect mommy’s good enough memory books

 

I had grand plans for creating super adorable memory portfolios last school year.  Books that I envisioned my children sharing with their children and their children with…  Um, yeah, that was a fail.

 

 

Sigh.

 

 

Part of my issue is that I want things to be perfect.  Perfect or bust.  I’m a first born.  We’re really hung up on perfect.  The thing with perfect is…

 

 

ya know…

 

 

  It just doesn’t happen much around here!  I have too many kids.  I’m plugged into too many things.  I have too much on my plate.  I just can’t seem to do perfect.  Also, I’m being persuaded that perfect is a myth anyway.   

 

 

I have two themes for this homeschool (and mommyhood in general) year.  Use What You Have and Good Enough is Okay Too.

 

 

Hence…my good enough memory portfolios for this year!

 

 

 

I decided those 10 cent folders with the brads inside them were good enough.  You’ll notice the dark blue one is accessorized because I accidentally grabbed some without brads.  I was totally frustrated with myself and Staples (for mixing the two).  But then I decided to use what I have (and I have lots o’ brads and a hole puncher) and modify!

 

I also decided mommy decorating the front cover with a Sharpie was good enough…when I really wanted to run to Michael’s and buy all kinds of cutsie stickers and things.

 

You know you’re proud of me!  Right?  Rigggght?

 

 

I didn’t have to make my own printables but none of the pre-made ones really clicked with what I wanted. 

 

 

So I came up with my own good enough Me in the _______ Grade version.

 

 

We set up at our Huddle Table.  (which I have not regretted painting with blackboard paint btw)  I made sure to have colored pencils and a cursive formation guide.  The guide was added after both kids asked me for help.

 

 

The kiddos loooooved our first memory book project. 

 

 

I’m a sucker for sharing a funny moment.  One of the questions I asked them was what would they like to learn this school year. Which inspired the following conversation:

 

Toby:  I’d really like to learn more about Thomas Edison

 

Bristel:  snicker snicker

 

Toby (annoyed):  What?!  He only created light, you know!

 

Bristel (sarcastically):  Oh really?  He invented the sun???

 

 

 

I have their Memory Books filed in my mommy bin beside my desk.  Where all my homeschool and Trevy school things live.  I intend to fill them through the year with art projects, special papers they work on and other cool memory-ish stuff.

 

 

Click here to download and print the created by mwah good enough Me in the _______ Grade memory worksheets via 4shared.  Or you can email me and ask for the PDF that way.  Unless I can figure out how to upload it to my Raising Little Rhodies fan page.  Then you’ll have to like me for it!  Of course, I do share gobs of free iPad apps as I find them…so you might wanna like me anyway?   

 

 

Happy Mommy-ing!

 

 

…danielle

 

 

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