Weekend learning...

Ah, the joys of weekend homeschooling! Things kept coming up during the week, so we kept postphoning lessons, but finally got around to them today, and as always, made some changes to our ever-evolving way of homeschooling. Started off the same as last time, with calendar and weather/temperature charting, then we recited the days of the week and the months of the year. I then read OM's version of "Goldilocks & the 3 Bears" out loud - Fairy did Papa Bear as a "B", and Elf did copywork (Once upon a time there were three bears), along with a drawing of the three bears. Then the change - both kids couldn't seem to work together, and I was having difficulty giving either of them the attention needed, so Elf got some play time while I worked on writing "A" and "B" and doing some work with the numbers "1" and "2" with Fairy. She also did 4 pages in Get Ready for the Code. Then, she got play time while Elf worked on ETC, math (addition facts up to 10 - again review work), and read a level 3 Bob book aloud. This alternation (M's suggestion) worked really well, so I'll keep doing it for the time being, bringing them together for stories, social studies & science. Later, when it's cooler out, we're planting sunflowers and nasturtiums (both from seed), and then the kids will draw pictures of plants, which I will help them label. Pretty basic - we're just labeling parts like stem, leaf, etc.

I have decided for the remainder of this school year - 8 weeks and counting! - to do a lot of review work with Elf, focusing on basic math facts and improving his reading skills. We'll continue this work, lightly, over the summer too. And I want to work with Fairy on making absolutely sure that she recognizes her letters and numbers. I need, and want, both of them to have a good, solid base for further education in the fall. While Cyrus can read books like Frog & Toad, it can be a drawn out process, and I want him to feel comfortable reading.

So that's where we are and what we're doing! Tomorrow I'm back and work, and life goes on as always from there.