Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Come check out...
my mom's new business: The Morning Glory Bower. She sews and sells gorgeous aprons (yes, I am wearing one right now), and the kids will soon be modeling a children's line. I love reading her descriptions and stories almost as much as I like the aprons!
Friday, March 13, 2009
A weekly report of sorts...
We actually managed to hit the books several days this week, and I managed to have someone hook a scanner to my computer, so I can actually share some work samples!
First up, a couple of samples from the Fairy's
Oak Meadow letter work. She loves the Oak Meadow approach (though maybe not all the stories) - it seems to be the absolute right fit for my girl, so no matter what I choose in the future, I will work in similar types of work. Whenever I bring it out, she becomes very eager to get right down to work! We read a story about a lazy princess with a pet quail ("Q") and the story of the Roly Poly Pudding by Beatrix Potter ("R"). I have her doing kind of a blend of K-1 work here, since K doesn't include lowercase letters generally.
So far, we are actually right on track with our
letter work, and we'll have just enough time for a
review at the end of our "school" year. the Fairy also worked on letter printouts from Starfall to complement her OM work.
the Fairy was allowed to explore her brother's acrylic paints this week, and she made me this painting. I love the colors in it!
the Elf is working with 2 language arts programs this year, Oak Meadow and this more "schooly" one. Here, he had to rewrite phrases as commands, which he understood right off the bat.
Here is this week's work from Oak Meadow. I read "How the Whale Got His Throat" from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, and then the Elf drew a picture and wrote a paragraph (it's a little hard to read, so here's what he wrote):
The whale ate all the fish in the sea. Then he ate a man. The man danced and gave the whale hiccups.The man made a grate out of his raft to block the whale's throast before going home. After that, the whale could only eat tiny fish. The end.
And a sample from MathSteps, adding two digit numbers with carrying. I introduced this concept to the Elf a few weeks ago, using a laminated places chart and beans. He seems to really understand it quite well, at least so far!
And here is the Elf's acrylic painting this week. This is a "strange monster robber".
Other than that, we have finished up Italy this week, and gotten a load of books from the library for India. Tomorrow we're hoping to make a big Italian feast as a finale! We also read chapter 6 in RS4K Chemistry and did a project on mixtures, which was pretty cool (mixing oil, butter, water, juice, and milk). It brought it home to me that I need to do more hands-on stuff with my kids. So my plans for today include planning a craft project or two for our India unit, and seeing what we have in chapter 7 of RS4K.
Reading this week: I have started to read Ramona the Pest to the Fairy (which the Elf thinks is pretty funny too). the Elf picked Nate the Great and a Calvin & Hobbes comic book to peruse.
First up, a couple of samples from the Fairy's
Oak Meadow letter work. She loves the Oak Meadow approach (though maybe not all the stories) - it seems to be the absolute right fit for my girl, so no matter what I choose in the future, I will work in similar types of work. Whenever I bring it out, she becomes very eager to get right down to work! We read a story about a lazy princess with a pet quail ("Q") and the story of the Roly Poly Pudding by Beatrix Potter ("R"). I have her doing kind of a blend of K-1 work here, since K doesn't include lowercase letters generally.
So far, we are actually right on track with our
letter work, and we'll have just enough time for a
review at the end of our "school" year. the Fairy also worked on letter printouts from Starfall to complement her OM work.
Here is a math sample. Again, a curriculum choicethat is working well! We're about 10 lessons behind where I would like her to be at this point, but I think we'll make our goal for her K year with a little catch-up work here and there.
the Fairy was allowed to explore her brother's acrylic paints this week, and she made me this painting. I love the colors in it!
the Elf is working with 2 language arts programs this year, Oak Meadow and this more "schooly" one. Here, he had to rewrite phrases as commands, which he understood right off the bat.
Here is this week's work from Oak Meadow. I read "How the Whale Got His Throat" from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, and then the Elf drew a picture and wrote a paragraph (it's a little hard to read, so here's what he wrote):
The whale ate all the fish in the sea. Then he ate a man. The man danced and gave the whale hiccups.The man made a grate out of his raft to block the whale's throast before going home. After that, the whale could only eat tiny fish. The end.
And a sample from MathSteps, adding two digit numbers with carrying. I introduced this concept to the Elf a few weeks ago, using a laminated places chart and beans. He seems to really understand it quite well, at least so far!
And here is the Elf's acrylic painting this week. This is a "strange monster robber".
Other than that, we have finished up Italy this week, and gotten a load of books from the library for India. Tomorrow we're hoping to make a big Italian feast as a finale! We also read chapter 6 in RS4K Chemistry and did a project on mixtures, which was pretty cool (mixing oil, butter, water, juice, and milk). It brought it home to me that I need to do more hands-on stuff with my kids. So my plans for today include planning a craft project or two for our India unit, and seeing what we have in chapter 7 of RS4K.
Reading this week: I have started to read Ramona the Pest to the Fairy (which the Elf thinks is pretty funny too). the Elf picked Nate the Great and a Calvin & Hobbes comic book to peruse.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
the Fairy's birthday...
was a great day! We baked cupcakes, then headed out to a homeschool association business meeting (I am the field trip coordinator currently) at the chair's home. Since we brought our kids with us, there were several children for mine to play with, plus we got to play with miniature donkeys after the meeting. the Fairy adores mini donkeys - she's been asking me for one for a couple of years now - so for her, this was a dream come true, and a delightful way to spend her birthday afternoon! Once home again, we made homemade individual pizzas and a chocolate cake with fresh strawberry frosting, then settled down to watch Hoodwinked. Good relaxed and fun day. Oh, and I gave her lessons on her new sewing machine - I'll have to get a picture of her with the bag she made! She took the sewing machine in its spiffy caryying case with her to her nonna's the next morning, and now both the Fairy and the Elf are designing and sewing their own work aprons. Yesterday, we had a couple of relatives over for yet more cake and presents, including this beautiful book, which was always one of my personal favorites as a child.
the Fairy says that now that she is SIX, it is high time that I teach her to read (yes, she actually said high time), so opinions on the following please... Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading versus Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons versus Phonics Pathways versus another approach?
the Fairy says that now that she is SIX, it is high time that I teach her to read (yes, she actually said high time), so opinions on the following please... Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading versus Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons versus Phonics Pathways versus another approach?
Other than that, all is about average here. the Elf is reading Tintin comics now, and made an awesome steak marinade yesterday. the Fairy helped make the cake(s) this week. We need to finish our Chicken-que posters for 4H (oops!). I hung "new" curtains in our family room last night, since the ones that came with the house were quite unattractive, kind of orangeish. Now I have sage green to go with the couch! I have basically decided to go with Oak Meadow's science next year as well as language arts, so the only things I will supplement/substitute are math and history. I am trying to reduce my planning load, since I always have many other things I could be doing!