Let the madness stop!

Okay, phew. I am done making book lists.... for now ;) I get into phases where I love to think about the what-if's, and then I just need to get it all out of my system. Like, what if we unschooled for real? Or what if we did the 3 R's, but followed my kids' interests in everything else? Or, what if I actually managed to follow any of my carefully laid plans?

Anyhow, since life gets in the way...

Today we have two back-to-back 4 H projects on our agenda. First, food decorating, where we'll crumb-coat and then do a mosaic on cakes. Then, we have our first felting session. I am really looking forward to learning about felting! I'll make sure to take pictures of the cakes.

Since we are still having reading issues with Fairy, I am open to trying new approaches, so I got a couple of Montessori-method books from the library to help. Out of all the reading taht I have done about various methods, and all the ways of using those methods that different authors convey, I think the clearest and most simple approach I have come across is in Ready, Set, Read. At first I put this book back on the shelf, with all the talk about God. I don't mean to offend anyone, but generally I prefer secular materials. However, once I got myself past that, the advice in the book is simple, straightforward, and hopefully will work well since it takes a multi-sensory approach. So, I have alphabet cards all made up, with large letters (lowercase) that Fairy can trace with a finger. While she can "read" by memorizing entire books and then reciting them, I somehow don't really count that as reading. So, I'll use the above-mentioned book for letter/sound familiarity, and then I plan to use Easy Lessons for Teaching Word Families in combination with these readers. Easy Lessons combines letter cards and writing. Instead though, we use a small magnetic whiteboard and magnetic letter tiles to make the word families in each lesson.

We started our human body models yesterday, coloing all the layers of the head, which is focused on the 5 senses. I also had Elf read My Five Senses to Fairy. Today, I hope to squeeze in the time to cut all the fold-back flaps for the kids so we can assemble our work. If not today, then maybe tomorrow! I also hope to find time today for the 3 R's. And maybe today, The Story of the Romans will get here! Alright, I had better get Elf's jeans in the dryer and oatmeal on the stove.