Friday, March 31, 2006
Doing Math - Standing?
This wasn't a very exciting week as far as school goes! I love this picture because it's so typically Bear - standing to do her math!
I love the Horizons math curriculum that we chose. The pages are very colorful without being overwhelming or distracting. Here she is doing some adding with a number line.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
It was a CRAZY week!!!!
Look at that - complete with chocolate cookie dirt and gummi worms!
It sure was a fun project, even if it wasn't officially a school project!
Thursday, March 23, 2006
What a week!!
(Aren't they beautiful?...sniff...)
BUT, on Wednesday, we got back in the swing of things! It was pretty neat because the math lesson that I was starting on involved doing some addition using a number line for a visual. I made a number line on a dry erase board using a permanent marker (of "promenade" marker as Bear would say!) so that she could practice without erasing the line, and she LOVED it! She kept saying, "This is fun! Can we do some more?" Then we were doing some patterning with blocks and she loved THAT! I'm beginning to think she's a "tactile" learner, if there is such a learning style!
There was a cooking "craft" out of an American Girls cooking book that she was just dying to make, so I had her write out the shopping list for her handwriting practice. It's a pudding layered in a flower pot with chocolate cookies crushed up and sprinkled on to look like dirt and fake flowers stuck in - very cute! We can't wait to eat it tomorrow night for dessert night!
Today, Thursday, we did some more number line addition and got out the pennies and dimes and counted some money. Again, Bear loved this activity because it was hands on!
Whirlwind!!
Friday, March 10, 2006
Yay! It's FRIDAY!!!
Today was a fun day! I started by reading a book merely titled St. Patrick's Day, which was just a simple kids book about the holiday. After we were done, we decided to go on the internet to see if we could find some information on Ireland. Unfortunately, most of the info that we found was travel info, and I didn't want to take up a lot of time today searching for other stuff. We did see some pretty pictures of scenery, which was nice because I was explaining to Bear about why they called Ireland "The Emerald Isle" and why green is a St. Patrick's Day color. So at least that was able to tie in! Then we made a St. Patrick's day bear, as shown in the picture, which was a lot of fun. Bear LOVES crafts! The funny thing is that when I say "we" I don't mean Bear and Deco, I mean Bear and myself! I enjoyed coloring, cutting, and gluing the craft for ME!! (OK, one of these days I'll grow up!) Another funny thing that happened was that Bear said, as we were getting ready to glue the flag on the bear's chest, "When I saw the flag on the computer, it went 'green, white, red'." So I asked her if she was sure, and we came back to the computer to make sure and realized that the flag of Ireland is actually green, white, and ORANGE!!! Oops! We were able to correct hers, but I had to make a whole new one for my bear! She was right, though, the order of the flag starts with the green stripe.
(Note: The reason I'm doing all these St. Patrick's Day things now is because next Friday, my mom and I are flying to Atlanta for my cousin's wedding, so we won't be having school on St. Patrick's Day. Plus, there's really so much stuff that can be done, that I hated to cram it into one or two days!)
Bear read a book to me while I cut out her "bear parts". It was called Cats! The Sound of Short A. I love the library because it has a whole slew of phonics readers!
Well, off to do other stuff today! I've got to get lunch...pick up the house...go grocery shopping...get my cousin's wedding present...go on a date with Ched...it's going to be a busy day!
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Wal Mart Schooling!
Wednesday, the flaking day...
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Another GREAT day!!!
Reflections on a hard day
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Getting back into the GROOVE!!
Bear loves The American Girls, and we're presently reading the Kirsten's Story Collection (for the second time!). I checked out a book from our church library called Kirsten's Craft Book which is full of things that they would have made back in the pioneer days, Kirsten's time period. So far this week we've done two of the crafts - a "chromotrope toy" which is a spinning disc on a string and a yarn doll that Bear named "Rainbow". She also used a piece ofcardboard and made a "bed" for the doll - she loves making things!
We've also begun to do some lessons from Five in a Row, using the book Madeline. I love how FIAR uses things from the books to teach all different subjects! Yesterday we colored a French flag and learned about the Eiffel Tower on the internet. Today we talked about what Madeline's friends did to make her feel better when she was in the hospital and made a "Compassion List" of things that we could do to make people feel better. Some of the things that Bear came up with were "Make a flower crown" and "Help someone clean up their room."
The best game we've done so far this week is The Croc Game, the idea for which I got off of the homeschooling board at http://www.justmommies.com. On cards, I put all of the short vowel words that she's read over the last week or so and placed them on the floor. I would tell bear to look for a specific vowel sound word, grab the card and toss it into the "croc's" mouth, which was a big green laundry basket turned upside down. She loved it and even asked to play a few extra rounds! I also played this with Deco, having him pick up a particular color of bead.