Week 18

We took Monday off this week to get things together and unpack after being gone for a month. I kind of am seeing the beginning of January as a beginning of "second semester" and made a few changes that I'm hoping to stick with.

Firstly, our calendar notebook has kind of fallen by the wayside since we were gone. Instead, we have been working our calendar work with the main things on our fridge. We are still counting days, doing a word a day, writing the date and the weather, etc.

PreK:

I found this sticker workbook when I was cleaning out our school closet. It's mostly just fun "work" for Emmett.

We've also been working through capital letter formation with the white board. I write the letter, he erases it with his finger. He likes this. We have done letters A, F and E.

Math:

This week I noticed we had RightStart B left when I thought we'd do that for math. I tried it again since memorizing her facts past ten is work for Abby. I realized that it is way too spiral for my liking. Anyway, we are going to continue to move sideways with it. We'll finish up Miquon Orange and work through some puzzles with MEP 1.

So, this week, we worked through some Miquon. At the beginning of the year, I tested the waters with Abby and the concept of halves. She didn't quite get that halves had to be equal, even though stressed that we needed to split whatever number into two FAIR parts. This week, though, I explained the concept and gave her an orange rod and asked how we could break it up evenly. She said, "Oh, that's easy. It's five!" After going through ten and eight, she then commented, "The odd numbers can't be broken fairly with the rods here. We'd have to break the white rod in half to make it even." Have I sung the praises of C rods lately?!

We played a bit on Dreambox math. We're trying out the free trial.

Spelling:

We are still working through dictated phrases. I have come into a bit of paypal, though, so I'm going to be looking for AAS level 2 now. Yay!

Reading:

Abby still is reading on her spare time. I'm not requiring any amount of reading. She reads plenty at bedtime. (Our rule is that they have to be in bed and quiet, but they don't have to be asleep.)

We are still working through All About Sam. I need to see if I can put the audio on her DS...or maybe sync my old iPod so she can listen to it in the car when Emmett is wanting to listen to music (which he seems to prefer). The next time we make a trip to the library, I am hoping to pick up some Jim Weiss audios.

We have been working through The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss by Kathleen Krull and have been fascinated with it. We are going to put FIAR on hold for a while and do a Seussian theme for the next few weeks before Seuss's birthday in March. Then, we will throw a big Seuss bash and invite a friend or two. Abby is chomping on the bit to get started with that.

Of course, read-alouds happen daily here.

Extra:

In the great clean-out of January 2012, I cleared and reorganized our school supplies. Hopefully it is better suited now so I can use our materials better. I've decided that we will be coloring heavy for a while. I'm hoping that between some snippets of handwriting, and lots of coloring, hand muscles for writing will be strengthened.

I'm also hopeful that group coloring will encourage Ellie to sit and enjoy some "schoolwork" with us. This week Abby colored a myriad of unicorns, Emmett did Toothless (from How to Train Your Dragon) and couple of unicorns (can we say follower?), and Ellie colored Dora and WonderPets. (Have I mentioned how much I loathe Dora? She doesn't watch it much, but she definitely knows she exists.)

The Baby:

Hyrum is also joining in on the learning fun! He has finally figured out how to stay on hands-and-knees rather than belly crawl. He has been army crawling for a while and would push up onto his hands and knees, take a few "crawl" steps and get annoyed with his speed (which is about as fast as cold molasses) and get back down on his tummy. He also has figured how to pull up! And now, he is learning how to fall without knocking his noggin.

Week 13

ABCs:

Well, I really am slacking on this. This week I have no excuse for not doing it...except fot hat it's really hard to think of a fairly simple craft using k or x. I think we'll have to do a hokey "xylophone" or something for x... and maybe kick for k? We'll see what I come up with.

Math:

We reviewed addition over ten with "making tens" and subtracting when there aren't enough ones by "decomposing a ten." Abby understands these concepts, but is slow to complete it. She'd much rather solve the problem using an addition sentence she knows: "Eight and two is ten. So...eight and four is twelve!" I'm okay with this as long as she understands HOW to make ten. We call it having the numbers "share."

We are scheduled to really finish up Singapore 1A this week. I need to buy Challenging Word Problems and Intensive Practice. I think those are what we will take on our three-week-vacation next month.

We have also been fiddling with a few puzzles from MEP math. They should be review, but they are a different type of problems than Abby is used to seeing. She's not sure she likes them because they do make her think.

We also did a few review questions that involved having multiple addends. Again, we are trying to do a few things "out of the box" so she is exposed to different types of problems and solutions.

Emmett did some more sums and counting, but nothing formal. He wasn't up for any of that and I don't want to push.

The rods still get played with by Ellie too. Her favorite one is the purple one she tells me. She likes to do what the older kids do. She has no clue she's younger than they are.

Spelling:

We finished off All About Spelling 1 this week. It has been a long time coming since I really dropped how frequently we used the program and also slowed down to a crawl on the lessons we did do. We'll keep reviewing what she's learned, but won't pick up AAS 2 until January.

Reading:

We have been listening to How to Eat Fried Worms on audiobook. We have read a ton of picture books. I still have yet to read the Radish Cure to Abby. I'm really hoping to get to that this week.

Abby has chugged along in her Me and My Monsters book. In her free time, she's been reading Mr. Putty and Tabby books by Cynthia Rylant.

FIAR:

Like nearly everyone using FIAR, we thought it would be a good idea to row Cranberry Thanksgiving this week to prep for Thanskgiving. It's out of print, so I had to request it from the library. I'm actually amazed we got it in in time to row it this week!

Social Studies:

• We could have reviewed the history of Thanksgiving, but I'm planning that for next week. Instead, we discussed where New England is.

Language Arts:

• This book has text all over the place! During one reading, I had Abby point out the different places the manuscript can be placed in a book.

Art:

• One of the last pages of the book has Grandmother, Maggie and Mr. Whiskers sitting in front of the fire, done in silhouettes. We made our own silhouettes and talked reviewed what are considered warm and cool colors.

Science:

• The book has a line which reads, "Mr. Horace was starched" or something to that effect. We discussed starch and what it does.
• We extracted starch from a potato.

• We tested various things with iodine to see if they contained starch. I first showed the kids how the iodine would react with the remnants of our potato project. Then, we tested different foods with the iodine.

• Of course, discussing starch meant we had to play with some oobleck.

Other:

• We also tried out some craisins and cranberry apple juice.

Swim:

This past week was the last week of swim for the year. The next session won't start up again until February.

Emmett did okay in his Level 3/4 class. He is physically capable, but having difficulty honing the maturity needed to really excel with a group class. He worked on dives and endurance most of this session. Next session we will see if he's matured a bit more to really focus in the class. His teacher tells us no four-year-old should be able to do like he does and affectionately calls him a freak of nature.

Abby did okay with her Level 2 class. Her teacher doesn't seem to get through to her with the what is required...she still needs to figure how to breathe during freestyle as well as work on her breast stroke.

Ellie has done well with splitting her time between a preschool class and a mom-and-tot class. She's advanced to the point where she can go a few body lengths on her own and has started to really enjoy swimming. She likes "going under water."

Religion:

This week we read about Nephi retrieving the brass plates. We read the story in several different places. We made Jerusalem with blocks and then destroyed it.

We made brass plates out of graham crackers and frosting and wrote on them with tooth picks.

We also watched the animated version from the Living Scriptures, Nephi and the Brass Plates. While we watched, we each chose a picture from the activity book and colored that page. Then, after the movie, we reviewed by putting our pages in the order they happened.

Other:

I actually enticed Ellie to color a picture the other day. She doesn't care for coloring much, but this was a picture of Baby Jaguar and she is currently in a Diego-is-the-neatest stage.

We made Thanksgiving cards one night. They came out pretty cute.

Lest you think that the older kids are the only ones learning anything, here is Hyrum and his new-ish trick!

(While he looks pretty steady here, the truth is he only sits for about five minutes max before he either folds in half or topples over. Small and steady steps and he'll get better and better!)

Week 9

We had a four-day week again this week, but for good reason. I have been concerned about Emmett's speech and intelligibility for a bit. I had him evaluated nearly five months ago at an impromptu speech check type of deal. There was a speech pathologist there who said he wasn't very delayed, but she would say he was probably delayed enough for therapy. I took him to his pediatrician who recommended a fantastic place for a speech evaluation. While we were there, we also saw a pediatric audiologist who checked his hearing. Daddy took off so he could watch the other three and I took Emmett to the appointment.

His appointment was all morning long and very enlightening. He passed his hearing test just fine. In fact, he can hear things I cannot. The part that took forever was the speech part where they administered the language portion of an IQ test. The tester began it at the four-year-old level and he just kept cruising through the questions, missing a very few. Many of the ones he missed were developmentally appropriate.

Anyway... this test was very interesting. As a child, I was tested for giftedness and my score was very high. I like to think my kids are smart and have noticed they are a bit different. This test confirmed my suspicions when Emmett hit the ceiling on it. It's not formal because of the manner in which it was done, but the psychologist who talked with me labeled him as "highly gifted at the very least." Reviewing the questions and thinking about Abby in comparison to this test, I feel very comfortable making the assumption that Abby is gifted as well.

It certainly does explain a few things!

And, now, on to our week in review...

ABCs:

Jelly bean Js this week! I thought for sure the kids would eat all of the jelly beans, but they didn't. Ellie was the only one to eat them. She ate her entire bowl, except the black ones. LOL

PreK:

We didn't push much this week. Emmett isn't interested in anything but being read to and playing outside. His articulation test did show that he has some issues articulating certain sounds (namely /s/, /sh/, and /ch/). The speech language pathologist wants us to work on them and gave us some ideas to do so and told us to come back in six months if he hasn't improved. We will be working these sounds into life. (She also said the reason people have a hard time understanding him is because nobody expects a four-year-old to use such a wide array of words.)

Math:

We moved on to subtraction in Singapore 1A. Abby really firmly understands all four number sentences that can be written from a number bond.

On Friday, we did a bit of "magic math" with our math balance. This was a great way to illustrate that the equals sign really means "is the same as."

She also is finished with most of the addition and subtraction pages in Miquon and is moving into shapes and measurement type pages. These will be easy and lots of fun for her.

Spelling:

Tuesdays and Thursdays are our spelling days, but Emmett's evaluation was on Tuesday so we skipped one day this week. We reviewed the lesson on compound words. The ones on this list were really easy for Abby. The next time we review, though, we will be reviewing syllables. I had to explain it to Abby that a word is composed of parts, like a number (then I wrote a 6). That word can be broken down into syllables (3 and 3), or just straight sounds (then I wrote 6 ones). Abby really seemed to understand this parallel.

Read-Aloud:

Well, we finished Winnie-the-Pooh in the car. Now I have to find another audio book... We'll have to find one at the library.

We also began reading Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, which I am very happy about. I loved this book as a child!

Five in a Row:

This week we rowed How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.

Social Studies:

• We studied and researched the places named in the book: Italy, France, Sri Lanka, Europe, Jamaica, and Vermont.

• We discussed some geography features extensively, especially the oceans. Did you know that geographers now consider the earth to have five oceans? When I was growing up, it was only four. We used a song to the tune of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. Lyrics are:

Our earth has five vast and blue oceans. Our earth has five vast and blue seas. Our earth has five vast and blue oceans. More water than land, can't you see?

Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Southern too.

Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Southern too.

Our earth has five vast and blue oceans. I named them all, now can't you?

Language Arts:

• Our lesson was on the word "pantomime" and its origins. We pantomimed a few actions from the book.

Art:

• We compared two pictures in the book of the street the market is on. We realized these two pictures were a continuation of each other!

Science:

• I think this was the kids' favorite subject this week!
• We made butter from heavy whipping cream. We started out shaking it, but then it was dinner time, so we tossed it in the mixer which took quick care of it. We also added a bit of honey to use on bread for dinner. Two days later, Daddy had the realization that this is how we also get buttermilk for pancakes. LOL

• We grated up some cinnamon sticks and talked about the differences between a physical change and a chemical change.

• We set out some saltwater and I asked Abby how we might get the salt out of it. She thought about pouring it out, then mixing it...and finally had a light bulb moment and said, "Evaporation!" It took four days for the water to evaporate out. I did "help" it along a bit because it has been colder and not very sunny this week. Abby illustrated the process and I took a picture of it. I love her drawings!

Of course we did a few extra apple-y things this week!

• We had apples as snacks all week. Everyone likes apples here. We even let Hyrum have his first taste of something other than breastmilk!

• We even dipped some of our apples in jello powder. This was really yummy! (Strawberry was my favorite. :)) It did take Ellie a bit to get used to it (and that's not jello in her hair, but paint).

• We had an "apple party" and invited a friend over to share with us. That's when we did our apple prints!

• And, of course, we made an apple pie!

• Abby loved the apple pie, but I don't care for it. I made cherry pie, which is a great segue into our next unit using How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U. S. A.

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Life:

• Besides the testing Emmett did, he also went on a campout with Daddy (who went to help out our local scout troupe). I would post pictures here, but Daddy is a bum and hasn't loaded any. Rest assured, though, he had a blast!
• Emmett turned four today and in preparation for his birthday Abby authored a book for him. She dictated the story, I put it on the computer, pro-clicked it and then she illustrated it.
• Hyrum learned to stay in his exersaucer for a while. This one is old and the elastic for the seat is starting to give way. Hyrum sits in it so well that Daddy and I are on the hunt for another one...

• And, of course, Emmett turned four today! I can't believe he is so old (and yet so young!).

Week 8

Daddy was off work for most of Monday and Wednesday, so we took a light this week this week and focused only on math and spelling so we could enjoy our time with Daddy!

ABCs:

We only have three letters left. This week we did letter I and we painted it with ice. We poured jello powder on our Is and then used ice to wet it down and color the Is.

All the kids love to do our letter crafts. This time, though, Abby didn't care as much about painting the I. "This powder is delicious!" she exclaimed. From then on, she mostly ate the powder. LOL

I made them strip to their underwear so they didn't stain their clothes. Ellie, however feels that underwear is optional any time we're at home so she was naked.

PreK:

Emmett has been fairly resistant to any idea of learning. Lately all he wants to do is watch TV. And if he doesn't have enough stars (we use Chore Pad) then he chooses to play outside. I'm fine letting this because that is what being four (or nearly so...his birthday is on the 23rd!) is all about. He still counts as we play. We identify colors and shapes in everyday life. He helps pick up. The luster of "homeschool," though, and "doing school" has worn off. He still tells everyone he does homeschool.

Reading:

I'm trying to ascertain where Abby is reading-wise and see what would be good for her to read aloud to me. We have some Pathway Readers, but I don't think they'll interest her as much. We picked up Mr. Putter and Tabby Feed the Fish at the library. While the interest level is good for her, the reading was definitely easy. She only sounded out one word in the entire book. This weekend I'm going to be spending some time on Scholastic's Book Wizard to find something maybe a bit harder...Or maybe we'll park it here for a bit.

Math:

We are nearly done with section E (addition and subtraction) in Miquon Orange. We also completed the first addition unit in Singapore Math 1a. The only lesson that was a bit confusing for her was the last one where it discusses "counting on." I tried to explain it to her and she was frustrated because "adding is faster!" She was confused because I have been trying to NOT have her count. When adding one or two more I say, "Six and two more" and she will respond with the correct answer. I do believe she is "counting on" in her head and isn't realizing it's the same thing I'm trying to explain.

So we glazed over it and then went to check what addition facts she is shaky on. We're focusing only on addition up to ten and she only was hesitant on a few facts: 6+3 and 5+3 being the big two.

I know that it's becoming second-nature, though, because we were at a park yesterday and she wrote in the sand, "10 = 6 + 4 = 8 + 2 = 9 + 1 = 5 + 5 = 7 + 3 = 5 + 5 = 1 + 4 + 3 + 2!"

One day we did math outside. We wrote a bunch of numbers on the ground and then I sat with the whiteboard and wrote problems for Abby and Emmett. Abby's were typical number bonds, addition sentence type problems with a few reading problems thrown in. Emmett's were mostly counting objects, which is really too easy for him. When they knew the answer, they rode their scooter over to it.

We also bought Double Shutter on clearance at Target. It will be a great game to review some addition facts... Daddy and I also love to play it. It's a bit addicting. :)

Spelling:

Because we had such a light week, we reviewed mostly. We did finish lesson 21 which taught the digraph /nk/. It was good to review this week because she kept spelling ring like "reng" or think like "thenk." I was at a loss at how to tell her we really spelled it with an even though we pronounce it with a long e sound. And then I realized AAS had given me the tool for this when I introduced the phonograms and told her that /ng/ is rarely in front of an e and /nk/ is never placed after an e. She looked confused and said, "Well, how do we spell this?!" and I commented, "Do you know another vowel that can say that sound?" It was then that she made the connection that we place an i there and use it's third sound of "eeee."

Read-Aloud:

We've been reading through the Magic Tree House books we have. We also checked out a Winnie-the-Pooh audiobook that the kids have really enjoyed. We got it from the library on Tuesday and as of Friday night we were well into the third CD. Now I'm on the hunt for another audio book for the kids to listen to.

Swim:

We finished up our last session of swim lessons this week. Next session, Emmett will move on to level four, Abby will stay at level three to review a few more strokes, and Ellie will continue to split between the mom-and-tot class. We have seen marked improvement in Abby's technique. now she just needs to hone it. The class that Emmett will be moving into is a longer class and will require more of him. The teacher he's getting seems to really love his job and be very capable with little kids. We're also hoping the class we'll place him in is the least populated of the two he teaches.

Ellie has made strong improvement in her swimming this session as well. She can now float on her front and back without freaking out. She can glide in the water. She would be swimming but she has yet to make the discovery that if she starts kicking while she's gliding on her tummy, she would move forward. I'm sure that discovery will be coming soon.

Extra:

Because Daddy was off on Monday, we took the kids to the zoo! It's been a while since Daddy's been to the zoo. The kids and I went last month, but it's much more fun to go with Dad.

The children's section of the zoo is still fairly new (added within the last year). The climbing things are classic for them, even Daddy participates!

We saw a condor spread his wings. He sure is a big bird! The kids even imitated him.

We even saw some prairie animals which had us talking about Three Names.

We did the lorikeet exhibit. We try not to do this too frequently so it doesn't ruin the magic. The kids love this part, and this time we bought nectar to feed the birds!

Emmett is awesome at holding the birds. He holds super still and just watches. This is one of the few times we see him still.

Abby is a big spaz when it comes to holding the birds. She has gotten better, but she really has to focus on not flipping out when they stand on her.

Since this was the first time we'd been in a while, it was the first time Ellie really got what was happening without flipping out. She really wanted to hold the birds and couldn't figure out how to get them. Daddy finally helped her out.

Even Hyrum got to hold the birds!