Week 32

In case you're ever wondering what Hyrum does during school time... Sometimes he's off making mischief with Ellie, sometimes he is playing with toys on his own.  Other times, he steals the iPad or my phone and runs off.  If he's got the iPad, he is usually watching Netflix or another video stored on there.  But there are no shows or videos on my phone, so if he's got that, he's very often playing Starfall or Tozzle (because Mom's boring and doesn't put any more interesting apps on there).

He's got Starfall going here.

Preschool

Letter Craft

It's been rainy lately, so we did U is for Umbrella.  Ellie did hers backwards...

Like has been typical the last little bit, Hyrum has enjoyed participating and decorating his own letter.

Junior K

Language

Reading

While Owl at Home was a bit more of a stretch last week, this week Emmett flew through it!  He's been practicing on his own and decoding words is getting easier for him.  He finished up Owl at Home and moved on to Frog and Toad are Friends.

Spelling

Emmett learned the two ways we can spell the /k/ sound at the beginning of a word.  We actually went to the white board and used blank tiles as he learned when to use the letter c and when to use k.

This week, he spelled his first sentence from dictation!  When he focuses, his handwriting can pretty nice for a 5-year-old boy!

Math

Emmett did some review of math facts.  I am finding he needs to constantly figure sums.  Abby memorized her facts rather quickly.  Emmett, on the other hand, has a much better grasp of counting on and other methods of figuring out his facts that he is not focused on memorization at all.  I prefer this, but would like for him to eventually become more fluent with his facts.  Luckily, he thinks it's cool to race against the clock.

First Grade

Language

Grammar

Abby learned about helping verbs this week.  We are working on memorizing the whole list.  Once again, I'm grateful that we bought the audio companion to FLL because the song and chant on there has been really helpful!

Writing

Abby's writing selections came from "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" which is a story in King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table.  I wasn't sure how she'd respond to the story, but she really enjoyed listening in.  Her copywork focused on command sentences.

Reading

Abby finished up Winn-Dixie this week.  She's excited to watch the movie on Sunday.

Spelling

Abby worked with vowel teams "oa" and "ow" this week.

Handwriting

Cursive was skipped this week.

Math

Abby moved into clocks this week.  She has been having an off-focus week, though.  She can tell time to the five-minute mark now, though!

All Together

History

I should have looked ahead because we had a chapter on Confucius that only had one section that we could have easily completed last week when we talked mostly about China.  Oh well.

After we finished up that, we moved back to Rome and began discussing Julius Caesar.  We read books about pirates, the consuls of Rome, etc.  We talked about how Romans made mosaics using tiles and then did our own mosaics!

I intentionally got ones geared towards younger kids.  They came with the picture pre-planned out and we just added the foam stickers.  Ellie loved this and sat quietly at the table for about an hour finishing up two different ones!

Science

Our strawberries are growing nicely!  I think next week we'll use their leaves to observe what happens to their chloroplast when they are NOT exposed to light.

Week 30

We are nearing the end of the school year. With only 4 weeks left until my due date and 6 weeks until we are "done" with the school year, I'm feeling like the school plan has gone pretty well! 

Preschool

Ellie did some Starfall, to the detriment of my computer mouse. She dropped it. And while it's been dropped several times, this time around it hit the edge of the chair on the way down whacked the mouse and wheel. She was just getting pretty good with it too. Next week, she'll be back to working with Starfall again, though, with the use of a new mouse (thank you, Amazon Prime!).

Letter Craft

Ellie did letter R this week. She colored Rs red (or rainbow in Abby's case).  Then she helped me dye some rice red

 

And then she glued the rice on the R. Of course, playing in the rice after she glued it to the R was lots of fun too!

 

Junior K

 Language

Reading

Emmett finished A Big Ball of String.  The next (and last) book in the schedule is The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto.  I looked through it, though, and decided to skip it with him.  So, he moved into Sonlight Grade 2 readers.  The first big chunk, though, is the Beginner's Bible, which he also skipped.  So he moved into Owl at Home.

The last few books have been at his independent reading level.  Owl at Home is more at his instructional level.  He read the first story twice to solidify some words he had to decode.

Spelling

He didn't repeat last week's lesson, but I did have him heavily review last week's words.  For whatever reason, he has a harder time remembering the "ch" phonogram.

This week's words were full of ending blends.  He skipped a few blends here and there, but mostly n-d blends.  He'll review those words along with the consonant team words he struggled with a bit for the next week.

Math

This week Emmett worked through subtraction problems.  The big concept he worked on this week was what-used-to-be-called "fact families."  It's basically the idea that with any given number bond, 4 sets of math sentences can be created.  In Emmett's case, I expect him to be able to create two addition and two subtraction sentences.

First Grade

Language

Grammar

Abby finished up talking about linking verbs, reviewed sentences, and began copywork of a poem about months of the year.

Writing

This week's selections focused on a story from the Jataka Tales.  Since we have just read about the Buddha and the Indian time period around these tales, Abby thought it was really neat to be hearing a rendition of one.  Her answers to the review questions came easily and narrations were painless this week (which they mostly are...).

Reading

Abby completed Pippi Longstocking.  I offered the Cricket in Times Square, but she didn't want to read it for whatever reason.  So, she's reading The Whipping Boy.  Apparently she doesn't care for this book very much.  Lucky for her, it's very short.  I guess I need to figure out what to have her read next...

Spelling

Abby's lesson this week dealt with the /ur/ phonogram.  She also learned about Handyman E, which takes care of all other silent Es that the other jobs don't.

Handwriting

She did mostly review this week and focused on connecting letters.

Math

Abby completed a review of previous concepts this week and moved into fractions.  Apparently she really likes fractions.  Her math lessons were typically quick and without any complaining.  I might pull out some of Miquon's fraction books for review/enrichment as she's done them in the past and enjoyed them.

All Together

History

We moved back to China this week!  We learned about the first unified state of China - the Qin dynasty.  This week we talked about calligraphy and Chinese characters as well as introduced the kids to the Qin and its emporer, Qin Zheng.  Next week we'll finish up the chapter.

Science

We picked up a strawberry plant and planted it this week.

It's getting warm enough to the point that we might be able to pick RSO back up this coming week!

Week 29

Preschool

PreK Activity Book

Ellie worked through some of a new Kumon Sticker and Paste workbook.  She liked the stickers, but didn't feel like it was really "schoolwork."

I did also have her play on Starfall, which she seemed to enjoy, but didn't want to play it as long as the other kids used to.  I think part of that, though, is that she's not as adept with the mouse/computer as the other kids were at her age.  I think it's slightly frustrating for her.  So, we'll keep doing Starfall (we have the "more" subscription) and hopefully she'll gain some more computer control.

Letter Craft

We skipped a letter craft this week in favor of Mom cleaning the fridge.

Junior K

Language

Reading

Emmett finished up A Fly Went By and started A Big Ball of String.  For not having ever even OPENED the book, he's doing really well with it.

Spelling

Emmett spelled words with "th," "sh," and "ch" this week.  He had a hard time remembering what consonant team said "ch" and figuring out if the word I was dictating said "v," "f," or "th."  I am sure the latter issue is related to his speech.  He spent more time looking at mouths and watching the way words are formed.  I'm unsure as to whether we'll repeat this week or not...he did get most of the words correct.

Math

So far Emmett's lessons are super short and super easy.  He finished up the unit on methods of addition.  He surprised me with his ability to "count on."  This was a concept that was lost on Abby at this age.

Emmett began some mental math practice as well.  Abby was stressed if I suggested timing her mental math practice.  Emmett thrived on trying to beat his time, however.  Different kids and all that.  His first go at Mental Math 1 was completed in 2:37.  His second time around, however, he completed it in in 1:58.  Mental Math 2 was a lot more difficult of problems and he took longer.  The first go he completed them in 5:37; the second in 4 minutes even.  He loved watching his times go down.  :)

Towards the end of this week, he moved on to talking about subtraction and what that actually means.

First Grade

Language

Grammar

Abby had lessons that discussed linking verbs.  She was very amused that they are THE SAME as state of being verbs.  We did an exercise where we used the verbs to link nouns and descriptive phrases.  This was a favorite activity.

Writing

This week our selections came from All-of-a-Kind Family.  The selections focused around the part where Sarah loses her library book.  Since Abby recently got her new library card, she was very somber about the loss of a library book.

Reading

Abby finished up Sarah, Plain and Tall and began Pippi Longstocking.  The kids heard this on audio book a few years ago and loved it.  I asked her if she remembered the story and she said she didn't, though.  She is really enjoying the book and says it feels familiar.

Our library has this edition and Abby really is appreciating the illustrations in it.  I wonder if I can find other good quality literature with fun illustrations like this one has...

Spelling

Abby learned some more about consonant-l-e syllables this week.  I taught her why we may double consonants in some consonant-l-e words (ie bubble, puzzle, fiddle).  She also learned about homophones and watched a Veggie Tales song about homophones.

Handwriting

Abby wrote "U"s this week.

Math

Abby worked through subtracting money this week.  This money unit has been a good way to review addition and subtraction with larger numbers.  She practiced both the standard algorithm and mental math.  She has a review/practice at the beginning of next week and then she'll move on to another unit.

All Together

Science

We talked a bit briefly about photosynthesis this week.  We also picked up a strawberry plant that we'll start this next coming week.  Soon, we will be ready to pick up RSO again and actually observe real plants!

History

We learned about the Mauryan Empire of India this week.  One of the big themes we touched on was how cities are stronger when they are united into one empire rather than when they fought each other.

Chess

Emmett and Abby have both solidified in ways they can attack with the bishop.  We talked about moving a piece out of danger and then we moved on to attacking with the rook.

Summer Fun Weeks 5-9

Well, it's been a bit of time since I've written here.  Summer has kind of created it's own routine.  On Mondays, we go to the movies (the inexpensive kid ones).  Tuesday is gymnastics.  Wednesday I have a meeting.  Thursday we have playgroup.  Friday is our only free day!  Luckily, though, we only have one more week of gymnastics and then the kids will be off till the school year starts again.

The Math

Abby is cruising through MEP y2.  By the end of this week, she'll be done with the first six weeks of lessons.  She has really enjoyed this session of math and it has come fairly easier to her.  Must be nice!  She also has gotten really good at mental math.  She can add and subtract three-digit numbers with relative ease!  She also is capable of working out simple multiplication and division.  I'm sure by the end of this school year, she will have her multiplication tables memorized.  She can already easily figure the x2, x3, and x4 tables.  Today, I asked her what the smallest 3-digit number she could think of was.  She thought for a bit and said, "Negative one-hundred!"

Emmett has started Miquon Orange.  He really enjoys the autonomy the rods give him to figure out the problems all ON HIS OWN.

Ellie begs to math every time one of the older kids pull out the rods.  She has started to play with them, and especially likes to use the ABC book we have for them.

The Reading

Abby has read through plenty of longer picture books, her favorite being the Billy and Blaze series.

Emmett made it to lesson 60ish in 100 Easy Lessons.  He started getting really fidgety during the lessons, so I started splitting them in half.  One day, I thought he might like Funnix, so we gave it a try and he loves it.  There is less fidgeting, and he is flying through.  I jumped back to lesson 40 in Funnix because it has a different scope and sequence.  It's a good thing, because he is double-timing it through and sometimes does two lessons a day.

Ellie, I am realizing, knows a very large amount (if not all) of her letters/sounds.  She plays around on Starfall, but is more frustrated by the mouse than the actual letter parts.

Unplanned Summer Fun

We've taken a bit of time to just enjoy summer.  This week (the last of June) has been the first week where we've been consistently in the triple digits.  As a result, we've done a lot of fun things!

• We've been to the zoo a few times.  One time we even went while it was raining!

• We pulled out the easel and the kids had a great time.  Hyrum thinks it's a buffet table with all of those crayons.  We were surprised to find a cute little drawing Abby must have done over a year ago!

• In our scripture study one week, we read about Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty.  So, we used tissue paper to make our own "coats" which we then rent into our own titles of liberty.

• All of our tadpoles turned into frogs.  Rather than buying mini crickets or meal worms, we opted to release them.  The kids loved growing tadpoles!  Last week, we saw a few little frogs that were bigger than the ones we released, but not full grown, and wondered if they were our "pets."

• Our blackberries produced a ton of fruit! I didn't get to eat much because the kids were constantly back there nibbling!  Ellie and Hyrum loved it.  Ellie ate nearly anything that resembled black.  Hyrum, on the other hand, was not that particular.  If it didn't break off into his hand, he ate it off the cane.  He ate a few crunchy ones and didn't seem to be bothered one bit!

• The pool has a new aqua climb that Emmett loves to do.  He can actually make it to the top square!  He had to pass the swim test to be able to do it.

• One week, the library had a Reptile/Amphibian day.  The kids loved seeing all the different animals!

• Hyrum is not only a walker... he is now a climber too!

(...and a stripper too!)

• Emmett has been bug-hunting all summer long.  He finds bugs, holds them, names them, and even build them little homes/nests.

• We've been to plenty of parks.

• We've played in plenty of splash parks and water areas trying to stay cool.

• We took advantage of $3 bowling (including shoe rental!).

• We painted.  We even let Hyrum paint.  He did a pretty good job for the first little bit...until he decided to eat the painter.

• We worked a bit in the garden.

• We even learned what happens when you try to jump a car with the cables on the wrong ends.  Whoops!

Week 27

Last week I wrote that I was worried that we would all get sick after Hyrum had been sick. And get sick we did! Sunday night Ellie, Emmett, Daddy and I were all up throwing up. It was MISERABLE.

Monday, just as everyone felt that we were on the mend, Abby started complaining of the backs of her legs hurting, she spiked a fever and had a cough. Her fever was really high, so I took her in. Her strep test was negative, so we took her home thinking that she just had something viral and she'd get over it quickly. While she had the virus, though, we did only light schooling. We did some math, skipping a few sets of problems, and we did a bit of reading. Come to find out, her flu swab was positive.

I guess I'm a mean mom making her work through light school while she was positive for influenza, but she was capable of playing in the back yard and running, then she was capable of a few math problems! Never fear, though, there was plenty of TV watching...

...story reading...

...and good ol' imaginative play!

Tot School:

My two-year-old is busy learning things and I think I'll start adding a bit of a learning update on her in this space... :)

We watched a lot of LeapFrog Letter Factory...and I realized she already knows a fair amount of her letter sounds.

She loves to play the iPad and do puzzles.

She also got a big kick out of our Tag Jr. this past week.

She is the perfect age for it to be fun!

She also is learning to navigate a computer with a mouse. She plays Starfall and once again I'm happy that I paid for the upgrade. So. Worth. It!

PreK:

Emmett is really getting good at reading some CVC words. I started him on the I See Sam readers and he has read the first two. He is really pleased that he is learning to read and was happy he could do these books (on the iPad, no less) all on his own!

He is also beginning to show an interest in writing.

So, I'm slowly introducing the proper way to form certain letters.

He has beautiful handwriting for a four-year-old boy.

He's also getting faster with his rods, especially building a staircase.

Math:

Like I said, we skipped a fair amount of math problems in our lessons this week. I'm not too concerned about doing this since Abby's computation and understanding are good.

MEP focused on number bonds for 18 and 19 this week. Each time I let her skip problem sets, she immediately chose to skip the drill-ish problem and kept the puzzles.

She did pull out the wrap-ups one day and was pleased that she could manipulate it enough to complete a stick!

We did do some money problems out of a typical first grade workbook this week as well. MEP is British, so I figure we've got to introduce US currency somewhere. I'm not too worried, though, because I think we'll be working some through SM 1B (which is American) this summer.

And, for a bit of surprise... This evening we were playing board games and Ellie wanted to play. We pulled out Candyland. The older kids had to answer questions to get to draw their cards. I wrote down a few two-digit addition problems to see how Abby would tackle them and she was able to completely solve them mentally! My husband was surprised that she did problems such as 18 + 32 = 50 and can even regroup tens mentally...albeit a bit more slowly. (For you old fogies, regrouping is the new name for "carrying" past a ten.)

Reading:

Because Abby's already read the next selection on our schedule, I let her pick her own library book to read through this last week. She is currently in the middle of a Magic Tree House book: Twister on Tuesday. During her own time, she reads plenty of picture books and also loves to read on my kindle (currently reading Cam Jansen: The Catnapping Mystery).

We also finished the Wonderful Wizard of Oz this week! I already have the movie from Netflix and we'll be watching it on Sunday. Both kids really enjoyed the book.

After finishing Oz, we took a day or two off and now we've jumped right into Pinocchio. My kids have never seen the Disney version, but Abby knew a bit about the storyline from a VeggieTales parody.

*****

And that's our week! I do believe we should be full steam ahead next week...at least I'm hoping we're done with the flu that quickly!