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!

Week of 03 March

Our week has been fairly light. We've kept up with reading lessons, but otherwise we've just played and had fun.

Phonics:

Abby has officially completed 100 lessons of the 120 lessons of Funnix Beginning Reading. We should be done with it completely in about two weeks. Tonight she is choosing to stay up in her bed and read (and actually reading/sounding out!) board books.

Emmett chose to have some reading lesson this week. He is still only three so we go really slowly and let him slack if he or I feel like it. Today, though, he asked for a reading lesson, so I actually set him up to do the first lesson from Funnix Beginning Reading.

The kids love to draw and write stories. Abby chose to draw the new baby (Hyrum) a picture. It says "Hyrum, this is for you." I think doing some spelling work after we finish Funnix might be a good idea. :)

Life:

The biggest thing is that we've been trying out what we would think about keeping him. He's a 4-month-old boxer puppy...and as much as we'd like to keep him, we really don't have the space to keep a dog at this point. We'll probably be taking him back to his owner tomorrow. We've just told the kids we are watching him. He sure has been fun to have around! The kids like sharing their food. They love playing fetch with him. If he stayed this size forever, we'd keep him definitely.

Our zoo finally also got our elephants back so we went to the opening of their new exhibit! They've been gone for about 18 months to Tulsa to be impregnated. On the morning of the event, we discussed how elephants are mammals and carry their babies in their tummies like Mommy does. Then we talked about other ways baby animals grow. We discussed how baby birds grow in eggs, but kangaroo babies grow in pouches. Then Abby told me that when I'm ready go have Hyrum, that he I would be as big as an elephant.

Swim:

We ended the session this past week. Abby and Emmett have both been advanced to the advanced class for next session. This class has a different teacher and really seems to focus on endurance capabilities. It is also for older kids (6+). We'll see how well they do. There is at least one other girl that is under 6 in the class, so ours won't be the only ones.

Mom and Dad:

We took our second test in our Developmental Psychology course this past week. Daddy and I didn't feel as comfortable after this exam after we did the first, not because we weren't prepared...mostly because the study guide of what was going to be on the exam didn't cover everything. What a bummer!

Daddy needs to finish up a section on our Oklahoma state senators for his federal government class. He hates writing assignments, so I think he's been putting it off...

This week in my European history class we have been talking about World War One and its root causes. I think it's so interesting how little people actually know about the first world war. Reading the discussions, it seemed like half of my class believed that half of my class believed that the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was the only reason that war broke out. Many were unaware of the military alliances that had been formed beforehand that pulled nearly the entire continent into the war so quickly. While I AM a history major, I don't consider history my favorite or strongest subject (that would be math). I'm a history major for the benefit of it being mostly online. Still, I'm amazed at the ignorance a lot of my classmates seem to have for history. It does not bode well for our country or world with this type of ignorance running rampant.