Weekly Wonders #3 - 21st February 2010

Gee it really is amazing what having a near full nights sleep (on a regular ongoing basis) can do for you. C1 has been sleeping through (well apart from stirring at around 5am) since Christmas and this school year has been so much more productive. Not that we've actually turned out more work (although I do think we have somewhat) but just in the time we are spending together, the things we are doing together and my overall positive attitude, simply because I am not sleep deprived!

I think we still have a ways to go before we are where I would like us to be but I am happy and content with our flow at the moment. We are home 3 - 4 days of the week, which is allowing us plenty of time to be together to do things.

I am somewhat disappointed that we have only managed one Nature Walk/Outing so far this school year, which was the first week back. The second week I was sick and this week we had 2 play dates (more than I would prefer to schedule in a week but they were fun none the less), 1 of which was out of the house and the other was here at home.

Our circle time/morning gathering has been going well, with quite a bit of singing, reading and general discussion, plus we have started to play a short game (either board or card depending on what I choose) during that time also. There's no way I could go through everything we read during that 1 hour each morning but I have included below a group shot of some of what we read this week.





------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~ C1 is currently 18 months ~

A few of our Tot School books from the week.

This absolutely fabulous find was yet another charity store $1 buy (or was it $1.50, oh well does it really matter!) C is absolutely in love with this book. We sit and look at it and discuss all of the wonderful images at least 5 times a day if not more. He truly can't enough of it. The pages are very busy but he is enjoying that and loves finding new things on the pages each time we sit with the book.


He had his first muffin tin lunch this week. Actually it was on Valentines day. I have been wanting to try adding these into our week for ages and just haven't gotten around to doing it. This was a spur of the moment decision so not very exciting, chips, ham, homemade trail mix, cucumber sticks, hommus and celery sticks. He did enjoy this and B and K were rather intrigued so I do need to get myself organised and start joining in with Muffin Tin Monday'.


C continues to be a great little helper around the house. Water spillages are a disaster for him on our very shiny floors, he slips over nearly every single time, so I have been reminding him to grab a towel and clean up his spills. Oh and lets not forget the little lipstick adventure he had this week!
He enjoyed a few firsts this week. His first time using Dot Markers, truth be told he was much happier running his fingers over the sponge tip and covering them in ink but he had fun none the less.

Isn't it the experience that is more important than the end product anyway. This is something that I always try to remind myself of and one of the reasons why I keep things simple for him. I could have spent ages organising some kind of craft to use the dot markers with but he couldn't care less if we actually made something, he is just happy using the markers. We have plenty time to think about end products.


We actually had a pretty decent storm one afternoon this week and lost power because of it. So I blew up a few balloons to play with. C decided that balloon soccer was the order of the day.


He also had his first playdough experience this week. I really felt that this would be one of those times where the set up and clean away is longer than actual experience, however I was wrong and very pleasantly surprised.

He was extrememly focused on the playdough for well over half an hour. At first just pulling it into tiny little bits but he soon progressed to trying to push it into everything he could find in the playdough tub.

This is little L2, C's cousin, he spent a nice couple of hours playing with everyone. He ejoyed the playdough, C's Sensory Tub (he loved that alot) and also our Fisher Price Little People Play Sets.


Whilst we played Hi Ho Cherry O, C got his own tub of cherries to play with. They are so tiny, taking them in out of the little pot was a fantastic fine motor activity and kept him entertained the entire time we played the game. This will be a fabulous first board game for him when he is at the beginning counting stage.


I introduced the Pink Tower to C this week. Certainly not planned, very much a spur of the minute decision. B & K were playing a game and he was interrupting them, it was right there next to us, so I grabbed it and showed him what to do with it. He had fun, was completely oblivious to his errors and actually thought that the whole thing was pretty funny. He did want to knock it over each time so I had stay near by to ensure that did not happen.

I certainly don't mind the children creating their own extensions to the work but mistreating the materials I do not allow, even at 18 months.


Another new activity from the shelves is this little lock box. I so love having a toddler in the house, everything is so new and exciting and they want to do and try everything, nothing is boring, nothing is not interesting at all. It is oh so refreshing.....please someone tell me how I keep that interest in everything alive!!

That brings me to the end of C's Tot School and our last one for his 18 month, he turns 19 months next week.

To see what other Tots have gotten up to this week visit 1+1+1=1.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~ K is 5 1/2 years ~

Mathematics

Ok ok I see a pattern happening, this is yet another charity store buy. I do love them, honestly I do. I have to admit I'm not big clothes and that sort of thing, I can't seem to get past the smell, but for books and games they are a treasure trove.

Browsing the other day I spotted Hi Ho Cherry O. I have never seen this game and had only heard about it so I really had no idea what it was all about. For $1.00 I grabbed it! What a great little game, definitely far too young for K as it practices counting up to 4 only but both of my kids enjoyed having a round or two this week. They even continued to play with each other whilst I did a bit of Tot School with C.

Lots of little cherries to take from the cherry baskets and place on the cherry tree, but watch out if you land on the spill your basket label you are right back where you started. First to fill their tree is the winner.

This will be fabulous for C in in the future.

We played the Number Memory Game that I posted about here >>>


We spent a great deal of time this week talking about 'Time' concentrating on o'clock times. Brindle Bear Telling Time is, you guessed it, another charity store $1 find. It is actually nice little story. We have a few time books and really aren't stories at all but this one is and even has Brindle forgetting to do something he had agreed to do at a certain time because he was off having fun and not keeping an eye on the time.


We used this Magnetic Time Teacher, but really just clock face. We did discuss analogue and digital times as we have both here in the house but focused more on analogue this week.


I have no Montessori Time Work at the moment so we had to use what I have on hand and even though it isn't perfect it still allowed us plenty of discussion on time. This Hi 5 3 part puzzles were ok, especially since they are also a charity store buy and cost me next to nothing. K had to match the analogue and digital times and then find the fun face in the centre. There are quite a few cards in this set and she did tire of it towards the end.

We are also trying to get our days of the week down pat and have spent some time during our morning circle time talking about the days of the week. We've been singing this song from You Tube to help us along. I seem to have trouble embedding You Tube video's anyone got any pointers on that?



In her Earlybird Preschool Maths the focus was on ordinal numbers this week.

Language Arts

We did a small focus on the Letter A and the sort vowel sound. K did really well finding both the uppercase and lowercase A's in this story.


She made this Dot Marker A to add to her alphabet scrapbook. I downloaded the letter template from here >>> K also did a handwriting sheet of lower and uppercase A's and I dug out my copy of Ordinary Parents Guide To Teaching Reading this week. I used this with B when he came home from school at around the same age as K so I am going to see how we go with that over the next few weeks.

The Arts

They still have a focus of colour in our home school network art classes and this week the junior class made Colour Wheel Clowns. So easy and oh so cute! Make the colour wheel, discuss colours, warm - cool and colour mixing. Make a clown face with a few different cut outs of coloured paper. Glude them on and decorate.


Give a girl some playdough and what will she make? An ice cream of course!


We also did some painting on canvas this week, but I will post seperately about those. These paintings came after that when we had paint left over.

History/Science

We read Percy The Peaceful Platypus, which I posted about here >>>
We also read From Lava To Life, the 2nd book in the Universe Series >>>
Watched a couple of Magic School bus DVD's, Dinosaurs & Reptiles and Body Basics.
Had a discussion about Living and Non Living things and completed a sort of various cards into the two categories.
Our current chpater book read aloud is George's Key To The Universe (more on that later).

Sensorial

K is loving the knobless cylinders and has spent quite a bit of time with them this week. She also enjoys the knobbed cylinders and works with them several times a week also.

Physical Activity

K had her gymnastics class with the home school network, plenty of playground play, loads of scooter riding on our new deck and


a spot of balloon volleyball whilst we were experiencing a power outage.

Other

Ok I know, I don't know where we have been living but before this week we had never visited the PBS Kids site, wow what a whole bunch of games they have. Consequently K spent quite a bit of tiem ont here this week.

That brings me to the end of K's Preschool Corner.

To see what other preschoolers have gotten up to this week check out Home School Creations.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~ B is 8 years ~

Mathematics

He graciously played along with Hi Ho Cherry O this week and I think really he even enjoyed it. He also played the Number Memory Game with us and I am going to make up a version for him as it is so simple, quick and fun.

In his Targeting Maths he worked on Following Directions, Grids, Quarters, Calendar, Volume, Number Facts - Equivalence.

We are also going back over his Addition Number Facts to make sure that they are rolling off his tongue. Although the most important part is to understand what he is doing I also believe that you still need to have a quick recall, so this week we went through the 5 Facts daily.

Language Arts

He is powering along with his lessons in language this year. I think my choice to slow down last year and just let the first level of reading really sink in was a good one, for B at least anyway. He would have missed so much if we just moved ahead and steamed through the lessons (thank goodness we homeschool).

He completed a full Fitzroy Lesson and an Explode The Code Lesson. I also went through a lesson at his level in the OPGTTR with him and although we won't do this daily (he does more than enough in this area) I will try and pull it out once a week just to review. I do like that it is completely oral and gives that extra bit of reading aloud practice.

We have started to keep our first Book Journal. I saw this idea somewhere around the blogosphere but now have no idea where. The journal will go along with our reading of George's Secret Key To The Universe. For each chapter he completes a sketch and narrates something about that chapter which he then rewrites onto the page. I will post about this when we are finished I think.

There is a fine line between the Book journal being enoyable and making it a chore. He is also doing History narrations this year and too be honest doesn't particularly enjoy them. I really want to continue though as I know it will help in so many areas. So this is the only narration work I will ask of him, history and to have 1 book journal happening at a time. Anything else he does will be of his own doing.

B actually chose the Metal Insets this week, which was nice to see as he could still use a little help with his handwriting.

The Arts

This weeks' home school network art class still had a focus on colour but also on proportion, shape, patterns and lines.


He whipped up these little playdough numbers too. Oh he also did a painting on canvas, post to come.

History/Science

We progressed to the second book in the Universe Story Series this week, with the same grand plans as our last experience. Going in with grand plans I should of known we were doomed for failure! In fact we have only half finished this book and will try and get back to it this week. I have to admit that it was a lot to digest, all the talk about bacteria, DNA, Eukaryotes and Mitochondria., I think it was all a bit much and we have no narration at all. The remainder of the story introduces dinosaurs and birds so we'll see how we go with it.

We read Percy The Peaceful Platypus, which I posted about here >>> Watched a couple of Magic School bus DVD's, Dinosaurs & Reptiles and Body Basics.



Kez recommended this book to us and we have been enjoying it this week. (thanks Kez) I'll try to do a seperate review when we are finished.

Sensorial

B is also really enjoying the knobless cylinders and also used the knobbed cylinders this week.

Sport

He had his Mixed Sports class with the home school network with a focus on AFL Auskick this week. Also his Gymnastics lesson and playground play. Not forgetting loads of scooter riding as well.

Other

Plenty of Lego this week, I think he is currently working on some of the scenes from Star Wars. I'll try to remember to take some photo's this time.

He also used PBS kids a little but he is really too old for most of what is on there.

And that about wraps it up for our week. Phew!



---------------------------------------------------------------------------

To see more weekly updates from other homeschoolers and some really cool blogs visit:

1+1+1=1 for Tot School Posts

Homeschool Creations for Preschool Corner Posts

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Weekly Wonders #1 - 7th February 2010

Welcome to the first instalment of "Weekly Wonders". Every week is full of various wonders of one kind or another for us, as I am sure it is for you too.

I am going to try and do a weekly wrap up of sorts for all 3 kiddos in the one post. So yes it will be a huge post but I will break it down into Tot School, the Preschool Corner, followed by Grade School stuff for B.

It definitely has been an effort to compile this but I really want to try and start breaking things down and writing things down more each week so fingers crossed for me here. Not only does it show what the kids have been doing and what they learn without me even intervening at times, but it also shows the weaknesses, the areas we need to cover more, this will be come very obvious over the next few weeks, so my hope is to use it in a positive way to bring more into our schooling weeks.

Circle Time

I've been wanting to start circle time/morning meetings for a while now. Finally we are under way with this, albeit only in a small way. We'll grow our circle time over the coming weeks. I did an initial post about circle time here >>>



I am linking up to Tot School for C, he is currently 18 months old. It seems like forever since we have done a Tot School post.

Physical Activity

C had the opportunity for lots of swimming practice due to us going away for the weekend. He is just about swimming between two adults (a couple of metres) just needs to remember to always kick his little legs. But considering he has had no formal swimming lessons (just lots of practice in various pools) he is doing really well and absolutely loves the water. Sorry no photo's I forgot to take my camera.

Language Arts

Lots of books, stories and songs. His favourite of the week is Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia.


I purchased this book a little while ago and it got lost amongst a pile of stuff and totally forgotten, until I found it this week that was! C loves it, lots of simple repetitive language and noises from all sorts of things that move (what boy wouldn't love this book). The illustrations are adorable as well, they appear to be painted by children. I'd really like for us to have a go at doing some of our own Toot Toot Beep Beep type illustrations.

We've thoroughly enjoyed this book and I have decided to link it up to What My Child Is Reading over at Learning With Mouse.


Life Skills

C had a morning away from us during our first day back with our home school network classes program. Although he is never a problem I wanted to be able to have my full attention available for K this term to ensure that she was settling into her classes well. This is an 8 week term and C will spend a fun few hours with his Nan during that time slot. He was a little apprehensive when we were leaving this morning but by the time we had all gotten into the car he was happily waving goodbye. We’ll reassess the situation for next term.

We baked a batch of Chocolate Brownies during the week. This was the first time C has been involved with the whole cooking process, he was so keen to get in and give things a stir, but licking the spoon at the end was definitely the most enjoyable part of the process.


Sensory

C had his first shaving cream experience this week. I covered the table with just plain shaving cream, as it was his first introduction I wanted to keep it simple. He was a little unsure at first and just poked and touched it with only a couple of fingers, but once he saw his brother and sister jump right on he was ready to go. It only took a few minutes before he had shaving cream right up to his arm pits. Shaving cream is cool, squishy and smelly and is quite invigorating on the senses. As long as you there with your toddler (especially for those that put everything in their mouths) this is a great first introduction to things like finger painting.

We did this in our messy room (garage) as it was showering on and off today but I would recommend this as an outside activity so you can easily hose down the table and the children!!! More photo’s and the full post about his shaving cream experience is here >>>




He also spent quite a bit of time with these Fisher Price blocks. We have had them for years and he has had access to them for some time now but this was the first time he actually sat down and went through most of them, touching, feeling and listening to what was inside.

Science/Nature

He loves being outdoors in nature and thoroughly enjoyed doing the Paperbark Trail this week. Full post is here >>>




The Arts

C got to join in with a few live productions that B and K had put on during the week. It was very difficult to grab a snap of him as he didn’t keep still for any longer than one second. However in this one he is the Prince from Sleeping Beauty. He loves it when the big kids include him in their games and activities, just like he is one of them. It’s these times that remind me what he would be missing out on if they were away at school every day.


Block Construction/Technology

As is every week he spent a considerable amount of time building blocks with his brother. Or should I say B spends a considerable amount of time building and C spends the bulk of his time destroying B’s creations!!



That's our Tot School for the week, to see what other Tots got up to visit 1+1+1=1.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Preschool Corner is hosted over at Homeschool Creations and I am happy to finally be joining back in with this Linky.


Since we are getting into Montessori in a bigger way this year I have decided to link up to One Hook Wonder and Montessori Monday. Our Montessori related posts will increase as we (I) either gain/present or make more materials.

Language Arts

K continued to work with the Reading Eggs software, she really does enjoy this program and is working on Level 1 discs 1 and 2, although currently I am unsure if she is actually learning anything. I’ll reassess this in a few weeks time. I’m still working on Montessori inspired materials for her for letter/sound recognition. It really is time consuimg work, but at least when it comes time for C all the work will be done!

I also introduced her to the Metal Insets (aids in pre writing skills and pencil grip) this week (one of our many new Montessori Materials that arrived over the summer holidays). At first she didn’t like this material, said it was too hard and that she didn’t want to do it, but once I left her alone she went on to complete a few insets.



She has also been grabbing various picture books and writing out words from them. This has come completely from her, definitely a sensitive period happening here at the moment.


We always have lots of read alouds and I am trying to add them to the reading log as we go along. I saw somewhere in the blogging world a family keeping 'book journals' and I love this idea. I hope to introduce them soon.


Maths

K completed more of her Singapore Preschool Math, this week was filled with counting, individual items and counting groups of items, number recognition and number writing practice. She also got an introduction to picture graphs, even numbers and making pairs.

Sensorial Work

She enjoyed all of the sensorial materials presented to her this week.

Colour Sorting Task, at first she found slightly difficult but she trudged on and got there in the end.




The Knobbed Cylinders, as this was the first time she has ever seen these I wasn't sure how many to present her with. I decided on 2 knowing that 1 would be far too simple. She breezed through the 2 of them and when I suggested we try and add a 3rd she jumped at the opportunity. For a moment or two she wasn't so sure that she had made the right decision, but this was perfect for her, still a challenge but one she could complete.


Fabric Sorting, was fun, slightly beneath her level but she wasn't up for trying the blindfold out just yet. I'll leave it on the shelf and see I guess.


This is a Charlie and Lola Balancing Game, made of timber. You have various sized wooden cylinders that you need to balance on the U shaped 'holder'. The kids used this indpendently this week, which is what I liked about this material, you don't have to play it as a game.

Practical Life Skills

K is continuing to be very eager in the kitchen and almost daily comes and asks to help prepare dinner. We made a quick batch of brownies and some easy Mango Ice Blocks this week.


She has also been doing really well with her daily chores, making sure her room is tidy and her bed is made. In fact completely out of the blue this week she tidied an entire room that was pretty much covered with toys, all without me knowing she was doing it. Those little things bring tears to my eyes to see my children growing into beautiful, thoughtful, caring, people.

Science/Nature

K watched two documentaries, one on Tornadoes and one about Whales.

We also had our Paperbark Trail walk this week. She truly is an outdoor girl. Most mornings I find myself nagging her to get dressed and organised for the day. However on this particular morning I mentioned that we were heading to the bush and no sooner had I turned around and she was dressed and ready to go.....now that's saying something lol!! The full post of the nature walk is here >>>




Physical Activity

To celebrate dad’s birthday and Australia Day we spent the weekend at Grandma’s and Grandad’s Unit at Mudjimba on the Sunshine Coast. We actually did the same thing last year, do I see a new family tradition emerging!!

The unit is situated whereby you open their gate and your toes are touching the water so when we stay there the kids are water babies and spend hours upon hours in the pool. I do attribute these extended times swimming to greatly improving their skills in the water. Katelyn had a fabulous weekend and has very nearly perfected her diving skills from being able to practice so much.

K had her first Gymnastics Class this week with our home school network. What a success that was for both her and I! She was very keen to go and super excited the night before (generally she is walking around the house saying she doesn’t want to go to activities). I reminded her that she wouldn’t be able to wear a dress (K is a dress girl) and was prepared for the argument that would follow but she simply chose a pair of shorts and shirt to match.

When the time came to head into the Gym class she just went off with everyone else as if she had been participating for weeks. Mummy had a grin from ear to ear, I was so very proud of her, she really has grown up so much and her confidence is growing in leaps and bounds.


She also mastered the Moneky Bars this week and was so proud of her achievement with that. She really doesn't like it when things seem to be beating her so that was a big notch on her belt.

History

We began history this week, I have already written about that here >>> I was pleasantly surprised to see that K was happy to participate in this. I never expected her to so that was a bonus.


The Arts

Our first Art Lesson for the year with Miss Liz (our teacher we used last year) focused on colour theory, using colours, how colours make us feel, blending colours, making patterns with colours and using various art materials (paintbrush, rollers, tips) to paint and create with. The class also touched on the artist Kadinsky as their inspiration for this week’s art class.




The following was created from her collage tray and felt pens. She has really put a lot of thought into the use of the stickers and papers in this picture.



K and B also prepared a couple of 5 minute skits for me during the week. These things are generally always K’s idea but B is ever so obliging and most of the time goes along with it. First up was Star Wars. One guess why she chose that as her topic? She knew full well that B would never refuse her! No pics of that one but as you can imagine, lots of light sabers and ‘forcing’ each other, as they call it.

Then she turned on the charm and wanted to do Sleeping Beauty, B wasn’t impressed and I did have to remind him that she chose Star Wars earlier for him. He of course was the prince, complete with his homemade sword to chop down all of the vines to the castle tower. He wasn’t so impressed with the kissing, getting married and living happily ever after part. That was when C decided to join in and so he was quickly given the role of prince, after all he is generally more than willing to give plenty of kisses and hugs!



If I took pictures of K every time she danced I would have enough to fill entire blog just on dancing alone. However dancing in the rain is a little special. Our outdoor tiled area is generally always the stage for her dance productions. Currently it is not under a roof so when it rains it is the perfect spot.

You can see in the backgound our (in the process) pool and deck area. I keep forgetting to do a post on this, maybe this week I'll find some time.


That brings us to the end of our Preschool Corner for the week.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following is B's week in review.

Physical Activity

Loads of swimming practice over the weekend at the unit for B. His current love is seeing how far he can swim underwater so he’s building on his lung capacity at the moment and has also decided that he’d give Butterfly (the stroke) a go. I was pretty impressed as to how well he did, he hasn’t been shown butterfly at lessons and has really only seen the stroke from watching his dad in the pool.

B is taking a Mixed Sports Class this term with the homeschool network. This class was so much fun, he had a grin from ear to ear the entire time. One of the best things about it was the ages of the children. (7 – 14) normally B is one of the oldest but in the class he had quite a few that were considerably older than he was. The class included ball handling skills, trampoline, using the gym equipment, tennis skills etc definitely a hit.

He also chose to take Gymnastics this term and is the age group above K. I wasn’t sure how we would find gym but loved it, he concentrated really very well and enjoyed the balance beam a lot.




Language Arts

B began a new level in his Fitzroy Reading program this week. It is really just a review of the previous level though and practice on learned sight words. This reading program covers phonics, sight words, comprehension, spelling and grammar all in one and all the work for the week is related to the one reader so it all ties together well. We have found this to be a thorough program and although we don’t jump up and down with excitement it appears to have gotten results for B.

Science/Nature

Watched two documentaries, one on Tornadoes and one about Whales.

He enjoyed the Paperbark trail, you can see the post here >>>


Maths

B is still finishing off his maths book from last year and is currently working on single digit addition and subtraction problems. This week he also covered lessons on area, time and patterns in the hundred chart and money problems. He has roughly 2 more weeks left in his current Targeting Maths book and has his Year 3 waiting and ready for him.

History

We made a start on our history work this week. Beginning with the formation of our universe. You can read the entire post here >>>


The Arts

B’s first Art Class also focused on Colour Theory, just at a slightly different level than the junior art class. B loves art and I am sure he will continue to do so when we have such a great teacher.



B and K put on a couple of little skits this week. I have already detailed them under K’s week in review so I won’t do that again here. Just wanted to add that I was not allowed entry unless I had my tickets, one for the doorman and one to give to the star of the show, on request of course and all tickets cost 50c……yes I had to pay real money to see the shows!

The following are a few random drawings from the week.


This ones grea from just the little shooting star sticker that he found.


This little masking tape masterpiece is different. I have no idea where he got his inspiration from for this, in fact I didn't even know he had done it until I saw it hanging on the wall.


Techology/Construction

I'm not sure how or why but the Beenleigh Show came up this week as a topic of conversation. Remember his entry from last year? He has already decided on his theme for the Lego entry for this year - The Fair - and has already begun work on it. Keep in mind that the show is not on until September so that's very keen, even if I do say so myself.

Here is what he has so far. A couple of rides, the quad bike arena and has started on sideshow alley. It really never ceases to amaze me how kids can come up with this stuff from plastic blocks. As you can tell building with lego is not my forte!!!



Practical Life

General care of one self, his bedroom and belongings.

And that brings us to the end of B's week.

Wow did you make it this far?



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To see more weekly updates from other homeschoolers and really cool blogs visit:

1+1+1=1 for Tot School Posts

Homeschool Creations for Preschool Corner Posts

Learning With Mouse for What My Child Is Reading Posts

One Hook Wonder for Montessori Monday

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------