Following Foundations 1/27/2012

I have a date in 30 minutes with my hubby, so this report is short and sweet!

Sassafras (2nd Grade):

In history this week Sassafras studied the Pilgrims and the founding of Plymouth Colony. She also learned about the geography of Massachusetts. In science she finished her study of the solar system with Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. She plugged along in math, language arts, and Latin.

 

Sassafras caught up in art this week by completing the wash painting that she was supposed to do last week. She was very proud of her results. She also took time to paint her sister’s portrait, which I included down in Doodlebug’s section.

The Z-man (Kindergarten):

The Z-man finally got the lead out this week in regards to math. He received his “Diligence in School” sticker every day. He amazed me this week at how easy math comes for him. He was able to count money with little help. He also did a wash painting this week in art with his sister.

Little Man (3 yrs old):

Little Man passed his articulation and language testing with flying colors. He scored at the high end of average. So, I’m officially graduating him from speech therapy. Yay!

Doodlebug (22 months):

I would say that Doodlebug held down the fort while we all did school, but in reality she just tore it down. Oh, the joys of being a toddler.

  

Me:

This week I read more Sherlock Holmes (The Hound of the Baskervilles) and worked on my improvisation in piano. I struggle at the latter, but I think I’ll eventually get it. I’ve ordered Debbie Denke’s new book, The Complete Church Pianist: A Piano/Keyboard Method with Tips for Inspired Improvisation and Worship. We’ll see how it goes!

Following Foundations 1/20/2012

Well, I’m trying to get back in the saddle again with our weekly reports. The holidays always get me off-kilter. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, from our home to yours!

Sassafras (2nd Grade):

We started studying Colonial America this week with Jamestown, John Smith, Pocahontas, and John Rolfe. She began reading Pocahontas and the Strangers for literature.  We made a little 3D map of Jamestown, showing its triangular fort. Both Sassafras and the Z-man made cornhusk dolls as well. (Yes, I was feeling very motivated in the “arts & activities” area this week!) I’ve included pics of our creations, as well as a picture from last week’s Shakespeare study.

 

 

In science Sassafras continued her study of the solar system with Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. She and the Z-man also started painting their model of the solar system. (Like I said–I was VERY motivated!) Latin focused on the “to be” verbs, grammar was about adverbs and adjectives, and writing dealt with direct quotations. Our artist study was about Leonardo da Vinci. We were also supposed to do a watercolor wash painting, but it didn’t happen. The cornhusk doll won out. For music, we continued studying Beethoven. (I love Beethoven!) Sassafras was also back at the piano this week after a long break over the holidays. She was finally able to use the damper pedal. Yes, she’s totally pumped about the pedal!

Basketball is going pretty well for Sassafras. So far, she’s made one goal. She has a game at 8:30 in the morning. There really should be a law against that. It has been worse. A couple of weeks ago she had to be there at 7:30 AM….for pictures. Oh my word!

Z-man (Kindergarten):

The Z-man had a big accomplishment this week. He lost his first tooth! I didn’t even know it was loose until he started crying while eating. The drama was high for a couple of days, and he kept insisting on a soft diet. He went through a lot of yogurt! It was barely hanging on, so I finally told him that if his tooth came out by the end of the day, we would all go to Purple Penguin for frozen yogurt. He pulled it right after supper. Behold the power of sprinkles!

While I was highly motivated this week, the Z-man…well….was not.  All of his seatwork was a struggle. He managed to do some math, phonics, and handwriting, but it wasn’t pretty. We’re a little ahead in our Sonlight reading, so we didn’t start a new read-aloud this week. Instead I let him listen in on his sister’s history reading. I’m going to have him learn about the 13 colonies along with Sassafras. I’m hoping that sometime this year we’ll get to Williamsburg and Jamestown, and I want him to have a clue when we get there.

In science this week, the Z-man started studying the human body. We made a lift-the-flap digestion poster and did a muscle-pulling craft. (Again, I was motivated….or possibly feverish?) In geography, he studied about lakes and rivers. He colored a nice page about the parts of a river, but his baby sister decided she would dip the dry-erase marker in my coffee and then wipe down the table. His geography page was a casualty. Sigh.

  

Little Man (3 yrs old):

Little Man was totally pumped about his school this week. I started him on the Explode the Code primers (beginning phonics) this week. He already knows all of his letter sounds, so now we will be practicing phonemic awareness. So far, so good! He also continued to work on fine motor skills with Kumon workbooks.

I had a meeting with Little Man’s speech therapist this week to authorize testing his articulation and language. His testing will be next week, and then we’ll know if he’s ready to exit out of the program. He’s made great progress!

Doodlebug (22 months old):

I have great news to report about Doodlebug! She had hip xrays last week and received a good report. Both of her hip angles were well within the normal limits. So, we were able to say bye-bye to her brace. Woohoo! She sees the orthopaedist again in 9 months to ensure there aren’t any reversals. I hope we’re home free!! In the meantime, Doodlebug is growing up too fast. Sniff.

  

Me:

Merry Christmas to me! I pooled my monetary Christmas gifts and bought a Kindle Keyboard. I really like it! (Unfortunately, my hubby and  Sassafras are big fans, too. Excuse me. May I have MY kindle please?) I’m mainly interested in free, older classics. Right now I’m reading Arthur Conan Doyle’s second Sherlock Holmes novel, The Sign of the Four. And speaking of Sherlock Holmes, I’m a big fan of Jeremy Brett. So, I was pretty miffed about Netflix taking that series off of instant streaming. However, I’ve recently discovered the new BBC series Sherlock. I was very skeptical at first, but I really enjoyed the first two episodes of series 1. There are only 3 episodes (90 min each) in each series. Series 2 will air on PBS in the US in May. Good stuff. I hope.

In other news, this past weekend we pulled up the carpet in our hallway and living room. The hardwoods underneath look great! I don’t have real before and after photos. The picture below was from five years ago when we bought our furniture. Since then, the piano and the tall bookcases are in the room. But regardless, it’s clear that we have a huge improvement!

 

Following Foundations 12/2/2011

We ushered in the Christmas season with a trip to the NC mountains for the Thanksgiving weekend. Considering the fact that last year we had to throw out our Christmas tree the second week of December, we decided this year that we would make sure our tree was fresh! In addition to cutting down our own tree, we also went to Linville Caverns and The Blowing Rock. It was lots of fun, and the weather was great! I’ve included a little slide show with some pics from our trip. I’m going high-tech! I hope it works for everyone.Thanks to my friend for some of the pics!

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Sassafras (2nd Grade):

In history this week, Sassafras studied Martin Luther. In addition to our TOG book about Luther, we did extra reading in Hero Tales and watched Where Luther Walked (Somewhat dry, but it hit the high points. It was nice to see the actual locations).

In science we covered meteroids and an introduction into our solar system. I had to go into a big lecture on the difference between meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites. I’m a nerd like that.

Latin consisted of learning a few adverbs and the last part of the Table Blessing. For literature, she finished Little Town on the Prairie and started These Happy Golden Years. She also started Winnie the Pooh. Math was….excruciating. Let’s just leave it at that.

For our Africa study, we’ve been reading Ryan and Jimmy: And the Well in Africa That Brought Them Together. It’s a very inspiring story so far!

In other news, Sassafras finally finished soccer the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Her U8 team finished in first place in their division for the season. Woohoo! Now we’re into basketball. She has had two practices, and her first game is in the morning. It should be interesting.

   

Z-man (Kindergarten):

The Z-man continued to work on the 6 addition family in math. He also started learning how to read a calendar this week. In geography he began learning about deserts. His reading is coming along great! This week we practiced words with a short oo sound. I think things are starting to click with him. Yay! For our read-aloud we started Doctor Dolittle. I remember reading this book two years ago to Sassafras. The Z-man listened in then, and he loved this book even at the age of 3.

In science we started studying plants and set up some kidney beans to sprout. I’m sure at any given time you’ll find a homeschool family sprouting kidney beans on their kitchen counter somewhere in the world. I guess it’s our turn.

Little Man (3 yrs old):

Little Man caught Doodlebug’s croup virus the Saturday before Thanksgiving. He didn’t develop the croup, however. His fever just went through the roof! 104.5! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a temp that high around here! The Z-man also got a bit of it. I’m glad it was outta here before we left for our trip!

We’ve done zero preschool around here this week. Sigh. Well, we are reading through Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day?, but that’s about it. Next week will be better.

Doodlebug (20 months):

Doodlebug went through a couple weeks of potty confusion, but I think she has it all worked out now. I guess she had been spending too much time going potty with her brothers. I started sending her with her sister, and now we’ve got her turned around. Strangely enough, even though I’m pretty sure she understands what’s she supposed to be doing, at this point she seems to think potty-time is for listening for trains. I think it’s because the first couple of times we did hear a train. Now she just sits down, puts her hand up to her ear, and signs for train. Hmmmm. Maybe I should have just left her standing.

 

Me:

On piano this week, I’m learning how to play Christmastime is Here. I only know the first part so far. I’ve also been watching some videos posted by Bob Kauflin of Sovereign Grace Ministries about playing piano in contemporary worship music. There are supposed to be three posted in total, but the third one hasn’t made it up yet. It’s very practical stuff: Worship Matters

Following Foundations 11/18/2011

Here’s what we’ve been up to this week. Just the facts, Ma’am.

Sassafras (2nd Grade):

History this week focused on the artists of the Northern Renaissance, with special attention paid to Jan Van Eyck, Albrecht Durer, and Pieter Bruegel. After Thanksgiving we’ll start studying the Reformation. So this week we decided to get a head start by watching the Torchlighter video about William Tyndale. I LOVE Torchlighter videos!

In science this week, Sassafras learned about galaxies, asteroids, and comets. To supplement our studies, I pulled out the appropriate space-themed Magic School Bus video. It was buried amid our large collection of VHS tapes. (Yes, we’re dinosaurs.)

Language arts, math, and Latin were fairly routine this week–writing a letter, narration, dictation, spelling rules, multiplication tables, and Latin adjectives. Ho hum….. I guess I should mention that I let her watch a few math videos from Kahn Academy this week. Lots of cool stuff over there! I even found some appropriate art history videos on Van Eyck and Durer.

OK, it sounds like we just watched a lot of videos this week…..hmmm…

Today was our monthly Africa enrichment class. We learned about Nigeria in West Africa and ate some chin chin. I always do the music part of the class, and this week I shared with them about talking drums. After we got home, I found some interesting…..wait for it…..videos (here and here) on youtube.

Apart from our schoolwork, we’re still trying to finish out the soccer season around here. Sassafras’s team played in a festival last weekend and won both of their games. They only have one make-up game to go, and I’m hoping it all will be done next week. Basketball, here we come.

 

Z-man (Kindergarten):

In school this week, the Z-man did the usual–math, handwriting, phonics, etc. Geography was about islands and volcanoes, and history was about Victorian England. We read Dolphin Adventure to accompany our science lessons about sharks, dolphins, and whales.

The Z-man started his basketball class at the Y this week. They have a program for 5-6 year olds to learn the basics of basketball. I’m sure he did fine, but I can’t say for sure since I spent the entire time chasing Doodlebug all through the gym.

Little Man (3 yrs old):

Little Man came home with a list of “sh” and “ch” words from speech therapy this week. Every practice we had this week ended with “Mommy, I can’t say that.” Thankfully, he doesn’t get down about it. He was very proud of the turkey he made at speech therapy.

Doodlebug (20 months):

So I walked into the bathroom yesterday and discovered Doodlebug standing on the step stool at the toilet. She was trying to go potty like her brother. So, I got the bright idea of pulling out the little potty for her. At first she acted like she knew exactly what she was doing, and 45 seconds after she sat down, she went!! However, she then refused to put her pants back on and proceeded to carry the potty all around the house–butt naked. Every 3 feet she’d stop and sit on the potty. It took me at least a half hour to get her dressed. In the meantime, she peed on the bathroom floor. Sigh.

Of course, it’s possible she was just delirious with fever. The poor baby has been sick with the croup this week. The croup is not our friend.

 

Me:

I bought some clogs from Lands’ End this week, and I about broke my foot today. My foot sort of slipped to the outside, and all of my weight went down on it. I thought it was going to be okay, but tonight I’m hobbling around. We’ll see what tomorrow holds.

In other news, I’m loving the Clove & Cinnamon bar that’s in my Scentsy warmer this week. It’s an aromatic reminder that the holidays are right around the corner! We have big plans next week for the Thanksgiving weekend, so it will be a couple of weeks until our next report. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Advent!

Following Foundations 11/11/2011

We took the kids to the Green Eggs & Ham Discovery Concert at the Winston-Salem Symphony last Saturday. It was a hoot! It was very entertaining and held their attention the entire show. Now if only Little Man would eat green eggs and ham….or vegetables…or fruit…or beef…or fish….or……well, I guess I don’t really have time to go through that list. Anyway…… We then headed to our church’s hayride. The weather was a bit cold, but the leaves were beautiful, the apple cider was delicious, and the fellowship was sweet.

Sassafras (2nd Grade):

In history this week, Sassafras studied the Aztecs, the Incas, and the Spanish conquistadors.  She was also supposed to learn about the flora and fauna of South America. Didn’t happen. However, she did manage to make a salt-dough map of South America. Hopefully, she’ll be able to paint it next week. (Salt dough maps take forever to dry in our house.) We also read  A Winter’s Tale and Romeo & Juliet from Edith Nesbit’s The Children’s Shakespeare.  Nesbit does a wonderful job of re-writing these tales for children.

In science this week, Sassafras learned about stars and constellations. She thinks it’s cool that there’s a constellation named Pegasus. She’s really going to love it when the constellations of the winter sky are in full view.  The astronomy course I took in college is going to come in handy!

   

Her literature this week was supposed to be The Borrowers. However, on Tuesday she left the book at the school where Little Man has speech therapy. Sigh. So, she’s reading The Trumpet of the Swan instead.

We finished the book 52 Days by Camel: My Sahara Adventure this week for our Africa study. I know I mentioned it last week, but this book is so wonderful and interesting! The photographs are outstanding!

We finally managed to do an art project late Friday afternoon. The focus was painting a wash with watercolors. The “wash” part turned out okay, but I’m rather discouraged with watercolors. I have zero knowledge about watercolor technique. She painted her cat and then immediately tried to put a black eye on it. Well, the black all spread out all over the cat’s head. She was in tears, and I was quickly trying to tell her how to salvage the picture before she had a complete meltdown. In the end, she made the cat with black markings. She was happy, and the crisis was averted. I would much prefer to stick to drawing and sketching. There’s much less drama.

Z-man (Kindergarten):

I started giving the Z-man speed drills in Rod&Staff Math 1 this week. He doesn’t write very fast, so I give him 90 seconds instead of a minute to complete them. He actually finished all the problems yesterday, and he was very proud of himself.

Science this week was about animals that live in the sea. He really liked the Great White Shark. For our read-aloud, we read Mary on Horseback. (Why do I always cry when I read Sonlight books? Sniff.)

The Z-man did the same art project as Sassafras. His painting is entitled “Elephant with Wind-Blown Ears.”

 

Little Man (3 yrs old):

Little Man finally got his s-blends down in speech therapy. Now he’s going to be working on sh/ch. Maybe before long a “chip ship” won’t be a “ship ship”.

Doodlebug (19 months):

This week I included a couple videos of Doodlebug. Everybody likes to watch a dancing baby, right? The second video is of Doodlebug practicing her back flip in her Rhino Cruiser.

Me:

There isn’t anything interesting to report about me this week. I changed diapers, did a little bit of laundry, practiced some guitar and piano,  and changed more diapers.

Following Foundations 11/4/2011

Sassafras (2nd Grade):

In history this week Sassafras studied Ferdinand Magellan and the first circumnavigation of the world. Lots of mutiny and mayhem! She learned about latitude and longitude in geography and started Our Universe in science. I included a pic from our stalactite/stalagmite experiment from the previous week. Our stalactite wasn’t much to write home about.

  

In language arts, Sassafras did writing/narration exercises from Pilgrim’s Progress, started All About Spelling Level 4, and learned about interjections and conjunctions in grammar. For literature, she finished Pinocchio. In Latin she learned a few prepositions and another line of the Table Blessing.

To supplement our monthly study of Africa, we’re reading through the book 52 Days by Camel: My Sahara Adventure. We’re loving this fascinating book! Last weekend we also made the Moroccan chicken stew that we sampled in our last Africa class. Yummy!

Snow White was the perfect costume for Sassafras. The way she’s holding out her dress in the picture above is pretty much how she walked around the neighborhood. Excuse me….how she fluttered around neighborhood. Princesses flutter.

Z-man (Kindergarten):

In history this week, the Z-man and I read about covered wagons, stagecoaches, and log cabins. We also finished up Twenty and Ten and read (with Sassafras) about David Livingstone and his expeditions in Africa. In science we talked about amphibians and creepy crawlies. Math was still addition facts that add to 5 and writing numbers up to 16. And I will say that it’s amazing how well the Z-man can write when he knows his computer time is contingent on his schoolwork being done neatly and diligently. The boy is serious about his screen time. Too serious.

Little Man (3 yrs old):

Little Man was so happy about his ghost costume. I made it out of a king-size pillowcase and used the sewing machine to hem it up. Later in the week when his pants kept drooping, he wanted me to make them “smaller” like his costume. Sorry, honey. The dust hasn’t settled from the first time I brought out the sewing machine. Let’s be thankful for adjustable-waist pants.

Doodlebug (19 months):

Doodlebug was very suspicious about the whole Halloween thing:  Why are strange and scary people coming to my door? Why are we giving them candy? Does this have anything to do with that horrid duck costume Mommy shoved me in earlier? A duck?! Are you kiddin’ me?! I couldn’t even scream and wallow on the floor effectively because of my tail. (Shudder! I’m glad she took that thing off of me!) Oh, wait. There’s my sister fluttering down the hallway. And that must be Little Man under that sheet. I recognize his light-up tennis shoes. Why is the Z-man playing dress-up and wearing his church shoes? What is that? Oh no! It’s yellow! It’s furry! It’s the duck! Run for the hills! Oh, no! Mommy is such a traitor! Resistance is futile. Just take the stupid picture, give me that blasted pumpkin, and let’s get this over with! Oooo, is that chocolate?

 

Me:

Thursday was our 10th anniversary! My hubby sent me a bouquet of flowers that included stargazer lillies, the main flower used at our wedding.  :)  Here’s to ten happy years and many more!

Following Foundations 10/28/2011

Welcome to our world! This week it consisted of Pinocchio, bad hairstyles, a “hontid hows”, a foot warmer, soupy mac-n-cheese, and milk jug worldviews according to a toddler.

Sassafras (2nd Grade):

In history this week, Sassafras studied early Portuguese explorers and Christopher Columbus and completed some corresponding notebook pages. I would like the say that we’re getting the hang of this notebooking thing, but it takes me forever to figure out exactly how we should arrange the pages.  I’m so not creative. In the end, it turned out okay, though. We also read about the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. She colored a picture taken from his painting Primavera.

In science this week we read about the Grand Canyon and caves, finishing up our Planet Earth book. We set up an experiment to grow stalactites and stalagmites. I’ll post pics if and when we’re successful. We’ll start Our Universe next week. I’m also considering starting notebooking for science. Either somebody stop me or make me another pot of strong coffee.

In Latin, we learned a few proper nouns and started learning the Table Blessing. In language arts, she finished her illustrated book of The Year poem (I included a pic of the October page), finished All About Spelling Level 3, and butted heads with me over summary narrations from 101 Dalmatians in Writing With Ease 2. Let me just say that summarizing and focusing on the key information in a passage is VERY difficult for her. Her tendency is to either give too many details or give the details that aren’t important. Sigh. For literature, she started reading Pinocchio. I have the VP literature guide, and on a whim, I decided to let her do one of the writing assignments from the guide. She was supposed to describe what happened in two chapters. I posted a pic below. Other than needing to place a few missed commas and fix a misspelled word, it was actually quite coherent. Many details, but coherent.

In art & music we finished up our study about the Limbourg Brothers and Johann Sebastian Bach. She was supposed to watercolor a castle in the style of the Limbourg Brothers. However, I’m rather burned out on castles, so I had her make a calendar page for November instead.

     

Z-man (Kindergarten):

The Z-man did well in his reading this week. We finished the section in our reading book about different ways to spell long i.  In our read-alouds, we read about the missionary Amy Carmichael and how she helped the temple children in India. We also finished The Family Under the Bridge. In history we talked about the crazy hairstyles of French women in the 1700s, and in science we read about reptiles. In geography he learned how to read a map grid. His math continued to focus on addition facts adding to 5. The Z-man also completed the same art project as his sister.

The Z-man is super pumped about Halloween and has been counting down the days. He wrote a warning sign for the front door. I included a pic of his first draft.

 

Little Man (3 yrs old):

Little Man’s speech therapist said that he will likely graduate from therapy by the end of the year. Woohoo! A year ago he only spoke a few words that only his family could understand. Now that we’ve got this speech thing worked out, we just need to find a way to keep him in his own bed. Maybe I should look on the bright side. With the arrival of cold weather, I should be welcoming my little foot warmer.

 

Doodlebug (19 months old):

Doodlebug is growing up too fast. When she drags the crayons and a coloring book onto the living room floor and starts coloring, it’s pretty clear that she has left babyhood behind. Sniff.

  

Me:

As I’m starting my third book by Nancy Pearcey, I’m left wondering what worldview was behind the design of this milk jug. It’s obviously not one very fond of children pouring their own milk.  And you can forget about eyeballing how much milk is needed for mac-n-cheese. Good grief! The floodgates opened!! Doodlebug, on the other hand, is a huge fan of the new design. I can fill a sippy cup in a nanosecond flat. And as Daddy pointed out, that pretty much sums up the essence of her worldview. Refill, Mommy. Now.

 

Following Foundations 10/21/2011

Well, Grandma got married last weekend! We did the long haul up to Michigan to partake in the festivities. A fun time was had by all! We don’t usually take a trip up north during October, so it was nice to see the changing leaves in the mountains of West Virginia. I couldn’t resist snapping some pics through the car window. The kids generally do very well on trips, with the exception of occasional car sickness. OK, occasional is an understatement. We only had two incidents on this trip while driving through the mountains. Compared to trips in the past, that wasn’t too bad.  The kids entertained themselves by making individual forts….Doodlebug included! We also passed the time listening to audio books, including Matilda, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village (Book the Seventh).

 

The weather in Michigan was rainy and very windy. Between the wedding and the reception, the sky looked ominous as the rain clouds moved in. I snapped a few pics through the car window. The day after the wedding we had hoped to go apple picking before we left for home, but the 35 mph winds deterred us. I told Sassafras that we would likely get hit in the head with apples. She said matter-of-factly, “Well, I’m pretty good at dodgeball.” In the end, we took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese at the mall. Oh my word. What was I thinking? I should have taken my chances dodging apples.

 

Sassafras (2nd Grade):

In history this week Sassafras studied the Southern Renaissance and some important artists of that time. In particular we read about Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci,and Filippo Brunelleschi. I decided that for this unit in Tapestry that we would try notebooking instead of making a lapbook. So this was our groundbreaking week in notebooking, so to speak. I think it went pretty well. We’ll be studying Michelangelo and Leonardo in art later this year, so she’ll make a more detailed notebook page for those artists then.

Speaking of art, this week Sassafras continued her study of the Limbourg Brothers. She sketched part of one of their paintings (August) from Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry.  I included the original and her sketch. I think she did a great job! I also included a pic of another drawing of a horse that she did in her free time.

  

   

In math this week Sassafras did a little review and continued to work on the concept of multiplication and division. In science we read about weathering and soil erosion. We plugged and chugged through grammar, narration/dictation, and spelling, and in handwriting she finally got through learning how to form all of the cursive letters and started working on Bible verses. For literature she read The Toothpaste Millionaire.

This week Sassafras and Z-man also had their Africa enrichment class that meets once a month. The topic was North Africa, with a special focus on Morocco. Some of the moms made a Moroccan chicken stew with couscous. It was actually really good, and Sassafras even asked if we could have it for supper.  Somebody pinch me.

Z-man (Kindergarten):

The Z-man plugged and chugged through school this week as well. Sometimes it’s just like that. In science we read about mammals and birds. In math he started working on addition facts that add to five. For a read-aloud, we started reading The Family Under the Bridge.

Little Man (3 yrs old):

Well, I have to say that Little Man really knows how to work a wedding reception. He was dancing with all the ladies and still going strong at 10:30 PM. Party animal!

Doodlebug (19 months):

OK, so I have zero pictures of Doodlebug in her wedding outfit. She was with a babysitter during the wedding and reception and made only a brief appearance in between for a family picture by the photographer. I snapped a picture at Sassafras’s soccer game this evening during a rare moment when Doodlebug was actually sitting down. We knew we were in trouble when she had downed her entire bag of animal crackers before the first half of the game was even finished. Let the real game between! It’s Doodlebug rounding third base and making a detour toward the bleachers! I’m telling you, she’ll run you ragged.

Me:

I’m tired. Some weeks are just like that. OK, most weeks are like that.

Following Foundations 10/7/2011

We took a great field trip this week to see Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at one of our local science museums. We prepared by reading a few books about the Titanic and watching a couple of videos. I cried. I even cried while reading a Magic Tree House book. Sigh. The Z-man laughed at me. At the beginning of the exhibit we all received boarding passes, and at the end we found out if we lived or died. Sassafras and I lived, and Daddy and the Z-man perished. We were all 2nd class passengers except for Daddy. Afterwards, we spent the rest of the day exploring the science museum.

    

And in other news, our spider habitat (aka the backyard) is flourishing. This black and yellow agriope has taken up residence between the bird feeder and the shed:

Sassafras (2nd grade):

Due to appointments and our field trip this week, we decided to put aside our regular history, music & art studies and just focus on the Titanic. Sassafras drew a picture of life aboard the Titanic.

 

In science this week we continued our study of volcanoes and watched Mount St. Helens: Back from the Dead. In Latin we learned how to count from 6-10 and finished learning the Doxology. For math we set aside Rod & Staff math temporarily while we focused on the concept of multiplication with Singapore Math. Sassafras completed a couple of steps in All About Spelling, read Encyclopedia Brown, and continued to read Ginger Pye.

 

Z-man (Kindergarten):

The Z-man did very little school this week other than his reading lessons and learning about the Titanic. Well, he also sorta did science with his sister by watching the Mount St. Helens video. What boy wouldn’t want to watch the top being blown off of a mountain?

   

Little Man (3 yrs old):

Well, a little bit of pool time at the YMCA in a life jacket really paid off.  Little Man managed to fall off a paddle boat into the lake last Saturday. How it actually happened no one seems to know. (I wasn’t there.) But the good news is that he didn’t freak out in the water. He stayed very calm and later said that he just “blew bubbles.”  Of course, once he was back in the boat he started crying. And he cried and cried and cried……. He was fine once I got him in a warm bath with his favorite toys. Now he sorta wears the whole incident as a badge of honor.

Doodlebug (18 months):

Now if this had been the child to fall off the boat, she would have tried to swim away just so someone would have to chase her. Actually, she probably would have jumped off the boat. She has a wild streak.

Me:

I’m slowly making my way through Saving Leonardo. It’s a fascinating book, and I’m sure I’ll need to read it at least twice to digest all of it.

On piano this week I’ve been working on the blues scale over the 12-bar blues progression. At first I didn’t think I would be interested to learning how to play blues-style music, but actually I’m finding that I enjoy it very much!

Daddy:

Things didn’t go so well for Daddy on the field trip. As if dying on the Titanic wasn’t enough, he was almost eaten by a tyrannosaurus rex.

 

Following Foundations 9/30/2011

On Monday we decided to take a walk after lunch at the park down the street. I took pictures of things they thought were interesting, and afterwards I let Sassafras and Z-man pick one of the pictures to draw. Sassafras chose the flowers, and Z-man chose the mushroom.

 

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we are participating in an enrichment class about Africa once a month. One of the books that the class uses is GeoDeo’s Journey into Africa. I found a used copy of the book, so we’ve been able to review the lesson to help with retention. During lunch this week, we read some Africa-based read-alouds and picture books, including Lions at Lunchtime, Rick-a-chee and the Littlest Puppy, and A is for Africa. Also, Sassafras and Z-man worked on the Africa & the Middle East GeoPuzzle.

Today the weather was beautiful, so we decided to go outside and let Sassafras do school at the patio table while the younger ones played. Things started out peacefully until the Z-man screamed that there was a huge spider in the sandbox. Sure enough it was a black widow spider. I had looked through all of the sandbox toys before they got in to check for them specifically. We have found black widows in the sandbox and other parts of the yard before. I guess I missed the sorry rascal. Well, shortly afterwards, the Z-man spotted another spider with suspicious markings crawling on the patio, and authoritatively declared, “This is a spider habitat!” I commended him on his use of the word habitat, and we packed up our stuff and went back inside. Sigh. I did manage to get a picture of them playing happily in the sandbox before the chaos erupted.

Sassafras (2nd Grade):

Sassafras studied John Wycliffe, John Hus, and Johannes Gutenberg in history this week. I was quite dismayed that there was NOTHING in our Tapestry of Grace history readings about Wycliffe or Hus. NADA. Everything was about Gutenberg. I don’t understand this because the history thread for lower grammar said the goal was to learn about these three men. We ended up watching John Wycliffe: The Morning Star (which was a bit much for Sassafras) on Netflix and the segment on Hus from the video Reformation Overview. I didn’t receive the latter from Netflix until today or we would have used that one DVD for both men. Oh well. In the end, I think she learned something. This marks the end of our first unit in history for this year, so she finished up her unit 1 lapbook this week.

For language arts, Sassafras completed two steps in All About Spelling 3, learned about adjectives in grammar, and did narration/dictation exercises from The Jungle Book. In math, she finished the lessons leading up to multiplication in both Rod & Staff 3 and Singapore 2A. (I’ve decided that starting next week, I’ll put Rod & Staff on hold while we work with multiplication in Singapore Math, as I feel the latter does a much better job of teaching the concept.) In Latin, we learned how to count to five and learned another line of the Doxology.

In science this week, Sassafras finished up earthquakes and started on volcanoes. We watched National Geographic’s San Francisco’s Great Quake and Volcano: Nature’s Inferno. She also read Usborne’s Volcanoes, whichI bought for a quarter at a used book sale. (grin) This afternoon we did the typical baking soda/vinegar/red food coloring volcano demonstration. Let her rip!

In art, Sassafras and the Z-man each made a watercolor calendar page. Sassafras’s picture is of the neighbor’s house across the street. In music, we continued our study of Johannes Sebastian Bach.

 

Z-man (Kindergarten):

The Z-man just kept plugging away this week in his school work. In math he worked on addition facts that add to four. In reading, he started learning about vowel pairs that have a long e sound. For our read-aloud this week, we read The Light at Tern Rock. His science focused on living things and differences between mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc. His science activity (which, btw, had absolutely nothing to do with what he learned about in science) was making craft dough, forming it into shapes, baking it, and painting it. I don’t know if he learned anything, but at least he had fun, and it kept him occupied while I did history with his sister.

The Z-man’s watercolor calendar page is supposed to be of our house…with a gigantic bird flying overhead.

  

Little Man (3 yrs old):

Little Man is coming along great in his fine motor skills, both in tracing and coloring. He even did his cutting activity all by himself this week. For our reading this week, we covered Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm and Eloise Wilken Stories. I had to convince him that one reading of Jack and the Beanstalk would suffice for this week. I have to keep my sanity intact. Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum.

Little Man continued to work on sm- blends in speech this week. I’ve decided to drop his speech down to once a week because he has made so much progress. I really think he’s ready to be done with all of it, but I don’t want to make that decision in haste. So, we’re going to stick with it a while longer.

Doodlebug (18 months old):

Doodlebug spent the week refusing to share the goldfish crackers, insisting on having me read The Lady with the Alligator Purse again….and again….and again, dragging paint brushes out of the storage bins, stealing pencils off the table, and, in her downtime, perusing a Lego Duplo building guide.

 

Me:

I’m totally bummed that Netflix took Sherlock Holmes off of instant streaming on Thursday. Maybe with all the extra money they’re charging everyone these days, they’ll buy it back.

In piano practice this week, I continued to work on “Fur Elise”, dominant 7 chords, and some sight-reading. This coming week I’m supposed to work on the blues scale in the keys of C and F. It should be interesting.