Wow!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I updated here. There simply is no excuse! The school year has flown by and as of today, there remains onlyl one month of school! On top of that we have a week off for Spring Break! Where does the time go?

  

Clearly it's gonna take a few posts to get updated sufficiently, but I can toss out a few facts to spark your interest:

1.  Harry, who began the school year using a Pre-K curriculum has now learned the entire alphabet.
2. Skip, technically in K-6, has completed Grade One Science & Social Studies
3. Both boys will begin Grade 2 Science next week.

More soon!

If I was being graded on how well I kept up

this blog, I'd be lookin' at summer school for sure. Yes, I've been bad - very bad. The longer I've not updated, the harder it is to get motivated. So, I thought I'd start simply, with a few recent pictures and hope THAT inspires me:

Shapes & Patterns

Counting Puzzles

Skip's favorite part of school - computer time

Math puzzles as a break from the routine drills

Matching upper & lower case letter game

Our December bulletin board

Another shot - it's in a long hallway and tough to photograph as you can see!

Week seven is done

Examining a crab.

I know y'all are thinking that last week was week four, but I never reported on the two weeks of half-day learning we did before the official opening of our school year, so rather than perpetuate that miscalculation, we're calling this week 7! It was our BEST week yet! The boys are working hard and eager to learn.

Harry has done much better with focusing, and understanding that he MUST do what is asked. Other than a few power struggles (very few), we had an awesome week and he has gained some confidence in his abilities.

Skip continues to do well, generally eager and very, very, very few complaints. It's all seeming to kick in with him.

In Math the boys continue to do well. This week Harry learned to write and recognize the number 9. Each day we count to the number of the week. It's amazing how much progress has been made using daily drills so simple as counting up to the same number all week! Skip was introduced to the concept of math "sentences". We had done this last year already, but Saxon uses a whole different approach. It is an easy subject for him, but he doesn't lose interest as each day there is a different way to work math into his little life. He continues to use the Math Meeting book where he writes the date, the shape (as dictated by a pattern of shapes we learn on the first day of the month - this month it's circle, square, rectangle, circle, square, etc.) He logs a number in the tally page, to keep track of how many days he's been in school, records the weather daily, and compares the chart of weather for the month, to see what we've had least/more of. Sun prevails thusfar. He also counts to 100 daily, and practices his Right/Left directions. Again, the daily drills make a huge impression. In a side note, since he has to write the complete date each day, today we realized he could spell September without help. I guess practice DOES make perfect.

In Bible Class we were very excited to begin a new book entitled The Abc's of handling money God's Way. The past few weeks we've been attending a course at our church About handling money the way God intended, and this book was one the speaker had on display. It's intended for children 5 - 7 so it is PERFECT! The boys are learning how God owns EVERYTHING, and what we are supposed to do with money! I love it, they love it, everybody loves it!

We also use Gotta Have God devotionals, and this week we learned what the bible says about tempers, trust, reverence and stubbornness! On the day we learned about trusting God even though we can't see him, we did the "falling backwards" exercise. Both boys were asked to close their eyes and fall backwards - trusting that I wouldn't let them get hurt. They really loved this experiment!

Our Social Studies lessons focused on communication sounds that can, and those that cannot be heard (such as sign language, body language, symbols, street signs, etc.). We learned what a map communicates to us, and using blocks, mapped out our classroom. We did lots of hands on work in this subject this week, much to the boys delight. We used a box & rubber bands to show how a sound is made when an object moves, and dropped pebbles into standing water to show how the water vibrates (ripples) when the pebble hits the water and give a visual on sound waves. The boys also learned how God speaks to us using all types of communication.

This week I decided to another element to our SS class, and began teaching from an Abeka Book someone gave me recently entitled My America, My World. Looking through it, I realized this would be the perfect addition to our studies since thusfar the curriculum hasn't included much geography. Since Skip is very curious about this subject, I was excited to begin. The first 21/3 of the book focuses on the fact that we are Americans living in the United States - in one of the 50 states. It moves on to the U.S. flag and it's history, then on to some of the rights we are afforded. The second half is devoted mainly to all the states, one by one. I had a brainstorm of sorts and decided to have the boys work on their new Passports. A notebook (one of many we brought home from Russia!) that we wrote "Passport" on, then added a picture of the boys, as well as some US symbols on the cover. Each day after the reading portion of the class we work on adding information to the passport. This week we learned about Four freedoms: Religion, Speech, Press & Assembly. They are having SO much fun with this. I've already told them that soon we'll use our passport to visit all the states. I did point out that this will be a two-year endeavor since I plan to hit all 50 states! Before each lesson begins we gather on the couch and the boys must provide proof that they should be in the class, by providing their passports. This is their favorite part and I can't wait to see where they take us!

In Science we continued to learn about sound as well. We focused this week on weather sounds, Quiet sounds, and the different sounds people & machines make. We learned to tell what sound is, and how sounds move using examples of how it moves through air, water & solids.  We also talked some about the ocean critters that they learned about on Saturday at Harry's birthday party when the Ocean Explorium's mobile unit came with their Touch tank. It wasn't in the curriculum, but it was science, it was something they learned, and it was fun so we incorporated into our week.

Both Penmanship & Journaling continue to go well. I have reduced the number of days we do both of them to 3 rather than 5, to allow us additional time for projects/experiments/hands-on. This seems to work very well! In a hands-on activities we started to make a Yak (since the letter of the week is Y), using a cardboard outline and yarn. Since it also involves glue - lot of glue - we spent alot of time trying to unstick ourselves from the desk, glue container, paper, etc. so we're gonna have to finish it next week! Let's just say our animals are about half-way to being full-fledged Yaks.

Phonics this week progressed without a hitch. For Harry, the letter was Y, and he can now tell you many things that begin with a Y. We've begun to practice this daily, and it is making a huge impact on his learning. On Fridays I give him a list of words (7 - 8, orally) and he must tell me whether they begin with Y. Five correct answers earns him a treat from the jar. Harry loves rewards and tries really hard. This week he got the first 5 right, so he didn't need the extra words! Yeah, Harry!

For Skip, he was introduced to sylabbles (which went very well) and he is learning to de-code words using the "vccv" rule, and then read two sylabble words. He is also learning to accent the words so he can read the properly. He had one brief period of total confusion, but once we reviewed, he was good with it, and doing excellent work.

And finally, a mention of the marble reward jar. Until now the most Harry has received at the end of the week (the goal is 25 or an number equal to 5 per day in short weeks). Thusfar Harry's highest number of marbles at the end of the week was 4. This week he had 10! He made HUGE strides this week. 10 didn't earn him a happy meal, but he now understands a little better and he's trying. That's all I can ask!

Harry's turn to test the bands and watch them vibrate,

Seeing if different width bands make different sounds

Close-up of the new bulletin board

Workin' on his Y's

Learning how sound is produced when an object vibrates...

Our new bulletin board...Swinging into Fall

My favorite season is summer because it is fun.

Watching the ripples a pebble makes when dropping it in water, to demonstrate sound waves.

Why does Harry have a crayon behind his ear? Well because he saw Skip put a pencil behind his. I'm glad Harry wasn't holding anything bigger than a crayon at the time!

"Mapping" the classroom using blocks.

M&M's are a great way to count

Great for both boys...

Equally good for addition facts too!

Learning about trust.

Passports!

Excerpt from Skip's passport - a page about Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Assembly.

Gone! Week four that is.

Seems the school days are flying by now, and we're in learning mode for sure. Harry continues to struggle with the concept that there are some things he HAS to do in life - school being one of them. As always, when he's on, he's on, and when he's not - it just ain't pretty. This week he started off very nicely, having an absolutely great day on Monday - and it went south from there. Oh, in between he had segments where he gave in and did his work - and those time, he did an EXCELLENT job. We'll continue to try and motivate him to work hard and hope that one week he'll actually earn enough marbles to get a Kid's Meal on Friday.

The theme for his weeks Bible Lessons was Keep focusing on God. In addition to reading applicable Bible Verses, they read stories that taught the importance of doing what God expects. They read about Jeremiah & King Jehoiakim, and learned the imporntance of doing what is right, no matter how hard it may seem, and to not give up, through the readings of Nehemiah 4,  & Philipians 4. During the week, when I senses they were getting impatient with the work at hand, or when they began to complain about what they needed to do, I reminded them of our Bible Lessons. This served as a nice reminded to both of them, and usually resulted in their trying a little harder.

Math continues to be easy for both boys. This week Skip continued counting on his own, reaching 150 before (quite honestly I got tired with it) and told him he could stop. Guess he's got THAT concept down for now. As part of Skip's curriculum we also introduced the concept of four seasons.With Monday being the first day of fall, we were to go outside and observe a plant or tree that changes with the season. We chose the red maple, and went on out to look at it. The boys drew a picture of the tree, and then Skip was able to write down some of what he observed. The picture goes into his Math Meeting Book, and then we'll do the same in Winter, Spring and finally Summer. Of course being out there the boys couldn't resist climbing the tree. Something about tree climbing being in their "bill of rights" as little boys...

We also learned about how 2 halves make 1 whole, using an apple as an example. We took it further and after cutting it in half, and demonstrating that 1 whole, divided equally gives us two halves and vice-versa, we started an experiment. Each boy ate one half of the apples and put their seeds in an envelope. The next day they both guessed that THEY had more seeds, but learned that both had the same amount - 2. From then on we started on a quest to eat 10 apples, and document how many seeds there were. Once we reach 10, we'll chart the results and talk them afterwards.  For Harry, we focus on a new number every week. This week it was eight. It seems to be quite easy for him to learn to recognize the number as well as write it. He is also very good at counting sets of items containing the correct number as well. It is our easiest part of the day! With Fall coming I'm working on a new bulletin board and decided to incorporrate our numbers into it. I've numbered apples and each Friday, he'll pick the apple with the number we focused on that week from  the tree, and place it in the basket at the bottom of the board. He seems to like this - alot. We also learned about rectangles this week - and while he does get confused sometimes, for the most part he can tell you a rectangle has four sides, and 2 are long, 2 short.  Our final color to focus on was purple, and I think he finally has all 10 colors down to a science.

After finding the apple with an 8, he puts it in the basket.

In Social Studies we are learning about communicating with sound. Skip saw a picture of two boys cans  talking to each other using cans and a string and asked if we could try it. I researched and found out that paper/plastic cups work just as well - so that's what we made - and it worked perfectly! We talked about how the sound is carried through the string and that it was important that the string be held tight. They were very impressed with this concept and insisted on showing everyone who came to the house this week.

We also touched on the fact that some people communicate without sound and learned about how a blind person communicates. We talked a little about braille, and how blind people can "read" by feeling the patterned messages. I didn't have an real examples Skip could feel/touch, so using play-doh I spelled out words in braille and then had him feel each one, use the chart to figure out each letter, and then read the words. He was of course blindfolded during this exercise! 

We also took a walk around the neighborhood, listening for sounds that communicate. We made a list of those sounds and talked about the difference between warning sounds, happy sounds, and weather sounds. This too, was a big hit as it meant getting out of the class and exploring the outdoors.

Penmanship continues to go well - though I must warn both boys that object is to write slowly and neatly rather than quickly, which results in one big sloppy paper. They're getting better at it - but at least one of the two boys has to redo their paper each day.  Must be a boy thing - again!

Journaling also continues to run smoothly and is another easy subject for both Skip & I. This week's entries included his favorite breakfast food, place to eat & book. I'm trying to get him to elaborate some on his responses, but that aspect is going slowly. Progress however, so that's all that counts.

This week we finished up Unit 1 and moved onto Unit 2 in Science: Learning with your ears. It's a perfect compliment to our Social Studies right now, so it seems to go very well. We talked about nature sounds, people sounds and animal sounds thusfar. Skip is excited to learn HOW sound moves - which will be covered next week. While Harry only does about 1/4 of the science exercises (mainly because he dawdles on the work he's required to do - and also because alot of it is over his head) but both boys love learning about how stuff works. They definitely have their daddy's scientific mind. Me, I'm happy to know stuff DOES work....

Phonics goes well for both boys. This week Harry added the letter H to his list of mastered letters. He practices writing the letter, both lower & uppercase, and we've started teaching the sounds each letter makes. Starting next week he'll be tasked to come to class each day with an object or picture of an object that begins with the letter of the week. I think he'll enjoy that! I am encouraged by the fact he is beginning to listen for the initial sounds in words. A huge first step in phonemic awareness!

Speaking of phonemic awareness, Skip continues to do well with his lessons too. Saxon believes the key step in learning to read is mastering phonemics and teaching the child to speak and manipulate the individual sounds. For example, even though the word “hat” has only one syllable, it has three different sounds: /h/ /a/ (short a) /t/ or the word Skills has 6 letters, but 5 sounds, and learning the rules about double consonants being sounded as one, etc.

Although he had learned all 26 letters already, and the sounds they "usually" make, this program teaches them the rules that used to break words down by coding them. We have already learned about about macrons, breves, accents, suffixes. Each day he learns a new letter, the sound(s) it makes, the keyword to remember the sound(s), and at least one other phonemic concept. We do drills each day, we seem to be making a huge difference. His reading is really coming along as he is doing less "sounding" and more actual reading. I am pleased with this Curriculum thusfar and hope he continues to do well!

In our Reading program we chose a "Fall" theme this week. The boys were lucky to have two guest readers, who read some of the books we had chosen. These books included: One Little, Two Little Three Little Apples, Autumn Leaves are Falling, The Goose who tried to keep the Summer,The three Apples, & It's Fall. On Tuesday, their Grammy came and read to them -and on Wednesday, their Auntie Toni was our special Reader. Toni was a Head Start Teacher for many years and has been a great source of information and encouragement to me, giving me tips and resources for everything from printable worksheets to teaching supplies.

Auntie Toni is reading to a captive audience!

The highlight of the week for me was when Harry was supposed to be practicing writing the letters he has learned and stopped, staring at his paper. When I asked him what he was doing he said "Look - Little "t" is like the cross - Jesus died on the cross for us!" Yet another very encouraging AND heart-warming moment at Island Christian Academy!

Week three...

Although a short week of actual desk time since we got ahead last week, and did work aboard the boat over the long weekend, it was, nonetheless, another full week of school.

In BIBLE CLASS we've been focusing on obedience and faith. Two things that little boys find difficult at times - heck people people often fall short too! Perhaps the biggest lesson learned however came when I told the boys on Thursday that they needed to complete a coloring page for homework and return it on today (Friday). My previous post describes in detail what led up to this point. We'd been learning about Noah this week, and how he was tasked by God to build the Ark - and what it took to obey. We also use this time to review Skip's weekly Bible Verse for his Kids4Truth Club on Wednesday nights. Each week he is tasked to memorize a new Bible truth. After Skip turns seven he'll also need to memorize the applicable Bible Verse, which will add to the level of difficulty but I'm sure he'll do fine.

Well when our school day began today, one little boy - Skip - learned that obedience and faith DO pay off, and was rewarded with two extra marbles in his jar. Harry, on the other hand, found that failing to obey has consequences...like staying inside at at recess and doing his coloring then. Two boys, one assignment, one happy outcome, one, not so much. (The real lesson however was learned at the end of the day - more on that later!)

MATH - which is quickly becoming Skip's favorite subject, we continue to reinforce our counting to 100, writing numbers properly, as well as shapes. Mommy didn't check the lesson plan book for the week carefully enough however, and realized we needed a Geoboard today - so after some quick thinking, opted for a virtual version. Skip loved it - and used some free time during class to play around with it. He is learning about angles, so the board helps to reinforce the concept and allows him to experiment with them.

Math is also Harry's best subject right now and he loves learning new numbers. Each day we practice writing the number of the week, then do several worksheets centered around that number. He loves this part of the day - and it's the only time I don't hear repeated requests for a break, bathroom run, or complaint about how tired he is! The shape we introduced this week was triangle, and again, we did lots of "triangle " activities and worksheets. Each day I'd task him to find me triangular objects, and he always manages to come up with several good examples.

For SOCIAL STUDIES we completed our first unit and have begun a new one on Communication and using our eyes. Skip does very well with it thusfar, though I wish it had more hands-on activities. Well see what happens in the next few weeks - I may need to supplement each Unit with some weekly projects to spark their enthusiasm just a little more.
Journaling continues to go well, and it's a fairly fun and painless time. This week his entries included his favorite snack, favorite place to visit and his favorite sport. I was surprised with more than one answer! Being a kid who doesn't love to draw, he seems not to mind the part of the exercise where he has to draw a picture to go along with his journal entries, and has even surprised me with the effort he put in a few times this week! There IS hope that he'll someday move beyond stick figures!

PENMANSHIP continues to also be painless. One the best things I love about the Horizon's curriculum we're using for this subject, is the weekly Bible verse. Each week they have a new verse and right now just read the verse each day. In a few weeks he'll begin writing it each day - paying attention to neatness. During Skip's lesson I generally give Harry a simpler, but similar practice sheet, so he too can work on his letter formations. It does seem to help!

During SCIENCE this week we learned about identifying and grouping by both shape and size. I find this Unit to be a bit too easy, so we try and incorporate it into our daily lives, providing practical applications. Over the weekend we had applied this to the sea critters we found, as well as gumballs in the kid's dispenser, the candies in the reward jar, and the building blocks they played with. Depending on how challenging the work gets in the next few weeks, I may also need to add some outside resources to the curriculum too. Both boys are very hands-on kinda kids, and thrive on "action".

All our READING this week centered on Labor Day, and community helpers. Books included Firemen Fight Fires, Mrs. Toggles Zipper, Good Night Gorilla, Just Going to the Dentist, and Diggerman. This theme seemed to really help them understand the meaning behind the holiday, and of course, and has been a daily reminder that we are to help & serve others.

PHONICS has begun to get a bit challenging after the first 20 days of review. Saxon is a pretty intense curriculum, and there's little room to slack off. With that in mind, I'm thinking I need to switch my schedule around, again. The work is not easy and still Skip does well, I think leaving it for last may not be the best idea after all. Right now we've been doing it right after lunch when I put Harry in for his rest/nap, but I think by then, Skip's not at his sharpest. Over the weekend I'm gonna look into swapping it with Math, which we currently do right after prayer, pledges, and Bible lesson. Guess that's MY homework this weekend!

Harry's phonics consists of a new letter a week. Previously we learned to read & recognize Aa, Bb, Tt, and Oo, inside out. This week we introduced L. Up until now, the letters have been just "things" Harry HAS TO memorize (are you envisioning the sigh from Harry?). This week however, a tiny little light bulb seems to have been turned on, and he's actually associating the letter with a sound. All week has pointed out "L" words to me. I am very encourage with that progress!

Over the weekend on the boat I came up with an alphabet version of the "Memory" game Harry loves to play and it was a huge hit. We made 2 sets of cards for each letter he has learned using both the upper and lower case letters. So with 5 letters we end up with 20 cards; i.e. 2 A's 2 a's etc. We mix them up, turn the cards over, and take turns picking two cards. If the cards are a pair (Upper case A, lower case a) it's a match. At the end, the one with the most matches wins. Harry is VERY GOOD at regular Memory, and absolutely LOVES this game!

In HANDS-ON we finally got around to painting the fire trucks the boys built two weeks ago! They put on old clothes and sat in the driveway with their wooden trucks and some red paint, and went to town. They did ask for help painting the tires & ladders, which they wanted black, and the windshield and the little pegs to hold the tires in, which they decided they wanted to color white. So that meant I was covered in black, white & red paint too. Oh well, a worthy cause!

Finally, I talked a little about the biggest Lesson the boys learned today with the homework assignment. Besides the fact that Skip got to go outside as usual at recess, and Harry didn't, the real payoff came when it was time to count the marbles in their jars. I totally copied Lisa's idea to reward the boys for their work, and moved our marble jar to the schoolroom. Each time they show up for school ON TIME they get a marble. If they have their Bibles, another marble. From then on, a marble is given each time they put forth a good effort in a subject, AND don't whine or say "I can't" or "Are we done yet?" A marble is also given for extraordinary effort. The boys lose a marble however, if they do not give me a good effort, or do sloppy, careless work. Since Harry has less subjects than Skip, the same applies for quiet play time, and DVD learning time. If he plays quietly and doesn't whine when play time is done, or Watches the DVD I have chosen for him, without complaint, he gets a marble. Of course he loses them for not following the rules (AND DOES HE LOSE THEM!)

Potentially, the kids can earn 7 marbles a day, so this week, since we were only in the class 3 days, they needed 15 to earn a Wendy's Happy Meal. Make no mistake, I don't cut them any slack during school and if they don't earn them, show up late, forget their Bible, they don't get the marbles. Keep in mind that Skip earned 2 extra today for handing in his homework...We, after counting the marbles, Skip had 16, enough for a Happy Meal. Had he not handed the homework in, he would have been short 1. He recognized that before I even pointed it out! Bingo! As for Harry - well he had 4 marbles and a ham sandwich with me for lunch. I need to point out that one's more than last week!

The point is though, Harry does get it! He counted his marbles at least 10 times, I suppose wishin' and hopin' they'd multiply! He also announced that next week he was going to do his work and not say "no".... Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but in the meantime, I'm hoping they both learned that obedience is the only way to go....

In all I've seen some encouraging moments this week and in the big scheme of things , "it's all good". As defiant as Harry can be about schoolwork, once he gives in, he does extremely well.

Fun stuff...

looking good for that Happy Meal...

Hmmm, let me count again, maybe I counted wrong...

Ta-Da

Hanging up his masterpiece...

This is one area of learning that Harry is happy to comply...

The dreaded homework sheet...

Consequences...

Math Meeting Book - part of Saxon's Grade 1 Math Program

The online Geoboard...it saved the day...

Our weekly quote - compliments of our Penmanship curriculum.

To homework, or not to homework?

Which of course begs the question - is it still called "homework" if you're "homeschooled"?

I have wrestled with the first question for awhile - wondering what was the right way to go, but recently, seeing a regression in the boys attitudes towards doing what is expected of them, I thought there could be some valuable lessons to be learned that went beyond what the actual "work" was. And so, yesterday, at the end of the school day, I handed a coloring sheet to both boys and demanded their attention before explaining. I told them this sheet was their HOMEWORK. It needed to be done whenever they wished, as long as it was handed in this morning. Skip's first question was "What happens if I do?" I told him that while I couldn't tell him what the benefit would be, but he needed to 1) be obedient, and 2) trust that his efforts would be rewarded. Of course I got solemn nods, and "okays" from both as they hurried up the stairs to lunch, and well, freedom.

When I went up about 15 minutes later, one paper was on the kitchen counter, the other, the table.  Mid-afternoon, both papers still sitting in the same place, I simply announced that I hoped they remembered to do THEIR homework as directed. Same token nod from both boys, this time a syncronized "We will"...

At dinner time I mentioned to Mike that they had homework for the first time, and that opened up a brief discussion on what they needed to do, and by when. We left it at that. When, at bedtime, both papers were still lying around the kitchen & dining rooms, I had little hope of either of them doing theirs.

This morning right before breakfast, Skip decided he had better color his - and did so, finishing literally seconds before school was to start. Seeing Skip color his, Harry made an attempt at locating his now lost paper, but gave up rather quickly. He did find it again - by accident - while taking out the recycling, but since he didn't even get his  chores done on time this morning, by that time, it was too late to even think about coloring it.

And so..............

(Stay tuned for my weekly update to see what happened)

Second full week is done!

Although it was a short one (did Saturday Session) it was a great one! I think I have finally figured out how to get through the day quicker too! Leave the laptop upstairs! Of course there are days I need it - like the day we do computers for one - but otherwise...it's just a distraction FOR ALL!

Anyway, the week for Skip was mostly review, but some new stuff was introduced. For Harry, mostly new concepts.

In Bible we've been studying using the talents God has given us, Obeying, and Manners, and why parents discipline their children. I gotta tell you, when we were talking about how the Bible commands parents to correct their children when they do wrong, it was like a light bulb turned on in Skip's head. Truly. I think until then, he figured we got up each day asking oruselves how we could aggravate them with useless rules!

Both boys LOVE this class, and look foward to the informality of it. We sit on the couch and read our devotions, discuss the lessons, and sometimes do a little project.

In Math, Skip has reviewed up to the number 10. Writing the nubmer, counting to it, sorting in groups of, etc. etc. etc. We've also worked on Right & Left, Sequence, More &Less. We've also learned about graphs, and identifying "the most" and "the least", and ordering numbers to 10. On his first assesssment today, he scored 100%.  

We came up with a game for both boys to learn R & L, and to teach Harry body parts at the same time.  Both boys line up on the far end of the room and I put down 10 colored pieces of cardstock. I then alternately give them commands - (i.e. Point to your LEFT left, hop on your RIGHT foot, etc.) If they get it right the first time, they advance to the next spot, until finally reaching me and the candy dish I keep on my desk!  While taking Grammie to the Hospital for bloodwork this week we also practiced LOTS of right turns and left turns. They enjoyed that!

Harry is up to the number 6. We write, we sort, we recognize, we match, and then do it some more. We'll do a number a week til 20 - giving plenty of time to digest each number.  One of his favorite things to do in regards to math is spot the numbers I ask him to find when out somewhere. In the car, in the store, ANYWHERE we go! It keeps him busy, and out of mischief!  Overall, he seems to reallly enjoy this subject, so we'll keep pluggin' along! Both boys are still working on colors - color words for Skip and recognizing & naming colors for Harry.

Science continues on sight, and how it allows us to recognize colors, shapes & size.  In addition to our boring seat work, we 've played seat bingo, and looked for shapes/colors EVERYWHERE we've gone this week!  We've learned, small, smaller, smallest, & big, bigger biggest, and have mastered the color words. In regards to shapes, Skip has learned to "define" the shapes - i.e. - "a square has  four equal sides" or "a rectangle has 4 sides, 2 long, 2 short).  Harry has about finished his review of circles and squares, having no difficulty spotting, drawing, recognizing them.  It's been VERY easy going for him, even though we've gone at a quicker pace than we will in the future. Since we have 10 theme books to finish in 9 calendar months, I'm going a bit faster in the beginning so by; Oct. when the work becomes more difficult, we slow to a "normal" pace and still be done by the first week of May!

In History & Geography we've continued with Lesson 1 (of 10) in I AM A SPECIAL PERSON. Using the same theory above as far a pace, we're making great progress, we're on schedule and enjoying the material. We're learning how we are all different, all have different strengths, and all need to use those strengths to His glory. One assisngment was physical features - hair color, eyes, etc. Skip was quite proud to learn he has made it to the 4' mark!  We also learned about using manners, and what the Bible teaches about it. I challenged him to use his manners even when he didn't want to this coming weekend - giving this example:

If you ask me he can swim  and I say yes, it's easy and natural to respond with "Thank you, Mommy".
But, if my response is no, then it's a bit more difficult to be politely respond with "Okay Mommy" than "Puh-leeeeeease?"  He got the drift and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out :)  We are almost done with Theme 1, and look forward to the next which is on Sound & communication.

Using the new headphones he got for his b'day to watch Barney!

He's done So well - I am SO proud of him!

Ta-da! The desk!

In Penmanship both boys continue to improve on their letter formation and have become so much neater. Skip is SO neat compared to last year! Intuitively he has started making his lettors/words much smaller, more in line with how one writes "normally". He still has a funky way of making some letters, but I'm finding earch time we re-inforce the correct way to form letters, he catches on!  Worse comes to worse, he can be a Dr. Nobody can understand THEIR handwriting! Harry is still going through erasers faster than I can buy them, but, the fact is he LOVES erasing, and I suspsect doesn't try hard the first time so he erase and start over! Whatever - it keeps him occupied!

This week  for Reading we chose "Caps for Sale" and "One Fish, Two fish" as a class. We read each twice - concentrating on different things (colors and then numbers) each time. I love Caps for Sale, and will likely be reading it to them for a long time to come! With the review of colors for them, these books tie in nicely!"

Journal entries this week included: When I look in the mirror..., I love my family because..., I like my frined _____because...., and My favorite toy is...! At $3.00 this Journal book was a great find! It gives you the idea for each entry, and has a place on each page for a picture to accompany your entry. Can't say enough about it!

Our field trip on Harry's birthday to the Ocean Explorium was of course lots of fun too. We learned not only about sea animals, but why we need to keep our water clean, the solar system (GREAT exhibit) and even world population!

It did take me almost a full two weeks to figure it all out but I do think we're in a groove now, and have got our schedule set for the foreseeable future. Just gotta keep a few things in mind:

1. Keep laptop upstairs unless we're using it!
2. Use the first 90 minutes (before recess) to get a big chunk of Harry's "required" work done.
3. Alternate "writing" time with "DVD" or "Quiet play time"  evenly after recess time - or else he loses it!
4. Stick to three new concepts a week for Harry! One new letter is a given. Then alternate a new number, color, shape, sorting concept, etc. 
5. Reward, reward, reward.

Finally, Mike managed to refinish Harry's desk last weekend, and now he has his own BEAUTIFUL antique school desk - like Skips! Mike did an AWESOME job and Harry couldn't be happier! Love the way they can store their "books 'n stuff"inside, eliminating most of  the "where's my" problems!  Now, if I can just teach BOTH boys to sit in them when they're workin' I'd be a happy homeschoolin' mommy!

3D Planet Exhibit - showing how we go from day to night

Top 10 pollutants you find at the beach - this one hit home with the boys, loving the ocean the way they do!