Exciting news!
In 10 days, give or take, we will be welcoming a new member of our family. We are sponsoring an exchange student from Thailand through YFU. We've done this twice before, once successfully, and we are really excited.
So it's no surprise that today's topic has mostly been on Thailand. We've been looking at the globe, at maps and the internet to learn all we can to get ready for our new friend.
Flora is also really interested in numbers lately, she's been asking questions like, "What is 1-1-5?" and I believe she's starting to get the hang of it.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
It's been a rainy, cool, fall-like day here in NW PA. I am loving it.
Today Flora woke up much earlier than usual, so we started the day relaxing and watching PBS.
We cleaned her room, she helped me tidy the living room, and then we played Wii. After lunch her friend Nick came over and they played, and then she went to her friend Bug's house and played there.
A quiet, relaxing day off.
Today Flora woke up much earlier than usual, so we started the day relaxing and watching PBS.
We cleaned her room, she helped me tidy the living room, and then we played Wii. After lunch her friend Nick came over and they played, and then she went to her friend Bug's house and played there.
A quiet, relaxing day off.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Today we hung a glow in the dark model of the solar system in our dining room. (A dead giveaway that we are homeschoolers if ever there was one...) We learned several facts, our favorite being that is is possible that it rains diamonds on Uranus and Neptune! I was shocked at how much she already knows about the planets, including which one is called "the red planet".
We saw "The Karate Kid" along with Flora's best friend, Nick. We talked about China and my experiences there when I visited in 1987. I showed her China on the map. I can see this being something we continue learning about because she was fascinated with the movie and had a lot of questions.
She and Nick had $10 to buy snacks with. It was fun watching them grapple with how to get the most for their money. They each chose a snack pack and had 4 quarters left over to play video games.
She went swimming and played at Nick's house for a couple of hours.
She played wii dance for an hour, she's really getting good at that game!
We saw "The Karate Kid" along with Flora's best friend, Nick. We talked about China and my experiences there when I visited in 1987. I showed her China on the map. I can see this being something we continue learning about because she was fascinated with the movie and had a lot of questions.
She and Nick had $10 to buy snacks with. It was fun watching them grapple with how to get the most for their money. They each chose a snack pack and had 4 quarters left over to play video games.
She went swimming and played at Nick's house for a couple of hours.
She played wii dance for an hour, she's really getting good at that game!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Unschooling
We quickly grew tired of lesson pathways, it felt too clunky and unnatural. We are unschooling now - I strongly feel she learns more and enjoys learning more with this method.
I've been under the weather so I haven't kept up this blog, but I have kept up with logging her schooling. I am going to try to get back into the swing of things.
Today we talked about counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s, 100s, millions, and billions.
She got a book out of the library about horses and has been studying the different breeds.
She read "Big Backyard" mostly on her own while we were in the car running errands.
She found a praying mantis and studied it to draw a picture in her nature book.
At the co-op she weighed pears and flax seeds and estimated the cost of each.
Right now she is swimming at a friend's house. In the last 2 or so weeks she's made gigantic strides in swimming, so much so I am considering cancelling her fall swimming lessons. We now have a YMCA membership, so she has had a lot of time in the pool to figure out how to swim.
We talked about budgeting and prioritizing spending. I told her we have a $5 budget per day and we discussed how much a lime slushie costs and if it's worth it. She decided it was. :) Now we can't go to the dollar movie tonight, instead we will stay home and watch Mr. Bean and have popcorn and play Uno. She is OK with this because she made the decision how to spend the money herself.
We discussed budgeting on a national level, how our country as a whole has to budget and prioritize spending.
I've been under the weather so I haven't kept up this blog, but I have kept up with logging her schooling. I am going to try to get back into the swing of things.
Today we talked about counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s, 100s, millions, and billions.
She got a book out of the library about horses and has been studying the different breeds.
She read "Big Backyard" mostly on her own while we were in the car running errands.
She found a praying mantis and studied it to draw a picture in her nature book.
At the co-op she weighed pears and flax seeds and estimated the cost of each.
Right now she is swimming at a friend's house. In the last 2 or so weeks she's made gigantic strides in swimming, so much so I am considering cancelling her fall swimming lessons. We now have a YMCA membership, so she has had a lot of time in the pool to figure out how to swim.
We talked about budgeting and prioritizing spending. I told her we have a $5 budget per day and we discussed how much a lime slushie costs and if it's worth it. She decided it was. :) Now we can't go to the dollar movie tonight, instead we will stay home and watch Mr. Bean and have popcorn and play Uno. She is OK with this because she made the decision how to spend the money herself.
We discussed budgeting on a national level, how our country as a whole has to budget and prioritize spending.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Day 2
Today we were both feeling a little under the weather, so it was a simple homeschooling day.
We looked through a book of sarcophaguses and Flora designed her own.
She read another Spongebob book to me called "Hide and Sneak".
She did her math pages, again on addition.
We read and clapped out "Bed in Summer".
We went to the library and got a computer game on Pyramids and some movies. At the library she practiced letters and numbers by copying the dewey decimal numbers from the computer, and she helped me locate the books.
We played frisbee for about 20 minutes after dinner.
She helped prepare dinner by measuring the ingredients.
She watched the news with me at noon and we discussed the gulf oil spill.
I am considering reverting back to unschooling slowly.
We looked through a book of sarcophaguses and Flora designed her own.
She read another Spongebob book to me called "Hide and Sneak".
She did her math pages, again on addition.
We read and clapped out "Bed in Summer".
We went to the library and got a computer game on Pyramids and some movies. At the library she practiced letters and numbers by copying the dewey decimal numbers from the computer, and she helped me locate the books.
We played frisbee for about 20 minutes after dinner.
She helped prepare dinner by measuring the ingredients.
She watched the news with me at noon and we discussed the gulf oil spill.
I am considering reverting back to unschooling slowly.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Day 1
Today we read RL Stevenson's "A Bed In Summer" and clapped it to learn syllables.
We read Strachan's "Life on the Nile" and then played with Flora's Playmobile Mummy set.
We read a Robbie Reader book about King Tut.
She did 2 back and front pages of her 1st grade math workbook, addition.
She read "The Magic Shell" aloud to me, and read Lesson 1 of her reading workbook and answered the comprehension questions.
We made a Nature Journal and a Nest Bag for the birds.
Tonight we are going to the beach to collect tiny shells to glue into her Nature Journal, and to swim (phys ed!).
I hope to have pictures of the nest bag and the beach tonight.
We read Strachan's "Life on the Nile" and then played with Flora's Playmobile Mummy set.
We read a Robbie Reader book about King Tut.
She did 2 back and front pages of her 1st grade math workbook, addition.
She read "The Magic Shell" aloud to me, and read Lesson 1 of her reading workbook and answered the comprehension questions.
We made a Nature Journal and a Nest Bag for the birds.
Tonight we are going to the beach to collect tiny shells to glue into her Nature Journal, and to swim (phys ed!).
I hope to have pictures of the nest bag and the beach tonight.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Welcome
This is my homeschooling blog for Flora's 1st Grade year. We are using lesson pathways primarily - lessonpathways.com
The goals for this week are:
- Learn about King Tut and life in his times.
- Learn about syllables and continue learning sight words
- Read the poem "Bed in Summer" by RL Stevenson
- Learn about nature in our neighborhood; bird watching and tree identifying, make a nature journal and write in it daily etc.
- Continue to work in her Dorling Kindersley math workbook
We live in PA, and since Flora was born in November we will not need to keep records for her homeschooling until September 2012. Third grade! I prefer to keep my own records now, however.
Today we went to the library and got all the supplies, so we will be read to start tomorrow.
For "life skills" she will continue to help me with household chores and color in her safety themed coloring book. For physical activity she will continue to work towards mastering her bicycle. :) She is a new and avid reader so I will continue to make her favorite CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS books available to her and give her the time and space to get bored enough to read them. These subjects I prefer to take a more unschooling, unplanned attitude towards.
The goals for this week are:
- Learn about King Tut and life in his times.
- Learn about syllables and continue learning sight words
- Read the poem "Bed in Summer" by RL Stevenson
- Learn about nature in our neighborhood; bird watching and tree identifying, make a nature journal and write in it daily etc.
- Continue to work in her Dorling Kindersley math workbook
We live in PA, and since Flora was born in November we will not need to keep records for her homeschooling until September 2012. Third grade! I prefer to keep my own records now, however.
Today we went to the library and got all the supplies, so we will be read to start tomorrow.
For "life skills" she will continue to help me with household chores and color in her safety themed coloring book. For physical activity she will continue to work towards mastering her bicycle. :) She is a new and avid reader so I will continue to make her favorite CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS books available to her and give her the time and space to get bored enough to read them. These subjects I prefer to take a more unschooling, unplanned attitude towards.
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