Math

On Tuesday we started our math curriculum.  The curriculum showed up shortly before my trip and the kids were eager to start.  I also have printed up various language arts worksheets for the kids to work on.  Aurora's working on letter recognition and writing her letters, Guy and Cinderella on grade level grammar and reading comprehension.  We have tried a different way of going about it each day. 

Tuesday I tried to have them do a variety of activities so I could spend some one on one time with math.   I created 3 different stations.  One for math, one for reading, and one for worksheets (or playing educational games on my tablet if they got their chores done before time to start "school".) One child at at each station at a time.  However I discovered that Aurora really needs more attention while trying to do worksheets, and needs me to sit down and read with her.  

Wednesday I set up the different activities so that I could help the kids, still have one on one time with math where needed (Cinderella didn't need or want my full attention with her math), and give Aurora the attention she needed.  That day was just chaotic.  

Thursday we took a break from schooling and went and met some other homeschool families at a splash pad.  I think this day actually wore me out the most this week.

So then on Friday I tried doing them all the same time.  We had a math time, where we just worked on math and I would try to help them all where needed.  Then later in the day we did some language art worksheets, with me trying to help where needed.  I think this worked the best, however Guy really struggled with this one.  He would lose interest, and get distracted.  I would have to keep pulling him back on task.  I am going to try giving him some one on one time  doing something else at a different point during the day, and see if he does a better job staying on task if I do that.  I think he is just fishing for attention.

Food, Playground, and Live Music

This Saturday we worked on cleaning up the house a little bit and then put together a cabinet of drawers, we were pretty wiped out by the end of the day and still hadn't gone shopping for the week's groceries, so we decided to find some place to take the kids to eat.  We found a restaurant that said it had a playground, outdoor seating, and live music.  How neat is that?

We weren't really sure what to expect, but when we arrived it looked like the place was run by a bunch of hippies.  There was an old wooden playground, picnic tables, and a makeshift stage where a local bluesy rock band was setting up to play.  It's not like any place I've ever gone to eat; the description and the pictures don't really do it justice, you have to go there to really experience it. 

Fishing with Grandpa

 

The turtles kept investigating the bait...

  

...and the one of them went for it and got hooked.

A brave gentleman helped free the turtle.

The Study

We have another room mostly done.  Thought I would post pictures.  There are still a few things I plan on doing in here, but it is mostly done.

Homeschooling weekly update: Gardening

I have decided that for me to really do home school right, I need to commit to it.  I have been unwilling to do that, but have realized there is a value in committing to something.  I still am somewhat unsure as to what I am doing.

I think I have the basic idea however.  I want life to be our school.  When we go to the grocery store, we take a long time, but we study math, (how much things cost, what is a better deal), we learn how to find our way around the library to learn about subjects that interest us.

For the moment I am keeping my kids working on the computer for an hour a day each, using the curriculum found at time4learning.com and also using spellingcity.com .  We are also going on regular outings, doing science experiments, and getting out to play with other kids.  One day we may discover a co-op that we can work with and do field trips with, but for right now, we are just taking things as they come.  We are also picking one subject that we want to study each week.  I am letting the kids take turns picking the topic, then they are each allowed to check out 4 books on our weekly  library trips.  1 of those books is from the non-fiction section, focusing on our area of study, one is from the fiction section also pulling from our area of study, one is a non-fiction of their choice, and 1 is a fiction of their choice.  Then I hope to also find other activities, experiments, field trips etc. to go along with our area of study.  I don't know how long we will try this method before we try something else, but this is what we are doing right now.

This weekend, we learned a little about plants, and picked some out that we would like to plant and started a little pot garden.  We will learn more about them, as we take care of them and watch them grow.  We allowed each child to pick a plant, and they will be primarily the ones to care for their plant.

Chinese Boat Races

Yesterday we took the kids downtown where there were some Chinese Boat Races going on.  The races were kind of hard to watch and figure out what was going on, but the boats were really cool, and it was fun to see how they do it.  

We also had a fun walk.  

Guy found what he calls a baby pineapple.  I am guessing it is a palm of some kind.  He wanted to bring it home and see if we can plant it.  I guess that will be one of our science experiments.

 Scooter thought the gravel was a great snack.