Weekly Wrap Up

This past week we spent more time at home than usual since Bill needed to use the car a few days.

Monday we stayed home and did regular school, Caley worked on math, phonics and handwriting. We also went for a walk and observed a big spider eating a bug, just like in Charlotte's Web! We read about the Prodigal Son from our new Jesus Storybook Bible which is amazing! Beautiful illustrations and text that always points to Jesus. We worked on 1 Chronicles 16:34 for the memory verse, "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever."

We also made flowers.Tuesday was bible study day, and Wednesday was storytime and grocery run. Check out my other post about storytime and how Caley and Amelia are starting to become better friends.

Thursday we had a visit from our friends Karina, Olivia, and Abby and took a science walk to observe nature. I made a science journal with a list of things Caley needed to look for and when she found something she crossed it off her list. It became a fun game and a good chance for her to practice her observation skills, which is right now for "science" for a preschooler. Caley also did a few pages in her SchoolZone Preschool Basics workbook (from Grama!) and did great practicing things like comparing size, length, association, and coloring.
Friday we made an impromptu trip to the hospital to visit my OB/GYN and the girls did very well waiting in the office. This was testament to the fact that although we have a schedule for homeschooling, LIFE still happens and we have to roll with it. It was very good for all three of us. We also did a scavenger hunt in the hospital courtyard, which the kids love because there's a water fountain. At home we did some more workbook pages, Caley's phonics book (lesson 27) and a "self portrait." I chose this project primarily to begin teaching Caley to draw people with a body instead of arms and legs coming out of a person's head. I also decided to test Amelia's color matching skills by having her sort pegs in baskets. To my surprise she did quite well! We started with two colors handed to her by me, then I put a basket full of colors and she sorted them independently.

Have a good week!

Sisterly Love

This week we moved the girls into the same room to prepare for the arrival of their little brother. So far it's working well, but that doesn't mean they have been obedient all the time in staying in their own beds. This week I also noticed they are getting along a little better, and seem to be better friends. Of course there are still issues, but they seem like better friends. I am making them nap apart because they still need naps (and Mommy needs a break!) but so far the biggest problem with that has been Amelia climbing out and over things to get wherever Caley happens to be. So far she's climbed out of the pack 'n' play and over the gate at Caley's room, another time she pushed the gate on her room off and climbed over the gate in Grama's room where Caley was resting. I guess I can't get too mad, because she just wants to be with her sister and the whole point of them sharing a room is to have a good relationship. (We have enough rooms in this house to give each kid a room and have a few to spare!) Anyway...
My point in this post is encouraging a good sibling relationship is a big reason why we chose to homeschool. I know non-homeschooling families can foster good sibling relationships, but a "plus" for homeschooling is that in general, siblings will learn to love one another simply because they will spend more time with each other. Especially going into baby #3 where there will be 5 years between Baby and Caley, I would be concerned about them having a good relationship if we were not planning to homeschool. But this way, they will physically be together for more time than if we sent Caley to kindergarten next fall, which will hopefully foster a better relationship between them. This concept will also apply if/when we go for baby #4, but let's discuss that when the time comes (not now!).

We attend Toddler Storytime at the library on Wednesdays, which is primarily for kids 18 months-3 years. It is a little weird to have Caley, nearly 5, in this group because she answers most of the questions and is a head taller than most of the kids. But even if our schedule allowed us to switch, I wouldn't want to, because the love Caley and Amelia show one another is just too precious. Caley feels confident and comfortable in this class and Amelia is right where she needs to be, it gives an opportunity for Caley to take a back seat and let Amelia learn in an appropriate environment instead of always being the one who has to wait.

It's the sweetest thing to see our kids love each other, I can only imagine what it will be like when the baby arrives.

Weekly Wrap Up

We had a fun and exciting week. Sunday we went to Lynden for Cousin Autumn's birthday pool party. The girls had fun eating junk food, swimming in the pool, and playing with their cousins. Bill had a fun time too!

Monday was Labor Day so we stayed home and did chores instead of school. Then we had an impromptu Rock Band 2 party and the girls played with some fun friends and practiced sharing their toys. Caley had to let go of her ways when her friends made a (little) mess of the Potato Head in her room. She's made bigger messes and hasn't cared, but when it's in her room, the rules got more strict apparently.
Tuesday was Bible study day, a usual thing we do.

Wednesday we studied health by visiting my OB and discovering the gender of our baby. It's a BOY! The girls did great in the office, especially since Bill was there too to help wrangle them.

Thursday we went to the Ballard Locks and studied science by observing the fish ladder and boats going through the Locks. It was beautiful weather and we had fun with a lot of great friends!Friday was a regular school day and we did math, handwriting, reading, Bible, and a few crafts. I remembered we have the curriculum "Handwriting Without Tears" and decided to add it to our regular school subjects. Caley loves making the letter shapes and Amelia liked doing it too. I was impressed with how well she did, especially for only being 2! Our crafts were making bookmarks, coloring, and matching alphabet pasta on cards. This project worked on Caley's fine motor skills, letter identification and matching. We also made a library run and later that day finished reading "Little House In The Big Woods"! Our next selection is "Charlotte's Web."

See you next week!

Weekly Wrap Up

Several homeschool blogs I read do a Friday "Weekly Wrap Up" summarizing their homeschool week. I may try to post on Fridays as a regular thing, more as a recording of our school year. I hope you enjoy it.

We kicked off our school year this week and also Amelia's potty training. Both endeavors are going very well. Caley did two math lessons per school day (Monday and Friday) in the K12 Kindergarten curriculum book. The first 10 lessons had been torn out because we got the book used, so I made makeshift testing sheets to record what she learned for the day. I did the teaching on a little whiteboard and Caley found it very interesting and fun to write on a whiteboard.

We also started the phonic "100 lessons" book again and Caley is on lesson 20. At the end of last year she was around lesson 35, but since we haven't done those lessons all summer, she needed a little review. It's going better though since she can say some letters a bit better. Specifically the "th" sound is very difficult for her, probably because of her underbite.

A new development in this school year is Amelia's involvement. She wants to be more involved and likes watching Caley do her math sheets and such. Often I will give her a puzzle or blocks to play with.

We are including a Bible lesson on each school day and today we talked about Jesus, the cross and John the Baptist using Bible cards.

Today we also did a bubblegum craft (idea borrowed from Rachael). Both their crafts turned out nice.

On Tuesday we went to bible study and Caley played with some friends, she is the oldest in the group. On Wednesday we went to another bible study and she played with some other friends, more boys, which is good for her. We also went grocery shopping and brought a new mom and meal. Caley and Amelia enjoyed looking at a new tiny baby. We also had a visit from Uncle David who filmed the girls for a small part in his new movie. They wore clown noses.

Thursday we went to the library and got a lot of Tana Hoban books. She is a talented photographer and her books are mostly photos highlighting specific attributes like shapes and colors. They make for good math practice. We also went to Haven for Life, a teen pregnancy foster home, and Caley played with some friends. We hope to volunteer at the ministry in the future.

It was a good week and hopefully this year will be fun!

Telling Stories

Lately Caley has started telling stories. Nana Gerlach gave the girls some nursery tale puzzles like "Little Red Riding Hood" and "The Three Little Pigs." I got a book from the library telling those stories so Caley knows how they go, and now she acts them out with the puzzle pieces. Telling stories is a huge building block of literacy because through it the child demonstrates the understanding of a story, not just reading a string of letters but fully comprehending what those letters and words mean. Caley has also taken to "reading" to Amelia and, to my surprise, the stories are fairly coherent and close to the original story. Here she is reading "Jack and the Beanstalk" to Amelia while they play "night-night."