There is nothing quite like the giggles of little girls! And Girlfriend had her share of them today! She likes to be tickled lightly for a few seconds. But if I could capture a moment forever in my memory...it may well have been today. It all started when she discovered a bottle of bubbles! That may have been disconcerting had she been able to get the lid off and indiscrimently spill them. But, fortune was on our side, and she asked me to open them for her. We brought her little red plastic chair into the bathroom where I proceeded to open the bubbles. The name on the bottle said "Miracle bubbles." If one counts laughter as a miracle, then these bubbles lived up to their name!
They really were quite good as bubbles go...I was able to blow numerous ones from each single dip of the wand. And as I caught some on the wand, I was able to roll them over and over the wand, and then disperse them into even more bubbles. Girlfriend was delighted! She grasped for each one as it floated by, clapping and trying to pop them. She was oblivious to ones that landed ever so briefly on her head. She did, however, take note of the one that burst on her nose. She giggled even louder and then rubbed her sweet nose ferociously while reaching for more bubbles in the air. She probably could have done this for a very long time. Unfortunately, we had only our "recess" time from schooling. But what a recess!
Handsome spent his recess time building a house out of cardboard. He made a tiny table and television set to put inside. He got a hinge from the garage and made a door that actually swung open! He cut squares of green paper and then put stickers on them and put them on the walls for hanging pictures. He is quite a creative child! And all of this came from parts of a Creative Moments box! Guess that was another label with prophetic over-tones! Ha!
We had a bubbly day academically as well. Handsome had the best day ever as far as accomplishments go. He finished his math in record time and only missed one problem out of three pages worth! He knew the answers to the History and Science reviews. He also knew the answers to the music and health questions. Wow! And he seemed to catch on to the reading concepts well and proved it by reading new words without hesitation! We played a fishing for words game prior to the introducing the new concept. I took all his spelling words for the last few weeks as well as some new reading words and some familiar words and wrote them onto word strips that I cut into three-inch pieces. These were the "fish" once I placed paper clips on them. then from an old curtain rod, I made a fishing pole, complete with a way to reel them in! And, of course, a magnet for the hook. The game was, that if he missed the word, it would go into the "release" pile. If he corrctly read the word, it went into his "keep" pile. If the "release" pile was larger than his keep pile, he would have to write all the missed words. BUT if his pile was larger, then he did not have to write and also got to eat gummy worms! His pile had 23 and the "release" pile had 7. Good job, Handsome! (He doesn't particularly like to write words!)
So, I consider the day a success! And, oh yes! Hunky got a great report from his Kindergarten class today as well!
Yeah!!!!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Learning Is Fun!
I am learning all the time...the fun thing about homeschool teaching is that the resources are endless. There is no specifically guided curriculum limiting what angles I can research or teach from. I can explore many theories and ideas and opinions and discover the true facts and some little known ones about any subject I want. I have learned amazing facts about Science as well as many ideas. I have learned a lot about history and found humorous and serious things left out of many texts. I utilize the libraries and Internet. They are free (for the most part...I have had late fees at the library and some Internet sites do charge)and they offer a myriad of resources. I am having fun! (By the way, the local library set me up to get emails 2 days before things are due...and I also can "order"- "hold" any item I want from my computer and they will have it for me in a special place when it is available...very helpful people!)
Handsome is doing well. Today he earned a model airplane I had purchased at a yard sale as an incentive for studying the Wright Brothers. We have done that, as well as take a look at the Space program. Handsome thought it would have been incredible if the Wright brothers would have known that less than 70 years later, man would walk on the moon. One of them (my brain fails me at the moment!) did live to see jet planes and the atomic bomb.
We visited the Challenger Space Center yesterday. In addition to all the space information, they have a cockpit control panel from an airplane. That was Handsome's favorite thing. They even let him play with it, switching all the switches and turning all the knobs. They have cardboard space suits that you can take a picture with your head inside. I had to use my cell phone camera so I am not sure how well they turned out, but I will eventually try to publish them.
The history of aviation was the topic for our history class for this first couple of
weeks. We will soon move on into American History. So then, our Science topic is studying the Ocean and its inhabitants...and its features.
Today we learned about salt and fresh water. We did an experiment with salt water, letting the outside air dry it out and observing the salt left behind on the black paper...a lesson in evaporation...and we did an experiment from yesterday's lesson on tides and waves. We made a beach in a paint roller pan and made waves with a pencil and then observed whether the beach got washed away quicker with or without gravel added to the shore. Girlfriend helped make the waves. She thought it was fun!
For health class we are learning about nutrition. We had one week on posture and now we are learning what we should eat. Today Handsome made posters on vegetables and the vitamins they provide. Monday he did one on proteins. Now, if I could only get both of them to eat what they should! Handsome would eat mac and cheese or chicken nuggets everyday if I would let him...or maybe a hashbrown or two. Girlfriend nibbles on protein items and pasta...and then gobbles down everything once in awhile. Today I reiterated the need for vegetables and fruit. It is not that Handsome doesn't like them, it is just that he dislikes them for LUNCH. sounds like a reasonable excuse to me! Ha! But they do get all their vitamins!
Well, that's about all the exciting things happening around my parts. I did fail to mention that Hunky is enjoying Kindergarten and talks a lot about it when he arrives home.
Well, I shall attempt to blog more regularly...at least weekly as I have said before. I almost made it!
Keep smiling because it makes your kids think you have a secret! Ha!
Handsome is doing well. Today he earned a model airplane I had purchased at a yard sale as an incentive for studying the Wright Brothers. We have done that, as well as take a look at the Space program. Handsome thought it would have been incredible if the Wright brothers would have known that less than 70 years later, man would walk on the moon. One of them (my brain fails me at the moment!) did live to see jet planes and the atomic bomb.
We visited the Challenger Space Center yesterday. In addition to all the space information, they have a cockpit control panel from an airplane. That was Handsome's favorite thing. They even let him play with it, switching all the switches and turning all the knobs. They have cardboard space suits that you can take a picture with your head inside. I had to use my cell phone camera so I am not sure how well they turned out, but I will eventually try to publish them.
The history of aviation was the topic for our history class for this first couple of
weeks. We will soon move on into American History. So then, our Science topic is studying the Ocean and its inhabitants...and its features.
Today we learned about salt and fresh water. We did an experiment with salt water, letting the outside air dry it out and observing the salt left behind on the black paper...a lesson in evaporation...and we did an experiment from yesterday's lesson on tides and waves. We made a beach in a paint roller pan and made waves with a pencil and then observed whether the beach got washed away quicker with or without gravel added to the shore. Girlfriend helped make the waves. She thought it was fun!
For health class we are learning about nutrition. We had one week on posture and now we are learning what we should eat. Today Handsome made posters on vegetables and the vitamins they provide. Monday he did one on proteins. Now, if I could only get both of them to eat what they should! Handsome would eat mac and cheese or chicken nuggets everyday if I would let him...or maybe a hashbrown or two. Girlfriend nibbles on protein items and pasta...and then gobbles down everything once in awhile. Today I reiterated the need for vegetables and fruit. It is not that Handsome doesn't like them, it is just that he dislikes them for LUNCH. sounds like a reasonable excuse to me! Ha! But they do get all their vitamins!
Well, that's about all the exciting things happening around my parts. I did fail to mention that Hunky is enjoying Kindergarten and talks a lot about it when he arrives home.
Well, I shall attempt to blog more regularly...at least weekly as I have said before. I almost made it!
Keep smiling because it makes your kids think you have a secret! Ha!
Friday, August 14, 2009
A New Year of Challenges and Changes!
Hello, I know, I know...I keep promising to blog more frequently and then fail to fulfill the promise. Part of the problem truly was that my computer was on the blink...I really should say the "brink" of death...and it finally gave up the ghost as they say. I now have a new computer which eliminates that excuse.
Another problem is that I am the type of person who only occasionally blogs along or writes in diaries, etc, just for myself...or to get things out of my head. I am far more motivated when I know someone else is reading them and hearing me out. And since not very many comments are made, I assume that not very many people, if any, are reading me...thus, I am unmotivated... silly me! (That was a hint!)
Anyway, this is a new year...school year, that is. But since I am homeschooling my grandson and caring for my granddaughter, it is a new beginning for me as well.
Handsome is now in second grade. And I think I am beginning to understand him far better than I ever have! He loves Science...so I am trying to take his weaker areas and enhance them with his Science topics. For example...although we will be using several different Science topics, the main one throughout the year is Zoology 102, understanding the sea and its inhabitants, as well as all swimming creatures, etc. so, we decorated an entire room as the Ocean...painting murals (on butcher paper) and hanging stuffed animal whales, dolphins, sharks, etc. from the ceiling as if they are swimming in the sea. There are lobsters and octopusi, jellyfish and sea stars taped to the mural as well (paper ones, of course!) And nets (from a luau I held last year), and a border of paper sack style butcher paper to depict the bottom of the sea, upon which there is a wrecked ship! Still to come is bubble wrap for the top for air bubbles and foam...and somehow we are going to have some waves....
But I am having him write in a notebook...mostly just copying sentences I write for now...and decorate it with stickers relating to the sea. (Actually, he has a notebook for each topic in which we are doing similar things). Today we did an experiment about the surface currents with Cheerios and hair dryers making gyres in a bowl of water. So, he copied several sentences about the experiment. Funny thing, he doesn't complain about having to write his words or letters, etc. when they mean something about something he is interested in. I also took words that relate to the sea but still meet the level of reading words in his reading workbook for his spelling words. And today, he got 100% without complaining that they were just dumb words. Amazing! I hope he doesn't catch on to the fact that he is actually DOING spelling words and vocabulary words and printing and reading exercises! (Just kidding!)
He is also studying a little tiny bit about astronauts as his history topic for a couple of weeks because the public school he would attend covered Sally Ride and Neil Armstrong last year and we didn't. So, I made that more of a history lesson, but he wrote a few sentences about that too...and looked up some more info on the moon, etc. (We DID study the moon last year...and planets, etc). Next Thursday we are going to the Challenger Space Center in Peoria for a field trip. And we are going to the free aquarium at Cabella's on Wednesday due to our Science topic being fresh water vs. salt water that day...
Just before the start of school, we went to the Children's Museum and the AZ Science Center...on what is called a "Culture Pass"...free passes you can check out at the library...but you have to stand in line first thing in the morning in the heat...because each library has only one for each museum. And you can only get one per week and two per month! But I survived! And it was great fun!
We found out that the Science Center has homeschool classes about every 2 to 3 weeks at a reasonable price. So, the 25th is our first class! The topics vary, but keeping his interest in Science alive is most important. And they will cover the Ocean...in February, I think.
Hunky has started Kindergarten in a public School. We were unsure about the wisdom of that venture, but so far it seems to be positive for both boys.
"Girlfriend", as I am currently referring to her, has definitely graduated to the middle stage of the "terrible twos". I used to shrink at that term, but she has convinced me to renew it. As sweet and wonderful as she is, her opinions are heard loudly and clearly, especially her dislikes. Oh well. To keep her feeling special during school hours, I have created learning centers for her. She LOVES the texture table...Miondays is sand, Wednesdays is beans and macaroni, and Fridays is water!!!!
Tuesdays and Thursdays she gets "dress up" days with makeup and the whole bit. And then there is the store, with gracery cart and "real" food, and the kitchen with fabric textures for food toppings, and then the puzzles, art, stickers, etc. And she also has 1:1 time with me featuring the five sense...one each day...with a snesory bag full of something new to taste, touch, smell, see, or hear...depending on the day.
Well, Monday is Hunky's birthday and though he will be in school, we shall celebrate when he gets home...as well as a family and friends party tomorrow afternoon....
Well, I shall do my best to continue this blog at least weekly...please let me know if you enjoy...or even if you don't but read it anyway! Thanks..
Temporarily no pictures due to new computer needing to be downloaded for the program...perhaps tomorrow!!
Another problem is that I am the type of person who only occasionally blogs along or writes in diaries, etc, just for myself...or to get things out of my head. I am far more motivated when I know someone else is reading them and hearing me out. And since not very many comments are made, I assume that not very many people, if any, are reading me...thus, I am unmotivated... silly me! (That was a hint!)
Anyway, this is a new year...school year, that is. But since I am homeschooling my grandson and caring for my granddaughter, it is a new beginning for me as well.
Handsome is now in second grade. And I think I am beginning to understand him far better than I ever have! He loves Science...so I am trying to take his weaker areas and enhance them with his Science topics. For example...although we will be using several different Science topics, the main one throughout the year is Zoology 102, understanding the sea and its inhabitants, as well as all swimming creatures, etc. so, we decorated an entire room as the Ocean...painting murals (on butcher paper) and hanging stuffed animal whales, dolphins, sharks, etc. from the ceiling as if they are swimming in the sea. There are lobsters and octopusi, jellyfish and sea stars taped to the mural as well (paper ones, of course!) And nets (from a luau I held last year), and a border of paper sack style butcher paper to depict the bottom of the sea, upon which there is a wrecked ship! Still to come is bubble wrap for the top for air bubbles and foam...and somehow we are going to have some waves....
But I am having him write in a notebook...mostly just copying sentences I write for now...and decorate it with stickers relating to the sea. (Actually, he has a notebook for each topic in which we are doing similar things). Today we did an experiment about the surface currents with Cheerios and hair dryers making gyres in a bowl of water. So, he copied several sentences about the experiment. Funny thing, he doesn't complain about having to write his words or letters, etc. when they mean something about something he is interested in. I also took words that relate to the sea but still meet the level of reading words in his reading workbook for his spelling words. And today, he got 100% without complaining that they were just dumb words. Amazing! I hope he doesn't catch on to the fact that he is actually DOING spelling words and vocabulary words and printing and reading exercises! (Just kidding!)
He is also studying a little tiny bit about astronauts as his history topic for a couple of weeks because the public school he would attend covered Sally Ride and Neil Armstrong last year and we didn't. So, I made that more of a history lesson, but he wrote a few sentences about that too...and looked up some more info on the moon, etc. (We DID study the moon last year...and planets, etc). Next Thursday we are going to the Challenger Space Center in Peoria for a field trip. And we are going to the free aquarium at Cabella's on Wednesday due to our Science topic being fresh water vs. salt water that day...
Just before the start of school, we went to the Children's Museum and the AZ Science Center...on what is called a "Culture Pass"...free passes you can check out at the library...but you have to stand in line first thing in the morning in the heat...because each library has only one for each museum. And you can only get one per week and two per month! But I survived! And it was great fun!
We found out that the Science Center has homeschool classes about every 2 to 3 weeks at a reasonable price. So, the 25th is our first class! The topics vary, but keeping his interest in Science alive is most important. And they will cover the Ocean...in February, I think.
Hunky has started Kindergarten in a public School. We were unsure about the wisdom of that venture, but so far it seems to be positive for both boys.
"Girlfriend", as I am currently referring to her, has definitely graduated to the middle stage of the "terrible twos". I used to shrink at that term, but she has convinced me to renew it. As sweet and wonderful as she is, her opinions are heard loudly and clearly, especially her dislikes. Oh well. To keep her feeling special during school hours, I have created learning centers for her. She LOVES the texture table...Miondays is sand, Wednesdays is beans and macaroni, and Fridays is water!!!!
Tuesdays and Thursdays she gets "dress up" days with makeup and the whole bit. And then there is the store, with gracery cart and "real" food, and the kitchen with fabric textures for food toppings, and then the puzzles, art, stickers, etc. And she also has 1:1 time with me featuring the five sense...one each day...with a snesory bag full of something new to taste, touch, smell, see, or hear...depending on the day.
Well, Monday is Hunky's birthday and though he will be in school, we shall celebrate when he gets home...as well as a family and friends party tomorrow afternoon....
Well, I shall do my best to continue this blog at least weekly...please let me know if you enjoy...or even if you don't but read it anyway! Thanks..
Temporarily no pictures due to new computer needing to be downloaded for the program...perhaps tomorrow!!
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