Busy Busy.... FINALLY!

In spite of illness and running back and forth between two houses.... we've been steadily doing school. Almost EVERY day we're getting something done... some days more than others. 

Aidan

Math... We concentrated on charts and graphs. I'm compiling a list of "all that your child should know when graduating 5th grade" that corresponds to the state standards. So, all that I haven't actually covered, I'm going to systematically go through and cover. We haven't really covered graphing and charts yet... so that's what we worked on. Next week, we're going to brush up on time and then go into reducing fractions.

Writing... I've restarted copywork. My plan is for her to do copywork pages to get back into the habit of writing right and then, when she's writing on her own, the hope is that she'll go back to writing nicely instead of the scribble she decided was more "appropriate."  (Seriously, I need to post a picture of the scribbles she's done in the last few months.) Happily, after the very first copywork piece... a writing from the Little House series... I've already seen an improvement. Yay!

Reading... I've let Aidan free read. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to teach her at this point except more vocabulary... which we work with as she comes across new words. Her comprehension is just fine and I see no reason to bore her with reading comprehension worksheets. We will, however, be starting Language Arts next week. She's ready to start grammar lessons.

Spelling... We've only practiced spelling when she was writing something this week. I'm thinking of starting Sequential Spelling the right way. So far, I've used it as a reading practice list... but I think Aidan will do well with it as it's meant to be used. I still have to think about it though. I don't want to have too many things going on.

Ainsley


Reading... Little Bit has really taken off with reading this week. At this point we're skipping the Bob book stage and have moved straight into early readers. I suppose that's what happens when you put it off until she turns 4! Her first real book was the same as Aidan's....  HOT DOG. She is extremely pleased with herself. I am very proud of her and happy that she can now enjoy reading with the rest of us. John has been disappointed that she wasn't as advanced as Aidan (Aidan first read HOT DOG right after turning 3) but I think that's crazy and slightly maddening. It's natural to compare a little... how could you not?... but how could you be "disappointed"? ... she just turned 4 on January 25th!!  Besides, I didn't work with her or even read to her last year....  so she's doing great!!!  Daddies are so silly sometimes.

Math...  we only do mental math right now. "What is 10 plus 2, Ainsley?" I have ordered her the Horizons workbooks. She wants a math book "like Aidan"  (Aidan has Singapore) but Ainsley is not ready to go into Singapore 1.. so ... therefore...Horizons. We should get them sometime next week. Hopefully, she'll like them.

Phonics and Writing... Ainsley started with Explode the Code book 1 this week. I didn't actually expect her to like it.. she's just so active... but she wanted to keep doing more and more pages. Huh! Anyway, she is doing all the writing parts so it's working as both phonics and writing right now.



as for....

Science and History.... nothing yet. We're still getting into the groove. We will be combining these two into unit studies for both girls. We also will be using things such as the Magic Tree House series, Sid the Science Kid, Magic School Bus, etc as reinforcement. John travels up here 3 weekends out of the month so he's planning on doing the Science parts with them.

 Our first subject? EGYPT and MUMMIES  There is a mummy exhibit down in Charlotte and so we're going to study all about them and then go see it. I found this cool.... but slightly revolting (pour brains out of nose anyone?) game about mummies... at the Discover kids site....

http://kids.discovery.com/games/just-for-fun/mummy-maker

I haven't shown it to the girls yet but I know they'll love it.