Our week was pretty normal. Monday I asked Kermita what color we should wear and she said green. So we wore green for that day.
During the week, Kermita worked in her math book, The Reading Lesson, science, A Reason For Handwriting and Do It Carefully book. Once in a while we read in herSmall Talks About God devotional.
Friday was CFS (homeschool co-op). She had her nature class which was about birds and brought home some seeds for the birds. I helped out in the Round Box class since the helper that usually does wasn't there. They read the book Are You My Mother?. I brought Tigger to the class since he doesn't want to stay in the nursery without me. He had fun drawing on paper and coloring the little booklet that went with the book they read. Kermita's favorite class is cooking and they made caterpillar pizzas. I gave Tigger a dough ball to play with and that helped him not get into trouble.
Kermita's memory verse for CFS is from Philippians 3:14 = I press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Our Weekly Review for September 29 - October 3, 2008
More changes were made this week. Due to lack of interest on the part of Kermita, we're only doing science (The World God Made by Christian Liberty Press), BJUP K math, phonics - The Reading Lesson, devotional: Small Talks About God by Kenneth Taylor, A Reason For Handwriting K, Do It Carefully/Finding the Answers by Rod&Staff, Abeka's Social Studies K.
Tigger is just doing Playtime Devotions and drawing/coloring while Kermita does school.
Kermita can now read short words like cat, sat, cot, at. It is wonderful to be able to be there when she is learning to read. Yesterday I was ready to cry, it was so wonderful and exciting. Of course she hates it when I make a big deal and want to tell everybody. So I need to calm down so I don't scare her off.
This week the kids are sick with runny noses but their energy level is still the same.
Already I am working on Kermita's grade 1 plan and it starting to shape up pretty good. I am finding great deals on curriculum and it won't cost us as much as I was fearing. A year or 2 ago I was thinking I should use what I did have already and build from that and now I am actually working on that. Probably in April, I'll buy the rest of the stuff that I'll need for the Fall of 2009.
I should get going and do some cleaning up now. Ta ta for now.
What an interesting week. Monday Kermita did her math first. Then we worked on Lesson 1 from MFW. The topic for the week was the sun and learning about the letter/sound S. I read about the sun from our children's encyclopedia. Kermita enjoyed looking at the couple pictures of the sun. She didn't care for the work sheet too much and said it was boring. Tuesday, Kermita happily did her math. We started out trying to do our MFW lesson for the day but then I decided, no we'll stop doing this program. Kermita doesn't like it at all. So for a couple days the only "school" Kermita did was math.
I then went to my back-up plan: Heart of Dakota: Little Hearts for His Glory. What a breath of fresh air. Very easy to follow; open and go. I love it! Kermita likes it more than the other curriculum so that's good.
Thursday we did Unit 1: Day 1. It includes Reading About History from the book History for Little Pilgrims; Science Discovery using the book The World God Made; Rhymes in Motion: God's Creation which focuses on the names of the continents and body movements; Bible Study is from the book Devotions for the Children's Hour; Music is from the cd: Hide 'Em in Your Heart Vol. 1; Fine Motor Skills book - Do It Carefully; Storytime - The Adventures of Reddy Fox; Phonics- The Reading Lesson. We're doing a different math so we don't follow what's in the book.
Friday was CFS - homeschool co-op. Kermtia went to her Nature Class and Round Box class by herself. After snack time was cooking class. I had to teach the class since the other teacher had to stay home with her sick kids. The kids made scarecrow cupcakes. They decorated the cupcakes using frosting, mini-wheats, M&M's, pieces of chocolate to make the hats. They had tons of fun and tasted good too. Wish I had a camera to take a picture of them. Tigger ate a few extra cupcakes since he wanted to be in class too.
Today I decided to do school since we didn't do it yesterday and Kermita was agreeable to this. Unit 1 - Day 2 included Reading About History from the History for Little Pilgrims book; Artistic Expression: Kermita tore black and grey (we only had white) paper chunks and glued them on a white paper. Afterwards I ended up making a yellow cross to glue in the middle of the paper. This is to show that Jesus is at the center of history. "He was at the beginning with God and will return at the end." We once again did the rhyme "God's Creation"; Bible study was trying to memorize Matthew 19: 14 - but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." There was a game to play to help with memorizing but Kermita ended up taking the socks apart and putting them on her feet. :o)
Next was listening to the song " Let the Little Children Come" from the cd Hide 'Em in Your Heart Vol.1 while Kermita working in her handwriting book. We did a couple pages from The Reading Lesson. Kermita was getting tired of doing school and our last activity was storytime from the book Adventures of Reddy Fox so she just laid down on the couch and kind of listened.
She also did the last lesson from Chaper 3 of her math book.
We won't always do school on Saturdays. Just that today we weren't doing much in the morning and Kermita was willing.
It's been a while since I wrote a share but this spoke to me so I'm going to write it down. This is my prayer that no matter what happens in this life, I'll always trust and rejoice in our God.
This is from Habakkuk 3: 17-19 NRSV
"Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, yetI will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights."
Our second week of MFW K went a bit better. Kermita finished up her Creation book and number line. She gets excited for math though. This week, she was learning about numbers and how to write them. So far she did 0-3. Thursday we took a day off.
Next week we start the phonics/Learning to read stuff along with science and some math games. Hopefully Kermita will be more excited about that.
10 cups chopped, seeded, peeled, cored tomatoes (about 6lbs)
5 cups chopped and seeded long green peppers (about 2lbs)
5 cups chopped onions (about 1-1/2lbs)
2-1/2 cups chopped and seeded hot peppers (about 1lb)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp cilantro, minced
3 tsp salt
1-1/4 cups cider vinegar
1 tsp hot pepper sauce (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a large saucepot, adding hot pepper sauce, if desired. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
Note: When cutting or seeding hot peppers, wear rubber gloves to prevent hands from being burned.
(taken from the book Ball Blue Book of Preserving)
Zucchini Relish
10 cups coarsely chopped zucchini
3 green peppers
2 red peppers
3 large onions
1 cup celery
5 Tbsp salt
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
4 cups sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp celery seeds
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp cornstarch
Grind together the zucchini, green peppers, red peppers, onions, and celery. Sprinkle with the salt; mix well. Let stand overnight.
Drain the vegetables. Rinse thoroughly with cold water and drain again. Place in a large pot; stir in the vinegar, sugar, nutmeg, mustard seeds, turmeric, celery seeds, pepper, and cornstarch. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Ladle into hot, sterilized jars; seal. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Makes about 6 pints and one 1/2 pint.
(taken from the book Zucchini Sampler by Jan Siegrist)
A busy week for us. Monday was the start of Kermita's K curriculum called My Father's World. The first 10 days will focus on the Creation story from the Bible. Each day there's a number to cut out representing the days of creation that we glue on paper to make a number line of sorts. Then each day, Kermita draws a picture about what God did on that day. In the beginning, she wasn't too keen on coloring pictures. Yesterday was a funner day for her. She enjoyed drawing a tree and then gluing circle pieces that's for apples.Tigger and Kermita made some paintings on Monday. Monday-Wednesday, Kermita worked in her math book. Matching exercises and reviewing the different patterns and shapes. Friday was our first day of CFS, homeschool co-op. Kermita went to her first two classes by herself. I didn't have to stay in the class with her, which is really great for me. I stayed in the nursery with Tigger and some of the other moms and kids.
These are the classes at CFS that Kermita is in.
Nature: "We're planning to have fun while exploring nature topics such as trees, snails, frogs, butterflies, turtles, bees, flowers, birds, etc. We will be using Scripture, making collages, working puzzles, and painting as we investigate God's world."
Round Box: "Round Box is a literature-based, skill-building group for 3-6 year olds with emphasis on cooperative memory building, puzzle solving and enjoying academics. The structure is always the same, but the adventures are surprises challenge them every time."
Cooking: "The children will learn basic measurements and kitchen safety as the create a wide variety of exciting foods! Each child will also receive hands-on experience with many kitchen utensils."
I'm not sure what Kermita did in the first two classes but the cooking class, the children made pumpkin cookies. Tigger joined in the fun since he didn't want to be left behind in the nursery. He definitely enjoyed those cookies; he ate 4.Kermita's memory verse for CFS is from Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
I was going to take this week off since my dh was on vacation. Since we didn't do anything special in the mornings, we started on Wednesday. We read from Kermita's science reader and then did math.
Thursday, we finished reading the Science reader and did math.
Monday is when we'll start Kermita's curriculum. Hope she'll enjoy it as much as I will. It looks like so much fun! We'll let you know once we start if it's a good fit or not.
Today, Friday is a day off. Very hot and the kids had fun squirting each other with the squirties as Kermita calls them.
Oh yes, I almost forgot. August 29 '08 was our first fieldtrip of the school year. We went to the Champlain Valley Fair, VT. The children had fun looking at the animals and petting them. Tigger found the chickens to be very loud when we walked through the building. I had to hold him. They enjoyed the rides. Tigger was very tired and before we go to the road to head home, he was already napping. Kermita stayed away but she was pooped out like the rest of us.
I decided to start our vacation a week earlier. I need time to clean the house and get ready for Kermita's birthday party next week. It is also my dh's birthday and also celebrating my MIL's retirement.
Once again we had a busy weekend so Monday was a day off.
Tues-Thurs: I read Kermita's science book. It was about seasons and her favorite season is Winter. She is looking forward to having snow on the ground once again.
Next was math. It was about patterns: shape patterns and color patterns. She went through each lesson quickly and understood all of the material. This completed Chapter 1.
Wednesday evening, both Kermita and Tigger painted a couple of green pumpkins. I was cutting the pumpkin vine since it was interfering with my watermelon plant/cucumber plant and there were 3 small pumpkins and brought them home. The children had lots of fun.
Kermita also drew some jellyfish on her doodle board.
Friday, Kermita started Chapter 2 in math. Today was about same and different. Tigger wasn't as interested in doing school as at the beginning. I just let him do what he wanted.
After reading Annie's People series by Beverly Lewis, I was inspired to want to take better care of my house/family. Also I want to live a simpler life...not have as many things. So I am going to go through all of my things and see what I don't need. I also want to do this with my children's things. They certainly don't need so many toys and clothes.
Matthew 6:19-21 (English Standard Version)19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Last weekend was pretty busy so Monday I declared it Cooking and Art Day. Both Kermita and Tigger made Jell-O. Both had fun making it.
While at my parent's place, Kermita found a heart-shaped rock and she painted it blue and green; her favorite colors.
Tuesday and Thursday both were school days. Science was first: talking about the weather. Math was learning about the triangle and then following patterns. While Kermita was busy working on her math, Tigger was busy coloring/drawing on his paper about rain. He spend quite a bit of time so that was good.
Today, Friday was Little Hands to Heaven for Tigger. I was the one doing everything. Tigger had little interest - He did go down on his belly to pretend to be the snake. I did the finger play Adam and the Animals, read from Kermita's Bible about God making the animals and vegetation. I put on the music cd on the song God Made the Universe but Tigger wanted to go watch his "baby" movie.
I won't write about Monday since I already made an entry about it. Tuesday was our first day working in math and science.
Kermita wanted to do Science first. I read a few pages about our senses: feel, smell, touch.
Tigger wanted to join in our fun and was upset when he wasn't allowed to write in the book.
Then we had math. The first unit is on shapes. A review for Kermita but good for Tigger to learn. I decided to print out some sheets on shapes so that Tigger can color his paper while Kermita works on her lesson. That way everyone is happy.
Wednesday/Thursday was science and math. Thursday we decided to not do Singapore math at all. Kermita's reason: there's no pictures of frogs. Anyway we don't need to do 2 maths so I've sold it to someone who wants it.
Fridays we're going to do Little Hands to Heaven. Today was our first day: unit 1, Day 1. Tigger was more into it than Kermita was which is fine. I did a fingerplay, read the children's Bible about God making the world. We ended our short time with the music from The Singing Bible called God Made the Universe. Near the end of the song, Tigger was clapping his hands and dancing. I recorded just a few seconds of it, then he hurt himself so had to stop.
Today was our first day of school. I think Kermita will like A Beka's science because she wanted to see it some more after showing her the science and math that we'll be doing this month.
I took some school pictures of the children. I baked a cake. Then my SIL came over so we didn't do much else after. We'll have the cake for supper and I have a first day of school present for Kermita and Tigger.
A Beka: Science (doing that during the month of August) A Beka: Social Studies A Beka: Community Helpers Activity Book A Beka: K readers A Beka: Kindergarten Poems
Christian Liberty Press: Nature Reader K Christian Liberty Press: K readers Christian Liberty Press: Celebrating Art
McRuffy Press: K readers
Music for Little Mozarts: Piano
Language Lessons for Little Ones - 2nd try - mostly just the narration and art study
Small Talks About God devotional The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes
I found out that my dh will be taking his vacation during the same time as I was planning on starting school. I then decided to start school August 4th, doing just math and science. We’ll do 4 weeks of school then 1 week off. I’ll see how it goes, making changes when necessary. September 8 will be when she’ll start MFW K.
I think on Monday we’ll take our school picture, prepare a yummy snack, and look at the math/science books. There’s also the Wheels on the Bus lap book to work on and Kermita wants to do a volcano.
When I told Kermita that we’ll be starting with math and science, she said, ” I like doing those things.” Our start to kindergarten looks promising.
with the curriculum I will be using. Since my daughter was 3, I decided and felt led to use MFW K in a couple years at that time. These past few months I was also tempted to do Heart of Dakota LHFHG. Both look awesome and what I am really seeking for our school. Finally today after looking at both, hanging on their discussion boards, I know that I'll be sticking with MFW unless God says otherwise. It feels great to know that I won't be looking at other things but the temptation is still there...to see what else is out there. I know with math we'll be doing BJU and probably for English and maybe Spelling, still not sure about that. I won't worry because everything will work out in the end.
I gave Tigger a dough ball to play with and that helped him not get into trouble. 
Zesty Salsa - yields about 6 pints
