We've been reading the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling.  Two nights ago, we read "The Beginning of the Armadillos".  This led to much laughter because of the following two passages, which I had to read three times each:

"Perhaps she said that when you water a Hedgehog you drop him into your paw, and when you meet a Tortoise you must shell him till he uncoils....When you scoop water with your paw you uncoil it with a Hedgehog...when you paw your meat you drop it into a Tortoise with a scoop."

"Well, suppose you say that I said that she said something quite different.  I don't see that it makes any difference; because if she said what you said I said she said, it's just the same as if I said what she said she said."

So, the next thing I knew, Samuel was asking me if we could go to the zoo to see the armadillo.  I didn't even know our zoo had one.  We went today and at first we couldn't see it because it was hiding, but Samuel was very patient and finally we were rewarded with a sighting.  Even after it has paraded around for us and gone into hiding again, we stayed to "observe" in case in came out again.  So different from the many children I see racing from one animal to the next.

So now our next step is to find a good book from the library and learn more about the funny animal we first read about in a made up story.

We've had a tough couple of weeks as we lost a dear family member to cancer.  She fought a brave and long fight.  So I will catch up soon.  I did get all of my preschool curriculum on my new blog, so if you're interested in that, check it out (last entry, I'm too much in a hurry to find the link now).

I did want to share one interesting thing.  This past week, I had both my son and my nephew who is 11 months older than Samuel, but in the same grade (K).  They were in the car and Samuel and I have been listening to a Top 40 Classical music CD trying to decide on our next composer.  His favorite on CD 2 is Rossini's William Tell Overture, so he had me play it in the car for Tyler.  Tyler said, "I know this song from XM Kids, but it has words.".  I think that must be a station on XM satellite radio which we don't have (or movies in our car!).  So he starts singing along to the piece played by orchestra only.  On the one hand, maybe this is the only way some kids will be exposed to classical music.  On the other hand, they don't even know it's classical music!

I have been playing around with a new blog at blogger.  For now, I have been posting my preschool curiculum and book lists.  Check it out.

Jennybell

Week of October 12, 2008

Bible, Math, Writing - nothing extra beyond what is going on at school

Reading -

• Here Comes Silent "e" by Anna Jane Hays
• Tricky Monkey Up On Top by Jane Belk Moncure
• Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss - this took him all week to get through but he was so proud.  It is filled with tongue twisters and nonsense words and he really had to pay attention to the words to read them correctly.

Literature - We've been taking a break from my official list, but we still read every night.  We've read some pumpkin books and also If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss.  After that book, S5 made up his own (oral) version.  For 30 minutes each Friday, a parent reader is assigned to S's school class.  She (or he, but so far it's only been moms) picks the books.  One mom has a deaf child (not the one in my son's class) and is the author of several children's sign language story books which she shared with the class.  This past Friday the mom taught the word onomatopeia (I hope I spelled it right), I'm assuming because there were some of those types of words in one or more of the books she picked.  So, Samuel has been saying the word over and over and points them out when we come across one in our readings.  On my turn, I just read three of S's favorite books.  I guess when my turn rolls around again, I'll have to do something a little fancier!

Music - Still focusing on Tchaikovsky, we watched some of the scenes from The Nutcracker Ballet on DVD and read Mike Venezia's book about Peter Tchaikovsky.  For the most part I like his books on artists and composers.  Venezia mentioned a few other of his most famous compositions so I have requested another CD from the library to listen to next week.

History - We read A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus by David Adler.

Nature - We began reading An Owl in the House: A Naturalist's Diary by Bernd Heinrich.  This is kind of long and we don't read from it every day, so it will be a while.

This is a couple days late, but I got a little busy.  I just wanted to talk about S5's first day in "Big Church".  In August, he moved from the preschool church to the elementary church and, since he is really not thrilled with change right now, of course, he says he doesn't like it.  Each week, I offer to let him come to "big church" with us, and Hubby always discourages him by saying he has to be still and quiet. 

I actually have been thinking that I want S in church with us and that even though he may not get any or much out of it, at least I would know what he is exposed to.  We go to a mega-church and I don't even know the teachers/workers where he is.

Well, Sunday he was adament that he was going to church with us, so I threw a small notebook and some colored pencils in my purse, and off we went.  He spent the whole time pretty much coloring in his little book, but he did stop and listen to the music, he got to understand what baptism looked like (I had explained the why and how of baptism, but the thought just scared him until now), and I even explained communion which of course he thought was a snack.

I am pretty sure none of the message would have gotten through, but it was a pretty grown-up topic (How should Christians set an example in turbulent times).  Still, I am very pleased with the family worship experience and hope he wants to continue going with us, at least occasionally.

Week of October 5 - 11

Despite a sick week for me, when I wrote this down I realize S5 actually accomplished quite a bit, most on his own.  I've always followed his lead pretty much, but maybe I need to stay out of it more (lol).

Bible

• Memory Verse - Genesis 2:8 "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward of Eden."

Math

• Coin recognition game with Coin Country book
• Putting numbered cards in order 1 - 30
• "0" addition facts

Music

• Tchaikovsky - Selections from The Nutcracker Suite and Swan Lake.  S loves all of the selections, but his favorite is the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Reading

• "The Shape of Me and Other Stuff" by Dr. Seuss
  
• "First the Egg" by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• "Big Dog...Little Dog" by P.D. Eastman
• Finished "DK Trip to the Zoo" by Karen Wallace

History

• "In 1492" by Jean Marzollo

Nature Study - books from the Smithsonian Oceanic Collection

• "Manatee Winter" by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
• "Reef Hideaway: The Story of a Clown Anemonefish" by Doe Boyle
• "Otter on His Own:  The Story of a Sea Otter" by Doe Boyle

Handiwork -

• Plastic Canvas Needlework
• Beading

Week of September 28

School is actually going better now.  He is not complaining as much about the writing and I have seen some of the books that are coming up and know he will be challenged then.  I still plan on "after-schooling" but I do have to work around his schedule and required homework.  This week we spent a lot of our extra time making an "All About Me" book for a parent/student project for school, so it was a light after-schooling week.  I was the parent reader Friday afternoon in his class and saw some of the other books.  I am proud of the fact that his book was not as polished as some of the others and that it really was mostly his book.  I am also waiting on some books from the library.

Bible

·    Memory  - Genesis 2:8 “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.”

·    Reading – Genesis 2, I Samuel 2  (NIV)

Math

·    How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara - I had hoped he might want to repeat this experiment, but he said no.  I will bring it up again when we are carving our pumpkins.  Hubby likes to carve fun designs and I like to roast pumpkin seeds....we did this even before S joined our family.

Reading/Writing

·    Finish DK Wild Baby Animals by Karen Wallace

·    Begin DK A Trip to the Zoo by Karen Wallace

·    Rockin’ Phonics video, Volume 1 

Literature/Poetry

·   Finished A Toad for Tuesday by Russell E. Erickson

·   Began A Bear Called Paddington by  Michael Bond (read by Daddy and I am really excited by this) 

History/Geography

·    Little Firefly: An Algonquian Legend, written and adapted by Terri Cohlene

Nature/Science

·    DK Wild Baby Animals by Karen Wallace

·    Henry and the Great Flood by Gary Richmond.  (“View from the Zoo Stories” written by a zookeeper)

Art

·   Van Gogh – Saved The Mulberry Tree as computer wallpaper and asked S if he could identify the artist and he could.  He said it had swirls like The Starry Night and that's how he knew.

Week of September 21

Bible

·    Memory - “And God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.” Genesis 1:3

·    Reading – Genesis 1  (NIV)

Math

·    Double the Ducks by Stuart J Murphy – this is the second time reading this book.  He is really getting this concept.

Reading/Writing

·    DK Wild Baby Animals by Karen Wallace (Level 1 book) – he has not been excited about reading lately, but this is a great find because it is something he is interested in. 

·    Practice writing first name

·    Mr. Brown Can Moo by Dr. Seuss – in a cousin sleepover, I let each child (3 total) pick one book for me to read.  Samuel picked this, but then wanted to read it himself.  This was the first time he wanted to read a book without my asking first!  The only word he needed help with was “ought” and really, what kind of word is that anyway?  LOL  phonetics doesn’t quite work here.

Literature/Poetry

·    Finished James Herriot’s Treasury for Children

·    Memorized 5 verses to Mary Had a Little Lamb (as written in Lavender's Blue)

·    Began A Toad for Tuesday by Russell E. Erickson – we’re going to have a fine on this one because when I went to renew it, it was denied because someone else had requested it…rats!

·    Zoo program on Big Cats

·    DK Wild Baby Animals by Karen Wallace

Art

·   Van Gogh – Overview using Mike Venezia’s book – he recognized A Starry Night and we talked about some of his themes and some of his techniques and a little about his life.  I saved an Iris painting as our desktop picture.

This was a light week because I spent two days out of town for a conference and the other days I spent trying to get my parents' house ready for them to come home after being gone for 3 weeks.  Normally this would not be a time-consuming effort, but of course on Sunday, a wind storm caused by Ike downed trees and caused massive power outages. This Sunday newspaper said 52,000 customers were still without power.  Anyway, I had to get a landscaper to come and get a HUGE limb cleaned up, and I had to empty their freezer and throw away a lot of food. Their power came back on Wednesday.

Good news - S is liking school a little better.  So here are our notes for the week:

Bible

• “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”  John 3:16
• “And God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.” Genesis 1:3

Music

• Home on the Range

Reading

Well, not exactly, but we had VERY high winds for about 3 hours yesterday that blew over many trees and power lines, as well as blew some shingle off a few roofs.  Our power was out from about 2 pm Sunday until 10 am Monday.  Many more people are still without power and because of the widespread damage (not to mention the fact that 6 of our crews were sent to Houston to help with that damage), they are estimating that it may be a week before all power is back on.  All this and we aren't even in the main hurricane path (and we also had no rain with the winds).  I can't even imagine those poor people in Texas.

Having no power all yesterday and night definitly has it's drawbacks, but it also made us think about how much we depend on electricity and made us use our imaginations for things to do.  One of the fun things was listening to Samuel tell stories.  They made no sense, but definitely showed his creativity.

My prayers go out to all those still without power or other damage to property or person.

Well, school went a little better this week.  Not as much fussing as last, although he still tells me "he hates school" and "school is boring".  It just might be.  His phonics book and his math book came home for some homework on Wednesday and, except for the writing part, the last lesson in each book is not a challenge for him at all.  I don't think they use these books all year, at the rate so far, so review and writing practice will not hurt him any before he gets to new stuff.  I told him to concentrate on the things he does like.  Today when I picked him up, I asked him to tell me three good things that happened at school today....he came up with six, so it can't be that bad!

So, here is what we did to make learning more interesting, even if school is not:

This was a tough week.  S is not thrilled with school.  I think mostly it's because it's a new place, new people, and a long day (8 am - 3:30 pm) even if it's only two days a week.  He says all they do is "work".  Imagine that.  He never realized he was working at home with me, plus if he didn't like something, I always assumed he wasn't ready and put it away for a few months.  He doesn't get that luxury there.  One of the things they "work" on is printing.  If you've read my blog before, you know that S does not like to print.  Again, I assumed he wasn't ready and just didn't push it.  I guess at school, he will just have to go along with it.  Fortunately, it's only two days a week, plus minimal practice at home. 

On the AS (after-school) front, here is what we did besides lots of cuddles, reassurances, and encouragement -

History - We are doing Native American stories this month, this week's being "Iktomi and the Berries".  We talked about the similarities between this story and "The Indian Paintbrush" we read last week.

Art - He made a torn paper collage, one of the activities in "Scribble Art" by MaryAnn Kohl.  He also did most of this demo from GeeGuides, which was a very fun interactive lesson on the history of paints, colors, and painting tools. S liked both of these activities.

Literature/Poetry - I've been reading from "Child's Garden of Verses".  This is not going over very well, so I'm going to look for another poetry anthology and try this one again at a later date.  We finished "Surprise Island" and Samuel wanted to start "The Yellow House Mystery" right away.  I'm not sure reading this whole series of books counts as literature, but since they offer some insights into a simpler time and do spark conversations, I'm using a little leeway here.

Reading - S did a great job reading a book about the first day of school.  I accidentily took it back to the library without writing down the details, so that's all I can say about that book!

Math - We practiced adding and subtracting using dots, instead of numbers.  Somehow writing the saem expression using numbers causes a lot of stress, so even though he isn't actually counting out the dots (because one number of the equation is always 1 or 2, which he doesn't have to count), having the counting option available relieves his stress.

Science - Our caterpillars formed their chrysalids and we are watching them daily.  Also, a great new TV show started on PBS called Sid the Science Kid.  This week they have talked about using "science tools" like charts, magnifying glasses, rulers, and estimation jars.  Also, my mom bought S a set of books from one of those shopping networks.  Each book is about an ocean creature and it is told in the form of a story about the day in the life of...It also came with a CD so it's something we can listen to in the car.  We listened to the one about a bottlenose dolphin.  Thanks, Mom!  I have to admit, when you first told me you bought these, I thought it sounded kind of cheesy. 

History/Geography -  We started learning about the early peoples of America, namely the Indians/Native Americans.  We are reading the second book in the Boxcar Children series, called Surprise Island and the children discover some Indian artifacts on a part of the island.  We also read "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush" by Tomie dePaola.  We talked about what a legend is and that the Indians were the first people in America and they didn't know our god and made up stories to explain the things they observed in nature, that nature was very important to them.

Literature - We continued to read poems from "A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson for poetry.  We're still reading Surprise Island (2nd Boxcar Children book).

Reading - He read a couple Level 1 books from the library, but mostly found excuses not to read.  I have encouraged him to read on his own and a couple times I have heard him reading in his room.

Copywork - He is really resisting any of my attempts to encourange him to write, even his name.  He will get a composition/journal book at school which they start with each morning.  The left hand page is blank for drawing and the right hand page is lined for writing.  I hope that having his own book (and another adult encouraging him), will help.  My plan is to have him pick a family member each week to write a letter to mail, but I am postponing that a few weeks.

Science/Nature - We took a walk in the neighborhood. S ran ahead of me several times and I told him when he took a break  to wait for me to look closely at the ground and tell me if he saw anything interesting.  He found some yellow and red leaves on the ground that he said were "signs of fall".  He also saw a very tiny cricket.  I was proud of his observational skills.  Our painted lady caterpillars arrived in the mail and he observes them several times daily.  We also read a fun book called "Where in the Wild?" by David Schwartz.  It's a seek and find book of camouflaged creatures in the wild and contains poem clues to find each animal and an animal fact page behind the flap which reveals each animal.  This is a great living science book.  Also, our Painted Lady caterpillars arrived.  They grow so fast!

Math - Read "How Much is a Million" by David Schwartz.  Very good.

I first heard of homeschooling in college when I was in a library doing research for a paper on math anxiety in girls (my major was math and this was for a class needed to get certified to teach high school and I was a little bit of a feminist in that the only reason I chose math as my major was because not many women were doing it and I wanted to break the asbestos ceiling).  There on the shelf were two lonely books on homeschooling, and because I had never heard of it and because I am a HUGE procrastinator, I skimmed through them instead of taking notes for my paper.  I was hooked.  I had no husband and no child, but I just knew I wanted to homeschool.  It was actually 15 years before I had a child and during those years, every now and then I'd find another book in a library and renew my interest, and I was ripe for all the information that's out there now when Samuel was born 5 years ago.

The only thing I can't get over is him being an only child.  Where I live there is actually a pretty big homeschool community and we have attended a few field trips, but while others are friendly, neither one of us has made any friends.  We also have no neighbor children and our church is so big that we cannot even guarantee he will have the same kids in his room every week.  So, I put him in a preschool - 2 mornings a week at 2 years old, 3 mornings a week at 3 years old, and last year he went 5 mornings a week. 

I never cared whether he learned anything there though, that was my job!  And we read and read and explored and played games and read some more.  I stole all my good ideas from message boards and blogs and homeschooling websites, but I never really did anything formal.  Like Kellie Ann, by the time it was time to think about Kindergarten, Samuel had most of the K skills already down (except for printing, which is typical of boys). 

I looked at schools, but was unhappy with

1. S being gone all day every day, for a couple of reasons, one of them being that Hubby works second shift and would not get to spend any time with S except on weekends and holidays
2. Lack of educational philosphy
3. Lack of individual attention
4. The disparity in kids coming into kindergarten and the teacher having to teach to the middle ground, with some kids getting left behind and others not being challenged.  I don't think the teachers want this to happen, I think it just naturally does when you have some kids coming in not knowing their letters and some kids coming in reading at first or second grade level.

There are two reasons why I felt I had to look at schools for S -

1. I have a very flexible career in terms of hours, but we definitely need my income and I don't feel up to the task of trying to homeschool full time.  Preschool for me was a good time for Samuel to play with others, but also for me to get work done.
2. For Samuel to develop friendships.  I have tried encouraging friendships, but so far I have not had any reciprocity from any mothers of any kids that Samuel has taken to at various functions.

But that doesn't mean I was happy with it.  Then I heard about a school from a mom of a child in Samuel's gymnastics class last fall that had Kindergarten only 2 days a week.  Her child was in K last year and she couldn't stop raving about it.  I looked at the website and called the school for more info and I thought this just might be the best for our family.  It's a very academic school so he would be challenged.  With only 2 days in school, there is still plenty of time for me to "after-school" in areas where he might need extra help or that I feel might be missing from the class time.  Hubby gets to see him more often.  The tuition is actually about a third of other private schools in the area and only $30/mo more than what we paid for last year's preschool.  They teach on a classical education model and include Christian Studies every year.

So, that is why I want to homeschool, but why I am only doing it part-time for now.  This school is K - 12, but 1st and 2nd is 3 days a week, and even 3rd through 12th is 4 days a week.  I have curriculum goals for this year, which from past experience will be very fluid, but I still feel that this gives us the best of both worlds.

I have been thinking about something most of the summer...having a weekly Nature Study on Tuesdays, which is one of S5's 5 weekly non-school days.  I have used Barb's Handbook of Nature Outdoor Challenges in the past, as well as the seasonal scavenger hunts from her daughter's wonderful site. I also purchased a copy of The Little Hands Nature Book by Nancy Castaldo, which has fun ideas.  I know the most important thing is to just be outside noticing the world around us.  What scares me is consistency.  We don't really have a good routine around here.  I just do things when I feel like doing them or when I can't put them off any longer (which is why I need a list of goals for S's education). 

So the idea that has been in my head most of the summer is to invite S's class from latin school (12 total) to come to a set place at a set time each week and I will have something planned for a guided exploration of nature.  I can't get this idea out of my head even though I am filled with fear and questions at the thought of it.  What if I don't "feel like" going on the arranged day/time?  What if no one else comes?  What if they come once and then never come back?  What if I forget to have something planned until the last minute?  What if the weather is bad?  Would it be better to just do this with S and forget about the distraction of the other kids?  If I plan to do this with only S, will I find excuses each week not to do it without the accountability of knowing other people are counting on me? 

The book review part comes from having checked out another book about nature study from the library, "Sharing Nature With Children" by Joseph Cornell.  This was written for teachers or parents with lots of kids, so it once more got me thinking about the above idea.  However, the ideas were so simple and fun and most of them could be done with one child and one parent.  I definitely recommend reading it if your library has it.  I think it would be a good resource to own if the ideas fit your plan for nature study.  I am not purchasing it yet, but then I am a fond user of the library and I keep a list of books I like from the library and check them out again and again, not necessarily concurrently.

We are still slowly building up to more formal schooling.  Part of this is that we are still working on his bad attitude.  If I ask him to write a word or even a letter, or if I ask him to read something in a book, he complains.  Part of this is him asserting his independence, part perfectionism, and part learning to obey without questioning.  I hope to be through this and be more consistent by mid-September.  That will also get him through the first couple weeks of school before I am a little more formal with our after-schooling.  With only 2 days a week in school, I will still be with him the majority of each week.  So here is what we worked on this week.

History/Geography -  Obviously we spent a little time on cowboys and Jamestown this week.  Also, last week I started reading "Paddle-to-the-Sea" by Holling, but while I think this is a charming story, S is not responding well.  And since this is an Ambleside Online Year 1 (age 6) book, I am not going push this now and will put it at the bottom of the list to come back to later in the year.

Literature - We started using "A Child's Garden of Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson for poetry.  Our favorite poem this week is "Bed in Summer" which talks about having to go to bed while it's still day out in the summer.  We also started reading the second book in the Boxcar Children series called "Surprise Island".  We read quite a bit, but I will only report our book list reading, surprise finds, and perennial favorites here.

Reading - He is trying to earn a Webkinz and I give him 10 points for reading a book (while most chores earn 1 or 2), so he read several Level 1 books from the library.

Copywork - During the Frazier scavenger hunt, I realized S5 has forgotten how to form some letters on his own.  I haven't made him write much this summer (note to self - remember to practice writing year-round!).  He was really upset when he realized this and didn't want to do it if it wasn't "perfect".  So I went back to dotted lines for him to trace.  I'm not a worksheet person, but I have some sites bookmarked with free worksheets, so we will probably do some of these over the next couple of weeks.

Science/Nature - The September issue of Your Big Backyard arrived and we spent time learning about parrots, quails, and strange-looking creatures.  We also read a Cat in the Hat Learning Library book called "Wish for a Fish: All About Sea Creatures".  It's amazing how much information they can pack in that signature Seuss-style rhyme.  The author is Bonnie Worth.  If you haven't seen this series I suggest you check it out.  We have also read one about Seeds and Flowers.  I don't think it should be the definitive text for science, but it does present it in a different style than normal science books.

We joined a local homeschool field trip group for a Wild West field trip to the Frazier International History Museum.  This museum opened in Louisville KY a few years ago as the Frazier Historical Arms Museum and I promptly decided I would never go there.  I didn't even realize they changed their focus until this field trip was posted.  Of course, they still have historical weapons there, but also other things.  The field trip part included a scavenger hunt through the history of cowboys and the Wild West, a cowboy story time, craft, and a performance by a "cowboy" about his life as a cowboy in the wild west.

However, we had a little free time and headed over to the Survivor Jamestown exhibit, which was definitely the favorite part of the visit for both of us.  S5 was assigned a character of a real life person from the first year in Jamestown and given a "life chart" which was kind of like an abacus with 4 columns for Health, Food, Wealth, and Morale.  I think I am forgetting another category, but you get the idea.  The bead for each column had a start value and you could earn or lose points based on your journey through the maze.  If you lost all points in any category, your character "dies".  Then you enter the maze and there were many choices, questions, and fun activities (including a zip cord - Samuel's favorite!).  At each station you could earn or lose points like I said.  We were doing this during our "lunch break" - at 10:50! - so we had to hurry through the end to get to our next group activity.  We did die, but had so much fun doing it, Samuel didn't even care.  We both want to go back.

I cheated a little and already read one book on our Kindergarten list during the summer.  That would be the Boxcar Children, which we both liked and I have already requested the next two in the series from our library.

This week I am starting very slowly. Samuel has been having some anxiety issues, for lack of a better word.  Or temper tanturms, however you want to look at it.  I think he is just overwhelmed with turning 5.  He's very upset at moving to the elementary class at church which is upstairs from the nursery and preschool classes he is used to.  He's upset at having to wear a uniform to school beginning in September, tucking in his shirt, wearing a belt, and shoes that don't have characters or light up. He doesn't want to do the chores I added to his days now that he is 5.  And the list goes on and on.  I have had several serious emotional and hopefully encouraging conversations with him.

So, we're starting slowly.  One book I found that is turning out to be great is "Pordy's Prickly Problems" which is in Janette Oke's Animal Friends series.  I didn't even know she wrote children's books and this one is turning out to be a perfect lesson book wrapped in an entertaining story.  Pordy is a young porcupine who is afraid to climb a tree where porcupines can be safe from predators and find the food they like to eat.  Sound familiar?

History/Geography - We started Holling C Holling's "Paddle-to-the-Sea".  The plan is to read a chapter every night or two.  I have also ordered the first couple of books for the history portion.

Literature -  This may not count exactly as "literature", but this book did provide an exercise in creative "writing".  The book in question is "Fortunately" by Remy Charlip.  The story starts with a young boy receiving an invitation to a party.  When you turn the page, "unfortunately the party is in Florida and he is in New York."  Each page alternates between a forutnate event and an unfortunate event.  We read this three times and then "wrote" our own story as a family, going around a circle alternating who came up with the fortunately and who came up with the unfortunately.  This would be a great game for long car trips.  The story ended when Hubby got tired and came up with an ending on his turn.  We didn't write this down, but I can see this being a good writing assignment for an older child to write his own story in this style.

Reading - Level 1 Readers from the library.  No particular one stands out as being great, but they are all OK.

Math - I am just doing everyday word problem math and he often blurts out something while he's playing, like "Mommy, does 6 and 6 make 12?".  I don't know exactly where the questions come from, but they do tell me he is working things out.  Since he's only 5, I'm forgoing formal math, but I am thinking of looking for some games we can play that will work on skip counting.  He has a CD from Discovery Toys that has a counting by 10's song, so he knows how to do that (if he sings!) and living books taught him 2's to 10.  He will get "formal" math in his Kindergarten class (which meets 2 days a week beginning in September), so I can just do the fun math at home.

Nature Study - we made it to the park for our Outdoor Hour, but we only made it through our picnic by the creek and time on the playground before it was time to leave.  Next time, I will build in more time to play so we can still do our nature walk.  I did order the caterpillars for the butterfly treehouse he got for his birthday.

We are finished with what I had planned for summer and school doesn't officially start until September 3 (with our after-schooling schedule beginning the week after that).  Still, learning takes place anywhere anytime. 

Hubby was "on vacation" this week so there is a lot more TV going on in the house.  But also bedtime read-aloud time is longer.  He is working his way through the Ready Freddy series of books by Abby Klein.  They are twaddle, but it is good bonding time for them that doesn't include TV.

I read "A Pocketful of Cricket" by Rebecca Caudill, which S5 and I both liked.  It is a sweet little story of a boy who makes friends with a cricket and takes him in his pocket to his first day of school.  There is a great narrative in the beginning of his journey to the cow pasture to drive the cows back home and all he encounters on the trip.  Also, in reading about the author, we discovered that she was born in KY, which is where we live.

Another good story was "Uncle Jed's Barbershop" by Margaree King Mitchell about a man who never gave up his dream even though he faced obstacles along the way.  Part of the story took place in the Great Depression, but mainly we just talked about it being a story from a time before they had many cars.

We also read the first "Boxcar Children" from Gertrude Chandler Warner.  This came off our school read-aloud list for fall, but it's sometimes hard to time things right when you are using the library.  We both like this too and may read some others in the series.

One of the readers from the Rainbow Resouce catalog I requested from the library came in - "The Best Fall of All" by Laura Godwin.  It is a "Ready-To-Read" Level 1 book.  S read this twice.  This was very easy for him, but I am sticking with Level 1 for now to give him some more practice reading aloud and more confidence in his ability.  A bunch more readers came in so we'll be trying them out.

So the next two weeks will be more of the same.  And of course, if an educational oppotunity pops up, we will take advantage.  I will blog about any special things or any books we just really love.