13/14 Week 1 Day 4

 I think, we had quite an artsy kind of day today - lots of coloring and drawing. A lot of it was done in our art class that we had last. We started reading about Leonardo da Vinci and discovered a fantastic book called "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds. Following the story in the book, I gave Andrew and Saara a sheet of paper with just a line drawn on it. And asked to come up with ideas what the line could be a part of (side of a pool,  of a mountain, horizon, house, etc.) I gave them time to take the line and see where it would take them. Andrew ended up with a desert scenery and Saara with turtles on mountain tops.
In Science yesterday, Andrew read about different bears in the world. Today, I showed him a few YouTube videos and pulled out some photos of bears (again) from our visits to the zoo. A video on sloth bears in India was a long one, so Andrew asked me if he could finish it tonight. He did watch the whole program before supper. Besides the bears, the video showed a lot of other wildlife in India. A great piece to watch: BBC Natural World

Bible. The morning art - while I was reading the story of the tower of Babel, the kids colored a picture about it.

Science. Andrew is learning about different animals and their habitats in the world. Today we watched a number of videos on brown bears, spectacled bears, sloth bears, and polar bears. A lot of bears.

Science. Saara in Kindergarten is doing the same experiments Andrew did a couple of years ago. Moving air can make things move from 2011 (with the balloons) and today.

Science. Since Andrew learned about air in his Kindergarten class, Saara has remembered that an empty bottle is not really empty, it is full of air.

Art. A simple line led Saara to a picture of an open book. "The Dot" is one of the best books I have read in a long time.

'13/14 Week 1 Day 3

This morning was kind of hard to get going. We started on time and the kids had time to play outside before I called them in, but still - there was something in the air that made us a bit drowsy. Did it mess with our school day? A bit, in the beginning, but as the day progressed and we got more and more things accomplished, the drowsiness wore off and by the time we grabbed our hula hoops and cones to do some exercises outside, the sluggishness that plagued us in the morning was all gone. Good riddance! 
We did not stick around much longer either. After the short PE class, we made ourselves presentable again and took off to the library. Our haul this time was 100 % educational. The kids were picking up books about planets and animals. I was the only one who borrowed a bunch of "Magic Tree House" stories. And even those had to do with the things we had already covered in our science or history classes.

Bible. The morning Bible story was, of course, about the great flood and Noah's ark. We piled into the kids' bathroom and using their plastic animal toys and a bowl from the kitchen we re-enacted the flooding in the tub. Water, rain, waves, and all.

History. Saara remembers quite a bit from two years ago when Andrew was learning about the first people. The pictures I took then and the blog posts I wrote have helped enormously recalling our adventures back then. 

Andrew's LA. Sorting out Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives.

Science. This year, we started off studying some animals who live in different parts of the world. The children have seen all of the animals we have been reading about so far at the different zoos we have visited. They may not remember at first, but as soon as I pull out some photos, they seem to recall even the funniest facts ("Mom, I remember, they smelled horrible.")

We learned a bit about boundaries and personal space today. It was all done with a lot of laughter. Here, I asked Andrew and Saara to move creatively in their space and gave them words, like 'sizzle' or 'reach', to prompt the creativity.

'13/14 Week 1 Day 2

We are back in the saddle as if we never got off. I am so pleased to hear from both of my kids that they love doing school. I sure love it, too, and I hope, they will always say they love school/learning even when we reach Week 36 in May.

Today, we continued with a lot of reviews - in history, in grammar, in math, and even the science, although new books and all, it is still a review of things we read and learned last year. Andrew has forgotten some (which is kind of expected), but with little help and hints, he remembers the names and facts and can retell stories and events. 

These two days have shown both kids as promising writers. Saara continues to fill out her dry-erase tablet with letters and names. Andrew went ahead and made his own book that included pictures and a paragraph about his teacher. The book opened from the opposite end and the paragraph read like this: " Mom is a teacher. She taught me how to do numbers and letters." It was plagued with spelling mistakes, but the fact that Andrew did it on his own and wanted to write, is praiseworthy. We have plenty of time to get the spelling right. I am very encouraged to see the boy who was rather slow and reluctant to write last year, craft a homemade book of his own. Big smiles here.

Bible. The story of the Fall. No words needed, I think.

Bible. The story of Cain (Andrew with his sacrifice of supermarket potatoes) and Abel (Saara with her sacrifice of stuffed teddy bear). We had a good discussion about the kind of  hearts and attitudes both brothers had in the story.

Saara's Science is about the Earth and how it rotates around its axis and around the Sun. One of the activities was measuring the shadow during the day.

Saara's Learning and Thinking activities. Once again the calendar I ordered from Oriental Trading Co. ages ago is becoming useful. Andrew believes it should belong to Saara now that he has already learned how to read the calendar. We will see. Today's subject was learning (reviewing in Saara's case) the days of the week.

Andrew's LA. Yesterday, we reviewed the sentence and punctuation. Today, it was the Capital's turn. I asked Andrew to correct all the words that were wrong on the whiteboard.

Saara's Shadow Record. She insisted labeling the two last records herself.

'13/14 Week 1 Day 1

The first day of our new school year is successfully behind us. I expect to spend about a week or two ironing out the kinks in my planning to make the days go smoother and more effectively. Not that today was a bad mess! Not at all. I was VERY surprised how fast and efficiently everything went. I mean everything. Yes, teaching Second Grade and Kindergarten is more work, but a through planning makes everything flow beautifully. And we had a fun day. We worked hard and we accomplished a lot. I am very pleased. Andrew, God bless his heart, needs to still work on focusing (and I am saying this after ten weeks on very little focused workbook time), but his attitude toward his schoolwork is awesome! Makes me want to teach him until ... forever. :)

As usual, we started our day off with Bible songs, memory verses, Bible stories and facts, and this morning also a craft illustrating the creation of the world. The hula-hoops are there to learn about personal space. :)

Saara adding a few final touches to our creation circles.

A mug to trace the circles, lots of construction paper, cotton balls, and stickers make a decent back ground for the story. The "Zzz..." is not for God sleeping on the seventh day, by the way.

Math time. We reviewed simple counting and filled out Lesson 1 in both kids' workbooks. Saara had trouble remembering how to count by fives, so we brought out our labels and buttons to help her refresh her memory.

Handwriting. Saara was thrilled to have her very own handwriting workbook. She wanted more ...

... so she disappeared into her room with her copywork examples (the letter of the day 'F' and her full name) and emerged with her tablet filled with very good handwriting.

We finished our day with a civics class. Previously, Andrew and I have just briefly talked about the main symbols of the US, like the White House or the flag. Today, we took a closer look at what are symbols and what are some of the symbols standing for the United States. We started with the the flag.

Andrew colored the flag and learned about the numbers of stripes and stars. We also recited the Pledge of Allegiance and read a book explaining the history and meaning behind the words.

And, of course, it being the first day, we had to finish it on a sweet note. Some wise-owl cupcakes to celebrate the school year ahead.

2013 Summer Activities 10

Our last week of summer vacation was a sweet one. I was busy going over lesson plans and browsing through books trying to figure out the best way to combine K and G2 programs. 
Saara and Andrew finished their bonus reading logs and received medals for a job well done. We had fun visiting friends and having friends over, going to the movies, baking dog treats, taking a nature walk and a lot more. 
I was a bit nostalgic, already mourning the last days of sleep-ins and a mellow pace. The kids, on the other hand, were excited about starting their new grades.

In God's grace, we are ready for the next 36 weeks of hard work, fun, and loads of new books and knowledge.

On our nature walk, Andrew witnessed a spider wrapping a bug into its thready cocoon.

First signs of autumn? Not many trees in Texas shed colorful leaves.

Before I knew it, Andrew brought out his microscope and prepared a piece of a leaf for a closer examination. I love it - curiosity in action.

This is what we saw.

Saara emptied half of my button box and practiced sewing buttons.

 

Baking dog treats.

The recipe claimed the treats to be good for both children and dogs. Andrew did not wait to test them out.

Saara has proved herself to be a big animal lover and taking any chance she gets to befriend pets anywhere.

The bonus reading log completed!

Calm and quiet in the house means we have been to the library again.

A little play time a day before  the school work starts.

I did say, our last week of summer vacation was a sweet one?

2013 Summer Activities 9

Two more weeks before out summer vacation is over. The temperatures outside have been grueling and we have been keeping ourselves busy indoors, although our morning hour or two we always spent outside. In fact, the kids initiated our morning bike riding. It was good for me too, to get some exercise.

Getting ready for the ride.

The  kids dug out some old sock bubble-snake makers from last summer and got busy right away.

Andrew's toy keyboard broke one evening and we used the virtual piano as a plan B.

All on their own, they raided my craft drawer and filled an afternoon with 'making stuff'.

We also did some 'organized' craft learning.

A jolly day spent with friends.

This week Andrew spotted a birds nest with birds eggs in it and a fawn that came to drink at our pond.

I discovered that Andrew really likes games that involve math problems.

We also had 'a tent day'.