Another Break

Joel has the next week off. I think I'm going to use the time to regroup and get reset in regards to Hannah and schooling.  I find it really hard to remember that she is just a little girl and doesn't need to know every thing yet, like reading.  I really really really want her to know how to read, in case you haven't been coming here for long.  It's one of my greatest desires for her right after getting to know Jesus and falling in love with him. 
But then I remember that she is just barely five and there is plenty of time for her to learn how to read.  And that she is learning how to learn and when the time comes it will be as easy as pie.
So here are some things we are learning in addition to the Five in a Row curriculum... Hannah is an expert egg cracker and becoming a pretty good scramble egg maker minus the cooking part.  She has learned how to make her own peanut butter and jelly.  She is learning how to sweep but this is probably the coolest thing of all, she is learning about communion.  She is also learning about worship :D 

Katy and the Big Snow

On Monday, we had class again.  We started Katy and the Big Snow by Ms. Burton.  Hannah loves the story.  Our first lesson was on maps and we talked about directions, turns out she knows more than I thought she did.  Either that or she's a good guesser :D 

Tuesday we did vocabulary, talking about things like water mains and steamrollers, but she knew quite a bit of those, too.  And then today, we counted by five.  Turns out I LOVE to count by five!!  Maybe it was one of the few times tables I actually got and so it makes me happy to say them, I don't know.  We'll probably have an art lesson tomorrow leaving science for Saturday.  Or vice versa, considering that we are going to Greenfield Village on Saturday and I'm sure there are LOTS of details in the art to notice there. 

Here's a funny thing for me about Five In A Row, when I don't do it for awhile, I think "This is useless, I need a new curriculum" and then when I start up again and I hear Hannah asking for her class books and lessons, I think "It's kindergarten and she is really learning how to learn"  And that's a good thing.

This morning, Hannah spent some time on Starfall.  It's a great site, it just makes me wish reading would click for her.

Gingerbread Alamo

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.


I joined the Daring Baker's challenge last month and really enjoyed the first challenge





Hannah asked for a castle, and this is what she got instead. The alamo met its demise when the one legged Barbie kicked it down by trying to go through the front door.

Here's a replica of the template I originally made out of wax paper

Fourth Sunday of Advent

School is still lacking, though we have been having fun together. Hannah is such a smart cookie, I could probably let her hang out in a ditch all day and she would learn something. Hmm maybe that can be used to my advantage in science class at some point :D

Today, there was a cantata at church. They sang Angels We Have Heard on High. Hannah leaned over and told me that the song says "Eggshells" and then said it also said "Yolk" The refrain is "Gloria, in excelsis Deo!" She heard "Gloria, in eggshells an day yolk" Too funny!

So far, there are no great and glorious plans for Christmas. I think we will be making some bagels on Christmas eve and celebrating at home. It's nice to have a quiet day after such a busy season of celebrations!

New week

I do not know what I thought the holidays would be like in regards to homeschooling, but I did not think that I would allow myself to slide so much that I wonder if I'm doing any good.  Over the past week, I have done one and half hearted lessons, double checked that Hannah's public school district school really is too far away to make it worth while, printed out said school district's curriculum objectives, thought about curriculum for next year, and pretty much thought I should be doing something other than Five In a Row, especially after the sixth or seventh math lesson being on "Count the number of..." which is rarely if ever over the number 12. 

But I have also had my daughter tell me that the Nile river is in Egypt while watching the movie "The Prince of Egypt" (this was recall information!) , she is learning all sorts of Christmas songs, she helped scoop the litter box, she volunteered to help me clean the kitchen, and we were able to share communion together.  And those things help me to balance out that unmet unspoken expectation of what "school" should look like. 

I think it's time for us to get back to doing our work on a regular basis and maybe adding in some alternate Math lessons so we will be doing Four in a Row most weeks