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.

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

A modge podge

Joel and Hannah finished up Papa Piccolo on Saturday by counting pairs.  She really got the lesson, as she was able to count in pairs today.  We have started Cranberry Thanksgiving.  Today we talked about setting and created a couple of play settings during class.  I think we are going to have one big lesson day where we do math, science and art buy making some bread or a pumpkin pie.  We also got to see a replica of Bleirot's plane that flew over the English channel at the Henry Ford Museum.  I totally wish that we had gone after reading the book, as she would have enjoyed the reality of what it was much more, but all the same, we had a great time at the museum, as it was Macy's 2nd Mondays and there were a ton of children there, and Hannah adores crowds.

Four all together :D

We've been reading Grandfather's Journey this week.  We've done some simple origami for art, looked at our map for social studies, talked about the days of the week for math, and even discussed poetic prose for language arts.  I haven't been on the actual computer much lately, which explains why I haven't been keeping the log up. We did skip the last lesson in The Glorious Flight this past Saturday.  And things have been crazy good here lately, what with Presbytery meetings, monthly Bible study, costume making, trick or trunk decorating and pondering on NaNoWriMo plots. 

Roman numerals

The math lesson for The Glorious Flight was on Roman numerals.  Hannah had picked up a little bag of mini popsicle sticks, which worked in great with the lesson.  I was able to "write" each number with the sticks.
We also had CBS today.  Hannah's teacher took me aside today to let me know that when Hannah changes rooms for singing time, she doesn't sit like she's supposed to. Instead, she wants to play with the toys and talk with the teaching assistant for the class they join.  I took Hannah next door, told her what I expected of her and that if  heard any different from her teacher, then she would spend the rest of that day in her room.  Hopefully, that will be enough to correct the problem, but I may very well have to put her in her room before anything changes. 

Shop Keeper, Shop Keeper

Hannah was blessed with being able to have her Papi (Joel) read her A Pair of Red Clogs tonight.  We did our math lesson tonight, and played shop.  It was a lot of fun to buy things from Hannah using chocolates, jellybeans, and gummies.
We also had CBS today.  Hannah learned about Samuel being called by God in the middle of the night.  They had a cute little craft.  I'm kind of sad that we won't be there next Tuesday for class time.
I am very excited that we are heading to SC for my Bubba's wedding!  I'll try to remember to take some photos :D

Fun with pegs and rubberbands

We had a nice long day yesterday and the geometry/math lesson with The Rag Coat happened late in the day.  We looked at all the different shapes in the story, but the fun part came with I pulled out a peg board I have from jewelry making and we made shapes with the pegs and then using yarn and a rubber band.  We made rectangles and then cut them into triangles.
We also had CBS yesterday.  I was a helper in the 4 year old class, which shares story time, music time and closing time with Hannah's class.  It was really nice to see what they do with their time.  Yesterday the story was about Hannah and Samuel.  And their Bible verse continues to be "Do not be afraid...God has heard your prayers." Luke 1:13 

One and two and three

We did some counting today in our lesson on The Clown of God.  We also went to the Northville Farmer's Market so that we could see fruit stands like Senior and Senora Baptista's.  We had a great time there, looking in all the stalls.  I asked Hannah on the way back to the car if she could understand why someone juggling would bring people to the stand.
Our math lesson was counting.  Hannah easily counts to 12 and then after twelve jumps to 16 and is fine all the way through to twenty.
I've been praying about the entire reading ordeal, especially after the fight that ensued yesterday and got a great big old "WAIT" from the Lord.  So we are going to put it away for a few more weeks or months.
We also made it to the library today.  One of the books I requested through inter-library loan came in, Who Owns the Sun?.  I was also able to pick up The Rag Coat and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel .  Hopefully we will have a great month ahead of us.

Grouping

The little girls in Madeline are always in two straight rows.  Our math lesson was about grouping.  Groups with specific numbers were no problem but groups with concept are a little tough.  Hannah can easily count out three for each group and tell me how many groups she has, but when asked to give me two equal groups, there was a definite learning curve.
We were able to have breakfast with some ladies from the church this morning.  It is always so wonderful to be able to enjoy a meal with them.  And Hannah fits right in.  They have all entered into the realm of Grandma, so they have children in their lives.  Many of them were teachers, so it's a nice time for me to go and be encouraged and to remember that God is good, and that it will all work out. 
It was much needed as Hannah is being very resistant to phonics.  I think we are going to continue to use Writing the Visual, Kinesthetic, Auditory Alphabet to help Hannah with printing.  Even if she doesn't want to read, she will at least be able to print.  I'm also going to look into a cursive program.

Counting Cousins

This morning in The Story about Ping , we counted. I took our little jar of coins and counted out two fifty cent pieces for his parents, pennies for his siblings and cousins, nickels and dimes for aunts and uncles. There was even a special little foreign coin for Ping himself. After counting Ping's family, we counted Hannah's relatives, too. Our family looks tiny in comparison. We only have three pennies in the entire family! And the other two are all the way across the country. But we are fortunate, because we are about to gain a new family member, my brother is getting married in October. it's fun to hear the tales of the two of them working out their kinks as they move towards celebrating their new life together. Simple things seem so monumental when we are starting off with one another. After being married for eight years, those little skirmishes seem a life time away. So today, I thank God for our ten little coins that make up Hannah's family of aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course her Papi and me.