I knew moving across country would be a difficult transitions for the whole family. However my heart breaks at how difficult it has been on Ironhide aka The Student. He said it best four months ago "Mom I have to leave everything I have known my whole life." That feeling has really starting to sink in now that school has started and he has joined his first official co-op with real homework, yet another change. He misses the constant of flow of friends into our home and the sense of security of knowing his environment. Even his parents are changing because Dad has a new job, mom is still dealing with trying to make this house feel like home and learn her way around.
So many changes in so little time for my little guy, new church, new house, new city, new climate, new doctors, new friends and it never stops. Oh and now glasses on top of everything else. Every day it is something new. I try to wrap it in the theme of an adventure but even the best thrill seeker wants to get off the ride. Even I want to say stop sometimes because I just cannot handle one more new thing. Prayer is constant during this time because we know that God is our true home, but he is only six and it is hard.
We have had a couple not so stellar weeks of behavior issues. Most can be attributed to being six and the rest I think are move related. I need prayer because I am stressed and this is just breaking my heart to discipline him almost hourly. I do mean hourly and things I have never known him to do. Last night I spent the night in prayer and reading because I am at a loss. He is a great child who is going to be a wonderfully blessed human being but how do I get him there?
As a mother of an only child I have those moments of "maybe he should go to school to met people." But as I put it in prayer I have not been shown that path. It would not solve problems but just add more confusion to the mix.
I have never shared this much before but I think this may help someone else because this is not an easy path, but it is our path.
Be Blessed
TS: Hey Mom can you go get some.
This activity was done with kid tweezers, dried beans, uncooked noodles and the mega cupcake pan. TS was asked to put the correct number of beans into even numbered slots and the correct number of noodles in the odd numbered slot.
So according to my "Grand Homeschooling" plan I was going to spend the month of January teaching TS how to tell time. He has mastered counting by 2s, 5s and 10s. The concept of the passage of time has been grasped; he gets the concept of months, days, weeks and section of days. We even got him a cool CARS watch that lights up for Christmas to make the concept exciting. He picked out translucent clock from IKEA for his bathroom in December. The spouse and I would randomly mention the time via that manual clock over the holidays. Then one night before his birthday it all clicked and TS is telling time manually and digitally. HOORAY!
No drilling, no flashcards or workbooks needed for this step, he just got it. I am very proud of him! Thank you Heavenly Father for TS, he is a child of sweet spirit, eager heart and strong love.
Did this put a hole in my planning for math? Sure, but homeschooling is all about flexibility. So instead of three weeks to finish our Currclick time lapbook it took a week. Which is great but there is a storm brewing in the Sandbox that is going to shake things up.
I could not find a lapbook with all the elements I wanted to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I wanted to focus on Dr. King's hopes and dreams but also introduce the historic significance of those dreams. TS has friends of all colors so it was important for him to understand the history but also understand his reality is part of the dreams of Dr. King. To that end I wanted to focus on dreams and hopes.
TS "I have a dream…."
Sources:
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King , by Jean Marzollo
The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane Derolf
Robin Hill School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Nick Jr. Celebrate Martin Luther King Day
Martin Luther King Day Lapbook
Digital Resources:
Happy Birthday (Tribute Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday)
As a mother of color I knew the day would come when we would have the discussion about race in America and this was the year. The questions started during the 2008 campaign and as we approach the historic events of Tuesday I wanted him to a sense of the big picture. Because of when and where we live he doesn't have the concept of what it all means. He can't really as a child, but I wanted him to begin that journey to understanding the African American experience in a positive light.
Having grown up in Mississippi in the 1970s I have always know about race, segregation and the history of hate. My earliest memories were playing on blankets at protest rallies and sit ins during the early 1970s. My grandmother was very active in the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi and we grandkids spent many a Saturday at NAACP functions. It wasn't until I was 13 that I realized Mr. Charles who visited our church was actually Charles Evers brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers. I remember being sick ( 1976) with the mumps and having to sit in the waiting room of the local doctor's office with others of color while Caucasian patients walked right in off the street and got seen ahead of us.
The heart break of feeling that kind of hate makes you want to protect your child at all cost. But as Grandma use to say "You got air out that sore, get some sunlight on it so it can heal. If we don't talk about it, wrap it up and keep it ourselves it is just gonna fester and rot the whole body."
It is important to us that TS has pride in his heritage and knowledge that hate exists but not to become consumed with it.
I am tweaking my Spring curriculum and I am narrowing my focus on some fine motor issues. I have known for some time that we need to work on scissors skills. I still remember his daycare teacher writing "TS is a gifted child who is verbally and linguistically gifted, but delayed in fine motor skill development."
During the fall I focused on overall fine motor skills because most boys seem to be a little slower in developing these skills and need extra encouragement. My thinking was a focus on fine motor work and the rest such as handwriting, cutting and shoe tying will come once those muscles are strengthened. I read somewhere that cutting "requires a lot of hand and eye coordination and by doing regular scissor-cutting activities, fine motor skills are improved and the small muscles are regularly exercised."
During December I noticed TS became frustrated with his scissor work, so now it's time focus in on that skill.
TS's scissor skills have improved over the last year. In the past he would get frustrated with cutting and just rip the paper. Now he really works at cutting out patterns for his lapbooks but they are not as smooth as he would like. I remind him that it is a process of practice but in true TS style he wants it "now".
So I worked with a friend who is an OT as well as internet searches to develop fun and gradually challenging cutting activities. The goal was to have at least 30 days of activities. At the end of the 30 days we will evaluate where we are and what should be our next steps.
Thirty Plus Days of Scissors Fun
The plan is to use what I have in house and not to purchase anything new.
Primary Tools for the Adventure
Fiskers Scissors
Do Dot Art
Craft Scissors
Special Scissors
Kid Tweezers
Playdough
Letter and Number Cutters
A special thanks to Angela at Homeschooling The Chaotic Family for her inspiration and direction fine motor activities for boys.
We have been having fun learning all about money.
We began by learning the who, what, where and why of money using One Cent, Two Cents, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library). TS has never been a big fan of the Cat In Hat because of the constant rhymes, but he really enjoyed this book. It doesn't constantly rhythm and it is a non-fiction book.
The book also covers the basic of who is on our current money which was a good tie in with our Presidential election unit study. Did you know there have been only six non-presidents on our money? Can you name them?
I think skip counting is an essential skill set to have mastered before tackling counting money. TS mastered skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s last year with the Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten Workbook. Before proceeding with money counting I wanted to review the concepts in a new way. I found the perfect tie in with our mini unit study on Pumpkins with the book "How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?" by Margaret McNamara. (We enjoyed her Robin Hill School series.)
The implied exercise, based on the story, is to take a pumpkin and count the seeds in groups of 2s, 5s and 10s. So after pumpkin picking with our co-op we bring home our pumpkin and try to estimate the number of seeds like Sid the Science kid. The process was then to open it and scoop out the seeds.
This is where life got interrupted because once we opened the pumpkin, TS started to look a little green about the gills. "Mom, the inside of this pumpkin looks like orange buggers and smells disgusting." Then he got the look, every parent knows that look …their eyes get wide, they clamp their lips and sway ever so slightly. You got it ..upchuck central. It turns out TS had a nasty little stomach bug that took that moment to present itself. Needless to say we are done with pumpkins for a long time in this house.
In order to work with TS's interest I did change the order of our Rowing. The green blocks are units completed with lapbooks. Papa Piccolo was a big hit and went on for two weeks.
Our math dilemma has been solved using Houghton Mifflin Math online for K and 1st grade.
Unfortunately the economic down turn affected the number of homeschool classes offered in our area. So currently we only have gymnastics, weekly playgroup, monthly fieldtrips, library story and craft time.
I have been encouraged and motivated to start a Kindy Co-Op using lapbooks. I will start with one a month focusing on holidays in November.
Sandbox Academy Fall 2008 FIAR
August
Mike Mulligan
Lentil
September
Madeline
A Pair of Red Clogs
Papa Piccolo
Papa Piccolo
October
The Glorious Flight
How to Make an Apple Pie
If I Ran For President
Pumpkin Free
November
Space Shuttle
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Cranberry Thanksgiving (Holiday Vacation)
December
Make Way For Ducklings
Digital FIAR-Christmas
New Year Around The World
(Holiday Vacation)
January
(Holiday Vacation)
Kathy and the Big Snow
Night of the Moonjellies
Review
Leaning about Self Care (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 22
Read-Along:
Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science Books: Germs Make Me Sick
We used our Scholastic Dictionary and Enchanted Learning to identify the appendix.
Math
Madeline: 12 Little Girls Math (HSS)
FIAR discussion on sizes (HSS).
Discussed Day and Night
Social Studies
Where is France?
Language Arts
We discussed the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
TS was not thrilled about reading Madeline. In his words there was not enough action and too many girls. He did like Ms. Clavel. So to make things a little more interesting we also read Madeline to the Rescue. He really loved this version of Madeline because in his words..." it has action."
Music/Art
Listen to the always classic Frère Jacques.
TS drew his favorite scene from Madeline which was the Eifel Tower.
Bible/Character
FIAR Character and Bible Study : Compassion
Fieldtrip
We attended playgroup and library storytime.
Fine Motor Activity
We built French buildings with Legos.
Lapbook Resources
Read-Along: Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science Books Sounds all Around
Leaning about taste buds (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 22
Read-Along: Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science Books My Five Senses
Math
Lentil Math and Music Patterns (HSS)
Social Studies
Where is Ohio? What is a State? Map Disc (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 18
Studying human relations and appreciating being unique.
Read-Alongs:
What I Like About Me
I 'm Gonna Like Me: Letting off a little self-esteem
Language Arts
TS became fascinated with a new word found in Lentil. Whittling. Yahoo Kids’ Dictionary defines it as: To cut small bits or pare shavings from (a piece of wood). To fashion or shape in this way: whittle a toy boat.
He still didn’t get it. So Mom whipped out a bar of soap, a butter knife and marker. We sat on the front porch swing and attempted to whittle a fish out of a bar of soap. HE GOT IT! The look on his face was priceless. I almost saw the light go on. HE LOVED IT! We now have a fish-ish, car-ish and a stegosaurs-ish out of soap.
Music/Art
Playing the Harmonic and practicing simple songs on the harmonica (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 21
Bible/Character
FIAR Character and Bible Study Section 7
Introduction to what is the purpose of a prayer.
Fieldtrip
We attended playgroup and library storytime.
Fine Motor Activity
TS cut lemons for taste bud experiment. He also cut and pasted all of his lapbook himself.
Lapbook Resources
Homeschool Share
Key Learnings
TS really go into the science experiments. We spent a whole day doing just science.
I love music. I play music in the morning and during quiet time. It was refreshing to have him play his harmonica most of the week.
My son loves to whittle.
Math
Mike Mulligan Math Homeschool Share (HSS)
Building Numbers (Hardcover)
Art
Introduction to Lapbooking and Notebooking
Social Studies
FIAR Social Section pg 43
Language Arts
FIAR pg 45
Music
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, for narrator & symphony orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra
Bible/Character
FIAR-BS pg 14
Read Alouds
Fieldtrip or Outings
There is so much construction in our area we were able to visit several construction sights and take pictures of the machines doing there jobs. We are go back to three sites once a week to take pictures of their progress. So we get to see a building built from ground clearing to completion.
Using sand toys to dig a square “neat and clean” as Mike and Mary Anne. Drawing shapes in the sand with fingers and scooping with spoons.
Lapbook Resources
Key Learnings (forgive the phrase it is a throw back from work)
Last week central Texas was hot and the usually stoic Texans were very anxious because of Hurricane Ike. We knew he was out there but did not know where God would place him because it was changing by the minute. By Thursday public school were schedule for early release, University of Texas cancelled its big football game, co-op activities were cancelled and people were scrambling for safe harbor. Our lives would change, but to what degree and when was unknown.
We waited and prayed for those in the path of this storm.
Earlier in the week, I was so caught up in lesson plans not going as plan, financial issues and providing social outlets for TS. It all seem so daunting until you look into the sky and see the awesome power of nature.
Our city was spared but as a nation and state, we will be feeling the effects of Ike for a long time.
This week our friend Sid the Science Kid discussed Reversible Change or in kindergarten speak: “Why does my popsicle melt?” TS was transfixed the entire 30 minutes and then wanted to do the experiment ASAP. Do I have time for learning? You bet!
So off to the dining room table or as Sid calls his area The Super Fab Lab. Setting up and conducting the first half of the experiment took less than 10 minutes. The instructions for this experiment can be found by clicking here Sid’s Frozen Fruit Experiment. The hardest part of the entire experiment was the kindergartener running to frig, opening the door and asking constantly: “Is it ready yet?”
The frozen fruit
The melting fruit aka “Great Snack”
TS had a great time, rave about the cool snack he made and he voluntarily wrote it in his journal. THANK YOU SID!
New Words Defined
Compare
Contrast
Temperature
Reversible Change
(Now if I can just get the little “Looking for My Friend” tune out of my head.)
