Monterey Homeschool Day

We took our 2nd annual trip to the aquarium the day before Ezra turned four. This year we decided to drive down the day of instead of speeding the weekend. I had actually forgotten to sign up for the trip and it fills up so fast. I put us on the wait list and was shocked to find out we could go. It all worked out and made for another fun road trip, right after our snow excursion. 

 And we managed to all fit into that dang clam shell!!! :) You can see my whale-of-a-self from last January here. 

So we started 2013 at the aquarium and ended it here as well. Ha!

A is for Apple.

We started rowing a new book this week call How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. Yet another great read. We spent a good chunk of time at the library first thing this week; picking up picture books about all the places the girl travels to get her ingredients because the market is closed: France, Italy, Sri Lanka, England, Jamaica, and Vermont. One of my favorite aspects of this curriculum is getting to water the adventurous-spirit-and-travel-bug seed with geography.  

We're also going the uber classic route and doing the letter A and apple activities. Because I can play the cliche card every now and again. ;)

We discussed the parts of an apple.

Who doesn't love a good time of apple stamping?! 

{grandma disclaimer: he's snacking on the previously cut-up apple, while painting...not snacking on the painted one. k, thanks. ;)}

Give you three guesses what our field trip will be for this book. 

And one guess who'll I'll be delegating the apple pie makin' to. 

The one who went to culinary school...

Art With Lentil // Whittling

In the story, Old Sneep grumbles while whittling on a park bench because he's jealous of Colonel Carter and the town's celebration of his return. 

Whittling is where you carve something into a shape by cutting small slices off it; typically used with a knife and wood or bone. Little kids have most likely not heard of this trade-skill before, if you're pre-scout age that is. So, we gave the boys a chance to whittle using a butter knife and ivory soap. This activity was right up W's alley so we saved it for the weekend so he could teach them in the backyard.

The boys were way too young to really have the fine-motor skills for this, but they thoroughly enjoyed it and W loved being able to instruct them.

E somehow managed to shape his into a gun with random cuts.

They sure loved this art project.

Math With Lentil // Fractions

We did a little lesson with music and fractions for Lentil. I was kinda hesitant to try what the book suggested, and pleasantly shocked that E grasped the introductory idea of fractions.

We sang a few songs that they know by heart and tapped out the beats to show him examples. He used the work "split" in place of "divide" so I went with that. Together, we split {cut} the two other whole circles into halves and quarters. We practiced splitting a handful of nails and popsicle sticks {it's what I had quick on hand}. And a banana as well. 

We reviewed where Lentil lives on our US map, and where we live.

And on our world map.

We also played the "hearing game" to add to our senses. I pulled up youtube and played a sound effect for him {ie. lion, monkey, fire truck, motorcycle, waves, rain, etc} and had him guess what he thought he heard. He "drew" a picture of his guess, then we checked the screen to see if he was right. He enjoyed me "trying to trick" him and he figuring it out.

I feel like I'm starting to warm-up finally. Like prepping lessons, being intentional about getting school in during the days I have planned, and including T where I can. And it's nice that so far, the lessons have been just the right amount of time before E is done. Short and sweet, but with enough time for instruction and practice. 

Science With Lentil // Sense of Taste

So we started rowing a new book this week for school: Lentil. It's such a cute story about a small town boy named Lentil and his determination to overcome the handicap of not being able to pucker his lips. He finds he can make music in another way: the harmonica. The conflict of the story revolves around Old Sneep and his devious plan to stop a celebration by making everyone's lips pucker via him sucking on a lemon. Lentil saves the day with his harmonica.

So our science consisted of taste testing and learning about our tongue and where the difference taste receptors are.

Of course, the lemon was THE most fun for the boys. Theo's expressions were my favorite. He tried it a few times before handing the entire thing over to Ezra.

Ezra's initial reaction was similar to Theo's, but on a much smaller scale. And after awhile, I think he just got used to it, because he sucked on the lemon for quite some time AFTER our experiment was done.

Throughout the week, we've also been talking about the other four senses and talking about each. We've also touched on the letter M for Music and US geography for California and Ohio {where Lentil takes place}. Hoping we can squeeze in a few more activities for math and art this week too. This book has some great content to study!

The Story About Ping // Pt. 2

We ended last week with a quick field trip to feed the ducks. It was quite exciting because apparently, they were so hungry. We typically go on the weekends and the ducks seem semi-interested. Weekday? They're famished and will mow others over. And flock in huge groups. It was great. Scary great. 

And since I'm in manual mode, I took way more pictures of duck than any normal person who went duck-feeding would have. But the sunlight is pretty unforgiving in the middle of the afternoon. In addition to the duck chaos, pushing a toddler, carrying a baby and fixing my settings proved to be  challenge. But a fun one. 

They didn't really find a "Ping" liking one {yellow}, but we noticed how the ducks went all the way under water, went upside down to get food like Ping does, and have water drops on their bodies.

The highlight was this adorable baby duckling that we got to feed. Almost made me want to add a duck to our animal want-list. 

Almost.

The Story About Ping // Pt. 1

Here's a little of what we did while rowing Ping this week...

So far, E has worked on numbers, the letter D, and sewing and tracing for fine motor skills--in addition to reading our book. We're going on our first "field trip" this afternoon to...to observe and feed the ducks with friends who are also sticking to our program/schedule.

{sequencing}

He's randomly picked up on recognizing numbers 1-5 and 8 {which may have something to do with helping me press numbers around town.} Glad to know I wouldn't have to formally cover those.

{numbers; counting, recognition, sequencing, etc}

Next week, we'll be covering science {buoyancy, animal kingdom}, social studies {China geography and culture} and art.

Normally, the stories are covered in a week, but we're starting out with two. And I have yet to figure out what to do with T while we school. Both days he's completely torn apart investigated our game drawer. Which we all clean up afterward. He's just not one to sit down and get into an activity for very long yet. At least I figured out to school during Vesper's nap so I just have two to look after. Baby steps to figuring out the details of this journey. 

I have noticed that this month has been so much easier on me. We've had many more "good" days than other. I may have adjusted to the new normal and expectations are more in check. And everybody is just a little bit older too. My mama mojo is fully returning, finally. ;) Yay!

1st Day of Prek

We "started" preK this week. I use that term loosely only because we have yet to dive into the reading part. PreK is really nice like that. So is homeschooling. 

We'll be working our way through this curriculum. And start by "rowing" the book The Story About Ping. Very similar to unit studies. I made a make-shift homeschool corner...because there really isn't a corner left in our small space. There's a world map that we got in a random mailer, the ping duck to place in China {where the story takes place}, and a few 'artifacts' that I scrounged up. Hoping my planning will get better in time?! ;) And our dining area chalkboard will work perfectly for scripture memorization and reading highlights. 

Today's agenda includes PE {gymnastics} and play at Castlewood. :) Which works out great because this morning was a rough one. Here's to an adventurous year-- taking the good and challenging in stride.