Calvert Week in Review

Miss M enjoyed science most this week. From the very first day she opened our Calvert box, she wanted to use the “themodeder” and she finally had her chance this week. (I don’t let her play with stuff ahead of time or she’ll have nothing left to look forward to, right?) She also loved charting people’s favorite fruits! I queried my friends and family on
Facebook so we’d have a nice list to work from.
For literature this week, Miss M was supposed to listen to “The Blue Jay’s Nest,” but I had her read it to me instead. She does very well! But she was heartbroken about the eggs that fell from the nest and were broken. Kids have such marvelous sensitive spirits!

In social studies she viewed photos and drawings and identified the difference between the two. At first I think she was a bit befuddled by the concept, not because she couldn’t tell the difference between the two images, but because who ever thought of comparing them? But she quickly caught on. Maps were always one of my favorite things (“were”…who am I kidding?), but Miss M seemed to be ambivalent about our mapping activities this week. Could have just been the mood she was in.

She is supposed to be using a number line to solve her math problems this week, but so far she’s just figuring in her head and finding answers that way. I encouraged her to use the number line anyway because it’s good to have tools to help us solve more difficult problems we may encounter in the future!

Little Guy was underfoot quite a bit this week. I had to be creative in ways to keep him entertained! Clay did the trick several times, also dry beans and a muffin tin, and some counters and kitchen tongs!

Wednesday will be Miss M’s Lesson 20 Test! She’s excited about it! Don’t you just love homeschooling!?

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MFW ECC: What's different this time around?

I am so excited to go through Exploring Countries and Cultures again. The last time my kids were so little -- 3rd grade and Kindergarten. And now they are in 5th and 8th grades! They have grown so much over the past five years. As I began to think about our plan for this year, I realized two things: 1) my gifted eldest child remembers just about everything we covered in ECC the first time, and 2) my younger one hasn't had many of the basics that ECC covers. So I was faced with a dilemma -- how do I adjust ECC to suit the very different needs of both children? How do I shift the focus for my 8th grader to aspects of ECC that she hadn't spent time on before (such as types of governments, imports and exports, etc.) while also taking my younger child through the more foundational information that he missed when he was just a kindergartener? ECC is designed to be parent-led, family learning, with a supplement for 7th and 8th grade. But I came to the conclusion that I need to deco...

Pilcrow pajamas

I finally finished a sewing project...it's been a while, huh? Little Guy has outgrown most of his pajamas and bodysuits. He has several onesies, but they're mostly short sleeved which isn't really appropriate for this time of year without a cardigan. Ottobre to the rescue! I had traced off the "Naava coverall" (Ottobre 6/2009, #3) but it was already a size too small. I "remedied" that by simply cutting it out a little larger all around and keeping my original seam allowance...a bit sloppy perhaps, but time-saving! I actually cut out two at the same time from the same material. I was going for practicality (something for the kid to wear!) rather than fashion. The other one is nearly done - just the leg binding and snaps left to do. Still, I needed to do something fun to spruce 'em up a bit. The other one was voted by hubby to be video game themed, so I decided to make this one reflect my abject nerdiness personality....

Letter posters with memory verses

I have very fond memories of the cursive letter banner that was posted around the top of the walls in my fifth grade classroom. I thought it would be fun to make something similar for our homeschool classroom (a.k.a. our kitchen). I decided to include a Bible verse for each letter. At this point it's mostly for my own benefit since Miss M doesn't read yet. They serve as great reminders to help her memorize these important bits of Scripture while her little mind is still a sponge. (It saddens me that my memorization skills are not what they were when I was a kid!) The fun part is I saved my work in a pdf file for you to use too! Just click the image above to download the file. I laminated mine before sticking them around my kitchen walls with ticky tacky. (The laminator is a new toy!) Enjoy!

CHRISTEPHI

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