1st Grade: Week 29 Highlights

Bible:  "Rupert" had 3 Bible verses to memorize for J-Force (his play practice) this week, and I think he's going to get them all down!  He has an incredible memory.  He only has to hear something a couple of times and he's got it.  I wish it were that easy for ME.

Speaking of his play, well, technically it's a musical, this week he found out that he got a small solo part and he gets to play the parts of Paul and Jesus at a couple of points in the play.  Add to that the ribbon dance that he gets to do, and you've got one excited little boy!  This will be a great experience for him and he is having a lot of fun with it.

Spelling:  Whew!  This week's list was HARD!  He got half of them down, and we'll work more on the other ones when we come back from spring break.

Math:  Now that "Rupert" has a pretty good handle on addition, we're starting to be more purposeful about subtraction.  This is a harder concept for him, but amazingly, it helps if I put things in terms of money.  "If you have 7 dollars and you spend 4, how much do you have left?"  works a lot better than "What's 7 minus 4?"  We also use his Funtastic Frogs manipulatives to help him to understand and visualize the problems.

History:  This week we were introduced to Alexander the Great.  "Rupert" had fun pretending to be Alexander while riding around on his stick horse, "Bucephalus", and conquering the Persian Empire.  We also learned how to tie a Gordian knot.

On Saturday, we had family over for an ancient Greek feast and Olympic games.  We had Greek pilaf, cheese, olives, grapes, apples, pears, bread, honey, almonds, spinach, Greek pasta salad, traditional Greek Easter cookies and cheese cake.

We did not follow the ancient Greek protocol for our Olympic games as we allowed girls to participate and none of the contestants competed in the nude.  The events we competed in were long jump, discus throw (frisbee), wheelbarrow race, foot race, and for the grand finale, a foot race with armor on!  The winners got the traditional wreath of olive leaves, fame in their home towns, and room and board for life (okay, maybe not for LIFE...that's up to their parents).

Our Greek name tags:

Science: We learned about our sense of taste and hearing.  We'll do more with hearing after spring break, but this week we watched Bill Nye and did a couple of fun experiments with sound.  In one of them, we made a model of an ear drum, sprinkled salt on it and then made loud noises (beating a pot with a spoon) to make the salt dance, showing the vibrations of the sound waves on the "ear drum".

Social Opportunities: Play practice, overnight at Grandma's (with a little Grandma schooling thrown in), kung fu, playdate with my friend's girls, art day, and our Greek feast/Olympic games.

1st Grade: Week 28 Highlights

Bible: We've really been enjoying the daily devotions at kids4truth.com They have been such a blessing for us. Check them out! "Rupert" has also been reading his children's Bible for phonics this week.

Grammar: We were introduced to three more sentence types this week- the command, the question and the exclamation. "Rupert" practiced writing a sample of each of the four types of sentences.

Science: This week we talked about our sense of touch. We also did a fun little activity where I put miscellaneous items into a paper bag, and "Rupert" had to put his hand in the bag, and determine what was in there by using his sense of touch. We also talked about how sensitive our fingers are to touch, and did the activity again, but this time wearing a mitten on his hand.

Some of the things in our touch bag:

History: We read about the Greeks (Sparta and Athens) coming together to fight off the Persians, the origin of the Marathon run, and finally, the Peloponnesian war. We also played a Peloponnesian war board game that was in our Story of the World Vol.1 Activity Book.

Math: We reviewed our skip counting songs and double and triple digit addition with carrying. After doing a great job on that, "Rupert" asked for a challenge: a 10-digit problem! My little math master did his challenge problem perfectly! We called it our "monster problem", so when he was done solving it, he drew in a monster face around it. :-)

Kung fu: "Rupert" learned more of his double stick form this week. I finished learning it, and I'm here to say, it is tough! Keeping track of what your body is doing is tricky enough sometimes, then adding a stick in each hand and trying to make those do what you want them to...I don't know how any kid would be coordinated enough to get it down. But they do...and he is.

Social Opportunities: We took it easy this week and just had kung fu class, a baking/crafting playdate for St. Patrick's Day, and PE class.

Our St. Patrick's Day craft will grow parsley "hair"

Our cupcakes had rainbow colors inside!

1st Grade: Week 27 Highlights

Grammar: We began learning about sentences this week, and were introduced to statement (declarative) sentences.

Math: "Rupert" has skip counting by 2-6 down, so this week we started on skip counting by 7. I cannot express how happy I am with the skip counting songs we are using. It's right up "Rupert's" alley as he is mostly an auditory learner and has a great memory for music.

History: We read a little more about the Greek gods and the fall of Troy. "Rupert" really liked the story of the Trojan horse and had fun acting it out.

Science: We read about the sense of smell, watched a Bill Nye video about smell, and did a taste test without using smell to see how important smell is in our ability to taste foods.

Social Opportunities: Overnight with Grandma and Grandpa, play practice, Kung fu, peanut butter bear playdate, PE class and art day.

1st Grade: Week 26 Highlights

Math: I made a little math memory game for us to play this week. The object is to find two cards that make 10 when added together. This went over really well, and we played several times on two different days.

History: We read about the differences in values and way of life between Sparta and Athens this week. We also made a "wax tablet" to write on like the schoolboys in Athens had.

Social: This week we had the usual play practice, kung fu, playdate with his buddy, Seth, homeschool PE and art day. We also had a special Caterpillar Cupcake Playdate with a couple of homeschool buddies. We had lots of fun things going this week!

Spelling: This week's words were a bit tricky with double "l"s and silent "l"s as in the words talk, walk and chalk. I thought for sure we'd be spending two weeks with this list, but "Rupert" did fine with them.

Grammar: This week we talked about writing dates, and I showed him how to write some of the special dates we know.

1st Grade: Week 24 Highlights

Spelling: "Rupert" aced his pretest on Monday, so got a break from spelling for the rest of the week. He was excited about that!

Bible: He has been learning 2 verses a week for the past couple of weeks. One for Sunday school and one for J-Force (the play he's doing). He's got a great memory, and learns both verses quite easily.

History: We learned more about ancient Greece this week. I think we'll be sticking with that for the next few weeks, then we'll wrap it up by having the grandparents and cousins over for a Greek feast and Olympic Games.

Social Opportunities: This week we had play practice, went to a friend's birthday party (Happy birthday, Naomi, my birthday twin!), went to two kung fu classes, had a playdate, did storytime at the library and participated in homeschool P.E. I look forward to the days where we don't have to be anywhere or do anything as much as the days filled with activities. "Rupert" is really enjoying all the fun things we've been doing lately, and is very happy with our new schedule.

1st Grade: Week 23 Highlights

Craft: We made valentines this week for "Rupert's friends. This craft was based on an idea we saw in Clubhouse Jr. magazine.

Phonics: I think we're having a reading growth spurt. "Rupert" is able to read a lot more than before, and this gives him the confidence to try sounding out new, harder words. It's a great cycle to be on! As we were in line at the post office this week, he grabbed a pamphlet and started reading what he could as we waited. The word "international" still trips him up, but he's got "shipping" down pat! LOL!

Grammar: "Rupert" began learning another poem this week. This will make 5 in all.

Science: This week marks the beginning of our human body study. We started by learning about bones. I am teaching "Rupert" the names of some of the major bones, about 20 in all. I am planning to do either a big lapbook for our human body study, or a collection of smaller ones. I'm not sure yet which.

This week we did a few projects to go along with our study: We made a model of a backbone complete with discs in between the bones and a spinal cord running up the center.

Here, "Rupert" is showing how the many bones work together to allow us to bend.

Our discussion went into how the nerves work and "Rupert" modified his model to show that the nerves in the arms and legs (the threads coming off the backbone model) are connected to the spinal cord, which is connected to the brain (the green spool on the right). It was amazing to listen to him explain to me how the nervous system works. He picked up on the concept very quickly.

We also learned that bones are made up of minerals. When the minerals are removed, the bone is no longer hard, but becomes rubbery. The calcium in this chicken bone was removed by soaking it in vinegar for a few days.

We did a measurement project to show that we "shrink" during the day and actually are shorter at night than we are in the morning because of the pressure that is on our bodies when we are in an upright position. It was pretty funny because we had measured "Rupert" in the morning, then came back to measure again at night and he was so excited to see how much he had grown over the course of the day. He was very surprised to find that he was actually about 1/2 inch shorter than he had been in the morning.

History: This week we've been reading about the early Greeks. "Rupert" made this Mycenaean shield and we have plans in the works for making a Mycenaean helmet as well.

Kung Fu: We are learning our 4th stick form. It uses two sticks and takes a lot more concentration to learn than the single stick forms we have previously learned. "Rupert's" focus is getting better, although he does still have a day here and there where he is totally spacey.

Social Opportunities: Besides all the real world social experience of being out and about, talking to all kinds of people of different ages and backgrounds, asking questions, and just generally experiencing the community around us, we had 2 playdates this week, art day, kung fu, story time, and play practice.

1st Grade: Week 22 Highlights

This was "Rupert's" second week of play practice and he's still loving it! The kids started learning some choreography this week, and got their CDs to take home and listen to for practice. "Rupert" loves playing his CD whenever he can, playing in his room, jumping on his bed, folding his laundry, bedtime...anytime is a good time for his play music! :-)

We also finished listening to "Beezus and Ramona" by Beverly Cleary this week. We have already listened to the whole Ramona series, but we loved it so much that we decided to start all over again. We love Ramona!!

Phonics: The easy readers are still working out wonderfully! "Rupert" is actually excited to pick one out of the stack to read, and sometimes he insists on reading two! I definitely think this is the way to go for us!

Spelling: We started the 2nd grade spelling program this week.

Art: We had art day with our homeschool group this week and did another watercolor lesson. We also did a watercolor lesson with Grandma this week.

"Rupert's" Journey of Discovery watercolor painting:

Mine:

"Rupert's" Garden watercolor painting:

Mine:

Cooking: "Rupert's" recipe pick of the week was Oreo milkshakes, and, of course, they were GOOD!

History: This week we read about life in early Crete. We had fun learning about the bull-jumpers, and "Rupert" made a set of bull horns and we each got to practice jumping a "bull" (each other), too.

We also read about Theseus and the Minotaur, a story that we really enjoyed. We acted that one out too! :-)

Science: This was our last week of animal study. We read about spiders, crabs, and insects. Next week we move on to our human body study (my favorite!) and I am so excited!!!

We also did a couple of the science experiments that "Rupert" got for Christmas. Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma!!

Erupting Volcano:

ASL: When we popped in the new Signing Time video for this week, we realized that of all the signs on this video, only 4 of them were new to us! Lots of freebies/review signs for us, but that's okay. I think "Rupert" was excited about the fact that he already knew most of them.

Kung fu: Professor is beginning to get us all ready for promotion. Promotion isn't until June, but he wants to be sure everyone knows their stuff. I still haven't decided whether I'll go up for promotion or not. I generally don't like to be publicly recognized like that, and really, I just want to learn. I am not concerned about what color belt I hold. It has just never been important to me. But DH is pressuring me to do it. I don't know...

Social Opportunities: Besides kung fu and play practice, this week we had a playdate with "Rupert's" buddy since birth. They played together for hours and didn't fight once! They had a great time, and we're planning to do it again in two weeks. We also joined in on a once a week homeschool PE class this week. "Rupert" enjoyed running around playing all kinds of tag with the other kids. Add art day, an overnight with the grandparents, and a skating party, and we're maxed out on social engagements for the week!

Oh! One last thing! We made this little Groundhog Day craft this week too! He pops up out of his hole to look for his shadow. :-)

1st Grade: Week 21 Highlights

Bible: We are really enjoying the Kids 4 Truth devotions online.

Sunday was "Rupert's" first play practice with the children's drama team at our church. They will be performing the musical, J-Force to the Rescue. He will have practice once a week for about 3 months, then there will be one intensive practice week where they will have practice 4 days, and finally, they will have several performances for the children in our church (6 different services, I believe), and a couple of outreach performances for other churches. It's a big commitment, but I think he will get a lot out of it.

Phonics: This week we took a break from The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading (OPG). With the success we had in reading Green Eggs and Ham last week, I decided to pick up some easy readers at the library, and give them a try. It was wonderful! "Rupert" gets overwhelmed with his OPG phonics lessons. It is a plain book with no pictures. When he sees only words and a lot of them, he gets overwhelmed with how much work there is to do. It doesn't matter if the words are easy or hard, all he sees is a lot of work! The pictures in the easy readers are a bit distracting at first, but after he spends a minute enjoying the pictures, he seems more focused and ready to read. This week he was reading words that I didn't know he could! And he was actually enjoying it! Needless to say, we're sticking with the early readers for a while (though I will probably throw some sight word study in there too).

Spelling: We finished up 1st grade spelling this week. Next week we will move to 2nd grade spelling which will have more difficult words and more of them. I have every intention of taking it slow and not letting "Rupert" get too crazy with it (like doing 4 spelling lists at a time, as he did a couple of times with the 1st grade set).

Writing: We took a break from our regular writing curriculum this week to write thank you notes for Christmas gifts. I still have to get those in the mail!

Grammar: We learned that the word "I" is always capitalized, and "Rupert" made up a story about waking up as a bunny. I wrote it down on paper as he told it/acted out the action verbs, then he went back through the written story and circled all the occurrences of the word "I" (with a capital letter). He enjoyed this creative activity.

Math: "Rupert" is still going strong with his math workbook, and averages about 4 pages a day. Since most of the concepts are familiar to him, I let him choose any page in the whole book to do, but I've already warned him that next year we will be working through the book from beginning to end. This week he worked on fractions, time, addition and subtraction.

History: We read about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.

Science: We read about worms and Octopi, and watched videos of worm dissections and an octopus taking down a shark! Very cool!

Cookbook Pick of the Week: Cream cheese and jam stuffed French toast. It was fun to make and pretty yummy too!

Social Activity: This week we participated in a homeschool group show and tell. "Rupert" had really been looking forward to it, and had a good time showing off his stuffed bunny, Flopsy.

Of course, we had kung fu class and storytime at the library as social opportunities as well.

1st Grade: Week 18 Highlights

We eased into this week, and had a great one. It helped that our history, Bible and reading all coincided this week, and we were able to kill 3 birds with one stone, thereby shortening our school day and allowing us to be done by noon every day (not bad at all considering we start working between 9 and 10am). Woo hoo!! We were also able to do a couple of fun projects to go along with our studies. We finally finished our Egyptian burial mask this week:

We also weaved a Moses basket to go along with our history and Bible lesson for this week:

"Rupert" took on two spelling lists this week and got them all right on his test. We practiced spelling the words out loud during practice times, and that seems to really work for him. Again, I don't know why I didn't figure this out before. He is an AUDITORY learner. Gotta get that through my head! :-)

Math: We started on one of his new workbooks this week, and so far he has done 16 pages! He loves it! It's mostly below his level, but there are some things that are fairly new to him (like telling time), and some that are just good review (like counting money and using tally marks). I've been giving him a sticker to put on each completed page, and he seems to really like that. I also think I'm going to reward him with an ice cream trip or something when he finishes the workbook. What? I like ice cream! Ahhhhh...keeping math fun...for both of us! :-)

Science: This week we talked about turtles and crocodiles and watched a Bill Nye video on reptiles. I've also resolved to do more science experiments. This kid LOVES experiments and I've been slacking. I've decided to do experiments even if they have nothing to do with what we're studying at the moment...just for the pure fun of it! This week we grew crystal flowers!

Social: Another resolution of mine is to put more effort into setting up regular playdates for "Rupert". Being an only child, he is desperate for someone to play with, and the brutal reality is that mommy just doesn't WANT to pretend she's a kitty all day. There really are some things that kids are just better at than adults. We have one regular playdate set up, and have plans in the works for at least one more. Two playdates a week and the flexibility to join in on other miscellaneous social activities should fill the need just fine.

Homeschoolers Excel in Social Skills

I found this on The HomeScholar:

A little story for the next time you’re asked about socialization…

April 22, 2008

In 2006, my boys were two of 108 top applicants invited to compete for ten full-tuition scholarships at Seattle Pacific University. All 108 invitees had great SAT scores. All had compelling personal stories. Between them they had thousands of hours of community service. Indeed, there was very little – on paper – to distinguish one from the other. That is why, I suppose, SPU used a full day competition to make their decision.

When they were on campus that day, they were evaluated in all types of settings: class room observation, panel discussions, faculty interviews, dining table conversations, walking between classes. For eight hours, they were under a microscope. When they got back, both boys agreed it was the most exciting and invigorating day of their lives.

Only ten full-tuition scholarships were given that year and my homeschoolers got two of them! What made the difference? In addition the normal stuff (GPA, SAT, community service), we were told that the winners were chosen based on things like:

• intereaction with their peers,
• engagement with the faculty,
• self confidence,
• maturity,
• courtesy, and
• a well developed sense of who they were.

In a nutshell, they were chosen based on socialization. Now isn’t that the most ironic thing you’ve ever heard!!

Remember: we did nothing special. We were just ordinary homeschool family struggling our way through high school. The only difference was we taught our kids at home, independently.

Eventually, the world will recognize the superior socialization provided by homeschooling. Do not be discouraged when you are asked for the thousandth time “what about socialization?” Just smile and tell them our story and think about the story you will be able to tell in a few years!

Do you have a favorite socialization story? I’d love to hear it!

Our Neighbor, the Bird Watcher

We live next door to an elderly couple and the husband is an avid bird watcher. What a great opportunity for G to learn about birds in a real and hands-on way! Our neighbor is more than happy to teach us everything he knows about birds. Yesterday, he showed us the bluebirds that have made a nest in one of his bird houses. We also got to see the nest itself and the 5 little eggs that are in it. He says that if all goes well, we should be seeing baby bluebirds next week! His yard is all decked out with bird gear: bird baths, bird houses and bird feeders. He's got different types of birdseed for different types of birds, and he is teaching us about the behaviors of the birds that come around our neighborhood. We're looking forward to feeding some of them out of our hands!

Social Skills

Who knew that social skills could be learned and improved upon by meeting people in everyday life around the community? Aren't social skills picked up strictly in a public school setting? Nope, and today was a perfect example.

G and I went to Costco today and after we had done our shopping, we decided to sit down and share a hot dog and a sundae. We parked our cart and looked for a couple of nearby empty seats. There was an older gentleman sitting alone at one of the tables and we asked him if we could join him. He was happy to have the company and as we ate our lunch, we sat and chatted with our new friend. He was a great grandpa and I think he got a kick out of G. I know G enjoyed talking with him. The gentleman shared about his family, his hobbies, and even a little about what life was like for him as a kid (no indoor toilets or running water in the house, which G was amazed about, and didn't believe at first). It was a great way for G to continue to develop a respect for old people and to have the opportunity to personally relate to people much older than him. When children realize the wealth of knowledge, wisdom and experience that can be passed from one generation to another, and the mentors they have in their elders, they set themselves up to live rich and fulfilling lives.