Wednesday, Thursday & Friday

I couldn't remember the password to up load pictures hence no posting the end of last week!

We were busy. On Wednesday, the first day of Fall we headed off to Goddard Park for the morning. We climbed trees, hiked, looked at the water, ran in the big fields & took some time to observe flowers & trees and sit and sketch in our journals for a little bit. We decided that Wednesday's would be dedicated to nature!

We watched as much of the Pope's first visit to the United States as we could. This led to many questions (why does he wear those hats; why does he carry a stick; how come he's so important?). It made my heart happy to hear her ask "is Pope Francis on TV right now & can I watch him?"

She was thrilled that he went to Pennsylvania as that's the state we are learning about right now. We began a new notebook....I am printing out each states Flower & Bird with some facts on it and she is coloring them as close as she can to the real thing. At the end of the 50 (or so) weeks we'll have a state notebook! 

We finished up our dinosaur eggs by painting them; she spent countless hours clipping pictures from magazines making collages of restaurants, weddings, menu's, flowers. Except she's not gluing them down "just in case I need them for something else." So we have piles of little clippings all over the place!

A big passion of her's right now is baking. She loves to play restaurant or bakery with Veronica coming up with new recipes & dishes. On Friday this led to making oatmeal muffins and then spending the afternoon writing up her own recipes of new meals she invented. I have high hopes that this project will turn into her wanting to take over the cooking duties ;-)

And of course little sister is with us every step of the way! Whether it be getting outside exploring, sitting at the table coloring/doing school work, dancing, or playing at our feet while we do things (or elbows trying to "help" cook) she is on this journey with us!

All of this doesn't include the "usual" things we do each day: always math, read a-louds, prayers/talking about our faith, some type of writing and of course the daily chores she helps out with. We have full days of learning & life. Some days are fuller with activities & outside fun. Other days are slower paced with lots of free time for imagination, outside time & play. 

We are finding a very good balance as we move along. Things have already changed a bit from what I had envisioned but for the better. We have dedicated days of the week: nature, baking, handwork, art but I have stopped giving them a dedicated day (i.e. Tuesday was supposed to be baking....baking seems to be happening on Friday's, etc).

Monday & Tuesday

Yesterday was a usual day....math, reading, practicing writing, playing outside, running a few errands. Ballet class & then some state work with Daddy after supper.

Today was morning math & writing in her Elsa costume. She is really picking up words here and there to learn to read. If she allows herself the freedom to relax she would pick it up a bit sooner. I'm not rushing her. I know she will do it when she is ready.

We went to the homeschool community center for a puppet theater making workshop. A morning of friends and art! 

We then came home for lunch, some read a-loud and rest. After rest time we made paper mache dinosaur eggs. Once they dry (which could take some time....there was a lot of glue used! A good lesson in needing to be patient for eggs to hatch) we will paint them and then "hatch" them at some point in our dinosaur unit.

We then went outside for a few minutes to watch the last sunset of summer!

Wednesday

**An afternoon of reading a-loud; writing; coloring; watching a few shows on Dinosaurs.

**getting outside for 45 minutes after supper to observe nature and sketch what we see

**we noticed a goldfinch fledging and watched him hop along the stone wall; lots of bugs flying around all in one spot; a HUGE dragonfly

**after pajamas and dark we went back outside to look at all the constellations using the app on the iPad "Space View App". When the bugs began biting we came back inside where the two girls continued to use the app to keep learning about the constellations....they were fascinated that the app still showed the stars even though they were in the house!

Monday & Tuesday

Monday was. Crisp and cool. Mugs of tea. Books. Lots of books. Stuffy noses. Writing thank you notes. Math. Grocery shopping. Baths before naps. Late afternoon ballet class. Dinner being made now so it's ready later. Looking through new books and planning some weather activities for us to do soon. Her list of things she wants to learn about and do keeps growing!

Tuesday is:

*beginning the day dressing up as a person from Hawaii and dancing the hula

**math....learning how to count by 5

**art time...we both made collages in our journals

**starting a new band called "Marie & the Sister". Designing costumes. Writing songs. Complete with musical notes & all. Then performing the songs.

**Lots of outside time. Observing. Sketching. Collecting. Digging. Finding. We are taking an online workshop called "Everyday Nature". A detailed post about that when we have finished in about two weeks
**Began learning about Pennsylvania with Daddy

Second week re-cap

This week was busy & I didn't get a chance to update here each day. But I took pictures!

From Wednesday through Saturday there was:

**ballet

**work at Nana's: math, writing & more Delaware work (naming the state flower, bird, nickname & year it came into the union) we also colored in the state flag

**some engineering work: taking a pen apart then diagraming the pieces & how she thinks they may go together. She spent quite some time doing this. I might have to find some small electronic things that she can take apart to investigate

**Thursday was a lot of time at the new whiteboard

**she made up her own math problems
**practiced reading & writing the sight words: A, AND & AWAY
**a trip to the library and grocery store
**Friday was helping with laundry; lots of playing; lots of coloring; more practicing writing; math work
**Saturday was our first "Rhode Island Adventure Day." We took a trip down to the port of Galilee. We watched the Block Island Ferry come in and then go out. Built sandcastles in the sand; dipped our feet in the water; watched many fishing boats come in and out; tried to get up close to the Point Judith Lighthouse only to find that it was fenced off for repairs.

I just finished planning out our coming week, more constellation fun, some dinosaur fun, some fun science experiments to try, beginning our nature study, ballet, and some get togethers and play dates!

Sixth Day

Today began our week's focus on constellations

We began the morning with some math work & some writing....practicing writing and recognizing upper & lower case B's

Then we moved onto looking at some books of constellations; looking on-line at pictures of constellations; we talked about how the groups of stars look like pictures when we "connect the dots"

Marie-Therese then sat and made her own constellation that she called "Flag Star". She decided to make her stars blue after we listened to a song that told us the different colors that stars can be (all determined by their temperature)

By this time it was mid-morning and the heat was unbearable "it's making my brain too hot to think Momma" so we cleaned up & retreated upstairs for a bit where she played with Lego's until lunch time

Then her cousin stopped by for a visit....they invented & built a machine that moves things; they sorted buttons & then decided to make "glow in the dark cupcakes" with them. They weren't able to finish the "cupcakes" before it was time for J to go home.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching a few shows & reading together. After supper it was cool enough to run around for an hour or so outside (naked pretty much so no pictures!); she played tag, did some acrobatic moves, watered the garden and ran through the sprinkler. 

After baths & clean up we read more of our nightly read a-loud "Mr. Poppers Penguins"....we will finish it tomorrow night!

Fifth Day

Today we spent the morning playing at a local playground with people from our homeschool group

We got home just after lunch & everyone was tired. So we watched one show & then Veronica went for a nap and Marie-Therese went upstairs for rest time: she spent her time up there making clothes for her paper dolls princesses that she made at the beginning of the week

After an hour or so she came downstairs to do some table time: she worked in her math book....today we began subtraction

She finished her Book About Me

Began a September calendar....she is planning on drawing one thing we do each day in each square of the month

Right now she and Daddy are learning about our first state: Delaware. They found it on the map; he is reading to her about it from a book; they are writing down the state flower, bird, capital & motto (I think motto). His plan is to work through each state of the union with her this year in the order that they came into the union.

Today was a good day to help us realize that "school" doesn't just happen in the morning. There is no set time for it to happen. Most of what I would call our "formal" work happened starting after 4 this afternoon. 

Our first week went great and we all are excited for next week: we are going to do some things with learning about constellations. She is excited to get outside after dark and see if she can find some!

****Don't think we are forgetting Veronica! She is right by our side while we do our work. Usually she is sitting at the table with us coloring in her coloring (or on the floor like right now....while they are doing their state work she is to the side of them coloring). 

Fourth Day

Today was a good reminder for us: homeschooling is a lifestyle, and that can look as different as any other part of life from day to day.

This morning I could tell that Marie-Therese's mood was a little off. She insisted on sitting down to do her school work. She did about a half hour of math & writing. Then she wanted to try the Bob Books again but had trouble and got frustrated again. I told her that I thought today would be a good day to just play. She burst into tears saying that that's not school! She needed to sit and do school work!

I explained that learning isn't just about sitting at the table and writing or reading or doing math. It's about exploring and being curious and living life. That Mommy & Daddy learn all the time and we don't always sit at the table.

We took a trip to Target where she picked out some new school supplies. She had a certain amount of money so spent quite a bit of time in the aisle adding. When we left I told her that was "school"!

So was this afternoon: hours of free play with my old carousel horse toys. Organizing & sorting them. Making up stories about them. Taking time to come sit on her bed with me while I read a book to her. Cleaning up & treating the breakable toys carefully.

After a picnic supper on the deck I found her & Veronica busily writing in their notebooks. They were putting together nature journals. Marie-Therese walked around the yard collecting fallen leaves, flower petals, pieces of grass, etc. and taped them into her notebook. Telling me that she had left space to go back in a few days so she can sketch how they've changed.

Learning isn't all about sitting on the table doing rote work. It's living and breathing and experiencing too. Keeping imagination and creativity forefront. As a lifestyle. That's what I hope to continue to cultivate in both girls.

Third Day

**Began the day with some math & insect drawing

**ballet class

**Book About Me work

**bake banana bread---did most of the counting & measuring

**Sliced it & served banana bread to Nana & Grumpy

**read two Bob Books----went lots better today!

**before bed looked at the big United States map with Daddy. Found Rhode Island's flag & the location of the state. Compared how tiny we are to all the other states!

Second Day

She was up at 7 again this morning all excited & ready to do schoolwork & learn. She went back to bed for a bit while I finished waking up!

Over breakfast I read in the Bible the parable about letting our light shine rather then hide it. We talked about how we all are unique with our own talents.

**she did copy work....she copied the prayer The Glory Be

**worked some more on her Book About Me

**worked through the first Bob book....Which ended up in much tears from her because she didn't get it right away & she is afraid she'll never read. My little eager learner who keeps trying to skip steps & go too fast

**I had her take a break and play with Veronica for awhile....I'm not pushing the reading, she is insistent that she wants to learn to read. I don't want her to get too frustrated that she won't try anymore. So we agreed to take slower little steps & when frustration sets in we set it aside and try again another time

**she did some more math worksheets...adding & graphing

**we had some free art time this afternoon. I sat & painted & colored. She colored a mermaid and did a Frozen painting

**We watched a kids cooking show on Food Network

**went to the library where she "wrote" a story then performed it with the puppet theater

**she then made a machine out of blocks that moved things from one side to the other...she had a whole elaborate system going & explained it to me in great detail. Something about levers and pulleys