Around here. Mom thoughts.

I am seeing: 

-Gemma progressively reading. She wants to read with Mom or Dad at night and requests that we read but leave small words for her, like: at, the, in, is, has, etc.

-Aiden creating things, like a cannon, out of old recycled cans and other materials.

-Keiran fighting for attention and insisting on watching everything the older kids do. He is so close to being ready to start sitting and doing work. He is always there when we read for Science, and lately for Socials too. I might get him started on some book work.

-Gemma excelling at her first Math-U-See book. Starting her smaller has paid off and she is very ready for this program that we love. She is now counting to 100 too!

-Aiden flying through his Explode the Code, daily readers, and spelling tests. These things are simple for him. When it comes to day four, which is longer and more instructed writing , he gives me just a bit of push sometimes. I am wondering if he needs more of a step-by-step instruction to not be overwhelmed, as well as some free writing times so that he gets back to loving writing creatively. I have spotted some neat writing prompts and fun journals out there lately.... I might add in some of this to change it up. 

-Aiden reading through three chapter books in a row. I am picking him up different chapter book series from Costco when I grocery shop. I want to keep chapter books on the list of things to look for when we go to the homeschool conference.

-Finn bending, almost ready to roll-over.... and next week he will start some rice cereal. He sure adds to the mix.

-All three older kids outside running around through trees and in mud, with spring weather and new rubber boots. They have started climbing everything- trees, the fort, the fence, the out-buildings. I am trying to give a little bit of boundaries and then let go as they grow in this next stage.











 

A little English and Math with Aiden.

 

Aiden's spelling test.

 

A written conversation. 

 

Aiden's math test. 

 

17/20

 

And with corrections. 

A little Math and English with Gem.

Gemma started Math-U-See Primer! She was so excited. 

Keiran was very interested to check it out too.  

 Gemma learned about punctuation. (Handwriting Without Tears.)

 

 

Gemma is becoming a good reader. She was reading to Finn one day so I snuck a pic. 

 

Primer practice. 

 

More Primer practice. This math is easy for her now that she had a head start with Singapore Math. She is moving quickly through this first level of Math-U-See. 

shared spaces

Socials, art and science- shared lessons.

 

Here is our recent Social Studies book. 

 

This is Aiden's rendering of a mountain. He has included mountain climbers and an avalanche- all things that we learned about.

 

Gemma's mountain picture. She drew a snowy peak and the tree line, along with a mountain climber. 

 

Aiden's creation of a jungle scene. 

 

Gemma's art of a jungle, with tall trees. 

 

Dad helped with science this week. They are reading about solids, liquids, and gases. 

Book work in March.

A bit of our mornings....

 

C usually says /k/ as in cake. Color this picture whose name begins with the sound /k/.

This is one of Mom's favorite Code activities to see Gemma do. The way that she colors shows her personality.  

 

 

What a morning looks like from Gemma's side of the table. She has: Handwriting Without Tears; Letters and Numbers for Me, Go For the Code C (A primer from the Explode the Code Series), Sonlight K worksheet(s) and a reader (this one is "Jill's Pup"), and Singapore Earlybird Mathematics B. 

 

What a morning looks like from Aiden's side of the table. He has: Explode the Code 6, a Sonlight Grade 2 worksheet and reader (this one is "Frog and Toad are Friends"), and Math-U-See Alpha. He also has spelling words to write out on the whiteboard that follow his learned rule for the week (on Monday/day 1), a pretest (on Tuesday/day 2), and a spelling test (on Friday/day4). 

 This is Gem's story starter... She told Mom the story that is written down here.

An example of Aiden's rule and spelling words. (Grade 2 Sonlight.) 

Aiden's pretest of the week. 

Meanwhile.... Keiran is playing spy. 

 

Math test 24 for Aiden.  Yay, 20/20.

Finn is now four months old. He can grab toys and his toes. He loves to laugh and is a very content to be at home. ( I think this pic was actually taken in the evening but we needed to fit Finn in.)

 Aiden's Alpha unit test 3. It seems a break for him has done him well.

More unit test, page 3. 

 Unit test, second page.

Aiden's first page of his unit test. 

Aiden using ir, ur, and er in his Explode the Code 6 workbook. 

Growing.

School and life:

 

Replanting a Christmas Cactus. Our Great-Great Grandma Campbell always had a huge Christmas Cactus or two, so this is a fave. This particular one came from Auntie Diane, years ago.

 

Watering too. 

 

New books for Mom. Never too old.....

 

Gemma has moved up to the next dance class. It is jazz/ballet for her this year. 

 

Aiden reads to Finn to console him. 

 

We live in the sticks. Aiden has started climbing trees all the time. Gemma and Keiran have been following a little too. 

school and life

All of a sudden life is whirling. The kids are grasping all things new and are buzzing around in front of Mom, ahead of Mom. They know the routine and grab their books and go. It is a great thing. It is in this place that this Mamma also needs to let go again. I remember that they are not just mine, but entrusted to us by a great God. This God has a plan for their lives, even in the now. Recently we have been refocusing. Mom has remembered to start well again, to be intentional. We took a quiet week in the beginning of March when there was starting to be pressure, and attitudes, and exhaustion. We caught up a few things and did nothing much more. Mom unplugged from the busy and now because of this, there is a more clear picture of this thing we call school and life.

Math learning questions.

Since our math program is a mastery program, which works on one concept at a time, there are a few concepts that we have to fill in for Aiden to complete our PLOs. We still plan on sticking with Math-U-See as it is working for our family. Here are some of Aiden's extra work:

My big boy loves stories.

 

Aiden reading to Finn. 

 

Aiden's creative writing: 

Once upon a time in Vancouver there was a lady named Lisa. She liked to do bike stunts. One day she went to the bike park and she saw a sign that said, "Come to the bike store to sign up for the bike marathon." She said," I hope it's 500 m." So she went to the bike shop and when she got there she saw her brother his name was Mike, he worked at the bike shop. and he let her register. and so she did. 

The end! 

The drawing station.

Mom came downstairs to find Aiden and Gemma had set up a drawing station. The last few days have been full of drawings around our house. 

 

Busy drawing together before bed. 

 

Aiden's pizza (on the left) and Gemma's pizza (on the right). Aiden drew Gemma's crust for her. 

 

Aiden's drawing of a boy searching for his toy car in the grass. 

Map Book One is Done.

Aiden has just finished up his Canada Map Book 1. 

 

Mom loved the simple structure of this book. And Aiden learned lots about mapping, as you can see from his 100% marks. 

 

Part two of Aiden's test- another 13/13.