Monthly Archive: June 2011
DD has been working a lot with coins and counting change recently. Coin Toss and Change Counting There’s nothing wildly original about his idea, but boy did the kids like this activity! I just took a big handful of coins (the same for each of the kids). They took turns throwing the coins into the heart cups and then had to count their change when they had tossed all of...
The kids decided Dad should have a dragon-themed party (in honor of Ferno from LD’s Beast Quest books). I’m no cake-maker (my friend M is amazing!!!), but the kids were happy with the results! The kids enjoyed Dad’s scavenger hunt — it took them around the house, out to the tire swing in the woods, up our rope ladder and back all around the house!
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we started using First Language Lessons. DD really, really loves the memory work. So much so, that we’ve added in some other poems from this poetry book to the left. It has cute, short poems just perfect in length and in subject matter for DD. She really likes the Ladybug by Joan Walsh Anglund and memorized it within a day or so:...
Well, I finished my first official training week. I’m planning to run a half-marathon in September. I feel great and my “long run” which was just 6 miles was a breeze. I’m watching the movie, Running the Sahara, for a bit of inspiration. Three men set off to run across the Sahara Desert in 2007. They often ran the equivalent of two marathons a day for over 100 days. What...
We are using the Five in a Row book list and some recommended children’s authors to add some spice to our children’s literature readings. WOW! Have we had a wonderful time so far on this adventure! Here is our children’s literature book list, a collection of authors and titles we are making our way through (though I liberally add in my own books/findings as you see!). These books have a...
We’re enjoying lots of playdates and time with friends this summer. What a beautiful park! On another note, I think I’m going to train for a half-marathon in September. I’m excited to have a big goal — just for ME! 🙂 It has been years since I last trained for anything. My last marathon was on the Sydney Olympic marathon coarse… and I finished in the Sydney Olympic stadium with...
Someone mentioned this math website on one of the blogs I frequent now and then. I decided to check it out and wanted to mention it for those with kids in 5th or 6th grade. I think even LD will learn something from these short math videos. I watched two of them. They were easy to follow (from my perspective, though haven’t shown LD to get his opinion). The ones...
We had this ever-growing yellow-jacket’s nest on our front porch. Dad sprayed this nest twice without luck, so we finally called in exterminators. But in the meantime, we did some reading about wasps from a free download by Homeschool Bits. We learned that wasps are extremely beneficial. Nearly every pest insect on Earth is preyed upon by a wasp species. Unfortunately, this nest was right next to our front door...
If your child is learning his or her times tables, there’s a wonderful video game you can download for them to practice. The graphics are great. Timez Attack — There’s a free version or you can purchase a version that has more levels. You should check it out if you haven’t already!
We are using the Five in a Row book list to add some spice to our children’s literature readings this summer and into the fall. We bought two of the FIAR curriculum guides (for vol. 2 and 3) and will use the other two lists as a reference to bring great books into the house. We also will be going through the children’s literature author’s list suggested by Lucy Calkins...
DD took a domino and created an addition problem writing it on her recording sheet. We used the domino recording sheet from Mathwire. You can find more domino math ideas on the investigating dominoes page and on this Mathwire page.There’s a cute activity also for addition called the domino parking lot with use with regular sized dominoes. ED simply counted the dots and put her wooden numbers on top of...
I made this a while ago, but never got around to introducing it to ED. It was a big hit the yesterday. Then DD came over and wanted to play. I had a number of extra eggs and ham without a letter on the reverse side, so they took turns trying to find the letter for their plate. If they got a blank egg or ham it was the other...
Goodness, we have been so busy here there’s hardly been any time to write. It’s the end of the semester and many of the kids’ (and my) activities are coming to a close. There have been extra practices and parties and we’re still doing our slow but steady homeschool stuff. Lots of books and lots of games this time of year! Plus we’re finishing up some old (unfinished) lapbook projects...
The kids are working on the different forms of to, too, two. Here’s a quick exercise I made for them. You can print this out here: to, too, two practice worksheets You can also find a free file folder game called “to,too,two much glue” at File Folder Fun which practices these same skills.