Sunday we went to church and then came home and had a nice family lunch. The kids played outside most of the day. Master M did some school stuff in the afternoon.
Monday Pork Chop had speech therapy. Her therapist told me that she is doing very good during their sessions and she is really trying hard to hear the different sounds and say them correctly. While she was having her therapy session Master M and I read a story for history. It's out of this fun book we picked up at the library. One of those you choose your way books about Ancient Egypt. We are working through all the scenarios and then notebooking them. The kids watched a Magic School Bus episode on the human body for science. Our FIAR book this week is the Story About Ping. We did the 3 R's too.
Tuesday (our new off day) the kids played with clay, Pork Chop drew all the stuff in a How to Draw Clifford book, and they painted with water colors. It was pretty cool out so they didn't spend much time outside. They have been extremely helpful this week and spent an hour helping me deep clean the house. In the afternoon we went to the library to pick up some things I had requested. While there I picked up a couple of books on hands on preschool activities. Pork Chop wants to have her own work, but she doesn't like puzzles or worksheets. She really enjoys what we are doing with FIAR, but she wants more. I found a book called 1,2, Buckle My Shoe that looked like it had some good ideas in it. I also picked up a copy of The Well Trained Mind. We already use OPGTR and notebook practically everything so I figured it was time to read about classical education. The kids picked their library books in record time (15 minutes) and we were already half way to karate so I just drove over. We had an hour to blow before karate started and Goose (13 months) was asleep so we read our next book in the Magic Treehouse Series #7 Sunset of the Sabertooth. At karate Master M did 100 kicks. After dinner I dove into reading TWTM while the kids played and Dad did some work at the table. I read everything that pertained to children of my kids age range and found that we were already doing classical education. It was very reassuring to sit back and say "Hey, we are already doing this.". Dad thought it was wonderful that in the book they state 4 days of school is enough since he suggested that SAME thing on Saturday!
Wednesday I used the review in Master M's math book as a test. He completed it all on his own *I did read the instructions* and made 100%. I am so glad I ordered all the books for Singapore 1b because he is ready. I told him if he made 100% on his test he wouldn't have to do math for the rest of the week. Next, will be a big review for him since it's shapes, patterns, lengths, and weights. While he did his math test Pork Chop did her assignment from the book I picked up from the library. On a white paper I wrote 1-9 and drew banana shapes (I say banana shapes bc I am a horrible drawer). On a piece of yellow construction paper I printed out enough banana's to fill all my banana shapes. I cut them out and had her glue them on which took her longer than it took Master M to do his math test. She LOVED this and asked if we could do more tomorrow. I decided to start her on OPGTR today too. She loves being read to and pretends to read to Goose. Master M did his OPGTR lesson and spelling lesson today without much complaint. He doesn't like it when I make him go back and rewrite a letter, but he did it. He tells me he doesn't like reading, but I caught him reading a BOB book to his sister this morning :) We read Ping again and added sequencing cards and vocabulary to our FIAR book. The day has been really nice and warm so the kids have been outside a lot. We have big wooden swingset in our back yard the kind with the clubhouse and sandbox under it. Well, ours just has a dirt box under it. The kids like dirt better than sand. Master M made a river in the dirt box and then he explained to me and his dad about his river, how he was growing crops on the other side of the box, how he was digging irrigation tunnels to water his crops, and how he had built a damn so that part of his river was now a lake. I think what he is learning about Ancient times is sinking in :)
Thursday: Goose woke up at 3 am. By 7am I had the house looking very good (THANK YOU COFFEE!). I was very glad that it was our new off day. The kids spent the morning playing outside. I called the music teacher that does suzuki violin and cello and got info about starting Master M. I am giving him until the end of April to pick. That gives us plenty of time to get him signed up and an instrument before classes start in June. I secrectly want him to play the cello. At lunch Master M was trying to figure out how butter was made from milk. So after lunch we watched a How It's Made on butter. We all love that How It's Made is available on Netflix for whenever we need it. While I helped Pork Chop put together a 100 piece puzzle Master M watched another How It's Made on bathtubs, helecopters, and some other stuff (toothpicks???). Then it was back outside. Master M had baseball practice and that went well. His coach has him on 1st base. He still needs to practice his catching, but his hitting was spot on. On the way home from baseball Pork Chop told me she was mad at me. She said it wasn't fair her brother has reading class, math class, science class, and history class. She claimed she never got to do ANYTHING. So Dad cooked dinner while I did a lesson out of OPGTR with her and some m&m math. After dinner Master M read a Level 1 reader (with help).
Friday: We read Cells are Us for science and made a page for our science notebook. Master M had a review lesson in OPGTR and Pork Chop continued to learn vowel sounds. Master M had his spelling test today and only wrote 2 words correct. We went over them a lot this week, but when he wrote some of them he sounded out an a sound instead of an e sound. He has a really hard time with the short e sound. We finished up The Story about Ping and read some more about Egypt for history.
