November in the Homeschool

The past two weeks have been busy and fun in the homeschool. Here's a snippet of some of the work done....

This Reading Comprehension book is really quite nice!!! It has relatively short stories, followed by a handful of comprehension questions and a few quick activities to test understanding. I'll definitely order the next in the series if I can find it online somewhere!

With my 5 y.o. kindy lady S., I printed off two stock-paper sheets with these apples on them, numbered 1-10. I cut one of the sheets out, and S. then had fun matching the right cut-out to the corresponding numbered apple on the sheet.

Science:  We're still working on Minecraft Homeschool (MCH) classes, where K. is currently learning about the water cycle. I wasn't super thrilled with the video that was suggested by the MCH lesson page, so we're scoping out our own. When we feel confident about the cycle, we'll do a colored picture to show how the cycle works.  We'll also be doing some experiments that will let us see each phase of the water cycle up close.

Social Studies: There is some history in the MCH class, but we're also trying to follow along (loosely) with the Oak Meadow and Waldorf Essentials curriculums. As such, we're starting a study of Ancient China. We'll be listening to some Story of The World, watching Mulan, and we'll seek out some books from the library and short stories online for me to read aloud.

Language Arts:  We've been listening to a lot of Sparkle Stories lately, working in the Reading Comprehension book (see above), and doing word families in the main lesson book (see above),  We've also done a little work with Jolly Robin and Solomon Owl, but those are both stories that we have just started and we can't decide whether to do one at a time or both at once (we like them both...but they still seem to lag behind Sparkle Stories for us in interest)

Math: We've done a bunch of different things for math. I'm still trying to get K. to memorize his addition facts up to 20, which has been slow. He does well with counting beads, but not so well just using his head. We also work on counting phase 10 blocks (he's getting pretty good at that), stating and recognizing numbers in standard form, and greater than and less than.  We've used the website Prodigy (the free version), splashmath (also the free version), worksheets and pencil-and-paper factoring (along with just "quizzing" in the car about the addition facts). Skip counting has taken a back seat while I've been focusing on trying to get these addition facts firmly memorized. I have the ambitious goal of having them flow easily off the top of K's head by Christmas, and then we'll return to skip counting once we've gotten that sorted.

Music: We've taken a bit of a break from recorder. It always seems at the bottom of our list. I'd like to change that, so I think after Thanksgiving I'll work on bringing it back into our weekly schedule again.  We have family visiting from Australia for Thanksgiving, so the next week we'll take a bit of a break from most written lesson work (we'll still continue with stories, as we really enjoy them).

Art: Art has consisted of the design aspect of minecraft builds, along with some coloring. We haven't done painting since the beginning of the year, mainly because my son hasn't been very interested in it (I believe that art needs to flow freely and willingly...otherwise, it is no longer art, but using art supplies to satisfy a request...if you can understand the difference.)

 The other day, my son drew a very elaborate picture that told a story completely spontaneously, and was able to tell us the complex story behind it. Clearly his imagination was engaged and the desire was there to create. *THAT* is art. Hopefully as the holidays draw closer, I'll be able to entice him to create some projects to give to people as gifts (and I strongly suspect I will be able to do so).

Movement: Not only do we have outside time regularly, but K. still attends gym class in a local district. We do dancing and movement as a regular part of our family time together as well. We also try to attend a local playgroup once a week, where the kids do a lot of running around for two hours.

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I have been exploring different aspects of finding/creating and maintaining friendships, which as I've stated in previous posts can be a challenge for me. I have some lovely friends I've made within the past few months online, and some "acquaintances" I've met in The Real World (tm) at our weekly playgroup. I'm trying to find that balance between having people in our lives, and not seeking any more deep connections locally before our move next year. 

No real news to report on the move. We're taking time to get ready for the holidays, and slowly getting rid of more "stuff" to lighten the amount of possessions we'll be shipping.  Maybe some folks can just toss stuff into a box or bag and toss everything out, but I have to look through everything, sometimes saying goodbye to precious items, and even finding good homes for specific things. I know it's only "stuff". I get that. It's still hard for me to let go of some of it. I'm doing much better, though!!

I've been making some homemade items for the holidays. I'll show some of my progress below:

Here's a scoodie I crocheted for my teen girl. I'm somewhat of a novice, so I was proud that I was able to complete this project and have it turn out looking halfway decent!

This is the beginning of some painted wooden pieces. If you look closely, you'll see 2 red sleighs (which will hold 3 small peg people each), a bean pot, an acorn top for the bean pot, and 2 peg people (small and large). I am not super happy with the shade of the red, so I will need to go shopping soon to find a brighter, deeper, more "true" red and redo these.

I hope that as Thanksgiving approaches, you are taking to heart the things for which you are grateful. We have been listening to the Sparkle Stories Giving Thanks audiobook, and it is truly lovely for this reminder to us all. Blessings to one and all!