A, and I Week Wrap Up....

This week in our school we....

 Learned the letters a (as in apple), and i (as in igloo)...

In Poetry...
This week we finished our time with our poem of the month, While All The World's Asleep.  I really liked this poem, it may have been a little longer, but it had a really pretty flow to it.  For our poem of the week we read Under a Tree.    Ava liked the poem but wondered why we weren't reading the Song of the Apple Blossom Fairy.  The answer?  I had no idea she was going to advance through 5 lessons.  I didn't "schedule" us to start vowel work until next week!  (Reason #56 why I LOVE homeschool....  Watching my daughter learn at her own pace.)  I didn't expect us to start our vowels so I chose a poem to match our theme of the week.

Our Theme for the week was...
Arbor day!  We didn't get to plant a tree (we planted a tomato) so we read a lot of really great books.  I would add any of these to our personal library.  This Tree Counts, by Alison Formento, a counting book covering all the wonderful things trees do for our planet.  The Happiness Tree, by Andrea Alban Gosline, was Ava's favorite.  The serene illustrations complimented this books theme, the magical gifts trees offer like peace, courage,  and love.  Arbor Day Square, by Kthryn Galbraith, a story about a town that needed trees, and a note at the end about the origins of Arbor Day.  A Tree is Nice, by Janice May Udry, a simple poetic story with classic 1956 illustrations make this Caldecott Medal book worth reading.  Who Will Plant A Tree?, by Jerry Pallotta, was probably the most informative to Ava.  This book beautifully (even if it mentions poop) illustrated the many ways that trees are planted naturally all over the world.

 

We had a wonderful time at the park with another homeshool family this week.  I believe we will try to make this a weekly Wednesday outing.  It seems to be great for all  of us.

In Science...
We took most of the week off for Science.  We reinforced the ideas of energy transfer through teachable moments (making Easter dinner) and conversations.  Friday we'll talk about  gravity's effect the heavenly bodies, and satellites.  This will tie in nicely with the much anticipated launch of The Endeavor.

In Math we...
~learned to count with a calculator
~used the commutative property for adding 1+ a number
~reviewed ordinal counting (using jelly beans and our royal family)
~started using traditional names for the 10s

In Art Study...

We explored Portrait of Baby and Dog, by Joseph Whiting Stock.  Ava said she really liked this painting.  She said she'd like to take the dress, make it her size and wear it to her own wedding.  "I could have another wedding for that dress" she added dreamily.  She loves weddings.  Loves them.  Some how we are going to have to work in The Royal Wedding on Friday along with the Endeavor launch.  My opinion of the painting?  I think the baby is plain creepy.  Thankfully Ava didn't ask what I thought.  (My apologies to the baby, her family, and the artist.)


This was a really great week overall.  We veered way off my planned course, but I couldn't be more pleased with Ava's determination.  She seems to really love reading, writing and spelling.  She's learning so much, and she having fun doing it all.  What more could I ask?

An Arizona Easter...

We had a lovely day getting Easter baskets and hunting eggs at our house.  We spent the afternoon and evening at my inlaws having a delicious dinner, and a delightful second egg hunt.   After most of the family went home, we spent just a few more moments enjoying the rest of the daylight hours.

The day was a typical sunny (high in the high 80's) Arizona Easter day.  And yes, my inlaws have a putting green.  (have I mentioned that before?)

I know (more than any one) that I complain (a lot) about Arizona.  I can't help but look at these pictures and wonder why.  (Don't worry, in about a month I'll be so over this heat, and I'll remember) 

This year in eggs...

...not the whole year, just the Easter season.  We've had a lot of successes this season, some of them stemming from some massive failures.  (I'm not being modest, I actually used over 16 cups of water in a dye bath that called for 4)  Thankfully I read a lot of blogs.  Thankfully these blogs talk about egg decorating before the holiday, not after, so I could adjust our plans on the spot, and save the day.  Thank you ladies!!!

First we decorated wooden eggs.  We gave them a little sanding, painted them with watercolor, and rubbed them down with beeswax polish.  So simple.  For some wood burning effect Ava and I drew our designs in sharpie first.

A few days later we decorated our chicken eggs.  I planned on making a set of blue, pink and yellow from natural dyes.  After that didn't work (I ought not talk on the phone while working in the kitchen) we switched to melting crayon on hot eggs.  The results were really dramatic.  I can definitely see us doing this again and again.

All our eggs in one basket (if you will)...

Beautiful!

This Magic Moment...

Sitting in the bathtub.  

Surrounded by the laughter of his siblings.

The very first moment I put paint in front of my 10 month old baby.  

The Magic Moment he created his first work of art.

 I set a sanded wooden egg in his sea of blue.

 I let the paint dry, wiped it down, and gave it a coat of beeswax polish.

 Sol's first painting.  An heirloom to treasure year after year.

magic.

Gratitude Mondays...

What I love today...

~My birthday!!!

(Saturday, it was wonderful)

~Holiday weekends...

(more on that later)

~A little girl who makes fairy princesses out of flowers...

~A little baby who can stand on his own!

~A little boy who can start an impromptu game of 'golf'...

~A partner who makes me chocolate cake (with our babies assistance) for my birthday...

~Vegetarian dolmades...

~Art with my babies...

~Banana cream pie...

We had a really nice Easter... 

You should probably be prepared for a few posts about it.  

I'm ready to start a new week!

X Week Wrap Up....

This week in our school we....

Learned the letter X...
This is the last consonant and the end of Explode the Code Primer series!!!  Next week we'll review X, Q, and Z, and the week after we'll start Explode the Code book 1.  This is very exciting news, let me tell you.

In Poetry we...
Spent another week reading the Song of the Yellow Deadnettle Fairy.  She shares her poem with X.  As this week finished Ava was able to recite our poem of the month, quite a challenge, as it's a bit longer than she is used to.

Our theme for the week...
Was Easter! (of course)  We read the Easter books that we had in our house this week.  The Tale of Peter Rabbit (classic), Peter Rabbit's Happy Easter (clever sequel, different author), Corduroy's Easter Party (sweet), Peter Cottontail's Busy Day (fun), Easter is Here! (simple).  Admittedly, some of our books on the subject are pretty fluffy silly,  however, even my sophisticated Ava enjoys a lift the flap book.  In our home Easter is a time to celebrate the renewal of Spring in all her glory, so time spent outside enjoying the warm before it turns to (unbearable) hot is VERY important.   The options with an Easter theme are endless.  Like most things on my to do list this season we skipped my structured ideas, and opted instead to explore our outdoor spaces.  (reason #78 why homeschool is so great)  We checked out the local homeschool group that meets at the park once a week.  This was a very important step for our family.  I think its great for Ava to see that there are other families out there, making choices like ours!

In Science we...
Expanded our awareness of the concepts of energy.  We had an activity that lead us to understand the terms kinetic energy, and potential energy.  Ava asked me "are you sure this is science, because I am pretty sure this is just playing games!"  Perfect.

In Math we..
~Started working the concept of the commutative property, that order does not matter for adding
~Started to count by 5s
~ Reviewed 1s and 10s
~Used commutative property for adding 1+ a number
~Added to our graph, started last week

In Art Study we...

Explored The Oddie Children, by Sir William Beechey.  Ava really liked this painting.  She summarized that the girl with the blue ribbon is "watching the Spring grow, and I like to watch the Spring grow, and the sun set."





This was a great week.  Its nice to be in our garden again, and everyday there is something new to see.  We are really loving popsicle season!  I highly recommend this book, for some original, healthy ideas. Would you believe that I honestly didn't know that Easter is this weekend?  I thought it was next weekend, and I had all the time in the world.  Yup.  So... I'm off to decorate some eggs now.  More on that later!

Earth Week...

We had let a lot of our garden go over the last season.   Now that we plan to stay in our home for another season we needed to get out there and get to work.  Each child did their share.  They planted flowers, than helped to prepare our future watermelon patch.  Oh I love hoses.

In celebration of Earth Week we've pretty much kept on doing the things we do best.  Love being out, and love the earth.   It's all about the joy of getting your hands dirty, while keeping our planet green.