Week In Homeschool #2

The theme of the week :

 

Tractors. 
~We read:
Tractor Day, a sweet little rhyming picture book about a girl's day on the farm with her family.  Everyone seemed to get something from this book, although I had been worried that it would be too young.
Tractors, a nonfiction book focusing on the work a tractor can do.  At the end it includes picture labels of inside, and outside components, and a glossary of terms.  This book was simple enough for everyone to not be overwhelmed, yet still informative.
Machines, We read only the sections from this book that pertained to farming.  This book is a designed a bit older than kindergarten (8-12), but offered us a chance to look at the mechanics, and simple physics of farm machinery.  (and I happen to own it, so that's the real reason I chose it!)

  
Our Letter of the week:

  T
~Snack: Toaster Pastries, and when those ran out, we enjoyed tea with toast!
~Flower Fairy Poem:Song of the Thrift Fairy
~Book : Tiki Tiki Tembo 

Our Poem of the Month:

 Little Boy Blue.  We sing this poem set to this tune.  I love poetry set to song.  You should hear Cyrus sing this.  So adorable.  Seriously.

In Art:

We painted tractor scenes.  After we were through, we added some soil (with glue) to bring life and texture to our creations.

Ava:

Painted a horse behind a fence looking at her wooden tractor sitting in a field of carrots, full of hay.

Cyrus:
painted a green tractor, also full of hay.  A bright red barn full of chickens sits in front of the purple evening sky.   Cyrus decided that his painting needed sand, instead of soil.

Art Study:

we examined Children's Games, by Pieter Bruegel The Elder. 

 Cyrus: There's a bunch of building blocks, playing games and swimming.  It looks so fun!

Ava:  I like this painting.  It's interesting with lots of little details.  I like the swimming river.

In History:
We read about the life, battles, and joining of the Lower Egyptians, and the Upper Egyptians on the Nile River.  We started our first discussions of myths, and the Egyptian Gods.

In Science:

 First we reviewed the basic forms of energy. (heat, light, electric, and kinetic/movement)  After the review we talked about storage, release, and changes in energy. 

In Math:
Ava:

*worked on adding four digit numbers on the abacus
*start work adding four digit numbers on paper

Cyrus:

*write ones, sevens, and fours, and zeros

*combine two sets of tally sticks

*use tally sticks for scoring

*arrange objects by twos

*learn odd and even

*become aware of meanings of zero

*count objects using tally sticks

In Music:
Using our  composer cards, (Montessori Materials) Cyrus and I played a simple elimination game and ended up with Leonard Bernstein.  We listened to West Side Story, symphony one and symphony two.

In Our Nature Journals:
Cyrus: 
drew a flower arrangement on our kitchen table

Ava: 
painted a bamboo leaf in many colors

In Peace:

We talked about peace, and our five senses.  What peaceful thing do you think of when you think of...
Sight?
Ava: Calm, peaceful dreams.
Cyrus:  Seeing people being nice to each other.
Taste?
Ava: A soft, firm, juicy pear.
Cyrus: Yellow cake.
Smell?
Ava: My essential oil blend.  (Ylang Ylang, Sweet Orange, and Lavender)
Cyrus: peaches.
Touch?
Ava: Soft flower petals.
Cyrus:  Snuggling. 
Sound?
Ava: The wind softly whistling. 
Cyrus: Birds singing, and talking to each other.


Field Trip:  

I was going to look for some sort of tractor supply/rental store where we could get up close and personal with tractors.  Instead I took my family to the Red Tractor Cafe for a farmer style breakfast.  Yum.

A great week.  Watching Ava add 4 digit number was pretty amazing.  Looking forward to what next week has in store.