Week in Homeshool #1

The theme of the week :

 Wheat, Grain and Summer turning to Autumn. 
~We read:
 Strega Nona, and Out of the Egg.
I haven't made it to the library yet to get a card, so we relied on the books we have on hand, skipping a non fiction selection this week.  And in an amazing display  of poor planning I realized (while reading it out loud) that unlike the original Little Red Hen,  Out of the Egg is NOT about wheat, but instead a seed that grows into a tree. (I should know this, we've had the book for a few years now)  So.  I still love this book, but realize in retrospect that this would be a much better choice for a Summer, or Arbor day theme.  (Unless, of course, you are familiar with the original Little Red Hen, and you get the reference being made, which my children absolutely do not)  Whoopsie.
~We used:
Two sets of cards that I had on hand.  I got them both for free from Montessori for Everyone.  (I love this site)
you can find From Plant to Food here
and Where Things Come From here

Our Letter of the week:

 

  S
~Snack: Strawberry Watermelon Fruit Salad, Sunflower Seeds, and Starburst Candy
~Flower Fairy Poem: The Song of the Strawberry Fairy
~Book : The Gray Lady, and The Strawberry Snatcher 

 Our Poem of the Month:

 

 Little Boy Blue.  We sing this poem set to this tune.  I think it makes it a little more fun, and my children just think it's the way everyone sings it!

In Art:
This week we kept things super simple, and painted pictures inspired by our first week in school to decorate the front and back of our binders. 

Ava:

Cyrus:

 

Art Study:

 we examined Bull Leaping, Artist Unknown.  A Minoan fresco.
Cyrus: "I really like the stones the best.  I don't like how the painting looks, I only like the stones."
Ava: "I like the different colors in the stones, and I like how the painting looks so old.  They used lots of interesting colors"



In History:

 

We read about the first people, and the evolution from nomads to farmers.

In Science:
We explored concepts of energy.  We started with the basic rudimentary forms including: heat, light, movement, and electric.

 

In Math:
Ava:
*Recognize counting patterns int he hundreds, and continue them
*Review place value
*Review entering, reading, and writing 4 digit numbers
*Practice mental adding in the thousands
*Learned to add 4 digit numbers on the abacus

Cyrus:
*reviewed translating and recognizing quantities between the abacus and other representations
*Made patterns with tiles
*built squares and rectangles with tiles

In Music:
We listened to Beethoven.  I don't have a definite plan for music this year.  I'm leaning towards just having them chose one of our composer cards, (Montessori Materials) and listening to that musician a little every day for a week.  Sounds good?

In Our Nature Journals:
The kids were thrilled to start Nature Journaling this week!  Absolutely their favorite thing this week.  It's funny to me.  They've always had the supplies, and they've often painted, or drawn things that they notice in nature.  But, for some reason having a set time and space for "nature journaling" makes it all more official, and I guess they feel gives their work importance.

Cyrus: doesn't quite seem to care that the idea is to journal about things you are seeing in nature, he's more excited about having a space to draw flowers and flags, and more strawberries.

 

Ava: Spent some time focusing on items that she loves in our backyard, and was also inspired (maybe by something we saw on pinterest?) to draw things in several ways.  (one in full color, and several other of the same image in monotone.)

 

In Peace:
This week we talked about what peace means to us.  What does it mean to have peace, to create peace.  Why is that something that is, or should be important in our lives. We also tried using a "Talking Stick" to help settle disputes.

Field Trip:  
We wrapped up our week by taking a drive in the country to look at what our community farmers are growing.  Later we ate at a local bakery that uses local ingredients, and makes everything from scratch.

This was a good first week.  

There are going to be some changes made in the next few weeks 

as I learn to accommodate two students and a toddler.

I'm interested to see when we find our perfect stride.

I'm excited to see how things turn out.