Week 6, Day 3 in ECC

Today, we managed to start early. We got through our Awana verses. Rabbit says she wants to do more than the 3 sections I've put up on the school door, but I told her, we only have time to do 3 during school. If she wants to do more, she can, though. For Bible time, we talked about how the disciples just stopped what they were doing and followed Jesus. Just trying to imagine what that would be like for us, today.

Geography time was a review of the Mexican flag. She was suppose to color the flag. We looked through some of our book basket books to find a good picture to use to color the details in the Mexican flag. But, I made her save the actual coloring for seatwork time.

We had extra time, since today is Nature Walk day, and I decided we were going to go to Cherry Creek State Park for lunch and do our Nature Walk there. So, I decided that we should get spelling done. That was a mistake! Our first tears in many weeks of school. I'm not sure why. I don't get upset with her when she misses words anymore, but she got upset with herself. We're still working through Review Test 1. These are all words we've had before. She only missed 2 in 5 minutes (except, and soft), but she cried through the whole thing. She was upset that I was testing her again on words I had already tested her on.

We are working on Power Glide Spanish Level 3. It has really stepped up this year. We usually go through the book 3 or 4 times a year. The first time through I don't really grade anything or have her do the performance challenges. She needs to get an overview of the whole thing before trying to do it herself. But man, they step up, and don't explain some of the grammar rules and such. Makes for a challenge.

For preschool, I worked worked with the boys some more on their Awana verse, but they sure didn't seem all that eager. It's an easy verse, but they sure didn't want to pay attention. Neither of them seemed interested in doing anything with Mom today. Oh well, they'll miss it, and tomorrow they'll want to do tons of stuff.

Rabbit wrote a great sentence for her writing today. I don't think she sees it yet, but those writing eights really seem to open up her mind. She even went back and corrected spelling (unprompted!) and such for her sentence. I gave her 15 points for working so hard on it.

Rabbit did book basket while I got things ready for our Nature Walk. We went to a different picnic area today at Cherry Creek State Park. We stopped and sketched ducks and I got several pictures of birds. We even saw some pelicans and storks. Here are a couple of pictures from today's nature walk:

After we got home, Rabbit worked on math and poetry, and then we added a couple of more layers of newspaper to our pinata, and hung it outside to dry. Hopefully, it will be dry enough tomorrow to paint.

Week 6, Day 2 in ECC

It was another great day in ECC land.

In Bible, we talked about how John the Baptist and Jesus preached the same thing. That was good. Then, we had dictation of our memory verse today. Rabbit had a good attitude about it and did her best. Geography was quick, so we got to spend about 8 minutes playing the Geography Game. For North America, that is just the right amount of time for the two of us to play. Science was about the hunters and the hunted in the desert. Rabbit drew a fox hunting a kangaroo rat.

For preschool with the boys, we read their Cubbies book. But, I think they lost interest as I finished the story. Then we played "keep the balloons in the air" and got the laundry out of the dryer.

Math, Spelling and English were all fine. English we did orally, but I did warn her that tomorrow she would be writing sentences. Rabbit kind of needs to know ahead of time for things like that. For math, we're still reviewing the x5 right-brained multiplication cards each day. I also drew part of the pictures on my triangle flashcards that I put on our school "door."

There should be a warning in the teacher's manual about the art projects. If you choose to make the pinata, make it during week 1 of Mexico (week 5), not week 2. It takes a lot of time to coat the balloon with paper strips, and a while to dry. Plus, you're suppose to decorate it - which means you have to wait for it to dry. Ours might be ready in time for Thursday.

Week 6, Day 1 in ECC

It is hard to believe we have finished 5 weeks of school.

Rabbit is farther ahead in math than I thought she would be. We are making progress on writing. She is doing much better in spelling. She really loves the Pathway Readers.

However, today we had attitude issues. We started a new thing a couple of weeks ago. She starts the day with a small bowl of 20 pink paper clips. Every time she disobeys, gives me attitude, or does something I've asked her not to do, I take a chip. At the end of the day, if she has 15 or more clips, she can play 15 minutes on the computer while are putting the boys down for bed. If she has between 8 and 14, no computer. Less than 8, there will be consequences. I'll also allow her to earn clips back by doing chores and being helpful. We've never had less than 14 at the end of the day - but a couple of days, she had to earn a few back to get her 15 minutes of computer time. She still had 16 clips at the end of today, but my! It is helping her to develop a better habit of not having a bad attitude about everything.

The amazing thing today was how far through the writing-eights we got. She asked if we could have different background music, so I put on some Bach. It seems better paced for it - not too fast, and not too slow. She also did a dictation lesson from Primary Language Lessons. We didn't do all 5 sentences. I picked the easiest 3 - it was practicing apostrophe "s."

Oh, we have an experiment that we need to remember to check tomorrow. I forgot to have her check it today. Oops!

Week 5, Day 5 in ECC - Light and not so independent

Our day went like this...

Start with the Pledge and Awana verses. (The boys won't say the pledge with us, so I'm hoping they'll learn it by osmosis.) Then we did the Bible lesson. We talked about making sure we read the verses in context. The only thing was, the teacher's manual talked about some of God's promises have an "if" with them. But, in both versions of the Bible we read (NASB, and NIrV), there was no "if." There was a subtle implication, but not an ourtright, "If you do this, then I God will do that."

After Bible we did our geography vocabulary words. I sketch, Rabbit colors and writes a definition. She does pretty good summaries, as she doesn't like to write. Then we did our visual repatterning and reading time. During snack time, we listed to our Spanish CD, and then they were off for recess.

After recess, I did preschool with the boys, while Rabbit worked on completing one of her Discovery sections. We read "Cactus Soup" today. They liked that, and we talked about making it for our Mexican Fiesta next week. After that we worked on the Geography Packet. We tried using the Encyclopedia Britanica that I bought for the computer to find out mountain heights, but wikipedia was a much better and faster source. While I fixed lunch, the kids watched "Families of Mexico" - a DVD I got from the library. It was very good. It showed one family living in the city, and another in the country in Mexico. Rabbit enjoyed it.

While I was putting the boys down for their nap, Rabbit watched the next lesson, x10, and then proceded to say, "I want to take the test. I know how to multiply by 10." So I let her. She got an A. The problems she missed were addition/subtraction problems, not multiplication problems. I think on both problems she missed, she started out subtracting, and then switched to adding the second column, or vice versa. For spelling, she missed "job" again, spelling it "gob." Then we went onto the next list. She missed "hundred" and "ugly" in the next list. But, she got most of them right today.

Then we finished up with music and art. "Tingalayo" is stuck in our heads! The "not so independent" part came with art. I got her started with the "yarn art" project, and then got the boys up and had to do some work on the computer (a new one - trying to get all our old files moved over, etc.). I was interrupted twice because the yarn wouldn't go where she wanted it to. That got frustrating. I guess I overestimated her abilities once again.

Week 5, Day 4 in ECC

Wow, even with Dance in the middle of the day, we got it all done.

We started a bit early, because we knew the day was going to be off. Learning those Awana verses and such is pretty slow. Finally, Tigger finished breakfast, and I could finish the dishes. I'm finally remembering to have Rabbit do narration after I read the Bible passage. It's amazing what she can remember.

For Geography, we played the Geography Game for North America. It's just the two of us playing. She got some of it right. I suspect she will improve rapidly. Science was quick. She actually drew a snake for her science page today. I managed preschool with the boys before it was time for me to fix lunch. And, we also go the science experiments done before lunch. They weren't hard, but it did take a long time for the ice to melt. It was sunny today, but it didn't really get warm until after lunch.

Rabbit said she enjoyed Worship Dance. She knew several girls in her class from home school support group and our Keepers of the Home group. She said she would stick to it. (The funny thing was, the city dance program called today and let us know there was room in their classes if Rabbit wanted to do ballet again.)

Rabbit aced her math test, again. And then, she did another whole group of words in Spelling Power, only missing one. There were 2 or 3 words I know she missed last year, but didn't miss this time. I think some other part of her brain must be waking up. I know as we get into the long vowel lists, her success rate might go down, but this is giving her much more confidence.

A God-arranged coincidence for reading - the story was about snakes. The girl in the story had heard all kinds of bad things about snakes, but at the end, her dad straightens her out. We've been learning about snakes off and on in science, so it fit together nicely. Then we did poetry and writing and we were done by 3:00. Whew!

Looking forward to light and independent day tomorrow. I think we'll work on the geography packet a little, do our art project, and I got a couple of DVD's from the library about Mexico, so we'll probably watch one of those.

Week 5, Day 3 in ECC

After the usual morning routine, we did our Bible lesson. I suppose the point of looking up the Old Testament verses that are referenced in the New Testament is to show prophesy fulfilled. I tried explaining that to Rabbit, but I'm not sure she got it.

Yesterday, I copied the map of the continent of North America on to card stock, and drew the circles for the pennies - I knew there was no way Rabbit could finish all that in 20 minutes or so. So, I completed my map yesterday, and then all she had to do was color hers. While she was working on coloring, I made the game cards. When we were done, I laminated with some Contact(tm) paper. Then I briefly explained how to play the Geography Game.

After that we did Spanish and then our Nature Walk. We did our neighborhood walk today. But it was pretty cool, anyway. The kids noticed the water level at the creek was way down. We stopped at one of the bridges, and I sketched some rocks and cattails. Then we went down to the other bridge. There weren't even any dragonflies out or water bugs out. We headed toward home, but we saw some beautiful fall flowers on the way. We also saw a strawberry patch with strawberries growing. We had seen the patch before, but there were no strawberries. Rabbit stopped and sketched a strawberry. That was pretty cool for the kids to see the strawberries. They were really small strawberries. Tigger was into just about every rock on the way home. Here is one flower we saw on our Nature Walk:

Rabbit finished her notebook page when we got home, and then we did writing eights, English and writing. For the English assignment, I typed it up on the computer and made it more like a typical worksheet. I think it is good to have one of those every now and then. It was an easy fill-in-the-blank type sheet.

After lunch, Rabbit worked on her math. She did the next two pages in about 20 minutes - a new record for her. Then I had her teach me how to multiply by two. She gets the concept. She really wants to do the quiz for this section and move on. I talked to her about the importance of really mastering those math facts. She said she understood. I also had her do Math-U-See's online drill for x0, x1 and x2 - she only missed one, because she hit enter twice too fast once.

Spelling was great today. She missed "which" again, but then finished the rest of Group 3 without missing a single word. She was disappointed that she missed it, but I think she'll know how to spell it tomorrow. She was also excited that she finished a group. When she realized how many words she got right, that really helped her self-confidence. I also noticed, again, how she is really trying hard to say each sound as she writes it.

I found our reader, so we read another section in that and did our poetry, and we were done!

As I said to a friend last night, "I think we finally found 'gentle'." I mean, "gentle" as in Charlotte Mason's gentle approach to school.

I am a bit concerned about tomorrow. We add in Worship Dance - which is right at noon. That means I have to move lunch back to 11:00. I warned Rabbit today that dance class would be recess, so we wouldn't do recess tomorrow morning. We'll have to see how it goes. I may need to try to make light and independent days fall on Wednesday.

Week 5, Day 2 in ECC

Have I said before how much I like this curriculum?

We started out working on Rabbit's Awana verses. She's a T-n-T now. She's suppose to be able to answer questions and do other stuff in the book, so it was a little more work this morning. But, that's okay. Putting God's word in her heart is important. Then we read our Bible lesson. I forgot to ask Rabbit to narrate, but we did follow the lesson on the map. I did remember to pray for our Window on the World people group today - I usually forget that!

Geography was quick - we looked at some maps in the Intermediate World Atlas. Then on to science - again a quick two pages. We took turns reading the words under the pictures. During seatwork time, Rabbit traced and colored one of the pictures from the pages for her science page. We were ahead of schedule, so we plowed on into Spanish (we're using Power Glide), and snack time. The kids got a 25 minute recess because we were ahead.

After recess, Rabbit went to work on her science page and study her Awana verses some more, so I could have some time with the boys. They wanted me to read their Cubbies lesson for the week, so I did that. I had to read the lesson from each boys' book to each boy. (Ahhh, the joys of twins.) Then we practiced our Cubbie verse. After that, I wrote a 3 and a 4 on 4" x 6" cards and we went to the basement, got out the Play Dough and the boys rolled the Play Dough out and "traced" the 3 and the 4 with the Play Dough. I noticed that Tigger writes very well - except it is perfectly upside down. I read somewhere that this was an activity that may help undo that.

Then it was back to working with Rabbit. We reviewed all the subtraction facts with the flashcards for 15 minutes. Then we did our writing eights and our Primary Language Lesson for the day. We just repeated lesson 86. Then I had Rabbit go back and work on her science page, as that wasn't done yet. She finished it and did Book Basket time while I made lunch. I think she is enjoying the Mexico books a little more than the books last week. I have lots of picture books and story books for that.

After lunch, the boys had quiet time. Rabbit worked on her math page while I folded the laundry. She did great on all her facts, and then there were some problems that she hadn't seen in a while that she needed a hint on, so I got her going with those. But she did great. Then we reviewed the right-brained multiplication fact cards for x2 again. She really likes those, but I'm not sure how much they're helping her master those multiplication facts. We did spelling, which was probably our first "attitude" problem of the day. My Father's World deviates from the Spelling Power method just a little on Mondays. We retest all words missed the previous week. She only missed 2 from last week - "which" and "self," and we got to go on to two more words in our list for this week before time was up. I noticed she was trying harder to hear each sound and write the correct sound. In fact, she spelled "every" correct during the verse dictation today, and then got it right on the retest. Hooray Rabbit! I think she may finally be starting to get the idea of how spelling works.

For some strange reason, I couldn't find our Pathways reader (it's probably under something on the school table), so I let Rabbit pick a book out of the book basket. She picked a fun one, and did quite well reading it. A quick review of our poem and we were done.

Catch Up Day - Not Ketchup Day!

Well, over the last week there were 3 projects that didn't get done; either I didn't have the supplies, or didn't want to do the project and add stress to my day. So, today we did those 3 projects in about 1 hour.

Our first project was a cooking assignment. We picked a recipe from the recommended reading pages: New England Pumpkin Cake. I managed to find a dairy-free cake mix at the grocery store, and there is no milk for the recipe, so it was the perfect choice. Also, it said to make it in a bundt pan, so I got to use a wedding gift for the the first time in 14 years!

After getting the cake into the oven we did our science experiment from Friday. Yesterday, I ran over to the local Lowes and got one of those thermometers you are suppose to put outdoors and be able to read from inside the house. Well, we set it in the shade and waited 5 minutes and recorded the temperature - about 74 degrees. Then, we set the thermometer out in the sun. It very rapidly went up to 110 degrees! I knew it wasn't 110 degrees outside, so, I sent Rabbit back in for the packaging. Hidden in the fine print: "Do not use in direct sunlight." Well, anyway, it was clear that it was a lot warmer in the sun. And we talked about how cold-blooded animals will move out into the sun and then the shade to get warmer and cooler. We also talked about how it made our experiment inaccurate since our thermometer wasn't accurate in "direct sunlight." If nothing else, we learned to read the fine print!

I also bought one of those sponge paint brushes yesteday at Lowes. Today, we used it to spread the glue for making our quilt block. A few weeks ago I bought a set of quilting quarters at Michael's and some ribbon, too. We used a piece of poster board cut 12" x 12", and then 4" x 4" quilting blocks. The poster board curled up quite a bit with the wet glue. If you can use real cardboard for this craft, I would highly recommend it. We laid one ribbon along the seams, and then uses a wider ribbon for the edges - all glued. Here is our final result:

Tonight we tried the New England Pumpkin Cake for bedtime snack - delicious! A very tasty recipe, and the house smells like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. The boys wouldn't try it, but Rabbit did, and she liked it. Tomorrow night we have a Keepers of the Faith meeting, and we're suppose to bring snacks, so we'll bring our cake.

Not bad for 1 to 1 1/2 hours on a Sunday afternoon.

Week 5, Day 1 in ECC

Today we start Mexico. We began with the Pledge and Awana verse review. Rabbit pretty well knew her verses with just one hint or so each. For Bible time, we read about our country from Window on the World. Rabbit always asks if the people are our friends or enemies. I tried to explain that we weren't enemies with the people of the country, but the government.

Geography was quick. We set up chairs to make an airplane. I got to be the pilot. So we took off and landed in Juarez, as that was the closest city from here. Then I gave them their passports. I got them from a Lutheran church that has a big missions focus. They were free. Plus they have lots of information on their site. I put a sticker on the page and wrote the date. They thought that was cool. I didn't exchange money or anything, as I thought that would be over Rabbit's head. Maybe if we do this again when she is in 7th or 8th grade we will.

Science was interesting, as we read about how cold-blooded animals and warm-blooded animals cope with the heat. I don't have a room thermometer to do the experiment with, so maybe I can pick up one tomorrow and we can do the experiment.

We finished a bit early, so Spanish and snack time finished early, and the kids got a little longer recess today. Rabbit started her seatwork after that, and I read a book to the boys. It was a book I picked yesterday that wasn't on the recommended reading list called, Bravo, Tavo! It is a good book about hard work and what you can accomplish with hard work. But, toward the end, there is the mention of a widow who some people think is a witch, and the idea of magic. Really, the magic is from the hard work Tavo did all summer, but some people might be offended by it. My boys didn't really pick up on the magic part. Then we set up those cardboard bricks like dominoes a couple of times, and then we played Alphabet Lotto (an Usborn books game).

Rabbit and I did writing eights today on a new sheet of paper. This time I used a bowl, inverted, to draw the circles on the page. I had noticed that my circles were not the same size before. I think she stayed on the track a lot better this time. Next was Primary Language Lessons number 86. It is just a script to read to use proper English - "It is I,." or "It was she." So the first time through, I read the questions and Rabbit read the answers. The second time, I let Rabbit read the questions and I gave the answers. I warned her that we would be doing this lesson many times over the year.

Rabbit did another math page on x2 today. She got them all right. Then we used the Right-Brained Multiplication Flashcards, again for review as she said she still didn't know them all. For spelling, she struggled with "which" and "wish" again. I don't follow the Spelling Power steps every day - some days I try Dianne Craft's ideas. But, I think Rabbit does better with Spelling Power ideas. Reading and poetry went quick.

The frustration level was a lot lower today.

Week 4, Day 5 in ECC

Ahhh. Light and Independent days are quite nice.

We started with the Pledge, Awana verses, and then Bible time. Rabbit knew the verse, just saying it 3 times each day, even on top of her Awana verses. Good job, Rabbit! We looked through the recommended pages at the recipes suggested to try. Extra cooking on a school day would stress me out, and I didn't look ahead (bad teacher!), so we don't have ingredients on hand. One of the recipes we can't do because of the dairy. If I can find a dairy-free yellow cake mix, we might try the pumpkin bread/muffins this weekend. Rabbit thought that looked tasty.

Today was a "Repatterning" day, so we did that. Only took 20 minutes or so. Then I had Rabbit work on the Math-U-See online math drill for her x0, x1, and x2 math facts while I got the boys ready for going to the park. We met a friend at the park who also has twin boys just 2 months older than mine. We stayed for about an hour. We all rode our bikes to the park - that was a bit of a challenge, as for some reason Tigger kept falling down.

After lunch, the boys had their naps, and Rabbit and I did math, spelling, and reading. Then, we got the boys up and went off to the library. I picked up our reserved books, as we are starting "Mexico" tomorrow. Then I searched the database for more "Mexico" books and DVDs. I found a couple of DVDs to put on hold, and a couple of more Mexico picture books. Then, Rabbit and I worked on the next page in the Geography Packet. We found a couple of atlases and worked on the Rivers page and the Mountains page. We were only able to find 4 or 5 of the mountains in the atlases. I told her that we would use the computer encyclopedia sometime to look up the rest of them. We have Student Brittanica for the home computer, and then I found out we also have access to World Book online through our library.

All in all, a good day. Tigger and Pooh complained that they didn't get any preschool, but I figured an hour at the park was better.

Week 4, Day 4 in ECC

Nothing like a long Day 4 to look forward to a Light and Independent Day 5!

The morning went fine. For the geography "quiz" today on the United States, I gave Rabbit a list of the United States in alphabetical order with a number, 1 - 50, in front. Rabbit then wrote the number on the states. As usual, she only got 40 out of 50. Maybe we'll have time to review them again on light and independent days. It still took Rabbit a long time to do the quiz.

Science was again reading about the desert after the rain. She drew a couple of Saguaro cacti for her science page.

I did read a couple of books to the boys for preschool time, then we worked on spelling their names. Yesterday, I had taught them the letter A/a, and when Pooh saw that there was an "a" in his name, he got very excited about that connection. Then they decided they wanted to play games on their "Lightning McQueen Laptop" computers. I'm always amazed at what they have figured out on their own for those.

Rabbit and I continued our writing eights from yesterday, starting at "s," and then doing the numbers 1 - 9. I had talked to someone at Dianne Craft's booth last year at the CHEC conference, and she showed me how do do the numbers, too. I think it does help. She also wrote another great sentence today for writing. Her spelling was quite unique, but the sentence was very good.

After lunch, we worked on multiplying by 2. We watch the DVD, reviewed the facts on the whiteboard, and then I showed her Dianne Craft's Right-Brained Multiplication flashcards. She liked those - except 2 x 3 = 6. We then went through the triangle multiplication/division cards that I made, saying all combinations. Spelling seemed to be almost nightmarish. She finally spelled "every" right, but missed "except," "met," "jelly," and "self." The word "met" she spelled as "meet." I won't even go into how she spelled the others. I think, once again, my expectations are too high.

Not sure why the day went so long, but it did.

Week 4, Day 3 in ECC

Today was great, especially after taking a sick day yesterday! (We had some attitude issues, but those are everyday.) We started with our usual routine, and then did Bible. Rabbit had forgotten what her name meant, so I told her. That made her light up. We chose a very special name for her, as our first baby (also a girl) died shortly after she was born. Then, I told her what Tigger and Pooh's names meant, and mine and her father's.

For geography, we colored the copy of the flag. I say "we" because I colored the blue background around the stars, otherwise it would have taken forever. Then I had Rabbit read the page that told the meaning of the stars and stripes and I wrote that on the back. We did the map of the U.S. geography game - she still only got 40 right, so afterward we reviewed the states she missed.

Since we did our Nature Walk at the Great Sand Dunes this weekend, we didn't have science time. But, I did print out on card stock a picture of a Giant Sand Treader Camel Cricket that I took, and then we looked up information on insects at the Sand Dunes. Then I had Rabbit write a summary sentence underneath the picture.

After the kids came in from recess, Rabbit used her "Wrap-Ups" to practice times 1 and times 2 facts, and read from a book while I did preschool time with the boys. I read them a book, and then we went over the letter "A". I put some paper on each side of our easel and let them draw. The boys were finished early, so Rabbit and I worked on the writing eights. We got all the way to "S" in our 15 minutes - the furthest yet. For our Writing Without Curriculum time, I drew a pictures of a Camel Cricket jumping. She wrote a very complex sentence for my picture. We managed to get through poetry and spelling before it was time for me to go fix lunch. For spelling, we only got through her missed words from last week, and she is still having trouble with "every" and "except."

For math, she did page 3D - a skip counting by 2, 5, and 10's review page, and then Test 3. She scored 100%. She's doing great with multiplication, so far, and seems excited about it. Then we read another chapter in More New Friends.

Week 4, Day 2 in ECC

Sorry this is up late. We went camping this weekend at San Luis Lakes State Park - near the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado. I'll be counting that as our Nature Walk for tomorrow, as we spend a couple of hours hiking at the Sand Dunes. I even have a cool picture of a bug from the Dunes. Pictures to follow.

Now, as far as this day went...

We started with our usual Pledge, Awana Verses, and cross-crawls, and then we got into our Bible discussion. We talked about how the verses today covered Jesus' ancestry. Then, I drew on the board Rabbit's ancestry. I told her my grandmother said we're related to people that came over from the Mayflower, but I don't have the family tree information.

I did the memory verse dictation with her. She doesn't like dictation, but since she had copied the verse the day before, I didn't mind. I let her pick words for her word bank, and wrote those on a small white board. She did fine with it.

In Geography we did the "Problem Solving Challenge" and she did it! I was impressed. She almost messed up, but realized it half-way through a state, so she just changed the color. We're still working on those state names, but she got 40 right today.

For science, we did our reading, and she drew some pictures of the spadefoot toad and its different stages.

We got through the next lesson in Math - multiplying by 0 and 1. She even did the quiz and got a 100%. Next is skip counting by 2, 5, and 10 - stuff we've been doing for 2 years, so we'll probably just watch the video, and have her do one Systematic Review page. If she's up for the quiz, we'll do it. A fun homeschool moment - I was quizzing her on her times 0 and 1 facts on the way home from the grocery store. I asked her, "What's 1 times 285." She said, "285." Then I asked her, "What's 0 times 47,846,047,102." She said, "0." So I said, "See how many multiplication facts you know now? You know up to infinity." Then we had a long discussion on what infinity is.

For spelling, she only got 1 from the list of the day before right. Then, we reviewed all the words she missed this week. MFW suggests on Monday, retesting all the words missed the previous week, to check retention. So, we worked on those.

We started working on the "American Quilt" art project. She was very excited about it. We were running short of time, however, and we couldn't find a brush to brush the glue on. (I still haven't found one.) So, we'll have to see when we can finish that. Since we did our Nature Walk for tomorrow yesterday, I'll see if we can work on it tomorrow.

Week 4, Day 1 in ECC

Okay, so coming off a "Light and Independent Friday" yesterday, to a full Monday schedule today (which is Wednesday) is quite a shock to the system. It took us a while to get everything done. Mostly it was Rabbit needing extra time to get the copy of the memory verse done and the extra time we spend on math. Everything else really went quite smoothly.

Tigger and Pooh have come down with colds. Nothing major, but makes them a bit more clingy, and harder for me to work with Rabbit.

During Geography, we're suppose to review the state names. Rabbit got 40 right today - an improvement of 5 over the last time we played. She got Nebraska/Nevada right this time. I told her to remember Nevada has a "V" in it, and the lower part of the state of Nevada looks like a "V." I have to remember I have a United States puzzle map, where most of the pieces are in the shapes of the states, and see how fast she can put it together. It would be a nice change from our state game.

For math, we started Gamma today. I had watched the video yesterday, and read through the teacher's manual. I let Rabbit watch it today, and then we practiced what he showed. I know in the past she had understood the concept of multiplication, but she seemed confused at first. Then I showed her 1 x 3, and for some reason, that clicked for her. So, she did Lesson 1A, and asked to do the test. I said sure. She got a 100%. Then we talked about why 1 times any number is always that number, and 0 times any number is always 0. She wanted to take Test 2, also, but I said, let's at least wait until tomorrow. I'm not really worried about her understanding the concept, but, I think it will take us time to master the facts. In light of that, I ordered Dianne Craft's multiplication cards. I also order her number cards for future use with right-brained Tigger.

For English, we were suppose to do Lesson 84 from Primary Language Lessons. The original lesson was a letter from a boy who had found a pocket knife at last Sunday's picnic and was asking his friend if he had lost one. We were suppose to write a response to that. Well, Rabbit can NOT relate to pocket knives, and wouldn't have a clue how to describe one. I figured that we'd have a big emotional road block to the lesson as written. So, I made up a letter from her friend at Awana's, saying she found a Bible and was wondering if Rabbit had lost hers. Then we talked about how to describe Rabbit's Bible. Tomorrow we'll actually write the letter in response.

Week 3, Day 5 in ECC

Well, thank goodness our first "Light and Independent Friday" fell on Presentation Day at our home school support group. What a blessing that was. We did our three "R's," Bible, spelling, vocabulary, and even worked in one of the repatterning sessions from Brain Integration Therapy. After Presentation Day, the group meets at a local park, weather permitting. So the kids were able to really get some of that excess energy out at the park.

For Vocabulary, Rabbit is summarizing the definition and writing that down on the pages we got from CurrClick.com (as suggested by Crystal). Some of the words don't have pages in the Geo Scribe document, so we print out a blank page, and then I write the full definition from our A to Z Geography book.

The one interesting thing - after we did our "repatterning," Rabbit actually seemed worse. But, I imagine it is kind of like physical therapy - the first few times it hurts more, and as the strength returns, it gets easier.

Doing the Writing Without Curriculum ideas from Dianne Craft has been great for Rabbit. She feels successful, and is making progress. And we finished Level C, Group 1 in Spelling Power, only missing 1 word today. book. I've been drawing the pictures and letting Rabbit color them, as it can take too long otherwise. Then we reviewed all the terms so far. I am having her do both terms now, even though she is only 3rd grade.

Week 3, Day 4 in ECC

Today went quite well, for a Monday. I managed to work in all the Brain Integration exercises, even when I forgot to do them at the right place. We also added in Awana verses today. Rabbit is now in T-n-T. Last year I had her trace over the verses I had written out. She doesn't want to do that this year, so for now we're just going to say them after the pledge, before we work on ECC's Bible lesson.

We looked at the Illustrated World Atlas for Geography. It was funny, because yesterday when I was checking the lessons, I misread it as Intermediate World Atlas and was looking at the pages and noticed it didn't match the topic in the teacher's manual. I almost posted to the My Father's World message board when I realized my mistake.

Science is still all about deserts. She did her science page on the strange rock formations you find in the desert due to wind.

We did our writing eights again today. We only got through "o" before 15 minutes was up. She still doesn't like to do them. I suppose it is the repetitive nature of it. But, afterward we did the Writing Without Curriculum ideas recommend by Dianne Craft. She did great! She went in a totally different direction than I expected, but it was very good for her. I've got to remember to give her heaps of praise for all the good things she does.

Spelling went much better today. She got her three words from last Friday correct, and then only missed one word before our 5 minutes were up. I think she's getting back into the routine of things. I am still reminding Rabbit about attitude, but it isn't as much. She even said she didn't mind doing her "seatwork" today.

For math, we reviewed a couple of topics that we haven't seen in a while that are on the final for Beta. We're planning on doing that tomorrow.

Week 3, Day 3 in ECC

My goodness! Well, the morning actually went well, until I told Rabbit it was time for Spelling. We used Spelling Power last year, and she really liked it, so I was going to do it again this year. I was working on lunch, so I asked her to come into the kitchen for us to do it while I started making things. We had done the placement test yesterday, and after that, I decided to just start over at the beginning of Level C again, as she had only made it through 5 groups before we finished last year. We only got through 5 words before she missed 3. She spelled "family" as "famly," even though I clearly pronounced the /i/ and she clearly said the /i/. She spelled "asked" as "askt," and she couldn't even spell "paths" without melting down.

Someone else on one of the MFW yahoo groups mentioned reviewing phonics. I beginning to think I'm going to have to. Rabbit can read - she's reading at a fourth grade level. But, she has a disconnect between the sounds and the letters when it comes to hearing them for spelling. She hates writing, but I feel like I need to review each sound and have her write them as she says them. It's like the connections never got made. It's hard to believe she forgot how to spell over the summer. Okay, so that was my frustrating moment for the day.

We played the Geography Game with the States - and she remembered 35 from all our reviews last year. I thought that was great. She confuses Nevada and Nebraska (they both start with "N") and Idaho and Ohio (they both end with "o"). She also had trouble with the smaller states on the East cost, and then she got Wyoming and Montana backwards.

I really like the Wild Places book over the Living World book. Rabbit decided to draw a picture of an oasis for her science page today.

Doing the read aloud at lunch works pretty well. I feed them and read. Then when I'm done reading the chapter, I eat. They are a captive audience that way.

Rabbit is only doing about "B" work in math. She did her lesson 30 test yesterday, and her Unit 4 test today. We looked over the final and decided that we'll need to review rounding/estimating before we do the final, as we haven't reviewed that in a while. Everything else looks okay. So, we'll have a review day on Monday, and attempt the final on Tuesday. I've been using Math-U-See's online drill this week for math drill. And really, her "B" work isn't that bad. I can usually see what her mistake is because she shows her work. Usually it's subtraction, and she forgets that if the number in the column on top is not the biggest, she needs to borrow. Again, that reversal thing, like she does in reading.

We read some more in our Pathway Reader again today. I think the morals in the stories are excellent, and she really gets something out of them.

For the boys preschool today, we read Lentil. What a fun story. The boys really liked it. Then, we got the Lauri lower-case alphabet out, and I pulled all the letters out, connected all the puzzle pieces, and had the boys try to put the letters back in. Then they each laced up a few letters. They love the lacing stuff, and Pooh is really good at it. He can look at something Rabbit does to her shapes or letters, and then copy it without us really showing him how. Tigger, on the other hand, needs help getting it started, as he's too likely to pull the string all the way out, and then he's pretty random in his lacing unless he really concentrates on it.

Week 3, Day 2 in ECC

I set up our magnets on the whiteboard last night, and then went to bed to catch the weather on the news. I had noticed that our Nature Walk would land on Friday, but it was suppose to be cold and wet on Friday. So, I discussed with my husband taking the kids over to Cherry Creek State Park for lunch and Nature Walk. He thought it was a good idea. So, I used it as a motivator for Rabbit. I told her if she worked hard this morning, and we got most of our work done, we would swap today's science for tomorrow's Nature Walk.

Rabbit got everything done except for her handwriting page and book basket. We didn't take a recess this morning, but I figured a long walk at the park would be good enough. Rabbit is still having attitude issues with English (that's the Primary Language Lessons book). She says it is the writing, but we don't do that much writing for it. Personally, I think it is the black-and-white nature of the book. But, she is learning from it, whether she knows it or not.

We even did our art project this morning. We did "sand paintings." I bought some sticky-backed designs from Michael's and some sand, and we did a design for each kid. Rabbit did a "Princess," Tigger a "Dinosaur," and Pooh a "Fish." That took us almost 45 minutes to do. But, they loved it, and the boys love their sand paintings.

I packed up a lunch and we went over to Cherry Creek. We ate while I read in our Cameron Townsend book. Then, we walked along the shore. We saw gulls, either storks or herons, a pelican, and some black bird with white markings on it's chest. Rabbit found several shells in the sand, so they must be importing sand from some coastal area. Next time we do this, I need to remember to bring towels so if the kids want to wade I have something to dry off their feet.

When we got back, Rabbit worked on her Nature Notebook page. We had a "Crinkleroot" book of birds, so she copied a swan out of it, even though we didn't see one. Then, she finished her handwriting, and did book basket. She found another book with lots of pictures of wildlife, so she did a few more sketches of that after book basket was over. I made her put them in her own notebook.

It was great to have the picnic and Nature Walk to motivate Rabbit. We have hardly any tears at all for school this year, and we're enjoying it.

Week 3, Day 1 in ECC

Started with the magnets again, and they helped. But, we started a little late, so when it got to 10:00 and we hadn't done science yet, I just moved the magnets around so that Spanish and Recess came next, then Science.

There was a lot of map labeling to do in Geography today. I had Rabbit do some, and then I wrote in for the smaller countries. Plus, there was putting the flag stickers on the right countries. I bought Flag Sticker books for Pooh and Tigger, and together we did four flags. Then, I worked the first page of the Geography packet with Rabbit. That was good, and she did great with it. I think the suggestion in the teacher's manual is good: at the younger ages, do as much as you can with them to teach them how to look things up.

In Science, we started learning about deserts. The nice thing for Rabbit today was to just to color the deserts in on a world map, rather than drawing her own.

Rabbit did great on her math page today. Tomorrow, we do the last lesson test in Beta, and then will do the Unit Test IV, and Final Test. It will be nice to move on.

For Math Drill today, we did 10 minutes at the Math-U-See on-line drill. Just addition today.

For English, we did Primary Language Lessons lesson 58. It was a review of how to use a comma in the place of "and" in a list. I had her dictate the sentences and wrote them out, showing her where commas went.

The first chapter of the read aloud didn't take that long. I plan to read those at lunch. We're reading about Cameron Townsend - the man who started Wycliffe Bible Translators. Since we had already done so much today, we skipped reading, but I plan on continuing it tomorrow.

Week 2, Day 5 of ECC - Feeding the Wildlife

One thing I did this long weekend was get some 1/2 inch magnetic tape from Michael's. Then, I printed out all possible activities (using either a 20 or 22 point font) that we might do in a school day. This includes all our Brain Therapy exercises, plus Dance, Awana Verses, Pledge, Recess, Lunch, Seatwork, and all our ECC subjects. I itemized out Handwriting, Copy Memory Verse, Dictation, Writing Strands, and Vocabulary, rather than having the generic "Language Arts" category. I cut out the subjects and exercises and put them on the magnetic tape. I placed the magnetic strips in order down the white board so Rabbit can see what we're doing each day. Then, when we finish an exercise or subject, she gets to move the magnet to the bottom of the white board and see what the next topic is we will do.

One of the activities for Geography today was to make a map of the yard and hide a treasure. So, I made a bag of pretzels and dairy-free chocolate chips and hid them in a bush/tree in our back yard. I had a map with a star for where it was hidden. I didn't put the treasure out until this morning, and I put it in a bush that had pretty wimpy branches. Well, Rabbit finally recognized the map as a map of the backyard and went hunting for her treasure. She found it, but the squirrels had already gotten into the bag - at least half the pretzels and chocolate chips were missing. Lesson learned: don't use food as a treasure for this activity if you have wildlife in your neighborhood! A trip to the dollar store would be better.

I remade the treasure and let her eat it for her morning snack while we did Power Glide Spanish.

Having Rabbit take care of the magnets worked great, and kept us doing the next thing. During math, while I was putting the boys down for quiet time, she did her math page by herself, without me sitting next to her! She did make some mistakes - like number reversals. She was doing column adding (she set the word problem up correctly), and the first column totaled 20. But, she wrote the 2 and carried the "0". I had to remind her we write the units (or ones) and carry the tens. She hasn't made that mistake in a while. She did the same on one of the other problems. The units column added up to 12, but she wrote the 1 and carried the 2. But, I told her how proud I was of her sitting down and working by herself on it, and staying on task with it.

During reading, the story was about a boy named Noah, and his superior attitude toward his younger siblings. When we finished reading today's selection, Rabbit said, "I really don't like that Noah boy." We talked about why. Finally, I said, "What does he have in his heart that is making him act like this?" Rabbit said, "Oh! Pride." Then we talked about how God doesn't like the proud. We had memorized a Proverb's verse last year about that. I was glad we could tie God into the end of the day as well as the beginning of the day, too.