Week 8, Day 5 in ECC - Ahhhh

Ahhh. We finished Canada today. We still have to do a cooking project, but we need to run to the grocery store. Since this is grocery store day anyway, we'll do our cooking project this evening. We're thinking of doing the blueberry dessert.

The boys slept late again, but as Dad was home, not feeling too great, he said he would take care of them when they got up (at 9:00! - they're usually up between 6:30 and 7:30!). So, Rabbit got started on a math page while I cleaned up the kitchen after breakfast. Then we did pledge, Awana verses, and Bible time. When we reviewed all the memory verses for ECC, she knew them all with just the first word or two prompted. I was amazed. She knew those verses!

Then, we did repatterning. I'm starting to see improvement in her writing - she is putting more space between her words. I didn't see the lingering after effects that I sometimes see after repatterning today, either. Then I had her do her writing without curriculum assignment. Dad took the boys to run some errands, so we did spelling next. She got her three words from yesterday correct, but then missed "used," "move," and "whose." The great thing was, she didn't get upset. I've been doing new things with her on studying her missed words. We write them on the small whiteboard, and draw pictures on/around them to try to help her remember them. Then I have her spell them with the magnetic letters, and then write the word correctly. Some days I let her write the word in the corn meal. She seems to have finally relaxed about getting spelling words wrong. She is very excited when she gets them right, but she's not getting upset when she gets them wrong.

After that, we decided to go on our Nature Walk. We needed some maple leaves for our art project anyway, so it was a good excuse to go. It wasn't too cool, and we noticed the leave falling from the trees, and how the cattails have mostly died off. The ducks were gone, but someone mowed the grass around the stream where they hang out, and may have frightened them off. We got home just as Dad returned from errands.

After lunch, we worked on our art project from Tuesday. I don't think it worked out as well as it could have. Our clay felt pretty stiff, even working it a lot. But, Rabbit seemed to enjoy it anyway. Then we worked on a couple more pages of the Geography packet. I had found a book this summer at a book fair for 50 cents or a dollar that has paper doll type crafts with dolls from many countries. She found it and it just so happened to have dolls for Canada and Mexico, so she wanted to do those, so I photocopied those onto cardstock for her. Then, I saw that there was one for Brazil, so I photocopied that to use on a slow day for sometime during the next three weeks as we study Brazil.

I asked Rabbit if she liked the new curriculum. She said, "Yes. I'm learning so much about all these places." She is really looking forward to the Geography Fair in the spring. Ahhhh. What a great day!

Week 8, Day 4 in ECC

Today we got off to a late start. Dad was off to work early, and the little guys were sleeping late...

But, Rabbit was motivated, and after breakfast, while I was doing dishes, she did her next math page. She only missed one. I was very proud that she took the initiative.

After the pledge, we worked hard on Rabbit's Awana verses. Then, Rabbit convinced the little guys to do school with us. So, everyone sat in on Bible and Geography time. For Geography, we read a page of French words with English translations. Having not ever had any French, and only familiar with very few phrases, I'm sure I insulted the entire country of France with my pronunciation. Then we did the Geography game. Rabbit helped Pooh, and I helped Tigger. We used our low-odor dry erase markers to mark the countries, rather than use the pennies, as we were concerned that Pooh and Tigger might bump the maps and knock the pennies off. No science today.

After Spanish and Snack, the kids took a short recess in the basement. Then, it was time for Rabbit to do seatwork, and Tigger and Pooh to do preschool. Rabbit did some division wrap-ups, and worked on a page in her Awana handbook. Tigger and Pooh worked on counting and days of the week and their verse. Then, they were wanting to work in their workbooks again. So, we finished the "Writing Readiness" section. It was circles, "u" shapes and "n" shapes, and slanted lines. Following the direction the arrow pointed was the greatest challenge. Rabbit did another math page, and then a spelling/vocabulary page from her book.

We did our writing eights, again. We didn't quite get through all the alphabet and numbers. I am noticing improvement in how she is spacing her words when she is writing sentences. I didn't tell her that doing the writing eights is suppose to help that. It's subtle, but it is an improvement. The other thing I notice, is that she has a hard time staying on the circles I draw for her. So, I found a Rubbermaid plastic container lid that is closer to the size she generally tracks when she does the writing eights, and will use it next week for her writing eight paper and see if she stays on the line better.

While making lunch, Rabbit worked on book basket. She has loved Paddle to the Sea, and read a little bit of it every day. She finished the book today. I don't know if she read any of the others, but she seemed very interested in the story.

After the boys were down for their quiet time, the rest went pretty quick. For spelling, she missed "pool," "shoots," and "tomorrow." We've been doing a combination of Dianne Craft's ideas and Spelling Power ideas for studying words. So, for "pool" and "shoots" we drew pictures around the words. I made the "l" in pool into a ladder, and had a diving board coming off it, with a person standing on it. Then I drew waves in the p, o, and o. For "shoots", I made the "s's" into the stands with fans, the "h" into a basketball hoop, the "o's" into basketballs, and the "t" into a basketball player. For "tomorrow," we talked about how "o" is the only vowel, and "the sun'll come up tomorrow" and that the sun is round. Then I had her use the magnetic letters to spell them. We went over the x9 math facts, as those are coming up next in math, and then did reading. She's already memorized our "Discontent" poem, so I don't want to bore her with that every day.

Week 8, Day 3 in ECC

We got rolling early this morning, or at least earlier than usual. We breezed through the pledge and verses, and then worked on the Geography Game. Rabbit did great. Then we did yesterday's science. We had a science experiment to do, too. We managed to get it done.

Then we did Spanish and Snack. I didn't have much for Rabbit to do for seatwork, so I just had her do her math wrap-ups for the multiplication facts we've covered thus far. The boys and I worked on their verse, counting, alphabet, and such. And then they wanted to work in their books again. So, Rabbit worked in hers, and the boys continued in theirs. Today Tigger and Pooh worked on slanted lines for a little bit, and Rabbit worked on math pages. It is fun to watch the little guys try so hard.

I had to fix lunch early, for dance class, so I had Rabbit do her book basket time. During dance class, I took the boys to the library, since it was too cold for the park.

After dance, I got the boys down, and we finish all the rest of the day: writing eights, english, writing, math, spelling, reading, and poetry. We still got it done in a reasonable time. I am pleased how things are going.

Week 8, Day 2 in ECC

Well, since today is the science fair, I thought I would have to change things up, but I didn't really. Since we are going to the science fair, and she is presenting, I'll count that as science, and do what is scheduled in the teacher's manual for science tomorrow, and move our Nature Walk to Thursday or Friday, as those days will be warmer than tomorrow, according to the local weather guys/gals. We managed to get spelling, math, and reading done this morning, even with the noisy boys.

Rabbit did great on her memory verse dictation today. We did a word bank, and I helped her out over the parts where she got stuck. She really worked hard at writing with a nice slant and leaving more space between her words - something she struggles with. I told her how great it was that she worked so hard at it.

I added in the Geography Game for geography time after we read our information pages. Rabbit still has trouble with Puerto Rico vs. Costa Rica - I think it's because of the Rica/Rico. I'm trying to think of a way to help her remember the difference. Then we practiced her science fair presentation twice, and gathered up our supplies. She did Spanish and snack. There was a quiz in Spanish, and she got the answers all right. I'm pretty sure she was guessing.

After that I did preschool with the boys while Rabbit worked on her crossword puzzle. The boys did their Cubbies verse, and then wanted to do more pages from the "Complete Book of Preschool." So, I had them sit at their desks. They did pages where they draw lines down, and then circle things that were the color specified. Well, while we were doing this, Rabbit finished her crossword, and wanted to work in her "Complete Book of 3rd Grade," so I picked some "spelling" pages for her to do. They were about plurals and when to add "s" versus "es."

Next up was writing eights. She got through the whole alphabet and all numbers today. I let her choose what to do next, as I wanted to get done early today. She chose math, then spelling, and then reading. She did great. Her three missed spelling words today: yellow, almost, and clothes. "Clothes" is another one of those words I remember learning to spell and struggling with. We did the poem in the teacher's manual for English again today.

It was time for me to make lunch next, so Rabbit spent 15 minutes using her wrap-ups to work on her subtraction facts, and then 15 minutes on book basket.

After lunch, we had to start gathering everything up and getting everyone ready to go to the science fair. This was the first year our home school group had a science fair. I think we had 14 entries or so! It was very good. We didn't win anything, but Rabbit had fun, and learned a lot. Next year we start our science project in the summer!

Week 8, Day 1 in ECC

Oh, it's good to be back.

We started off with our pledge and Awana verses for Rabbit. I think she'll do great on the next 3 or 4 sections we're working on. There is a lot of review in them. Then on to Bible. We read about the people of Greenland. I never knew all that about Greenland. I found it very interesting. Then we worked on our Bible memory verse for the week.

After that, we read about Canada's industry and animals. That was interesting. Then, we worked on the Geography Packet a little. We did the page about animals and the page about average temperature and rainfall. There were 2 animals we didn't know, but we didn't bother to look them up because we really needed to move on. We also didn't look up which animals were considered endangered. I think the bald eagle was considered endangered at one time, but I didn't think ony of the rest were. We'll check another day. We didn't have enough time to play the geography game.

We moved onto science, reading about animals that live near water. The platypus was a big hit with all the kids. They sure thought it was funny looking. Rabbit decided to do a science page about the tapir.

It was time for snack and Spanish then. Boy, I think Power Glide really kicks it up rapidly. I'm not making her do all the extras the first time through (we usually go through the book at least 3 times), but man, I don't even understand most if it, and I had 3 years of Spanish between high school and college.

After recess I did preschool with the boys while Rabbit started her seatwork. (Today, that includes a science page, copying our memory verse, and addition math wrap-ups.) I read this weeks Cubbies pages to the boys, and started work on the verse. They had trouble with the words, so we stopped that. With Tigger taking such an interest in writing, I pulled out the "Complete Book of Preschool Curriculum" and had them work on drawing lines from left to right. They did about 8 pages of those. Pooh is definitely left-handed. Then, we went back to the beginning of the book and worked on colors. I just talked to them about it, and pointed to pictures asking what things were and what color they were. When we were done, the boys wanted to work on the pages by themselves. I'm not sure we're quite there yet. I also did the pages on the floor. I should have done them at their desks. Pooh is good about sitting on the "down" side of the pages, but Tigger tends to sit to the side and ends up drawing his lines up instead of across. I'm really going to have to work with Tigger about up/down, across.

Anyway, after that, I went back to Rabbit to work on our writing-eights. She wanted different music, so now we have Tchaikovsky going. I think I'm going to have to go to the Library and see if I can find some more classical arrangements that Dianne Craft recommends for doing this therapy with. For English, today, we just worked on the poem that was in the ECC teacher's manual. We'll get back to Primary Language Lessons next week. After that, Rabbit did book basket and continued working on her seatwork while I started lunch.

After lunch, she watched the next lesson in math while I put the boys down, and then we did a page together. It is solve for the unknown with multiplication facts. She did okay, but we need to review some more. I also started going over the times 9 facts, as that's coming up next. Then we did spelling. She got all missed words from last week right except one: science. That's a hard word. I remember when I finally learned how to spell that one. It stuck in my head forever. Reading, poetry and music went great. She still has to finish up her science page, but a good day for us today.

Science Fair Project Finished

Hooray! Although it made it harder to remember to get all our Brain Integration Therapy stuff done (and we didn't do "Repatterning" this week) it was worth it to get the project done.

On Monday we set things up. On Tuesday and Wednesday we actually did our experiments. On Thursday and today, we worked on our project board. We had fun with it. However, if your child doesn't like counting, don't do a project that requires counting. (We had to count confetti that popped out of a balloon for our project.) We even filmed the actual doing of the experiments and made a quick DVD movie to show at the fair.

We did math everyday, and Rabbit got a 100 on her test today. We did reading every day, and Spanish when I remembered. We also worked on her Awana verses every day.

This was her first science fair project, so I helped quite a bit. I know we also have a geography fair coming up, so I told her she needed to start thinking about what country she wanted to do now and start getting ready. Next year we may start doing the science fair project in the middle of the summer! She does have to do a 5 minute presentation (not to the judges), so we will practice that a little, but now we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Taking a break from ECC

Well, normally I don't think I would take a break in the middle of a country, but we have a science fair to get ready for by next Tuesday. So, we're going to focus on the basics (math, reading, spelling, maybe a little writing) and our science fair project.

We started with the Pledge and Awana verses. We really worked those Awana verses for about 20 minutes. Then, we sat down and looked through one of the science fair books I got from the library. We have officially picked a project, and actually got started on a set up. We're going to see if having a barrier when you sneeze, like a tissue, helps keep the germs from spreading. We're going to put confetti in ballons and pop them.

After Spanish and recess (well, I suppose Spanish isn't really one of the "basics," but we always do Spanish during snack time), I had Rabbit read up on viruses and how they spread, while I did preschool with the boys. We went over their next Cubbies section and practice their verse. Then we counted on the calendar, spelled their names, went over the days of the week, months of the year, and the letter "C." after that I pretty much lost them. So, Rabbit and I went back to working on her science fair project.

After lunch, we did math, spelling, and reading, and more science fair project. For math, we moved onto the next section about area. In spelling, Rabbit only missed one of the words from last week (and that was as far as we got). Reading was fine. Today I decided we could take turns reading. For the science fair project, right now we are taping together 2' x 2' sheets of packing paper to make a 8' x 8' sheet of paper to measure how far things "blow" when the balloon pops.

We're still doing all our Brain Integration Therapy stuff through-out the day, even writing eights. We did have a bit of "attitude" issues during spelling and math. I'm afraid there will be no computer tonight for Rabbit.

Note: I added pictures below of our science experiments and last nature walk.