Week 9, Day 5 in ECC

Can you say, "Light" day. Today was really very lightly scheduled.

We started with verses an Bible, and then did repatterning. That went pretty smoothly, considering we were up half the night with Rabbit and her stomach pains. She was fine this morning, albeit a bit tired.

After that, we breezed through math, spelling and reading. We actually finished up More New Friends. So on Monday, we'll pick an Abeka reader and start through it. We only had one word to define for geography vocabulary today, but it still took a while.

Still wanting to get in at least 3 hours of school (we have to average 4 hours - most days we have 5, and on dance class day we have 6), we decided to carve our pumpkin for art class. That took us a full hour.

I forgot that we have one more science experiment to start - we're suppose to plant a potato. Our grass seeds from Tuesday's experiment still haven't sprouted. Perhaps I'll be off to the home improvement store tomorrow to pick up some radish seeds, between other things that must be done.

One thing about all these plant experiments... Our house does not have any south-facing windows. And with the sun so far south now, our one east facing window isn't getting that much sun. I'm not sure where I can grow stuff. We get lots of sun in the spring and summer, though.

Week 9, Day 4 in ECC

Again, starting with the usual routine. I think Rabbit may just be board with these three sections that we're working on. We have been working on them for two weeks. But, she still often draws a blank.

For geography time, we played the geography game. The boys joined in. We would look at the country name, and then tell them which number on the map to point to. I figured it was good for them learning to recognize numbers that are not lined up. Rabbit got all hers right again. I surprised her and gave her 25 cents for getting them all right for 2 days in a row.

The boys listened in about plants in science time. Again, they wanted their own science pages. We read about plants, so each of them drew some plant in the book. Tigger drew a palm tree - it was actually pretty good for a 4 year old. I'm not sure what Pooh drew. Rabbit drew every flowering plant on the pages.

After snack, Spanish and recess (it was too nice outside not to let them have recess), Rabbit worked on her division facts and some of her workbook pages. The boys decided, after calendar counting, spelling their name, and going over their verse, they wanted to do workbook pages too. They worked on tracing shapes.

Rabbit and I then did her writing eights and writing time. She worked on book basket while I worked on lunch.

Once we got the boys down for quiet time, Rabbit did her math page, spelling, poetry, and reading. I am always amazed about how easily she memorizes poetry.

It was really a good day, and we were able to go run some errands when we were done. Not something I always get to do after school because there are too many chores left to get done.

Week 9, Day 3 in ECC

Oh my. Dance class day...

We started with the usual. For some reason, Rabbit is having a real hard time with this week's Awana verses. We're going on 2 weeks of studying, yet she is still struggling. (I've got the sections memorized, can we please move on? )

Rabbit is continuing in her efforts to get the boys to join in. So, they sat around while I read the interesting facts about Brazil from the geography book, and Rabbit filled in the crossword. The we played the geography game. Rabbit already knows all the countries. We will definitely need to add in North America when we play next week.

We read our science sections, and I typed up a science page for Rabbit to draw on. Then the boys wanted pages to draw on too. So, I had them tell me something they learned, and I typed it up and printed it out. Pooh drew a "hoatzin" - a bird. Actually, Rabbit drew it for him, and Pooh colored it. He actually did a pretty nice job of coloring. Tigger wanted fish on his page, so we wrote about the fish in the Amazon river. I drew the first one, and then he actually drew several others. Some looked more like fish than others.

After Spanish and snack, I had Rabbit work on her multiplication facts by reviewing flash cards, while I had some time with the boys. After counting on the calendar and tracing some numbers I put up, they sewed some cardboard shapes. Tigger actually started one by himself - that's a first. I had them pick up and Rabbit do book basket while I made our early lunch. Then it was off to dance class for Rabbit and to the park with the boys.

After we got home from dance class and the kids finished their snacks, the boys went to quiet time. Rabbit worked on writing eights, writing, English, math, spelling, reading and poetry. Whew! But, we got it done. I'm still only having her do one sentence on the days we do writing. I have thought about doing it every day, but 2 or 3 days a week is fine for now. I will say I am starting to see better spacing between her words when she writes (or did I already say that somewhere in my blog).

Even for all that, we were still done by 3:15. But, I'm always glad Wednesday is over.

Week 9, Day 2 in ECC

Do you notice that making the geography game takes a lot more time than what is usually scheduled for geography? I didn't make my map in advance. Rabbit and I wrote our numbers on our maps, and then she went off and colored her map. Meanwhile, I was making the game cards. It just takes time. And then I still had to color my map. We used the laminating machine this time, as I don't like wrinkly contact paper.

Science was good. We used grass seeds (because we had some) for the experiment. We'll see if they work, as my husband said they were old.

The boys begged for preschool again. Pooh figured out how to write his name. Some of the letters were backward, and quite spread out across the page, but he did do it, with no prompting or help from me. We practiced counting on the calendar, and then I got a mini-whiteboard out and played a bunch of different games. We matched uppercase A, B, and C to lowercase a, b, and c. We matched numbers to groups of dots. We talked about the number of sides each shape have, and then they went and found things with those shapes. And, I let them draw on the whiteboard. That was the big hit of the day.

The rest of school - math, spelling, reading, English, dictation, Spanish and art was great, too. For math, we're working on skip-counting by 9's. I'm using some of Dianne Craft's tricks for that. In spelling, Rabbit missed "clothes" again, and then "through." For English, I typed up Lesson 94, putting blanks for Rabbit to write in. Then I had her dictate her answers to me, and then she copied my answers back into the blanks. She did great with the memory verse dictation. We're almost done with "More New Friends." A friend of mine has loaned us her Abeka 3rd grade readers, so we'll be starting those soon. (Thanks DY!)

The art project was weird. I cut the straw as explained in the book, and could make the sound (kind of sounded like a duck call), but Rabbit cannot make the straw buzz at all. But, she is having fun decorating as I type.

Really, things went great today (and I even got 2 blog entries up).

Week 9, Day 1 in ECC

Have you noticed, the first day of a new country in ECC has lots of extra geography? Not that we didn't get it all done today, but I really notice this. Especially when this falls on a day when we're having a meeting at our house in the evening and I have a bunch of extra stuff that I want to get done once we're done with school! But, the amazing thing is, we got it all done. Every last bit of it: pledge, verses, geography, science, Spanish, English, book basket, math, spelling, reading, poetry, and music. Okay, we didn't do any of the advanced geography pages (shh! I haven't even got them copied yet).

We have the Nate Saint YWAM book for the younger kids and I knew Rabbit had already read it. I asked her if she remembered what happened to Nate Saint. She said she did. So, I asked her if she wanted me to read aloud the paperback book. She hemmed and hawed, and then decided no. I think I'm going to read it to myself (in those copious spare minutes that I have). I'm okay with this. She is young and sensitive. And, reading ahead in the teacher's manual, I know that Marie (the writer of the curriculum) handles this in a very gentle way. I think that's going to be enough for Rabbit.

The boys participated a lot in school today. Joining us for getting their passports "stickered" and looking at the maps. Rabbit is trying to encourage them with this. Then, for preschool we did the Flag Sticker books - finished up North America and then did South America. They really enjoy that. When a flag won't fit on a country, we put it in the ocean, and have them draw a line from the flag to the country name. They really like that.

Like I said, I'm amazed we got it all done, but we did.

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.

Week 7, Day 5 in ECC - Science Experiment Day

Light and independent Friday - the day to catch up on science experiments.

We started with Pledge, Awana verses, and then did our vocabulary pages. I sketched, Rabbit wrote and colored. After Spanish, I did a little verse review with the boys, and then told them they were going to help with our experiments.

We did drops on the spoons, to see how the water kind of bulges and holds together. Then we floated the paper clip. That was cool. (I showed that one to Dad when he got home - he didn't think it would work.) Here is a picture of the paperclip floating in a glass of water:

Here is what the "helper" paperclip looks like:

It was a bigger paperclip than the one in the water. I laid the smaller one on this one, and then slowly lowered the paperclip into the water, trying to keep it level.

After that, we went outside with a board, and did our valleys and mountains and poured water and watched the path the water took. The boys loved helping put dirt on the board - that's what boys are good for. I had to kind of prompt Rabbit with some questions to get her to think about what the water was doing. Here is the water rushing down our landscape:

Then, the last experiment was about friction. The experiment said to use a board, but I didn't think it would be easy to tie a rope around a board. So, we borrowed one of Dad's cordless drill cases and two 5-pound weights. We tied the rope around the handle and then put the weights on the case. First Rabbit tried to drag it on the carpet, but it was tough. Then, we dragged it on the linoleum, and it was easy. Then I let each of the boys try. They could barely pull the "sled" on the carpet, but could easily pull it on the linoleum. I talked a little about friction, but not much. I decided the best thing was to let them experience it. These two picture show the "sled" on carpet and the floor:

After lunch, Rabbit did her Gamma Unit Test I - and she got a 100%! Hooray! She knew her math facts very well. She did miss three words in spelling (and the attitude came back again for spelling). But, after she was done, we reviewed all the words missed for the week to get ready for Monday. Then we did reading and poetry and were done.

Week 7, Day 4 in ECC

Ahhh, the attitude reared its ugly head again. Sigh.

But, really, we got through the day pretty well. We started with the usual, and then did geography. Most of the work for that was saved for seatwork time, so we played the geography game. Then, after Spanish, we did our Nature Walk. The ducks are back!. After all these weeks looking for the ducks in the stream through our park, we saw them today. There were 6 - three mallards and three brown ones. That was exciting. Here is a picture of 2 of them:

After lunch, we did math, spelling and reading. Rabbit only missed one spelling word.

We needed to go to the library to pick up some books for preparing for the science fair, so we decided to walk. (It's really not that far.) So, we put the boys in strollers, and Rabbit and I pushed them up to the library. On the way back, we saw a Monarch butterfly sitting on a flower beside the sidewalk. We got down close and could see the probiscus probing the flower for nectar. Even better than this morning's Nature Walk.

Once we got past attitude issues, the day was fine.

Week 7, Day 3 in ECC

We are, or at least I am, just loving this curriculum. Even with throwing Dance in today, we still got it done!

We did our usual routine today. For Geography, we just played the Geography Game, as all of the topics in the suggested activities for the day would have taken a lot more prep time. But, Rabbit needed the review, so that was good. Then, today would normally be a Nature Walk day, but since we had Worship Dance, I did tomorrow's science today. Rabbit decided to draw pictures of water lilies for her science page. We'll do a nature walk tomorrow.

We actually got through all the letters of the alphabet and the numbers today doing our writing eights! Then, rabbit had to write a sentence about the picture I drew on the white board. She didn't do as well as usual, but she hasn't done any since Thursday of last week, so that's okay. Then she did book basket while I made an early lunch.

After Dance, the boys had their quiet time. I put one of them in their room, and the other in my room. That helped tremendously - no one got noisy or bouncing off the walls that way. We reviewed math facts for the up coming unit test - she is really doing quite well - x0, x1, x2 and x5 are pretty well mastered. I'm trying to decide whether to do the unit test tomorrow or do review for one more day. For spelling, she missed "great," "neighbor," and "change." Then we zipped through reading, poetry and music. We were done by 2:30, again.

I'm saving up the science experiments for this Friday. I think it will be fine to just do them all at once. Speaking of which, we need to come up with a science fair project! I keep forgetting, and it's only about 2 weeks away. Aaaah!

Rabbit's attitude has been awesome the last 3 days. I made a point of telling her at breakfast how proud I am of her attitude and how hard she has been working. She hasn't fussed or complained once. I've not had to take away a single paper clip in 3 days. I am just praising God for this wonderful change in her.

Week 7, Day 2 in ECC

Well, considering we didn't quite do things in the usual order, things went pretty well. I forgot to do the pledge, and started with Rabbit's Awana verses. Then I remembered, and we did the pledge. After that, I completely missed Bible time, and plunged into geography. I saved coloring the Canadian provinces for seatwork. After doing geography, I remembered Bible. But, it worked out fine. Then we did science. The pages seemed really complicated, so I just had her tell me some of the things she learned from it, and we didn't do a science page (shhh! don't tell). I also haven't done any of the science experiments. Light and independant Friday is starting to look like "catch up on science Friday."

Then we moved on to Spanish/snack time and recess. We were actually a little ahead at this point, so they had a 20 minute recess. After recess, Rabbit took her seatwork (math drill page, and the provinces page to color), and I did preschool with the boys. I read them a book from this week's book basket, and then we did our "calendar" time. After that, the boys got focused on writing their names. I don't know where that came from. So, I worked with them both. What a challenge! Tigger actually did pretty good - if he can remember to start his letters at the top. He is going to make himself learn it, even if it is hard. Pooh is more of a challenge for me to teach - he is left handed. But, he made each of the letters in his name about two times. I was going to wait until they are 6 to start Kindergarten, but I may have to start next year. (My other thought was to do a year of My Father's World Kindergarten, and then a year of Abeka Kindergarten - or the other way around - just to really get those basic reading and writing skills firmly established.)

After that, it was time for writing eights. We are so close to getting completely through the alphabet! We started at "u" today, and then went to "z," then I did the numbers with Rabbit, and then started again at "a." We got all the way through to "p." That was only 4 letters shy of getting back to "u." Rabbit has been trying so hard the last two days. I am so proud of her and her attitude change. Last night she told Dad she was trying to pretend she was in a real class with lots of kids. Whatever works! Then she did book basket while I made lunch.

After lunch, she worked on her math test while I got the boys down for their nap. She only missed 2 questions, but she got all her facts right. So, the next two days we'll review all the math facts we've covered so far, and then do the first unit test on Friday. We did spelling next. She got yesterday's missed word correct, and then we just went until she missed 3. I forgot to set the timer. She missed "great," "okay," and "snail." There are just a few words left in the long-a sound group. I've been giving her to them in groups (as suggested by Crystal, over on MFW's message boards). So, we did a_e words, then ai words, then ay words, and then the only ea word in this group. All that is left is the eigh words and a couple that don't quite fit any of those patterns (like "change").

We wrapped up the day with reading and poetry, and then it was time for art. We were suppose to do an Inuit Soap Carving. We went Target last night, and I couldn't find any single bars of Ivory soap, so I got a "travel size" bar of Irish Spring. The Irish Spring was soft, but the travel size is small. (We don't use Ivory, and they only had packages of 8 at our local Target.) Then, Rabbit wanted to do a cat. So, we sketched in the cat and started carving. Poor cat eventually lost one of his front legs . My tips for this project: make sure you have a larger bar of soap; do an animal that doesn't have small appendages. Rabbit tried to do the "carving," but her hands were not strong enough, so I did the carving. What are mom's for, eh?

Week 7, Day 1 in ECC

Well, I was worried that the first day back from a 3 day weekend (we went camping, again) would be tough, but Rabbit did great today.

We started out with Bible and working on our memory verse for the week. Today we read about a people group that live in Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua. After reading about Cameron Townsend last week, and how challenging it is to provide a Bible in a native tongue, it was neat to read about a group that does have both the Old and New Testament translated into their language. I think another neat part about Cameron Townsend is how God truly answered prayer and opened doors for him in amazing ways.

Then we did Geography. The first day we go into a "new country" I always include Tigger and Pooh. So, we looked at a map and talked about the different ways we could get from Mexico to Canada. First we talked about taking a boat up the West coast, then taking a train or bus. But, we measured from Mexico City to Calgary, and decided a plane would be the fastest. We set up some chairs, and I was the pilot, and we flew from Mexico City to Calgary. Then, I put the Canada flags in their passports and wrote the date. After this, the boys are "done" with geography and go off to play. Rabbit and I continued on the other geography activities.

Next was science, and about how rivers flow into lakes. She did a great notebook page - I decided to let her use tracing paper. It was only a black and white sketch, but that is okay. I think she really liked today's section, because she talked on and on about it.

After science, we did our snack/Spanish time and a short recess. Then, Rabbit went to work on a x5 drill page I printed off for her, her science page, and her copywork. The boys and I went through their Cubbies story and verse for the week. Then we got out the number pegs toy and practiced counting and matching the numbers to the peg puzzles. They are doing great with it, much to my surprise. I let the boys continue playing with that while Rabbit and I did writing eights and English. She did not complain about them today, and tried to get as far along as possible - we got all the way to "t" today! For English, it was a day to repeat lesson 86. I threw in a couple of extra sentences, to see if she would get the idea, but it hasn't quite sunk in yet.

I hadn't picked up our books on Canada from the library (since we went camping this weekend), so I had Rabbit go finish her seatwork, while I made lunch. No read aloud this week. I am thinking I may have Dad read them to Rabbit at bedtime, as the boys have trouble being quiet through a whole chapter. Plus, the next story isn't quite as gentle as Cameron Townsend.

After lunch, the boys had their quiet time, and Rabbit finished up her seatwork and then we used the right-brained multiplication flashcards to review the x5 math facts. She knows the stories for each fact, she just doesn't have super fast recall. Then, she finished her math page in 10 minutes. Bravo! Tomorrow is our test for this unit. Spelling went well. We only managed to get through the words she missed last week, and she has to re-do one of those. However, I'm glad we'll be moving on. I'm thing about, perhaps on Fridays, having Rabbit study all the words she missed for the week, to kind of help for Monday. We did reading, and then moved on to a new poem: Discontent. I really like it, and I think she did to.

Anyway, after all that, we finished by 2:30. That's really good for us. We started late this morning, and reviewing her new Awana verses took extra time today. I'm pleased about how this day went.

Week 6, Day 5 - Party!

Today, we did Bible, reading, writing, math, spelling, poetry, vocabulary Spanish, and finished our read aloud. Plus, we squeezed in our re-patterning. Then we got ready for our Fiesta!

First, we had to go to the grocery store for supplies. We had read a book called "Cactus Soup" this week. It's a cute story, and the kids wanted to try to make Cactus Soup. Here's my version of the recipe:

Fill 1 large pot about half full of water and start to heat

Add 2 to 3 tsp of chicken bouillon,

1 onion, quartered and sliced,

5 cloves garlic, minced,

1 can of kidney beans (rinsed and drained),

1 can of kernel corn (drained),

1 can of diced tomatoes (drained),

1 can of chile beans (drain off some of the chile sauce),

1/3 cup of lentils (make sure you sort them first),

2 chicken breasts, cut up into cubes,

salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 hours. Top with crushed tortilla corn chips and Mexican cheese. (For those who like spicy, add some hot sauce after you've dished it out for the kids.)

Rabbit couldn't have it with the cheese, but she loved this soup (and she usually doesn't like to try new things). Dad and I thought it was tasty, too. The chile beans added just the right amount of spice. There was enough left over to freeze for later. We also had Taquitos (Delimex Chicken Taquitos are dairy free), Spanish rice, and guacamole. (Monday is usually Mexican night at our house, but we moved it to Thursday this week.)

After dinner, Rabbit gave us a short presentation on Mexico. Last year for our home school support group's Geography Fair, she had done Mexico. So, she got out her presentation board, and read it to the family. Then, we tried to break the pinata. We have an open "balcony" at the top of the stairs, so Dad held the string to the pinata from up there (to be safe - who hasn't seen those videos on America's Funniest Home Videos), and Tigger had the first go. He got 2 or 3 hits, but didn't break it. Next up, Pooh. He whacked the pinata so hard, it pulled it off the string (or yarn, rather), but it didn't break. So then we gave the pinata to Rabbit and let her drop it off the balcony, and it broke. The kids gathered up the Smarties. So, another tip for the pinata - lots of layers around the end where you pull the balloon out, so the string doesn't rip through before the kids break it.

The kids really had fun with the Fiesta. Now, we're off to Canada. Brrr!

Week 6, Day 4 in ECC

Busy is the only way to describe today.

We started with our usual, but Rabbit was not really being respectful when we said the pledge. If there is one thing that gets me, it's that. (Even in college, at basketball games, I would tell guys to take their hats off during the Star Spangled Banner - guys way bigger than me or any of my friends.) So, we started off on the wrong foot. But, we worked through it, and did our Awana verses. The book had a game to use to work on memorizing the New Testament books, so we did that.

For geography, we made Mexican paper-tissue flowers. Here is how ours turned out:

We would have made more, but we ran out of time. Perhaps tomorrow.

Then, we had 4 pages to read in science, rather than 2, but Rabbit did a good science page. Our Spanish book actually had a worksheet today, so we did that together. Then she went off to work on her science page and math drill while I did preschool with the boys. We read a couple of our books from book basket, and then played "alphabet scramble." I have the Laurie lowercase letters, and I hook the blue forms together, and then have the boys figure out where the yellow letters go. It's good for them to learn to match those shapes.

After that, Rabbit did book basket time, while I made our early lunch. We have just one more chapter of Cameron Townsend. I'm not sure reading the read alouds at lunch is such a good idea. The boys are pretty board with it. We have a couple of weeks off before we move to Nate Saint. Since that one has such a different ending, I may ask my husband to read it to Rabbit at bedtime instead.

Then, it was off to dance class. The boys and I went to a park. When we got home, the boys went down for a nap, and Rabbit worked on her math page. Spelling was good - only missing one word today, and another chapter in our reading book. We finished up with music.

And then, we worked on finishing up our pinata. We didn't use tissue paper and decorate it like the book said. We just didn't have time. So, we just painted it with tempura paint. Here it is hanging up off the back porch, drying:

If we had more time, a couple of more coats of paint would have totally obscured the newspaper. But, we learned a lot this time around. When we do it again (she'll be in 8th grade?), then we'll know - or I'll just buy one from the party store!

I think it will be nice if I can get light and independent days to fall on dance class days. We are looking forward to having our Fiesta tomorrow night when dad comes home from work.