We still didn't get started until 9:00 today. Sigh. Can my children eat breakfast any slo-w-e--r? (If I could stretch out that word and then make it bend down like a drooping flower, I would!)
We started with the boys new verse (since this would be a "Monday" in MFW 1st). They said it a couple of times and we discussed it as directed in the T.M. Then we read another Miller's story. I'm always surprised how much they like these. Today's chapter was called, "Play the Man" and was about common courtesies men can show women - like opening doors and where to stand on the sidewalk and such. (As you'll see, this will come into play later in the day.)
I gave Rabbit her seatwork - it was simply a test for her Latin roots and a math review page. I used EasyTestMaker to make Rabbit's test. I had her define each root, and then I also had her use two derivative words correctly in a sentence. It was all "short answer" style, as there are only two roots at this point. When we get more, I'll change it over to multiple choice. She didn't miss any, and only missed one math problem. Way to go Rabbit! I told her she could practice sewing or work on her latch hook when she was done.
The boys did okay with reading today. Tigger had one word he stumbled over. Pooh, on the other hand, had more trouble. He's also a little too hard on himself about this. He has no problem marking the vowel and saying the vowel sound. It's the saying the rest of the sounds in the correct order that seems to get him. He'll do fine for a few words and then get all flustered. Then he'll do fine again and get flustered. But, he did fine with the cutting out the sentences and gluing them under the correct picture. I never know what to think about this kind of problem.
Next we took a snack break, and then did Math. I've stopped having them bring me the number of the day items. It just takes too much time for them to hunt them down. One thing I have been doing differently is not only drawing a line the number-of-the-day inches long, but also drawing it in centimeters. One thing I've struggled with is how large something is. I think drawing the lines in centimeters allows them to compare inches to centimeters. Plus, you can go up to 30 centimeters instead of just 12 inches. The next two weeks in Math is suppose to cover counting. That's fine, but they're pretty good at it. I forgot to reserve books from the library on it, though. But, we did do the first page in the workbook - it was easy and quick. Oh, I had Rabbit play some math games with one boy while I was working with the other. It was kind of good, except they got a little noisy and silly sometimes.
We read the Science pages next. They were pretty excited with the idea of watering some beans and watching them grow, so we'll probably do that. I do have a few books reserved for that topic at least.
The last thing we did before lunch was go on a Nature Walk. We did our usual path. We saw a very large grasshopper sitting on a weed, lots of bees, and other signs of summer. We could see just a very few yellow leaves on a few trees, telling us that fall is just around the corner. We talked about the different things we saw. Now the funny part was Rabbit kept insisting that the boys walk on the outside when we walked along the sidewalk so they could "Play the Men" as talked about in the story this morning. Yet, when they did, this made me nervous because of the occasional car going by and them being smaller than we are.
After lunch, we finished up the boys by listening to our Spanish program. It was basically learning common phrases (hello, good day, etc.).
Then I worked with Toni. We went over her math and had her fix her one mistake. She surprised me by wanting to do Writing Strands first. She made up a story about a hamster's first day in a new home (she wants us to get one for her to have as a pet). I captured her main points for her and then helped her come up with her long sentence. It always works best if we use her ideas. Not sure if I should make her come up with a real thing to tell about (which is kind of what seems to be suggested in the book), or just go with what we have done.
We've been reading from the Abeka 5th grade level "novel" Message of the Mountain - just a chapter a day, which doesn't take that long, but I know she is also reading from her Bible every day and other books she gets from the library (or her Nature Friend magazine - which came in the mail today).
The last thing on Rabbit's list for the day was the dreaded Spelling. Poor kid. She finally spelled all the words we were reviewing right (the green cards), but is really struggling with the two-letter sounds (ai, oa, ph, etc.) when we do the phonics and sound review time (the yellow and red cards). I'm not wanting to continue on with the rest of Step 1 until I feel she has at least got them each right once. She got frustrated with it today.
I am on day 29 with my first grader, but am just now working on my blog. We are also blending K and Exp to 1850 with 1st. Good luck!
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