It has been cold outside, but no snow here … yet!
Weather predictions are ZERO degrees this weekend. Our pond is frozen already and I told the kids I’d be buying everyone a pair of ice skates if it got cold enough to skate on it. The Prez says I might have opportunity to make good on the promise.
We are enjoying some snowy-themed learning here.
We’re reading these books, which we found at our local library or we own in our library …
Today was a school day for us. I almost titled the post “Lite School”, but reentry seemed more appropriate.
We hit the three Rs today along with some games. Reading aloud is helping not only their confidence but their fluency as well.
Someone is so close to writing her name! 😀
Exhibit A
I’ll give a gift to anyone who can tell me which movie has this quote, which seems quite applicable to my blog at the moment:
This place is a tomb! I’m going to the nut shop where it is fun.
OK, now don’t go and google it! That would be cheating! As for the gift, I was just kidding! But if you know it, do share! It is a fun movie that always makes me smile. 🙂
So, in an effort to take away the tomb feeling around here, I thought I’d share another more practical (and fun … well it was fun) reason why my blog is collecting cobwebs.
I like math because it is useful. I don’t enjoy math though.
But, our little ones love to learn and exercise their math skills with hands-on activities. I have to admit this keeps it interesting, usually results in greater meaning for them, and it allows me to see exactly what they know regarding math fundamentals.
Here are some recent math lessons with a hands-on approach:
You can grab this great freebie at Krista Wallden’s TpT store!
I thought it would be fun to add some random photos I have taken on regular ‘ole school days the last few weeks.
Wow, it has been a busy month! Where did September go???
We are in Week 10 of school this week. That feels great to type that out! Overall, we’ve had a great start and now just 3 weeks shy of a third of our year complete … well, we’ve accomplished a lot I hope.
In this post, I thought I’d try to catch up on some photos and learning opportunities we experienced while on the go this past month.
First up, we have attended a few field trips with the tutorial we are attending. One was historical in scope, one was geared toward science and yet another a live performance on the stage.
A Civil-War Era Plantation somewhere in the South …
Continue reading
In case anyone reading thinks I have lesson plans … ahem, well, let me set the record straight. I really don’t. I have year-long “maps” of what I hope to accomplish with each child, particularly concerning ELA, math and independent reading book assignments. I also have assignment books that serve as a record of what they actually do, which by and large follows those assignment books and maps closely.
Last week, I wanted to add in some interactiveness to our middle school boys’ math lessons, and I wanted to have more of a theme for our younger three. I didn’t think long and hard. I just went with what came to me and came together. It turned out to be a colorful week with rainbow-themed learning at the forefront. Some of it was review, and some of it was new concepts. All of it was good for our learners! Continue reading
I’ve had people ask me how I manage to teach six children with so many different needs and levels of learning taking place. I honestly have been thinking on this for the last couple of days as I’ve worked on putting this on virtual paper.
I do not have a schedule laid out minute by minute. I have tried that, but I’m going to be honest in saying it just doesn’t work. And that stressed this Type-A person out, so I threw it out … literally … one day. Continue reading
We like to play games. We like to win games. And in playing games, we learn how to lose games humbly and to celebrate our opponents’ wins.
Below are a few of the games we play the most which require critical thinking skills (and some math as well!): Continue reading
Leaping into Learning 