Saturday, May 30, 2009
Week in Review: 5/25-5/29
We are moving in less than two weeks. So boxes are everywhere and routines have gone by the wayside. We are still learning though!
Reagan and Avery are still working on RightStart Math and All About Spelling. Reagan really likes All About Spelling, he says the book is easy and he gets stickers! Math has been more enjoyable for him too, he is doing problems on probability which involce spinners and dice games. Avery's reading is coming along, slowly as usual. He has a lot of trouble with reversals and telling similar looking letters and numbers apart. Clocks are completely baffling to him, even digital clocks, please don't laugh. I shouldn't be surprised I have the same issue, Reagan bought me a watch for Mother's Day a few years ago and it was so embarrassing because people would ask me the time and I couldn't read my own watch.
Avery's handwriting is improved however, thanks our First Annual Super Fun Handwriting Challenge Time. In other words I offered a small cash reward ($5) for completion of a Handwriting Without Tears workbook, neatness counting of course. Both boys whipped through the previously despised workbooks and their writing shows it!
Mary has 5 pages left in her Explode the Code (phonics) primer. She also loves to do her own copy work, she takes a pencil and paper and copies words wherever she finds them: from books, the boys' assignments, cereal boxes, etc.! Girls are SO different from boys. She is really interested in animals, we have been checking out books about bees and ladybugs and I'm trying to fit in a trip to the zoo to see elephants. She really wants to see some elephants, "the smartest animals in the zoo" she calls them.
Jameson has been very interested in helping in the kitchen. He is at that rather frustrating stage where he wants to do everything himself. I must say he is better than any of my kids in regards to cleaning up his messes and putting things away when he is done. I credit that to the fact that I have used the Montessori method with him since birth, and it has payed off! It is so nice to have a fourth child who can take out his own activity, do it on his own and put it away. Not every time, but even once in awhile is great! After we move I am very excited to set up an all new Montessori area for Mary, Jameson and Ethan.
Reagan and Avery are still working on RightStart Math and All About Spelling. Reagan really likes All About Spelling, he says the book is easy and he gets stickers! Math has been more enjoyable for him too, he is doing problems on probability which involce spinners and dice games. Avery's reading is coming along, slowly as usual. He has a lot of trouble with reversals and telling similar looking letters and numbers apart. Clocks are completely baffling to him, even digital clocks, please don't laugh. I shouldn't be surprised I have the same issue, Reagan bought me a watch for Mother's Day a few years ago and it was so embarrassing because people would ask me the time and I couldn't read my own watch.
Avery's handwriting is improved however, thanks our First Annual Super Fun Handwriting Challenge Time. In other words I offered a small cash reward ($5) for completion of a Handwriting Without Tears workbook, neatness counting of course. Both boys whipped through the previously despised workbooks and their writing shows it!
Mary has 5 pages left in her Explode the Code (phonics) primer. She also loves to do her own copy work, she takes a pencil and paper and copies words wherever she finds them: from books, the boys' assignments, cereal boxes, etc.! Girls are SO different from boys. She is really interested in animals, we have been checking out books about bees and ladybugs and I'm trying to fit in a trip to the zoo to see elephants. She really wants to see some elephants, "the smartest animals in the zoo" she calls them.
Jameson has been very interested in helping in the kitchen. He is at that rather frustrating stage where he wants to do everything himself. I must say he is better than any of my kids in regards to cleaning up his messes and putting things away when he is done. I credit that to the fact that I have used the Montessori method with him since birth, and it has payed off! It is so nice to have a fourth child who can take out his own activity, do it on his own and put it away. Not every time, but even once in awhile is great! After we move I am very excited to set up an all new Montessori area for Mary, Jameson and Ethan.
Ethan is growing round and happy at 3 months old. He loves the mirror on his changing table, he has the cutest animated conversations with himself! He also loves his baby gym, he smiles and coos at the toys hanging above him.
We have been spending Tuesdays picnicking and hiking at the local park. Avery has been particularly enthusiastic about pressing flowers for our family nature journal which was neglected all winter. This is one of my favorite homeschooling traditions.
We also have some caterpillars and a praying mantis egg sac that we are watching, with great anticipation.
And Avery continues to be obsessed with robots, he has been taking apart the little bug robot he got for Christmas and has been drawing up plans to make a new body for it with wheels and a microphone. He really wants me to take him to Radio Shack or Home Depot to buy supplies. I'm trying to share his enthusiasm, but I confess the Roomba is really the only robot that has captured my heart thus far.
The kids are busy with soccer and baseball and looking forward to swimming lessons and a running clinic this summer!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Mary's Ballet Recital
Mary had her ballet recital on Saturday. She loved dance class. Whenever I got a chance to peak at her (while I wasn't minding the four boys in the waiting room) she looked so joyful tip-toeing about in her pink tutu with the other little girls!
Here she is with Grammy and baby Ethan...
Posing with her gifts from Grammy...
Playing Ring-Around-The-Rosy with her friends backstage...
Our little ballerina...
Here she is with Grammy and baby Ethan...
Posing with her gifts from Grammy...
Playing Ring-Around-The-Rosy with her friends backstage...
Our little ballerina...
Happy Mother's Day
Mary drew me this picture. She is in the middle, Grandma Lida is on the left and I am on the right. We are all holding hands before Grandma died.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Science Fair
Last Friday our homeschool group had the annual Science Fair. Avery presented a project about his Lego Mindstorms robot. His age group (grades 1-2) was non-competitive, but he was happy to get a ribbon for participating. He did a great job speaking in front of the group this year.
Here is an excerpt from his report:
One kind of robot reminds its owners to take their medicine. It has a robotic camera in its body. One kind of robot moves around for you, it’s a really cool robot. Another kind of robot cleans your pool out. Another kind of robot when it is running low on batteries it goes and plugs itself in and it can tell you when intruders are breaking into the house. If you want to start building a robot you should get a Lego Mindstorms kit like we did. In Egypt some people kidnap kids and make them ride camels. Now they have robots that ride the camels instead. They have robotic soccer players plus they have a little dinosaur that learns and a robotic cat. Pets are not allowed in the hospital so this furry friend makes its owners feel better, it doesn’t walk. Somebody created a robot that makes faces. If you put a stuffed dinosaur in front of its eyebrows will be shaped like rainbows above his eyeballs and his mouth will open. The smallest robot ever made was about an inch. Somebody tried to turn his arm robotic. They have little worm robots that sneak around in the sand. They have created mini submarines that you put on your feet and you start moving. Some people use robots to go where they can’t go.
Reagan did an experiment using mice. He tested the effects of drinking soda on maze performance. We checked with Aunt Allison, Dr. of Veterinary Medicine to be sure it was ethical to give the mice soda. Here is his abstract:
The purpose of my project was to find out if mice ran through a maze faster after drinking soda or water. I gave the mice some water and timed them running through the maze. Then I gave them soda and did step one over. I found that drinking soda made the mice run faster than drinking water. My hypothesis was correct.
Here is an excerpt from his report:Types of Robots
One kind of robot reminds its owners to take their medicine. It has a robotic camera in its body. One kind of robot moves around for you, it’s a really cool robot. Another kind of robot cleans your pool out. Another kind of robot when it is running low on batteries it goes and plugs itself in and it can tell you when intruders are breaking into the house. If you want to start building a robot you should get a Lego Mindstorms kit like we did. In Egypt some people kidnap kids and make them ride camels. Now they have robots that ride the camels instead. They have robotic soccer players plus they have a little dinosaur that learns and a robotic cat. Pets are not allowed in the hospital so this furry friend makes its owners feel better, it doesn’t walk. Somebody created a robot that makes faces. If you put a stuffed dinosaur in front of its eyebrows will be shaped like rainbows above his eyeballs and his mouth will open. The smallest robot ever made was about an inch. Somebody tried to turn his arm robotic. They have little worm robots that sneak around in the sand. They have created mini submarines that you put on your feet and you start moving. Some people use robots to go where they can’t go.
Reagan did an experiment using mice. He tested the effects of drinking soda on maze performance. We checked with Aunt Allison, Dr. of Veterinary Medicine to be sure it was ethical to give the mice soda. Here is his abstract:
Abstract
The purpose of my project was to find out if mice ran through a maze faster after drinking soda or water. I gave the mice some water and timed them running through the maze. Then I gave them soda and did step one over. I found that drinking soda made the mice run faster than drinking water. My hypothesis was correct.
This was his fourth year participating in the Science Fair and each year he gets more independent at coming up with and carrying out his project. This year he won 1st place for his age group!
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