Hibernation

Day 15 was all about hibernation.  I tried to do a little preparing for this day.  I actually got out the day bag the night before and cut apart things that needed it and read through the lessons.  I also wrote in the additional things I wanted to do with each boy in the margin.

Check out them apples.  It felt good to prepare.  I even wrote in what order I wanted to do the lessons, you can see the numbers 1 through 4 written next them.  I started with Bat in Hiding which required me to hide the 6 puzzle pieces under the table, like a bat hangs upside down in a cave. 

I think the boys thought it was pretty cool that the pieces were ready as soon as they woke up.  They crawled under and found the 6 puzzle pieces and then took turns putting them together. 

Next we did the Getting Ready to Hibernate lesson.  Mother Goose Time gave us these picture cards of many different animals that hibernate.  The boys each got to pick an animal and tell a story about it getting ready to hibernate.  But first, of course, we got to ask them a discussion question, who helps you get ready for bed?  I added, how do you get ready to sleep?  Peter says "I lay down."  Lachlan said "watching out the window."  I loved this answer because I just moved their room around and put Lachlan's bed in front of the window.  Even though the curtains are drawn at night, he can still see the stars and I guess he really likes it.

 Here is a picture of the animals and the stories they told me.

While we were still sitting at the table I had them feel their chests as they breathe.  This was for the lesson Sleep Stretch.  We talked about how when animals hibernate they slow down their breathing and their heart beat so that they don't need to eat.  When I asked Lachlan what he felt, he was quick to tell me he could feel his heart beat. 

Lastly we worked on our craft for the day, Build a Bear Den.  Mother Goose Time provided us with pop out bears in brown card stock paper and brown paper bags.  We were to cut out a hole in the front of the bag, close up the top and collect items for nature to fill our den with to make a cozy place for the bear to sleep. 

I love how Mother Goose Time provides for us some pieces already cut and prepared and some not.  My son Lachlan really likes to get things just right.  He doesn't like to "mess up" and really likes the finished product of his art or craft turn out just how he imagined in his mind.  So for him, the items they supply provide a perfect balance.  It allows him to get the finished product he had hoped for and at the same time gives him artistic freedom to create.  This really reduces his frustration level when it comes to arts and crafts.  For this I am very thankful. 

Take for instance this project.  He was able to have a perfectly cut out bear to add his creativity too.  If he had to cut out the bear, he would have gotten very upset, if it wasn't perfect, that it didn't look like a bear.  He would have just given up at that point.  But instead he did this.

 He added "bones" and a face to each of his bears.  He was beaming with pride. 

Next he went out and collected some leaves and grass for the den.

He also decided to roll up an additional paper bag and make a top for his den. 

Next we moved on to the additional items I had listed to do on this day.

 He put the flashcards 11 through 20 in order.

 He runs out of room on his desk and has to do 2 rows.  We have done this quite a few days in a row and for him the repetition has really helped.

 He read a couple Bob books.

 And worked in his More Math & More Literacy books from Mother Goose Time.  This is how you know Lachlan is concentrating, his tongue always sticks out a bit.  Grandma Norma is quite proud of this trait since her Dad, Great Grandpa Norman used to do this. 

This was the last section on this workbook page.  He was supposed to make his own pattern.  He had a plan, but once he got started he just kept drawing and forgot about the pattern.  I have to say, I think his work here is wonderful and I will treasure it always.

Sharing Stories

Mother Goose Time started a new thing this year.  They have written and published books to go along with the curriculum theme.  Then through out the month, there are lessons that go along with the story.

On this day, day 16, MGT provided us with all the graphics from the book to cut out and a back drop to tell the story on.  So I got out the iPad and filmed the boys telling the story.







They did such an awesome job.  This is exactly how the book is written.  The book is called Does a Bear Wear a Hat in the Winter?  Each page asks a question, just like the title of the book.  Then the next page says, NO! with a picture of a bear wearing a hat, or a duck wearing a raincoat.  The next page describes how that animal is made perfect for the weather they live in.

The boys made some of the words their own, but got the whole concept of the story spot on.  It was actually fun to hear them say it in their own words. 

The Not So Great Homeschool Day

On Day 13 of Weather All Around us by Mother Goose Time (MGT) we were supposed to learn all about Migration.  But this day didn't go very well.

We had a busy first part of the week, so by the time we got to this lesson my boys were done.  Specifically Lachlan. 

All seemed to be going well.  Then Lachlan started working on a color by numbers sheet in the More Math book.  He accidentally put the wrong color in the wrong place and he lost it.  His little perfectionist came out.  He likes to get it right and hates to "mess up".  I told him I thought it still looked great, that art is supposed to be unique and different.  Blah, blah, blah.  He was not open to hearing what I had to say.  I just felt so bad for him and wanted him to stop being so hard on himself.

Peter was still in a great mood and sat with me to keep working on some things.

 MGT had us ask the kids to take three sticks and turn them into the letter N.  Technically they were supposed to collect the sticks outside but it was a bit stormy, so I used the tongue depressors that came in the bag that were meant to be used for the story cards.  It was going great, until this happened . . .

 I guess that's just a risk we take doing school at breakfast.  After I cleaned up the milk and cereal on the floor, I took this picture of the N all put together.  I really liked this simple project.  As they process through how to make these three sticks into an N, it really cements in their mind what an N looks like.  They can refer back in their memory to this very hands on project and recall it a little easier. 

 Lachlan was still upset and just kept repeating, I can't do it, I can't do it.  I told him the story of the little train that could.  Told him to say I think I can, I think I can.  Not sure he was a fan of hearing that at the time.  But since then I have heard him say, I think I can, I think I can.  Here he is mad in the background as Peter works on tracing his alphabet on these cards from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  He loved working through the whole alphabet. 

 The last card is blank, so I had him write his name.

 Even "guinea pig" who is a hamster, joined us at the table for school.

 Lachlan, sadly was still very upset and getting angry about any little thing I tried or suggested. 

 Peter wanted to do a page in an old More Reading book.  But at this point I just said, forget it!  Let's just watch Mary Poppins.

So I set each boy up on a couch with comfy pillows and blankets and we spent the next hour+ watching Mary Poppins.  It was the best thing for us on this day. 

Anyone else out there have a little one that struggles like this? I have to say, these days have become by far less frequent.  For one, our routine has helped out tons.  Also, the badge chart has made a huge impact on Lachlan's willingness to work through frustration and to take instruction.  So I am pleased, as I reflect on this day, by the progress we have made.  I am so thankful that we can adapt as we need to.  I really appriciated the flexibility of homeschooling on this day. 

Weather All Around Us - Winter

We are in the midst of learning about the 4 seasons and today we came to Winter.  I loved this day.  It had some awesome lessons. 

First of all, I want to apologize in advance.  I had my camera settings set to outdoor lighting for the pictures we just took in the Fall leaves.   I didn't realize it until I had taken quite a few photos.  So they are pretty grainy. 

I had stations set up on this day because this first lesson about ice, could be a bit messy and so I wanted it at the kitchen counter.  This was for the lesson called Ice Hotel.  We talked about how there is an ice hotel in a country called Sweden.  I asked Peter to see if he could build with blocks and then had him try with ice.  I need to get those square ice cube trays and try this again.  Of course it was a bit difficult to build with rounded bottom ice cubes.  But they had fun trying.  He kept telling me they were slippery.  Good observation Peter!

Next Mother Goose Time had us to try using salt.  Peter sprinkled it on the ice and it melted the ice and roughed it up.  Made it a lot less slippery, but still hard to stack. 

While Peter was over at the counter experimenting with the ice, Lachlan was at his desk working with the I Can Read book.  First I got out the Sight Word Flowers and we practiced the two words, I and see.  At first Lachlan couldn't recognize the letter I because the font they used had the I looking like just a straight line.  He called it the number 1 first.  Then I opened up the book and the font of the word/letter I was of the other style.  So I took the Sight Word Flower and added, with a permanent marker, two lines, one at the top and one at the bottom.  This helped alleviate some confusion for Lachlan.

He read the book no problem after that.  Each page started with the two sight words we had practiced, I see.  Then the rest he could figure out by looking at the photos. 

Then it was Lachlan's turn to experiment with the ice and salt.  I asked Peter to go over to the desk and write his name on his book.  He got a bit distracted.  I had to remind him quite a few times what he was supposed to be doing. 

 Lachlan and I then started the lesson on Day 8 called Winter Tree.  Again, MGT provided us with Math Story Cards.  I love these things.  This month they were all about leaves.  We got leaves as our manipulatives in a bag on an earlier day this month.  The first card asked Lachlan to count out 12 leaves.  He decided to put them in a circle.

As we worked through these math stories, I helped Lachlan write them out as actual math problems.  I wrote it out as I read and he wrote the answer.  There were 10 leaves, 6 blew away, how many are left?  10 - 6 =?  Lachlan took away 6 and got his answer.  Here he is writing the equals sign and then writes in the number 4 with no hesitation. 

Peter who was supposed to be writing his name on the book at his desk came over and was hiding his creation behind his back to surprise me. 

Turns out he wrote his name above the nest and scribbled on most of the other pages.  That's okay, he had fun.

 Here, Lachlan is writing out the whole math problem himself.  5+7=12

Now it's Peter's turn to do some math.  He first counted out his 12 leaves.  Goose, our cat, decided to join us.

 Finally, I got Peter pinned down to do some reading.  I haven't been pushing him at all, but he really likes to do what brother is doing and he was picking up on these sight words almost faster than Lachlan was.  So we practiced the sight words again and then opened up the book.  He easily recognized the words and read through the book no problem. 

The last lesson called Winter World had us talk about Sweden again and how it snows there.  How do you travel the the places you go?  I reminded them of the movie Frozen and the sled Christoph uses through the snow.  Then we got out a blanket and took turns pretending it was a sled through the kitchen.MGT also has given us a beautiful world map an stickers with country names.  When we were done playing we added the Sweden sticker to the map. 

At this point we were all finished up with the 4 lessons from MGT but we were all still in good spirits so I wanted to fit in a bit more. 

Lachlan sat at his desk and I got out the cuisenaire rods.  He worked on the letter G page because that's the page he chose, it's not the letter we are working on this month, but that's okay.

He was following the pattern and then branched out on his own, putting them in order from tallest to shortest.

Peter loves to draw and create creatures and different animal laying eggs.  Lachlan has never been into drawing or coloring.  If I handed him something he would scribble all over it and give it back 10 seconds later.  Peter will spend forever coloring and drawing.  I love to see this focus from him.

After soccer practice, we ended our day by watching Disney's Frozen.  Yes, even my boys enjoy that movie.  I have to say, I do too.

Weather All Around Us - Cloud

I kind of bounced all over the place on this day.  I had them sit down at the table before I had food ready.  We were out of milk so I was making Eggo waffles and they take a little while to toast.  So while they were waiting I got them started on the Cloud Sculpture. 

I split the bag of starch noodles in half and I gave them each a wet wash cloth.  When you get the starch noodles damp they stick together.  It's super fun.  If you get them too wet they smoosh down, so the wet washcloth is the best idea.

They were to think about what shapes they have seen in the clouds and make a sculpture of it. 

Lachlan made his to look somewhat like a typical poofy cloud shape.  Peter's is there on the table by his spot, I think he called it a cloud sword.

While we were still sitting at the table I asked them the discussion question for the C is for Cloud lesson.  What words do you know that start with the /c/ sound?  I had the phonics cards out so we started with cat and cloud.  But then Lachlan came up with some good ones, cactus, clap, cast. 

This little activity of coming up with words that start with the same sound has become a popular one around my house.  I love it!  The other day, Lachlan was playing with Peter in the backseat of the van.  What starts with a /f/f/ sound?  Foot!  This one was funny, what starts with an /ea/ea/ sound?  Ear! 

After we hopped down from the table I taped a letter C on the floor.  It wasn't a very big letter C as I ran out of tape.  But it worked.  I had them stand on both sides of the C and I yelled out words.  If the words started with the /c/ sound then they would jump onto the letter C, if it started with something else then they stayed put. 

You can see Lachlan got it right most of the time and Peter just enjoyed jumping onto the letter every time I said a word. 

This one doesn't really show anything pertinent to the day, but I just think they are super cute.

Next I held the phonics cards behind my back and had them pick an arm.  If they picked the cat they had to crawl along the C like a cat, if they picked the cloud they had to roll a cotton ball along the C.  Talk about Kinesthetic learning.

While we were playing with our big C we were still thinking of /c/ words when I realized camera starts with a C.  I asked Lachlan what other word starts with a C as I pointed my big camera at him.  /c/c/camera!

While we were still at the table I asked the discussion question for Clouds on the Cover which asked, what happens if clouds are on the ground?  I explained to them that it's called fog and asked if they remember a time when it was cloudy when we looked out our window.  It worked out great that the next morning when we woke up it was foggy.  Lachlan explained to his Dad that it was because the clouds were on the ground.  Jeff was impressed and said he was about to compliment Lachlan's teacher when I told him "we just learned that yesterday!"

I had them hop on over to their school spots and get started on their My Little Journals.  They were supposed to draw a picture of something they like to do outside.

Lachlan drew a slide and Peter drew a picture of himself fishing.  I remember the first time Lachlan actually drew a picture of something, somehow, Peter just started doing drawing and I am not sure when it happened.  I think this is actually one of his first drawings.  All his past drawings have been of "snakes" which are long scribbles.  I think he has tried to draw before but mostly shapes.  I remember, with my help he drew himself before with long arms, but it was amongst many scribbles.  All that to say, I am pretty proud of his little creation here.

Since I am using this curriculum for Kindergarten for Lachlan, I really want to focus on more reading and writing and math.  I have been getting these workbooks since we started using MGT and they are appropriately titled More Math and More Literacy.

Here Lachlan is counting how many suns or how many clouds and drawing a line to the corresponding number. 

Practicing his Cs and doing math with clouds.  1+1=2.  At the bottom he was able to cross off the numbers he used as he worked through the problems.  So first he crossed off 2, then 4 as he added 2+2.  This was a great page for him.

Later in the day I had these two tools sitting at his desk.  When I had a chance, Lachlan and I worked through them. 

The purple is from a Hooked on Phonic set for Kingergarteners.  I heard that they were great tools for reading from some of the other homeschool Moms at co-op.  So I found a cheap set through Ebay at a Goodwill in Florida, and they sent it my way.  First you work through the workbook, there are three lines, you can choose just one or do all three.  They are all at words.  The book, titled "Cat", is also filled with at words and Lachlan does well at reading it. 

The flash cards there are numbers 11 through 20.  Lachlan has the numbers 1 through 10 down really well, but the teens are confusing.  So I have just had this stack out for a week or so and I have had Lachlan simply lay them out in order.  I give them to him all mixed up and put out 11 for him as the place to start.  He got frustrated the first few days but now he is starting to grasp the idea.  I started covering up the 1 in front and asking him what number the single digit was.  Then when I lift my hand I tell him the one in front makes it a teen.  So he says five, teen.  Hmm, wait a second that doesn't sound right, fifteen he exclaims.  11 and 12 are their own ball game, why do you have to be so different 11 and 12, why?!?!