Whew! First day back to school is always a hectic one, but we made it through and I think we got everything done that we had planned. Here are the highlights.
We started a new unit today: Rechenka's Eggs. Today we learned all about Russia, where it is, capitol city, flag, continent(s) it is on and it's landscapes etc. The girls started their lapbook with flag, map and landscape minit books. I think this unit will be a good one!
In addition to the unit Circle Time is back by popular demand and we enjoyed great praise and worship with lots of dancing followed by reading our bible and prayer. We are reading in a chronological bible continuing on from the Christmas story and today read about when Jesus was baptized by John. I was planning on adding calendar time to this, but it fell over and all the magnetic pieces which had taken me about 15 minutes to arrange fell off! ARGHHH!
Today Lola decided that Niyi needed to make a colors lapbook and she did this with him while I was working with Tayo on her reading. Both of them were so very proud of their work. It is a very basic mini lapbook with pieces of paper stuck in to show different colors, but their faces were such a picture of delight when they lined up outside the bathroom to show me their work! I'll try and get a picture later and post it!
Other unplanned life learning took place in the kitchen today as Lola pretty much made dinner by herself, all I did was give instructions! She made quiche, salad and bread rolls - today she was an actual help in the kitchen, I was able to concentrate on making the soup and she took some of the load - a taste of things to come maybe! We are back to regular chores and the girls did all of them pretty much without complaining. Tayo needs a few more lessons in how to sweep but that's about it!
Lola: Math was a review of where we were before the break, I eased her into her writing assignment today but getting a verbal narration after the chapter of her assigned reading rather than a written one. Other subjects were pretty uneventful - the usual stuff. She began The Secret garden as her assigned reading.
Tayo: I think we are ready to move on from the +9 math facts - we did a final review today to be sure, but she has pretty much got it! I think this week needs to be review of all facts to date and then we are moving on. Reading was a little slow, followed by a pep talk from me about how smart she is and how she just has to try and then it picked up a bit - half of Tayo's problem is impatience I feel! We reviewed RME and will start back with a new lesson tomorrow.
Niyi: He enjoys our one on one time a lot. I played with his lacing blocks early in the am then later after his lapbook with Lola I spent time reading and he really enjoys the I-spy book I got from the library, great skill building! Pretty full day for him!
Kemi: Is into everything!!!!!! :-)
Monday, January 5, 2009
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Thursday December 4th, 2008
Today was another 'laid back on purpose' day. I have really been thinking alot about how my time is being spent with the kids and purposing to make memories more than grades, so not having had time to plan for this week has really been a blessing for us. So what did we get up to today? This morning while Niyi was at the gym with Daddy we worked together and cleaned up the house. Once that was done we got on with math, handwriting, reading (Tayo) and writing (Lola). Being able to focus without our darling Niyi interrupting every two seconds is a great help and on the days he is at the gym I am able to get a a lot more done in a short period of time.
Tayo worked on a new Bob book today and although she got pretty frustrated with it at times we persevered and she was prod of herself when she finished it. Lola herself got pretty frustrated with her very small writing assignment, so we will really have to work more on this in the future. We did learn rules for not starting sentences with but or because and she used her spelling dictionary well. Once Niyi returned it was free time until lunch and they all ran off their energy downstairs (the basement has been such a blessing!) Later in the afternoon the girls and I made fudge (measuring, timing and of course licking the spoon!), played Monopoly (lots of addition and money practice done here) and with their Barbies and other toys for a long time - we laughed so hard Lola "...nearly puked!" (her words not mine!) so I think some memories were well and truly made!
Tayo worked on a new Bob book today and although she got pretty frustrated with it at times we persevered and she was prod of herself when she finished it. Lola herself got pretty frustrated with her very small writing assignment, so we will really have to work more on this in the future. We did learn rules for not starting sentences with but or because and she used her spelling dictionary well. Once Niyi returned it was free time until lunch and they all ran off their energy downstairs (the basement has been such a blessing!) Later in the afternoon the girls and I made fudge (measuring, timing and of course licking the spoon!), played Monopoly (lots of addition and money practice done here) and with their Barbies and other toys for a long time - we laughed so hard Lola "...nearly puked!" (her words not mine!) so I think some memories were well and truly made!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Wednesday December 3rd, 2008
Today was overall a pretty good day. I am still feeling the after effects of not being able to do any good planning this past weekend, I have found out I really am a planner who doesn't like having to 'fly by the seat of my pants' (like that's news!) Anyway I did well considering!
Once the kids were up we had until 11am to get all their independent work done as the movie 'Elf' was on and we love that one. They worked hard and got it done Lola was especially focussed as she really didn't want to miss a minute of it! We had lunch while watching that then they spent the rest of the early afternoon creating various cities, houses and a kennel with blocks. After a while of that we did a snowman picture that did not turn out well as I didn't read the directions properly and put them on black paper and instead used white - duh! Note to self - read instructions properly!
So after that we began making paper snowflakes and had a great time with that, discovering that it really is important to fold them correctly, and that we really could do with buying some sharper scissors! Once the snowflakes were carefully stuck to the windows, we had a yummy hot chocolate with marshmallows in honor of it being December and spent time playing outside. After dinner we started to watch another movie (Cars) but ended up reading our bible verse of the day and a Christmas story instead!
Once the kids were up we had until 11am to get all their independent work done as the movie 'Elf' was on and we love that one. They worked hard and got it done Lola was especially focussed as she really didn't want to miss a minute of it! We had lunch while watching that then they spent the rest of the early afternoon creating various cities, houses and a kennel with blocks. After a while of that we did a snowman picture that did not turn out well as I didn't read the directions properly and put them on black paper and instead used white - duh! Note to self - read instructions properly!
So after that we began making paper snowflakes and had a great time with that, discovering that it really is important to fold them correctly, and that we really could do with buying some sharper scissors! Once the snowflakes were carefully stuck to the windows, we had a yummy hot chocolate with marshmallows in honor of it being December and spent time playing outside. After dinner we started to watch another movie (Cars) but ended up reading our bible verse of the day and a Christmas story instead!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Monday December 1st, 2008
Wow today was a hectic one! Not sure I really achieved anything much at all. The day started the minute I got back from the gym with potty training, nursing, bathing (after aforementioned potty training didn't work out so well!) and cooking. I am exhausted and am not sure I want a repeat of today. The problem? Well I was completely not ready for school to start again after our Thanksgiving break. I have been sick so did absolutely no planning, cooking, laundry or anything - so today was completely a catch up day!
So lets see...did we do anything??
Lola: Did math, handwriting, French, math drill and a writing assignment on her blog this morning. Had grand plans to start her Plague lapbook, but this got totally forgotten under a pile of laundry! Oh well!
Tayo: Did math, handwriting, and reading today - we are back on RME today; we reviewed where we left off a few weeks back. Yep that was it!
Niyi: Potty training was his focus today! With just me here today I am really feeling the amount of time this takes; trying to remember when to take him and of course changing sheets, clothes and giving him a bath in the middle of the day when I should be making lunch! He is doing very well though and is now asking to go when he needs to - that's half the battle right? We did spend some time building with blocks this morning and he is getting good at building now and is not just all about the destroying!
Other school: I started an Advent countdown today. I wanted to do a Jesse tree or something elaborate, but due to my lack of planning of course this was not possible. I found a site with a daily scripture to read and that's what we did tonight. We also sang along to a You Tube version of 'O Come, O come Emmanuel' tonight. I may add some crafts occasionally, but this simple approach was actually nice, just the Bible, discussion and singing!
One great thing about this kind of day - bedtime! Oh..... and a new start tomorrow!
So lets see...did we do anything??
Lola: Did math, handwriting, French, math drill and a writing assignment on her blog this morning. Had grand plans to start her Plague lapbook, but this got totally forgotten under a pile of laundry! Oh well!
Tayo: Did math, handwriting, and reading today - we are back on RME today; we reviewed where we left off a few weeks back. Yep that was it!
Niyi: Potty training was his focus today! With just me here today I am really feeling the amount of time this takes; trying to remember when to take him and of course changing sheets, clothes and giving him a bath in the middle of the day when I should be making lunch! He is doing very well though and is now asking to go when he needs to - that's half the battle right? We did spend some time building with blocks this morning and he is getting good at building now and is not just all about the destroying!
Other school: I started an Advent countdown today. I wanted to do a Jesse tree or something elaborate, but due to my lack of planning of course this was not possible. I found a site with a daily scripture to read and that's what we did tonight. We also sang along to a You Tube version of 'O Come, O come Emmanuel' tonight. I may add some crafts occasionally, but this simple approach was actually nice, just the Bible, discussion and singing!
One great thing about this kind of day - bedtime! Oh..... and a new start tomorrow!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wednesday November 19th, 2008
Today was a good day again! Wow - two in a row! Niyi went with Kunle to the gym again so we were able to get lots done when he was out. The 3r's stuff was finished by 10:00am pretty much!
Lola: Did all her independent work (math, devotional, handwriting, started reading Robin Hood, French and Math drill) pretty uneventfully. After that we did her spelling - a few new word patterns were introduced today so this was a bit challenging, I had to speak to her a bit about not getting so upset when she makes mistakes - she really s to get things wrong! We read another Chapter of Hole in the Wall, learning lots of new vocabulary words as we went (lots of thee, thou, art etc!) and will start the plague lapbook next week. She drew a lion with instruction from me and was very pleased with the result and wants it posted to her Artsonia art gallery so I will do that! In the afternoon she wrote a short story to continue our Unit study book Little Oh, but she didn't really enjoy having to do that - not sure why, but I think she may have had enough writing!
Tayo: Her math lesson went well today - she is getting the hang of +9's now and the blocks are really helping her 'see' it (guess that's why it is called Math U see!) Is working on lowercase letters in HWOT and after she did that see initiate another drawing lesson, this time a lion! We copied this from her book and she did pretty good. She did her word of the day box with Lola this afternoon and some starfall. She is beginning to notice words when I am reading to her and she is very happy when she reads them!
Niyi: Continuing with the potty training saga....sigh!
Unit Study: Continuing with Little Oh. This time when we read the story I made two cards one with 'like' on it and one with 'as'. We reviewed what a simile is (we learnt about those last week) and when we heard one in the story they had to hold up their cards. Lola was good at this and found them all! That is a good way of reviewing this subject and the kids thought it was fun! We were able to watch a show on the Food Network this morning that happened to be about food in Japan so that was good timing! At lunch the s thought their tortilla roll ups looked like sushi! We read a book about how paper is made and its many uses and listed all the things we could that are made of paper.
Lola: Did all her independent work (math, devotional, handwriting, started reading Robin Hood, French and Math drill) pretty uneventfully. After that we did her spelling - a few new word patterns were introduced today so this was a bit challenging, I had to speak to her a bit about not getting so upset when she makes mistakes - she really s to get things wrong! We read another Chapter of Hole in the Wall, learning lots of new vocabulary words as we went (lots of thee, thou, art etc!) and will start the plague lapbook next week. She drew a lion with instruction from me and was very pleased with the result and wants it posted to her Artsonia art gallery so I will do that! In the afternoon she wrote a short story to continue our Unit study book Little Oh, but she didn't really enjoy having to do that - not sure why, but I think she may have had enough writing!
Tayo: Her math lesson went well today - she is getting the hang of +9's now and the blocks are really helping her 'see' it (guess that's why it is called Math U see!) Is working on lowercase letters in HWOT and after she did that see initiate another drawing lesson, this time a lion! We copied this from her book and she did pretty good. She did her word of the day box with Lola this afternoon and some starfall. She is beginning to notice words when I am reading to her and she is very happy when she reads them!
Niyi: Continuing with the potty training saga....sigh!
Unit Study: Continuing with Little Oh. This time when we read the story I made two cards one with 'like' on it and one with 'as'. We reviewed what a simile is (we learnt about those last week) and when we heard one in the story they had to hold up their cards. Lola was good at this and found them all! That is a good way of reviewing this subject and the kids thought it was fun! We were able to watch a show on the Food Network this morning that happened to be about food in Japan so that was good timing! At lunch the s thought their tortilla roll ups looked like sushi! We read a book about how paper is made and its many uses and listed all the things we could that are made of paper.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Tuesday November 18, 2008
Today was a great day! In fact it was pretty perfect! The day started out so well with me going to the gym early and coming home showered and ready to get started! Niyi went to the gym with Kunle and left a peaceful house for a few hours for us to get started! It makes all the difference!
Unit Study: Today we started a new unit from Homeschool Share. A literature unit based on the book Little Oh. We read the story and some books about Japan. We discussed traditional dress, and learned that Mount Aso is the largest Volcano in Japan. We used google maps to find photographs of it and really enjoyed looking at them. We continued working on our map skills, finding Japan and reviewing all the other places we have traveled so far this school year!
after school this afternoon we played Othello and Rummy for a while and I have promised Lola I will teach her Cribbage soon! Wish me luck with that one!
Lola: Today she was able to get most of her independent work done pretty quickly with no interruptions. She did her devotional and prayer journal, math, handwriting, French, math drill early. Then we were able to get her spelling done and she decided to use these words as practice for her cursive handwriting. We then made some Pumpkin Muffins together and discuss how gluten is developed in flour with kneading and why we don't want to develop it in muffins and cakes! I was happy to note that Lola was able to tell me lots of things we learnt last week about Korea especially that Korea is a Peninsula and how that is different from Japan (an island).
Tayo: Toady Tayo and I spent a long time focusing on her math (+9's) and she has begun to get it. She spent a while paying with the blocks and in her own way (telling a story all about how Mr 9 wants to be 10 and how his friends were helping him - in true Tayo style!) She asked me to help her draw an Elephant so we had fun doing that! Tayo is doing well with her Word box and has almost 20 words of her choosing in there right now, she enjoys being able to read words and is now beginning to sound them out a little- she might be ready to try RME again soon. Tayo and I began a science experiment from my new science book to see what foods ants like best but we are not sure that it will work as there don't seem to be many ants around right now with it being so cold! She was happy to see quite few bug experiments and projects in this book so I think we'll be trying them all out soon! We will start her any lapbook tomorrow. We read a section of an ant book today and will continue over the next few weeks.
Unit Study: Today we started a new unit from Homeschool Share. A literature unit based on the book Little Oh. We read the story and some books about Japan. We discussed traditional dress, and learned that Mount Aso is the largest Volcano in Japan. We used google maps to find photographs of it and really enjoyed looking at them. We continued working on our map skills, finding Japan and reviewing all the other places we have traveled so far this school year!
after school this afternoon we played Othello and Rummy for a while and I have promised Lola I will teach her Cribbage soon! Wish me luck with that one!
Lola: Today she was able to get most of her independent work done pretty quickly with no interruptions. She did her devotional and prayer journal, math, handwriting, French, math drill early. Then we were able to get her spelling done and she decided to use these words as practice for her cursive handwriting. We then made some Pumpkin Muffins together and discuss how gluten is developed in flour with kneading and why we don't want to develop it in muffins and cakes! I was happy to note that Lola was able to tell me lots of things we learnt last week about Korea especially that Korea is a Peninsula and how that is different from Japan (an island).
Tayo: Toady Tayo and I spent a long time focusing on her math (+9's) and she has begun to get it. She spent a while paying with the blocks and in her own way (telling a story all about how Mr 9 wants to be 10 and how his friends were helping him - in true Tayo style!) She asked me to help her draw an Elephant so we had fun doing that! Tayo is doing well with her Word box and has almost 20 words of her choosing in there right now, she enjoys being able to read words and is now beginning to sound them out a little- she might be ready to try RME again soon. Tayo and I began a science experiment from my new science book to see what foods ants like best but we are not sure that it will work as there don't seem to be many ants around right now with it being so cold! She was happy to see quite few bug experiments and projects in this book so I think we'll be trying them all out soon! We will start her any lapbook tomorrow. We read a section of an ant book today and will continue over the next few weeks.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday 17th Novemeber, 2008
Well today started out perfect, I am back at the gym now and got up early to work out came home showered and ready to go by 8am. Kunle then took Niyi (and today Tayo) to the gym to play while he worked out. This is going to be a great routine for us. It leaves me with two hours a day to really focus on school with the s without having to amuse him. Today after such a busy weekend I took the time and cleaned up the house and did laundry so it didn't help much with school but in the future I am going to ensure I use the time well!
Didn't have much planned for today (again the result of too busy a weekend!) but we did manage a few things.
Lola: Taught her a lesson about triangles and how to measure angles with a protractor. She wrote a letter to her Auntie and we did a science experiment seeing the effect salt has on ice. She wrote this up to be stored in her new Science notebook. She is reading her Magic Tree house book book as I type and in a minute she and I will play Rummy for a while (must be some educational value in that!)
Tayo: She went with Niyi to the gym to play this morning to help him settle in and for the rest of the day she has been pretty hyper - I think she needs an early night! She read a Bob book and did her math facts on the Math U see website as well as doing the science experiment and drawing a picture of the results and copying the title. She was playing with puzzles this afternoon also.
Niyi: Today was Potty training day 1! So far we've had a bunch of s and no pee-pee in the potty, but we were able to spend time working on his colors, counting and singing while waiting for a pee! Ahhh the joys of potty training!
Didn't have much planned for today (again the result of too busy a weekend!) but we did manage a few things.
Lola: Taught her a lesson about triangles and how to measure angles with a protractor. She wrote a letter to her Auntie and we did a science experiment seeing the effect salt has on ice. She wrote this up to be stored in her new Science notebook. She is reading her Magic Tree house book book as I type and in a minute she and I will play Rummy for a while (must be some educational value in that!)
Tayo: She went with Niyi to the gym to play this morning to help him settle in and for the rest of the day she has been pretty hyper - I think she needs an early night! She read a Bob book and did her math facts on the Math U see website as well as doing the science experiment and drawing a picture of the results and copying the title. She was playing with puzzles this afternoon also.
Niyi: Today was Potty training day 1! So far we've had a bunch of s and no pee-pee in the potty, but we were able to spend time working on his colors, counting and singing while waiting for a pee! Ahhh the joys of potty training!
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