Friday, April 3, 2009

Back to a Normal Routine. . . .Finally

After 2 months of fitting school in whenever we can, we are finally back into a normal routine.   I picked up a few new things at the St. Louis Homeschool Expo over the weekend and Norah was excited to try some new things.  We needed some sort of phonics book/curriculum because I have no clue in what order to teach phonics rules.  She is more than ready to learn basic phonics rules.  I have tried to teach some when she is reading, but really, I needed some direction.  We are going to use Explode the Code book 3.  I am glad that I waited for the convention because I would have bought the wrong level online.  

From Rod and Staff I bought the Unit 1 reader and reading workbook and some Little Jewel stories.    These books are great because the pictures are simple and black and white so the focus is on the words - not the illustrations. 
School went really well this week!  Daphne's best nap is in the morning so I make sure that we get started right after Daphne goes back to sleep - even if it is only 8:00.  Lucy kept herself very busy doing her own thing - which is unusual.  I think the favorite part of their morning is our math/manipulative time because I just open the shelf and they get to play with a number of manipulates that are hidden the rest of the day.  Max and Denise gave us a new manipulative called Fit-a-Space, which sparked new interest this week.  Some of the girls' manipulative choices this week included:  patterning with unifix cubes, stringing beads, matching shapes, counting pennies, addition with a die, puzzles, and transferring rice with a spoon.
Our art lesson this week, learning about lines, came was the first lesson from How to Teach Art to Children.  We talked about horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines.  Norah identified lines around us and drew some of her own.  She made a picture using cut paper lines.
For our read aloud time we are reading The Adventures of Bobby Raccoon.  We usually read right before rest time and then Norah works on her notebook page during rest time.
Writing as a princess is just one perk we enjoy while homeschooling.

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