PRESCHOOL – letter F

Camp fire w/ fire truck snack (didn’t realize we were out of red icing tried to make it work w/ sprinkles)
F fireworks snacks
Fours and Fives (matching giant dice)
Flowers vs. Veggie page (Homeschool Creations Garden Pack)
Bag of “F” books
Matching F Letters
Play doh F (which turned into an F alien)
Writing Big F and little f on the tile floor (so much more fun than on paper)
Fruit Loops for breakfast (I rarely do this – but it’s a special week)

(more F fun act out: fast/slow, front/back, forward/reverse, and walking on hands/feet – try wheel barrow races)

All About Reading – so many of you are asking what I think about pre-reading level one.  I honestly can not give a fair review right now – we are only on letter F!  The book is broken into 3 sections!  I promise to share once we get deeper into the work!  (the above “projects” are not from the curriculum)

Geography Matters
I forgot about the vocabulary words / flash cards in each section … so this past weekend I tried to catch up.  Which in homeschool talk translates to “it was a great review week”.

I noticed the boy has been groaning when we pull out our work, so I asked – “what don’t you like”.  I showed him how I make a pro’s & con’s list – and we discussed this curriculum.

All he doesn’t like is the copy work.  Immediately I started incorporating more dry-erase board writing.  Which was great because we contrasted some vocabulary words and he could see it (I keep forgetting he’s visual). Hospitality vs. Hostile, Optimistic vs. Pessimistic.
He keeps asking me to quiz him on the vocabulary flash cards now.  He also really likes the Drive Thru History dvd.

Science Sunday
Remember how we made those pine cone bird feeders last week?  Well, we’re seeing many more blue jays now.  Ironically, one found it’s way into our screened in pool area and was stuck. (this is not the 1st bird to do it, but usually the birds fly out once we leave the door open for awhile.  Note to self: blue jays are stubborn)!

 
I have new appreciation for “catch & release” and my jack-of-all-trades husband. (the bird was not harmed)

Personally
My Gram passed away Wednesday afternoon after entering a hospice facility.  (she had a massive stroke last week).  Thanks everyone for your prayers – she is no longer struggling to breathe.  They said she died of a pulmonary embolism.

I am on my way to D.C. to dip toes into the public speaking circle.  Thankful for the 2:1 Sponsors,one steadfast woman’s dream, and hubs working his travel schedule so I can go!

See what we did for: Letter A , Letter B ,  Letter C,  Letter D, and Letter E Learning Fun

Preschool – letter E

• E is for eye, we checked all our eyes and all the stuffies eyes too and then watched our pupils dilate.
• E is for ears – Guess who’s ears!
  (printed picture from Ashley’s Craft Corner)
• E is for eggs – matching big/small letters (saw this at Rockabye Butterfly) but purposely did not match colores (too easy)
• Painted big E  and little e on eggs (then threw them around trying to be gentle)
• E is for envelopes – we licked & cut envelopes to make an E fit on construction paper. (and he wanted to send sticker covered envelopes to his Gramme & Gramps – his 1st mailing experience)
• Watched our pupils dilate w/ a flash light when talking about our eyes!

Geography Matters
We started week 4, the boy was happy to wrap up The Courage of Sarah Noble last week.  He is hoping the other readers have more action.  I like the vocabulary words we’re discussing – they feel hard, “self-sufficient”.  And I realized I’ve been spelling Great Britain wrong my entire life.  Water colors!!

Good stuff in the Daily Grams workbook.  We also had a lovely read thru Apologia on differences between wild dogs & cats (wolves & lions) and how they attack prey differently & kill it. (homeschooling boys for sure).

Science Sunday
Pine Cone bird feeders and different feed to see which seed attracts what bird! (thanks to my friend The Homeschool Scientist’s suggestion).  Sadly, everything attracts more squirrels!  And they can pull the string up, hold the pine cone, and devour everything! I think we’re on our 3rd round of pine cones this week!
 

But we did see new blue jays in our yard – squee!! (we usually only get cardinals, but the sunflower seeds brought in blue jays!) “We” were so excited!!

We hadn’t celebrated the 180 Days we finished last week, (and I am a big believer in celebrating milestones).  Since hubs was out of town all week again after we picked him up from the airport we made a trip to LegoLand (30 minutes from us).  The boys were SO surprised!!
 

Personally
My Gram had a massive stroke this week, so I accepted help from a neighbor to watch my boys while I headed north (an hour +) to stay in the ICU with my family.

Thankfully with the extra stress I didn’t pitch my “detox” and it’s been going great. Lots of Bottlehouse smoothies – in some interesting colors & smells, not my favorite. Happy knowing I’m putting nutritious stuff in my body.  I feel good. Down 3 cups of coffee to 1!!

2:1 is next Friday!! I’ve finally wrapped up my notes / power point presentation.  I had my friend Eryn check it out for me – ridiculously thankfully she “approved”.  I still use my hands when I talk, and sway a little.  Trying to work on those bad speech habits.  Ended up getting some neat things from friends for attendee bags.

Must Reads -
10 Days of Teaching God’s Word, Homeschool Creations
10 Days of Intentional Parenting, Finding Joy
Eating Crow While It’s Still Warm, Amy in Wanderland

See what we did for: Letter A & Letter B  & Letter C, and Letter D Learning Fun