Learning Notes :: Week 9

Read-Alouds

• Old Town in the Green Groves by Cynthia Rylant.
• Josefina: An American Girl (audio book) in the car.
• The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh (have I mentioned how much I love books by Alice Dalgliesh?).
• Read various picture books.

Language Arts

• Primrose worked on Explode the Code book 3, and Tulip worked on Go for the Code (the third primer).
• Both girls did a few pages in their Handwriting Without Tears workbooks.
• Tulip worked with our homemade version of a moveable alphabet (pictured below).
• Primrose did some copywork for her First Confession & First Holy Communion Notebook (The Act of Contrition).

Math

• Nana bought analog watches for all three kids last weekend. She also taught Primrose to read hers in the space of about a day. :) That's what happens when your mother is a 2nd grade teacher. Love that.
• Primrose also drilled some simple addition and subtraction problems and did a few pages in the Kumon Telling Time workbook.
• We played Sequence, Jr. and Sorry!
• Puzzles. Tulip l-o-v-e-s puzzles (and she's quite good at them!)

Poetry

November
by Margaret Morgan

Now it is November,
Trees are nearly bare;
Red and gold and brown leaves
Scatter everywhere.

Dark now, are the mornings
Cold and frosty too;
Damp and misty evenings
Chill us through and through.

Busy are all creatures,
Winter food to hide;
Nests to make all cozy
Warm and safe inside.

Um... Snapdragon? What happened to the turkey??? :)

Everything Else

• Primrose did Sacramental Prep lessons 7-11 on Reconciliation. (The First Sin & Our Own Sins, the order of Reconciliation, The Act of Contrition, and an Examination of Conscience).
• Lots of collage art at Grandpa's house (ribbons, sequins, beads, glue).
• Made collage turkeys using dried beans, rice, and noodles.
• Cut and paste turkeys.
• Montessori-style animal classification (for Tulip & Snapdragon)- classified by land/water/air animals.
• Loom weaving. The fascination with this never ends. :)
• Primrose made cupcakes-- peas and carrots, anyone? (They're really starburst and skittles-- pretty cute!)

Outings & Extracurriculars

• Ballet for Primrose.
• Atrium for the girls.
• A visit to the dentist.
• A day at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

November Daybook

Outside my window...
A windstorm! Rain and wind up to 70 mph today!

I am thankful for...
fun weekend visits up to Bellingham to visit my family.

I am thinking...
about Advent and Christmas. We are going simple, simple, simple this year. Plans to do, but not over-do.

Learning all the time...
Learning notes for week 8 are up.

From the kitchen...

These White Chicken Enchiladas look mouth-watering (and gluten-free!). I'm hoping to give them a whirl this week.

I am creating...

a simple cranberry red throw, by crochet. All double-crochet stitches with a big chunky hook, and perhaps some tassles on the ends. Don't be too impressed. It's really just a way for me to feel industrious while I'm lazily watching made-for-TV Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel. :)

I am going...
to see New Moon on Friday night with a bunch of girlfriends. (Yes, a teenage vampire movie- I know, I know. I'm sooooo mature.) Have you seen the trailers for this movie?! Have you SEEN Jacob Black?!?! Oh. My. This movie may test my loyalty to Edward. And to my husband. ;)

I am reading...
Discipline That Lasts a Lifetime by Dr. Ray Guarendi (thanks, Suzanne!)
The Count of Monte Cristo.

I am hoping...
that the next four months will go faster than the past two. I know I should not be wishing time away, but I can't resist. I waaaant my husband baaaaack!

I am praying...
for several members of our family- both Andy's and mine.

I am hearing...
Snapdragon pushing a train around Grandpa's living room (we're visiting for a long weekend). The girls admiring their works of art- collages made with ribbons, sequins, noodles, and glue.

Around the house...

Well, my children have effectively torn apart my Dad's house. So we'll try and put things back together before we leave and head for home. I should probably work on some house projects at my own house this week. Or maybe my wonderful neighbor's husband will come to rescue (for the 56th time) and do some of them for me. :) I love my neighbors.

Heard this week...

Snapdragon, at Mass. We visited our old parish up here in Bellingham on Sunday. They ring bells during the consecration here (why don't all churches do that?!), and Snapdragon's never heard that before. The only time he hears bells ringing is when I ring the handbell for meals at home. Do you see where this is going? All is silent, the priest lifts the Body of Christ, the bells ring, and Snapdragon bellows out "Time to eat!" Shame on the woman sitting behind me, who almost bust a gut laughing. ;)

Tulip, nodding matter-of-factly while watching her Nana Dee clean a salmon for dinner: "Oh. They grow their own fish, then." Yep, right next to the tomatoes, dear. ;)

One of my favorite things...
Love notes from my husband. I get lots of them, and those that come via snail-mail are my favorite. Oooooh, Nellie. He does write good love notes!

A few plans for the rest of the week:

~Dentist appointments for all three kids

~Ballet for Primrose

~Atrium for the girls

~An afternoon with Elise for the kids (oh, how I love our babysitter!)

~Girls Night Out: New Moon!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you:

Here's an old one! That's Tulip first thing in the morning, four years ago. I wish I looked that cute in the morning!

Visit Peggy at The Simple Woman for more daybook entries.

Learning Notes :: Week 8

Read-Alouds

• Finished reading Old Mother West Wind by Thornton Burgess.
• Finished listening to These Happy Golden Years in the car.
• Began reading An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott.
• Read various picture books, including these holiday favorites: I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie, A Turkey for Thanksgiving, and Merrily Comes Our Harvest In: Poems for Thanksgiving.
  
  

Language Arts

• Primrose worked on Explode the Code book 3.
• Tulip illustrated and dictated thank-you cards from her birthday party.
• Both girls did a few pages in their Handwriting Without Tears workbooks.
• Both girls wrote stories. Tulip wrote one called The Seeds Came Out, and Primrose wrote one called The Princess Who Was Famous.
• Tulip kept reading from Bob Book 1, and began reading Bob Book 4. (We don't own the set, so we'll just use whatever is currently available at the library without worrying too much about sequential order).
• Played a memory game with letter sounds.

Math

• It was a light math week- Primrose practiced adding 3 digits (using dice) and wrote them out in vertical form. We played Guess My Number. We also reviewed coin values.

Poetry

November
by Margaret Morgan

Now it is November,
Trees are nearly bare;
Red and gold and brown leaves
Scatter everywhere.

Dark now, are the mornings
Cold and frosty too;
Damp and misty evenings
Chill us through and through.

Busy are all creatures,
Winter food to hide;
Nests to make all cozy
Warm and safe inside.

Everything Else

• Primrose did Sacramental Prep lessons 2-6 on Reconciliation. (The Ten Commandments, The Prodigal Son, Zaccheus, The Vine & The Branches, and The Lost Sheep).
• Began working on our Thankful Turkey.
• Watercolors.
• Lots of fort building by Tulip and Snapdragon.

The Vine & The Branches, John 15:5 by Primrose

(I saw an image like this somewhere in the Waldorf blogosphere, and decided it would be perfect for our John 15:5 work. We don't know proper watercolor technique around here, but we really enjoyed painting this anyway!)

Outings & Extracurriculars

• Anansi puppet show at the library.
• Peter Pan at the Seattle Children's Theatre.
• Ballet for Primrose (and rehearsal for the Nativity Ballet).
• Atrium for Snapdragon.
• A visit to the gluten-free bakery (yes, I consider this an educational field trip. I haven't quite figured out how to justify it, but I'm doin' it anyway, because I can.) ;)

Where Art Thou, Reggio?

Dear Sarah,

I enjoy reading your blog, but my favorite posts are about Reggio education, and you don't seem to be writing about that anymore. Your homeschooling posts don't even look very Reggio-inspired. Did you quit Reggio?

Sincerely,
A Devastated Reader

Okay, okay- that's not exactly what the emails have said ;), but I have indeed received a few inquiries lately as to why I'm not writing much on Reggio and whether or not we use the principles in our home anymore.

Allow me to clarify a few things. Yes, we are still using Reggio principles. I have never claimed to be a Reggio purist, and I am not committed to any one school of educational thought. I'm more of a do-what-works kind of a gal, and meshing a good solid 3 R's education with some delight-directed learning seems to be the winning combination around here.

It may seem that we aren't very Reggio because I don't refer to our learning as project work, although that is indeed what it is. My two littlest are making forts almost every day-- a building project. Tulip has an ongoing flower project (aka a passion for flowers) that is completely self-directed and only requires that I provide materials and an occasional new idea. If I called it a project, she would be confused. To her mind, it's not a project, it's life. Primrose is begging me to teach her home arts like sewing, knitting, embroidery, and baking-- all of which I consider a homemaking project. I provide her with materials and occasional ideas, and she provides the enthusiasm and driving force. But we don't really call that a project, either.

Check out my learning notes, and look under the Everything Else category. That's project work, more or less. It's not the kind you'd see in a Reggio classroom, but I think it's a fair example of how project work might play out in a homeschool where natural living and learning is valued.


I do apologize if you've come here looking for Reggio theory, and have been feeling left in the dust. When I started this blog a handful of months ago, I went on a Reggio-writing binge. At the time, I was immersed in that kind of reading, and I spent a lot of time mulling over and recording my thoughts. After writing the final post in the series on Julianne Wurm's book, I felt like taking a break. Then Ruth Beechick swooped in and helped me figure out that teaching the 3 R's is easy-easy-easy, and...

What I'm trying to say is this: Reggio will look much different in the home than it will in the classroom. At home it looks a lot like real life. What it really boils down to is being aware of your child's interests and providing time and materials for the child to pursue them. Lots of families do that, and they don't call it Reggio.

They call it Monday.

So go work on a project. Knit a hat. Write your Thanksgiving menu. Declutter a closet. And make sure your kids have what they need to work on their own projects, too. Live life together, and you've cut to the heart of what home education is all about.

Blessings on your weekend, friends!

And they are lovely, indeed...

Me: (walking into girls' bedroom) Okay, girls, hop into bed.

Tulip: (holding a small mirror with one hand, and using her other to lift the skin just above one eye) Just a minute, Mom. I'm admiring my eyelids.

Well. Okay, then.

I've Gotta Crow! (our visit to Never-Neverland)

We just got back from the Seattle Children's Theatre production of Peter Pan. I was all ready to write up a nice little review for ya', but the truth is, I have no words. The set design, the costuming, the choreography, the phenomenal acting-- it all left me quite breathless. It's been a l-o-n-g time since a show blew me away quite like that.

The kids were mesmerized (even my wiggly four-year-old) for the entire two hour performance, and when the intermission lights came up, Snapdragon was so disappointed: "Ohhhh, why are they stopping?!"

This show is excellent proof that a story told well on stage has a magic all of its own.

Go see it if you can!

(Pssst! If you are a homeschooler, you can get deep discounts on SCT tickets by calling the school show office-- and I mean deep discounts- less than half of the normal price!)

(happy members of the audience)

Yes, actually, I do need that...

"You need patience, and God will give it to you, I hope, if you make a special point of asking him, and if you make yourself practice it faithfully, preparing yourself for this every morning by particularly applying some point of your meditation to it and making up your mind firmly to keep patient all day every time you feel yourself slipping. Do not lose any opportunity, however small, of showing sweetness of temper toward everyone."

~St Francis de Sales