Friday, March 26, 2004
Woo hoo! Sophie just finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets! She read it all by herself ... absolutely loved it, and is eager to start the next one. I'm a little dubious about that - it's awfully long - but I guess if she wants to I should let her go for it.
We seem to have found a really nice rhythm for our days - a nice mix of formal learning and out-and-about stuff.
Sophie's asked for daily spelling tests, so she learns how to spell five new words every day (generally, we pick words relating to whatever she's been learning about that day). She gets a huge kick out of the daily tests, and looks forward to the Big Test on Fridays, when we do the week's words. Very un-unschooly, I know, but what can I do, it's all her idea!
We do some math daily - we're working on bonds up to 20 - and I try to incorporate counting by threes, fours, fives, tens etc into day-to-day life. Similarly, we talk about multiplication and division a lot.
We also try to do a science experiment each day. Sophie loves these - hands-on stuff is always a hit.
And of course, we read. I read to her, she reads to me, and she reads to herself. And, the television doesn't go on at all during the day. The kids watch only half-an-hour's worth of TV each day - a perfectly nauseating show - Full House - which comes on right before they go to bed. Ugh. I'm sure they lose brain cells with each episode. However, they love it so we let them indulge their addiction.
We seem to have found a really nice rhythm for our days - a nice mix of formal learning and out-and-about stuff.
Sophie's asked for daily spelling tests, so she learns how to spell five new words every day (generally, we pick words relating to whatever she's been learning about that day). She gets a huge kick out of the daily tests, and looks forward to the Big Test on Fridays, when we do the week's words. Very un-unschooly, I know, but what can I do, it's all her idea!
We do some math daily - we're working on bonds up to 20 - and I try to incorporate counting by threes, fours, fives, tens etc into day-to-day life. Similarly, we talk about multiplication and division a lot.
We also try to do a science experiment each day. Sophie loves these - hands-on stuff is always a hit.
And of course, we read. I read to her, she reads to me, and she reads to herself. And, the television doesn't go on at all during the day. The kids watch only half-an-hour's worth of TV each day - a perfectly nauseating show - Full House - which comes on right before they go to bed. Ugh. I'm sure they lose brain cells with each episode. However, they love it so we let them indulge their addiction.
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Finished up with "The Magic Grandfather today". Sophs enjoyed it, but I don't think it's on her "top ten" list.
She also explored some bubble science : the experiment we did is here -
painted some pictures of bubbles
played this online flashcard game
went on a Brownie field trip to the pet store
and read some more of the second Harry Potter book - she's almost finished it now!
She also explored some bubble science : the experiment we did is here -
painted some pictures of bubbles
played this online flashcard game
went on a Brownie field trip to the pet store
and read some more of the second Harry Potter book - she's almost finished it now!
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
We went to the zoo today - Sophie's idea, and it was lovely. She took a notebook, and wrote down things she thought were interesting about the animals that caught her fancy. And she took her camera too, and took lots of pictures. When we got home, she printed out the pictures, wrote captions for them, and stuck them in her journal. She had a lovely time, and learned lots too. We spent a fair amount of time discussing the pros and cons of zoos on the way home ... I think I might look for a copy of "My Family and Other Animals" for her - maybe do it as our next book?
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Sophie and I went to Borders this morning. We bought a box of Bertie Bott's jelly beans, and tried to figure out the likelihood of getting a yucky one. It was fun. While we were in Borders, Sophie read a couple of the children's nature magazines. Her reading is so much better now than it was three months ago; it's amazing. Thanks to the nature magazines, she now knows all kinds of truly horrible facts about cockroaches, and she's been tormenting cockroach-phobic Emily with her new-found knowledge all evening.
Here's a picture of her with her gelatine-plastic Chihuly-esque mobile. You can also see the dream-catcher she made at Friday's Waldorf co-op; they're both hanging over her bed.
Here's a picture of her with her gelatine-plastic Chihuly-esque mobile. You can also see the dream-catcher she made at Friday's Waldorf co-op; they're both hanging over her bed.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Sheesh, it's about time I updated this.
Recently, we have been studying the skeleton. (Inspired by the broken heel, sigh ...) We took some books out of the library, and I found a bunch of very cool sites online : the links are at this site.
Sophie continues to work her way through the second Harry Potter book; she's on about page 130 now, and is still enthralled by it.
And I'm still reading The Magic Grandfather to her. It's a hit, though she enjoyed the Roald Dahl book we did last more.
She's decided that she likes math worksheets, so she's motoring through the grade 2 books.
Today we did some art activities, sparked off by an exhibit to the Chihuly exhibit at the museum of art here. The first one was very simple : making "stained glass" by putting wax crayon shavings between 2 layers of wax paper, and ironing them. The nice thing about doing this at home rather than in a classroom is that she could do it all herself : I can't see many first grade teachers letting their pupils use an iron.
The second activity involved using gelatin to make "plastic" shapes. She used swirls of food colouring to colour the gelatin; the end result was actually reminiscent of the glass exhibition. The shapes are currently hardening, and she's going to make them into a mobile tomorrow.
Recently, we have been studying the skeleton. (Inspired by the broken heel, sigh ...) We took some books out of the library, and I found a bunch of very cool sites online : the links are at this site.
Sophie continues to work her way through the second Harry Potter book; she's on about page 130 now, and is still enthralled by it.
And I'm still reading The Magic Grandfather to her. It's a hit, though she enjoyed the Roald Dahl book we did last more.
She's decided that she likes math worksheets, so she's motoring through the grade 2 books.
Today we did some art activities, sparked off by an exhibit to the Chihuly exhibit at the museum of art here. The first one was very simple : making "stained glass" by putting wax crayon shavings between 2 layers of wax paper, and ironing them. The nice thing about doing this at home rather than in a classroom is that she could do it all herself : I can't see many first grade teachers letting their pupils use an iron.
The second activity involved using gelatin to make "plastic" shapes. She used swirls of food colouring to colour the gelatin; the end result was actually reminiscent of the glass exhibition. The shapes are currently hardening, and she's going to make them into a mobile tomorrow.
