Wow I can't believe I've let this slide for so long! I knew that I would slacken with posting here weekly but I didn't think I'd let it go for a month!
I have had a few weeks pretty much off-line. I hurt my back and wasn't able to sit or stand much - spent a week in bed and the next week recovering. I am doing well now though find that I still get a bit of pain from sitting at the computer too long. I really don't want to end up in bed again so am being very careful!
Progress -
LIAM:
Language and Literacy: Liam is coming ahead in leaps and bounds with his understanding of language and literacy. He and I are still doing the Junior crossword from the local newspaper everyweek. We have slacked off with our letters work a bit but that is more because he lost interest in the worksheets etc. The amazing thing is that he is still learning anyway!! LOL! He actually spelt his first two words in the past few weeks. The first was "Leo". He is a Leo so was sitting eating breakfast one morning and just started saying the word over and over again - sounding out the first L sound especially. Then he piped up and said to me "Leo starts with an L"! So I helped him say the other sounds and he spelt the word out! Very proud Mummy Moment! The next word came while we were driving. We had been talking about Liam's friend, Justin. His mum's name is Em. Liam asked me, "Why does Justin's mum's name only have one letter in it - M?". I told him that it was actually two letters and sounded the word "Em" out and he spelt it for me. SO things are definately clicking into place for Liam in terms of how words work and how the letters go together to make different sounds.
Drawing: Liam can draw! He's always been able to draw but has finally drawn things that are true to form and that we can recognise. He has drawn some great pictures for someone that has just started to draw. He puts a lot of detail in and is really enjoying drawing.
Volunteer Work: We are still continuing our weekly visits to the nursing home. Liam really enjoys going there and interacts with the residents well. He is confident and friendly. He is getting to know everyone there - their names and what they like. He loves sharing his toys with them and talking/explaining things to them. It's been great! We take a couple of toys usually but they have also done drawings there, played with balloons, and this week we took bubbles to blow. It is one of the highs of our week - we really look forward to going there.
Social: As usual we've had very busy weeks socially! The boys had a break from their playgroup for a couple of weeks in March (when I had my sore back) but have definately made up for it since then! We have been babysitting the children next door for the past few weeks - usually just in the afternoons - and Liam especially is loving it! They are aged 10, 7, and 4 - so great ages for Liam. Liam has been learning a lot from them in all areas - they introduced him to the joys of dress ups last week and he is also learning a lot about interacting with older kids. Liam has had dress ups in the cupboard for years but has never really "got it" - until now! Shayla (10 year old neighbour), started playing with the clothes in their and dressing up in them last week - suddenly it clicked for Liam how fun it could be! Now that is the first thing he wants to do when they come over!!
EWAN:
Hmm, not sure what to say about Ewan - He's just been cruising along with us! He did have a huge milestone back in March - he self weaned (from breastfeeding)! It happened very easily and with little fuss - and he was one breast obsessed boy so it came as a big suprise! He has also seemed to have a bit of an energy burst. He has never been much of a climber but these last few weeks has started climbing on everything and has been mastering all the playground equipment with ease. He is super confident and now that the time is right has no troubles getting up and over things. It's been great to see him grow in confidence and see him so proud of his achievments.
Drawing: Ewan suprised us all a couple of weeks ago by drawing a page full of spiders, complete with legs and smiley faces! I think he picked up the drawing bug from Liam. It's great to see him drawing - and it's amazing in comparison to Liam who only just started - two years after Ewan. He's also drawing things like mice that he saw in a book.
Ewan's fine motor skills are also coming along well. He has been doing pre-writing worksheets (tracing along dotted lines etc) and is getting really good at them. He's loving scissors at the moment too, so spends a lot of time cutting things up - which is fine so long as it isn't quilt covers or his hair (as happened a couple of weeks ago!!).
Ewan is enjoying the nursing home visits too. He does take a while to get comfortable with them though he is getting more confident each week. They absolutely love having us come and it is great to see how much joy we bring them.
Liam and Ewan have been playing together a lot more lately. I think Ewan is catching up to Liam in terms of his language ability and also physically too. They play Star Wars together and Ewan is able to keep up with Liam and their conversation is hilarious! They are always off building cubby houses together too - which means all the pillows in the house on the floor along with all their bedding!
Thursday 12 April 2007
Monday 12 March 2007
Week Nine - February 26 - March 4
A very busy social week this week!
~* We had our playgroup on and went swimming together. It was great - there was an older boy there (an 8 year old) which turned out to be really good for the boys. There are a lot of 4/5 year old boys in our group but they were getting a bit out of hand at times so it was nice to have an older boy added to the mix to even things out. We also went along to a new homeschooling group that is for all ages. Liam felt right at home and had a ball with everyone. Again it was really nice for us to be able to mix with children of all ages right up to teenagers.
~* Our visit to the nursing home this week was great. The boys were a lot more comfortable and really enjoyed chatting with the residents. I was a bit concerned about how they would go after last week. They have come a huge way though in the past week and I was really proud of their patience and friendly, caring ways while we were there on Wednesday.
~* We managed to fit in a bit of craft amongst all of our outings. We finally used the egg shells we dyed a week or so ago and made Humpty Dumpty men out of cardboard. I cut out egg shapes and the boys decorated them with the eggshells. We then added legs and arms and sang all about Humpty Dumpty. We also had friends visit on Friday and did some contact collage pictures (sticking collage bits and pieces on contact rather than using glue). The kids also did some crayon rubbings afterwards.
~* We went swimming a couple of times. The boys are really regaining their confidence in the water. Ewan has absolutely no fear and Liam is getting there in his own time. Liam is convinced he can swim - though he is actually touching the bottom of the pool with his feet, I'm sure it's good for him to feel confident about being in the water.
~* Unfortunately we had a trip to the ER at the hospital this week too. Ewan gets asthma (though this is his first attack in almost 12 months) and wasn't doing well on Saturday morning. So we took him up to the hospital and ended up spending 4 hours there. We always go together as a family. I asked people on a forum that I visit what they do and the majority said that they only take the sick child and leave the others at home. Some said that it wasn't a place they wanted to take their healthy children and that they were worried about it being traumatic. Ben and I both feel that we both need to be there, which means taking Liam. I also feel like it's ok for Liam to be there and to see what it's like. Thankfully, we haven't had anything too traumatic (though the first time we went for asthma when Ewan was 11 months old wasn't great), but even so I think he and Ewan are so close and it's really lovely to see Liam looking out for Ewan and comforting him. Liam has learnt a lot about what happens when people are sick and about hospitals, Drs and all that. He has never been to hospital as a patient so I don't really know if it has had an effect on him or if it has made him scared or concerned about going himself. I hope that by being there with us all it has made him feel comfortable about going there - only time will tell (and hopefully it's a very long time!).
~* We had our playgroup on and went swimming together. It was great - there was an older boy there (an 8 year old) which turned out to be really good for the boys. There are a lot of 4/5 year old boys in our group but they were getting a bit out of hand at times so it was nice to have an older boy added to the mix to even things out. We also went along to a new homeschooling group that is for all ages. Liam felt right at home and had a ball with everyone. Again it was really nice for us to be able to mix with children of all ages right up to teenagers.
~* Our visit to the nursing home this week was great. The boys were a lot more comfortable and really enjoyed chatting with the residents. I was a bit concerned about how they would go after last week. They have come a huge way though in the past week and I was really proud of their patience and friendly, caring ways while we were there on Wednesday.
~* We managed to fit in a bit of craft amongst all of our outings. We finally used the egg shells we dyed a week or so ago and made Humpty Dumpty men out of cardboard. I cut out egg shapes and the boys decorated them with the eggshells. We then added legs and arms and sang all about Humpty Dumpty. We also had friends visit on Friday and did some contact collage pictures (sticking collage bits and pieces on contact rather than using glue). The kids also did some crayon rubbings afterwards.
~* We went swimming a couple of times. The boys are really regaining their confidence in the water. Ewan has absolutely no fear and Liam is getting there in his own time. Liam is convinced he can swim - though he is actually touching the bottom of the pool with his feet, I'm sure it's good for him to feel confident about being in the water.
~* Unfortunately we had a trip to the ER at the hospital this week too. Ewan gets asthma (though this is his first attack in almost 12 months) and wasn't doing well on Saturday morning. So we took him up to the hospital and ended up spending 4 hours there. We always go together as a family. I asked people on a forum that I visit what they do and the majority said that they only take the sick child and leave the others at home. Some said that it wasn't a place they wanted to take their healthy children and that they were worried about it being traumatic. Ben and I both feel that we both need to be there, which means taking Liam. I also feel like it's ok for Liam to be there and to see what it's like. Thankfully, we haven't had anything too traumatic (though the first time we went for asthma when Ewan was 11 months old wasn't great), but even so I think he and Ewan are so close and it's really lovely to see Liam looking out for Ewan and comforting him. Liam has learnt a lot about what happens when people are sick and about hospitals, Drs and all that. He has never been to hospital as a patient so I don't really know if it has had an effect on him or if it has made him scared or concerned about going himself. I hope that by being there with us all it has made him feel comfortable about going there - only time will tell (and hopefully it's a very long time!).
Sunday 25 February 2007
Week Eight - February 19 - 25
We've had a busy but fun week this week!
We didn't get around to doing any specific letter this week but did talk about the letters a lot. Instead of focusing on their names we're working on their sounds more. The boys are both picking that up quite quickly which is good. I think they were having trouble with the whole alphabet concept because I was focusing too much on the names of the letters rather than the sounds they make.
~* This week was a playgroup week for our Homeschooling playgroup. We went swimming together which was a hit. The kids all love the water. We had an older boy come along for the first time - he is 8. It was great for the younger ones to have him there and they all got along really well. Next week we are going to start going along to a mixed ages homeschooling group. After playgroup this week, I'm looking forward to it even more - I think Liam will really benefit from mixing with children of all ages. He's always really liked being around older children so he'll enjoy it.
My mum came along to our playgroup this week. I was a bit nervous about what she'd think but it went over well. It was good for her to talk to other homeschoolers and hear about their experiences.
~* We had our first visit to the nursing home this week. We got to have morning tea with the residents in the dementia ward. The boys were a little unsure at first and Liam was quite annoyed about being asked his name over and over again. He got quite angry at one of the ladies there. I was so embarrassed but they handled it really well and were very understanding - I think they expected that it would take a little while for the boys to get used to the different behaviour. I hadn't really thought that it would be a problem for Liam so was a bit shocked when he got upset with them. It is a big difference to the adults he usually is in touch with so it much have come as a suprise to talk to an adult that was so child-like. Once he had his outburst though, he went and held a few people's hands and listened to them talk so it wasn't a disaster at all! I spoke with the coordinator and we agreed that we will stick to shorted visits and build up from there. We're going to go for morning tea again next Wednesday and I'm going to make sure that the boys take a toy to show the residents - something to talk about other than names! Liam is keen to teach them all about Star Wars so that should be interesting!!
~* Liam and Ewan have been getting quite good at helping out around the house. It feels like just a couple of weeks ago that I was yelling at them to do anything - now though they seem to enjoy it! So nice! I have started encouraging them to make their own beds in the morning, they bring their bowls to the kitchen after meals, sometimes help with the washing up, and are getting very good at tidying up after they play with their toys. Liam helped me to make crumbed chicken for dinner the other night. He did all the crumbing steps and really enjoyed it. He used to love cutting up vegies too but has cut his fingers a couple of times this year so is very wary of using a knife now. He's such a worrier! Ewan, on the other hand, can't wait to get his hands on a knife!! He loves chopping things up and he's enjoying helping with the dishes too - though it's mostly just pouring water in and out of cups and jugs.
~* We had our first session of Kids Sports on Monday afternoon. The council is putting it on for free in our local park. The boys had a ball. They did lots of games - running around, playing with balls, sack races and obstacle courses. It was really good so we will be going to that again.
~* Hmm what else..... we did counting a lot this week. Liam is into lining up all of his Star Wars toys to count. We also did counting with some glass stones that I have and a box with little compartments - so we'd put one stone in the first section and then repeat up to fifteen. I have written the numbers on the base of each section. We also did playdough and lots of independant craft activities - the boys have access to most of our craft supplies and just get it all out and make things when the creative urge strikes!
We didn't get around to doing any specific letter this week but did talk about the letters a lot. Instead of focusing on their names we're working on their sounds more. The boys are both picking that up quite quickly which is good. I think they were having trouble with the whole alphabet concept because I was focusing too much on the names of the letters rather than the sounds they make.
~* This week was a playgroup week for our Homeschooling playgroup. We went swimming together which was a hit. The kids all love the water. We had an older boy come along for the first time - he is 8. It was great for the younger ones to have him there and they all got along really well. Next week we are going to start going along to a mixed ages homeschooling group. After playgroup this week, I'm looking forward to it even more - I think Liam will really benefit from mixing with children of all ages. He's always really liked being around older children so he'll enjoy it.
My mum came along to our playgroup this week. I was a bit nervous about what she'd think but it went over well. It was good for her to talk to other homeschoolers and hear about their experiences.
~* We had our first visit to the nursing home this week. We got to have morning tea with the residents in the dementia ward. The boys were a little unsure at first and Liam was quite annoyed about being asked his name over and over again. He got quite angry at one of the ladies there. I was so embarrassed but they handled it really well and were very understanding - I think they expected that it would take a little while for the boys to get used to the different behaviour. I hadn't really thought that it would be a problem for Liam so was a bit shocked when he got upset with them. It is a big difference to the adults he usually is in touch with so it much have come as a suprise to talk to an adult that was so child-like. Once he had his outburst though, he went and held a few people's hands and listened to them talk so it wasn't a disaster at all! I spoke with the coordinator and we agreed that we will stick to shorted visits and build up from there. We're going to go for morning tea again next Wednesday and I'm going to make sure that the boys take a toy to show the residents - something to talk about other than names! Liam is keen to teach them all about Star Wars so that should be interesting!!
~* Liam and Ewan have been getting quite good at helping out around the house. It feels like just a couple of weeks ago that I was yelling at them to do anything - now though they seem to enjoy it! So nice! I have started encouraging them to make their own beds in the morning, they bring their bowls to the kitchen after meals, sometimes help with the washing up, and are getting very good at tidying up after they play with their toys. Liam helped me to make crumbed chicken for dinner the other night. He did all the crumbing steps and really enjoyed it. He used to love cutting up vegies too but has cut his fingers a couple of times this year so is very wary of using a knife now. He's such a worrier! Ewan, on the other hand, can't wait to get his hands on a knife!! He loves chopping things up and he's enjoying helping with the dishes too - though it's mostly just pouring water in and out of cups and jugs.
~* We had our first session of Kids Sports on Monday afternoon. The council is putting it on for free in our local park. The boys had a ball. They did lots of games - running around, playing with balls, sack races and obstacle courses. It was really good so we will be going to that again.
~* Hmm what else..... we did counting a lot this week. Liam is into lining up all of his Star Wars toys to count. We also did counting with some glass stones that I have and a box with little compartments - so we'd put one stone in the first section and then repeat up to fifteen. I have written the numbers on the base of each section. We also did playdough and lots of independant craft activities - the boys have access to most of our craft supplies and just get it all out and make things when the creative urge strikes!
Friday 16 February 2007
Week Seven - February 12 - 18
I have been reading a book called "Reading Reflex" this week. It was recommended by another homeschooler so I put a hold on it and got it from the library. It's great! Definately been a few lightbulb moments reading it - it just makes so much sense! It talks about how confusing the phonics system is for children and also just the terms and way of looking at the alphabet and letters. The book also has lesson plans and materials to make to teach your children to read. It is well worth a look. I'm going to try some of the activities and see how we go. I had been going through the letters and alphabet the way that I had been taught - with learning the names of the letters and the sounds. Liam was already getting confused with it all. Letters like C - where when you say it's name it sounds like "see" but then it makes the sound "c". Reading the book made me understand why he was having trouble with it. Anyway, will let you know how we go over the next few weeks. You can check out Read America for more info about it.
This week was Letter G g week.
~* We made up a booklet that I printed off the net with pictures and words of things that started with the letter G. The boys also did a bit of writing whilst making the book. When the boys had finished the book, our conversation moved to colours and how when you combined them you could make other colours. Using crayons they rubbed and mixed colours together. I also showed them how you could rub crayon on one side of the paper, and then by placing the crayon rubbing face down on a clean piece of paper, and then drawing on top of it the crayon would rub off making the same pattern on the clean piece of paper.
~* Following on from our colours activities we also got out some tubs, glass jars, water, and food colouring to play with. The boys had a ball mixing different colours.
~* The boys drew some pitures and I wrote letters (dictated by them), for their cousins and Uncle and Aunt. We received a lovely present in the mail a few weeks ago so wanted to send a thank you note to them. I have been thinking about the art of letter writing lately. It's come up in a few conversations and the more I hear people talking about it, the more I think it's a great thing to encourage. I know how lovely it is to receive them and the boys enjoy receiving mail so much - it would be great for letter writing in general to make a come back. I used to write heaps of letters as a child and loved having pen friends.
~* We had lots of outside activities planned for last week but they unexpectedly got rained out! Despite that though we still got to the park twice this week - in between the rain. We met with friends in a great park and stayed on until the light shower turned into pouring rain. They also got to play in the rain. The boys were on their way to the park with Ben this morning when a storm hit. They weren't far from home so got back just before the downpour - the boys couldn't resist being out in the rain and ran around stomping in the puddles. They had a ball.
~* We had a meeting at a nursing home about starting as volunteers doing residential visits. The boys were great despite being in such a small office - though Liam was a bit dissappointed that we didn't get to meet any of the residents! We will be visiting the dementia ward and will go there next week to meet the coordinator and also the residents.
~* The boys pulled out their blocks again this week and we had lots of fun building towers and lookouts - for Star Wars characters of course!
~*I picked up some cheap tubes of glitter glue during the week on Liam's request. The boys spent ages making pictures with it. Liam would squirt out the glitter glue and then use a lollipop stick to spread the glue out and make patterns.
~* We saw the movie, "Happy Feet" on the weekend. The boys really enjoyed it and it sparked a lot of discussion about penguins, the impact human's have on the world, how the different animals interact (food chains and stuff like that). It was a little scary in a couple of parts but quite realistic and the scary bits were no different to things you would see in a documentary about penguins - sea lions trying to eat the penguins for example. So a thumbs up from us for Happy Feet.
This week was Letter G g week.
~* We made up a booklet that I printed off the net with pictures and words of things that started with the letter G. The boys also did a bit of writing whilst making the book. When the boys had finished the book, our conversation moved to colours and how when you combined them you could make other colours. Using crayons they rubbed and mixed colours together. I also showed them how you could rub crayon on one side of the paper, and then by placing the crayon rubbing face down on a clean piece of paper, and then drawing on top of it the crayon would rub off making the same pattern on the clean piece of paper.
~* Following on from our colours activities we also got out some tubs, glass jars, water, and food colouring to play with. The boys had a ball mixing different colours.
~* The boys drew some pitures and I wrote letters (dictated by them), for their cousins and Uncle and Aunt. We received a lovely present in the mail a few weeks ago so wanted to send a thank you note to them. I have been thinking about the art of letter writing lately. It's come up in a few conversations and the more I hear people talking about it, the more I think it's a great thing to encourage. I know how lovely it is to receive them and the boys enjoy receiving mail so much - it would be great for letter writing in general to make a come back. I used to write heaps of letters as a child and loved having pen friends.
~* We had lots of outside activities planned for last week but they unexpectedly got rained out! Despite that though we still got to the park twice this week - in between the rain. We met with friends in a great park and stayed on until the light shower turned into pouring rain. They also got to play in the rain. The boys were on their way to the park with Ben this morning when a storm hit. They weren't far from home so got back just before the downpour - the boys couldn't resist being out in the rain and ran around stomping in the puddles. They had a ball.
~* We had a meeting at a nursing home about starting as volunteers doing residential visits. The boys were great despite being in such a small office - though Liam was a bit dissappointed that we didn't get to meet any of the residents! We will be visiting the dementia ward and will go there next week to meet the coordinator and also the residents.
~* The boys pulled out their blocks again this week and we had lots of fun building towers and lookouts - for Star Wars characters of course!
~*I picked up some cheap tubes of glitter glue during the week on Liam's request. The boys spent ages making pictures with it. Liam would squirt out the glitter glue and then use a lollipop stick to spread the glue out and make patterns.
~* We saw the movie, "Happy Feet" on the weekend. The boys really enjoyed it and it sparked a lot of discussion about penguins, the impact human's have on the world, how the different animals interact (food chains and stuff like that). It was a little scary in a couple of parts but quite realistic and the scary bits were no different to things you would see in a documentary about penguins - sea lions trying to eat the penguins for example. So a thumbs up from us for Happy Feet.
Wednesday 7 February 2007
Week Six - February 5 - 11
Wow the weeks are flying past. I read about what others are doing and I feel like we're not doing enough or maybe we need more routine in place. Sigh - that is one thing about homeschooling that gets me - the amount of doubt and scrutiny that I put myself through. I wonder if I would still do it even if the boys were going to school though? Just seems like it is such a constant thing and even on the days that I am feeling confident it doesn't take a lot of questioning from outsiders for all of it to come back to me.
We had a good week this week. I think the lessons we learnt were more about social skills and compassion. Those types of learning are hard to put into words but I think they are some of the most valuable things that come from homeschooling.
This week was letter F week.
~* We didn't do a lot in terms of the letter F. I am finding it quite a hard thing to carry on. The boys are interested but on their own terms and in their own time. They like talking about the letters but I don't think they are quite grasping the concept of what they do in terms of reading and how their sounds make up the words we read/write/speak. So we only did a little about the letters. We did some writing and talked about F words. We also caught up on our alphabet book.
~* We had our homeschooling playgroup this week. Liam came home declaring it "the best playgroup ever". We went to a park and had an Australian theme - we made Australian flags and had a BBQ lunch - sausages on the barbie - very Aussie! The boys had a ball collecting the bark, leaves, and sticks to build up the fire for the BBQ. The flags were a winner too. The boys in the group had a great time throwing sticks into the duck pond and running around together. The boys love all of their new friends at our playgroup and I am really enjoying getting to know the mums too. It is such a lovely group of people and it is so easy being with them. The kids all get along really well and even though we do have our moments with the boys getting over excited they all look forward to seeing each other.
~* We made some Salt Dough on Wednesday. The boys made statues galore. Once they were baked we got out the paints to decorate them. It was a close friend's birthday last week so she received some home made statues - Liam made her cats (she is a huge cat lover) and Ewan made some ladybugs. They were a big hit.
~* Once the salt dough creations were painted we got out some paper to continue painting. The boys love to do butterfly prints - where you paint one side of the paper and then fold it over to make a print on the other side. The always make stunning pictures doing this - just gorgeous.
~*Crosswords - Liam and I have been doing the junior crossword from our free local paper each week. Liam is great with finding the answers to the clues and constantly amazes me with his vocabulary and also understanding of the words. There were a few clues this week that I thought he would find tricky but he gave me the answers with ease. One was "Alike". I was having a brain freeze and couldn't think of the answer - Liam meanwhile pipes up with "Similar". There were also some that needed some background knowledge that he learnt new vocab from - like the clue "Tree limbs" - I explained to him that our arms and our legs could also be called limbs and then asked him what he thought tree limbs would be - branches of course! A simple excersise (and one that I enjoy!) but so valuable.
~* My mum and dad were here for two nights this week too. For mum teaching comes naturally to her - she's not a professional teacher but is always making things in to learning experiences. Sometimes it bothers me (there's that doubt creeping in!!) because it seems like she is testing the boys but it is just something she does and the boys will learn a lot from her I'm sure. Dad is the same though he is not so constant with it! Mum had the boys going through different letters of the alphabet and finding words for each letter, she read countless books, and also talked with Liam about Navajo Indians and native American Indians. He really enjoyed it and always has so many questions!
~* Tomorrow we are planning a trip to the beach - the boys can't wait! And next week we have a few activities on too - there is a free sports program being run by our city council at our local park, we are meeting with friends at the pool, and we also have a meeting with a volunteer coordinator about doing visits to a nursing home. I'm really excited about finding out more about our visits to the nursing home and am looking forward to starting that. She told us that the residents in high care (a lot of people with dementia) really enjoy visits from children so we will be doing that which should be interesting. I have been wanting to get the boys involved in some volunteer work for a long time so I'm hoping that this works out for us. I'm a little nervous about it - Liam is so energetic and both the boys can be very noisy. Hopefully they will understand that they will need to be considerate of the residents and in turn that the residents/staff will be understanding towards us. Hmm will definately be a good experience either way!
We had a good week this week. I think the lessons we learnt were more about social skills and compassion. Those types of learning are hard to put into words but I think they are some of the most valuable things that come from homeschooling.
This week was letter F week.
~* We didn't do a lot in terms of the letter F. I am finding it quite a hard thing to carry on. The boys are interested but on their own terms and in their own time. They like talking about the letters but I don't think they are quite grasping the concept of what they do in terms of reading and how their sounds make up the words we read/write/speak. So we only did a little about the letters. We did some writing and talked about F words. We also caught up on our alphabet book.
~* We had our homeschooling playgroup this week. Liam came home declaring it "the best playgroup ever". We went to a park and had an Australian theme - we made Australian flags and had a BBQ lunch - sausages on the barbie - very Aussie! The boys had a ball collecting the bark, leaves, and sticks to build up the fire for the BBQ. The flags were a winner too. The boys in the group had a great time throwing sticks into the duck pond and running around together. The boys love all of their new friends at our playgroup and I am really enjoying getting to know the mums too. It is such a lovely group of people and it is so easy being with them. The kids all get along really well and even though we do have our moments with the boys getting over excited they all look forward to seeing each other.
~* We made some Salt Dough on Wednesday. The boys made statues galore. Once they were baked we got out the paints to decorate them. It was a close friend's birthday last week so she received some home made statues - Liam made her cats (she is a huge cat lover) and Ewan made some ladybugs. They were a big hit.
~* Once the salt dough creations were painted we got out some paper to continue painting. The boys love to do butterfly prints - where you paint one side of the paper and then fold it over to make a print on the other side. The always make stunning pictures doing this - just gorgeous.
~*Crosswords - Liam and I have been doing the junior crossword from our free local paper each week. Liam is great with finding the answers to the clues and constantly amazes me with his vocabulary and also understanding of the words. There were a few clues this week that I thought he would find tricky but he gave me the answers with ease. One was "Alike". I was having a brain freeze and couldn't think of the answer - Liam meanwhile pipes up with "Similar". There were also some that needed some background knowledge that he learnt new vocab from - like the clue "Tree limbs" - I explained to him that our arms and our legs could also be called limbs and then asked him what he thought tree limbs would be - branches of course! A simple excersise (and one that I enjoy!) but so valuable.
~* My mum and dad were here for two nights this week too. For mum teaching comes naturally to her - she's not a professional teacher but is always making things in to learning experiences. Sometimes it bothers me (there's that doubt creeping in!!) because it seems like she is testing the boys but it is just something she does and the boys will learn a lot from her I'm sure. Dad is the same though he is not so constant with it! Mum had the boys going through different letters of the alphabet and finding words for each letter, she read countless books, and also talked with Liam about Navajo Indians and native American Indians. He really enjoyed it and always has so many questions!
~* Tomorrow we are planning a trip to the beach - the boys can't wait! And next week we have a few activities on too - there is a free sports program being run by our city council at our local park, we are meeting with friends at the pool, and we also have a meeting with a volunteer coordinator about doing visits to a nursing home. I'm really excited about finding out more about our visits to the nursing home and am looking forward to starting that. She told us that the residents in high care (a lot of people with dementia) really enjoy visits from children so we will be doing that which should be interesting. I have been wanting to get the boys involved in some volunteer work for a long time so I'm hoping that this works out for us. I'm a little nervous about it - Liam is so energetic and both the boys can be very noisy. Hopefully they will understand that they will need to be considerate of the residents and in turn that the residents/staff will be understanding towards us. Hmm will definately be a good experience either way!
Monday 5 February 2007
Week Five - January 29 - February 4
This week was letter E week.
~*The boys did the usual worksheets and colouring in. We also did painting with our hands and feet (no brushes!) which the boys loved. After they'd done lots of hand and foot prints and finger painting, I painted out their names with my finger for them to copy. Liam did his name really well and also did some letter Es - one that he is going to keep to give to Ewan on his birthday too!
~*We went swimming this week for our Thursday playgroup - although none of our friends turned up we still had a great time. The boys just love the water. It was our off week from our homeschooling playgroup so instead we went to visit Nonna Lucy and Nonno Peter (the boy's great grandparents). They always enjoy seeing them which is good. Liam and my grandfather had an interesting conversation about school - I wasn't in the room but could hear them and just let Liam handle it. It went like this -
Nonno Peter - You going to school now?
Liam - No
Nonno Peter - How old you?
Liam - 4
Nonno Peter - So you go to school next year?
Liam - No
Nonno Peter - Yes you have to go to school next year
Liam - No I'm not going to school!
Nonno Peter - *laughing* yes you go to school
Liam - No I'm staying at home
I came in at this point so got a couple of questions about it too! I didn't want to tell them too much so just said that he would stay at home this year and next year and then he might go to school. The were rolling their eyes at this, while Liam piped up with "I am never going to school Mum!". Oops! I felt awful for saying that with him around - I didn't really realise how much he wanted to stay with me. Just goes to show that honesty is the best thing - even if it means being criticised. I think it is really important for Liam to see that I'm confident about this and that I believe in it. That has been a major theme of this week too - seems like everyone is asking us about schooling and even Ben and I have been discussing it all. Ben is still not totally convinced if this is the best thing to do. We have agreed though to try it for a couple of years before reassessing. I am really proud of Liam though and his ability to be confident and assertive. I really want him to keep those qualities and I think to do that he will need good role models so that is something that I need to work on! It has certainly been an interesting week though and we have all learnt a lot.
~* In other learning, the boys have started getting back into their craft again. Liam had a break for over a month but yesterday started creating again and has made some wonderful things. Yesterday he made a computer with a mouse out of a box and some other bits and pieces for the mouse and the cord connecting it. He also made a special headband out of straws and Scoobies (plastic strings) for Ben to use when he's mowing - it's to keep his hair out of his eyes....... Liam obviously hasn't learnt about receding hairlines yet......
The boys also had fun with Blu Tack - I gave them each a ball and they made miniture people, aeroplanes, and animals. We have a bag of little plastic pieces that they used for eyes, arms, legs, and wings.
~* I bought some posters last week and had them laminated this week. There is one of the alphabet (with both upper and lower case letters in Queensland script), one of the solar system (Liam's choice!), and also one that counts to 100 (it is in black and white and has the numbers set out so that it is really easy to see the pattern with counting through the 20s, 30s, 40s etc.). We have done a lot of talking about the solar system and counting how many moons the planets have. We aslo talked about which planets are hot and which are cold - the boys are able to tell which are which from their distance from the sun. We also talked about the number board - we looked at how old each of us is and also our grandparents. It really helped Liam to "see" the years and look at the difference in ages. We also did some races and running to touch numbers. The alphabet poster has been good too - It's good to have a visual there all the time so that when they ask what a certain letter looks like it's easy to see it straight away.
~*That's about it - I'm sure there are things I missed - like the cleaning up we did, the running races, our trip to the Op Shop and the Library, the mountain of books we read, and the million games of Star Wars that were played - but that's just life and all this stuff is just the extra that we do and stuff that I feel like writing about.
~*The boys did the usual worksheets and colouring in. We also did painting with our hands and feet (no brushes!) which the boys loved. After they'd done lots of hand and foot prints and finger painting, I painted out their names with my finger for them to copy. Liam did his name really well and also did some letter Es - one that he is going to keep to give to Ewan on his birthday too!
~*We went swimming this week for our Thursday playgroup - although none of our friends turned up we still had a great time. The boys just love the water. It was our off week from our homeschooling playgroup so instead we went to visit Nonna Lucy and Nonno Peter (the boy's great grandparents). They always enjoy seeing them which is good. Liam and my grandfather had an interesting conversation about school - I wasn't in the room but could hear them and just let Liam handle it. It went like this -
Nonno Peter - You going to school now?
Liam - No
Nonno Peter - How old you?
Liam - 4
Nonno Peter - So you go to school next year?
Liam - No
Nonno Peter - Yes you have to go to school next year
Liam - No I'm not going to school!
Nonno Peter - *laughing* yes you go to school
Liam - No I'm staying at home
I came in at this point so got a couple of questions about it too! I didn't want to tell them too much so just said that he would stay at home this year and next year and then he might go to school. The were rolling their eyes at this, while Liam piped up with "I am never going to school Mum!". Oops! I felt awful for saying that with him around - I didn't really realise how much he wanted to stay with me. Just goes to show that honesty is the best thing - even if it means being criticised. I think it is really important for Liam to see that I'm confident about this and that I believe in it. That has been a major theme of this week too - seems like everyone is asking us about schooling and even Ben and I have been discussing it all. Ben is still not totally convinced if this is the best thing to do. We have agreed though to try it for a couple of years before reassessing. I am really proud of Liam though and his ability to be confident and assertive. I really want him to keep those qualities and I think to do that he will need good role models so that is something that I need to work on! It has certainly been an interesting week though and we have all learnt a lot.
~* In other learning, the boys have started getting back into their craft again. Liam had a break for over a month but yesterday started creating again and has made some wonderful things. Yesterday he made a computer with a mouse out of a box and some other bits and pieces for the mouse and the cord connecting it. He also made a special headband out of straws and Scoobies (plastic strings) for Ben to use when he's mowing - it's to keep his hair out of his eyes....... Liam obviously hasn't learnt about receding hairlines yet......
The boys also had fun with Blu Tack - I gave them each a ball and they made miniture people, aeroplanes, and animals. We have a bag of little plastic pieces that they used for eyes, arms, legs, and wings.
~* I bought some posters last week and had them laminated this week. There is one of the alphabet (with both upper and lower case letters in Queensland script), one of the solar system (Liam's choice!), and also one that counts to 100 (it is in black and white and has the numbers set out so that it is really easy to see the pattern with counting through the 20s, 30s, 40s etc.). We have done a lot of talking about the solar system and counting how many moons the planets have. We aslo talked about which planets are hot and which are cold - the boys are able to tell which are which from their distance from the sun. We also talked about the number board - we looked at how old each of us is and also our grandparents. It really helped Liam to "see" the years and look at the difference in ages. We also did some races and running to touch numbers. The alphabet poster has been good too - It's good to have a visual there all the time so that when they ask what a certain letter looks like it's easy to see it straight away.
~*That's about it - I'm sure there are things I missed - like the cleaning up we did, the running races, our trip to the Op Shop and the Library, the mountain of books we read, and the million games of Star Wars that were played - but that's just life and all this stuff is just the extra that we do and stuff that I feel like writing about.
Sunday 28 January 2007
Week Four - January 22 - 28
Another week gone by! Gee the weeks seem to be flying by already. We had our homeschooling playgroup on this week (it's on fortnightly) and we went to the art gallery. The kids had a ball together and there were quite a few new people there which was great. It's funny now, because I organise the playgroup and also because we are all newish to homeschooling, people think that I am a bit of an expert on it all! Ben and I were laughing about it - because really I'm not that much more knowledgable than they are! Quite a few have been asking me about curriculums and styles lately. I really haven't even thought about it that much - I do know that I don't really want to waste my money on buying a curriculum now that might not even suit when the time comes! Anyway, I did a bit of searching on the net and came across, this page - A to Z Home's Cool - Kindergarteners. There are some great articles and ideas for homeschooling kindergarteners/pre-schoolers.
So on to our week's learning!
This week was the Letter D week.
~* Handwriting practice and the letter D worksheets/colouring in/dot to dot. I think Liam is getting a bit bored of these or maybe I just picked the wrong time?
~* Playgroup at the Art Gallery. There was a special exhibit on with lots of activities for the kids. They always love the events that the Art Gallery puts on - lots of imaginative and creative things to do. There were craft activities where they did rubbings with crayons and then made little people out of foam shapes (Ewan's favourite activity!), there was an interactive music exhibit - the boys loved this, they also got to draw a picture on a postcard and then post it in a special post box that was located on top of a mountain of pillows! This was a big favourite for the boys who love anything where they are active. We got to watch a performance of the Haka, learnt how to do it and then performed it - Liam sat through the whole thing until the end when he got up and started dancing with everyone! I was so proud of him - he has always been an observer especially when it involved things like singing or dancing so that was a big achievement for him - just goes to show that they will do things in their own time.
~* We went to watch a basketball game one night. Liam is really enjoying going along to watch the games now and gets right into all the cheering. He is picking up a lot about the rules and how the game is played. He knows when to chant "Defence" and when things aren't going so well. Ewan is still not that excited about it but I'm sure it won't take long for him to join in!
~* We went on lots of outings this week! We met up with friends on Thursday for playgroup in the park. There is a big spider web there to climb on and also a sandpit. Both boys had a ball playing there and were covered in sand by the end of the day. There weren't any older kids there with us but Liam managed to find other kids to play with and he was mixing with everyone. Definately no socialisation problems there!!
~* Friday was a public holiday so we took a trip to the beach. It was a fantastic day and a great spot - a lake on one side and the sea on the other! We paddled around in the lake for ages and the boys built sandcastles. Ewan loved the lake where it was nice and calm, and Liam was in heaven in the surf with the waves crashing around him. We had to keep calling Liam back because he kept moving further and further out into the waves. He was laughing and smiling the whole time - even when he got dumped by the waves! We got to talk about (and hold!) crabs and saw lots of parachuters and helicopters too. We're already talking about when we can go back. This morning at breakfast we asked the boys what they wanted to do today and Liam said "Well we can go back to the beach!".
~* We made dreamcatchers yesterday. Realised too late though that it really wasn't an activity that they could do so well by themselves - it was difficult for them to thread the beads with the string we used and then it needed lots of knots tied in too that they couldn't manage. They love them though and are quite happy with the idea behind them - that they will catch the bad dreams and only let good dreams through to them. They've moved into their own room together these last few weeks and Liam has talked about having bad dreams. So it might be just what he needs to change his thinking about it. Fingers crossed anyway!
~* Almost forgot the gardening! The boys helped me rake up the grass clippings, bury our food scraps in the garden, water and pick tomotoes. They are really enjoying the garden - despite not having a lot of things in there and very little water!
So on to our week's learning!
This week was the Letter D week.
~* Handwriting practice and the letter D worksheets/colouring in/dot to dot. I think Liam is getting a bit bored of these or maybe I just picked the wrong time?
~* Playgroup at the Art Gallery. There was a special exhibit on with lots of activities for the kids. They always love the events that the Art Gallery puts on - lots of imaginative and creative things to do. There were craft activities where they did rubbings with crayons and then made little people out of foam shapes (Ewan's favourite activity!), there was an interactive music exhibit - the boys loved this, they also got to draw a picture on a postcard and then post it in a special post box that was located on top of a mountain of pillows! This was a big favourite for the boys who love anything where they are active. We got to watch a performance of the Haka, learnt how to do it and then performed it - Liam sat through the whole thing until the end when he got up and started dancing with everyone! I was so proud of him - he has always been an observer especially when it involved things like singing or dancing so that was a big achievement for him - just goes to show that they will do things in their own time.
~* We went to watch a basketball game one night. Liam is really enjoying going along to watch the games now and gets right into all the cheering. He is picking up a lot about the rules and how the game is played. He knows when to chant "Defence" and when things aren't going so well. Ewan is still not that excited about it but I'm sure it won't take long for him to join in!
~* We went on lots of outings this week! We met up with friends on Thursday for playgroup in the park. There is a big spider web there to climb on and also a sandpit. Both boys had a ball playing there and were covered in sand by the end of the day. There weren't any older kids there with us but Liam managed to find other kids to play with and he was mixing with everyone. Definately no socialisation problems there!!
~* Friday was a public holiday so we took a trip to the beach. It was a fantastic day and a great spot - a lake on one side and the sea on the other! We paddled around in the lake for ages and the boys built sandcastles. Ewan loved the lake where it was nice and calm, and Liam was in heaven in the surf with the waves crashing around him. We had to keep calling Liam back because he kept moving further and further out into the waves. He was laughing and smiling the whole time - even when he got dumped by the waves! We got to talk about (and hold!) crabs and saw lots of parachuters and helicopters too. We're already talking about when we can go back. This morning at breakfast we asked the boys what they wanted to do today and Liam said "Well we can go back to the beach!".
~* We made dreamcatchers yesterday. Realised too late though that it really wasn't an activity that they could do so well by themselves - it was difficult for them to thread the beads with the string we used and then it needed lots of knots tied in too that they couldn't manage. They love them though and are quite happy with the idea behind them - that they will catch the bad dreams and only let good dreams through to them. They've moved into their own room together these last few weeks and Liam has talked about having bad dreams. So it might be just what he needs to change his thinking about it. Fingers crossed anyway!
~* Almost forgot the gardening! The boys helped me rake up the grass clippings, bury our food scraps in the garden, water and pick tomotoes. They are really enjoying the garden - despite not having a lot of things in there and very little water!
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