"I" For Insects and "F" For Fire Safety

Okay, so the letter of the week thing is how we're going to roll for the first part of the year... and we chose "I" for Insects... which ended up lasting two weeks and morphed into "Identity" due to some character issues I'd noticed... but boy this is fun (even though Hunter had his second round of tonsilitis for the year - uhh it's only March by this time). 

We skipped the lapbook for insects but we did a few fun lessons. One was a measuring lesson using a book called "Inch by Inch": http://www.homeschoolshare.com/inch_by_inch.php . While we were talking about "insects" I started him doing word families using the "in" sound and made up a worksheet of my own where he had to glue "in" bits I'd cut out of newspapers to form words -  think "in"ternational, "in"teresting, "in"ternet - but the boy didn't bat an eye to it... so I let Helena take over that one! Hmmm, could've been the meds or just not his thing! Speaking of meds - I had taken him to the after hours hospital care at about 10pm the night we realised his tonsils were swollen again - not the wisest. It was a good thing I'd taken the Usborne "Big Bug Search" book along - that thing kept us occupied for an hour of our over 2 we'd spent waiting... but that's another story that doesn't need to be rehashed here! 

We also took a look at the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" lesson based on something I found at http://www.homeschoolshare.com/very_hungry_caterpillar.php. We especially enjoyed the insect collages. 

 I printed out insect coloring pages from some random search online - probably DKLT or one of those... We were going to paint our own paper using the kindergarten resources, but when I dropped off Helena I found a heap of unnamed paintings so we 'reused' those by tearing them up into smaller pieces then gluing them onto the shape of the insect we'd already colored in. I then took a black pencil or marker and re-drew the outline. 

Personally, I think these look amazing (probably because I did most of the work, eh!? HA! Though Hunter's ladybug looks great!)

Hunter's tonsilitis was waning so our friends came over to spend a couple of hours with us. They are moving to Canada soon and this was our last time to just hang out. I had given Carla the heads up that we were on an insect theme so she brought along the game "Beetle" which was super cool and became the visiting storyteller with her book about butterflies! What a fun way to learn and play! I love that Lucas and Erin were able to join in our learning. 

One of our random things - I think I told him to make the letter "I" or was it "F" this week out of train tracks... after he'd finished that they got into making other things. Oops - notice the heater... we had to take the chill off the room somehow before leaving for a while later... 

Oh, the Biblical principle for I became "Identity" or "I am" based on Psalm 139:14 "I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful and I know that full well." We did a bit of personal reflection and thinking about who we are so I created a list of "I am" statements that started out obvious: "I am Hunter", "I am a son", "I am a brother" and then moved to things like "I am courageous", "I am good at learning things", "I am a prince" with scriptures as the basis for these more abstract ones. Then I printed and cut out a heap of photos of them that suited the statements and they had to glue/tape the photo next to the statement. Now they have these sheets hanging on the wall by their beds so they look at them each night. We may have to update them once in a while and maybe I should bite the bullet and do it in color sometime and laminate it because goodness gracious - if these kids can really "get" who they are and who God has called them to be - they will a) spend a lot less time trying to figure it out when they are older, and b) they'll be living proof of how God's word affects our lives! Bring it on, Lord!!!

Woo-ooo, woo-ooo, woo-ooo... "F" is for.... FIRE SAFETY!!!

This was a fun week. I went online and found heaps of fun resources at http://www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp?categoryID=2019&URL=Safety%20Information/Fire%20Prevention%20Week/For%20kids%20and%20families and http://www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/html/homefiresafety/. We did some sequencing practice where he had to match clip art to the step... this was fun. I also gave him a crossword puzzle from one of those sites and created a 'cheat sheet' with clip art and the words so he could fill in the crossword himself. TIP: I'm finding crosswords are a great way for him to write!!!

We even sent Uncle Matt the Firefighter an email with some questions Hunter thought of based on "Flick, the Little Fire Engine"... that was fun! We made an escape plan and then... we visited the fire station...

Mr John was such a good sport - he gave them the full tour of the fire truck as if we were on a real school visit! What a kind man (helped that I brought some cake along)!

The kids mostly loved getting inside the truck and playing with the walkie talkies... hilarious!

This was cool - as he was showing them some of the equipment, Helena figured out that this was a shadow box - like she used the word shadow... must be all those different puzzles she does at kindy! Anyway - the kids know that they are not allowed to call 111 (the number here) unless there is actually an emergency and they know that they are not allowed to touch hot things... that's a good safety start, eh!

The Biblical principle for "F" is Faith 

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see". Hebrews 11:1

"T" is for...

So after the first few weeks of homeschool, I developed a simpler approach to the whole topic search, etc. I decided to slow down and focus on one letter/phonetic sound a week and use things that Hunter was interested in that started with that letter as our theme. I started this whole new system with something I was sure he'd love - Trains!!!

We made a lapbook for the first time using resources from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/trains_lapbook.php
This site was a great place to start but I found a lot of the books they were using were not available here in New Zealand so I had to improvise a bit. You can tell by our pile of resources we had a great week. We looked at "Telling Time" as our maths concept and Hunter got to punch train tickets to practice saying the time. Of course we'll have to keep revisiting it, but it was a fun way to introduce the topic. We also used a Thomas the Tank Engine Manual to create bar graphs of the number of wheels each of Thomas' friends had. Hunter loves graphs (I heard that was a 'boy' thing). Of course we read a heap of Thomas and Friends books, but we also got a chuckle from "The Caboose Who Got Loose" where we looked for rhyming words. Besides watching Chuggington dvds, the highlight of the week was taking a train trip of our own...

In between swim classes on a Wednesday, we hopped on the train from the Ngaio station - unfortunately I miscalculated the distance and we only had 3 stops - but still - we were on a train folks!! 

Once we arrived at the 'terminal station' we walked across the street for a little treat (lots of "t" action here) from that place that starts with a Mc. I love that when we go here I can still get away with getting one happy meal between them because Helena can't eat cheese or dairy and Hunter's not interested really in the french fries quite like her - so he can eat the cheeseburger, she gets the fries, and I get a drink... pretty cheap date, eh! After only an hour or less, we hopped back on the train with our books, etc and trekked back to our car in the rain. 

Oh and our biblical principle was....

Thankfulness

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures forever." 

Psalm 107:11

A Framework To Work Around

Well, we're just completing our 4th week of Mrs Mama's Classroom... and each week I'm getting more insight into my dear Hunter and what motivates him to learn (I'm pretty sure this is a life long process). I am feeling a bit more comfortable now, however, for having a framework to work around. This 'framework' is in the shape of our weekly calendar of activities so I know how to work the other lessons in and amongst these. I know most people's "framework" is their philosophy or curriculum - but that's all semantics, eh? Now that we've got a schedule, I am learning how to fit the lessons and 'formal' learning activities into our day. So here's the visual of what our weeks look like: 

I was really trying to figure out how to visually display our activities and schedule so the kids (and I) could keep track of where we're going and what we're doing throughout the week - and mostly to show Hunter that the lessons aren't going to last all day long! (Because of course, an hour seems like all day to a 5 year old, no matter how many mini-activities you include). I was rather proud of myself because I had originally wanted to buy something to do all this... but managed to create something cool using materials we already had at home. 

So, we have "School" time scheduled. In this time we do our 'formal lessons'. I've decided to do a "Letter of the Week" to start out our first half of the year. With this as our theme for each week, we're looking at a Biblical Principle and a memory verse then books that reflect Hunter's interest according to that sound (the handwriting, sight words, and maths are all just following the order from our Study Ladder program). So last week was "S" so we got books about space and looked mostly at stars and the sun. This week is "T" - so of course we're focusing on trains!!! And for the first time I've had him do a lapbook (I'll probably post that another time when he finishes it) all about Trains. It's been fun. Anyway, this seems to be working (week 2) so we'll stick with it until we've gone through the alphabet. 

Between "School" we've got other learning opportunities: Kindy and Ballet (for Helena), and gymnastics, swimming and soccer for both of them. Here's a glimpse:

Tuesday mornings the kids both do a gymnastics class. Coach Abe is very patient and this week spoke out a key word that I believe is the principle that gymnastics will teach my children (regardless of how long they do this): BODY CONTROL. Both Hunter and Helena are very fast and very strong, so learning how to control their bodies will help them excel in any other athletic activities. And let's face it, control is a vital element in every area of life (hmmm, guess that's why "self-control" is considered a fruit of the Holy Spirit - because it just doesn't come naturally). So though I am confident Hunter is not built like a professional gymnast, this is going to really beneficial.

On Wednesdays we have swim class. Helena's class is at 11.30 (so we get a full morning of school) and Hunter's class is 3.00. Originally I thought we could use the gap to go places, see people, run errands, go on field trips - but heck, after two really long Wednesdays I've concluded that we should just come home and do lower key things in between - like reading or science experiments or art projects with the occasional visitor. Helena is loving her class and really getting into it. Hunter has been enjoying his as well. His teacher has somehow motivated him and thankfully he's got just boys in his class so he's at least mixing with boys his age.

Then Monday, Tuesday and Thursday Helena goes to kindy so Hunter and I have some time together to do more reading, writing and errands. It's working out pretty well so far. 

The bonus is soccer on Saturday! Hunter LOVES it!!! LOVES it! He scored goals, helped up a fallen teammate and high-fived other players all in his first match. Helena on the other hand is a bit more timid... but she'll catch on. 

So... that's our framework to work around... and then we've got the odd day out... a sick boy who just wants to hang out and watch Chuggington all morning (well, it's train related, right!?!).