Second Grade- Really?!?

Oh boy, this year Emma is technically considered a 2nd grader. What does that mean for us? Nothing really.

This year will probably follow the same basic routine as last year. We'll unschool (or hackschool) for the most part, with a few "structured" items thrown in for sanity's sake.

We actually started with some structure last week. Nothing major, just one task a day to get Emma back into the swing of things.

I mean, I started school again, why shouldn't she?

On the 16th, Emma and I sat down and I asked her to pick something to work on in the following areas- Geography, History, Math, and Science. I knew I wanted the writing to be postcards or letters, and that she would be writing for most of the other tasks, so I didn't feel like she needed another specific task for this.

Writing also happens to be the "school" subject she is the least excited about.

I also didn't include a specific task for reading because this child reads like a fish swims.

The ever elusive reader burrowed in her nest. 

(said in a Steve Urwin accent)

Oh no, I've been spotted!

She sure is "on the ball" with her reading. 

Not sure what the deal is, but she hates it when I take pictures of her reading.


If I'm sneaky enough, I can get some good ones. 

Anyway, back to the point of this post. As you can see in her list above, here is what we decided on:

Geography was a horse geography sheet about Thoroughbreds. She actually enjoys filling these out which makes this mama feel good about putting it together for her. 

She wrote two postcards.

Science was bumped to this week because she needed my help and we never got around to it. Bad mama. We will be making gak. 

Playing with numbers (math) is simply working through a 1st grade math workbook. She's already 1/2 way through it. She actually decided to work on it at bedtime last week and did about 5 pages. 

History was simply to write 3 or more sentances about a famous Thoroughbred. She chose to write about Seabiscuit. She first wrote the sentences out by hand, then typed them onto her computer. 

We taped the handwritten portion to her horse geography sheet. 

On schedule for this week are

Math- more work book (already done)

Geography- Horse geography sheet about Welsh Ponies

Mail Call- Writing a letter and drawing a picture for the author of the Miranda and Starlight series that we are really loving right now. 

Science- Gak

History- Type a one page story (using size 24 font) about a welsh pony who traveled in time to the Ice Age (her idea). I'm interested to see how this one turns out. I actually have a worksheet for her to use to gather some info about the Ice Age- if she decides to use it. 

And that's it. 

What did you learn this week?

Word Play

Emma loves words. Small words. Big words. She loves them all. Almost daily she throws big words into everyday conversations (and uses them correctly!). Every time it happens, Da and I just look at each other like, "Where did she learn that word?"

Jared and I can't take much of the credit for her huge vocabulary. I give most of the credit to all the audio books she as listened too, all the books she has read to herself, and yes, all the books we have read to her.

I suppose the fact that Jared and I never "dumb it down" when we talk to her has helped a lot as well.

Well, to be honest, sometimes I will intentionally use a big word because I love it when Emma asks, "What does that mean?"

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but I bet he was pretty smart when he died.

Anyway, the other day I was catching up on some of the blogs I follow, and this one got the gears turning in my head. I loved the idea, and so Emma and I sat down and cut out a bunch of words.

Emma got frustrated with it ("I have no idea what words I'm suppose to be cutting out!"). So I continued on my own. I found the task kinda relaxing actually, so I really didn't mind it.

As I was cutting I thought it would be cool if I could glue them to some sticker paper so that when we were ready to use them, it would be easier and less messy.

Then I got the genius idea to scan them, save them on my computer, and then print them onto sticker paper. The coolest part about doing it that way?

I can share them with the world! (Well, I can share them with the 20 or so people who actually read this blog).

sorry for the upside down one, I forgot to fix it before uploading. 

If you decided you'd like to play around with the words, you should be able to just click on the picture to make it bigger then print it out. If you have trouble, just shoot me an e-mail or comment below and I will help you out. 

After I cut out a bunch of words today, I had a good sized pile on my desk. As Emma was goofing off on my exercise ball/desk chair, I suggested she make a sentence. She made a few and seemed to enjoy the process. 

The Women ranchers look at the big city.

Your new pet is the very best in the derby. 

We probably would have keep going  but groceries needed to be done (sometimes the need to eat is so inconvenient). 

If you use the words for anything, I would love to hear about it! Have fun.