What We Learned 14-18 Jan 2013

This week has gone a bit smoother (no impromptu ski trips), but we still have a lot to learn. Being structured and scheduled is tough. It takes a lot of planning on my part, and a lot of discipline on everyone's part to actually get everything done.

I am so glad we are starting with a small amount of work. Otherwise we would have thrown in the towel last week.

So, this is how our week looked.

Monday: The Plan
Math- Workbook, Science- Rock Candy, Reading- Fancy Nancy and the Mean Girl (to read throughout the week).

Reality:
I think we may have started with a bit of Yoga, but I can't remember for sure. Emma thinks we did some yoga as well, but it could be we are thinking of last week. Oh well.

Math: Emma did about 11 pages in her math workbook. The workbook is way to easy for her, but I thought it might be a good place to start so she gets in the habit of doing a workbook. Plus, it builds her confidence in math and reading as she is able to read most of the instructions herself.

Rock Candy- Day 1

Emma did all the measuring and mixing for this. She followed the directions correctly, but for some reason it didn't work out like I had envisioned. There are no crystals forming on the stick (as of day 3). We will try again at a different time. 

Reading Fancy Nancy and the Mean Girl

(There is a video here if you want to listen)

So, these books that I keep picking out, thinking they will last the month, or the week, don't. After Emma whipped through the book last week (that I thought would last the month), I picked up a different book thinking it would at least last the week. 

Not so much. She finished it in one sitting. Yeah for her! More work for me (not that I am really complaining, I LOVE listening to her confident reading). 

We were both in the mood to snuggle on the big cozy chair, so we got some more school work done.

Adding stickers to our time-line. This is Leonardo da Vinci

After learning about Lipizzaners for the past 2 weeks, as well as some other interesting events that happened during the time frame of the book, I thought rereading Maestoso Petra would be fun.

Rereading Maestoso Petra while drawing a Lipizzaner

Using our Austria Travel Guide to look up places mentioned in Maestoso Petra.

(I am pointing at the location of the Spanish Riding School)

As if we hadn't done enough, Monday's are the homeschool meet-up at the base gym. After lunch, we headed to base. Emma had a great time playing with some new friends. 

This picture is horrible, but this way I don't have to worry about blurring out anyone's faces :0)

That was a busy Monday! 

Tuesday: The Plan
Writing- Letters to friends/family, Art- Read about da Vinci's inventions; sketch an invention of our own, Music- Read more about Mozart, listen to CD's

Reality:
I felt kinda crappy on Tuesday, but we did manage to get the letters done. The art and music didn't happen though, so we will probably move it to Thursday.

Wednesday: The Plan
Math- Workbook, Reading- Continue with Fancy Nancy and the Mean Girl

Reality:
We had an inter-library loan book that was due, so after doing a little Zumba

Booty Circles- Emma's favorite

we ate breakfast then hopped on the bus for the post office (to mail out the letters) and library.

Waiting for the bus is always fun for Emma

As is riding the bus

Petting "Nibbles" the dinosaur on the way to the post office.

Yes, I forgot to take pictures while at the library. We were too busy looking at books. 

Once home, Emma read me a book (Dino School: Meet Teddy Rex) while I made lunch. After eating, 

Turkey lettuce wraps and veggies in homemade ranch

we got to work. 

Adding a few more touches to the Lippizaner Horse Geography Sheet

Learning about land forms and bodies of water 

After that we were both pretty much done. I read her "The Bernstein Bears Lend a Helping Hand," then it was off to do our own things (Emma listening to audio books and playing with horses, me on the computer).

Thursday: The Plan
History- Talk about WWII & work with timeline, Geography- Learn about landforms

Reality:
We started our day with more Zumba. The moves are starting to get harder now, so it's a bit frustrating for her, but she did a good job and stuck with it today. I think tomorrow will be yoga.

History: We sort of did this last week, so we skipped it today. Geography: We did this yesterday. Oops!

Emma got two letters over the weekend from new pen pals, so she wrote letters back to them today.

We pulled out Emma's portfolio to add some finished work to it and discovered some undone worksheets that Emma wanted to work on.

Secret messages and word families

Color Theory Worksheet

Emma Taking Photos- School Shelf

Friday: The Plan
Math- Workbook, Writing- Continue with monthly story, Reading- Finish up Fancy Nancy and the Mean Girl

Reality:
We got up early to take Da into work so that we could have the car today. Why did we need the car today?

Horse Lessons!!!

We also did some schoolwork this morning. A few math sheets, work in her composition book (transcribing her monthly story), and she read a mini book. All while I did dishes. 

I knew we needed to run to the library after horse lessons, so we went through our HUGE stash of library books to take back the ones we were done with. We somehow missed one, so we sat down to read it. 

Math Curse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

This book is awesome! We decided to keep it for a few more days so that we can finish it. 

Well, that was our week! It went well. I think we may get the hang of this eventually. 'Course by then we will probably be on something totally different. I am thinking of doing a modified version of workboxes. You can sort of see our super simple set up on our school shelf. The top row is a stack of stuff for each day (M-F). 

Anyway, I will probably keep up with the weekly recaps as it helps me remember what we have done (and forces me to remember to take more pictures). Hope someone finds them helpful!

Oh, I almost forgot! We found a movie that fit in nicely with our Lipizzaner theme for the month.

Miracle of the White Stallions

This movie, by Disney, was originally released in 1963. It tells the story of the Spanish Riding School's escape from Vienna at the end of WWII. A long movie (about 2 hours) and slow in parts, Emma really enjoyed it. It expanded her knowledge of WWII a tiny bit (she has now heard of Hitler and Nazis) while also giving her a glimpse of what it was like for the Lipizzaner stallions during the war. 

Now I'm done!

Educational Outline 2013

So, in the last few weeks, Emma and I have been a bit more structured in her learning. We seem to be doing well with it, but we quickly realized that structured learning every day was a bit much for us (going from 0 to 5 days would overwhelm anyone I guess). So we have made a few changes.

Starting with January, we are going to allow the "Horse Diaries" series to direct our learning (yes our learning, because there is a lot I will be learning as well). Each month we will read one of the books in the series, and focus on that horse breed throughout the month. Along with the horse breed, we will pull one or two other areas of interest from the book.

January is a little odd, only because we randomly chose the other subjects, but the next 5 months tie in a little more closely to the books.

What will we learn about each month? In addition to focusing on a horse breed, we will focus on one artist, one science concept, and one geographical location/culture. We will mix in some math worksheets (Emma really enjoys these), as well as reading and writing. For the writing, Emma will create a story based on the subjects we are focusing on and work on it throughout the month. Oh, and we plan to keep up with the letters to family and friends.

Let me use January as an example.

 

The book we will be starting the month off with is Maestoso Petra. The story is a Lipizzaner horse and takes place in Vienna, Austria in 1938. Before I was smart enough to tie in more of the story to our learning goals, we had just randomly decided to learn about Leonardo da Vinci and crystals. So, for January, we will do a bunch of science experiments to learn about crystals (rock candy, borax snowflakes, etc.) as well as recreate some works of art by da Vinci and maybe learn about some of his inventions. 

Here is a quick peek at the next 5 months. 

February

 

Book: Golden Sun

Horse Breed: Appaloosa 

Location/Culture: NW United States, Nez Perce Tribe

Art: Native American Art

Science: Horse Anatomy 

March

Book: Yatimah
Horse Breed: Arabian (we have already done a Horse Geography sheet on the Arabian, but we decided to go back and learn more)
Location/Culture: Northern Africa/Middle East, Nomadic Bedouin
Art: African/Middle Eastern Art
Science: Human Anatomy (to compare it to Horse Anatomy from the previous month)

April

Book: Risky Chance
Horse Breed: Thoroughbred
Location/Culture: England
Art: Shakespeare
Science: Oil/Energy (not related to the book, but we will be in Texas this month with Da while he goes through some training, so we thought it might be neat to talk about these two topics and maybe try to schedule a field trip)

May

Book: Black Cloud
Horse Breed: Mustang
Location: United States- we will be learning about the history of horses
Art: Cave Paintings
Science: History of the earth, continental drift, geology (we will be in California for most of May and June, so we will begin learning about the ocean as well this month)

June

Book: Tennessee Rose
Horse Breed: Tennessee Walking Horse
Location/Culture: Civil War/Slavery
Art: Poetry
Science: Ocean life

Sadly, that is all that has been published for the Horse Diaries series. There is one more book that comes out in the next few weeks. We also need to go back to the first 3 that we have already read and tie them into our new learning system, but for now, I think that is a great game plan.

As I mentioned, there will also be math worksheets, reading, and writing. We still plan to write 1-3 letters a week to family and friends, so if your interested, e-mail me your address and we will add you to the list!

I hope that 2013 brings fantastic things your way!

Horse Geography

So, I thought I had written a post a long time ago about our horse geography, but I didn't. So, here it is now!

About a year ago, I had the brilliant idea to use horses to teach Emma geography. She loves to learn about horses (has for about 3 or so years now) so we decided to use it to our advantage.

I created some blank worksheets that we would be able to use for all different breeds. One side is dedicated to breed characteristics, the other side is dedicated to the horse's origin. Here, this is what they look like.

Horse Geography Characteristics 

For this sheet, we just record the name of the horse, it's hand height, colors, purpose, temperament, and origin. We use one of the small rectangles to record our references, and we use the other rectangle to tape (or glue) a picture of the horse (so Emma has something to go off of for her drawing). The big rectangle on the bottom is for her drawings. 

Horse Geography Origin 

For the origin sheet, we record the continent, country, language (we also look up 'horse' in that language), climate, and terrain. We print up the flag and map from the horses origin and glue/tape them onto the sheet. Emma looks for the origin in the world map at the bottom then colors the area in. 

At this point, the info we put on here is mostly just basic stuff. As Emma gets older, we can increase the difficulty level of the info, or use the info to write reports or what not.  

Once the sheets are filled out, we add them to our Geography binder. If we have printed any information to use, we also include those pages into the binder as well. Any drawings that Emma has done of the specific breeds will also be included in the binder. 

Here are the two we managed to get done last year. 

Exmoore Pony

Exmoore Pony Drawing

Fellabella

As is typical with us, we lost interest after these two. I think we lost interest because I was a little too exuberant about it. This time we will take things a bit slower, and Emma is a year older so that will help as well. 

Here is the first one we have done since we started back up again. 

Arabian Characteristics 

Arabian Origins 

After starting up again, I realized that Emma was ready to learn about continents as well, so we have divided the binder up into continents. Each horse is placed into the section of it's continent. 

I used this site to print up maps of the continents. 

Well, that's about it. Feel free to use these worksheets (just click on the link below the picture). If you find them useful, let me know! 

The Structured Itch

So, it seems to be that time of year again when I feel the need to be more structured with Emma's education. It is totally me, and has nothing really to do with Emma's level of knowledge. I am pretty confident that she is where she needs to be (on a personal level, not a dictated level).

Her reading is going really well. Her favorite books to read the the Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems. I have to say, I have never heard a 6 year old read a book with such inflection. She LOVES these books and we love listening to her read them. Of course by the third time around she has pretty much memorized them, but then she forgets about the books for a few weeks and actually has to read the words again.

There are other books here and there that she will read. Later this week she is going to be reading this book to me.

 "My Pony" by Susan Jeffers. 

So what do we consider structured around here? Each morning she will spend a bit of time doing "school" stuff. This morning she worked in a math workbook for about 20 minutes while she listened to an audio book (Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris). 

Tomorrow we are going to grow crystals using a little kit that Gramma had bought for Emma a while ago (I know, finally!). I have printed up some info and we may also play around with making some borax or salt crystals as well.  

On Wednesday we are going to do some horse geography after we attempt to make it to the Homeschool P.E. class that is offered down town. We ran into the homeschooling family today that we met while skiing on Thursday and they mentioned the P.E. class and that they would be there, so we are going to try and make it. It starts at 0900 and for us to make it we would have to be out to catch the bus at about 0820. Seeing as we haven't been getting out of bed till 0800 or later, that may be a problem, but we will see. 

Thursday will be reading day where Emma will read the above mentioned book to me (plus a few others), as well as some super short and simple stories I have written for her to read and illustrate. 

Friday will be dedicated to making her birthday cake/cupcakes. I can't believe she will be 7! 

Also, each day (or just about) Emma will be writing a letter to friends and family. If you are interested in receiving a letter, and would have the time to write back (even just a quick hello), send me an e-mail and we will add you to the list. It will be really great for Emma if she gets replies to her letters, otherwise she might loose interest. 

Each weekend we will sit down and figure out what she wants to work on for the following week. At the end of each month we will sit down and figure out goals for the next month. 

Our goals for the remainder of this month are for Emma to read me 3 books, finish 2 horse geography sheets, and to finish up her K-1 Math Readiness book. All very doable, but the math book may require a few pages each day. 

Well, I think that's about it. I promise that I will write a post about the horse geography stuff soon (maybe even tomorrow seeing as I will be getting it ready for Wednesday anyway). 

I hope everyone had a great Monday!

Bedtime Reading

I love reading out loud to Emma. We don't read out loud a whole lot during the day, as we are typically busy creating, playing, and listening to audio books or music. But every night at bedtime, we read out loud. Some nights Emma will read a book to me (she really loves the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems) before I read a few chapters to her.

We just finished the third book in the Wolves of the Beyond series. It is the second series by Kathryn Lasky that we have read/listened to. Emma loves the Guardians for Ga'Hoole, and this series ties in with that one, but from a wolves perspective instead of the the owls.

One of the things I love the most about this series is it teaches Emma that even a creature (or person) with a disability can achieve wonderful things if they keep trying.

Anyway, this isn't really a post about a book review ('cause I am terrible at giving book reviews, just ask Jared), this post is about what Emma does while I read.

Until a few nights ago, Emma would fidget, braid her dolls/horses hair, squirm, and just generally annoy and distract me while I was trying to read to her. I love this series, but some of the words are pretty tough because it's a made up language (wolf language, bear language, owl language- they are all hard to pronounce).

I finally had a bright idea. Why not give her a little notebook to draw in while I am reading to her. She can draw about what we are reading, or about anything she wants. The first night I gave her the book and pencil, I was slightly amazed at her drawing.

Faolan

Here are her drawings from the rest of the book (the last 2 or 3 nights).

The Whistler

Wolf hunting a Caribou

"The Wolves of the Beyond"

Horses (not in the book)

A Spotted Collier Owl going to gather embers from a Volcano. The pile of bones is what Faolan stands on to keep watch of the volcanoes. 

another horse (not part of the story). 

I love watching her drawing evolve. Lately she has been using her model horses as models for her drawings and I have to say (not that I am biased) that her drawings are amazing. I love each and every one.

What else have we been doing, education wise... Noting specific or concrete. We have decided to start up our horse geography again (apparently I never mentioned it). Each time she gets a new model horse, we will research the breed (size, color, temperament, etc.) and where it originated (people, culture, food, language, etc). Emma seemed to enjoy the work in the past, and I think if we tie it in to any new horses she gets, the research will be even more meaningful.

Well, in three days we head out for Montana. We will be stopping at Mount Rushmore as well as Devils Tower on the way, so lots to learn in our immediate future!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that this coming week treats you well!

Scrambled States of America

A while back, Jared and I purchased this puzzle for Emma. Emma loves puzzles, and we thought this one might be a fun way to introduce U.S. geography to her.

It ended up in the back of the closet for a while, but now with Emma's new interests in the states, we thought it might be a fun activity to do. I set it out the first day that we started working on the states, but there really wasn't any interest in it until yesterday. The story book that comes with the puzzle is really cute, Emma and I both enjoyed it.


Here is the puzzle put together. 

Some of the puzzle pieces are shaped like states. Emma really like those pieces the best. She also seems to still enjoy putting the state pages together. She'll usually ask a few times a day if we can go work on them. I am not sure if it's because she likes the work, or because I am actually working on them with her, but either way, we both have fun and learn a lot at the same time.

This morning, Emma got a new floor puzzle from Gramma. After breakfast, Emma decided to write Gramma a thank you note.

Now we need to get ready to go hiking in a little bit.

Have a great day!

US Geography

I am happy to report that I am finally getting around to updating everyone on Emma's study time routine. 

Better late than never right?

Anyway, Emma has enjoyed having something to work on most mornings. She really loves math. Like, really loves it. If we forget to set her up with something to work on in the morning, she will make up her own math worksheet. 

Jared is even getting into the morning routine. This was a worksheet he created for her on one of the nights I was to exhausted (from my new job) to come up with anything. 

His is a little harder to see, but you may be able to see it better if you click on it. 

The other day, Emma mentioned she was tired of math worksheets. I asked her what else she might want to work on. She mentioned that she would like to learn about the states. She suggested I have a map of all the states, and then have a separate paper with just the outline of a state and she had to figure out what state it was. 

I love when she has this much interested in learning, so of course I said yes. After getting her tucked into bed that night, I went to work. 

This site has great state maps. We printed up the map with the state names, then on the back of that page, printed up the map with the state capitals. Emma wanted a hint map, as in- I write a number on the blank map she has to identify and if she can't figure it out, she can look at the hint map and it will tell her the state she is looking for. 

Super Teacher Worksheets had exactly what I was looking for. Theirs was actually a worksheet for kids to fill in, but it works wonderfully for our purpose as well. This website does charge, but I believe it's $20 for the year. Well worth it in my opinion, as we have used a ton of their worksheets already. 

Anyway, the day Emma was going to start working on the states was my first day off (of 4 in a row!), so I got up with her so we could work on it together. 

Here is the blank page we are using. And here is what they look like filled in.

I probably should have scanned them for better viewing, but I am lazy like that. What I did was print out the blank pages (I printed double sided), then I searched the internet for images of the state flag, seal, bird, flower, seal and quarter. State Symbols USA was a fantastic website for all of that information. 

I do love one stop shopping :0)

Originally, Emma wanted to do 3 states at a time. After we finished Iowa, she decided that maybe one state at a time was better. Identifying the states was easy, but she hadn't accounted for all the extra work I was going to make her do like cutting, writing, thinking, and gluing. She did enjoy the activity though. 

This all happened yesterday morning. Emma enjoyed it so  much that as soon as Gramma was awake, Emma ran up to show her what she had accomplished.

Yesterday was also a day of celebration. Jared and I have been married for 8 years already. Wow. Our way of celebrating was to go to Rochester to the teacher store (it is actually called ABC Toy Zone, but we like our name better) and buy stuff for Emma. We were on the look out for any geography type things that might fit with what we are currently working on. Jared searched through all of the stickers to see if he could find state flag stickers. No luck, but what an awesome idea! What kid doesn't love stickers?

The other awesome idea he had involves this. 

The intended purpose of the My State Book is to find out lots of information about the state that you currently live in. Jared thought that this book might be a great way for Emma to get to know the state(s) that we will be moving too. We bought 3 so that if it works out, we can use it for our next 2 moves as well. 

This book is 30 pages worth of information to be filled in. Basics such as; State name, capital, land area, population, etc are on the first page. There are lots of places to draw maps of the state and town of residence, a place for tourist info, state government info, etc. Some may be more than Emma needs at the moment, but it will still be interesting to fill it all in. 

After Jared mentioned state flag stickers, I got smart and started printing out everything on the sticker paper I purchased a while ago and haven't used. 

 

We also got Emma a present for her 1/2 birthday (which is tomorrow). We love games and have gotten a lot better at playing them. So, we got Emma a new game called Lab Mice.

 

This game is all about strategy, which Emma really enjoys. The purpose is to match the colored mice to their colored cheese without crossing paths. 

Sometimes we all struggle to figure it out, but other times Emma can get them on her own. 

Anyway, that needs to be it for today as Emma and I have a date with Auntie Sara at the pool. 

Have a great day!