Notes From Rhonda

We are finishing up on learning about Virginia Randolph, Frederick M. Jones, Charles Drew, and George Washington Carver. We have learned so much about these wonderful people!

Today, Maria will play Dentist in dramatic play. she will give all her dolls and stuff animals checkups and teeth cleanings! I set up a dentist office in our dramatic play area.

For manipulative activity, Maria will do several "tooth" puzzles.

We will also learn how to practice brushing and flossing. I have a Styrofoam egg carton, a toothbrush, and 12" length of yarn. Maria will be encourage to pretend to brush and floss the sections of the egg carton as if she is flossing teeth. While she practices< I will be talking about the importance of brushing and flossing to keep her teeth and gums healthy.


Our Rhyme we are learning is:

Brush Your Teeth
Brush your teeth. It's fun, you'll see.
You can brush them now with me!
Put on toothpaste, just a bit.
Then start brushing, just like this.
Brush and brush, it takes awhile.
When you're finshed, show your smile.

Hope your weekend is going great!
Blessings,
Rhonda

What's Going on in YOUR School This Week?

We have had some ups and downs this past week. I'm really enjoying the new copy work study of patience the boys are working on, except that I've very nearly lost mine while getting them to work on it...oops : ) David is flying through is section on decimals which is a welcome relief after fractions. Pat is doing well on his linear and volumetric measures after we decided to take a break from long division. Both are doing very well in their language arts sections and are still loving geography. We got our HUGE world map laminated this week and back up on the wall. We all were missing our geography game so that's great news. My Father's World continues to be the favorite for the boys and I'm so glad they are enjoying it. Our arts and craft class with Miss Tracy was a huge hit yesterday as the boys learned about cultural diversity, the 'melting pot' of America and why prejudice is wrong. They made a 'children around the world' poster back dropped by an American flag and they turned out very well!
On another note, as to my schedule adaptations from my last post...Dan has started taking one of those weekend days off each weekend, which is wonderful. So, I'll have to just keep preparing myself for those joyful days when we get a surprise day off of school : ) Reminds me that life doesn't always fit into the neat little boxes that I would like...LOL!
So, for next week, we have GOT to get to the library for some new books, spend some serious time reading those books, David needs to start his literary guide about Holes, Pat needs to continue working on nouns and cursive, Derek needs to play letter and number flashcards with Mama, plus practice writing his name, and I need to write a review of the patience copy work we are using. Another busy week in a homeschoolers haven!
Blessings and Homeschooling Happiness,
~K~

*J-TERM* Review/Wrap-Up (we had fun!)

I am pleased with the way J-term went. Gavin did a lot of computer programming. Connor did a lot of robot building type stuff. They wrote a report. Gavin did a few modules of Physics. Connor sewed a few things and has a few more things planned to sew. He learned so adjust a pattern, take measurements, operate the sewing machine, sew, applique, and more. Same with Ki.
Ki did very well with his cooking. He learned techniques, terms, history and more.

Ki took a class at a culinary school and has a big gourmet meal planned. we are finishing up some sewing projects and Ki is working on his culinary this week, too, to get him ready for his big dinner.

I have decided that the phrase 'when things slow down' has no place in my vocabulary. things will not slow down. not for at least 10 years I bet.

I am already making plans for MAY-TERM. like J-term, but in MAY! I have decided they will each have one required class.

and now I need to eat more and do something in the laundry and plant some seeds and make a grocery list and clean my bathroom and help C&K sew and give G a physics test.

tonight- AVATAR 3-D

Notes From Rhonda

Where did January go? My how these months just fly by!
For February, Our shape is "Heart", Our number we are working on is "7", our color is "Pink", and we will be working and talking about eating healthy and exercise, so we'll be looking at healthy fruits and vegetables, healthy cooking, and healthy snacks. Our rhyme is "Queen Of Hearts" We will be doing lots of activies with hearts. Since it is "Dental Health Month", we will also be talking about dental health, I can't wait to tell about some ideas I have come up with to show Maria how to "Floss" her teeth!

Music music music! We took a class today on music and made "insturments" we made a drum, a shaker, and a jingle bell wristband. Then we sang and played our musical insturments. It was great fun! We also danced to music and when the music stoped we had to stop dancing.

Our art project today was "How many teeth do we have?" So we made a "mouth" and used marshmellows for the "Teeth" . We talked about how many teeth we have and read the story, "The Tooth Book" By Dr. Seuss.
"

Updated School Schedule~MeYeR's

Most of you know that we have been doing a 4 day school week so far this year, and to be honest I've really enjoyed it except for an occasional twinge of guilt that possibly we should be doing more than we can squeeze into 4 days. Since Dan is now not only working his 40 hours in Tularosa, but also working Fridays and Saturdays...I've decided that we should be working those days as well. Here's a few reasons why.

• The reason we were taking them off was to spend time with Dan...if he's not home, why NOT do school?
• We started school in OCTOBER, since we were in IL for most of September, and we weren't going to get a summer break this year, so this will help up get a little less behind.
• The boys are spending too much time in front of the TV when they aren't at school, and I'm tired of trying to pry them away from it, so more school equals less TV.
• With trying to fit a full week's worth of school into 4 days...we are skipping some of the fun stuff and some parts of school are just becoming a drag, even for me, so this will allow us more time to do the extra things that they enjoy so much.
• Both of the boys have an area where they are needing extra help and more time in the class room means more practice in problem areas.

So, here's the plan until Dan quits working weekends. ABeka each morning M-Th, Saturday afternoons but not Friday at all. MFW will still be T and TH afternoons with Jodi and James and we will do some of the extra projects on Friday which will become our Arts, Crafts and Library Day. I'm thinking about inviting a special friend who is the crafting queen to come and lead art classes on Friday morning...whee! Friday afternoons will be loads of reading those new library books, some life lessons and helping with the game night prep. I think that should do it! Thanks for letting me ramble and get a few things out of my head and onto 'paper' : )

~Kristy~