This years program

Since I needed a small break from planning, I though I'd stop by over hear and get a post out about what programs we are using this year.

Treasure is now in grade 3.  We found that she doesn't do as well with the math stories, and does better with direct instruction.  So this year we will forgo the Waldorf math, and work through Rightstart Math.  I have been feeling a little self conscious about our language arts and have Learning Language Arts Through Literature for her this year, but still not sure if we are going to work with it or not.  I imagine that we will try it for a few weeks and see how it fits in.  Or, I'll pull it out in the new year if we haven't gotten to where I think we should be at that time.  But the bulk of her work will be from Earthschooling, with whom we enjoy a lifetime membership.

Joyful will be working on a Kindergarten/Grade 1 program this year, in preparation for Earthschooling Grade One next year.  We had so much fun in 2013 with the Wee Folk Art Program that we've decided to use that as our base again this year.  I also have for her the Handwriting Without Tears Get Set for School program.  We are both looking forward to incorporating their activities into her day. 

It seems that our Bear is becoming more engaging and alert as she gets older (not this last week though).  I am hoping that she will become more involved in listening to our stories, making art, and enjoying sensory fun with all of us this year.

Again, we have changed up the weeks in the Wee Folk Art program to better suit our location and us.  This year we have deleted a few things and added a few of our own.

1. Farmer's Market
2. Leaves & Fall (Fall Equinox)
3. Apples
4. Michaelmas (Dragons) & Sukkot
5. Thanksgiving
6. Blacksmiths
7. Pumpkins
8. Halloween
9. Remeberance Day & Martinmas
10. Wool & Sheep/Alpacas
11. Goats & Milk
12. Grains & Bread

We haven't decided yet if we will take December off, work on a Winter/Winter Solstice/Christmas/
Hanukkah block, play catch up....  But when we have a plan, I'll let you know.

Right now we are all eager and excited to get started, only one more day of prep left.

Not such a great blogger

So apparently, I'm not such a great blogger.  I always have great intentions to update weekly, showing all of the wonderful and beautiful things that we have done and created, and then...

But it's a new year now.  I've updated everything that was waiting for updates here (pictures from last years 3 blog posts) and a blog post from 2013 that's been sitting in the draft folder (not sure why it was there, and I just posted it, hopefully there's nothing "wrong" with it).  I've also added a new blog post for the Primary Geography/Social Studies unit that we did in July.

I am right now sitting, and planning, and planning, and planning our new year.  I know that trick to making the year run smoothly is PLANNING AND PREP.  So we won't be moving forward until that is completed, and surprisingly it almost is :)  So please do hang in there and don't give up on me.  This year is shaping up to be the best one yet.

Georaphy & a Road Trip

As I attempt to plan our a Grade 3 year for my Treasure, I've been going over all of the primary standards for the primary grades in our area to make sure that we have or will be touching on everything.  I realized that we haven't really done any of the social studies stuff.  So I sat down and wrote out a plan to take us through July.  We did end up taking some time off, with an impromptu trip to the East coast to say Good Bye to my dear Uncle.  The road trip allowed us to stop at a town that is half way between the Equator and the North Pole.

Week Three and the end of our first block

The good news is that three weeks went by very quickly.  The better news, we accomplished all that we set out to get done in that time.  Our first blocks are now complete, the books full of their work are bound together and have a new home on one of our shelves.  I think we are all proud of our accomplishments, and we celebrated by going out for ice cream.

Miss Joyful worked with the book The Greedy Triangle this week.  She shocked me by writing out all of her "T is for Triangle" worksheets ALL BY HERSELF this week. She asked me to not help, to not look, and to allow her to surprise me with her work when she was finished.  She did a great job on them, which is wonderful.  But the most amazing part is the complete change of attitude along with that ability.  The fact that she sat quietly, worked hard, tried to actually do the work in front of her, rather then just scribbling all of the sheet or staring blankly at the wall/ceiling...  She is showing so much growth!!  I am so incredibly proud of her.

My treasure worked hard overcoming her frustration and mastering many new forms and shapes this week.  She LOVES to draw, and has been approaching everyday optimistic that she will be able to complete her new forms quickly.  Often they require more time, effort, and patience then she originally expects to give.   I now see her taking more time and effort in her personal art, and feel strongly that this is the results of the form drawing unit.  I am really glad that we finally have worked on this, and that we are seeing such positive results from it.  However, I think that she is very happy to be moving on to something that is not form drawing.  She has requested that we do our first math block next.

Week Two in Review

Can't believe how fast the time is flying by!  Another week already done, and I couldn't be prouder of my girls.

Joyful is doing AMAZING!! I am so glad that I listened to her needs and held off on pushing academics on her.  She is ready now, and she is showing me just how much she can do.  She now has all of her shapes flash cards hanging on the wall, showing the she is able to tell me what each of them are when presented with the card and asked.  She even read her first word this week.  Yep, that's right, she read a word!!!!  Oval, in case you were wondering.

This week she worked on the story Mouse Shapes.  A cute little story about 3 mice hiding from a cat in a pile of shapes. They create tons of different things out of the shapes, including 3 large scary mice.  Again we backed this up with free resources that I found on line, as well as some work sheets from a large Kindergarten workbook that I have.  We have also continued with daily matching of the shapes words to the shapes, an activities from the Robot theme pack we used last week.

My treasure is mighty proud of herself, and so am I.  She now has all of her grade three sight words up on the wall along with her grade two sight words.  She has mastered another book from our set.  As her form drawings become more intricate and require more concentration, she becomes more resistant to doing them.  But she sure is proud when she finally accomplishes them.  It's interesting, because at first I wasn't able to see the true value of the form drawing, but as the drawing themselves ask more from her, I can see the many benefits to the block, and am now looking forward to the grade two block.

Week One in Review

Well, our first week back to school went FAST!  And we got a lot done too.  We took a break on Tuesday to head out to Hamilton to meet up with some friends at a splash pad/park.  Summer library program has started up again, and we joined in on Friday.  It was great to see so many people this week that we haven't seen for a few months/weeks.


My treasure has been very resistant to starting grade two, so I am easing her into the school rhythm this year.  Her first block is getting caught up on the grade one form drawing that we didn't do last year (opps!).  I'm certain that I'm not teaching form drawing right, at all.  But we are trying to get through and learn what we can so we will be ready for the grade two form drawing block later this year.  It is certainly challenging her, making her slow down, concentrate, pay attention...  So, maybe we're doing more right then I think ;)

She is also working on her sight words daily.  She was pretty overwhelmed on day one when she saw the new stack of them in her envelop, but she whipped through them like a superstar.  ALL of her grade two sight words up on the wall before the first week was even over.  She has now chosen to start working through the grade three sight words that I have for her.  Some of them are a little more challenging, but she already has half of them up on the wall.  The awesome thing about her sight words this year, is that she is actually looking at ALL of the words.  REALLY trying to read the ones that she doesn't know.  Listening to me say them, and sound them out.  Sounding them out on her own.  AND, she adding her own sentences to each of them (even when she's unsure of what they mean, which can be quiet comical).

Reading is the last part of her daily "MUST DO" work.  She reads a phonics reader and an emergent reader.  I have a LARGE selection of them.  We put out a few at a time for her to pick from.  Once she is confident and proficient with them, she reads them to Daddy before bed, and then they go away to make room for her new ones.


Silly Joyful is starting our her final Kindergarten year with a block on Shapes.  This week we read Robot Zombie Frankenstein.  What a fun book that was!!  We also focused a one specific shape for 2 days each.  This week we did circle, square, and triangle.  We did tons of work to support our Robot story, and ended the week with some Cherry Pie :)

Week Two, Autumn Equinox

Theme for the Week:  Fall/Autumn Equinox

Fiction Book of the Week: The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree
                                           The Uninvited Guest

Non Fiction Book of the Week: Autumn
                                                   The Autumn Equinox, Celebrating the Harvest

Craft for the Week:  Farmer's Market - Beeswax Candles
                                 Vegetables - Play Dough Vegetables

Field Trip for the Week:  The Zoo
                                         Local Harvest Festival

Baking for the Week:

Current Poem:  Johnny Appleseed/September

Art Study for the Week:  Autumn at Argenteuil by Claude Monet

What a fun week we had.  We kicked the week off at our local "Fall Ball", with face painting, popcorn, ice cream, bouncy castle, and of course story time provided by the library :)  reviewing the seasons, learning all about how fall is celebrated all over the world and how it's been celebrated through out the ages.  We did not pick a letter of the week because it was a "festival week".  Unfortunately the festival part ended up nixed.  We had planned to attend out local Harvest Festival, but the constant rain kept us home.

Fall Ball

Our Seasonal Fairy Story

And the girls rendition of it

Practicing her form drawing

Finally not only able to complete the puzzle, but enjoying it too

Filled in her first book log of the year - 10 books read :)

Our Fall Sensory bin finally came out

The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree

Singing Row, Row, Row your Boat very loudly

Saying good bye to our Elephants before they are moved to California