"The Return of the Native"
by Thomas Hardy
Weekly Wrap-Up
BIBLE STORIES
We finished our nativity-related readings and he colored more figures for his nativity collage. It is proudly displayed on our refrigerator.
PRE-READING
We did very little during this three-day week. He watched the Talking Words Factory DVD and we played a few very informal games.
PRE-WRITING
Nothing structured was attempted this week.
PRE-ARITHMETIC
We completed lesson 17 in his Saxon Math K book this week. He loved acting out "story problems" with his turtle erasers (we don't have teddy bear counters.. we usually use his little army men). We repeated the same lesson (in variations) a few times.
Weekly Wrap-Up
BIBLE STORIES
I read the story of the nativity and asked basic comprehension questions. He did very well with this. He colored a sheet for each story we read. I then cut out each picture he colored. When we finish (next week) we will assemble all the pieces into a nativity scene.
PRE-READING
We played many phonics games throughout the week. Some, I'd show a letter and he'd give me the sound as quickly as possible.. others, I'd make the sound and he'd have to bring me the correct letter. He excelled at this. He also watched both his Leapfrog DVDs and played on Starfall.com (he loves the "make a word with.." games).
PRE-WRITING
He completed a homemade booklet of straight lines to trace. His patience and precision are improving, but we're still going to stay with basic lines and curves for some time.
Manipulatives: 2009-2010
PRE-MATH MANIPULATIVES
- Linking Cubes
- Counters (army men, poker chips, novelty erasers)
- Number Line (homemade)
- Hundred Number Board (homemade 0-99)
- Dominoes
- Pattern Blocks
- Attribute Blocks and Activities
- Super Mind Set
- Tangrams
- Geoboards
- Geometric Solids
- Bucket Balance Scale
- All sorts of household items
(I have linked to the most cost-effective versions, not necessarily the ones we use. Many of ours were given to us. I would purchase the less expensive ones.)
Supplements: 2009-2010
Pre-Writing
Tracing Trails has several exercises that to help develop eye-hand coordination and pencil control skills that are necessary to learn to write clearly. Our student can't get enough of these types of activities. He loves his tracing pages so much (he often does 10 pages per day and asks for more), that we had to add this second workbook for variety.
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Pre-Reading
The Beginning Sounds workbook helps our student recognize the sounds of letters that begin words. There is a single page per letter as well as review pages placed throughout the book. We are using this as reinforcement for his Get Ready/Get Set/Go for the Code books.
Curriculum: 2009-2010
NURSERY
Our primary focus during Nursery School is on readiness for the basics, or the "three r's". We are using activities-based programs and ideas for pre-reading, pre-writing and pre-arithmetic.
Bible stories, read-alouds, nature walks, music appreciation, art projects and much more round out our curriculum for the year.
With the exception of hands-on art projets, nature walks, etc., each lesson is between 5 and 10 minutes long and is over when our student loses interest.
Why We Homeschool
We believe that education begins at birth and that a child should neither be left behind while the class moves on nor made to idle academically while waiting for others to catch up. Education must meet the individual, not vice versa.
We believe that when children have stability in their surroundings, love, encouragement, and gentle discipline, together with the freedom to wonder (and even wander a fair bit), explore, imagine, and ask questions that they will more readily absorb, understand and retain knowledge.
We believe that when children are given the proper foundation, they will grow to be lifelong learners and will have the tools necessary to succeed in the life they choose for themselves.
Our school strives for academic excellence across the curriculum. For this reason, we have chosen to use the classical model as the foundation of our educational instruction.
We believe that when children have stability in their surroundings, love, encouragement, and gentle discipline, together with the freedom to wonder (and even wander a fair bit), explore, imagine, and ask questions that they will more readily absorb, understand and retain knowledge.
We believe that when children are given the proper foundation, they will grow to be lifelong learners and will have the tools necessary to succeed in the life they choose for themselves.
Our school strives for academic excellence across the curriculum. For this reason, we have chosen to use the classical model as the foundation of our educational instruction.
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You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. thelintonacademy.blogspot.com's privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.
If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.
If you require any more information or have any questions about our privacy policy, please feel free to contact us by email at rockermom at accomplishate dot com.
At thelintonacademy.blogspot.com, the privacy of our visitors is of extreme importance to us. This privacy policy document outlines the types of personal information is received and collected by thelintonacademy.blogspot.com and how it is used.
Log Files
Like many other Web sites, thelintonacademy.blogspot.com makes use of log files. The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), date/time stamp, referring/exit pages, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement around the site, and gather demographic information. IP addresses, and other such information are not linked to any information that is personally identifiable.
Cookies and Web Beacons
thelintonacademy.blogspot.com does use cookies to store information about visitors preferences, record user-specific information on which pages the user access or visit, customize Web page content based on visitors browser type or other information that the visitor sends via their browser.
DoubleClick DART Cookie
.:: Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on thelintonacademy.blogspot.com.
.:: Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to users based on their visit to thelintonacademy.blogspot.com and other sites on the Internet.
.:: Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at the following URL - http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html
Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include ....
Google Adsense
Amazon
These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to the advertisements and links that appear on thelintonacademy.blogspot.com send directly to your browsers. They automatically receive your IP address when this occurs. Other technologies ( such as cookies, JavaScript, or Web Beacons ) may also be used by the third-party ad networks to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and / or to personalize the advertising content that you see.
thelintonacademy.blogspot.com has no access to or control over these cookies that are used by third-party advertisers.
You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices. thelintonacademy.blogspot.com's privacy policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, such other advertisers or web sites.
If you wish to disable cookies, you may do so through your individual browser options. More detailed information about cookie management with specific web browsers can be found at the browsers' respective websites.
Tot-School
RockerTot is currently 29 months old.
Disclaimer: I missed several opportunities for great photos this week. I'll try to do better next time.
I took a cue from The Adventures of Bear and used RockerTot's old knob number puzzle to make this tot number line. He gets extra practice with his pincer grasp while honing his number recognition and linear numeration skills. He's working on basic addition and subtraction in a new way as well.
He did this second Matisse project for Open-Ended Art.
He played with his pattern blocks several times:
Free play...
Making snakes...
Finding different ways to make hexagons (his favorite shape)...
He also enjoyed exploring his snap cubes:
Gathering by color...
Counting the cubes as he stacked them and comparing his "towers"...
... and counting the cubes as he snapped them apart and put them back in their tray...
He swept up his mess while his Aunt Di held the dustpan.
This is his new "Dressing Buddy", Gizmo. We are switching out old items of clothing on Gizmo for RockerTot to practice in lieu of dressing frames.
Gizmo's first outfit featured a zipper. RockerTot wears lots of hoodies, so this seemed like the skill that would have the most immediate impact. We'll alternate outfits as he tires of them.
He modeled his new apron and chef's hat (from the Dollar Tree... $1.00 for BOTH!!) before helping Mamoo in the kitchen.
He found some pecans at my Mom's (Mamoo) and grabbed the nutcracker. I had to quickly locate a box lid to catch the shells (it didn't really work, they flew everywhere). He learned to crack nuts late last winter... I was surprised that he remembered.
RockerTot played in leaf piles, ran from the leaf blower, played football, baseball, enjoyed an afternoon at a large playground and much more... but I didn't get any pictures. Shame on me.
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Tot School Homepage
RockerTot in the Kitchen: Decorating Cookies
I know this was more fluff than cooking, but Halloween cookies and decorating items were 75% off just after Halloween. RockerTot and RockerBoy had lots of fun. (I also learned which of my cookie sheets were good for baking cookies and which ones burned the bottoms.)
The icing proved too difficult for even the adults to squeeze, so I gave the boys each a dish of icing to spread. Sprinkles were placed on the cookie plate for RockerTot. RockerBoy got to shake his own sprinkles from the container.
RockerTot had fun with the textures.
RockerBoy tried and tried to squeeze the icing out... it didn't work.
... lots of tasting ...
It was really nice to spend some fun time with RockerBoy. We hope that he can be involved more in the future.
No one actually liked the pre-made icing. It was far too sweet. We all scraped it off of our cookies.
Click to see what others are doing with their Kids in the Kitchen.
The icing proved too difficult for even the adults to squeeze, so I gave the boys each a dish of icing to spread. Sprinkles were placed on the cookie plate for RockerTot. RockerBoy got to shake his own sprinkles from the container.
RockerTot had fun with the textures.
RockerBoy tried and tried to squeeze the icing out... it didn't work.
... lots of tasting ...
It was really nice to spend some fun time with RockerBoy. We hope that he can be involved more in the future.
No one actually liked the pre-made icing. It was far too sweet. We all scraped it off of our cookies.
Click to see what others are doing with their Kids in the Kitchen.
Open-Ended Art: Matisse, Part II
One more project for the Open-Ended Art:Henri Matisse theme.
I gave RockerTot a piece of card stock, some torn pieces of construction paper, some glue, then the shapes you see cut out of white contact paper... he did the rest.
I didn't get pics of the process. We were having too much fun to stop and grab a camera.
Check out what others are doing in their Open-Ended Art projects at Mommies Wise Little Bookworms.
I gave RockerTot a piece of card stock, some torn pieces of construction paper, some glue, then the shapes you see cut out of white contact paper... he did the rest.
I didn't get pics of the process. We were having too much fun to stop and grab a camera.
Check out what others are doing in their Open-Ended Art projects at Mommies Wise Little Bookworms.
Tot-School
RockerTot is currently 29 months old.
RockerTot has been sick, so I've been too occupied with him to worry about blogging. Here are some of the activities he did just before and just after his illness. Hopefully we'll get back into the swing of things soon.
RockerTot always loves to see the Cootie tray. This is a great fine motor activity (plus, it's really fun to create silly cooties).
He enjoyed creating pictures with his magnetic barnyard playset. I wish he had more of these. He has so much fun with them. I love how they spark conversations about what the pieces are, where he is placing them and why.
He tried really hard to cut between the stickers. I think we'll stick with this for a while (or something similar) for scissor skills. He does better with this than with lines. I think he sees the purpose to this one (cut out the dinosaur).
He played with his bottle top name card. We only have his name. I don't have any more bottle tops. I think I'll try something else to make more cards for him.
He made a construction paper jack-o-lantern.
He had lots of free play with his pattern blocks. He was learning how to make shapes out of other shapes. I love free play.
I didn't place this one out, but he saw it and begged for it. He really seemed to enjoy sorting the coins and talking about their names.
He made his Bb page (we aren't doing the alphabet in order). He still randomly says "buh, buh, Bumblebee". The transformer, Bumblebee, seemed to make this project more interesting and special to him. I'll have to try to make his pages as personalized to him as possible.
He's been asking to play with our dominoes for months, but I thought it was too soon. I can admit when I'm wrong. I showed him how to match up ends and he went to town. The blank ones threw him at first, but he figured it out.
Biscuit dough pizzas...
... and decorating cookies...
For some reason, every picture I shot of him playing involved some sort of building toy. He is usually trying to build a robot.
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My other Tot School Updates
See what others have been doing in their Tot Schools
Tot School Homepage
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