Learning about Mammals

Esme has been very interested in learning about ocean mammals. We concentrated on whales and dolphins, and used Counting Fish. We've been using Beanie Babies to sort mammals and other types of animals.

We're still here!!

Yes we are still here and homeschooling! Esme was quite sick so we took a little time off for recovery and celebrating Thanksgiving, but we are back and learning all kinds of new things! Esme is in her second week of learning about the Ocean. The first week we did an overview of oceans. Along with our usual language and math studies we compared ocean water to tap water, and read Atlantic, a book about oceans written from an ocean's perspective. This week we are concentrating on fish and our book of the week is Big Al. We are doing a sight word review to make sure Esme has a good grasp on the ones we've done so far. We spent a few weeks really working on fine motor skills so now we are branching out into writing again along with the focus on further developing those skills. Thanks to everyone who has and continues to support us in homeschooling, and check back for more frequent updates!

Just 2 Days....

Esme has read many Halloween books, done some cool crafts and fine motor skill activities, and even our annual outings have become field trips! We're taking the end of the week off to eat our Halloween candy prepare for our new Ocean unit, which we'll begin next week.

this week in homeschooling

This week's book of the week is A Very Brave Witch. We're using it to compare and contrast, and to learn about fiction versus non-fiction. Esme is also starting her very first addition lessons! Words of the week are you and love.

the start of Halloween lessons

Ethan and Esme started studying Halloween this week. They are reading a book about the history and traditions behind the holiday, and the words of the week are in and out.

Eric Carle Museum

To celebrate finishing our bug unit, we visited the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art today. In the last six weeks we'd used The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so we thought this would be a fitting tribute. We saw the process he uses for his illustrations, saw some work by Leo Lionni, heard Rosemary Wells speak, visited the library, and made our own magical creatures in the art studio.

This was a wonderful first unit for all of us. Using the bug lessons by The Mailbox made planning the lessons easy, and we were lucky to have so many books we love on the subject. We're taking two weeks to study Halloween, and after that we'll move on to studying the ocean - Esme let us know that is what she is interested in next.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us in our homeschooling adventure so far!

Esme can count to 30!

We've surpassed our first kindergarten goal. Before we started homeschooling Esme could count to 10 or 12. The kindergarten goal is to count to 20. Since we decided to do most of our counting practice at calendar time, we decided to go for 30. I am so proud of her!

Amazed by Butterflies

We ended our study of butterflies last week with a trip to the butterfly conservatory. What an amazing place! We saw many different kinds of butterflies, and got to reinforce all the interesting things we learned last week. Esme and I were delighted that one landed on Ethan and started to walk around on his head, until it walked into his eye. Shouldn't have taken those glasses off! Ethan has recovered but I think he may have been a little traumatized and I'm not sure we'll get him near any kind of bug conservatory anytime again soon.

This week we are studying Spiders. Our book of the week is The Very Busy Spider and our words of the week are to and said.

Week 4

Our book of the week this week is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We are doing two review words - she and not. Esme is progressing very nicely. She knows eight sight words and spots them in almost every book we read. She knows all her letters and their sounds and is in the early stages of learning to sound out words. We are working on her fine motor control so that writing will be easier for her. We are in our fourth week of our bug unit, and we're concentrating on butterflies. We're hoping to visit the butterfly conservatory near here at the end of the week. Since we've been using so many Eric Carle books, we're also hoping to visit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art at the end of this unit.

Esme learned the story of creation in Sunday School this week. Her teacher was impressed how fast she picked it up. The class has 7 pictures representing each day of creation, and Esme learned their order almost immediately. She will get her first medal for learning this story.

We are also hoping that our Daisy Troop will start up soon! Esme is really looking forward to being a Girl Scout and I am really looking forward to being her leader!

this week in homeschooling

Words of the week are a and he, and our book of the week is The Very Lonely Caterpillar. Esme is also learning what authors and illustrators do, and is perfecting counting to 30.

A Week of Ants and Exciting Realizations

We are doing a five-week bug unit and this week's theme was ants. Aunt Lisa did a special ant activity with Esme and the girls that explores the roles of different ants in the colony, and the next morning made Esme ant-shaped pancakes! This photos is of Esme observing some ants in our yard. We found some under a brick, at Dylan's advice.

This week Esme realized that she is really learning to read! We were reading a bedtime story and all of a sudden she said, "Look, Mommy, look!" She pointed to one of the words and said, "the! It's the!" Her biggest concern about learning to read is that we will still read stories to her, even when she knows how on her own. We reassured her that we will!

We are reading several Eric Carle books because we are studying bugs! This week's book of the week is The Very Clumsy Click Beetle. Words of the week are it and one. We will also be studying ants, reading poetry, and making our first simple graph. Esme also had her first Godly Play Sunday School lesson this week.

R.I.P. Crickets

Sadly our brand new crickets passed away this evening. I am sooo sad! Esme was so enthralled and immediately loved them! I don't know if my jar just wasn't adequate or what exactly happened, but they both died. Esme is taking it well. Here is the documentation we did this afternoon, while they were still alive.

Welcome Molly and Polly

Two crickets came home with me today - part of studying bugs is to observe the real thing! Esme fell in love with them right away and I had to explain that we will indeed be releasing them in a few days. Esme's observations have already included that she loves them and would like to kiss them. Luckily she's also noticed that they're brown and need food and water and air.

This week's book is The Very Grouchy Ladybug and words of the week are she and not.

Looking for Circles

Part of Friday's lesson was a circle hike through our neighborhood. We found manhole covers, electric meters, fire hydrants, doorknobs, traffic lights, signs, satellite dishes, tires, and more.

P.S. Yes, Esme did choose her own outfit.

tracing work

I told Esme she could choose one paper she's done so far this week to post on her blog and this is what she picked - she traced her first and last name, the date, and each of her sight words three times.

Not Back to School

Today was our first official day of homeschooling! Esme and I worked together for approximately two hours and I was amazed how much we did in such a short time! Her book of the week is I Can't Said the Ant and her sight words of the week are I, said, the, and ant. She did not like the activities around her sight words. She did like reading along with her books on tape, tracing words, sorting her attribute blocks, and drawing a picture to record how she sorted the blocks.