Esme is very interested in dinosaurs! We've been trying to read books about them and take trips to see evidence of them whenever we can fit them it. Esme has been asking to go see some actual dinosaur bones, so we took her to the local natural history museum this past weekend.

This week's lessons....

Book of the week is The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. Esme did wonderfully on her short U words spelling test so now we're moving on so short I words. She's learning about bones and will soon move on to the muscular and circulatory systems. In church school she learned about needle felting, and we just started a 4-week Fractured Fairy Tales series at our favorite local bookshop.

It's Been a While....Updates

This year is flying by. We have sooo much going on and lots to share. After trying out a couple different things this year, we've decided that structured lesson plans are what work best for our family, and we have gone back to the more traditional schedule we used last year. We're glad we tried more of an unschooling approach, but now we know this is what works for us.

We are happy to share that Esme had her very first spelling word list and test this past week, and she got 100% correct on her test! Whooo hoooo go Esme. She is moving right along in Math and Reading too. Most of Esme's interest revolve around science, and we are considering an Earth Science unit when we finish up our Human Body unit. We are hoping that we'll be able to take a trip to the science museum soon. I am excited about the new art curriculum I discovered, called Discovering Great Artists. We've just started and Esme has learned quite a bit about Picasso. I am hoping to use this in conjunction with our Picturing America materials as well.

Esme has been staying very busy. In Girl Scouts she's been learning about how to care for pets including going on a field trip to Petco. This month we're concentrating on dance - last week the girls learned line dancing from Aunt Cathy, and next week they'll be doing folk dancing with our friend Ben. They also have a snowshoeing event coming up, unless we have a big thaw between now and early March. Esme is still loving ballet class and we are very happy with her new dance school. We'll be starting a new series for homeschoolers around fractured fairy tales starting on Tuesday. We are looking forward to seeing some other kids we haven't seen since Fall.

Grant Recipients!

I am thrilled to say that we have been chosen as participants in the Picturing America program. We'll be receiving 40 laminated images of great American art to use in our studies. It is kind of funny to see Esme's Homeschooling Adventure listed as a grant recipient on the website! One requirement to receive the grant is that we use it with a group, so for Fall I'll be working on a way to do some kind of program that we can invite our local homeschoolers to attend.

This is the second grant we've gotten since we started homeschooling in Fall of 2007. The other was two huge boxes of legos from Lego Systems, with the condition that we would then donate them to the public library.

I am very grateful for organizations that see the value in awarding grants to homeschoolers as well as schools and libraries. We will use the prints we are about to receive to their fullest, and share them with as many other families as possible!

Physical Education and Homeschooling

Esme got to come visit me briefly in the gym at school this week before my students arrived. I showed her some of the relay activities I have the kids do, and let her bounce balls and shoot hoops, and played catch with her with a koosh ball. She loved it! She says she wants to make her playroom into a gym!

Physical Education for Homeschoolers is naturally very different. It's easy to plan a variety of team games for classes of 18 to 25. Esme has and will play team sports through local leagues - she has done two seasons of soccer, swimming lessons, etc. We also try to include lots of physical activities in our weekly lesson plans. A couple weeks ago I bought this book to help give me some ideas, and learn about the different body systems that each activity strengthens. It is written by a man who was both a homeschooler and a gym teacher.

Someone from the local homeschooling message board was kind enough to give us a gently used pair of child-sized cross country skis this past week and Esme got to try them out for the first time last night. She skied down to the mailbox so I could drop the Christmas cards in. It was slow-going at first - she doesn't have poles yet so she fell down quite a bit, but she loved it and got pretty good at it by the time we got back home. She skied all around the yard today while Ethan shoveled our walks. We're looking foward to being able to take her to Mount Tom or some other park with lots of open space so she can ski all around.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week Esme reviewed her Math lessons, read some Bob Books, practiced her Dr. Seuss books, and learned about the first Thanksgiving. Esme seemed fascinated to learn about a time when people didn't have all the modern conveniences we have today.

Thank You, Thank You, Sam-I-Am!!

Esme is so excited - she just read her first "big girl" book!! She's been progressing well with Bob Books for a while, but tonight I sat on the couch with her and gave her only a bit of coaching through Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. We are soooooo proud that our little girl is reading! What a great homeschooling moment!!