Friday, March 4, 2011

Weekly Wrap-Up: 2/28 to 3/4/2011

We had a good week with more participation from Vicki than we usually get.

Vicki was very interested in Georgie’s bookworm and decided that she wanted to learn to read.  So, one morning before Georgie was awake, I opened up the Funnix program that we downloaded for free in January.   We did about four steps of Lesson 1 before Vicki was bored with it and didn’t want to do anymore.  I think I’m going to have to look ahead and get a better idea of where she should start before we try it again.   Until then, we’ll have to stick with Starfall.

Vicki did play with her numbered hearts this week.  She laid them out in order, then jumped or tiptoed from one to the next.  And then I turned my back on her and she tore them all in half.   I really can't wait until she gets past this destructive phase.
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Vicki also likes to watch George play on the computer and he discovered a new place to play this week – Leap World.  Leap World is an online play community from Leap Frog.  You gain access by owning one of their toys that can be hooked up to the computer.  We have a Leapster 2 and a Tag system so we are able to have two separate accounts for the kids.  LeapWorld allows players to make up their own avatars and explore a virtual world with lots of learning games.

We are continuing with math using MEP and various worksheets but I will be purchasing Math Mammoth through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op this month.   I may continue with some MEP for the puzzles but Math Mammoth will be our primary program.

Reading, writing and spelling are proceeding at our usual pace.  He is much more interested in reading books himself now, even if some of them are beyond his ability.  We read The Story of Ping as part of our China study this week and he wanted to read it aloud to Vicki and I.  He went through the first five or six pages reading all the words he knew, letting me fill in the ones he didn’t, before he became tired and just let me finish the book.

I’m getting ready to add some Grammar to our day.  I currently have the Scholastic Skillbuilder: Grammar, Usage and Mechanics Grade 1 Workbook and Teacher’s Manual, the McGraw Hill Grade 1 Grammar Workbook, Sheldon’s Primary Language Lessons and KISS Level 1 Grammar Lessons.  All were free resources and I’m looking through them trying to decide which one(s) I want to start with.

For Physical Education this week, we did some dancing around to music from my ITouch.  I have a fairly eclectic selection of music with a playlist of all kid’s songs.  Their favorite is definitely the Chipmunks doing Shake Your Groove Thing although Vicki is also doing really well learning The Time Warp (Chipmunks version, of course). 

We moved on to Asia for our Continents and Cultures study and learned all about China.  Those lessons can be seen here.

1 comment:

  1. "I turned my back on her and she tore them all in half." LOL- preschoolers.

    ReplyDelete