2 Week Wrap-Up: 5/2-5/13/11

I never did a weekly wrap-up post last week since we mainly worked on our Prehistory study.  This week was much more productive. 

I decided to change the way I do my weekly wrap-ups (again?) to try and keep them more interesting.  I’m going to start with all the fun, unusual activities we did and then just list what we accomplished in our core curriculum at the end.

Last week, we learned about the Vendian period (click to see details)…

while this week we learned about the Cambrian period (click to see details).

Georgie had his first t-ball game last Saturday.  It was….interesting.  Team sports may not be Georgie’s thing.  He was extremely distractible and showed little interest in learning how to play.  Instead he chased butterflies, dug in the dirt, kept sneaking over to talk to the pretty girl playing third base (at which point the coach actually picked him up and carried him back to where he was supposed to be).   He might need a few more years, and a strong desire to actually play, before he’s ready for sports.

Vicki did a few things this week (besides drive me crazy, that is).  She played a solitary game of Very Silly Sentences which basically involved rolling the die/spinning the spinner, picking up the correct color card and stacking them on the game board.  She did periodically ask what the cards said.  This actually kept her busy for quite a while.

The other thing guaranteed to keep her amused for a little while is playing with our balance scale and Unifix cubes.

I’ve been trying to come up with ways to keep Vicki amused while I work with Georgie.  I’ve set up Tot Trays, had special toys just for school time, had her own “school” stuff available.   Most didn’t work for very long – she either lost interest in what was available or wanted something completely different right from the start.  Even television or Leapster games aren’t likely to keep her interest for more than a few minutes, and since they are very distracting for Georgie, I try to avoid them during school time.  So, here’s my latest attempt.

I set up a crate with hanging file folders.  In each folder is a different activity.  We have counting cards and starting letter cards from Confessions of a Homeschooler that she does using dry erase markers….

picture cards to be done using bottle cap letters, some from Confessions of a Homeschooler, some from other sites and some I made up myself….

a pattern chart to do with our Unifix cubes…

a few file folder games from File Folder Fun, her Handwriting without Tears capital letter cards and foam pieces, a few dry-erase workbooks and Boggle Jr.

I think I may have to work with her one-on-one first to get her started before starting school with Georgie.  I feel like by the time I find what works with her, she’ll be old enough to join us in regular school work.

What Georgie accomplished this week:

Handwriting: 
HWT pg 12 (caps), 13 (numbers), 14 (lowercase c); additional practice on capital letters and numbers on paper.

Reading:
OPGTR Lessons 46, 47 and 48.   A review of Lessons 41-48.
New books he read this week were The Eye Book and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Phonics: 
We are taking a break from ETC until we do beginning blends in OPGTR since I want this to serve as review/reinforcement.

Spelling:
AAS Step 11 – dictate phrases; Step 12 – th, ch, sh.

Grammar:
pg 24 from Scholastic 1st Grade Basic Skills: Reading Comprehension; pg 8 and 9 from Scholastic GUM (capitalizing I).

Math:
Math Mammoth pg 52, 53, 54, 57 (addition) and 76, 81, 82, 83 (subtraction) from 1A; pg 11 (place value), 50 (clock) and 62 (shapes/measuring) from 1B.

Sign Language:
Continued reviewing the alphabet, his name and I love you.  He periodically “borrowed” the book to flip through and try other signs.

Our read aloud for the week was Magic Tree House Dinosaurs Before Dark.  If finally found something that works to get them to listen during read-alouds – coloring!   It has mixed results from Vicki and usually keeps her semi-quiet but Georgie loves doing somewhat elaborate coloring pages.  He's getting very meticulous with his coloring these days.  After I read for a while, he may stop coloring and curl up on the couch with me to listen.   I do try to make the coloring pages somewhat relevant to what we’re reading or what we’re currently studying (which may be the same general topic, as they were this week – prehistory).


I feel like we have made some real progress and almost have a workable routine.