Learning Notes 3/30/12

QL

• She finished reading Absolutely Lucy, which she is super proud of!  She didn't start a new book Wednesday because about halfway through her morning lessons she just really wasn't feel well, so we took the rest of the day off.
• She did her reviews in math this week.  We need to work on skip counting, which I didn't really realize.  I guess that's what reviews are for.  She has no problem doing the basic addition and subtraction, but when they add word problems into the mix, she's a bit confused....   She's working in a first grade math workbook, so I'm not super concerned about this, but I do need to remember to come back to it in the future.
• She learning to write "excellent" letters.  I'm trying to eradicate the word "perfect" from our homeschool.  It's unattainable and only adds undue pressure.  Excellence is always expected, and practice makes progress.
• In phonics we're working on the words /Sunday/ and /black/, and the sound /ai/ as in train.  Again, she got sick halfway through this lesson so we'll finish up with it next week.

IW

• For reading this week he's been reading The Gridiron Bully.  Not quite a living book, but he's enjoying it, and he's READING IT.  We read 1 chapter together early this week.  Then, Wednesday, I asked him to sit quietly on the couch and read a library book while I did lessons with QL.  This was an attempt to keep him from getting himself in trouble, but it turned out to be AWESOME!  He read 6 chapters in 20 minutes and kept coming over and telling me all the awesome stuff that was happening in the story.  Then, this morning, when he and QL woke up early, and I asked them to rest quietly on the couch while I finished typing this, he asked QL if he could read her the last chapter, because "it's a pretty awesome book!"  And as I type this, they are on the couch reading together, and IW's explaining all the football jargon and describing all the characters to her.  Pretty good stuff.  Oh, and she hugged him for reading to her.  :  )
• In math he's adding up to 20.  Seeing double digit numbers kind of freaked him out, but he's totally got it.  If he would just learn to slow down and write more legibly we'd be in business.
• He's copying a stanza from The Months.  I thought November would be good so he could learn to spell his birth month.

Together

• Our poem this week is The Months by Sara Coleridge.
• We talked about minerals in science.  It was a super short lesson, and our neighbor had just given us a HUGE bag of VHS movies (yes, we are the ones who still have a VCR), so we didn't even notebook it.  Peter Pan was calling.  

Some serious Peter Pan action going on at our house right now!

• We just finished up our history reading from American Pioneers and Patriots, and next week we will go back to Stories of the Pilgrims.
• We're plugging away with Farmer Boy.  Almanzo helped fill the ice house, then we read about how the Wilders spend their Sundays.
• We spent some time working on heart issues, both theirs and mine.

Jo pulled herself up for the first time this week.  The kids were crazy excited!  I was (just a little) sad.  My baby is growing at a freakish rate.  I can't believe my baby days are nearly over.  *sniff sniff*