Homeschooling Journal: April 2014 Part 11

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Firehouse Subs is a fun restaurant that we like to visit every once in a while. Our children enjoy putting the toy fireman hats and pretending to be firemen.

Somebody's ready to go swimming! Scary Hulk. Hahaha.

A.C.E. (Accelerated Christian Education) with my 2.5yo Kindergartner

 Sorry that the first picture is sideways! These pictures below show two books: a happy book and a sad book. They are props for our discussion on how we are to treat books. 

When we treat books well, turn pages carefully and we enjoy reading them, then the book will be clean, beautiful and will last a long time. 

When we don't treat books well (tear pages out or fold them up, we throw the book around, etc) then the book will fall apart, be dirty and torn and it won't last very long.

  

     

Practicing physical development and coordination in a very fun way.

French: Les Couleurs (The Colors)
This was a super fun lesson for teaching colors in French.
This is a free printable booklet from 3Dinosaurs. 

After doing some diagnostic testing, Brother tested in the first, second and third grade range for different subjects. I was floored and excited and terrified. Haha. He had been doing Kindergarten material and this clearly showed me that he was is ready for so much more. Proud moment for mother and son. I immediately ordered him material for those grades.
Update (3 months later): He is doing amazing! I am so glad we opted for giving him a diagnostic test. :)

On the other hand, Sister was given a diagnostic test and tested past Pre-K, which means she can do Kinder. I couldn't believe it, but, I did start Kindergarten with her and she is completing it at 70-80% accuracy. So I cannot complain. We have been doing it for a few months and, not only is she liking loving it, but she is thriving!

Montessori Sensorial: Fabric Box

This is a simple and yet profound lesson. It is easy to make your own at home. Simply find different textures in fabric that you don't use/need anymore and cut two matching squares out of each texture. Try to get at least 8 different textures.

Setup (so easy): mat and fabric box

Set all the fabric squares to the right, outside the box.

Start setting out all of the fabric squares. There will be two matching ones for each texture.

We have four columns of three different textures.
I let him feel every single texture with the same hand.
He was making comments like, "This one feels rougher than the first one." This one feels smooth."
Encourage using texture vocabulary like soft, silky, smooth, cool, rough, fragile, warm, etc.

And now for the next part. I gave him a blindfold.

He would touch and feel all three squares in one column and pick the softest from all three.
We set it apart. 
Then, he picks the next smoothest. 
Lastly, he is left with the roughest or least smooth of the column.
There are different way to do this activity, but as long as vocabulary is expanding and the child is learning about textures, your approach is fine.
Another activity you can do (and we did, but didn't take pictures of it) is set out 3 or 4 pairs of textures and have the child match the squares by feel (using the blindfold).

Teach My Preschooler

Math: Addition and Subtraction

Teach My Preschooler

Language Arts: Phonics

Delicious before or after a workout.

This is a story I have to share. We were tracking our first, second and third grade curricula and the website said that it was out for delivery. We saw the UPS truck driving around the neighborhood and we spotted it a few streets away. We went outside and were following it (with our eyes, not literally, haha). Eventually, it took so long to get to our street, that we got distracted with our neighbors. The UPS truck did, indeed, come onto our street and Brother was running after it (on the sidewalk), yelling and screaming for joy. When the UPS driver came out with our package, he got to hear how excited he was about it, etc. So funny. So cute.

"Reading" me a story.

Homeschooling a Toddler

Inspiration...