Josie recently was flown out to California (we live in Florida! So whoa!) to participate in a medical study for her genetic syndrome (22q Deletion / Digeorge). She had quite the adventure. We equipped her with a camera and got some really great pictures like the Golden Gate Bridge:
She sent me so many pictures like this. Ha. Thankfully, my hubby got this one:
California, ya’ll got some pretty vistas.
Meanwhile across the country on the opposite coastline — well technically the Gulf of Mexico — we’ve got some pretty views too.
We’ve been taking full advantage of the weather lately. The oppressive Summer heat is just about knocking on our door. A few years back a friend recommended the home school pattern of Summer schooling and taking breaks over Winter when our weather is generally mild. With the exception of last Summer when we welcomed Baby Will, we’ve had success with that method. Today I actually had the idea of turning the Great Lessons into Summer Camp session themes. Wouldn’t that be fun? I’ll plan more after Easter.
So aside from that, what have we been more formally learning?
Language
- Lots of reading practice. Mary is getting quicker, yet she is still resisting practice. It’s crazy to me because her math is so advanced, and she’s so bright; she just doesn’t want to read. Why!? Oh Why!? Reading is and was my favorite pastime ever. Crazy child. I’ve just been encouraging gently (ie zero screen time, reading aloud, providing lots of new and interesting books, quiet times, modeling my own behavior). She’s getting there. She’s somewhere in Waseca Biome’s Reading program around the blue / purple drawers. Not too shabby really.
- Mike has been really interested in word endings like (ing, ck, ght). He loves seeing the pattens, so thankfully he’s been self-motivated there.
- Josie has been struggling with “bossy e” or “silent e” for a couple of months now. I’ve a couple tactics going. Lots of games. Lots of silliness. She’s making progress with tons of repetition. I think she’s going to get it before too long. I’m really proud of her.
- Handwriting never seems to get a lot of attention. I always thought copy work was just boring busy work, but I totally see why kids are made to do it. I think though I’m going to get some of the older kids my kids are friends with to share a journal back and forth. Reading and writing pen-pals! And without too much teeth pulling too I hope… Mary copied the entire Madeline book out (BUT refused to read it to me to show that she knew what she wrote, so go figure).
- Also, I have a friend on IG who did some simple play dough cursive letters on trays — such a fantastic idea. So I plan on some of that this week for Mike. That’s more of a to-do than a work in review, but it’s on the horizon.
- Mary did some free writing with our Play Mobil sets (a la Montessori grammar farm style). She enjoys the freedom of that, and she’s got the basics down. Her sentence structure isn’t too complex, but that will come. I’m not planning on going much deeper with grammar until her reading catches up. Follow the child after all.
Math
- Math is going so well lately. Nothing too strenuous — it’s been operation review primarily this year. We’ve been memorizing the addition and multiplication math facts including squares and working with word problems. I introduced some elementary algebra with Mary recently. Very cool work.
- Josie is seriously having trouble with subtraction. I completely understand why Montessori teaches it AFTER multiplication. I find it’s so tricky, even to teach without making errors when I present (ack!), so we’ve been using a number line and just practicing counting backwards, physically moving our hands down the line in addition to traditional subtraction strips. I asked for some tips on the Montessori homeschooling board and someone suggested a number walk the line exercise counting backwards so we can commit the numbers to memory. So thank you awesome advice-giver. I’ll probably add it to song too. Couldn’t hurt.
- Josie is doing well with the bead frame 4 digit addition, and she actually enjoyed working with it independently this past week, returning to it multiple times despite its abstract nature.
- There was a lot of bead chain work too. Yay math.
Music
- After saying we’d make violin a priority this year, I’ve been neglecting it SO BADLY. But I finally feel like the kids are in a good rhythm with practice. We practice every day around 6pm before dinner. Josie often practices sporadically all day long. The girls are working through Perpetual Motion in Suzuki 1. They’re also got a few pieces for orchestra.
- Mike is getting better at Mississippi Hot Dog Twinkle… or something like that anyway. You’d think by my 3rd little violinist learning the Twinkle sequence, I’d remember the twinkle steps. However, the rhythms, the pickles, the monkeys climbing up and down and peanut butter and bread repeats all blur together — a cacophony of squeaky twinkles my brain cannot sort out. If you’re reading, I am so sorry Joanna (our wonderful violin teacher), but I have lost my twinkle mind. #Suzukiparentproblems
MISC…
Mary’s getting really good at helping with breakfast. I need to get her helping with dishes. I kind of missed the beat on that life skill, but there’s still time (evil laugh). Ok can you tell I’m super tired? We’ve also been doing the Lenten standards: stations of the cross, ashes on Ash Wednesday, mass… Going to try to get the kids to daily mass this week. Hopefully. With the baby. Pray for us.
Until next week, that wraps up our review. I hope anyway because it’s almost 1am now, and sleep sounds so lovely… and elusive! Look for a math video I made this past week, I’ll try to upload that shortly.
