Friday, July 31, 2009
We're Still Here!
I just realized that it's been over 3 weeks since I've updated our blog. We have been super busy lately! First we had CSI (Christian Students Inspired) week with our youth group at church. It was a fun week with service projects in the mornings and then fun activities in the afternoons, but we were all exhausted by the end. Then we had family in town. Then Adam had to go to Boston for a week for work and Samuel and I headed to Chattanooga to stay with Grandma and Gramps. This past week was our first "normal" week in a long time it seems. We have finished another week of school and I will get some pictures and an update up as soon as I get time. Just wanted to let everyone know that we haven't dropped off the face of the earth :)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
PreK - Week 1
We went ahead and started PreK last Tuesday. We had planned to start July 6th, but Samuel and I were both ready to get started. First, we read about how Jonah ran away from God. Samuel was so excited because this is his favorite Bible story.
Next, we started on our new language arts program which includes phonics, copywork, handwriting, and creative writing. First, we made an Ff letter sheet of pictures of things that started with the letter F since that is the sound we are working on this week. Then, Samuel had to practice writing his name. I cheated a little for him and made dots for him to trace since we haven't done any handwriting yet. He did very well for not having written his name before. Then we started his Get Ready for the Code workbook. This is the first in a series of phonics workbooks. Samuel absolutely loves doing workbooks for some reason and said this was his favorite part of the day. Next we started his handwriting book and did one page of lowercase f's. Samuel has no patience when it comes to handwriting and I'm going to have to figure out a way to get him to slow down and take his time. He can do well if he tries, but he gets in a hurry and doesn't think about what he is doing.
After language arts, we went back to the couch for some more reading. We read Goodnight Moon and then worked on Hooked on Phonics. Samuel was able to read another book, Pop Fox, and get another sticker on his chart. He loves putting the stickers on his chart and they are a great motivator for him. Then we went back to the table to do a craft. I found a Goodnight Moon lapbook on Homeschool Share and we are doing parts of it each day as we read Goodnight Moon. Today we made a Hey Diddle Diddle book. We also worked on Samuel's Rod and Staff workbook. These are a series of workbooks that cover readiness skills. The particular one we are using right now focuses on coloring and learning color words. We have only done a few pages, but Samuel is already doing a great job staying in the lines.
The next day we continued reading about Jonah and how he got swallowed by a big fish. Thanks to the Veggietales movie, Samuel is convinced that Jonah walked the plank into the ocean and he got upset that the Bible we were reading said that Jonah was thrown overboard. We continued on with language arts. Samuel had to choose a favorite book and narrate it for me. He chose The Gruffalo. He did an amazing job telling it back. If I didn't know better I would think he read it back to me, but I think he just has most of it memorized from reading it so much. After that, we did more of our phonics and handwriting books. Then, we read Goodnight Moon again and made a booklet with different color balloons. Then Samuel had to tell which color balloon was in the room in Goodnight Moon. We also made sorting cards of the three bears, three bowls, three chairs, and three bed. Samuel had to sort them and tell which bowl, chair, and bed belonged to Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear.
The next day we finished reading about Jonah going to Ninevah and preaching to the people there telling them to repent. Samuel practiced writing his name some more, and then we worked on the capital F. We did Hooked on Phonics and Samuel read another book! He is doing a great job reading! We also read Goodnight Moon again and then made a house where the windows and door open to show rhyming words.
Today we read about Daniel and how he refused to eat the king's food because it had been blessed by God. Then we had our first creative writing assignment for language arts. Sonlight schedules one each week. Even though Samuel cannot write yet, they still include this in the LA program to get kids thinking about how to express themselves, telling things that happened in order, and other skills that will be important for future writing. For now, Samuel will complete these assignments orally with me acting as his scribe. His first assingment was to finish a story given in the instructor's guide. He did a great job! It didn't have to be very long, but he was watching me write and didn't want to stop until the page was full. The story was about Sally and Tim. They were given a sled and couldn't wait for it to snow so they could use it. The last sentence given in the guide was, "They got on their warm snow clothes and..."
Here is how Samuel finished the story:
...they saw snow everywhere and they played with their sled. They crashed their sled and it was fun, but they didn't get hurt. They built a snow man and then they tried to make a dark snow man with dirty snow everywhere. They tried to climb up snow trees. They can climb. They got a rope on the snow tree and they swinged. They tried to go up to the sky and swing in the snake place (Adam and I think he is talking about the field behind our house. We have told Samuel to stay out of there because there are snakes and think thats what he means.) and it was snowing. They tried to wipe the snow and eat the snow. They found a little snow bean. It was magic in the snow and it snowed for three days. They didn't go inside they just stayed in the snow and played outside. And then summer came and it stopped snowing and they ate lunch. They ate tuna casserole, hamburgers, crackers, and chips. They they went outside in the snow again and it snowed for 4 days. Then they tried to sit and eat the snow and get the snow and made snowballs. And they had a snowball fight. A big one. Sally fell down and then it was silly. Tim fell down because Sally pushed him. They were scary in the snow and were ghosts. They were scary looking and they became snakes and tried to bite people and eat people. They were just pretending. THE END
Later we read Goodnight Moon again and made a moon wheel that showed the different phases of the moon.
Next, we started on our new language arts program which includes phonics, copywork, handwriting, and creative writing. First, we made an Ff letter sheet of pictures of things that started with the letter F since that is the sound we are working on this week. Then, Samuel had to practice writing his name. I cheated a little for him and made dots for him to trace since we haven't done any handwriting yet. He did very well for not having written his name before. Then we started his Get Ready for the Code workbook. This is the first in a series of phonics workbooks. Samuel absolutely loves doing workbooks for some reason and said this was his favorite part of the day. Next we started his handwriting book and did one page of lowercase f's. Samuel has no patience when it comes to handwriting and I'm going to have to figure out a way to get him to slow down and take his time. He can do well if he tries, but he gets in a hurry and doesn't think about what he is doing.
After language arts, we went back to the couch for some more reading. We read Goodnight Moon and then worked on Hooked on Phonics. Samuel was able to read another book, Pop Fox, and get another sticker on his chart. He loves putting the stickers on his chart and they are a great motivator for him. Then we went back to the table to do a craft. I found a Goodnight Moon lapbook on Homeschool Share and we are doing parts of it each day as we read Goodnight Moon. Today we made a Hey Diddle Diddle book. We also worked on Samuel's Rod and Staff workbook. These are a series of workbooks that cover readiness skills. The particular one we are using right now focuses on coloring and learning color words. We have only done a few pages, but Samuel is already doing a great job staying in the lines.
The next day we continued reading about Jonah and how he got swallowed by a big fish. Thanks to the Veggietales movie, Samuel is convinced that Jonah walked the plank into the ocean and he got upset that the Bible we were reading said that Jonah was thrown overboard. We continued on with language arts. Samuel had to choose a favorite book and narrate it for me. He chose The Gruffalo. He did an amazing job telling it back. If I didn't know better I would think he read it back to me, but I think he just has most of it memorized from reading it so much. After that, we did more of our phonics and handwriting books. Then, we read Goodnight Moon again and made a booklet with different color balloons. Then Samuel had to tell which color balloon was in the room in Goodnight Moon. We also made sorting cards of the three bears, three bowls, three chairs, and three bed. Samuel had to sort them and tell which bowl, chair, and bed belonged to Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear.
The next day we finished reading about Jonah going to Ninevah and preaching to the people there telling them to repent. Samuel practiced writing his name some more, and then we worked on the capital F. We did Hooked on Phonics and Samuel read another book! He is doing a great job reading! We also read Goodnight Moon again and then made a house where the windows and door open to show rhyming words.
Today we read about Daniel and how he refused to eat the king's food because it had been blessed by God. Then we had our first creative writing assignment for language arts. Sonlight schedules one each week. Even though Samuel cannot write yet, they still include this in the LA program to get kids thinking about how to express themselves, telling things that happened in order, and other skills that will be important for future writing. For now, Samuel will complete these assignments orally with me acting as his scribe. His first assingment was to finish a story given in the instructor's guide. He did a great job! It didn't have to be very long, but he was watching me write and didn't want to stop until the page was full. The story was about Sally and Tim. They were given a sled and couldn't wait for it to snow so they could use it. The last sentence given in the guide was, "They got on their warm snow clothes and..."
Here is how Samuel finished the story:
...they saw snow everywhere and they played with their sled. They crashed their sled and it was fun, but they didn't get hurt. They built a snow man and then they tried to make a dark snow man with dirty snow everywhere. They tried to climb up snow trees. They can climb. They got a rope on the snow tree and they swinged. They tried to go up to the sky and swing in the snake place (Adam and I think he is talking about the field behind our house. We have told Samuel to stay out of there because there are snakes and think thats what he means.) and it was snowing. They tried to wipe the snow and eat the snow. They found a little snow bean. It was magic in the snow and it snowed for three days. They didn't go inside they just stayed in the snow and played outside. And then summer came and it stopped snowing and they ate lunch. They ate tuna casserole, hamburgers, crackers, and chips. They they went outside in the snow again and it snowed for 4 days. Then they tried to sit and eat the snow and get the snow and made snowballs. And they had a snowball fight. A big one. Sally fell down and then it was silly. Tim fell down because Sally pushed him. They were scary in the snow and were ghosts. They were scary looking and they became snakes and tried to bite people and eat people. They were just pretending. THE END
Later we read Goodnight Moon again and made a moon wheel that showed the different phases of the moon.
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