November 11-17, 2012

What we did this week:

Henry

• Saxon Math 1: Lessons 61-64 (writing the number 56, comparing length, measuring length using nonstandard units; writing the number 56, subtracting zero, subtracting a number from itself; writing the number 57, writing the numbers 0-10 using words; writing the number 58, identifying pairs)
• The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading: Lessons 112-115 (Review of words with the long /oo/ sound; the vowel pair OO as short /oo/; U alone as short /oo/ and sight words could, would, should; review of words with the short and long OO vowel sound )
• Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Kindergarten: Pages 140-142 (writing a weather report, drawing pictures and writing words about the picture)

We have come to the end of Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Kindergarten.  That was quick.  I was going to wait a while to start Henry on the next level, but lately he's been seeing how small he can form his letters.  He calls it doing "grown-up writing."  And the smaller he makes them, the better his penmanship is.  So, we're going to go ahead and start Zaner-Bloser Handwriting 1 next week.

We've also come to the point in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading where it's recommended we begin a spelling program.  So, next week we'll have our first lesson from Spelling Workout A.  Henry's been sneaking peeks at the workbook for the last month and he's pretty excited to finally start.

In caterpillar news, the tersa sphinx moth caterpillar is still a caterpillar.  It's still happily eating away, so that's fine.  However, the monarch butterfly caterpillars have both entered the chrysalis phase!  Check out this crazy video of one of them spinning off its caterpillar skin (and don't mind the sounds of Godzilla the cartoon and Peter in the background):

Henry was really excited to see it happen in real life.  The other caterpillar did its thing while we were sleeping.  We should have butterflies emerging in the next week or two.  I hope it's during the day so we can see the whole thing.

Oliver

Oliver had a pretty good week at therapy.  When I picked him up today, we were discussing some tantrums he was having at table time and his therapist mentioned they were happening while he was doing sorting.  What?  Sorting?  Oh, yes.  Apparently, Oliver is sorting all kinds of things by color and shape at the table!  I guess all that time on colors at Starfall.com accomplished something.  Needless to say, I was really happy to hear that little tidbit.  The next time that Matt has a day off on a therapy day, I'm going to stay at the center for an hour or so to see Oliver and this therapist in action.  I want to get a better idea of how they work with him so I can make sure we're being consistent at home.

We saw a couple new independent behaviors this week, too, mainly around Oliver's bedtime routine.  He's started "helping" us brush his teeth.  He also is moving our hands to make the Sign of the Cross instead of us moving his hand when we say his prayers.  Little things, but it's still progress.

Jane

We did lots of letter work on Starfall this week.  She's definitely interested in learning all of the names of the letters.  She continues to (repeatedly) tell us the color of anything and everything that catches her eye.  She also is really big on naming everyone right now.  Dinnertime is interesting, to say the least, as she will send a good portion of the meal pointing at everyone and saying our names.  "Daddy!  Mommy! Heh-ree! Awlie! See-tah!"  Then, she points at herself.  At the beginning of the week, she was exclaiming, "MEEEE," but now she's saying her name instead. "DAAAAANE."  Close enough.

Peter

Dear sweetie is no longer eating at night, but he's still waking up once or twice to say hello.  I'm hoping he realizes it's much more interesting and awesome to just sleep.  He's very happy, though, and does plenty of babbling.  He gives five minute speeches to his hands and feet throughout the day, all with a very stern and serious look on his face.

Next week is Thanksgiving and then we're only one week away from Advent!  I've been making lists and checking them twice and all of that.  We're all really looking forward to moving out of green and into purple.  We've got plenty of activities planned and I'll be posting all about it, of course.