Thursday, March 31, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Chamomile
Very nicely, thank you.

I know the saying is "April showers bring May flowers," but March showers will do just fine. We've had a steady, gentle rain for the past couple of days and the garden is loving it.

The boys have had a grand old time running around barefoot, splashing in the mud, stomping puddles, and looking for earthworms on the sidewalk to add to our compost pile. And, as you can see by our bird list, our winged visitors have been numerous, enticed by a freshly-cut lawn and a buffet of insects too wet to fly away.

The only downside to the weather is that Henry is unable to fly his new kite.  He is anxious to try it out, but there's nothing we can do with it right now.  I'm making this a teaching opportunity for the virtue of patience.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Nursery Level Assessment

Colors - Henry was able to correctly identify blue, red, yellow, green, brown, orange, and black.  He had slight difficulty with purple, but was able to identify it correctly after a few tries.

Shapes - Henry was able to correctly identify circles, squares, and rectangles.  He had trouble with triangles and had to be prompted twice before he remembered.  From our shapes bag, he also correctly identified ovals, hexagons, stars, and octagons.  He missed pentagons completely.

Upper-case Letters - Henry correctly identified all upper-case letters, but needed prompting for K and T.

Lower-case Letters - Henry correctly identified all lower-case letters, except for h, l, n, q, and t.  He needed prompting for those, but got them eventually.

Numbers - Henry correctly identified all numbers, except for 9.  He was able to identify 9 after a few tries.

I think that Henry has almost mastered the core subjects for Nursery Level.  I feel comfortable awarding him his completion certificate for the work he has done, but we will continue to review this information over the next few months.  I am confident that Henry will be ready to begin his preschool-level work in the fall.

In the meantime, we will continue our weekly science and religion lessons.  We will also begin a more thorough review of the nursery-level Good Books using the guided questions provided in the Angelicum Academy lesson plans.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

March 28 - April 3, 2011

What we're working on this week:
Monday
  • Town and Country Mouse, pages 29-30: prewriting skills, identifying letters (lower case y and z)
  • The Shoemaker and the Elves, page 29-30: counting, recognizing numerals (9 and 10)
  • Pinocchio, pages 29-30: classifying (pets, things that fly), visual perception (six items)
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Wednesday
  • Town and Country Mouse: review lower case letters and assess retention
  • The Shoemaker and the Elves: review numbers 1 to 10 and assess retention
  • Rumpelstiltskin: review colors and assess retention
  • Snow White: review upper case letters and assess retention
  • Cinderella: review shapes and assess retention
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Friday
  • Email the Angelicum Academy for Henry's Nursery level award certificate!
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Saturday
  • Science Play! - Wind Sock:  Well, we're supposed to make a wind sock from a paper bag, but I think it would be torn apart in mere seconds with the breezes we have around here.  I think we'll use our new kite instead.
Sunday
Who Am I? lesson 15 - After Death There is Life
  • Concepts of Faith: If we have lived as images of God, death is the beginning of new life with God in heaven.
  • Tell your child about a relative or friend who has died.  Say a prayer with your child for that person.
  • Story Time: selection from Everyday Graces

Another Gorgeous Day

If only it stayed this way always...

We spotted this rather large cocoon in one of our crepe myrtles.  Such a wonderful Easter symbol!  Henry and I had a nice chat about it.  I'm trying to figure out what made it, but I haven't had any luck so far.

With such a nice breeze blowing, we were inspired to get out the last of the cheapo kites I purchased a couple of years ago.

Henry had a lot of fun for about five minutes.

Then the kite broke, to the disappointment of all.

Except Jane.  She didn't really care.
So, a nicer kite that will (hopefully) last a bit longer than five minutes has been ordered from Amazon and is on its way.  It's been so nice to be able to spend so much time outside every day.  We're really trying to enjoy as much of the mild weather as we can.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Happy birthday, Oliver!

Today is Oliver's second birthday!  We had a nice, quiet celebration at home before Daddy had to go to work.  Here's what Oliver did:

Played catch in the yard with Henry.

Examined the new trees we picked up from Home Depot.

Looked at birds through the binoculars (this is an adult Fish Crow).

Watched Jane take a nap.

Looked at all the flower buds on the jasmine vines.

Watched Mom bake some cupcakes.

Watched Mom and Dad bake a homemade pizza.

Enjoyed his birthday feast!
It's hard to believe Oliver is two already.  It seems like just yesterday I was at the hospital, emailing back and forth with Matt (he was in Iraq at the time).  Now that Ollie is two, we'll be starting his Hands on Homeschooling lessons shortly.  It will be interesting to see how he does with them.  Oliver is a rather quirky kid!

The Annunciation of the Lord

The Angelus


The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. 
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen. 
Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word. 
Hail Mary . . . 
And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us. 
Hail Mary . . . 

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: 
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.
Amen. 

Read more: http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/prayers/angelus.htm#ixzz1HcP9N3Qz

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Backyard Birdwatching

The Sibley Guide to Birds arrived and we're already putting it to good use. We spent about an hour outside this morning armed with binoculars, the guide, and a pencil and notebook. We were actually able to positively identify two different birds and we have a few more that we're pretty sure about, but not quite ready to make the call yet.

I'm going to be adding some progress lists to the sidebars to show what we're doing as a family at home. Between the birdwatching and gardening and baking and sewing, it's starting to really feel like a home school around here!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Garden and Shadow Art

Our seedlings are sprouting their first sets of real leaves.  We've thinned out our carrots and onions and seeing some buds already forming on our strawberry plants.  Last summer, we tossed a strawberry runner on the ground between our deck and the house.  Lo and behold, it took root and has four little strawberries already forming this year!

A hawk, circling.  It was fighting with an osprey this morning.

The strawberries are taking off.  Henry is looking forward to harvesting.

The potato plant is bigger every day.  I think we're going to get another trash can and see if we can grow some more.

Bunching onions, thinned.

Carrots, thinned and forming their actual tops.

Cucumber with new growth.

Watermelon and cantaloupe with new growth.  They'll be ready to transplant very soon!

Shadow outline of Henry.  I filled in the features and clothes (purple).  Henry added food to his stomach (green).

Sitting on the deck this morning in our pajamas.
In the above picture, I'm searching Amazon for a bird guide.  Just this morning, we saw a hawk, an osprey, bluebirds, crows, and heard a woodpecker.  I ordered The Sibley Guide to Birds and I think we'll all enjoy classifying the birds we see in our area.

March 21 - March 27, 2011

Our penultimate week!

What we're working on this week:
Monday
  • Town and Country Mouse, pages 23-24: prewriting skills, identifying letters (lower case s and t)
  • The Shoemaker and the Elves, page 23-24: counting, recognizing numerals (3 and 4)
  • Pinocchio, pages 23-24: visual perception (six items)
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Wednesday
  • Town and Country Mouse, pages 25-26: prewriting skills, identifying letters (lower case u and v)
  • The Shoemaker and the Elves, page 25-26: counting, recognizing numerals (5 and 6)
  • Pinocchio, pages 19-20: classifying (things with wheels, things you eat), visual perception (six items)
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Friday
  • Town and Country Mouse, page 27-28: prewriting skills, identifying letters (lower case w and x)
  • The Shoemaker and the Elves, page 27-28: counting, recognizing numerals (7 and 8)
  • Pinocchio, pages 27-28: classifying (things you wear, farm animals), visual perception (six items)
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Saturday
  • Science Play! - Shadows:  We'll be doing more observations of shadows and the difference in lengths at morning, midday, and afternoon.
Sunday
Who Am I? lesson 24 - Lent (Skipping ahead since we're in Lent.  I missed out on Advent!)
  • Concepts of Faith: Lent is a time for preparing ourselves for the joy and new life of Easter.
  • Talk about the sacrifices we make during Lent.
  • Story Time: selection from Everyday Graces

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Super Moon!

Last night was perfectly clear and the Super Moon looked awesome.  My husband got out the telescope and he and Henry put on their amateur astronomer hats until waaaaay past bedtime.  Henry says he wants to go to the Moon and put a flag on it.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Prayer Progress

As of last night, Henry is able to recite four prayers: grace before meals (Bless us, O Lord...), bedtime prayer (Now I lay me...), the Glory Be, and the Our Father.  He's not absolutely perfect on the Our Father yet.  For some reason, the 'hallowed be thy name' trips him up.  But, with minimal prompting, he's able to get all the way through.

Oliver is working on the Sign of the Cross.  I'm moving his hand for him, but he's helping a little.  He giggles through every prayer.  I think he finds it funny when we're all reciting them together.

Writing

The bulk of our workbooks deal with tracing letters, but Henry is branching out to freehand writing.  He's doing pretty well, I think.


I'd say that's pretty good penmanship for a 3 1/2 year old.  The best part is that he loves writing and he tries very hard to form the letters correctly.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Gardening and Sewing

Spring is in the air.  The dandelions are sprouting, the birds are chirping, the pollen is falling...  It's the brief window of idyllic weather before the wretched heat of summer is upon us.  We're enjoying it while we can!

Some pictures of what we've been up to:

Jane's getting so big!  It's hard to believe she's six months old already.

I found an awesome pattern for raglan t-shirts and I've made quite a few.

Oliver's also wearing a homemade shirt.
Watermelon and cantaloupe seedlings

Strawberries

Bunching onions

Carrots

Cucumbers

That monster behind Henry is a potato plant!

Our, um, colorful container garden.  Not extremely aesthetic, but it's getting the job done!

Chalk drawing by Henry

The deck is also great for random school review.

Another sewing project: bibs made from dish towels.  Easy and cheap!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Whoa!

While flipping through our lesson plans, I noticed that we only have a couple more weeks of workbooks left!  We started week 16 today, 17 is next week, and week 18 will finish up our pages on Monday.  We'll use Wednesday of that week to do a few activities from the back of the books and assess Henry to see how much he's retained.  If everything looks good, we'll email Angelicum Academy on Friday, April 1st, to get Henry's Nursery Level award certificate!

Our "electives" of religion and science have 32 and 36 weeks of lessons, respectively.  We will continue with those along our same schedule on the weekends.  Without any further breaks, we'll be finished with our religion book in July and with our science book in August, just in time to get started on the Preschool level in September.

So, what will we do during the week until then?  I'll continue to review the basics with Henry and reinforce what he's learned this year.  Oliver turns two at the end of this month.  I'll start his 2-year curriculum from Hands on Homeschooling on April 4th.  (I can't believe he's going to be 2!!!)

We're also going to be pretty busy with things around the house.  We planted a bunch of container gardens recently and we'll be working on those every day.  I'm learning to sew and have been making lots of things for the kids.  We're also learning how to make soap (just melt-and-pour recipes, no cold-pressing or lye or anything like that!) and would like to learn how to make candles.

Henry and I have really enjoyed the lessons so far this year and I'm even more certain that our decision to homeschool is the right one for our family. 

March 14 - March 20, 2011

What we're working on this week:
Monday
  • Free Day
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Wednesday
  • Town and Country Mouse, pages 19-20: prewriting skills, identifying letters (lower case o and p)
  • The Shoemaker and the Elves, page 19-20: recognizing numerals (9 and 10), visual perception
  • Pinocchio, pages 19-20: visual perception (six items)
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Friday
  • Town and Country Mouse, page 21-22: prewriting skills, identifying letters (lower case q and r)
  • The Shoemaker and the Elves, page 21-22: counting, recognizing numerals (1 and 2)
  • Pinocchio, pages 21-22: visual perception (six items)
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Saturday
  • Science Play! - Sun, Wind, and Rain:  Checking out our shadows and making a sun visor!
Sunday
Who Am I? lesson 13 - Faith and Trust
  • Concepts of Faith: Faith is believing in God, even though we cannot see Him.
  • Read a Bible story to Henry.
  • Story Time: selection from Everyday Graces

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Ash Wednesday

In my quest to fully embrace Catholicism, I have found this book to be invaluable: The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions for Holidays, Feast Days, and Every Day.  Meredith Gould takes you through the entire liturgical year, drawing on practices from around the globe to help you build your own traditions here at home. 

For instance, do you know that pretzels are a traditional Lenten bread?  They can be eaten throughout the season (although not to the point of gluttony, of course).  So, I think we may try our hand at making some homemade ones over the next 40 days.

For Ash Wednesday, we'll be celebrating at home.  Today, we'll take down all of the palm fronds that we've had up since last Palm Sunday, burning them, mixing the ashes with holy water and a little oil, and performing our own little marking ceremony.  Although Ash Wednesday is always one of the most crowded Masses of the year, it is not a holy day of obligation.  We've decided to keep this day as one for our Domestic Church.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

King Cake

And homemade ice cream!
Making ice cream.

Eating ice cream.
King Cake!

Mardi Gras!

It's Fat Tuesday and we're getting ready for Lent!  I've got dough for a king cake (from this recipe) working already and I'm planning on a nice, fattening dinner this evening before we get down to the simpler fare of Lent.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Good Books Progress

We've been steadily reading through our Good Books list at bedtime each night.  We've finished The Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter and A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Fairy Books will be a bit more challenging because of the vocabulary and length of the stories, but we'll keep trying them out and see what catches Henry's interest.  The Language of Flowers by Kate Greenaway will come in handy this spring as our garden begins to bloom. 

Sunday, March 6, 2011

March 7 - March 13, 2011

What we're working on this week:
Monday
  • Town and Country Mouse, page 14: prewriting skills, identifying letters (lower case j)
  • The Shoemaker and the Elves, page 14: recognizing numerals (4), visual perception
  • Pinocchio, pages 13-14: visual perception (five items)
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Wednesday
  • Town and Country Mouse, pages 15-16: prewriting skills, identifying letters (lower case k and l)
  • The Shoemaker and the Elves, page 15-16: recognizing numerals (5 and 6), visual perception
  • Pinocchio, pages 15-16: visual perception (five items)
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Friday
  • Town and Country Mouse, page 17-18: prewriting skills, identifying letters (lower case m and n)
  • The Shoemaker and the Elves, page 17-18: recognizing numerals (7 and 8), visual perception
  • Pinocchio, pages 17-18: visual perception (five items)
  • Story Time: Henry's choice from the Good Books list
Saturday
  • Science Play! - Go Fly a Kite:  Building our own kite and testing it out!  Good thing we have a nice breeze through the backyard...
Sunday
Who Am I? lesson 13 - Jesus Says, "Come Follow Me"
  • Concepts of Faith: The apostles were special friends of Jesus who answered His call and chose to follow Him and teach others about Him.
  • Play "follow the leader."
  • Story Time: selection from Everyday Graces

Adios to the Daily Board

In the interest of saving precious time, I'm adding a widget from Catholic Online to the sidebar over there on the right.  It will show the saint of the day and the daily readings.  I'm still searching for a good rosary one and will add it as soon as I find it.

Enjoy!