If I've learned anything these past couple of days, it's that these kids NEED the outdoors. I noticed that they focus better when they have been given a chance to release their wild first. Over the past few days, we've been going outside for a bike ride following breakfast and devotional time. Apparently, fresh air makes the brain happy and eager to learn. Baby brother doesn't waste an opportunity to run around as well, trying to catch lizards with a butterfly net. He's awesome..
Once we got back inside the house, J went right to work on his parts of speech. That boy loves his free-range education, but he also enjoys filling out graphic organizers and adding pages to his school binder. Sometimes I look at him and see a little college student int he works. So serious!
His sister worked on the 'ar and 'ay' word families as well as the 'a' vowel. They both also practiced handwriting on dry-erase boards.
For math, they practiced vertical and horizontal addition facts up to 10. I've assigned him to be her teacher for this subject because it benefits both of them. His creativity is soaring and she is really beginning to get a firm grasp on number sense.
I accidentally dropped the calendar numbers, which gave her an opportunity to purposefully practice numerical order.
His sister worked on the 'ar and 'ay' word families as well as the 'a' vowel. They both also practiced handwriting on dry-erase boards.
For math, they practiced vertical and horizontal addition facts up to 10. I've assigned him to be her teacher for this subject because it benefits both of them. His creativity is soaring and she is really beginning to get a firm grasp on number sense.
I accidentally dropped the calendar numbers, which gave her an opportunity to purposefully practice numerical order.
During science, the kids are studying the 5 kingdoms. Since they are interested in frogs (as we are growing tadpoles in the kitchen) I want to teach them about amphibians, but I want them to have a background in understanding the classification of living things before we get to the detailed classes. We used this visual aid of their own hand to learn the names of the five kingdoms. I used a few YouTube videos and a Bekka curriculum science book I borrowed from our local library.
Of course, our favorite way to learn is by seeing things with our own two eyes and touching things with our hands, so naturally, when this falcon landed on our fence and hung out in our back yard for a few minutes, it was the most glorious part of our day. The kids watched enthralled at the creature as it hunted for a quick meal in our yard, then flew from neighbor to neighbor in search for more. Nothing beats a front row seat to back yard science. |
After lunch, we snuggled up to a few good books as usual. I chose a seasonal book, a book about tadpoles, a sportsmanship books since it was football practice day, and an addition book to go along with what they are learning. They chose the other books based on their own interests.
In the afternoon, it was back to natural science. Baby boy had a blast! Not only did he get to pose as defense for some tickled boys, he also got to watch the ants at work in the parking lot while he waited for big brother to finish practice. #theworldisourclassroom
Sister didn't mind football practice herself. Leave it to her to fill up my trunk with children. Talk about an out of the box playdate. She brought her Barbie house and her bin so all the little sisters (and brother) could play. Good times!