After this week I’m switching to a new format for these updates — I never want to sit down and write a post because it takes so long to 1) recall what we even did 2) find the pictures 3) write something up that makes sense. Also I have been told more than once that…
All Summer long we worked on reading. Lots of reading — I read tons about systematically teaching reading. The kids practiced phonics. We’ve been making such good progress. I believe when we started last school year Josie was stuck at the end of the red drawers, maybe beginning orange, and Mary was around green. Pic…
We’ve been fervently studying animal classification around here, and the Tree of Life material from Waseca Biomes has quickly become a favorite hands-on exploration; it’s been used many times over the last couple of weeks. The material, a tree puzzle, is intended for advanced learners — and between you and me, I have no idea…
What happened this week? It’s always a blur; I need to rely on my phone pics, but it’s somewhat challenging to take good photos with a three-month-old. Nevertheless… I persisted in snagging a few. Math We did mostly math on Monday and Tuesday. Everyone did bead chains. Then we were burnt out on math and…
I recently had a lighting bolt of an idea: I made animal classification boxes (a la Montessori continent boxes). I wanted something my kids could touch and sort through to understand what made each animal class distinct. I needed some type of control to explain the key points. After looking all over, I couldn’t find…
Here’s our weekly wrap up in photos. Oy, I’m still trying to figure out the easiest way to organize this series! Grandma was in town this week for Josie’s 10th (WHOA) birthday. No uniforms worn as I’ve been behind in laundry. 🙂 Language: The girls got their first library cards! They selected some beginner chapter…
Last week we introduced Montessori’s Second Great Lesson: the Coming of Life. The Great Lessons are a series of stories designed to spark the fire of curiosity surrounding science, history, communication, numbers, geography and more. These stories along with key lessons serve as a framework for further explorations throughout the year. Materials With the 2nd…
Sharing one of our much-loved activities from this last week — a layers of the earth play dough mat. In the past we’ve made play dough models of the earth; that’s lots of fun, but I wanted something even easier to put on the shelf that the kids could work on independently. This is what…
Second week of homeschooling is in the books. I’m not sure how that happened so fast. We’ve been focusing on our Great Lessons work (we are doing one per week the first five weeks, you can read more about them here). I figure our first five weeks back are kinda a jumpstart and transition period after…
Lots of review this week. We tried some creative reading and handwriting ideas, and for grammar, we used Goldilocks felt pieces to introduce the adverb. But before we get to that… Pencil sharpening is practical life work, but I thought I’d sneak it in our Language post since it deals with writing. I found little…
