5/30/2012

  I made a few phonics flashcards today.  We just went over them twice and then Seneca lost interest for the time being.  Seneca chose out two books for us to read together tonight. She chose Colors as well as The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. After I read to her, Seneca then "read" The Very Busy Spider.  She was using the pictures as her cues and her memory to recite back the story. 
    Earlier today, I filled up a used bread bag with colored water.  After that, I filled up a small ziploc bag with corn syrup, blue food dye, and artsy gems for some more sensory fun!  She loved both bags and even when the water bag had a leak, we had fun squirting the water out of the hole. 

Sidewalk Astronomy

I have been getting email updates about events for a local sidewalk astronomy group, but I have never been able to attend any of the events. Well, this past Saturday, we finally went to one. I told Liam and his friends that we were going to X Beach City Hall. Of course, they heard "beach." So, we decided to make it a beach day followed by planet gazing. Best laid plans though..... In any event, by the time we got everyone (Liam, three of his friends, Seneca, and I) ready to go, it was just about sunset and I wanted to get to Sidewalk Astronomy right at sunset. So, we skipped the beach (for the time being.)
So many generous people set up beautiful telescopes and allowed other people there to look through. The kids saw the gasses surrounding the sun. They saw Venus in one telescope. Venus looked like a crescent moon. The kids and I got to see the moon in several different telescopes. The moon is either in light or in dark, no in between. And the kids and I got to see Saturn in one telescope! Afterwards, the boys said to me that they were disappointed about not going to the beach, but the sidewalk astrononmy thing was awesome. "Can we go again in September?"
From now on, I will certainly make an effort to attend the X Beach City Hall set ups. There are other set ups around town, but this one is the closest to us.
After leaving, we did stop at the beach for about thirty minutes. No going in the water, but the kids dug in the sand and I did get my feet wet. :)

Getting the essence of lessons without being academic

  Thanks to our local unschoolers group, I found out that this past week is fine forgiveness week at our local county libraries in exchange for non-perishable foods to be donated to the local food banks. So, we went shopping and brought in some food donations and got my oldest daughter's slate wiped clean!  Yay!  It wasn't entirely her fault. She was much, much younger when she got her library card. Her dad and step-mom got it for her, then there was all this confusion as to whether what she checked out was at her dad's or my house. Anyhow, it was so many years ago now, that there is no way of knowing. 
    Seneca and I spent a little time at the library. She found a puzzle in the kids' section and was only all too happy to work on that.  She chose out a book on Jaguars.  So, I had to get a library card.  Even at 35, I'm actually excited about getting a library card.  :)

   We read the book last night.  It is full of beautiful photographs of Jaguars.  Many of the photo captions in the book identify exactly where the photo was taken. After reading, Seneca and I went over to our map on the wall. She pulled up her little stool and stood on it.  I pointed out Belize, Peru, and Brazil to her.   My goal isn't for her to know where Belize is, but rather to give her a sense of place and a feel for the essence of geography.  She can point out Florida on a map.  In fact, she saw how close Belize looks to Florida that she asked if we could drive there.  (LOL)  I showed her that the blue on the map meant water and that we would have to fly.  (Ok, I know we could, in theory, also take a boat.  However, our reality is that we would fly in a plane IF we were to go to Belize.)  
    Speaking of maps, Seneca can point out Florida, Maine, and Saudi Arabia on the map. 
  Seneca spent some time drawing a picture using both block crayons and stick crayons.  The picture itself was very abstractionist.  There was no set object or person, but rather an experience in colors. Seneca is not used to block crayons and she was experimenting with technique.  I am very excited to use block crayons with her next year for her Waldorf curriculum, but for now, it is more appropriate that she becomes comfortable with the medium itself. 
   The day before yesterday, Seneca and I played shopkeeper.  She helped me to cut out squares of paper for play money.  I then wrote $1, $5, $10 on different squares.  I was the customer and I would buy a shell or a crayon from her.  A shell might cost $5, I would give her $10, and would instruct her to give me a $5 that she was holding.  In another scenario, the shell is $3, I give her $5, and I instruct her to give me back two $1s.  The idea is not to teach her subtraction, but to show her math in action.  The point is for her to be able to relate subtraction to something real and tangible to her own life when she does start to formally study it. 

 

I want to be the ducker.

  My three kids doing improv on the front porch followed by them playing "Duck, Duck, Goose."  In the words of Seneca, "I want to be the ducker."
  After playing outdoors, I told Seneca a new fairy tale.  I told her the fairy tale of the The Poor Miller's Boy and The Cat.  Seneca then made up her own fairy tale about a magical horse and a castle.  She used shells as props for jewels.  The story didn't always "make sense," but I didn't tell her that.  I just loved my chance to be in another magical world.  I have to appreciate her eye for detail in her story.  When talking about a carriage, she was sure to include "the man who opens the door and the man who stands behind the carriage."
    She has been watching her brother draw in his sketchbook, so she wants one too. Only, her way of expressing it is, "I want a checkbook."

Our new chalkboard!

Portrait of Seneca age 5 2012

5/11/2012

Water-slide bouncy house fun today!  Seneca went to a birthday party today.  Afterwards, we read together from her Starfall phonics series.  She is doing well with memorization skills, but she still struggles with remembering words when she sees them in new places.  For example, she can read the word "can" if she had memorized a story.  She doesn't always recognize the word "can" when she sees it another book.  So, of course, she is not really reading, but keep in mind that memorizing and recalling little books verbatim is still a very important pre-reading skill. 
    She painted her birdhouse some more this evening.  We both painted suncatchers together. Seneca put together her Fox in Socks puzze, which she hadn't done in a while.  She always amazes me with how well she does.  I give a little guidance, but really very little. 
  Tonight, I put on our VHS of The Aristocats. I still want limited screen time, but she did have a very busy and fun day without using any electronic devices.  Oh wait, I did let one online Dora game slip in though.  I need study time, so I concluded that The Aristocats (and yummy almond chocolate milk)  would keep her occupied; and we all need a little Disney classic in our hearts.

Mademoiselle Artiste from January 2012

Mademoiselle Artiste in the shirt she tie-dyed and her pink braid.



Ta Da!

Unschooling with a conch shell

  Seneca had an awesome unschooling moment today.  She was holding a shell from the beach when she asked me what kind of shell it was.  We then went to google images for "types of shells." Seneca typed in the word shell as we sounded it out.  She learned that s-h makes the "sh" sound.  We compared Seneca's shell to pictures of other shells and determined that it was a conch shell.  I then read briefly about conch shells on wikipedia.
  Seneca and I went over to her craft table and got out her lesson book.  She worked on phonics skills as I guided her to sound out and write the words conch shell.  She still gets a bit confused on the short a versus the short e sounds.  We also worked on writing lowercase n and lowercase h.