The Six Swans

       This week we have been working on the fairy tale, The Six Swans by the Brothers Grimm.  On Monday I told her the story. On Tuesday, I re-told her the story and then we listened to it on story nory.  Storynory.com is a website of free stories to listen to.  On Wednesday, Seneca told me the story of The Six Swans and I wrote down her narration in her lesson book.  A few times, I would prompt her with questions to help her remember the story, but all in all she did quite well.  I was going to have her practice writing some  s words, but she became so frustrated and angry when she felt her writing wasn't good enough.  I tried to re-assure her that she was doing a good job. In truth, she really was doing a good job.  She has perfectionist tendencies at time.  As a mom, those can get to be annoying.  I don't tell her that though.  She did calm down and took to cutting out construction paper to make shapes and forms.  Cutting is such an important fine motor skill and one that leads to developing writing skills.
     She has been digging in her grandma's side yard today and yesterday. She collected and washed off some rocks to share with me today.  I hope that can counter some of her time spent on tv, though I do try to be sure that she is watching PBS Kids if she is watching tv.
     We continue to play mini math games with mancala pieces. We call the pieces fairy or gnome jewels.  We did a pattern sequence together on Wednesday using the different colored pieces.  She did well with continuing the pattern.  She also drew some patterns of her own.

Seneca had an impromptu tea party with her grandma's porch bears.

digging in the dirt on July 19, 2012

The Road to Seneca Falls

  This is the book that I mentioned earlier under the post about Seneca's name.  I had met the author of this book by coincidence.  Of course, I told her that my daughter was named Seneca after the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848.  The next time that she was in Florida, she brought this book as a gift for my daughter. There is even a signed inscription to my Seneca.

       I had recently been trying to get some information on the role of Quakerism in social reform movements as well as some history of Quakerism.  There is vast information on the internet, but I was having trouble finding what I was specifically looking for.  Then, along came this book with an entire chapter on Quakerism within the families of many of the reformers.  There was even a brief mention of Unitarian Universalists, which is what we are.  

      It is so interesting to read the sections of family raising within a liberal context.  I think about the families that I know, mostly through the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and I see the similarities between us and the families in this book.  We are trying to give our kids a holistic upbringing that values human dignity and respect for our planet.  That is being very simplistic of course, and the exact issues are very different from 150 years ago, but the essence is the same.  

     I am very interested in visiting the Friends Meeting House again soon. I also need to get back to the UU Church as well.  (I've been out of the loop on many things dealing with a bad leg.)  Quakerism and UUism are often considered to be very complimentary to each other.  It is quite likely for one to meet a UU Quaker.  

       I will post some more thoughts on my readings of The Road To Seneca Falls as they come to me.

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Seneca-Falls-Elizabeth-Convention/dp/0252071735/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342716299&sr=1-1&keywords=the+road+to+seneca+falls

Journal Entry

July 11, 2012

            Seneca wanted me to re-tell the story of Snow White by the Brothers Grimm.  As I did, she acted it out.  This version is more detailed than the Disney one.  The wicked queen makes two attempts against Snow White before using the poisoned apple.  Seneca seemed to like all the times that she got to pretend to faint.

            Seneca is becoming a bit grumpy when it comes to lesson time.  She had lots of fun with acting out her story, but she hasn’t wanted to do her form drawing lately.  She did some forms today, but I wanted her to calm down and focus on just one form.  I gave up on that fairly quickly though.  I had hoped that we would do some phonics words today, but she wasn’t having it.  We did however play more make believe and she played with a mancala board and pieces.  

            Seneca heard me speaking to her brother about nocturnal animals and she piped in that she remembered that Jaguars were nocturnal.  She said that she remembered learning that from her library book.

            I’m struggling at times between wanting to introduce new concepts and lessons to her, but at the same time making sure that we have time to review lessons that we have already done.  I know that she gets more out of repetition at this time.  However, as she gets closer to potentially entering kindergarten, I want to be sure that has progressed along as well.

            I’m thinking about only adding on a few more fairy tales to the ones that I tell her.  My curriculum book for her is full of many fairy tales, but I am leaning toward telling less and then repeating them throughout the year. 

seneca

seneca