Oliver had his first hair cut today. His hair was rather long, and it was often sticking up in really weird ways, but I didn't want to cut it prior to his one year photo shoot that we did last Saturday. I gave the kids baths this evening after dinner before taking Nadia and Ian to their musical rehearsal, and I also gave Oliver his first hair cut. It's always emotional for me to give a baby his or her first hair cut because to me the child looks a lot older after that first hair cut. My baby is growing up too fast!
It's been four months since I did a homeschooling update. Nadia has completed the preschool and Kindergarten handwriting textbooks from Handwriting without Tears. In a few months I will start their first grade textbook with her. She writes in her journal almost every day. Thus far I have been letting her write in all capital letters, but in the near future I plan on requiring her to use lower case letters. I've been using a drawing book with her that my parents gave her for her birthday, and when she finishes that book I'm going to start using the first Draw Write Now book with her for handwriting practice and also to continue helping her improve her drawing skills. I do plan on using the HWT books with Ian and Oliver in the future.
In contrast, I do not plan on using Purposeful Design's preschool or kindergarten math textbooks again. Nadia will complete the Kindergarten math textbook this month. I want to give her additional practice on some of the skills (coins, addition, subtraction, and telling time by the hour) before starting another textbook. I think I'm going to have her do the Apples book from the Life of Fred series before we start Purposeful Design's first grade math textbook. She can easily count by 10's, but I want to work with her more on counting by 2's and 5's.
She's making progress with her reading skills. We're working on the third box of BOB books right now. If I write out five sentences (using simple words) she usually needs help with at the most three words out of five sentences. She might say "had" instead of "has" for example. I was going to start the My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum with her until I realized that it's now too easy for her. I'll save it and use it with Ian and/or Oliver in the future. I have decided to check out books from the library on the 26 science topics and do some related science activities with them over the next 3 months. Today I checked out library books on the sun, moon, and apples. The apples theme should be easy since we have two apple trees in our yard. Then I am planning on starting the MFW first grade curriculum with her. The kids continue to enjoy me reading chapter books to them. Some of the books I've finished lately have included My Father's Dragon and Dr. Dolittle. We are in the middle of both James and the Giant Peach and The Wizard of Oz.
Today she had her very first piano lesson! I am very excited about teaching her how to play the piano. Although we've been working on spelling very informally (such as with her journal), the next official subject we're adding to the curriculum will be spelling as I recently ordered the level one materials from All About Spelling. I am really enjoying beginning this homeschooling journey and am hoping she'll enjoy the 6-7 sessions of Friday classes at the co-op this fall.
No comments:
Post a Comment