Library Day
It was another lovely, quiet day at the library this week. The day for storytime is changing to Mondays in the summer, so I've gone ahead and switched our library day to Monday too. It's been a good way to start off the week. We came home with these books:
Moonlight Kite
Jaguars
Grizzly Bears
Zebras
Star Wars Easy Reader: Sith Apprentice (Monkey's a fan of Darth Maul because "he's pretty colors.")
Robin Hood
Monkey See, Monkey Do
Brown Rabbit's Shapes
A Knight's Handbook

Reading
This week Bug added the sounds p and ch, and the book added commas to her assigned sentences. Her lessons have also started taking out the dots under the letter sounds in some words. If you haven't seen the book she's using that probably doesn't make sense, but this is a big deal. It threw her for a loop when she noticed it, but then I pointed out she'd gotten through half the list without the dots, and she did a great job! She also discovered with much excitement that she could read the first several pages of a couple of Dr. Seuss books. The fact that she could really read real books had her jumping up and down clutching the book to her chest. It was a priceless moment!

Monkey started off the week by picking out a library book to read. We went through Brown Rabbit's Colors with Monkey sounding out as many words as she could and repeating after me when we ran into ones she couldn't sort out yet. She also completed some sentence coloring sheets. This week she and I sat down with an alphabet list and checked off all the ones she could tell me the sound for. I was impressed with how few we actually have left to cover. I was inspired to try this exercise because when I handed her the coloring sheets for her new sound this week, k, she could immediately tell me what the sound was and point out that cat also started with that sound but that it was spelled with a c. She may not be following a formal curriculum, but I have no doubts about her becoming a stellar reader!

Math
Bug is loving her new math workbook, and she does a page or two almost every day. Right now they're focused on learning how to write numerals and matching numerals to number of objects. Search and find pages that require her to fill a chart for how many of each item she can find are her current favorite.

Monkey began the week wanting to do worksheets like Bug (only her own sheets), whiel she did the counting part fine, she quickly became frustrated with trying to trace the numerals. I gave her the option of switching to a worksheet about tracing--a variety of straight, zigzag, and loopy lines. She thought that was a great idea and had noticeably improved by the time she got to the end of a sheet or two. After that experience though Monkey decided that, like reading, she wants her own distinctive math lesson more suited her level and style of learning. She's suddenly discovered that she actually likes math when we do it first thing in the morning (at her request) and use whatever objects she has at hand for manipulatives. The highlights this week were measuring sessions that involved using a ruler to measure various body parts of her stuffed animals (so also counting and identifying numerals) and using a long line of toys, books, and shoes to count all the way up to 100! This was a new milestone for Monkey--very exciting.

While I never initiate formal lessons for Goose, if she sees her big sisters getting a math lesson she insists on practicing her counting (she can get up 12) and coloring worksheets too (directions given on the page are irrelevant of course; she's focused on practicing her coloring in the lines skills).

History

I'm not sure what's up the pouty

thumb-sucking, but Bug was really

excited about her Medieval outfit--

using my old zippered bathrobe as

the dress and putting ribbons on 

the added fancy sleeves were 

her idea..

The Medieval Period has always been fascinating to me, and we really delved into the details of everyday life this week. We read through several spreads in the DK book and discussed the very basics of the feudal system (identifying peasants, lords & barons, bishops, and kings/queens; we also started reading a chapter book about Robin Hood and had to deal with the hard fact that not all kings were good ones like King Arthur); life on a farm (and comparing Medieval methods to contemporary ones); details like what beds, bathrooms, windows, etc. were like; and life in a monastery (Our library book Moonlight Kite was about a trio of monks living in an ancient monastery. It was absolutely our favorite book this week, so they girls were particularly interested in finding out what life was really like in a Medieval monastery. DK even had pictures of habits and a detailed layout of a typical monastery).

We also studied the pages about stain glass windows--how they're made and how people studied them to learn about the Bible since few people could read (that tidbit was a shocker for my little bibliophiles!). Then I pulled out leftover craft kits from Christmas and the girls made their own "stained glass" about the Nativity story. Sunday we're planning to take a few moments after the worship service to study the windows in our own church, which conveniently enough also illustrate Bible stories just like the Medieval ones did.

Music in the Car
This week someone asked me if the girls attended a mother's day out program. I responded, "No, they're just home with me." Then I laughed, "Well, I say 'just home' but we have something to do almost everyday!" In addition to all those outings, the time spent in the car is never wasted. Outside of the discussions about every topic under the sun (and some in outer space), I keep a sleeve of CDs where the girls can see them, and I usually let them pick the music for the ride. The contents of our current rotation:

• Give Yourself a High Five (fairly typical, easy to sing along kid's songs)
• Brain Beats (sounds like contemporary pop, but songs are about things like state capitals, the periodic table, and famous paintings)
• Putamayo Playground CDs for World Party, New Orleans, Europe, and Africa
• Go Fish Guys (children's Christian pop/rock)
• Handel's Water Music