The Curious Letter C

Last week, we focused on C themed books. After several weeks of active homeschool days, C Week was a more low-key. Lounging in the late afternoons, we read books about crocodiles, cats, and creepy castles. Through Tomie DePaola's book, Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile, we not only met a crocodile but learned about Egyptians-their monuments, beliefs, and ancient rituals. In City Cat, Country Cat, we found that cats can lead double lives! Of particular interest to Aidyn was the book about creepy castles. Lately, he has been fascinated with "spooky" stories, a curiosity I believe to be a normal part of growing up in what may seem like a terrifying world for a little guy. Because of his request to hear more "spooky" stories, we'll be reading more chilling tales to satisfy his curiosity.

The Brilliant Letter B

Themes: bats, balloons, bears, butterflies

Social Studies: read about what builders do

Music: Hector Berlioz

Songs: "B-I-N-G-O"

Foods: bananas, blueberries, blackberries, bread and butter

Foreign language: learn the ASL sign for letter B

Books: Stellaluna, The Big Balloon Race

Math: the concept of "before"

Blue pocket chart: Upper- and Lowercase B, sight words such as big, bed, but, box, bear, picture of Big Ben

The Amazing Letter A

In an effort to teach phonics, whole words, and reading, I decided to take a slower, more enjoyable approach. This week we have focused on the letter A and have gathered topics starting with A. Through reading these books and being exposed to these sounds, he'll inevitably soak in the phonics. Here is what we have been doing since Monday and plan on continuing until next week.

Letter A

Reading topics:ants, alligators, albatrosses

Social Studies:reading about astronauts, discussion about what astronauts do

Art:reading stories about children who make art

Music:"The Ants Go Marching," and "Alouette"

Foreign Language:Learning the ASL sign for A

Math:Practicing addition

Food:applesauce, almond milk, alphabet soup, apple bars

Music:The Apples in Stereo

Blue Pocket Chart:sight words starting with A, pictures of the Alamo Mission and Angkor Wat, uppercase and lowercase A, picture of our friend Aurora

Field Trip:perusal of pet store aquariums

Applying the Nuts and Bolts

I started out this week teaching Aidyn phonics on an audio program. Though Aidyn followed along, grasped most of what sounds were being said, he lacked enthusiasm and slumped in his chair like it was a dreaded chore. I didn't have fun either. Reaffirming my love for whole-word approach, it is admittedly difficult learning about the "nuts and bolts" when we have nothing to apply them to.

Instead of focusing on the nuts and bolts, I am going back to whole-word approach and will point out phonetic sounds as need be. To help him naturally learn phonics, we will continue to:

-read living books
-read road maps, signs, billboards, etc.
-watch The Letter People videos
-play with letters, physically and through verbal games, rhymes, etc.

Busy Break

With Mama home on Spring Break, Aidyn and I have been busy people. This week, we did our quarterly assessments (which Aidyn strangely loved). It had been a full three months since our beginning of the year assessment, so I reviewed the same "test" to mark his improvement. Within only three months of time, he has learned so much more. For example, in January, he could identify approximately 15 letters (whether they were uppercase or lowercase) and now he can identify 22+ with confidence. Additionally, three months ago, he was a little shaky with his shape recognition, but now he can correctly identify all the major shapes. Before he could rote count to 5 and now he counts to 12. Similarly, in rational counting he made it to 8 and now makes it to 12.

I also took into account his marked gains in self-confidence and ability as shown in our recent Disneyland trip where he confronted old fears and faced new challenges. These things would probably not be measured in say, public school's standardized tests, but to me they are just as valid at showing intellectual growth.

We also revisited our large curriculum goal list and happily checked off close to 50% of our original goals such as: keep a small pet (our geck0), watch the cycle of caterpillar-to-butterfly again, go hiking, etc.

In all, I know where he stands and where we're headed. He's thriving and I am proud!

During this week, we've also read stacks of books at Aidyn's enthusiastic requests. We've reread a favorite of his: The Ghost-Eye Tree as well as Alligators All Around, The Beasty Story, Go Away Montsers Lickety-Split, The Art Lesson, The Knight and the Dragon, Oh, The Places You'll Go, and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

We've been crafty as well, making an assortment of fans using handprints, footprints, headprints (!), and the creation of animals using hand poses.

Today we plan on doing our annual egg-dyeing and Easter-themed storytime as we wait for the Easter Bunny to come our way!

Phonics and Chrysalises

Today after singing the alphabet and naming letters, I showed Aidyn the new phonics program that we'll be using. It's basically a CD that follows a booklet which introduces phonics. For me this is new territory as I learned to read using the whole word approach, but I figure that a blending of the two schools of thought wouldn't hurt. Aidyn has been "reading" simple, rhyming words by sight, so I know that he's naturally picking up reading skills; however, learning the nuts and bolts of reading will help him when he comes across a word he doesn't recognize. So, at the table, we followed the booklet, spouting letter sounds and accompanying words. We went through the whole alphabet, took a break, and repeated it a couple hours later. My plan is to do phonics work a couple times a day for the duration of the week and, of course, continue reading stories daily.

In other news, our caterpillars have begun hanging on the top of their cup and one or two have officially become chrysalises. That means that very soon we'll need to pick up some fresh flowers for our soon-to-be arriving butterflies!

Spring Egg Festival

Because we have been learning about life cycles (particularly by observing caterpillars) and the newness that Spring brings, the family make a trek to the Discovery Center Museum of Science and Natural History for their Spring Egg Festival. There was quite a show out, and the grounds had so many activities for us to do. First Aidyn climbed into the cockpit of a rocket ship and pretended to be an astronaut. Then we let him lead us through a maze of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Aidyn had a ball twisting and turning, finding dead ends, and finally breaking free at the end!

Then we went across the way and walked through this impressive Cacti Garden with rocky trails and gigantic cacti, some of which looked like tentacled undersea creatures. We then stopped to play at a bubble-blowing station. We then spied a Children's Garden, so we explored that. A caretaker of the garden invited Aidyn to stand on a colorful slab of cement that said "MAR" for March. She then asked him to point his hands straight up in the air. Looking closely, we saw the the tip of his shadow kissed another colorful slab of cement that said "12," which is what time it was. We explained to Aidyn that he was standing on a sun clock and he was the hands! Afterward, we played hopscotch, read about vermicomposting, and marveled at the beautiful flowers and animal-shaped hedges.

Then it was time for the egg hunt. Aidyn got a simple white basket with his name on it, we waited in line, and then off we went searching the grounds for hidden eggs. Scores of children participated, so I was proud when Aidyn walked away with a full bag. We planted ourselves in the shade and cracked open his prizes until we heard our stomachs growling.

After lunch, Aidyn poked his head through cut-out boards of dinosaur scenes. He pretended he was an apatosaurus and then a baby triceratops. The beautiful sound of beating drums alerted us to the Aztec Dancers, so we gathered with a crowd to watch. Several dancers, decorated in long, exotic feathers and some in animal-headpieces, shook their wrists and heels which were wrapped with clinking shells. Outside their dancing circle, two others banged on the drums and incense filled the air. It was quite a sight!

Aidyn then said he wanted to "do crafts," so we walked to the Arts and Crafts table and were surprised at what we found...Large arachnids and scorpions, meal-worms, and roaches waited in little clear boxes. The lady behind the counter invited us to hold a tarantula. When I asked Aidyn if he'd like to hold one, he carefully shook his head. To help him see that it was okay, I held my hand out as the lady placed a surprisingly colorful and hairy spider that took up the whole of my palm. I have never held a tarantula before, and it was quite a sensation. I held some other spiders as the lady gave us a mini-lesson on them, and Aidyn listened intently. We also checked out a turquoise-colored scorpion, pet large meal-worms, and spied a dozen roaches. We saw cases of other insect specimens, most of which were brilliant, natural colors like teal and silvery yellow. We touched old turtle shells of massive sizes, played with plastic representations of tadpoles and frogs through various stages of change, and toured a little are called Walden Pond. (I loved the reference to Emerson's pond that much inspired Thoreau!)

At Walden Pond, we were allowed to grab small nets and attempt to catch tadpoles, which proved much more difficult than it seemed. The whole family had a go, but we all came out empty-netted.

On the whole, this was an amazing outdoor smorgasbord of fun and exploration. For me, it epitomized the beginning of Spring and set the tone for the rest of the season.