Weekly Report

The news of the week is that D had his first official piano lesson. The bigger news?? He LOVED it. Originally, I was determined to send him to somebody else for lessons. I think, ultimately, it was because I was filled with fear that I wouldn't be able to teach him myself. I had six years of lessons when I was younger, and realistically there is no reason I shouldn't be able to at least get him started learning how to play. After a bit of research, I decided on the My First Piano Adventure series by Nancy and Randall Faber. It is incredibly child-friendly and FUN.

The past few weeks of school have been all about crafts, games and fun. As a result, D got right back to his book work this week with fewer complaints and a bit more focus. He's excited to be learning about physics this month, waking up each morning and asking, "What are we doing today, mom??" He loves doing science experiments, and what better way to learn about floating and sinking, gravity, and magnetics than through hands-on exploration?? Here's a few highlights of what we've been up to lately:

Reading about the first Thanksgiving, making hand-print turkeys, and collecting twigs to make our first Tree of Gratitude for our Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Studying France~ this has been a big hit. The boys love the CD's I've been playing of French children's songs, and have a new found crush on all things Madeline. B now points out the Eiffel Tower everywhere we go, even if it's just a cell phone tower along the highway! This week we've moved on to England, and D really enjoyed our read-aloud of The Tailor Of Gloucester (Beatrix Potter). We'll continue our journey through England next week as well. D is working on memorizing the poem "I'm Glad" (Anonymous) but for some reason doesn't seem to enjoying it as much as some of the others he's learned.

Here he is doing a floating and sinking experiment, where you squeeze the bottle to see the 'jellyfish' float. We also discovered that raisins continue to rise and fall if you put them in a jar filled with Sprite. Last night we read the Magic School Bus Ups and Downs: A Book About Floating and Sinking.

In math we've been working with our pocket chart calendar to learn about the days of the week and the months of the year. This week in OPG we covered the differences between TO, TOO, and TWO; hard c/ soft c; hard g/ soft g. He much prefers reading a leveled reader book to me than reading out of the OPG book, so I've been trying to do a little of both. And he's happy to be starting his new handwriting book this week~ Getty-Dubay Italics Book B. Each page is a bit more in-depth than Book A, and he doesn't seem to be as bored. That could also be because I'm only having him do 2 pages per week instead of one every day. He gets plenty of handwriting practice in other areas throughout the week.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we've switched gears. We are now in BIRTHDAY mode. And of course, with the beginning of Advent, the Christmas season has officially begun and we're looking forward to all the celebrations that fill the month ahead.