Weekly Report~ March 20, 2009

It's been a busy week or two at the Tin Roof Schoolhouse, and once again it's time for a weekly report. First, I want to re-thank my sister for the adorable, embroidered pillow she sent for my birthday (see photo). It thrills me to no end. She is a well of creativity, and I love to be on the receiving end. This looks just like our house, right down to the red tin roof. So cute.

As for school, we are continuing our journey through Mexico and South America, reading related stories (The Llama's Secret, The Moon Was At a Fiesta, Tonight Is Carnaval) and finding countries on the map. D was inspired by the book Diego by Jeanette and Jonah Winter, the story of the Mexican artist Diego Rivera. He couldn't wait to wake up the next morning and draw. In math, he is reviewing addition and subtraction. Just this morning over breakfast he declared, "Hey mom, if 4+4=8, then 40+40=80, right?" That triggered a discussion about other values of 10, which turned into a discussion about dimes and money. I love how 'school' can happen anywhere, even over toast and juice at the breakfast table.

D reads everything he sees, but if you were to ask him he'd say "I hate reading". What I've learned is that actually means, "I am bored stiff with OPG but I will read just about anything else" (OPG is the book I am using to teach him reading). He's just not a workbook-y type kid. He likes color and pictures and surprises, which OPG does not offer. It's very black-and-white, matter-of-fact, and repetitious. I will continue to use it because it is definitely teaching him the rules of reading, but I've relaxed on how often we do it as long as he continues reading so many other things during the day.

The weather is slowly warming up which means we've been outside more during the day. What a blessing! We took a walk the other day and the boys collected rocks like they always do. But now that we are learning about rocks for school, D took a deeper interest in them, carefully selecting a variety of sizes and colors so that we could go home and learn about them. We followed-up by doing an experiment to show how limestone rocks are hollowed out to become caves. Sound complicated? Far from it.... it involved dissolving a piece of chalk in 1/2 cup of white vinegar. It can't get much easier than that, and the boys were fascinated with watching the chalk bubble, fizz, and disappear.

We are still attending gym class two days a week, and both boys continue to have a love/hate relationship with it. Luckily, next week is the final week and we can move on to something new. I am disappointed that they don't like the gym class more, though, because it provides such a great outlet for burning off energy, learning sports, and getting to play with other kids. Someday...someday.... we will discover something that holds D's interest for more than one class. Swimming and karate are next on our agenda. Any other suggestions?