Chickafinty ~ A Life in the Laundry

You think I'd have got the hint by now

Have no idea how many times I have started another blog *somewhere* i.e typepad/Blogger/Vox/Diaryland etc etc etc only to discover that I have the time and energy to maintain ONE blog, not many.  But, of course, when we started homeschooling I just had to have a separate blog for it.

Well, surprise, suprise, I only have the time and energy to maintain one blog.  Today I am importing everything from "A  Little Bit of Everything" into Chickafinty.  We're back to one blog.

Read on, McDuff.

Friday, 22nd May, 2009

Robotics class this morning.

Not sure about this afternoon...probably a lot of finishing off tasks for the week and sorting papers into folders etc.

Plus maths and phonics of course.

Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st May, 2009

We've had two disrupted days this week.  I was unwell on Wednesday and the kids started off the day yesterday not feeling too good.  I had to rush out yesterday afternoon to get a script from the doctor which took over an hour...a good 50 minutes just to get to the dr. and then another 30 minutes waiting in the waiting room.

We did however cover all the phonics work, the maths work, a little grammar, a little history and a little science/social studies.  We read lots, cooked together and had a little Biblical Studies session.  See below for a summary of our work for the two days.

PHONICS: Learn to Read, Write and Spell 1 and 4

Giana - beginning sounds and medial sounds review

Mike - finished chapter on o sounds, commenced chapter on e sounds ( e as in legs, we and cane)

MATHS: Easy Learn Maths 1A and 3A

Giana - greater than, less than and equal to, colour by addition algorithm, constructing addition algorithms using pictorial cues

Mike - writing time on clock sing 5 minute increments, giving the time after a stated time i.e. it is 3.10pm what time will it be in 25 minutes?, showing passage of time in larger increments i.e. it is 4.15.  What time will it be in an hour and 15 minutes?

HISTORY:  Archaeology...we examined a non-fiction text about archaeology, using the glossary to find out what unfamiliar words meant.  It is a text intensive book and will take a number of days to read through and narrate.

GRAMMAR: First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind

Giana:  Proper nouns for people in the family; Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter

Mike: began learning the poem "The Land of Nod", by Robert Louis Stevenson

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES For the Juniors - Milk

We watched this week's episode of For the Juniors twice, and then both children dictated a narrative (with considerable help!!) about milk.  Mike's was quite extensive, Georgiana's less so.  Michael needs significantly more help than Georgiana.

BIBLICAL STUDIES: Genesis Chapter 3

Read with Mike.

COOKING: The kids and I made rissoles tonight.  The children participated by...

* using the kitchen scales to measure out food

* putting ingredients to the bowl after they had been chopped or diced

* beating the eggs

* shaping and "throwing" the rissoles

They were extremely proud of their efforts :)  Extremely.

HOMEMAKING:

This happens all the time and mostly I forget to record it as it is not academic work, but it is nevertheless building important skills such as cooperation, effort, initiative, organisation, patience, perserverance, pride and the list could go on and on.

Both kids can now make their beds independently...no, they're not perfect, but I am learning to let that go.  I am learning to let that go.  I am learning to let that go.

We're working on basic room tidying and maintenance now.  Might take a few years though ;)

The wonders of technology

The pace of technology change is quite frightening sometimes. Seven years ago when Chickafinty began, hardly anyone had heard of blogging. Now, just about everyone has blog, or is thinking about having a blog, or reads other people's blogs.

Today when I was typing up a narration for the kids I suddenly discovered that I can write a blog post in Office 2007 and publish from there without even having to go online. In fact, this blog past was typed in Office 07 and published from there.

Bit scary, really, how fast things change.

Queensland Holiday Day #5 - Seaworld!

We arrived in the mid afternoon at the resort on Day 4, unpacked quickly and set about doing absolutely NOTHING.

We woke on day 5 to a beautifully sunny Gold Coast day and headed for our first "major" attraction - Seaworld.

We loved the dolphins

 

We loved revisiting Polar Bear Shores

2003

  2009

We LOVED performing on stage with Elmo and Cookie Monster (and Ernie, Bert, Big Bird and Grover)

 

We had a great day.

More Seaworld pics coming.

Tuesday, 19th May, 2009

 PHONICS

Mike:  oo as in shoe, cloze activity using all the o sounds learned so far

Giana:  medial vowels, begin chapter on u

MATHEMATICS

Mike:  Time on the analogue clock

Giana:  Addition using pictures, greater than, less than or equal to

COPYWORK

Mike:  last verse of Hey there, Hoopla by C J Dennis

Giana: letter n and n words

SPELLING

Mike:  o sound as in squash

Giana: Dolch words #5/#6

READING

Mike: Toothless chapter 2 + narration

Giana: Lions and Tigers + narration

GRAMMAR

Mike: Lesson 9 (beginning memorisation of poetry)

Giana:  Lesson 4 Proper nouns are in the family + writing activity

HISTORY

* collect objects for archaeological "dig"

* look through books from Library on Archaeology

SCIENCE: Kingfisher First Book of Animals

Mammals

• narration
• paint outside of "Animals" lapbook
• locate books on home bookshelves related to mammals

Monday, 18th May, 2009

Bold and red means it was completed.  Black and ordinary means it's on tomorrow's list :)

PHONICS: Learn to Read, Write and Spell books 1 and 4

Chickabid - u as in mother, oo as in shoe

The Duchess - b sound, revision of medial vowels

MATHEMATICS: Easy Learn Maths 1A and 3A

Chickabid - Time on the analog clock

The Duchess -  addition using a number line, addition algorithms using pictures

COPYWORK: Blinky Bill Copy Book/ Downunder Copywork

Chickabid - finish Hey There, Hoopla!

The Duchess - letter m, uppercase and lowercase

SPELLING: Successful Spelling 1/ Dolch Words #6

Chickabid -  o sound as in squash

The Duchess -  dolch words 6, reading and spelling, frames and sentences

READING:

Real Aloud - Matilda

Read Together - Lions and Tigers/Toothless (narrations for both)

Reading for Fun -

GRAMMAR:  First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind

Chickabid - finish pronouns poster for folder, Lesson 8 Noun Review

The Duchess - Lesson 3 Common Nouns - Family Relationships

HISTORY: The Story of the World

What Is Archaeology?

*  narration

* collect objects for archaeological "dig"

* look through books from Library on Archaeology

SCIENCE: Kingfisher First Book of Animals

Mammals

• narration
• paint outside of "Animals" lapbook
• locate books on home bookshelves related to mammals

Queensland Holiday Day #3 - The Butterfly House

This was an unexpected highlight of the trip.  The Butterfly House was gorgeous and I went a bit crazy with the camera ;)  One of the best bits was that the owners are Christians (and creationists), so there were no billions of years, goo-to-you references anywhere, just solid, factual, observable information abotu butterflies.

The tea room was lovely and we were treated to the best scones we've ever had.  That's scones to rhyme with "John's", not bones.  Anyway, after the butterflies we headed for the beach and a picnic on the sand, but in a sheltered spot because it was warm, but not *that* warm. and then took a side trip to The Clog House.  Went there, saw it, left.  Wow.  Underwhelmed doesn't really begin to describe it and I am gald that we weren't there long enough for Chickabid to read any of the bumper stickers...not appropriate for 8 year old eyes.  Or 38 year old eyes if it comes to that.

Our last full day in Coffs and Mister Bear and I are in total agreement.  It will be our last ever.  We've solemnly agreed to never, ever return to Coffs for a holiday.

 

 

 

Friday, 15th May, 2009

MATHEMATICS: Easy Learn Maths 3A and 1A

Chickabid - 2 step problems, words only, no number or algorithm support, working out on scrap paper

The Duchess - early simple addition presented vertically.

PHONICS: Learn to Read, Write and Spell

Chickabid - began Learn to Read, Write and Spell 4; the four sounds of 'o'

The Duchess: continued with chapter on 'b', reading and tracing b words, short sentence to read, copy and illustrate, practise writing the capital B correctly.

COPYWORK: Blinky Bill Alphabet Copywork/Downunder Copywork Printing Book 1

Chickabid -

The Duchess - letter l, three l words

SPELLING : Successful Spelling 1

Chickabid - write out spelling words once, complete spelling activities in text

GRAMMAR: Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind

Chickabid - pronouns poster

The Duchess - Nouns, common

READING:

Chickabid - read "Toothless" out loud, oral comprehension

The Duchess - read "Lions and Tigers" out loud, narration for folder

HISTORY

Review lesson from earlier this week, complete narrations, prepare letter for family members

SCIENCE

Mammals:

*  read section from Kingfisher First Encyclopaedia of Animals

* narrations

MATHEMATICS: Easy Learn Maths 3A and 1A

Chickabid - 2 step problems, words only, no number or algorithm support, working out on scrap paper

The Duchess - early simple addition presented vertically.

PHONICS: Learn to Read, Write and Spell

Chickabid - began Learn to Read, Write and Spell 4; the four sounds of 'o'

The Duchess: continued with chapter on 'b', reading and tracing b words, short sentence to read, copy and illustrate, practise writing the capital B correctly.

COPYWORK: Blinky Bill Alphabet Copywork/Downunder Copywork Printing Book 1

Chickabid -

The Duchess - letter l, three l words

SPELLING : Successful Spelling 1

Chickabid - write out spelling words once, complete spelling activities in text

GRAMMAR: Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind

Chickabid - pronouns poster

The Duchess - Nouns, common

READING:

Chickabid - read "Toothless" out loud, oral comprehension

The Duchess - read "Lions and Tigers" out loud, narration for folder

HISTORY

Review lesson from earlier this week, complete narrations, prepare letter for family members

SCIENCE

Mammals:

*  read section from Kingfisher First Encyclopaedia of Animals

* narrations

Thursday, 14th May, 2009

MATHEMATICS: Easy Learn Maths 3A and 1A

Chickabid - completed 2 step problem pages using horizonal algorithms (needs additional practice with 2-step probs)

The Duchess - early simple addition facts i.e. 4+5=9, 5+4=9, presented pictorially and horizontally; first attempt at simple addition presented vertically.

PHONICS: Learn to Read, Write and Spell

Chickabid - spelling test using sounds studied in Book 3 (18/19 correct); matching the sounds learned in this book with appropriate pictures

The Duchess: continued with chapter on 'b', reading and tracing b words, short comprehension passage (oral) , matching beginning sound to picture

COPYWORK: Blinky Bill Alphabet Copywork/Downunder Copywork Printing Book 1

Chickabid - Hey There!  Hoop-la! C.J Dennis

The Duchess - letter k, three k words

SPELLING : Successful Spelling 1

Chickabid - write out spelling words once, complete spelling activities in text

GRAMMAR: Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind

Chickabid - review: common and proper nouns, plurals, pronouns

The Duchess - learn The Caterpillar, illustrate poem,

READING:

Chickabid - read "Toothless" out loud, oral comprehension

The Duchess - read "Lions and Tigers" out loud, narration for folder