Saxon Math: Lessons 1-7

Lily sat and did math for a good two hours this morning and would have kept going, but I needed a break. I am really liking the curriculum and how it's set up for the teacher. Very easy to follow and painless.

Patternblocks, Teddy Bear Counters, and a Pictograph of our family split into girls and boys,

Language Arts: The Frog Prince

We just finished session 3 out of 4 for The Frog Prince. Lily is pretty into it. Especially once we made crowns and enlisted Morgan's help in acting out the part of frog and prince. He even made a crown. I was shocked how into the acting they were. That was a hit. They followed along with the story and really wanted to make it the same as the story.

Also, the promise the princess made and was forced to keep by her father, the king, has made quite the impression on her. She keeps bringing up keeping promises to me at opportune times and reminds me about the princess. ;)

Session 1: Draw the hardest thing the Princess had to do. Lily drew her carrying the frog to her bed. I was impressed she picked that right up.

Making Crowns for the big play. =D

We enlisted Morgan to play the frog prince. 

The end of the play. Session 4 tomorrow.

Fall Leaf Bunting...

Step one: Go on a Fall walk and gather leaves.

Step two: Press leaves in newspaper making them dry and flat.

Step three: Cut out wax paper triangles and design leaf patterns.

Step four: Iron the two pieces of wax paper filled with leaves together.

Step five: Glue gun the bunting together on yarn or string and hang up in a well lit window!

Ta-Da!

School is IN SESSION

Monday. First our Calendar/Writing notebook time. Lily is such a self starter I didn't even ask her to get get started, she just did it on her own.

We are a little limited on what we can do with our school stuff since not all our curriculum is here yet, but today we are doing language arts which involved reading The Frog Prince by Grimm Brothers and then she drew a picture of the upset Princess with a crown taking the frog to her bed. It's hard to see since she used a light color, but it's awesome. The good news is that it appears almost all the curriculum has been shipped so soon we will be very very busy. 

Most of my posts from here on out may be a bit boring as I am using this to record our school progress and activities for our weekly check-in with our assigned teacher. A quick and easy way to remember at the end of the week all we have done for when I have to write it up.

Firefighters at the Library!

Finally! Firefighters story time at the Library. It was so so cool. They read a book, put on their gear. Let the kids touch the gear. We got in the fire engine. Took a picture with one of the firemen. Then had the BIGGEST TANTRUM I have ever witnessed in public by Lily. She actually ran from me, fought me, and screamed bloody murder in front of everyone including the firemen. I was dumbstruck. I literally had to pick her up and carry her kicking and screaming all the way to the parking garage and into the car. All because she didn't get to hold a nozzle that a few other kids got to. It sparked tears, then after she wouldn't calm down and was really freaking out I told her we had to leave and then that's when all hell broke loose. Needless to say no tv for the rest of the day and it's quiet time until I calm down. I literally told her I need a time out until I calm down before we can talk.

Ok. Now that I got that off my chest here is all the fun before the storm.

Fiddleheads Nature Class

Phew! First, getting to the UW botanical gardens stresses me out, but I did it. Thank you Google Maps navigation. Or really I don't know if I want to smack Google Maps or kiss it. Anyway, we got there.

We attended the Fiddleheads Falling Leaves and Changing Seasons class. First thing I noticed Lily is the oldest kid by at least two years. Oye. Although several parents told me they really appreciated having an older kid in the class. Lily was clearly the leader of the pack. Screaming answers to everything, etc. I was worried that she might be taking away from the other kids, but I talked with the teacher after and she was also appreciative of having an older kid there. So, we are welcome back anytime.

Here's a little breakdown of what happened...

1. They had stations set up for kids to go between. Painting, sensory, reading, math, etc.
2. Circle time introductions and the theme introduced.
3. Nature hike with magnifying glasses!
4. Story time/snack by the water under a tree. Amazing.
5. Build a leaf pile and jump in it. Bury the teacher in it and then each other. Seriously.

This naturalist/scientist from the UW that runs it deserves every penny she is making. Totally impressed.

Now for the few pics I managed to take...

Lily getting buried in leaves!

Buckeyes

Leaf Burial

Duck Party

Tree stamp painting

Sensory Bins

Investigating mushrooms

From Preschool Dropout to a Homeschool Kindergartner

I had this crazy thought on Monday. Then it turned into a panic induced google search on Pre-K/K readiness material that I can introduce to Lily to work on so she isn't behind next Fall. Then it led to this discovery: Even though Lily didn't make the birthday cutoff for K this year (by just 23 days!) they will still enroll her in an Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) otherwise known as homeschool in the public school system as a full-time Kindergartner. 

Columbia Virtual Academy is an online school in the Orient School District (NE WA) that provides you with a certified teacher and all the curriculum of your choosing for free. You have to abide by normal public school rules such as attendance, but it's different. You have a weekly check-in with the teacher to determine progress, etc. At the end of the year she has the option to go to first grade or if necessary do K again. The best part since she has that funky age cutoff this would be a no pressure year of homeschooling trial.

What could it hurt? So, I enrolled her! She just got accepted yesterday and I worked with an academic adviser to pick out the appropriate curriculum for her. We are going with a diverse language arts program, Saxon Math, Singapore Science-First Grade, and McGraw Hill Social Studies. All our stuff was just ordered or is in the process of shipping. I looked at the list of materials headed my way and it's a bit daunting honestly, but it's going to be awesome! I am pretty excited to get started and see what comes of this. Needless to say Steve is excited too as this is what he wanted all along. Plus I am still sticking with all my other classes and field trips to supplement.

So many possibilities...