We are using Time 4 Learning more now. This week we read "Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle" and several Dr. Suess books all week. We learned about patterns and animal classification. We finished "Story of the World Vol. 1" and began doing some general map work that focases on the 7 continents.
Sometimes to be fun is not to be very polite. We earned our certificate and a copy of "Swiss Family Robinson" for reading three chapter books since January 18th from the Library. We read about Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and her cures for bad manners and bad habits. Ben really enjoyed it.
Great week. We read Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and did a drawing book called "A Boy's Adventure" that fit right in with Tom Sawyer. We are doing great with the new spelling book too! All 100% on his spelling tests. Spectrum Spelling Grade 2 with Mercer Mayer's Little Critter. Ben is able to write longer as we progress and I'm so glad because that was a worry for me. We move more and more writing to him rather than dictating it to me as we progress in spelling and Explode the Code Book 3. He does a lot of his own writing, but not all yet, with the worksheets from A to Z Leveled Reading. We have just begun level G which is still first grade, but everyting else he is doing is second grade level now.
Fun week. Ben made a shark valentine box that eats assorted heart fish plus a valentine balloon crab! He had a secret admirer that we never did figure out. I guess we need to work on our detective skills some more. We read "How to Eat Fried Worms" and really enjoyed making different worm dishes in the back of the book. We are now using Saxon second grade math and Ben is doing well with it. Our transition from Little Lincolns to on my own has been easy. I'm not taking advantage of the Time 4 Learning online learning as much as I should. We need to work on that.
We studied weather this week. I'm finding that we do better to do one week heavy with science or social studies. Tornados in a bottle, measuring wind, etc. We made a cloud poster out of cotton balls and will use it now in our daily weather to predict the weather. I could not get Ben to watch the weather stations. No interest. We kept a weather journal and he predicted the next day's weather by what today was and what he hoped for the next day, such as snow. We are ready for new math materials. Ben needs more practice with flash cards and memorizing skip counting and facts. He does very well once he understands a concept and we've covered all of the first grade concepts. I ordered the new Saxon Homeschooling Kit for second grade. It is suppose to be parent friendly now. More photos.
This week was my turn to have the flu. We studied dinosaurs this week. We made dinosaur fossils and learned what it takes for a fossil to form. We made a paper mache dinosaur egg. Ben made a nest for it and sat on it until it "hatched." Ben really enjoyed reading books about dinosaurs himself. Even my birthday cake ended up a test on how well he has retained an understanding of fractions up to eighths. More photos.
We reached the one hundredth day of school this week. Ben was so sick with the flu, but we did a little paper work each day, I read to him, and he watched some educational TV programs. Our morning math rituals will have to change now. More photos.
