Thursday, April 23: 179/180

Robin worked with Life of Fred, Explode the Code, Handwriting Without Tears, and read a Bob Book. I read to him: When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill


Besos for Baby: A Little Book of Kisses by Jennifer Arena


The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky


We watched a brief documentary video about DJ Kool Herc. He exercised.

Progress on Counting

Robin is making good progress with counting.  Reciting numbers isn't automatic for him, but he's now able to count pretty solidly to 100 with minimal prompting.  He's also getting the hang of counting by 10s - we are using a number chart and cuisinaire rods, which seem to be working well for him.

Robin did some drawing.

Robin read to me and I read to him.  

We went to Oxon Hill Farm with our homeschooling group this week and took a tour with  one of the Rangers there.  It focused on the dynamics of slave-holders and slaves at the time the house there was built, and on the Underground Railroad as it passed by the house.  

Robin walked and biked this week.

Robin went camping last week and learned about camping safety including fire building and safe fire tending.  We also read a book about camping safety.

Reading!

Robin read his first book this week!  He's been doing pretty well with short-vowel sound flashcards so I got several level 1 easy readers out and we started with this one.  He's very proud of himself.  I'm proud of him, too!  He needs a bit of help sounding things out, of course, but this is the first step (yes!)

I read to him, too.

The math lessons this week involved learning to play War, which I'm pretty sure he already knew.  And we worked on counting and I think he's ironed out his avoidance of 15 and his uncertainty about transitions from 20s to 30, 30s to 40 etc.  We read a book about shapes and opposites.

Robin drew a birthday card for his uncle.

We read a book in Spanish.

Robin did some exercising.  We read a book about running.

We read books about sharks, animals, pumpkins, and bugs.

Gym Fun!

We visited a homeschool play-group at a rec center gym in Philadelphia this week.  Robin loved it!  They had these scooter-like things with a flat plastic seat, three wheels, and a handle-bar in front of the seat.  You sit on the seat, put your feet on the handle-bar, and hold the ends.  When you wiggle the handle-bar side-to-side, you move forward.  If anybody knows what they are called, tell me!  We also visited a homeschool coop, which Robin was a lot less enthusiastic about.

We read a book about peace illustrated entirely with quilts which he found very interesting.

Robin's Saxon K math this week included making various different types of patterns and practicing with word problems.

I read to Robin.

Reading Words

Opening presents Christmas morning!

I asked Robin to try reading some very simple words today, just to see what would happen.  I gave him "rat," "hat," and "bat."  We sounded them out together, since I know he is more confident about what sounds letters make than what their names are.  He felt successful!  And offered to do more right there and then, although because we had other things we needed to do, we didn't actually do more.  Next time!

Saxon Math K topics have included making charts (life-sized, on the floor), experimenting with geo-boards, and writing the numeral 3.

Robin made a pot out of clay.

We read a book about Nascar racing.  And one bilingual book.  Robin also practiced simple Spanish words and phrases with his newly adopted half-aunts (ages 11 and 13) from Bogota, Columbia.

We read a book about Samurai and one referencing Greek gods and heroes.

Robin tried a bean this week and although he did not like it, he did consume it.  His comment was that it tasted kind of like potatoes, which is an accurate description of the texture.

Robin enjoyed experimenting with making drums using a pick-up with his dad.

Robin is active nearly every day, either outside walking or biking, or indoors doing pull-ups, sit-ups, etc.

Robin is learning how to manage a wood-burning stove safely, including how to work the dampers, how to manipulate wood, and how to protect younger children from injury.  He especially likes splitting logs (small, pre-split logs that need further splitting into kindling.)

We read books on turtles and DNA.  One of our favorite Christmas presents (thank you Great-Grandpa & Great-Grandma) was a family membership to the Zoo, so Robin went to the Zoo and observed & photographed animals including apes, alligators, and goats.

Visiting with Grandma

Robin has been loving visiting with his grandma this week.  They are both early risers, so he's been popping out of bed in the morning and going to her immediately to play Uno.  He's really very good at Uno, winning about 2/3 of the time!


Topics in Saxon Math K this week included making a graph showing family members' eye colors and matching numbers of objects with the appropriate numerals.  For some reason Robin had a hard time identifying the numeral 9 but all the rest of it was easy for him.

Robin did some drawing with his grandma and siblings.

We read lots.  We continue to work on Robin's alphabet by using writing, sign spelling, the alphabet song, and www.starfall.com.

We read a book about sight.


We read a book about the Middle Ages.

And one about movement.

Hurricane, Flood, Extraction . . .

Last weekend I did not post because we were on our way to the beach for the weekend.  That was a pleasant interlude.  Robin learned to boogie board and says it is the most fun thing EVER.  However, the weekend before included a hurricane (Irene), now it is raining and everything is flooded, and yesterday Robin had a tooth extracted because it was abscessed.  Quite a couple of weeks!

Robin continues to use Saxon Math K.  Recent lessons included graph making, and identifying rectangles and circles.

Robin draws sometimes.  Recently he has been using a book showing how to draw complex things with a few lines.

I read to Robin regularly.  We have been practicing writing the alphabet with a Kumon set of write-on tracing cards.

We read a book about India.

Robin learned about dental health (obviously.)  We read books about bones, eyes,  and reflexes.

Tree Trimming

Our Sweet Gum tree had a large, dead branch hanging over our rope swing which needed to be removed, and the rest of the tree needed trimming out.  The tree trimmers came on Monday this week and Robin was fascinated and watched the whole thing.  Here are before and after pictures:

We read books about clouds and geologic change.

Robin continues to enjoy Saxon Math K.  We visited the Lego Exhibit at the National Building Museum.  Here is Robin with his contributions (the tall tower on the left and the blue/grey building to the right) to the city-scape they allow visitors to create each day:

We read a book about shapes in art. Robin selected a fabric to use in making a quilt square

And lots of other books.

Including one featuring three African-American spirituals.  We attended a special music presentation at our local library featuring Uncle Pete - sort of karoke on cupcakes.

Robin went swimming, walking, running, scootering, and biking.

Robin learned about the care of insect stings when he and his brother were stung by yellow jackets after 'finding' a nest with their feet.

August Week 2

Robin is really enjoying Saxon Math K.  I think partly he enjoys the subject matter, but mostly he enjoys having my full attention for the length of time it takes to "do" a "lesson".

We read a book about shapes in famous artwork.

I read a lot to Robin.  We also expanded our reading of the Harry Potter books this week by going to the theatre to see the last of the Harry Potter films.  I think he liked it.

We read a book illustrating Mussorgsky's Night on Bare Mountain and listened to a portion of the orchestral music.

Robin walked, ran, biked, and scootered.

We read books about animals, reptiles, snow, and cloning.

Helping

Robin is very capable of finding things to do to help if one of his parents is working on a job of some sort.  He moseys around, is a good go-fer, and thinks of independent projects (finding a radio station, vacuuming up dust, etc.) that will be useful.  We were reminded of this this week as we are starting to paint a space of my dads.

We read a book about shapes and patterns.  This is an elaborate pattern he made as part of one of his Saxon Math K lessons.

We read lots of books.

Including one about a visit to an art museum.

One about a Black community in Nova Scotia.

One about fire-signals in 19th century Korea.

And books about seeds and animal camouflage.  We also identified a Ruby Throated Hummingbird.

Robin went for several hikes, scoots, etc.

Design By Robin

Robin picked out the pictures, and the title. He let me do the rest, though.