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.

Counting by 5s

The topic of counting by 5s has come up recently for Robin in Saxon Math K.  This has been quite challenging for him.  He needs a lot of repetition to learn things like this.  At the same time he has excellent pattern recognition skills.  We're supposed to use nickels, but it was just confusing him terribly.  So I got out the hundred number chart and showed him how to put a nickel on each multiple of 5.  He understood how to do that immediately, and once he got that he had no problem figuring out how many nickels it takes, for example, to make 35 cents.

I read to Robin and he read to me.

Including a bi-lingual retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk.

And a book about a boy who assisted the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk.

Robin jumped on a trampoline, walked, biked, played kick-ball, used a batting cage, and played miniature golf (Happy Birthday, Patrick!)

We read a book about rainforests and one about animals fighting.

Metal Detector

Robin found a magnifying glass/metal detector kit at the thrift store for 90 cents.  We weren't sure it would work but he put it together with some help from his dad and lo and behold it works quite well!  We read books about meadowlands, lions, tigers and sharks.  We looked up ligers and tigons.  We also had a discussion about sextuplets (Robin's sister is very interested in multiple babies).  

Robin continues to work with Saxon Math K.  This week's topics included tangrams, and we worked on counting a lot.

We read a book about markets around the world.

We read a book about the Great Depression.

Robin walked, roller bladed, and biked.

Magnetism

Robin got really into an experiment we did with magnetism:

The paperclip is defying gravity (well, sort of)!  We also visited the Battle Creek Cypress Swamp in Calvert County with our homeschooling group.  And read a book about owls.

We celebrated Pi Day on 3/14.  Robin worked on Saxon Math K.

I read to Robin and he read to me!  This is still so exciting.  We 'catch' him reading things occasionally, too, although he claims he is just 'guessing'.

We read a book about the Underground Railroad.

Robin and his brother had quite a jam session with a drum and the piano.

Robin walked and rode his bike.

Marble Run

This morning, after arriving at our house at 6:30 in the morning from our 2 week trip to Texas (we drove at night) Robin and his brother were inspired by an episode of Curious George to take our recycling and some tape and design a marble run.  I am especially impressed because they did it ALL by themselves, while I was unpacking and decompressing from the 36 hours in the car.  (Excuse the lousy photo - I forgot the camera was on manual!)  Robin did several puzzles, including one up to 550 pieces.

We spent the last two weeks on vacation, driving to Texas (through Virginia, Tennessee, & Arkansas) and visiting family in Austin and Roby.  Robin was quite interested in mapping our trip.

He learned about the history of Lady Bird Lake in Austin, TX.

Robin walked a lot, including in neighborhoods and along Lady Bird Lake.  He also did a lot of bouncing on giant trampolines (trust me, this is a major workout.)  He used his grandparent's apartment building's exercise room, too.

We visited the Texas Memorial Museum, a Natural Science museum including fossils and minerals from Texas (and dinosaur footprints!)  Robin also went to the Zilker Botanical Gardens in Austin.

Graphing

Robin took one of the 'assessments' in Saxon Math K today.  It was to sort and then graph pattern blocks.  I was quite impressed by the ease with which he did this.  He wouldn't have known how before, but he sure does now!

I read to Robin and he continued to work on learning short-vowel words.

We read a book about Buster (from the TV show Arthur) visiting Chicago.

A book about being sick and how to get better.

And books about the stone age and a woman pirate from the 17th century British Isles.  He also watched some of a documentary on WWII.

Robin did lots of walking, jogging, scootering, and strength training.

We read parts of a book about how things work.

Skiing!

Robin has been asking for at least two years to go skiiing - and this week he got his wish!  We went to Whitetail Resort and Robin skiied for 4 hours without stopping.  He fell down a lot at first, but after trying a slightly more challenging hill he got more confident on the bunny slope.  He had a great time.

Recent Saxon Math K topics have included ordering numbers through 20 and replicating patterns.

We found a vowel-sounds app for the iPod which Robin has completed all the free levels of and he's trying to get me to buy the $2.99 version.  I read to Robin regularly.

We read books about Hanukkah, Passover, Easter, narrow gauge railroads in the Rockies, and a bilingual Spanish/English book.

We read a book about the supermarket.

We read books about a Cuban girl who immigrated to New York in the 1950s and one about the building of the Great Wall of China.

We read books about winter and cells.

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.

Christmas Crackers

Robin had the opportunity to make Swedish Christmas crackers with his homeschooling group this week.  One of the moms in the group is Swedish and organized the craft.  

Robin's Saxon Math K introduced the idea of price tags and paying for things with up to 10 pennies this week. This is fun for Robin since he has a strong interest in business and the entrepreneurial spirit.  He is a little annoyed by the 10 penny limit as he says that the items we are pricing are worth more than that (he's right, since they are cans and boxes of food from our pantry, none of which could be purchased for under 10 cents!)

I read to Robin and we worked on his alphabet.  He found a game on an old toy "Batman Computer" we have which involved matching upper and lower case letters and was doing quite well at it.

We read books about 'whites only' amenities in the South, ancient Egypt, pirates, and the 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast.

And one about puffins.

A Musical Dramedy!

Robin sat through 1 1/2 performances of his congregation's 50th Anniversary musical extravaganza of a show.  He was enthralled by the song/dance/drama.

Saxon Math K included Robin's first official worksheet - the number 1!

We did lots of reading.

Including a book about the first official national Thanksgiving (declared by Abraham Lincoln.)

Robin went on several long walks.

We also read a book about early mammals.

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.

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.

"I don't like peace!"

One of the books I read to Robin this week was Dear Ichiro by Jean Davies Okimoto, illustrated by Doug Keith.  It's a very skillfully done story about peace and what it means, at a concrete level which is perfect for early elementary age kids.  While I was reading it Robin said, "I don't like peace!" which was great, because then I could ask him what he thought peace was.  "Being quiet" he said.  And then I could explain that sometimes peace doesn't mean being quiet - instead it can mean being in good relationship with another person so you can do really fun, exciting things together.

Robin continued to work with Saxon Math K.

We went for several walks, bikes, or hikes.

And read books about the rain forest and the wind.

Robin was able to look at money from Great Britain when his godmother came over with cash still in her wallet from a recent trip overseas.

Robin had the opportunity to observe the extinguishing of a small kitchen fire after his brother accidentally lit a paper cup on fire.