This Week at the Hacienda

Spring is bustin' out all over! And so are the littles. I could hardly keep them inside. Every time I turned my back I would find them sitting on the rock wall. Hiding in a bush, in the fort or woods. According to Charlotte Mason you are supposed to send them outside as much as possible at this age - so I did. They used LOTS of imagination and in general were happy to be alive. Now for a book work wrap up.

Grace can just about read anything and everything now. She reads every sign, label, etc. She even read a Little Bear story independently to Joshua on Thursday. We are working on counting money, and place values in up to 3 digit numbers. I made her some flash cards for the facts from one of her ABEKA worksheets. We began subtraction. She can count from 0 -100 by 2's. Grace continues to "make" things out of cups, boxes, paper, tape, etc on a daily basis. She created a surprise box for us all earlier in the week with special gifts for us to choose from. I got a really nicely colored camera and a note. She and Camille entered Veritas Press' coloring contest. I will try and post pics of their artwork later.

Camille's new Switched on Schoolhouse curriculum arrived and she spent every free moment this week doing it. This may change our lives. I ordered this Language Arts curriculum as a trial balloon for next fall. If we continue to like it, we are going to be very switched on next fall. She also picked up Pilgrim's Progress to read for fun and enjoyed comparing the ABEKA illustrations to Milton's. In math she learned about carrying and estimating.

Joshua and I switched from the "Blend Book" to ABEKA's Handbook for Reading. He felt very gown up. We stuck to short vowels for this week. He surprised me with his new found ability to "skip count." He can count the odd numers to 19. He says he learned it from his Batman game. He so wants to do everything Grace does. He is trying to do addition facts.

Ryan is still floundering due to his inability to keep up with things. Math is slow go when you lose the solution book! Proceeded with reading and written narrations as scheduled.

All in all we had a very good week. We just kind of went with the flow. Kept the schedule in our peripheral vision and kept our eyes open for opportuniities to learn nwe words and concepts. I LOVED it. Might be food for thought.