Recycled Learning

Toddler was the first to try out the newest Homeschool learning tool: recycled lid counters! We cut and glued circles atop the lids and Student wrote a single digit on each.



From 1-9 Toddler used each as the foundation for his buildings to complete his city. The foundation number indicated how many blocks high the building should be. Toddler caught right on...




AnRecycledd the city was complete...in an awesome effect, of course.
He loves choosing CRAZY PICTURES!



All the while...One fish, Two fish...and on and on Student read. Mascot listened intently and chomped his wet washcloth. What a delight to have all three together for Homeschool this morning, before minds were awake enough to give in to selfishness!

Student then put the lids to work creating random 4 digit numbers and reviewing place value. Then, picking lids from the bowl-full, Student computed each pair of numbers in adition and subtraction. Toddler chimed in and identified single digits. What a pair, what a motivation a new toy can be! Free and fun, the Homeschool's secret ingredients!



The ocean, as a habitat, was introduced in Science today. Student had no problem remembering the four major oceans, and chose the first animal to study:
Giant Manta
Facts:
God made them to live in warm tropical water.
They eat something on the bottom... plankton. Plankton means many animals
that live on the bottom, the floor. We would have to take a water sample to a microscope to see them.
The pictures of the Giant Manta are the top two in the sequence, the last, was Student's favorite of the examples of Plankton shown. Of course she picked this particular one because it resembled fabric yo-yo's! That's our girl! I guess we'll have to work a sewing project into this unit where Teacher never imagined!

Designing on the computer, she chose the colors for Nancy's dress. Fashion will have to fit into the curriculum somewhere...one of these days!



Violin brought new ideas and theories for Student. She is adding to her symbol recognition:
sharp sign
natural sign
flat sign...where are those keyboard symbol short-cuts? We'll have to consult Principal for that.
And to help Student read the sharps and learn the arrangement of the symbols on the staff, she can tell us all...
Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Birds!

The Digestive System completed it's last day...yes, having no other option but to end with talk of the toilet...Teacher was SO GLAD this wasn't a classroom full of 27 first graders!

Life Skills

Since beginning the Homeschool journey, the eyes of Teacher and Principal have been opened to just how many teaching opportunities there are in a day. When the questions come from little mouths and older brains are tired, there is a temptation to answer with "I don't know..." or "...ask your teacher!" But, when you are the teacher, it all works together to create a life-long environment of learning. Is there ever a time when little brains are NOT sponging info?

Today's info came while expanding life skills. Student worked more on dishes than ever! She insisted that she was ready for more chores, as a friend of hers helps with dishes, so can she! During this wet and wild experience, Student practiced skip-counting, addition and subtraction combinations and ended Math with 2 new card games.

Student reviews the new games: "I like solitaire better than speed. Both were fun."

And continuing to wrap up the human body systems introductions, the digestion system introduced paper-dolly's new parts today.
"I guess I was mixed-up with the liver and pancreas yesterday. Now I know the liver is for getting out poisons, and making bile. But the food destruction happens in the pancreas. The small intestines is like 22 rulers...on an adult!"

Spelling and Phonics brought au and aw...



Toddler identified the letters each time Student decided which letter combination was used in the word examples. Waiting for one's own turn was quite the ordeal today! The Homeschool can't wait for the new load of mercies God promises each morning!

Transforming yesterday's still life into a new medium, Student worked with compressed charcoal today...and directly afterwards, took the map picture for our History and Geography lesson. Yes, how Teacher remembers such scrubbing...quite the job for a first grader! However, Student did think the blending was fun.



Computer time was spent on kidshealth.org. Student colored this outlined astronaut, a girl of course, cuz GIRLS ROCK!



And a joke from Student's latest list online that brings her fashion sense to laugh:
What did the zero say to eight... nice belt!

Tune This

"OOhhh, I like it!" Student confessed about violin practice, today.



Teacher thought the once-lost-now-found electronic tuner would bring back the proper sound to Student's violin practices...the dust aliens who had captured the unit, must have extracted some certain needed part...it's not what it used to be!

So, this video was made of Student's redirected practice. Learning what all it takes to earn the name COMPOSER, she worked on rhythm, lyrics, pulse and pitch. Her musical rhetoric is rapidly growing, as Toddler nabs bits and pieces whenever he chooses.

Truly, it was Principal that began the Homeschooling day at work. He was Yahtzee-Memory- Candy Landed out! Games 'r' us at 8:30am! What a fun Monday he brought!



Teacher, on the other hand, scrambled to finish the lesson on The Human Body Systems. Student got an overview of the digestive system with videos and quizes. But, to diagram, Teacher used an old paper-project stand-by...



Today's science vocab:
Mouth: put the food into Esophagus: food carrier Liver: food destroyer with saliva machine

Tomorrow, we'll add the names to the parts pictured on the next doll, and so on until Friday we'll review the completed system model! Hight-tech and complicated, but Student can do it!

Science didn't end there, as Student was so excited to begin the Ocean unit, off to Grandmother's she went. No, Grandmother doesn't live near the ocean, but she has quite the collection of shells and other ocean artifacts. Student studied them, and arranged her first still life for Art tonight.



Reviewing the kinds of shapes and lines, Student completed 2 drawings that she'll transform into other mediums this week, and learn about the mollusks and other living creatures that once inhabited the artifacts she drew. Her 10 second sketches were a nice cool-down for tired first grade hands.

Seat work in Math reviewed skip-counting by 3s and 50s. With the loss of another tooth, Student is skip-counting in her mouth as well!

Thanks be to God for our day together. As a family, as a learning group, we are the Homeschool.