What we read aloud during the month of January...
The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
The first in a series, this book really drew Bria's imagination, even if it was a bit "old" for her. She spent many afternoons drawing the characters while I read aloud to her.
**
Nancy Drew #1 - The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene
We picked this book up at Books on Broadway after we watched a Nancy Drew movie on Netflix. Bria is loving Nancy so much, we ordered the first ten books of the series. She can't wait to solve all of the mysteries with her!
This Nancy Drew thread will be a lot of fun to check out, there are even conventions and a podcast!
**
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl
This book is so sweet and fun! A great silly story that took two nights to read through, a bit of a change from the thicker book we started the month with.
Friday, February 3, 2017
Friday, October 23, 2015
Friday Homeschool Update - October 23
This week in Parkinson homeschool... (I will get better at tracking what we are up to!)
Friday
Bria is into a new television program on Netflix called "Thomas Edison's Secret Lab," she has been learning some interesting science things there, and we have been talking about inventing as a result. We did some reading on inventions and talked about inventions from history.
Big sister Ella had her final regular season volleyball game tonight, so that was a fun way to spend the evening. On the drive, she practiced playing her guitar, did a workbook about subtraction, and read some phonics books.
Thursday
The weather was so gorgeous, so we took advantage of this beautiful autumn day to go for a walk. Bria rode her scooter, Mom walked the dog.
We went to library story hour (something we should do more often!) and met up with some of our favorite homeschool friends. Miss Andrea read books about pumpkins, and we cut and glued to make cute paper pumpkins.
We got there a little early, so Bria played a game on the library computers that taught her about the human body and how to take care of it. It was tricky making sure you drank enough, but not too much!
Wednesday
We had planned to go to a friend's house for some activities, but neither of us is quite over our sickies, so we decided to stay home instead. In the morning, Bria did lots of crafts with construction paper, scissors, and glue. She tried out making designs on the paper with the glue, letting it dry, and then coloring over the top with crayons. That made interesting patterns, which was fun to explore.
In the afternoon, we needed to get some fresh air and get out of the house for a while, so we went to Davidson Park. The after school program was there on an outing, so there were some kids Bria knew there. She also made some new friends to play with!
Tuesday
We learned about the Boston Tea Party today, including watching an episode of Liberty Kids about the event. This Bria's drawing of it:
Monday
Thanks to Pinterest, we tried out some pumpkin math today - math problems were written on craft sticks, and Bria matched them up with the correct answers.
Friday
Bria is into a new television program on Netflix called "Thomas Edison's Secret Lab," she has been learning some interesting science things there, and we have been talking about inventing as a result. We did some reading on inventions and talked about inventions from history.
Big sister Ella had her final regular season volleyball game tonight, so that was a fun way to spend the evening. On the drive, she practiced playing her guitar, did a workbook about subtraction, and read some phonics books.
Thursday
The weather was so gorgeous, so we took advantage of this beautiful autumn day to go for a walk. Bria rode her scooter, Mom walked the dog.
We went to library story hour (something we should do more often!) and met up with some of our favorite homeschool friends. Miss Andrea read books about pumpkins, and we cut and glued to make cute paper pumpkins.
We got there a little early, so Bria played a game on the library computers that taught her about the human body and how to take care of it. It was tricky making sure you drank enough, but not too much!
Wednesday
We had planned to go to a friend's house for some activities, but neither of us is quite over our sickies, so we decided to stay home instead. In the morning, Bria did lots of crafts with construction paper, scissors, and glue. She tried out making designs on the paper with the glue, letting it dry, and then coloring over the top with crayons. That made interesting patterns, which was fun to explore.
In the afternoon, we needed to get some fresh air and get out of the house for a while, so we went to Davidson Park. The after school program was there on an outing, so there were some kids Bria knew there. She also made some new friends to play with!
Tuesday
We learned about the Boston Tea Party today, including watching an episode of Liberty Kids about the event. This Bria's drawing of it:
Monday
Thanks to Pinterest, we tried out some pumpkin math today - math problems were written on craft sticks, and Bria matched them up with the correct answers.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
The Lunar Eclipse
Schooling definitely happens outside of "school hours" in our house!
Today was the so-called Supermoon Lunar Eclipse, and we were very excited to get to see it for ourselves.
More about the eclipse:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasa-scientist-sheds-light-on-rare-sept-27-supermoon-eclipse
We sat out on the sidewalk and watched the moon change, discussing all of the workings of what makes an eclipse possible, and Bria was fascinated. Not much happens fast, of course, so we went in and out of the house periodically. Great experience, and great memory!
More about the eclipse:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasa-scientist-sheds-light-on-rare-sept-27-supermoon-eclipse
We sat out on the sidewalk and watched the moon change, discussing all of the workings of what makes an eclipse possible, and Bria was fascinated. Not much happens fast, of course, so we went in and out of the house periodically. Great experience, and great memory!
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Learning Journal - May 31 to June 6
Sunday, May 31 - Tables Beach
Monday, June 1 - SeaWorld
Tuesday, June 2 - Treasure Museum, Turtle Nests, Taekwondo
Wednesday, June 3 - Swim Lessons, Learned how donuts are made, Squid Lips
Thursday, June 4 - Clearwater Beach
Saturday, June 6 - Played at home
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
One Plus One Blog
My friend Melissa shared a great preschool/homeschool blog today, and we had a lot of fun checking it out. What great ideas!
We might have to try the week in Instagram idea, along with many others.
We might have to try the week in Instagram idea, along with many others.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Topic of Giving
Like many parents, we work hard to instill a sense of the world in our children, and to teach them to do what they can to make a difference.
The topic of giving has been coming up with Bria a lot lately.
A cartoon she likes to watch occasionally called "My Big, Big Friend" has an episode where the characters gather up toys for a toy drive, and give them to children who don't have as much. Bria thought this was a great idea, and right away went to her toy box to decide what she could donate to the toy drive.
Another example came when my MOPS group decided to donate shoe boxes filled with gifts to Operation Christmas Child. I brought Bria with me to shop for a few gifts to add to the box, and she was very excited to be in a position to help. "We are giving toys to kids who don't have a Christmas," she told the woman at the register when we went to pay for the bits and pieces we had bought.
I had planned to sit down with Bria and allow her to put together her own box for the project, but time got away from me, and today was the day we were doing them at MOPS. So instead I brought her along to help put together the group boxes. I was so glad I did! She seemed to get a lot more out of discussing the project with the ladies at my table, and she got to help put together not one, but six boxes. She was like our little mascot, sitting in the center of the table and sorting things into boxes.
On the way home she was talking about the program, and then when she saw Daddy, she told him about it again. We are so proud of her!
A few years ago at Christmas, we gave the older children gifts from Heifer International. It was quite a beautiful blessing to watch their reactions and responses ad they learned about the program and asked questions about how their gifts helped. We will likely do the same with Bria in the future.
I wanted to do some research on ways to reinforce giving in our children, and the best ways to teach it. Of course, modeling giving behavior is the best option, but what else was out there? I was excited to find an entire system of lesson plans on teaching philanthropy! (Hello, is the internet awesome, or what?)
We will definitely be checking out Learning to Give more thoroughly - there was a LOT to digest there.
Here are a couple of articles on the topic, too:
9 Expert Tips for Teaching Children About Giving
Mom It Forward: Raising Giving Children
What have you done to help your child learn about giving?
The topic of giving has been coming up with Bria a lot lately.
A cartoon she likes to watch occasionally called "My Big, Big Friend" has an episode where the characters gather up toys for a toy drive, and give them to children who don't have as much. Bria thought this was a great idea, and right away went to her toy box to decide what she could donate to the toy drive.
Another example came when my MOPS group decided to donate shoe boxes filled with gifts to Operation Christmas Child. I brought Bria with me to shop for a few gifts to add to the box, and she was very excited to be in a position to help. "We are giving toys to kids who don't have a Christmas," she told the woman at the register when we went to pay for the bits and pieces we had bought.
On the way home she was talking about the program, and then when she saw Daddy, she told him about it again. We are so proud of her!
A few years ago at Christmas, we gave the older children gifts from Heifer International. It was quite a beautiful blessing to watch their reactions and responses ad they learned about the program and asked questions about how their gifts helped. We will likely do the same with Bria in the future.
I wanted to do some research on ways to reinforce giving in our children, and the best ways to teach it. Of course, modeling giving behavior is the best option, but what else was out there? I was excited to find an entire system of lesson plans on teaching philanthropy! (Hello, is the internet awesome, or what?)
We will definitely be checking out Learning to Give more thoroughly - there was a LOT to digest there.
Here are a couple of articles on the topic, too:
9 Expert Tips for Teaching Children About Giving
Mom It Forward: Raising Giving Children
What have you done to help your child learn about giving?
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
What tests don't measure
I saw this on Facebook today, and thought it was an excellent reminder. The poster said it was on display at their child's pre-school...
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