This was one thing Gabriela did this week. She loved it for about 5-10 minutes! Then it turned into throwing beads on the floor. I do think she'll focus her attention longer on things as she grows older. It's fun to spend time with her and watch her play with these educational toys.
Just before we started school this fall, we took a trip to the Lake District, our favorite place in all England! Our day trip included Fell Foot park, where we picnicked and enjoyed a playground, and a mountain drive through the Langdale Pike area, where the kids got to go on some walks. So it was a nature field trip, really! We NEVER get tired of going to the Lake District!
Our local library does a reading program every summer holidays, and every participating child receives a medal and certificate (for reading 6 books). This was Isaac's 4th year and Moriah's 2nd. They have a special ceremony to award the children. It's really nice for the Isaac and Moriah to have a chance to do this--to listen for their names to be called so they can go up and receive their awards in front of other kids and parents. Our local MP (Member of Parliament) was there as well. He posed with the kids for a group picture, and then he spent a few minutes chatting with Isaac. Isaac was thrilled that he got to speak to him--he thought it was pretty cool to chat with a Member of Parliament. Anyway, I've blotted out the faces of the other kids there, since people aren't always happy with their kids' photos being posted on the internet--just thought I'd just be on the safe side and not get into trouble.
Isaac began his medieval history studies this week with the Fall of Rome. His project for the week was to make a Roman standard. It turned out very well, except that it's shorter than it's supposed to be. We didn't have any spare wrapping paper tubes!
I got this passport from Guesthollow. For geography this year we're going to be studying 15 different countries, spending 2 weeks on each one. I chose the countries based on which countries he's covering this year in history. The last 4 weeks of so of school, we're going to focus on explorers. Anyway, I purchased some flags of the world stickers, and every time Isaac begins a country study, he gets to place the flag sticker in his passport and stamp the date under the sticker. Because we did Egypt, Ghana, India, and Italy last year we went ahead and put those stickers in first. We're starting our geography studies this year with the country of our current residence, United Kingdom! Here's what we've done so far:
Week 1: United Kingdom Monday
Located UK on map and in atlas (I'm in desperate need of a good globe)
Stamped passport
Discussed differences between United Kingdom and Great Britain
Discussed countries in UK, counties, capitals, and biggest cities
Listened to the British Isles Song from Geography Songs CD Tuesday
Listened to British Isles Song
Read Look What Came From England Notebook page from Homeschool Creations Flag page from Homeschool Creations Map page from Homeschool Creations Wednesday
British Isles song Geography from A to Z--bay, beach, cape, cliff, highland/lowland, hill, island, lake, palisade, promontory, river
Discussed the monarchy (looked at royal website and watched youtube videos of palace guards, national anthem, Trooping the Colour)
Read book on Queen Elizabeth I
Did a Palace Guard craft from dltk Thursday
We didn't really follow my plans today--we finished Wednesday's plans! Friday
Read Saint George and the Dragon
Listened to British Isles Song
Read 4 stories from Around the World in 80 Tales (one from each of the 4 countries in the UK)
We had planned to make scones and tea, but that will go on next week's plans now!
Thanks to the 1+1+1=1 "Tot School" blog, I've decided to do Tot School with Gabriela. Click on the button above to read more about Tot School. It's a wonderful idea and something Gabriela and I really needed. I'm really looking forward to trying some of these ideas with her. Tot School is for kids aged 1-3, and it's just some one-on-one time doing fun play that exposes the child to the learning experience. Here are some pictures of Gabriela's first week of Tot School. So far, we've been coloring and trying to teach colors (right now, every crayon is "lellow"). We also spent time playing with Wedgits, which Gabriela loves. She's very creative about stacking them, but her favorite thing is to build it as high as she can and then knock it all down! She also invented a game with the crayons. After tiring of coloring, she knocked the crayons off the table, one by one. Then she climbed down, picked them all up and put them back on the table (one by one), and then climbed back up on the chair... only to repeat the same thing! She really does enjoy the one-on-one time, though. She sees her older siblings doing school, and she wants to be involved! Her 2nd birthday is in 3 weeks, and we've already bought her some presents that will work well with Tot School. Hopefully she'll enjoy them!
We began school Sept. 14, the Monday after Greg and I got back from Switzerland. I did spend parts of 3 days the previous week getting the kids oriented to using the workbox system. Anyway, our first day was very exciting for the kids, and the whole week went very well. The workbox system is amazing, and I'm so glad we found it! The only problem I'm having is that the activities we do in between boxes seem to just lengthen the day for Isaac. It works really well for Moriah since she's in Kindergarten, as she doesn't have as much work to do. Isaac likes having the activities to look forward to, but I'm having to require more boxes to be finished before he does them--just makes the day too long for him when activities are added to his twelve 3rd-grade level subjects. I'm not sure about how to work it all out. Here are some 1st day pictures, pictures of the kids working throughout the week, and workbox system in action!
In England, school starts at the beginning of September, but I'm starting it later because Greg and I took a short trip to Switzerland to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Nice!!!! After we returned I spent parts of 3 days getting the kids oriented to using the workboxes. Tomorrow is our first official day of school, and we're excited!!! More on that later...I'll leave with a few photos of Switzerland. Oh, the first one is actually Yvoire, France...the other 3 are Interlaken, Switzerland.
