Preschool Week of 8/20

Homeschool this week was great. Parent Participation Preschool - not so much. On Monday, Crumpet flat out refused to go. A few weeks ago, he finally learned to get his own clothes off. I was so proud. On Monday, I was sorry I ever taught him, because every time I managed to get him clothed, he removed the clothes... So we called it quits and stayed home Monday. Wednesday, I took him to McDonald's for breakfast and then to school. It was much easier because we were already out of the house when school time rolled around. He was still pretty grumpy about being there though... Our theme at school was the color red, and the teacher had some really fun toys and activities set out for us to work with.

At home, we did great.
Phonics/Reading: Crumpet FINALLY knows the alphabet! And, Crumpet started reading this week! Very exciting stuff. I knew he was close, so I had planned to start our McRuffy reading program with him this week. We zoomed through the first 10 lessons or so, trying to get him caught up to the point where kids read 3 letter words. We also read a new book from Progressive Phonics.

We discovered an incredible library story hour at our nearest Hawaii state library. The storyteller reads a few stories, but he also plays music, dances with the kids, and puts on puppet and shadow puppet shows, as well as telling stories with a felt board. Then the kids make crafts. Really amazing. This week, Crumpet checked out The Three Bears and The Three Little Pigs. I said "You know we have these stories at home, right? Do you want to just read our copies?" Crumpet replied "No, Mom. I like to read new versions and find out who the author is." I guess he's preparing to get his doctorate in literature...

Math/Science: Both lessons were about measuring and length this week.

Geography/History: A few weeks ago, Crumpet saw a segment on PBS about a 13 year old boy who had climbed Mount Everest. He decided that he, too, would climb mountains. This week, I did a unit on Mount Everest. It was so much fun, and I learned a lot too! I'll write a separate post about our mountain climbing adventure.

Culture: We went to a beautiful Buddhist temple with Japanese gardens over the weekend. Crumpet had lots of questions about it all, and I found that I know very little about Buddhism. Time to do some research!
Nature: We went snorkeling and saw some amazing starfish, an eel, and lots of sea cucumbers. Crumpet doesn't snorkel, but he can see a lot just standing above the water here because it's so shallow and clear. He was obsessed with petting every sea cucumber he found.
We had a really great week and hope you did too! For more preschool posts, visit Homeschool Creations.