I've been really nervous about how we will manage to fit in all of the school work required for first grade once the books arrive... We tend to be out and about a lot, we have a few visitors coming this fall, and Crumpet has a very limited attention span. More than 2 or 3 subjects a day will be difficult.
We've been working at doing several subjects a day, just to see how it goes. Right now, it is only fun projects, so there is no whining or complaining involved. Whining and complaining can kill HOURS during a school day around here. So maybe this isn't a realistic test, but this week has been fun, and gone very well.
Reading: We've been reading a lot of early readers. This week, we also (finally) started working through the advanced section of Progressive Phonics.
Math: Funnix math was giving away their math program last week, so we downloaded it to see what it was like. We are doing a few lessons a day right now, because it's teaching very simple math. Crumpet seems to be enjoying it.
Nature: We went to a class about insects at the Hawaii Nature Center last weekend. This was a great class, and we got to go out to catch grasshoppers, millipedes, worms, and various other creepy crawlies. Despite having some trouble dealing with the group situation, Crumpet asked to go back every week. We are looking forward to future programs at the nature center!
Science: We are still working through the experiments at the Scientific American website. This week, we watched yeast breathe! This was a pretty neat experiment. (There was a good chance that it could have backfired - teaching Crumpet that something he might eat is alive could have meant that he would never eat bread again... We talked about a lack of brain, understanding and sensation though, and so far so good. He did want to keep the yeast as pets though. Hmm.)
We put yeast, sugar and water in a plastic water bottle and capped it with a balloon. Within a few minutes, our yeast started to produce CO2 and we saw bubbles in our liquid.
Within 15 minutes, our balloon was expanding and the bubbles reached the top of the bottle.
Shortly after, the liquid started to fill the balloon. When we removed the balloon, there was a lot of spitting by our yeast pets, and the room smelled like bread!
We also tried out the color changing dots experiment which taught a lesson about camouflage. Or was supposed to teach about camouflage. Crumpet turned it into a completely different lesson. But he did manage to use the hole puncher for the first time. His little hands are getting stronger!
Which leads me to
Arts and Crafts:
As part of their summer reading program, the military library was having crafts and movies all week. Crumpet colored this mask, and I know it's not fabulous. BUT it was the first time I've ever seen him take such care to choose colors (he was very into the pattern of colors on the teeth) and to stay in the lines. Progress on the writing front! Woo hoo!
This week, Crumpet also learned to use a screw driver. We had some extra wood, and he wanted to work with it. He and a friend spent a long time placing and removing screws. (I have a picture, but evil Blogger won't let me upload it without deleting half my post... Uggh) Later in the week, he put his new skill to work and helped me replace batteries in one of his toys.
History: We've started a unit on prehistoric times. I'm just pulling things together from the internet and the library. We are reading, watching DVDs and crafting. AND, there are 2 awesome field trips that we'll be going on in the next month that fit with the topic. Crumpet is all about mammoths right now! When we're done with it all, I'll write a post about the books and movies we used, and talk about the field trips.
Have a great week!
