School Week of 5/20 - The Week of Neverending Illness and a Little Science

This was a very rough week. Crumpet Sr. landed in the ER for another bout with diverticulitis. We got him on the road to recovery, and then Crumpet came down with the worst virus he has ever had. He started out vomiting, and now has a probable ear infection. He is miserable. The military medical system does not handle sick people well, so our only option is to go to the ER even though this is not a life threatening situation. We went for anti-nausea meds mid week to get him to stop vomiting and start drinking before he dehydrated. At that point, he had red ears. Now he's crying because they hurt so much. So today will likely be our 3rd trip to the ER in a week. The best part is that there is NO parking at the ER, so you get to walk 1/2 a mile or more with a sobbing child, if you are lucky enough to find parking anywhere at all. I will say that the doctors we have encountered have been phenomenal, but it's very difficult to see one when you are sick. Right now, the little man is getting some much needed rest (I'm not ignoring him to write a blog post, I swear!) so I'll write about the fun science projects we did during his good moments:
A few weeks ago, I bought a few Lab in a Bag science kits at a huge discount:
Crumpet has been asking to make slime every day since then. So we made slime, and it was fun! There is a lot of shaking and mixing:
And then there is slime! Crumpet often won't touch gross stuff, but he loved this goo.
We have also been doing some fun science experiments from the Scientific American website here. They are posting new experiments for 6-12 year olds every weekday in May, and they are a lot of fun. So far, we have made meteors, and a balloon rocket.
Crumpet is really enjoying our week of science, and keeps asking for more projects!
When we are not doing experiments, we are looking for fun apps on my new phone (this is a sick new addiction... very dangerous time consumer!). My aunt was here and showed us that there is a lightsaber app, and now I don't get to use my phone anymore... Here is Crumpet as a very grumpy Darth Vader:
He has 3 actual lightsabers, but right now, this is way more fun. It does have great sound effects...
I hope you are all healthy and well. Hopefully, we will have a better week next week!

For more preschool posts, visit Homeschool Creations.

Preschool Week of 11/19

Well, this was an interesting week! We finally quit the Parent Participation Preschool. It got to the point where Crumpet refused to go in, even on the day he was line leader. Normally, he loves to be line leader, so I knew we were done. That was Monday.
Tuesday, we delivered Meals on Wheels, and it went great. People knew us from the week before, so they were less shy, and they all love to see Crumpet, even though he won't talk to most of them yet.
Wednesday is normally a preschool day, and I intend to keep Monday and Wednesday mornings as school times. We got tons of work done at home and it felt good. Crumpet's reading is coming along in leaps and bounds. This process is truly amazing to watch. We started telling time to the hour in McRuffy math. This is mostly review for Crumpet, and he did well. In McRuffy science, we completed a topic called "Clown Attributes". This is a unit dealing with many differently dressed clowns. The child has to sort them according to a variety of rules, and at the end, they sort them using Venn diagrams. Crumpet wasn't exactly focused during a lot of this, and I think we may repeat it at the end of the year...
For science, we also did an experiment that I found in the book Science Crafts for Kids: 50 Fantastic Things to Invent & Create by Gwen Diehn and Terry Krautwurst. One day when we were at the beach Crumpet asked "How do waves be made? Fish bubbles?" This book explained how waves are made, and taught us how to make a wave in a bottle. I don't think Crumpet cared at all about the waves, but he enjoyed adding food coloring to vegetable oil and seeing how it reacts. Then he added raisins to see if they would dance like they do in Sprite... You just never know how an experiment may end up around here...
Wednesday, we also went to the Contemporary Art Museum in Honolulu. This was a really neat field trip. Some of the art was wacky, but we enjoyed a lot of it. There are beautiful gardens, and the cafe has wonderful chocolate cake!
Thursday, we went to the zoo with friends.
It was a nice week. I'm looking forward to having fewer scheduled events around here, and being able to get some learning done at home. For more preschool posts, visit Homeschool Creations.

Preschool Week of 10/21 - a bit of revamping and some Halloween fun

This was a pretty good week all around.
Parent Participation Preschool provided some interesting insights into Crumpet's mind this week... A few weeks ago, his teacher (the best teacher in the world, I have to say...) told him she was sad that he didn't like school and wanted to know how to improve the experience for him.He told her he needed more vehicles... So every day when we arrive, there are more cars and more learning centers involving cars. I know she gets very little money to run this class, and I can't believe what she has done for my little man. It seems to be working. He did incredibly well last week. He was participating in class more, and interacting with the other children. On Monday this week, he was line leader, which he loves. And, we arrived to find 100 toy cars in a box. All of the other kids have counted to 100 for the teacher, and earned a math award. Crumpet won't go work one on one with her, so no award. She has been racking her brains, trying to find a way to get him to do it. She sat down with these 100 cars, and got him to start counting. But that's where it gets interesting. I know he should be able to get to 100, because he knows all the groups of 10's but I've never managed to keep his attention past 50. While counting for the teacher, he made it to 80, but by the end, he was exhausted. He was talking slow, breathing hard, and yawning. He was physically exhausted by the effort. I think it was a combination of having to focus for so long, and also the stress of interacting with a person he still doesn't know that well. Miss Elizabeth has done a lot of research into children's learning patterns, and she was pretty fascinated by him...
Then on Wednesday, it was school picture day. I had warned him, and he was excited, but when it actually happened, he freaked out because of the change in the school routine. He stormed off, yelling "I'm outta here!" and insisting he would never come back to school. Luckily, I could bribe him into class with the cars, and we just don't have a school picture of Crumpet. (Interestingly, I always hated pictures too, and there are no school pictures of me either...) Hopefully, school will get better again next week.

At home, we had lots of fun getting ready for Halloween. I bought this pumpkin decorating set at Target, and Crumpet was so excited that we had to use it right away. Isn't it adorable? (Do wait til closer to Halloween if you decide to use this set - this pumpkin already rotted, and we'll have to replace it. It's too warm here!)
We also made gingerbread cookies and decorated them as skeletons. I saw the idea in Family Fun magazine.
We did some book work, too, and I decided to change a few things.
McRuffy Reading: Each week, we begin a new reader. There are 5 days worth of lessons for each reader, and by the 3rd day, Crumpet is really annoyed to see the same book. He does NOT like repetition... The work involves some worksheets, reading comprehension questions, creative writing, handwriting, and spelling. I've decided to condense each section into 2 days, and it was totally doable this week. We don't bother with handwriting yet. For spelling, I ask him to spell the words at the beginning of the week. So far, he has been getting them all right. If I keep working on it during the week, he starts making mistakes because he's tired of the same words, and won't focus. So, if he gets them right at the beginning of the week, I won't be testing him again. Also, this week, we had our first unit reading'test'. I skimmed through this with him, but didn't make him answer all the questions. I know what he knows, and did I mention, he hates worksheets and repetition?
Progressive Phonics: Crumpet is zooming through the blends. I'm noticing that he forgets some of what he learned in previous weeks, though, because he won't reread the books. I'm going to have to insist on a little repetition in this area, I guess. I really think we could rely on Progressive Phonics as our sole reading curriculum. Crumpet is already far ahead of the lessons in McRuffy. However, I do like the reading comprehension and other extras in McRuffy, so we'll keep using both for now.
Science: We made our own fossils this week! I'll post more about that for Science Sunday.
McRuffy Math: We revisited number rods and place values, and this time around, Crumpet seemed to understand the idea. Getting him to focus and work with me is a nightmare, but I've explained that I will only have him answer half of the questions, if he pays attention and answers them all right. That's usually enough motivation for him to concentrate...

For fun, we went to the Honolulu Discovery Center (children's museum). This was a great place to spend a morning. They have a pretty good exhibit on the human body.
We also went to the water park, and we went geocaching with a friend who brought along a metal detector. Crumpet was fascinated! He now has a lovely collection of bottle caps...

For more preschool posts, visit Homeschool Creations.

Preschool Week of 10/8

It has been a busy, busy week here. I'm doing what I can to keep us occupied so that we don't miss Daddy too much. So far, so good. Here's a quick summary of our week:
Saturday, we went to a trial karate class, which Crumpet decided he does not want to join. In the afternoon, we went to a birthday party for one of the girls in his preschool class.
Sunday, we went to the zoo with several friends, and then had dinner with other friends. One of those friends spent the night at our house. It looks like she'll be moving into our house for a week or two because her husband is away for training and she's not used to being alone. That is a theme that will be repeated here frequently over the next few months- it looks like we are about to become Hotel Crumpet for young newlyweds not accustomed to the Navy life. We are happy to have the company and to help people adjust - this is not an easy life. Crumpet is excited to have new people to play Star Wars with... Poor, poor visitors don't know what they are getting into!!
Monday, Crumpet woke up vomiting. Again. Sigh, school is good for the social education that Crumpet so desperately needs, but I'm really tired of the repeated illnesses...
Thursday, we went to the beach, AND we saw the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean, which they are filming here. Very cool! My pictures are awful because the light was wrong but here are a few:


As for school at home, that went well this week, too.
Reading: We've started the new Progressive Phonics section, which introduces blends. Yay, words with more than 3 letters at last! McRuffy has started introducing a lot of reading comprehension, and we started spelling this week. I was worried about Crumpet's reaction to spelling, but he whizzed through it.
Math:McRuffy introduced addition story problems. I was really excited to see these. I always loved them, but know so many people who panicked at the mere mention of 'word problem'. I'm glad to see them introduced so early so the horror can hopefully be avoided, and they will just be a fact of life for Crumpet.
History: We are reading Happy Little Family by Rebecca Caudill. This is sort of a shorter Little House on the Prairie, and it's a good introduction to what things were like in America long ago.
Geography: I have been planning to start doing units on the Spanish speaking countries of the world. I'm hoping Crumpet will see how many people speak Spanish and how useful this language could be for him. I've gathered materials and made plans for weeks, but never had the time to start. This week, we finally started with Spain. I'll do a post about it soon. Really. I hope.
Science: We finally got around to doing a couple of fun experiments I've seen around the blog world. We cleaned a penny with coke, and we made raisins dance in Sprite. The raisins were really fun. (I'm trying to get rid of the soda my husband left in the house!!)
Life Skills: We have started a chore routine similar to Jolanthe's at Homeschool Creations. It is working incredibly well so far. Crumpet knows which things he must do every day no matter what, and we've had no trouble getting the toys cleaned up, the teeth brushed, or the bed made in weeks. Most days, he does additional chores to earn money, and he has managed to save enough to buy himself several small toys. He's very proud, and I'm hoping that he will realize money isn't easy to come by. He definitely has stopped begging for everything he sees when we are in the store...
Have a great week! For more preschool posts, visit Homeschool Creations!

Preschool Week of 9/30 - The Week Daddy Deployed

So, last week, we were given 1 week's notice that Crumpet Sr (thanks Natalie, for the wonderful nickname - we use it a lot now, and hubby gets a big kick out of it!) would be deploying for an extended period of time. I put home schooling on hold in favor of family time, but we did continue to go to the co-op preschool. This was mandatory, because Crumpet was line leader Monday, and he loves to be in charge. It is still the only time he enjoys preschool...
Here he is, leading circle time in the morning:
Some of the centers that day were...
Counting and adding using dice and dominoes:
Sink and float experiments:
It was black and white week, so the dramatic play area had masks of black and white animals. Dramatic play is always Crumpet's favorite area:
And, at the end, he got to show and tell the noisy, annoying Star Wars gun that he loves more than anything right now:
Crumpet Sr. was able to come to the beginning of class, and Crumpet was very proud to have him there.

At home:
When Daddy deploys, I send him with a stack of cards to open nearly weekly, and always on holidays that he is missing. I write notes and send pictures, and this time, I had Crumpet make crafts for the holidays we won't be together. It was so odd to be making Thanksgiving crafts in September! And it was a struggle to get Crumpet to complete even these ridiculously simple crafts. He's just not feeling artsy right now!

Both of these crafts came from DLTK's holiday section.
Jack o'Lantern:
Fingerprint turkey:

In other news:
Crumpet has finished the beginner section of Progressive Phonics which we read every night before bed, so we'll be moving up to the intermediate section.
One day when we were out, we saw a phone number. I had Crumpet read it to me, and then asked if he knew his own. He repeated it to me and has it right except for one number! He won't cooperate when we practice at home, so it's good to find out that he almost has it!
We got rain for the second time since we arrived, and it was so exciting that we went for a walk and played on the playground in the rain:
And we had another amazing sea turtle adventure. We were at the beach with friends, and this sea turtle swam right up to us. You aren't supposed to touch them, but this one touched us!
So that was our week of learning. Now we'll be learning about how Crumpet functions without Dad, and whether or not Mom survives. Everyone keeps telling me that a young child's first deployment experience is the worst, and I should prepare for major tantrums. Um, really??? I don't talk about it much here, but Crumpet is an incredibly difficult, angry child, and the tantrums are already something to behold. Worse?! Um, no, can't do it. So wish me luck! And sanity!

Preschool Week of 8/27

This week, Parent Participation Preschool went really well! Crumpet was signed up to be "line leader" on Wednesday. I thought that would freak him out and he'd refuse to get up in front of the class. Nope. It seems he likes power. He was so excited all week. On Monday, he agreed to go to school so he could watch that day's line leader and be sure he knew what all of his duties would be. On Wednesday, he started begging to go to school 2 hours earlier than we usually leave. He fulfilled his duties as line leader perfectly, and even spent a lot more time interacting with the other kids than usual. I'm hoping that this helped us turn a corner, and now he'll enjoy school??

Home preschool also went well.
Reading/Phonics: This is going relatively well. He is getting quicker about reading words and has no trouble with our phonics curriculum. He doesn't like to work hard though, so often he just tells me he doesn't know the words and tries to refuse to read with me... I'm not letting him get away with it.

Math: This is going well too, but Crumpet hates repetition. Once he knows something, I'd better not ask any more questions or he gets really annoyed (he's an ornery little thing...). There was a lot of number line work this week, and the book was driving him nuts. I set up a walkable number line and gave him an arrow to point out his answers. This, along with me skipping a lot of the book's questions, made things a bit better. (He's wearing half of a storm trooper costume...)
For math, we also tried out the Dreambox website which I read about over at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns. Sadly, it didn't go over as well here. The games are pretty repetitive, and as I said, that makes Crumpet bonkers. Also, there is a lot of work with a ten frame and a math rack, two tools I'd never used before. It seems Crumpet's and my brains just don't work this way. It took me a while to figure out what this was all about (I get it now and it's cool, but not how I think) and Crumpet couldn't grasp it. I will probably try again in the future because they seem like good teaching tools.
Science/Geography: A few weeks ago, I was trying to teach Crumpet something, and he said "Mom, I already know this stuff. What I really need to know more about are rays." He loves manta rays, stingrays, etc. So I reserved every book the library had on rays and rented the movie Under the Sea:IMAX. We went through them all this week, and he loved learning more about this interesting animal. The movie was beautiful too. There was a bit too much predator action for Crumpet though. He thinks all creatures should be vegetarians... As part of our look at oceans, we found the world's oceans on the globe and added them to our flat world map which we used to learn about the continents last week.
For culture studies, we read People by Peter Spier . This book is in the Sonlight curriculum, and I almost bought it, but have been lucky enough to find it at several libraries. We read through it every once in a while. It's a wonderful book explaining that people everywhere are different in many ways, but that we should all respect the differences. There are pictures of clothing, houses, games, food, and religion from many different cultures. Crumpet was much more interested in the book this time than ever before. He's just beginning to notice differences in people.

Other:
Crumpet put together a couple of 24 piece puzzles with little help this week. Usually he struggles with puzzles and isn't a big fan, but he did great this time. Maybe it's just time for him?
I found these cute finger puppets in the craft section at Target. Crumpet never liked lacing activities, but I was hoping that he would enjoy this because there was a purpose to the sewing. He loved it, and managed to sew both puppets pretty much on his own. Great fine motor practice!

For more preschool posts, check out Homeschool Creations!

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.

Preschool Week of 8/6

This week, Crumpet and I started going to Parent Participation Preschool two days a week. It was a lot of fun, and by the second day, we had the routine figured out. I think this program is going to be a great fit for us. Crumpet and I still spend our days together, and I still do most of the teaching. At the same time, Crumpet is learning about routine and taking direction from someone other than me. Also, he gets to practice socializing in a very controlled setting, which he needs. And I get to meet some really cool moms! This week's theme was the American flag. To go along with that, we are memorizing the pledge at home.

We actually managed to keep up with some homeschool work too.
Math: We created a store in the kitchen this week. First, I put out a variety of foods and asked Crumpet to sort them into groups in whatever way he felt appropriate. I was thinking canned goods, cereals, cold stuff. He was thinking proteins, grains, dairy. Then we put prices on each food, and I had him count out the correct number of coins to pay me. We worked with pennies and nickels. We talked about 5 pennies being equal to 1 nickel, but I don't think he's ready for that concept.
Science: We did a variety of experiments demonstrating evaporation this week. We also did some other fun water experiments. None of the really exciting ones worked, of course, but some things went well. I'll probably write a science post for next week.

Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready:
We talked about various body parts and located them on Crumpet and on a magazine picture of another child. Then he drew a picture of himself, including as many of the parts as he could. The book recommends repeating this every once in a while so you can see the child's progress. I'm looking forward to seeing how things change. Especially because Crumpet chose to draw himself as an alien insect in this picture, with 6 limbs. One of the arms is coming out of his cheek. Hmm.
We also started working on cutting a bit more. Technically, Crumpet can use scissors, but yikes, it's still painful to watch. His fine motor skills aren't great - writing is also very challenging.We're using the trace and collage book from Tired, Need Sleep for some of the cutting practice. We also have a Kumon cutting book.

We had a lot of fun activities out of the house this week.
Nature: We went to the Waimea Valley Botanical Garden on the north shore of Oahu. There is a beautiful hike through the gardens, and at the end is a beautiful waterfall that we swam in. I love the crazy flowers here in Hawaii. Here is a lollipop flower:
This was fun tunnel made of vines:
Arts: The library had its awards ceremony for the summer reading program. They had a great breakfast for us, and then gave away a ridiculous number of great prizes. This year's theme was "Voyage to Book Island" so everything has a picture of a pirate on it. Crumpet was thrilled.
We discovered Tumblebooks this summer, because part of the reading requirement was to choose 2 online books from this website. There is a great write-up of Tumblebooks here. These are animated online books. I didn't think I'd like them, but they are a lot of fun. Crumpet likes to listen to/watch them while I'm making dinner now. I don't know if it's any better than sitting him front of the t.v., but we like it...

After the library celebration, we went to see a children's theatre production of the Princess and the Pea. It was a lot of fun. And then, we went to check out the craft store on base. They have a pick it and paint it ceramics studio, so Crumpet chose a little tank and a dump truck and painted them while we were there. They are in the kiln now, and we'll pick them up in a day or two.

I can't wait to see what all of you did this week. For more preschool fun, check out Homeschool Creations!

Preschool (or Not) - Week of 7/23

Wow, another crazy, fun week! School was pretty much a non-event here. We worked through one math unit - Crumpet was introduced to the number line, and the terms "greater than" and "less than". He found these really easy concepts to understand. And, he figured out the pattern the numbers make and can count at least to 40! (Probably all the way to 100, but we haven't tried yet.) For literature, we made it through our very first chapter book. Of course, it was a pirate book! There is a series called Pirate School, by Brian James, and it's very cute and perfect for Crumpet. We'll be reading more of these! Here's what we did with the rest of our time:

Saturday: We went to a hula festival! I thought it was a beautiful and fun cultural experience. Crumpet disagreed. He couldn't wait to leave and come home... Sigh. The kids in the festival were adorable. The costumes were amazing.

Sunday: We went back to Hanauma Bay and did more snorkeling. I saw a green sea turtle this time, and it was amazing. It looked like it was flying underwater, and it was so close I could have reached out and hugged it. We bought a digital underwater camera, but we need to practice a bit more with it. This is one of the few pictures we got that actually had a fish in the frame...: Monday: This was a big day. I found some information about a Parent Participation Preschool on base, and we went for a trial day. The class is held twice a week for 2 hours. There are 8 children in the class. The teacher is wonderful. She has a circle time where she teaches at the beginning and end of class. In between, the moms cycle through several learning stations with their children. We had a lot of fun, and decided to start attending class in August. We still plan to homeschool, but this is a great opportunity for Crumpet to learn to socialize in a controlled environment, and it's a chance for me to meet other moms. It's also nice to have someone else plan the activities and pay for the cool learning toys!
Tuesday: We went to a preschool nature class at the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden. The garden is at the base of the Ko'olau mountain range, which I think is the most beautiful place on this island. You can't beat this setting for a nature class!

The theme was "Teddy Bear Picnic". All of the kids brought a teddy bear and a picnic and we learned a bit about bears.

Then there was a craft time. The kids made polar bears with sun hats (after all, they aren't used to the heat of Hawaii...). The whole event was a bit chaotic because there were a ton of kids, but it was fun, and we met some nice people.

After lunch, we hiked the grounds. There is a big lake with fish and ducks to feed, and plenty of places to run and hide.

Wednesday: This was a day of many errands and a trip to the library.

Thursday: I got a call on Wednesday night from an old high school friend who happened to be in Waikiki for 2 nights on the way to somewhere else. So on Thursday, we took her and her son on a driving tour of the island. It was really great to see them!

So not much formal school this week, but lots of fun time!

To see what others are doing for preschool, check out Homeschool Creations.