Yesterday for life skills we did a perler beads project.

he practiced his fine motor skills. those little beads are really tough to get on the pegs.



he practiced following directions. i would point out what beads we needed next and he'd put them on. he finished almost the entire thing himself. i did the last 3 columns because he was starting to get bored.



he also iron for the first time. he was really nervous about burning himself. he only did it for long enough for me to take the picture.



We also did a 1-20 activity. he clothes-pinned the numbers in order.



Noah played with the ones on the floor waiting to be hung up.



he did some painting today. he's showing how beautiful the paint looks on his brush. haha



They got a busy zoo from steven's grandparents for christmas. Noah was playing with it while nicholas was painting. opening and closing the doors is his favorite.

We also did more about bulls for science since last week was a short school week. Nicholas cracks up at slurping up water like the bulls do. :)

homeschool works!

last week, nicholas learned to read the numbers 11-20. he's known 1-10 for a long time now. we read baby books with 1-10 in them all the time so they were easy.

i tried a couple different methods to try to get him to understand. i printed out these jan brett 1-30 cards. i laid them all out and we looked at them together. once he realized that counting to 20 was just like counting to 10 but with a 1 in front, there was no stopping him. he read all the cards over and over. Then had daddy read them with him too.

This was last wednesday. On saturday, we went to target. When we got in line to check out, he noticed that the next lane over was empty and he said "hey! not 16, let's to over to 17!"

Using numbers in a real life situation. I like it.

He got this toy for Christmas that is a white board with a pen attached. The pen, instead of ink, is a UV light. When you write, the white board turns purple. It's called a light sketcher.

(Honestly, i hate the thing. It's plastic and uses batteries. The 2 things I constantly tell people not to get for them.)

He was scribbling around with it christmas night. I glanced over and he'd written a letter N! I told him he'd done a good job then went back to whatever I was doing. I looked over again and he'd written N-I-C-H. whoa! he needed me to tell him the next letters but that was a really great start! we've never gone over how to spell his name or practicing writing it before.

He learned how to write it just from seeing it written and practicing the letters individually.

Homeschool works!

Book bounty

We got a package in the mail from my aunt Susan yesterday. It had some Christmas presents for the boys. It was mostly books. Nicholas was very excited.

One of them was a high frequency readers bundle. Reading them turned into a double lesson. This week he is learning the numbers 11-20 for math. There are 18 books so we mixed them all up on the floor and when we finished one, he searched for the next number book.

He also got another scholastic sight word stories bundle by shelley harwayne; head, shoulders, knees and toes; merry christmas, stinky face; happy halloween, stinky face; an alphabet puzzle and an alphabet game (and i got some burt's bees stuff. :) ). Nicholas LOVES the stinky faces.



This week instead of doing rimes and rhymes for literature, we are going to read about paul bunyan. I printed out this story about paul bunyan and this story about babe the blue ox. i will probably find a couple more too. i thought it would be appropriate since we are doing bulls/cattle for animal of the week.

Animal of the Week - Bull

day 1 -

craft - http://www.first-school.ws/activities/hometoys/ccow.html

- poem - THIS LITTLE CALF
(Extend fingers, push each down in succession)

This little calf eats grass.
This little calf eats hay.
This little calf drinks water.
This little calf runs away.
This little calf does nothing
But just lies down all day.
(Rest last finger in palm of hand)

day 2 - animal -
what do they eat? A bull is a herbivore. A bull's diet is mainly grass and hay. They graze on grass for 8 hours a day. They wrap their tongue around the grass and pull it (they don't bite it with their teeth.) Sometimes people give them vitamins and/or corn to eat. They use their mouth to suck up water (not their tongues like other animals). they drink about 35 gallons of water and eat 100lbs of grass a day. they also like fruits and vegetables.
do other animals try to eat them? People eat them. People also use their skin to make leather.
what is their skin like? They are furry. Some have long shaggy fur and some have short sleek fur.
what color are they? bulls come in many colors. red, black, white, yellow, brown, and grey. They can be a mix of any of these too. No two bulls have exactly the same pattern of spots.
hatch or born? They are born. A calf weighs about 80 pounds at birth.
what are they like as babies? Newborn cattle, called calves, are able to walk and then run shortly after they are born. The calf drinks mother's milk and eats grass for the first six months, until it is weaned from its mother. It weighs about 400 pounds at this time. gestation is 9 months.
can they be a pet? Dexter breed is the smallest type of cow. This cow was bred to be a small size for household living.
what senses do they use? They can not see all colors. They have very good hearing and smelling.
what size are they? 5-11 feet long, 2.3-7 feet tall, 330-2600lbs,
other description? they live about 18 years. the oldest recorded was 48 year old.
do boy and girls look different? bulls are boys. cows are girls. Cows have udders and make milk, bulls don't. They both have horns but boy's horns are bigger. boys are much larger than girls.
habits? everyone in the herd will do the same thing at the same time. ex. everyone will eat. everyone will lay down. they only sleep from 2 to 10 minutes at a time, and they only get about an hour’s worth of sleep in a 24-hour period. Cows can sleep standing up.



day 3 - habitat -

land, air, sea? bulls live on land. They can swim. Not very well though. They have a lot of air in their stomach to help keep them afloat.

what is their habitat like? very grassy, not many other large animals,

what other (of the same) animals live around them? the families like to live in groups (10-350)small families only have 1 bull. large families have a few bulls but still a lot more cows.

What other (different) animals live around them? no other large animals share space with cattle. lots of medium and small animals that are native to the area do though.

where do they live on the map/globe? parts of Africa, Asia, and the islands of Southeast Asia; eastern Europe; and North America

what is that place like? islands, prairies and steppes, rain forests, wetlands, savannas, temperate forests and taiga


Sources:
http://www.watersheds.org/farm/beef.htm
http://www.kidsarus.org/kids_go4it/growit/raiseit/cattle.htm
http://cow_baby.tripod.com/cowfacts.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle
http://www.alphabet-soup.net/farm/farmpoem.html
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-cattle.html
http://www.fergusonfoundation.org/hbf/cow_in_out/cowmoreinfo.html
http://www.funshun.com/amazing-facts/cow-animal-facts.html
http://homepage.usask.ca/~schmutz/colors.html#White

pickles!

We love making pickles.

Getting ready

He smelled all the spices. They were all just ok, except for the garlic. It smelled interesting.

Noah stole a cucumber. (Look how weird my toes look. LOL)

Filling the jars with cucumbers.

Done!

Our weekly schedule.

Wednesday
Language arts
Science
Life skills
Math

Thursday
Math
Language arts
Science
Art

Friday
Social studies
Math
Language arts
Science

Saturday
Theology
Social studies
Math
Language arts

Sunday
Language arts
Life skills
Social studies
Math

Saturday and Sunday are daddy days. On Saturday, theology takes the place of art/life skills. They talk about things that are relevant for that particular week. Last weekend, they talked about Hanukkah and the Festival of Lights. 2 weekends ago, they talked about St. Nicholas. When there isn't a holiday, they talk about a bible story.

For math, we are doing AAA Math. It's all online but Nicholas sees computer time as fun time and doesn't want to do school stuff. So I take the lessons from there and make fun worksheets. This week we are working on the counting to 20 chapter.

For social studies, we look at maps. He LOVES maps. (He's getting a globe for christmas. Shh! don't tell!) We have a big map of the U.S. hanging up. He likes showing us where he lives and where Mimi lives. Once I get Animal of the Week going smoothly, I'm going to start an historical figure of the week.

For language arts, we do literature and phonics.

For literature, we are doing Rimes and Rhymes. This week is week 11. I print out/laminate the poem and we read, read, read it and read it again. Usually by the second day, he can recite it. If he goes all week without being able to recite it, it's no big deal. It's just for exposure, not memorization.

For phonics, we are doing Fab Phonics workbooks. He can pick out which works begin with the correct letter in no time. He tends to get frustrated with himself when he can't write the letter easily.

For science, we started Animal of the Week this week. He likes it. He thinks the anteater's tongue is ridiculous and keeps talking about how long and skinny it is. :P

Maps to use to show where animals live.

Tropical Rain Forests

Savannah Grass Lands

Animal of the Week - Anteater

Wednesday
anteater craft

Thursday
Animal questions

what do they eat? The anteater is a mammal that uses its long, sticky tongue to eat ants and termites whole. anteaters have no teeth. their tongue can get up to 20 inches long (giant anteater. they will also eat very ripe fruit.

do other animals try to eat them? yes, pumas and jaguars

what is their skin like? anteaters are furry

what color are they? Its coarse hair may be gray or brown, with a white-banded black stripe running along the body

hatch or born? born. one baby is born at a time. after 140 days of gestation.

what are they like as babies? they like to ride on their mother's back for about 9 months. they nurse for about 2 months.

can they be a pet? yes. anteaters are very friendly. they need plenty of space to roam though.

what senses do they use? anteaters have poor eyesight but very good sense of smell and hearing.
what size are they? anteaters vary in size from squirrel-sized to 7 feet long. they can weight up to 110lbs.

other description? their claws can be up to 7 inches long.their tails are 28-35 inches long.

do boys and girl look different? Male and female anteaters look so alike that females can only be identified when they are accompanied by their babies

habits? can sleep for up to 16 hours a day wrapping their tails around themselves like a blanket. they are woken up easily though. some are awake during the day and some are nocturnal.

Friday
Anteater Habitat Questions

land, air, sea? anteaters live on land but can swim very well.

what is their habitat like? small anteaters live in trees and hop from branch to branch like squirrels.

what other (of the same) animals live around them? anteaters live by themselves. except for mothers with babies

what other (different) animals live around them? Rainforests are populated with insects (like butterflies and beetles), arachnids (like spiders and ticks), worms, reptiles (like snakes and lizards), amphibians (like frogs and toads), birds (like parrots and toucans) and mammals (like sloths and jaguars).

where do they live on the map/globe? live in Central or South America

what is that place like? tropical rainforest and grasslands

what is it's weather like there? it is almost always raining. always between 75*-80*


Resources:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/giant-anteater.html
<--- this one has a place to click to listen to what an anteater sounds like
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Amazonia/Facts/fact-anteater.cfm
http://www.thebigzoo.com/Animals/Giant_Anteater.asp
http://www.arkive.org/giant-anteater/myrmecophaga-tridactyla/
http://gomestic.com/pets/why-anteaters-could-be-the-perfect-pet-for-you/
http://www.curator.org/legacyvmnh/WebOfLife/Kingdom/P_Chordata/ClassMammalia/ClassMammalia/OrderXenarthra/giant_anteater.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/5053/SouthAmerica/giantanteater.html
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/rainforest/

animal of the week

I can never think of anything to do for science so I'm starting Animal-of-the-Week. We have science for 3 days a week - Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday - Short introduction to the animal, color a picture/do a craft, read a story
Thursday - Talk about the animal
Friday - Talk about the animal's habitat

Thursday and Friday's talks will have questions to answer about the animals. It isn't meant to be a Q&A session just info to have a conversation about.

Animal questions -
what do they eat?
do other animals try to eat them?
what is their skin like?
what color are they?
hatch or born?
what are they like as babies?
can they be a pet?
what size are they?
other description?
do boy and girls look different?
habits?

Habitat Questions -
land, air, sea?
what is their habitat like?
what other (of the same) animals live around them?
what other (different) animals live around them?
where do they live on the map/globe?
what is that place like?
what is it's weather like there?

Animal list -

1. Anteater
2. Bull
3. Crab
4. Dolphin
5. Eagle
6. Fox
7. Grasshopper
8. Hippopotamus
9. Iguana
10. Jellyfish
11. Kangaroo
12. Lamb
13. Moose
14. Newt
15. Otter
16. Penguin
17. Quail
18. Rooster
19. Starfish
20. Triceratops
21. Urson - porcupine
22. Vulture
23. Whale
24. Xiphias - swordfish
25. Yak
26. Zebra