Califoregon Living

We had some friends over today to share in the activities.  (Girls, ages 4 and 2?)

Fingerplay
"What do you know?"

Bible Story
Luke 10:30-37
Children’s Bible: The good Samaritan

Dramatic Play
I made a "road" with tape.  The stuffed dog played a man injured on the side of the road.  The kids took turns scooting on a pillow and passing by the injured "man", then kicking a ball down the path past the man, then on the third time, they picke dup the "man" and took him to safety.

Letter Activity
The kids picked their favorite letter and painted them.

(Top row is from the boys/ bottom is the girls)

I took tape and had the kids pick a letter (H).  They used it to drive their cars on it.

Bible Activity
We talked about how we sometimes ingore others when we should help (examples: someone is crying, helping with dishes, not responding when asked to do something, playing with toys when you should be picking them up, etc.)

Side note: Later that day, when ‘A’ was in martial arts, while everyone was taking a water break, ‘A’ went up and told his teacher that he would like to help him set the room up.  I don;t know if this is because of the lesson from today or not, but it warmed my heart to witness this.

Devotional Activity
We reviewed four verses from our devotional book

Color Activity
We thought of items that were red, learned that red is rojo in Spanish.  The kids pasted items on paper and colored them.

This is review week…

Fingerplay: "What do you Know?"

Bible Story: Matthew 7:24-27
Children’s Bible: The parable of the wise man building a house on rock and the foolish man building one on sand.

Art Activity
The boys drew rock on a piece of paper, then pasted pre-cut (by me) items to create a house, representing the house built on rock.

Letter Activity
I quizzed the boys on letter recognition.  First, I wrote a bunch of letters on a piece of paper and had each boy read the letters.   It became clear that we need to do more work with ‘R’ and the lowercase letters. (I knew this.  I have not worked with him much on these.)  ‘A’ did great.  He was confused with lowercase  ‘g’ and ‘q’.

Then, I drew more letters and alternated asking each boy what the letter was…

I had the boys put the blocks away alphabetically.

Bible Activity
I had the boys build "houses" with blocks.  One house was on rock/ground, the other on sand/towel.  When the "rain" came, I pounded my fist on the ground.  The houses on rock survived, but the one on "sand" fell.

Social
We attended a birthday party for 5 year old "C". The boys had fun playing with the other kids.  ‘A’  met some new boys and was thrilled when they complimented him on his "Batman" shirt.

Continuing Ed for me
I attended a "New to Homeschool" seminar, sponsored by the Washington Homeschool Organization in Puyallup.  I went with two of my friends who also homeschool.  I assumed it would be small group of maybe 15 people, but the room in the library was packed, standing room only!  There were about 100 people.  They covered Washington state law, where to find curriculum, advantages to homeschool, record keeping.  They then opened the floor to questions.

Today, we went to the Pacific Science Center with "Ant-ee S"!  They had the "Grossology" exhibit and we learned about all things gross: farts, vomit, skin stuff, burps, snot, etc.
Here are the boys and Antee recreating a "toot"

Recreating a "burp"

How many calories can you burn in an hour?

Making a bubble wall

Ant-ee S at the giant table

I love the butterfly exhibit.  Poor ‘R’ stepped on one and killed it.

Fingerplay
"Time to Move"

Bible Story
Luke 17:12-19
Children’s Bible: Jesus healed 10 men with leprosy; only one returned to thank him.

Devotional Activity
Exodus 20:15 "Thou shalt not steal"
We read a story about a little girl who took flowers from a garden without asking the garden’s owner; how she apologized and made amends.

Letter activity
The boys thought of words that start with the letter ‘T’:
A: tad, tuna, tie, title, table, television, tell, two, tight
R:toot, tiki, tea, tall
Me: teeth, turkey,three, ten
The boys played on starfall.com and discovered: train, tiger

Bible activity
We took turns complimenting each other and saying "thank you"

Fingerplay
"Time to Move"

Bible Story
Mark 6:47-51 and John 11:17, 38, 41-44
Children’s bible: Jesus walks on water and raises Lazarus from the dead

Art Activity
The boys made "waves" with white paint and salt.  I cut a slit on top of the waves and drew "Jesus" on their index finger.  Jesus then walked on water!  The boys loved this activity and could not stop giggling.

Letter activity
I made the letter ‘T’ in tape and the boys played cars on it.

Music
We are learning the first two lines to "The Star Spangled Benner"

Dramatic Play
We made homemade playdough (1c. flour, 1c. salt, 1T. oil, water, food coloring).  They insisted on stirring it together, singing "what’s gonna work, teamwork".
We made a cave out of the playdough and a stone.  Popsicle sticks represented Lazarus and Jesus.  We re-enacted Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
Then, the boys got creative and Jesus and Lazarus were buried by lava from a volcano….they both died in a landslide…they made a house together, etc.

We also talked about how even though Lazarus and Jesus were friends, Lazarus still got sick and died.  We talked about how bad things still happen to us, but that no matter what, Jesus is always there and listens.

(I just pulled this up from my archives.  We began working through this list early August, 2006.  Here is how far along we are.)

I am slowly implementing different elements of the Charlotte Mason structure into our homeschool environment.  The first element is to read from the booklist from Ambleside Online.  Here is the list.  The ones that are bolded are the ones that we have read.  The ones that are red are the books the boys really enjoyed.

Winnie the Pooh series by AA Milne and Ernest H. Shepard

The Little House by Virginia Burton

The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack

The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey

Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

Ox-Cart Man by Barbara Cooney

Stone Soup by Marcia Brown

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

The Story of Little Babaji by Helen Bannerman

Brer Rabbit books by Joel Chandler Harris

A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Little Red Hen

The Gingerbread Man

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Aesop’s Fables

The Real Mother Goose

The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse edited by Peter Opie

The World Treasury of Children’s Literature selected by Clifton Fadiman.

The Church Mice by Graham Oakley

Hiawatha by Longfellow, illustrated by Susan Jeffers

Paul Revere’s Ride by Longfellow, illustrated by Ted Rand

My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Ted Rand

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Roxaboxen by Barbara Cooney

The Tale of Three Trees illustrated by Angela Elwell Hunt

Wynken, Blynken and Nod illustrated by either Susan Jeffers or Barbara Cooney
Books illustrated by Beatrix Potter (Meet Peter Rabbit and others)
My Little Book About God illustrated by Eloise Wilkin
Prayer for a Child by Rachel Field, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones
The Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
Poems to Read to the Very Young pictures by Eloise Wilkin
Frog and Toad readers by Arnold Lobel (Audio CD in the car)
Little Bear readers by Else Holmelund Minarek
George and Martha series by James Marshall
Frances books by Russell Hoban
Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylan
Catch Me and Kiss Me and Say It Again by Clyde and Wendy Watson (nursery rhymes)
Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Picture books by Maud and Miska Petersham (The American ABC and The Box with Red Wheels)
Each Peach Pear Plum Janet and Allan Ahlberg
On Market Street by Arnold Lobel
Picture books by Lucy Micklethwait
Brown Angels by Walter Dean Myers–poetry, we skip two poems, I believe.
Flossie and the Fox by Patricia McKissack
Miss Suzy by Miriam Young
Books by Tomie dePaola
In the Night Kitchen (slight nudity) by Maurice Sendak
Jump series by Van Dyke Parks, Malcolm Jones (adaptations of Brer Rabbit)
Year at Maple Hill Farm and others by Alice and Martin Provensen
When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
Babar books (the originals by Laurent De Brunhoff, not the TV spin-offs)
What Do You Do, Dear, and What Do You Say, Dear by Sesyle Joslin–comical books about manners.
Rose in My Garden by Arnold Lobel
The Man Who Loved Books by Jean Fritz
The Princess and the Admiral by Charlotte Pomerantz
The Story of Holly and Ivy and others by Rumer Godden
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
The Plain Princess by Phyllis McGinley
Alfie series by Shirley Hughes (very sweet and family friendly)

A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman

Fool of the World and the Flying Ship by Ransome/Shulevitz

OR The King with Six Friends by Williams (they’re similar)

Crictor by Tomi Ungerer

Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain by Edward Ardizzone

The Jumblies and Other Nonsense Verses by Edward Lear (esp one illustrated by Brooke)

Doctor Desoto by William Steig (the best dentist story ever)

Lonely Doll series by Dare Wright

The Sugar Mouse Cake by Gene Zion

Umbrella (about a little Japanese girl in New York City

The Crane Maiden by Miyoko, Matsutani

Two by Two by Barbara Reid (plasticine illustrated Noah’s Ark)

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

Yellow and Pink by William Steig (a good argument for creationism)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Read Aloud Bible Stories by Ella K. Lindvall Volumes 1-4

Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

Least of All by Carol Purdy

The Real Pretend by Joan Donaldson, illustrated by Tasha Tudor

Miss Spider’s Tea Party by David Kirk

A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman

You Are Special by Max Lucado

The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

Down, Down the Mountain by Ellis Credle

All the Places To Love by Patricia MacLachlan

Sophie & Rose by Kathryn Lasky

Jan Brett books, particularly The Mitten, The Hat, and The Gingerbread Boy

On Mother’s Lap by Ann Herbert Scott

The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

Laurie and the Yellow Curtains (an early reader)

Billy and Blaze by C. W. Anderson

I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joosse

Fireflies for Nathan by Shulamith Levey Oppenheim

The Rainbabies by Laura Krauss Melmed

Miss Fannie’s Hat by Jan Karon

With You All the Way by Max Lucado

No More Singing by Norman Bonner

The Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown

The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown
Mommy Hugs (also Daddy Kisses) by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben
Angus series by Marjorie Flack

The Three Little Kittens illustrated by Paul Galdone

The Poky Little Puppy by Gustaf Tenggren

Jesse Bear What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom

Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag

Andy and the Lion by James Daugherty

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Burton

Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward

Billy and Blaze books by C.W. Anderson

Scuffy the Tugboat by Golden Books

Seven Little Rabbits by John Becker (a repetitive counting/rhyming book)

We went to Bible Study in the morning.  The boys went to their class.  We hosted a luncheon with three friends and their children after.  I watched C1 and C2 in the afternoon and they participated in our homecshool activities.

Fingerplay
"Time to Move"

Bible Story
Mark 8:22-25 and Luke 9:12-17
Children’s Bible: Jesus healed a blind man and fed 5000 people

Active Exploration
We talked about what it would be like to not have the sense of sight.  I placed items in a pillowcase and the boys had to pick and item and figure out what it was before they pulled it out.  I also stated an item and they had to feel for it.  All the boys loved this activity.  It went on much longer than anticipated.

Letter Activity
The boys practiced writing ‘T’s:

We also did "Hide and Seek T"

Math Activity
Online Deal or No Deal (Learn numbers form 1-26)
I also laid a piece of yarn on the table, and placed five pieces of bread on one side.  I then moved a few pieces to the other side and had the boys count all the pieces.  I alternated the pieces between both sides.  The goal was to teach them that there was always five pieces of bread regardless of which side of the yarn it was: 5+0=5, 4+1=5, 3+2=5.  The boys happily chomped on the bread once the activity was over.

Color Activity
The boys went around the house picking items that were brown.  Then they brainstormed items that are brown and I printed images of them on the computer.  I cut them out and the boys pasted them on a piece of paper: (honey, dirt, bear, wood, bread, hamburger, chocolate cake)