OLD HOMESCHOOLERS NEVER DIE . . . THEY JUST WRITE CURRICULUM


"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants."

Deuteronomy 32:2

Courses of Study

To view the Course of Study for each grade level, you can click on the "Course of Study" label
or "Search This Blog" for the specific grade level you wish to see.
To date, I have courses of study completed for kindergarten through fourth grades.

Newsletter Articles

In 2013 the Lord started me producing a newsletter for the homeschool group we are a part of. Every other month I write an article on a topic the Lord has put on my heart. I've decided to add these articles to this blog. I hope you will find encouragement through some of my ramblings. You can click on the label "Newsletter" to find the articles.

Sunday, June 26

Kindergarten, Bible, Week 22

This week we:
  • Memorized Psalm 139:19
  • On Tuesday I introduced Catechism #21: Of what were our first parents made? God made the body of Adam out of the dust of the ground and formed Eve from the body of Adam. Read Genesis 2:7, 21-22
  • Read stories 123 - 135 in Picture Story Bible
  • Other books, stories, videos:
    • Sylvester
    • Red Boots from Other Lands
    • The Princess and the Kiss
  • Prayer
  • Song: America the Beautiful, stanzas 1 - 4

Kindergarten, Writing, Week 22

Monday I introduced the lower case letters f and t. K. practiced a line of each letter each day.

Small Muscle Development:
  • Obstacle Course, see Writing, Week 8 for instructions.
Story Development:
  • Halting Stories, see Writing, Week 17 for instructions.
Writing Practice:
  • Activity: That's Good, That's Bad from Games for Writing
  • You'll need: Writing Paper, Pencil, Spinner
    • Cut a circle for the spinner from poster board, card stock, or an old manila folder.
    • Divide the circle in fourths. In one section write "Lose a Turn", in one write "That's Bad", in one write "That's Good", in the last write, "That's Good, That's Bad".
  • Rules: Players take turns flicking the spinner and writing the next sentence (or two) in the story, according to the spinner instructions. If a player lands on "Lose a Turn", then they don't write. If a player lands on "That's Good, That's Bad", they write two sentences. The "Good" sentence does not have to be first.
  • Variation: If you want to add points, every line of good news gets 5 points; every line of bad news gets 3 points; lose a turn gets 0 points; of course, writing a good and bad line gets 8 points.
  • Here is the story we ended up with:
My dog barked too loud. That's bad. The neighbors were not home. That's good. My dog jumped the fence. That's bad. My dog missed his food. That's bad. He got food. That's good. He came home to me. That's good.

Kindergarten, Reading, Week 22

Monday through Thursday we read from our textbook.
  • Ask questions using the Four Levels of Questioning and Comprehension.
  • The genres were:
    • Fiction
    • Biblical Account
Friday our activity was Picture Labels, see Reading, Week 7 for instructions.

Kindergarten, Math, Week 22

Monday we worked on Estimating Weight
  • You'll Need: a More/Less Spinner, Computer Clip Art CD
    • I started by copying a picture of a wedding cake and pasting it onto a blank sheet in a document.
    • K. flicked the spinner. It landed on "More", so she had to find something in Clip Art that would weigh more than a cake and copy and paste it to the document. (She chose a cow.)
    • Next I flicked the spinner. It landed on "Less", so I had to find something in Clip Art that would weigh less than a cow.
    • We continued our tuns until the page was full. At one point K. needed something that weighed more than a house -- she found a picture of Earth.
Tuesday we played with Number Patterns
  • Game: Three Pots, see Math, Week 19 for instructions
Wednesday we practiced Counting On
  • I got out our bag of coins and we reviewed the worth of each coin
  • Then I put out a nickle and 3 pennies and had her count the total: 5, 6, 7, 8
  • I kept putting out different combinations of coins for her to count
  • We did this about 10 times
Thursday we worked with Place Value
  • Game: Bunch of Beans, see Math, Week 19 for instructions
Friday we reviewed Recognizing Numbers
  • On our way to the park (about 10 miles away) we read all the numbers we could see on signs.
  • It was a contest to see who could see them and read them off first.
  • K. won as my first priority was driving and safety.

Kindergarten, History, Week 22

Monday
  • I read chapter 20 of Child's History
  • We found India on the globe
  • Items to note:
    • Early civilization started along the Indus River
    • People from (around) Persia invaded
    • Caste system -- could not eat with, play with, or marry someone from a different caste
    • Gautama taught the people to be good, honest, and help the poor
    • People started called him Buddha and started worshiping him as a god
Tuesday
  • We looked at Ancient World pages 70 - 71
  • Read more from Aesop for Children
Wednesday
  • Read II Kings 5 and 11
Thursday
  • I read chapter 21 from Child's History
  • We located China on the globe
  • Items to note:
    • Confucius taught the people
    • Early civilization located around the Huang River and Yangtze River
    • Chinese had a written language, a different character for each word, not an alphabet
    • Chinese made many inventions
Friday
  • We worked on our time line

Kindergarten, Science, Week 22

Monday
  • I read Genesis 1:14. This week we are going to learn about the seasons.
  • Why Do The Seasons Change? pages 4 -17
    • This is mostly review, but K. wanted to re-do some of the explorations we had done in previous weeks.
Tuesday
  • Why Do The Seasons Change? pages 19 - 21
  • Concept: the earth is tilted, causing the northern and southern hemispheres to get more or fewer hours of light
  • Exploration:
    • Darken a room, stand about 3 feet from a globe with the northern hemisphere tilted toward the you.
    • Shine a flashlight (the sun) on the globe.
    • Notice that the hemisphere tilted toward you (northern) gets more light and the hemisphere tilted away from you (southern) gets less sun. This is summer in the northern hemisphere.
    • Make the earth orbit the sun 180°. Now the southern hemisphere should be tilted toward the sun. This is winter in the northern hemisphere.
Wednesday
  • Why Do The Seasons Change? pages 22 - 27
Thursday
  • I Can Read About Seasons
    • This book has great illustrations. I wasn't planning on reading the entire book in one sitting, but K. was interested, so I kept reading.
Friday
  • Read I Can Read About Seasons again
  • Concepts:
    • The earth is tilted this results in the northern and southern hemispheres to get different amounts of light causing the seasons.
    • The hemispheres seasons are opposite.

Sunday, June 19

Kindergarten, Bible, Week 21

This week we:
  • Memorized Psalm 139:18 (even though I don't say it, we review all we have learned of Psalm 139 every day)
  • Reviewed our Catechism
  • Read stories 110 - 122 in Picture Story Bible
  • Other books and stories or videos we read/watched:
    • Sylvester
    • Blister
    • Ignoring the Bounty from Short and Sweet
    • Who Holds the Brush from Short and Sweet
    • Because I Love You
  • Prayer
  • Song: America the Beautiful, stanzas 1, 2, and 3

Kindergarten, Writing, Week 21

Monday I introduced the lower case letters v and w. K. practiced a line of each letter each day.

Small Muscle Development:
  • Tuesday we played with playdoh.
Story Development:
  • Wednesday we had a Story Map. See Writing, Week 8 for instructions.
Writing Practice:
  • Friday we played Word by Word. See Writing, Week 17 for instructions.

Kindergarten, Reading, Week 21

Monday through Thursday we read from our textbook.
  • Ask questions using the Four Levels of Questioning and Comprehension.
  • The genres were:
    • Fanciful Fiction
    • Choral Reading
    • Realistic Fiction
Friday our activity was Talk a Drawing, see Reading, Week 9 for instructions.

Kindergarten, Math, Week 21

Monday we worked on Estimating Length
  • Game: Is It? from Games for Math -- this game will help your child learn to use a ruler and develop firm notion about centimeters and/or inches.
    • You'll Need: a simple ruler, paper, pencil
      • Make a simple ruler using a piece of card stock. Mark only the centimeters (or inches). It does not need to be long, 10 centimeters or 6 inches is good to start with. You can number the centimeters/inches, or leave the numbers off and let your child count the distances they are measuring.
    • Rules: Take turns asking "Is It?" questions
    • Ideas:
      • Your child uses the ruler to draw a line, then puts the ruler in her lap and asks you, "How long is it?" You estimate then she measures it for you to see if you were right.
      • "Without looking at the ruler, draw a line that is 6 cm long." "Is it 6cm?"
      • "Find something in the room that is 15 cm long." "Is it 15 cm?"
    • Being right in this game is almost impossible. Your child is doing terrific when they are almost right.
Tuesday we played with Number Patterns
  • Game: Spin a Number from Games for Math -- in this game your child learns that a five in the ones place means 5 and a five in the tens place means 50.
    • You'll Need: a spinner with spaces numbered 1 through 6, scorecards, pencil
      • Make paper scorecards (scrap paper is fine) for you and your child with two dashes side by side. The dash on the left represents the tens place. The dash on the right is the ones place.
    • Rules: The first player flicks the spinner and jots down the number (but not on one of the dashes) so it isn't forgotten. Then they flick the spinner again. Then the player decides which number to put in the tens place and which in the ones place to make the biggest number. Then the second player takes their turn. The person with the largest number wins.
    • Variations:
      • Players have to decide whether to put their first number in the ones or tens place before spinning the second number.
      • Add a hundreds dash.
      • The player with the smallest number wins.
Wednesday we worked on Place Value
  • Game: Bag of Marbles from Games for Math -- this is another game that will teach your child that five in the ones place means 5 and five in the tens place means 50.
    • You'll Need: paper lunch bag, 9 blue marbles, 9 red marbles, scorecards, pencil, bowl
      • Make paper scorecards (scrap paper is fine) for you and your child with two dashes side by side. The dash on the left represents the tens place. The dash on the right is the ones place.
      • You can use other colors of marbles, or you can use bingo markers, squares of construction paper, etc.
    • Rules: Put the marbles in the paper bag. The blue marbles represent the tens, the red marbles represent the ones. Player #1, without looking, takes 10 marbles out of the bag and puts them in the bowl (to keep them from rolling around the table). Player #1 counts the blue marbles and writes that number in the tens place on his scorecard; then counts the red marbles and writes that number in the ones place on his scorecard. Return all the marbles to the bag. Then Player #2 takes his turn. The winner is the player with the largest number.
    • Variation: Add another color and a hundreds dash.
Thursday we made a Pictograph
  • I took a Nature Friend magazine that featured birds and butterflies.
  • K. decided on a symbol for butterflies and another for birds.
  • I wrote the key (1 butterfly = ) at the bottom of the sheet.
  • We began looking through the magazine, page by page. Each time she saw a bird or butterfly she drew another symbol in the appropriate row.
  • About the 4th page of the magazine, K. decided she wanted to count the caterpillars and bees, also. So we added those symbols to our key.
  • When we finished looking through the magazine, I asked questions about the graph.
  • Remember, your child will be working with graphs for many more years, and doesn't need to understand everything about them in kindergarten.
Friday we reviewed Counting
  • Game: Fill the Spoon from Games for Math
    • You'll Need: a spoon (we used a soup spoon -- the larger the spoon the higher you'll count), beans
    • Rules: Take a spoon and fill it with beans. Don't scoop the beans, but carefully put them one at a time on the spoon. As soon as one falls off, you must stop and count the beans. Record the number. The player with the highest number wins.

Kindergarten, History, Week 21

Monday
  • I read chapter 18 from Child's History.
  • We reviewed where Babylon was on the globe
  • Items to note:
    • The king of Babylon conquered more lands because he wanted Babylon to be as great as Nineveh had been.
    • When the king of Babylon died, his son, Nebuchadnezzar became the king.
    • Nebuchadnezzar married a princess from Media
    • Nebuchadnezzar built a hill with beautiful gardens on top of the palace because his wife missed the hills of her homeland.
    • This is called The Hanging Gardens.
    • Nebuchadnezzar sent his armies to Jerusalem, destroyed the city, burnt the temple, and brought the Jews to Babylon.
    • Babylon became very wicked.
Tuesday
  • We looked at pages 46 and 47 of Ancient World.
Wednesday
  • I read 2 Kings 25:1-21 and Daniel 1
  • I read from Aesop for Children
Thursday
  • I read chapter 19 from Child's History.
  • We looked at where Babylon, Media, and Persia were on the map.
  • Items to note:
    • The Medes' laws were fixed hard and fast and were unchangeable. (reference story of Daniel and the lions den)
    • Croesus was the king of Lydia and owned many gold mines.
    • Cyrus, king of Persia, wanted the gold mines, so attacked and conquered Lydia.
    • Cyrus attacked Babylon while Belshazzar was having a party.
    • Cyrus' army dammed the Euphrates River and came in through the dry riverbed.
  • I read Daniel 5 for the rest of the story.
Friday
  • We worked on our time line.

Kindergarten, Science, Week 21

Monday
  • We watched the video What's Up in Space?: Stars from the series The Solar System for Kids
Tuesday
  • We watched the video Space Science for Children: All About Stars
Wednesday
  • I read The Big Dipper by Franklyn Branley
Thursday
  • We watched Space Science for Children: All About Stars again. I gave K. her choice of the videos and she chose this one.
Friday
  • We read The Big Dipper again

Sunday, June 12

Kindergarten, Bible, Week 20

This week we:
  • Memorized Psalm 139:17
  • Reviewed our Catechism
  • Read stories 97 - 109 in Picture Story Bible
  • Other books and stories we read:
    • My Heart, Christ's Home
    • Red Boots from Other Lands
    • Just in Case You Ever Wonder
  • We watched the video Muffy
  • Prayer
  • Song: America the Beautiful, stanzas 1 and 2

Kindergarten, Writing, Week 20

Monday I introduced the lower case letters m and r. K. practiced a line of each letter each day.

Small Muscle Development:
  • Tuesday K. cut on lines. See Writing, Week 10 for instructions.
Story Development:
  • Wednesday our activity was Write It For Me. See Writing, Week 10 for instructions.
Writing Practice
  • Friday our activity was Race of Words. See Writing, Week 16 for instructions.

Kindergarten, Reading, Week 20

Monday through Thursday we read from our textbook
  • Ask questions using the Four Levels of Questioning and Comprehension.
  • The genres were:
    • Biblical Account
    • Fanciful Fiction
Friday our activity was Letter Contest from Games for Reading. See Reading, Week 15 for instructions.

Kindergarten, Math, Week 20

Monday we worked with Estimating a Number of Objects.
  • We sat on the floor in K.'s room and while she wasn't looking I took out some blocks.
  • Then I had her turn around and quickly guess how many blocks there were.
  • After guessing we would count the blocks to see how close her guess was.
  • Here is a link to an estimating game. Count Your Chickens
Tuesday we worked on Place Value
  • Game: Fifty Wins from Games for Math -- another game to help your child appreciate the importance of ten in our number system.
    • You'll Need: 1 playing mat for each person, a spinner, at least 50 beans per person playing
      • Make the playing mat of card stock or an old manila folder. Draw 10 small squares down the right side of the mat and 5 large squares on the rest of the mat. (see photo below)
      • Make the spinner by dividing a circle into 12 segments. In the segments write: Win 1, Win 10, Win 1, Win 1, Win 10, Win 1, Lose 10, Win 1, Win 10, Win 1, Win 1, Win 10
    • Rules: Each small square can hold 1 bean, each large square will hold 10 beans. Player #1 flicks the spinner and takes or removes the number of beans indicated. Put the beans in the small squares. When you get 10 single beans, you group them together and place them in one of the large squares. The first person to fill all 5 large squares wins.
      • If you land on Lose 10, but do not have beans in a large box, you have nothing to return.
      • Count out the ten beans before putting them on the playing mat.

Wednesday we practiced Counting On.
  • Game: Bunch of Beans -- see Math, Week 19, Monday
Thursday we made a Bar Graph.
  • I gathered K.'s colored blocks (there are blue, green, yellow, purple, and red).
  • K. wrote the colors on the left of the chart.
  • As she picked up each block she marked an 'X' in a box in that color row.
  • After we finished that she colored the rows
  • I asked her which color she had the most, least, etc.
  • Then I showed her that if we wrote numbers at the top of the chart, she could easily tell how many there were of each color.
Friday we Reviewed Ordinals.
  • Game: Find a Penny from Games for Math
    • You'll Need: 10 cups and 5 pennies. (I used small yogurt containers.)
      • Write the numbers 1 through 10 on the bottom of the containers.
    • Rules: Place the containers upside down in a column with number 1 closest to you. With your child not looking, place 1 penny under a container. Say to your child, "A penny is hiding under one of the containers. Can you guess which one? If your guess is wrong, I'll give you a hint. If you can find the penny in four guesses, you win the penny."
      • Let's say the penny is under container 4. If your child guesses eighth, you would tell them it is closer than the eighth cup. If they guess second, you would tell them it is farther than the second cup, etc. They get 4 guesses. If they find the penny, they get to keep it. If they don't find the penny, you get it. Do this with all 5 pennies.

Kindergarten, History, Week 20

Monday
  • I read chapter 16 from Child's History.
  • Found Italy on a globe and map (we could see the boot shape better on the map)
  • Items to note:
    • Romulus killed his brother because they both wanted to build a city.
    • Rome was settled by escaped prisoners.
    • The escaped prisoners stole wives from a neighboring city.
Tuesday
  • I read The Book of Jonah
    • Be sure to draw the connection that the ship Jonah was on was a Phoenician ship. We have learned about the Phoenicians previously.
    • The last pages of the book has a map and other great information.
  • I read some fables from Aesop for Children.
Wednesday
  • I read Jonah from the Bible
  • We looked at pages 42 - 45 in Ancient World
Thursday
  • I read chapter 17 from Child's History.
    • Make sure your child understands that this is the same place that Jonah went to.
  • Find Assyria/Nineveh on a map.
  • Items to note:
    • The Assyrian kings fought their neighbors to have more land and power.
    • Nineveh had the first public library.
    • The books were made of clay.
    • Babylon and the Medes attacked Nineveh and destroyed it.
Friday
  • We worked on our time line

Kindergarten, Science, Week 20

Monday
  • I read pages 22 - 29 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
  • Concept: Stars are in the sky all the time, but we can't see them during the day because the sun is brighter and closer.
  • Exploration:
    • Shine a small flashlight onto a wall in a dark corner. We used a key chain that has a green LED light.
    • This is an example of a star in the sky at night.
    • Then shine a bright flashlight at the same place on the wall.
    • This is an example of the sun.
    • Even though the small light is still shining on the wall, you can't see it.

Tuesday
  • I read pages 30 and 31 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
  • Concept: We do not see the sun at night because it is on the other side of the earth.
  • Exploration:
    • Take a globe and tape a paper doll (you could use a drawing or picture of your child) where you live on the globe.
    • Tape another paper doll on the opposite side of the globe, on a country your child is familiar with. We did Egypt.
    • Set the globe on a table.
    • Hold a flashlight and shine it on the globe.
    • Let your child turn the globe and observe that as the earth rotates she has daytime and nighttime.

Wednesday
  • I read pages 32 and 33 from Moon, Sun, and Stars.
  • Concept: As the earth turns, it looks as if the sun rises and sets, but really the sun does not move.
  • Exploration:
    • Cut a sun out of yellow paper.
    • Use the largest ball you have. We used an exercise ball.
    • Using a paper doll or a drawing, show your child that if the ball was the earth and they were standing on it their head would be perpendicular to the ball.
    • Then have them put their chin on the ball.
    • Tape the "sun" a few feet away on the same level as their head.
    • Slowly rotate the earth and your child so they can see the sun appear little by little (the sun rising).
    • Here is a video of our exploration. I left it turned so that you would see the sun rising without needing to slant your head, but looking at the furniture, you can see everything is sideways.

Thursday
  • I read pages 34 - 37 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
  • Concepts:
    • The moon turns around once in 4 weeks.
    • The earth turns around once in a day and night.
    • The earth turns very fast, but we do not feel it turning because the air is turning with us.
    • Gravity (we had learned about that previously) holds us to the earth.
Friday
  • I read pages 38 - 45 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
  • Concept: It takes a year for the earth to move around the sun.
  • Exploration:
    • Go outside and set a ball down to represent the sun.
    • Let your child be the earth. They will rotate and orbit the sun.
    • You be the moon, slowly rotate and orbit the earth.
    • Then switch places.
    • Rotating and orbiting is really difficult to do. You may want to draw the path that the earth takes around the sun with sidewalk chalk, and don't get frustrated or exasperated with your child. I wanted K. to experience being both the earth and the moon, but I found it worked best when I was the earth and I held onto her hand as she was the moon.

Saturday, June 4

Kindergarten, Bible, Week 19

This week we:
  • Memorized Psalm 139:16
    • We looked up the word "fashioned" in the dictionary and found out it means "made" or "put together". God put together our days before we were ever born!
  • On Tuesday I introduced Catechism #20: Who were our first parents? Adam and Eve were our first parents. Read Genesis 2:7, 18 - 22; 3:20
  • Read stories 84 - 96 in Picture Story Bible
  • Other books and stories we read:
    • Muffy
    • Princess and the Kiss
    • Because I Love You
    • Mariyo's Japanese Doll from Other Lands
    • It Has All Been Planned from Short and Sweet
  • Prayer
  • Song: America the Beautiful, stanza 1

Kindergarten, Writing, Week 19

Monday I introduced the lower case letters h and n. K. practiced line of each letter each day.

Small Muscle Development:
  • Tuesday we played Three Color Road Race -- see Writing, Week 10 for instructions
Story Development:
  • Wednesday we played Catch My Silly -- see Writing, Week 5 for instructions
Writing Practice:
  • Friday our activity was Rhyme Time from Games for Writing
    • You and your child each pick a word (any random word will do). I picked "stop" and K. picked "cat".
    • We filled one paper with words that rhymed with STOP and aother paper with words that rhymed with CAT.
      • You can write out the consonants, blended consonants, and digraphs to help you. These would be: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, qu, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z, bl, br, ch, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl, pr, sc, scr, sh, shr, sr, st, sw, th, thr, tr, wh, wr
    • Then you can start writing your poem.
    • The first line will end with a word from List #1.
    • The second line will end with a word from List #2.
    • Take turns adding one or two lines each, alternating the ending words from List #1 and #2.
    • Here is our poem:
My horse went clip-clop
My horse is fat
I yelled to my horse "stop!"
My horse had a hat.
We stopped at a shop
We looked at a funny mat
We bought a mop
And a cat.
We bought some pop
We bought a bat.
We sat down plop
And had a chat.

Kindergarten, Reading, Week 19

Monday through Thursday we read from our textbook.
  • Ask questions using the Four Levels of Questioning and Comprehension
  • The genres were:
    • Historical Fiction
    • Fable
Friday we did an activity from Games for Reading
  • Poster Word -- see Reading, Week 14
    • This time we used the words: Moon, Star, Sun (science theme)
    • I wrote them with glue and K. shook glitter on them. She will decorate them some more another day and then I will put it up in her room.

Kindergarten, Math, Week 19

Monday we worked on Place Value
  • Game: Bunch of Beans from Games for Math -- this game helps children understand the complicated role of ten in our number system: thirty-four means 3 groups of 10 and 4 more
    • You'll Need: 1 playing mat for each person, 100 beans for each person, and cards from Skip-Bo Junior or Uno (remove all cards that are not numbers)
      • Playing Mat is made of card stock (or an old manila folder). It has 10 columns with 10 circles in each column. (see photo below)
    • Rules: Each person takes a turn drawing a card from the deck. The number on the card tells you how many beans to take and place on your mat. Start on the left, and fill columns from the top to the bottom. The first player to fill up his mat with 100 beans wins.
    • Your children will discover the lesson behind this game without lectures, so just play it and have fun. When they want to know how many beans they have, you can help them discover it is easier to count by 10s rather than 1s. When they want to know who is winning, you can help them discover it is easier to compare groups of tens and ones rather than counting.

Tuesday we played with Number Theory Patterns
  • Game: Three Pots from Games for Math -- this game helps children understand that a digit represents different amounts depending on its placement in a number: the "3" has a different value in each of these numbers 143, 432, and 360
    • You'll Need: 3 containers (16 oz sour cream or cottage cheese containers work well), 9 beans, paper, pencil
      • Label one container "Ones", another "Tens", another "Hundreds" (see photo below)
      • Draw a chart on each paper with 5 rows and 3 columns. In the top row, label the columns: Hundreds, Tens, Ones
    • Rules: Player stands behind a line, 2 or 3 feet away from the pots, with the "Ones" pot closest to the player (see photo below). Player takes the 9 beans and tosses them one at a time into the pots. Any beans that don't end up in a pot are collected and tossed again until all 9 beans are in a pot. Count the beans in each pot and write the corresponding numbers in the next row of the player's chart. After all players have had their turn, the person with the highest number wins.
    • Children will come to understand that 3 beans in the hundreds pot is more valuable than 3 beans in the ones pot. That adding a bean to the tens pot doesn't affect the hundreds or ones pot. This is a fun game that K. wants to play even during our Family Time.

Wednesday we worked on Counting On
  • Game: Grasshopper from Games for Math -- this game will encourage your child to start counting from numbers other than 1
    • You'll Need: a driveway or sidewalk, sidewalk chalk
      • Write the numbers 1 through 10 in a haphazard fashion, in a space no larger than 6 feet by 10 feet
    • Rules: Start by having your child hop onto a number you say. Then, depending on your child's ability, give instructions such as
      • run to the number that is 1 more than 7
      • jump to the number that is 1 less than 4
      • count backwards from 10 to 5 and hop on each number as you go.
    • As your child gets more practice, ask for the number that is 2 more than, 3 more than. You can also use higher numbers, such as 15 through 30 or 100 through 120. You will also want to switch places and let your child give the instructions to you.
Thursday we experienced Graphs
  • We played a matching card game and K. kept track of our score with tally marks.
  • Then after the game she counted the tally marks (count by 5s) to see who won.
Friday we Reviewed
  • We played Shape Lotto from Games for Math -- I made new cards that had both the flat and solid shapes on them
    • You'll Need: playing mats, matching cards plus two cards that say "Sorry"
      • Make the playing mats by dividing a piece of card stock or manila folder into the number of squares you want. Draw or paste a shape in each square. I used these shapes: square, rectangle, triangle, pentagon, circle, oval, crescent, rectangular solid, cube, sphere, cylinder, and cone.
      • Make the cards by drawing or pasting the same shapes on them as are on the playing mats. You will need enough to cover all the squares.
      • Make two more cards that say "Sorry" or "Lose a turn" (If more than 2 people are playing there should be 1 "Sorry" card per player.)
    • Rules: Each player has a playing mat. Place the cards face down and mix them up. Do not stack them. Players take turns picking a card. When they pick a card they must say the name of the shape and then cover that shape on their playing mat with the card. If a shape is picked which they already have covered, they must return it to the "pot" and mix up the cards again. They do not get to pick another card until their next turn. If they pick a "Sorry" card, they lose a turn, but do not return the card to the "pot". The player to fill their playing mat first, wins.

Kindergarten, History, Week 19

Monday
  • I read chapter 14 from Child's History.
  • Found Greece on a globe
  • Items to note:
    • People that thought chiefly of fun and pleasure were "not great"
    • People that worked hard and did what they ought were "great"
    • Spartans had hard laws
    • Spartans only trained the body
    • Athenians trained the mind and the body
Tuesday
  • We looked at and discussed Ancient World, pages 50 and 51
Wednesday
  • I read 1 Samuel chapters 1, 3, and 15 through 18
Thursday
  • I read chapter 15 from Child's History.
  • Had K. find Greece on the globe.
  • Items to note:
    • Greek sports were running, jumping, wrestling, boxing, and throwing the discus
    • The Big Meet was every 4 years
    • Only men and boys competed in the Olympics
    • War was stopped for the Olympics
    • A Good Sport:
      • Doesn't brag when he wins
      • Doesn't make excuses when he loses
      • Doesn't complain if something seems unfair
    • Winners were crowned with a wreath of laurel leaves
Friday
  • We worked on our time line

Kindergarten, Science, Week 19

We are on Day 4 now, learning about the Sun, Moon, and Stars.

Monday I read about Day 4  in the book The Creation.

Tuesday
  • I read pages 8 - 11 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
  • Concept:
    • Even though the moon looks bigger than the sun or stars it is really smaller. It looks bigger because it is closer.
  • Exploration:
    • I gave K. a penny and had her put it next to a globe. Which is bigger?
    • Then I moved the globe across the room and had her put the penny close to her eye. Which looks bigger?
    • Next, we went outdoors and compared the size of the penny to a tree. Which is bigger?
    • Then we moved away from the tree until the penny, when close to the eye, appeared bigger than the tree.
    • Last, I had her slowly move the penny out to arm's length and watch the penny "shrink" in size.
Wednesday
  • I read pages 12 and 13 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
  • Concept:
    • The moon orbits the earth.
  • Exploration:
    • We went outside and I pretended to be Earth and K. was the moon, orbiting Earth.
    • Then we switched places.
Thursday
  • I read pages 14 - 17 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
  • Concept:
    • The moon is made of rock.
  • Exploration:
    • We looked at pictures of the moon on-line.
Friday
  • I read pages 18 - 21 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
  • Concept #1:
    • The moon reflects light from the sun.
  • Exploration:
    • You'll Need: a hand mirror.
    • I had K. stand in a dark corner of the room.
    • I told her that the ceiling light was like the sun and the mirror in my hand was like the moon.
    • Then I moved the mirror until light was reflected to where K. was standing.
    • Then I let her try.
  • Concept #2:
    • We see only the part of the moon lighted by the sun.
  • Exploration:
    • You'll Need: a ball (we used a basketball), a table lamp without the shade, a dark room
    • Set the lamp on something so the light is on the same level as you will hold the ball. It needs to be enough above your child's head so their shadow isn't on the ball.
    • Have your child stand about 3 feet from the lamp -- they are Earth.
    • Hold the ball and orbit Earth -- you are the moon.
    • Have Earth turn with you so he can see how the moon is lit differently as it orbits Earth.
    • Here is a video. This wasn't the first time we had done it, so Earth wasn't real interested in cooperating and was spinning faster than the moon, which it does (Earth rotates 28 times to 1 rotation of the moon).