This Month in School...September
September 30th, 2008Warning: Declaration of categories_plugin::SkinTag($params) should be compatible with Plugin::SkinTag(&$params) in /home/scher3/public_html/blogs/plugins/_categories.plugin.php on line 0
September
The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel--
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive
Well-honeyed, hums,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.
by John Updike, from A Child's Calendar
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I open, here, with the poem that I have read each day of this fine month of September, to which we bid adieu this evening. :) Now, on to our first installment of This Month in School!
This month Liam has worked diligently at the following skills:
* fine-motor, through tracing, cutting, and pasting
* fine motor, through printing his first name
* visual perception
* eye-hand coordination
* safety rules
* shapes through multi-sensory exploration
* phonological awareness (fancy term meaning, awareness of sounds
in spoken words), i.e., rhyming
* same/different
* patterns
* left to right progression in reading and writing
* top/bottom
* categorization by physical attribute and function
* sorting by attribute
* short a sound
* memorizing (and dramatizing) Nursery Rhymes, i.e., Little Bo Peep, Humpty Dumpty, and Little Jack Horner
Liam also learned a new Memory Verse, "A soft answer turns away wrath." (Proverbs 15:1) He has also been learning several of the Fruit of the Spirit, namely, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience.
Both children have really enjoyed reading some new books, such as:
Chicken Soup with Rice
Louella Mae, She's Run Away
Down By the Bay
Mouse's First Fall
Apples
This month, Aine has mastered the following:
* color recognition, i.e., red, yellow, blue, green, purple, orange, pink, black, white, and brown
* shape recognition, i.e., circle, crescent, oval, rectangle, star, heart
* participating in Story Time at the library
* counting independently from 1 to 11
* letter identification
* animal identification
We hope everyone is enjoying their week and we will try to keep you posted next month on what's new at school for our little ones!
Happy Autumn...Belated...and Other Assorted News
September 25th, 2008...And even when the trees have just surrendered
To the harvest time
Forfeiting their leaves in late September
And sending us inside
Still I notice YOU when change begins
And I am braced for colder winds
I will offer thanks for what has been and what's to come
YOU are autumn...
--lyrics from Every Season by Nichole Nordeman
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Yes, according to the calendar we welcomed Autumn on Monday, September 22nd! As for us here in Yorkshire, it has seemed like the season of Fall for much of the past few weeks. :) Leaves have been furiously flit-fluttering to the ground in all their reddish, orangish, yellowish finery and the air carries a cool crispness commonly associated with this, my most favorite season of the entire year. So what, you might ask, was unique about OUR first day of Autumn? What hint was bestowed to remind us that it had indeed, officially arrived? I will tell you.
I am sick.
Again.
Yes, it just doesn't FEEL like Fall anymore unless I have a sinus infection/cold, an earache, and am feeling generally run-down and exhausted. So add to the typical accessories of Fall, i.e., rakes, jackets; some new must-haves--vitamin C, tissues, hot tea.
However, I, as in all seasons, will welcome the good with the bad, the desirable with the undesirable, the sweet with the bitter. And speaking of...
In my desperation to try to rid myself of this sickness in all ways natural, I have decided to try a tea made of garlic, lemon, and honey (yes, I agree it sounds dreadful but I'm willing to try it once if it works) which is supposed to boost the immune system. You guessed it! I AM desperate after spending last year in what seemed like a perpetual state of illness and I intend to do ALL I can to fight it off. Once I recover from the taste of this elixir, I will give you my honest opinion on whether or not I thought it was worth the affront to my taste-buds! :)
We send our love! Enjoy your day!
Sharpen Your Pencils...
August 28th, 2008I thought this might present a good opportunity to update regarding progress they each made during this past year in our new home. (As the five of you who read this blog are aware, I began last year with the best of intentions in updating the blog weekly with Liam's activities and progress. Well...let's just say I became so busy living life that it left no time for writing about it. This time around, I will try to update once a month to put less pressure on myself and see how that goes.) Here is an overview of the growth Liam has made this past year:
---recognizes all 26 capital letters; recognizes 23-26 lower-case letters (occasionally, there is still some confusion between b & d & p, which is to be expected)
---counts independently to 29 (with the exception that he frequently omits 15)
---tells how to spell his first name and prints the L and i (he verbally explains how to form the a and m, but is dissatisfied with how his turn out, so he usually wants someone else to make those two for him)
---confidently answers first 14 questions of the catechism.
---sings about 15 Scripture memory songs from memory.
---enjoys "reading" easy read books from memory, but is very interested in learning to read this coming year (He loves to watch Blues Clues on VHS and is fascinated by sounding out words.)
---especially loved the units we did on the "Five Senses" and "Growing Seeds" and will tell you lots about it if you ask him.
---identifies 8 main colors
---identifies 9 main shapes (crescent is his favorite and he frequently goes on his own "shape hunt" to see what we have in a given room)
Furthermore, last year's "pre-school" curriculum fueled his desire to learn, which was our main goal, since he was only 2.5 when we started last year and didn't REALLY need to start yet.
The following is the progress Aine made during last school year:
---spends up to two hours at a time "reading" stories to herself (she is as much of a book worm as Liam ever was!)
---sings alphabet song (& many others)
---counts independently to 11
---answers questions 1 & 2 of the catechism
---identifies circle, star, and crescent shapes
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NOW FOR THIS YEAR'S PLANS for Liam:
Liam will begin using this curriculum this year. We have decided to follow a Classical approach to education and this curriculum looks to be a good fit for us at this point. We will, of course, not know for sure until we use it this year. I liked it because I was already familiar with a great many of the books from my days of teaching Kindergarten. It is also from a Reformed theology worldview, which is also a perfect fit for us. Let the adventure begin!
Liam will continue to be learning the Scripture, Fruit of the Spirit, 10 commandments, Lord's Prayer, the catechism, Apostles' Creed, Italian and Sign Language; he will begin to learn to play the recorder at mid-year; and our social studies, science, art, music, and physical education will be more formal and focused than before. Being as it is still Pre-school and he is only 3.5, however, "more formal and focused" should not be taken to mean he will spend hours of every day sitting at a table completing work! It will be more formal and focused in comparison to last year, but still in accordance with his age and appropriate developmental level. There will still be much time for games, puzzles, and playing, playing, playing! :)
Aine will continue to glean what she will from being around Liam's schooling and we will purposefully add a time most days for her to complete alphabet puzzles, number games, A to Z Zoo, exploring a variety of media used for art to develop fine motor skills. By mid-year, if she seems inclined and interested, I may begin the Pre-school curriculum I compiled/developed last year with Liam. We will see. :) Oh, and Aine is potty-training, too.
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Enjoy your week!
Behold
August 27th, 2008Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians
Fifth Chapter--Seventeenth Verse
To Savor Summer's End
August 26th, 2008As we relish Summer's last few weeks, already one can sense the gentle transition into Autumn has begun.
Daylight rapidly dissipating, whispering to us of the darkness to come.
Tomato plants groan beneath the weight of cascading cherry-sized fruit...ripening as the days...awaiting the harvest.
A holiday to the Emerald Isle, once long-awaited, now a lovely memory etched in my mind and in that of my beloved.
My heart feels the rustle of this page turning to lay peacefully with the other spent pages of time...yet I linger to enjoy.
A blank new page awaits, beckoning me to carefully consider that which I would scribe upon it for all eternity...
A new beginning...a new school year for the children to delightedly embark upon...a season of celebrations...of milestones ordained for one brief and beautiful point in time.
Come Autumn, but tarry a while--we have many moments yet to savor.
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Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:4-9
