Running late with this wrap-up…it’s been a very busy, tiring few days!

This was a very busy week, as I had two doctor’s appointments and a parent/teacher conference to go to during our regularly scheduled school time. Fortunately, we only had one (relatively easy) new concept introduced in math this week, so Turkey and Bunny could work on that, and their other workbooks, (spelling, grammar, and handwriting), while I was otherwise occupied. I know some homeschoolers are really opposed to workbooks, but I like them for several reasons. First of all, while I’m not a fan of busy work, I do like work, and workbooks are a concise, already assembled way of assigning on-topic work. They also provide students a chance to work independently, with only occasional guidance from the teacher. Workbooks and worksheets are also good for demonstrating progress, as well as showing skills that have been learned.

We continued with our state sheets this week, but they’re slowing down a bit, for now at least, as we’re also learning about some famous Americans. This week, we learned about Daniel Boone. Turkey and Bunny really liked his story, especially the part where he named his gun, (however, I was disappointed that he didn’t call her Vera!). It was also interesting to point out that while Daniel Boone was exploring, the American Revolution was really just beginning. It’s easy to assume that any westward expansion must have occurred after America declared her independence, but this simply isn’t true!

Bunny and Ladybug got an extra school lesson when they helped me make chili for our church’s chili cook-off on Friday. This is another one of those things about homeschooling that I love. If they weren’t learning at home, they wouldn’t have even been here when I started making it, much less able to help. Bunny worked on alphabetizing, (there were many spices necessary for my recipe), measuring, and general cooking, while Ladybug worked on counting and grouping and regrouping. They had a great time, and didn’t even notice that I was throwing school work their way, and I got some extra help in the kitchen. Talk about a win-win situation!

Speaking of Ladybug, I may have to come up with another title for this weekly wrap-up. She’s starting to transition from pre-school activities to full-fledged kindergarten work. She’s working on the Explode the Code primers now, (if there ever was a “workbook kid,” it’s Ladybug!), which gives her practice on letter sounds and handwriting. She’s also doing some general kindergarten activities in other workbooks, at her discretion–she found them on the shelf and wanted to do them, and as long as she’s interested, who am I to argue? She’s showing some interest in learning to read, but I haven’t decided if I want to get started with that before Chickadee is born, because there will be a big disruption to our school schedule for at least a month there. She’s also doing counting activities and pattern blocks, and continues to listen in to all of our third grade read-alouds. So, for a four-year-old, she actually doing a lot of work, but it’s all pretty self-motivated.