Caty School

Caty now has small activities each day.  This helps to keep her attention better and allows her to explore.  She gets frustrated quickly, so we are working around her sensory and attention issues to create a good learning environment for her.  I try to work with her about an hour each day in some "educational" activity.

This week's themes in Caty school are:

• Letter B
• Polar Bears
• Number 2
• Living in the Arctic

Here's the movies we watched this week.

We found the Arctic Circle on the globe.

We talked about polar bears and painted with puffy paint.

 Her Polar Bear ended up in a snow storm...lol.

Number 2 Geoboard patterns from Make Learning Fun.

Using a math game idea from a busy bag swap, I printed this clipart and added the dots.  She used the dice to roll and cover that many dots.  It's a cute busy activity and encourages her counting.

She really got into Magic School Bus In the Arctic.

 Some more books we read.

To celebrate the Letter B...we did Bubble Art.

 We also learned a new song about Polar Bears....

She sung this song over and over and over again.  I think we sang it about 50-60 times in one day, and I am not exaggerating that number in any way!!!

I cannot find the original link...had this for a while now.

Polar Bear Poem

The polar bear lives in Alaska,
He never gets cold in a storm,
He swims in cold icy water,
His heavy coat keeps him warm.
Warm, warm, warm, warm,
His heavy coat keeps him warm.
Warm, warm, warm, warm,
His heavy coat keeps him warm. 

(you can sing this as a polar bear song to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean")

Since our Magic School Bus was about blubber, I pulled out and oldie science experiment.  

We filled a bag with shortening, and stuck her hand in it (her hand wrapped in another plastic baggie).

 She felt the ice water with her other hand, and then stuck her wrapped hand in the ice water to see how warm it stayed.

She really liked it.

Lydia had to join in the fun too!

 Our "boards" for the week.

 Our "B" book.

Watch for our weekly post on Caty school to see how she likes to do Preschool!!!

Our Weekly Adventures - Week 28

In my life this week....

Lots of running going on this week.  We had to suck it up and face that Lydia was going to need some medical help with attention and mood swings.  So she had her first appointment and prescription.  It's a truth that I have been avoiding for several months now.  I am sure someone who is reading this understands.

Lydia and I are going to see a ballet on Friday.  We are pretty excited.  We also had sports practices and violin lessons.  Speech therapy.....house cleaning....ugh.  I still can't figure out how to get it all done.

I am trying to read or do some crocheting in the evening.  My thought being that this will help with stress.  I haven't been feeling the best this week.  My fibro has been causing some flare-ups of problems that I haven't been dealing with for a few months.  I have even started having food reactions again.  I am starting to fear each bite because not sure if it will hurt to eat or not.

In our homeschool this week....

It's been rather sluggish in the area of Math.  Lydia is struggling with digit addition...she started her 2nd grade math.  So we will need to practice this for a few more days before moving ahead.  The boys...well.....they have decided that they are going to attempt sneaking past me about not doing their math work.  They honestly think that I don't check their math daily.  Seriously....you would think after 4 years they would realize that this is not the case.

Oh well...life goes on.  Lydia started back up with Headsprout again to help reinforce her reading skills.  We also started back our First Language Lessons since we stepped back from Five in a Row.

Caty has been doing well in "Caty School"  She is loving the new songs we sing each week.  The fun projects that don't make her feel like she is learning.  Whatever it takes.

Thoughts for the week.....

I read a great blog post about making adjustments for our children in their curriculum.  We have such luxury as homeschoolers to really individualize our kid's curriculum to their needs and also interests.  But by doing this alot, are we making our kids feel like life should always be easy and never a challenge?  It got me thinking.....I am a huge supporter of adjusting things so the kids keep learning and want to learn.  Am I encouraging "easy street" thinking?  Or just making learning fun?  I mean, even as adult if I don't like a book, I'm not going to finish reading it.  If I like a particular food, I may eat it more often.  As adults, we make adjustments for our interests and likes.  So now am I just worried about nothing.....GREAT....one more thing to worry about.

So what are your thoughts on the subject of individualizing your children's curriculum?

Projects and things I am working on.....

Saturday I spent most of the day taking bags and bags of junk from the girls room.  They had so many toys.  We had a nice donation and the girls were happy that they could still keep all their doll beds/strollers/furniture and little play animals.  It was so out of control and has been for about a year.  Lydia does not like to give away anything.  She still has baby toys, and Caty did too.  So that took a lot of stuff out of their room.  Now they have more space to play.

I need to get my storage room back under control.  That is this upcoming Saturday's project.  I keep dumping in there when I come home from meetings and co-ops, and never put stuff away right.  Especially on days where pure exhaustion just takes over my body.  I can now barely get to my printer and my desk is impossible.  I also have to suck it up and find some stuff to donate that we really do not need or use.  I am a bit of a board game junkie and afraid to giveaway anything that we might use.  With such a wide age range I am teaching, I just never know what kiddo might like what.

I also need to gut the boys room.  Brayden has a ton of stuff he never plays with.  It needs to come out, whether I end up storing it with his Thomas trains or not.  They need walking/building space in their room.  It's awful!!!

I need to make some adjustments in my lesson plans also.  I think may have put too many math lessons down each week for the kids.  But we'll wait and see.  I also have to adjust for Lydia's Headsprout look.

What I am reading.....

I am flipping around with a few different books.  I have been reading a book about the various types of spectrum disorders that also including OCD and Bipolar disorder in children.  I normally don't read a ton of books that deal with spectrum disorders, but since we keep getting new challenges thrown at us...I really need to look at something.

For fun, I am still attempting Alabama Moon and I found another read-together for Joey and I.  I am going to attempt The Westing Game.  I checked a couple more books out from the library to see if there is something I might be interested in.

What I am cooking.....

I made some chili.  Homemade minestrone the other day, and that turned out pretty yummy.  Since I haven't been feeling even 75% most days, I haven't been going above and beyond with cooking.  Poor Brayden has been waiting a week for homemade chocolate ice cream.  I will have to make it for him this weekend.

A Moment to share with week....

Have you tried painting with Bubbles?  In honor of the Letter B, we tried this for the first time.  It was fun and Caty really had fun.

I am loving the video function on my new phone.  So I plan on taking more videos of the kiddos doing projects.  It's just fun!

Linking up with other homeschool moms at Homeschool Mothers Journal on iHomeschool Network.

Be sure to check back tomorrow....for Our Week in Pictures!