Still here, still learning

I just don't put the blog as a priority-something I really have to change, as it will end up being one of the main ways we catalog what we do. In a nutshell, we read all the time, but Liv isn't showing the ability yet to fully grasp the concept of letters. She can write her name, and read it, and write and recognize a few other words, but she really doesn't get letters. On the other hand, she really enjoys math and science. I am trying to just go with this for now, and will wait a while before we dig at the letters too much more. I have noticed what she does know she has more easily picked up from games and television than from me. Honestly, I think, had we went with private or public school, she would have been held back this year. She is at the young end of the spectrum, anyhow. Socially, she is incredibly stubborn, but loves her friends and fantasy. Our routine is to be out and about only a couple times a week, trying to work in either the library or the science center/zoo, and another day just with friends. Days we are home we have school time for about an hour around 10 am. She gets to choose (in general) what we talk about. I think our Advent calendar is going to serve as a medium for activities through December, but she chooses different things fairly well, and I enjoy leaving that responsibility with her, choosing to trust that God is working through her to keep us at her pace, and not what I think we should do. I forget that teaching someone is so completely different than learning, and that my children are terribly different in every way, as I am from what they are. I learned to read very, very young. Liv will not fall into that category. On the other hand math and I have always butted heads, while she grasps it more readily than I know I did. On the same note, I want to keep an eye on her ability to recognize letters and numbers, in case she has a learning disability. There are some things I question, but I don't want to rush to any diagnoses, though. I am not that mother. It does seem, though, that I will be starting a learning blog for Asher sooner rather than later, as he is picking up on things that Liv did not until much later. It may be a difference in ability or it may be that having an older sibling just helps out that much more.

Booklist

Leaf Season (Clifford's Puppy Days series) by Quinlan B Lee, Illustrated Barry Goldberg
Minnie 'N Me Where's Fifi? By Lyn Calder, Illustrated by Vaccaro Associates, Inc
17 Things I'm Not Allowed To Do Anymore by Jenny Offill and Nancy Carpenter
The Listening Walk by David Kirk
When I Grow Up by Mercer Mayer
Clifford's Pals by Norman Bridwell
How Big Is God? By Lisa Bergren Art by Laura J Bryant
Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White, Illustrated by Megan Lloyd
Lady and the Tramp based on the story by Ward Greene and illustrations by the Walt Disney Studio
Goldilocks Has Chicken Pox by Erin Dealey, illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama

Booklist

Pictures of work from week of Aug 31st

Week of August 31st, 2009

What we talked about, did, etc...
*Visited the zoo with friends
*finding hidden objects in pictures
*beginning crochet (worked on chaining)
*horseback riding
*loves, loves, loves to run around outside
*tracing (for beginning manuscript)
*things that don't belong
*things that go together
*mazes
*happy vs sad
*big and bigger
*small and smaller
*same size
*the letter A
*pairs
*made a "coffee can man" for Auntie Autumn Art Time
*worked with modeling clay for art time
*I set up tumbling classes for Thursday's
*started on the letter B
(there are a lot of small skills throughout that list; some of these were simply due to the fact that she loves worksheets, and worked them in order, so there were things she really already knew how to do in there. Letters are posing a slight problem. I can't tell if she just doesn't like to regurgitate for grandparents or she really isn't getting them. I am just pushing through at this point-no worries. We are doing this at her pace, and in doing so, it is up to her when she tackles certain things. I know that our reading habits will help her out greatly, and she will surprise me one day with her mad skills :) )
Books read together:
*5 Little Bats Flying in the Night by Steve Metzger and Laura Bryant
*Little Red Riding Hood by Trina Schart Hyman (I loved the illustrations in this one)
*Cats Sleep Anywhere by Eleanor Farjeent and Anne Mortimer
*The Very Lazy Ladybug by Isobel Finn and Jack Tickle
*I Love My Little Storybook by Anita Jeram
*Nighty Night by Margaret Ward and Kerry Argent
*Yonder by Tony Johnston and Lloyd Bloom
*How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
*Started Fables by Arnold Lobel
*Game time on the computer consisted of a Clifford Storybook and a couple kindergarten discs.

I also wanted to point out for anyone who is out there starting out homeschooling-don't be deceived by the amount of time spent-teaching only one or a handful of pupils takes soooo much less time than a classroom, and that being so we spend a whole lot of time letting the world be our teacher, or playing if that's what you want to call it:)