Visit to LCG

I talked to Lynne, and she let me visit Soren's class for a day. It was the day of their play. Soren was the sun. She'd been worried about not knowing her lines, but she remembered them perfectly when Lynne started her off. Most of the kids didn't, but they did a great job. Soren seemed to think her voice was too quiet.

I was a little bummed that I didn't get to see them learning anything. After the play, the kids had play time, followed by lunch. Then we went out to the playground. Lynne had a really cool way of letting the kids make decisions and using discussion to help them make good ones. I noticed that the assistant(?), whose name I can't remember, would say, "I'm going to ask you to...." rather than asking directly. I didn't get a chance to ask her about how that works.

It was really interesting to watch Soren's social interactions. Philip wanted to play with her, but she told him she didn't want to. Philip said, "You *never* want to play with me". To which Soren replied, "You *always* want me to play with you". We talked about that later on.

Soren sidelights

Due to some lucky circumstance, I've been getting extra time with Soren after her dance classes. We spend a lot of this time at playgrounds, but I've also been spending some of the time on learning new things.

One of the major things we've been focusing on is properties of natural numbers - how each number is unique and has its own special qualities. It's something that (I think) provides a good foundation for understanding mathematics. Our favorite number lately has been twelve, because it is evenly divisible by two, three and four (and one, as Soren pointed out to me). Figuring out "how many threes twelve has" gives her a good conceptual understanding of how division and multiplication work, and also involves some computation, which is good practice. We hit on some of the properties of logical operators, too -- mostly commutativity (we don't use terminology, because it's off-putting and is easily picked up when one has a solid understanding), in knowing that if three times four is twelve, then four times three is too.

Twelve turned out to be a great segueway into learning about time. We learned how to read an analog clock, and how to read it more quicky by counting by fives and fifteens. Also some terminlogy -- how "quarter 'til six" is the same as "five forty-five", etc. We also learned what AM and PM mean, and what parts of the day like morning, afternoon, and evening mean. I think she was really interested in all of this, because she put on a watch and wore it all weekend. She reported the time to us often enough to annoy Emma, and used different ways of saying it. Sadly, the watch is digital, but I think she'd use an analog one if it were pretty.

She'll need a lot of repetition to completely absorb all of this stuff, but I was very impressed by how much she remembered and understood, and how tenaciously she stays with a problem, even when it's frustrating. She seemed proud that I thought that.

busy

What have we been up to.

Emma took the pretest for the PASS exam and scored very high. I now have the PASS tests and will start giving them to her next week. There are 3 parts and you have to do one a day. It should be interesting. I just want to see how we score and whether there are things we really need to work on. She doesn't have to be tested this year, at all. Not until 5th grade, but I'd like to introduce her to the test so she's not freaked out in 2 years ;).

Soren started irish stepdancing last week and likes it. She also visited Elizabeth Clark's class on Monday and really liked it. We need to have a discussion about which dance studio she wants to commit to for the next year, or at least for the summer.

She is in a play at LCG next week. She is the sun gnome. I can't wait to see it!

she is also in the Kids Classic at the gym this weekend. Should be fun!

Emma is getting ready for states. She seems to be more focused at practice, which is good.

She is reading more of Jane Yolen's dragon blood series and is really enjoying it.

what other random stuff...Soren is writing a lot of stuff in cursive and it is lovely!

that's all I can think of right now although i know there's a ton of other stuff that they're doing.

LCG 5/10

Hello all,

We had another lovely day today. Started with our opening and lots of singing. Then we did an old marching song, and then sat down for bean bag passing and times tables.

We moved onto a form drawing that looked simple, but most of the children struggeled with it. We'll try it again next week.

Melissa came in for handwork, and the children settled down and were quite focused as they made their friendship bracelets. Some finished theirs today, and we'll work on more next week.

We went outside for snack, and birthday singing and wishes for Molly who is now 10! Then I told the story of Helen Keller, who is an amazing inspiration to me. I came across a book of her poetry once (although I can't find it now). If you ever get a chance, I encourage you to read something by her. She was a beautiful writer,
and a beautiful soul. I am in awe of her ability to communicate, without the benefit of seeing or hearing others communicate.

Enjoy these beautiful May days,
Lynn

Manic Wednesdays

Camp Arrowhead has been going great! Emma had her overnight camping trip on Tuesday night and was the official pancake maker on Wed. morning. She was a bit cold, but had a great time. She smelled deliciously of woodsmoke yesterday when she got home. They went to the fish hatchery at Powder Mills Park yesterday, which is quite a hike. She learned how to put up a tent too.

Soren studied wind yesterday in weather and they made a weather today chart.They were Victorian girls again in their Adventures in Time class. They made paper fans, a paper vase, made and played with paper dolls.

Rock climbing is going great. They learned how to traverse, and yesterday we did stemming (being on 2 walls at once), manteling - pushing up with your hands at waist level, flagging - letting one foot hang loose in order to keep your hips tight to the wall and help with balance, and smearing - using your feet on the wall to scramble up when you don't have a rock to put your foot on. Emma's particularly good at that. She got her picture taken hanging from a rock overhang for their website. I'll post a pic when they update it. They say she's quite good! Pretty neat. Soren is doing well too, and I climbed a few walls yesterday and tried to follow some routes.

We got some homeschooling materials at B&N this weekend. I got some geography, maps, a 4th grade test prep book and some grammar materials. Things I want to work on next year that we didn't do a lot of this year.

We're moving along in math and they are both doing great with cursive. Emma's on to capital letters.

Emma and I had a long talk last night about her unwillingness to finish tasks - from being sloppy in gymnastics when nobody is watching, to her room constantly being a mess, to procrastinating on her homeschooling work. It was very difficult - I adore her and don't like to criticize because she's very sensitive but I really want to help her get back on track. I had to clean out her room and take a lot of stuff because she just wouldn't straighten it up. Now she has to earn it back a piece at a time. It's life skills I guess.

LCG 5/3

Hello everyone,

We had another fun and boisterous day with the Evergreens today.

We started with our opening, and singing-- some old songs and some new. It felt good to get back into our regular rhythm of activities today.

We were able to paint with watercolors today-- the children made some beautiful creations.

Then we worked on our 3's, 4's, 5's and 6's times tables with singing and bean bag passing.

Our form drawing was very challenging. We will probably try to do the same form one more time before the year ends.

After snack we retold the story of Gandhi and drew pictures in our main lesson books.

We got back to recorder too, reviewing the songs we've played. Please be sure the children bring their recorders (and a cup for snack) for the remaining weeks.

We will celebrate Molly's birthday next week-- Carlson's are on for snack/clean-up.

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms. The kids and I are off to Chicago to see my mom and family this week-end. I went about 22 years without seeing my mom on Mother's Day. Now we have hit it twice in the last 3 years. I am grateful for my mom (and mother-in-law too), and that I have been able to be a mom. Thanks for sharing your children with me each Tuesday.

Have a good week,
Lynn