New curriculum

Today we started working with the prepared curriculum I bought. I can't tell whether I like it or not. It's definately different trying to do more than one thing at a time. The kids are working on different things now, so I'm trying to find the balance between helping each of them. There was a little of "why don't I get to do that" this morning, but otherwise it seemed to go well.

They surprised me this morning by being extremely responsible. The puppy had decided to take a stroll around the neighborhood, so at about 8:45 I went out to find him. It took over 20 minutes, but when I came back both of the kids were on the computer working with their typing program. Zoë said they decided that since I wasn't back yet and it was 9:00, they'd start working on their agendas. WOW!! It's good to know that even if the teacher leaves the room, they continue to work.

I spent a while editing the volcano newscast last night. I've uploaded it to youtube if anyone is interested in viewing it. It's actually really cute. While you watch it, keep in mind that the kids wrote their own script. Each person wrote the part they read. They did all the research, decided what things they should talk about, what order they should be presented, and found all the pictures. A few times I helped Aiden form thoughts into a complete sentence, but otherwise I took dictation (since I can type faster than they can). We're still working on how to do the commercials, and I'll upload them when they're finished (if they even decide to do them).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEQ15Q4I9AI

Aiden is working on a unit on Matter and Movement now. The look on the librarian's face while we were checking out books this afternoon was priceless. Aiden was saying to me "you know mom, there are more than 3 kinds of matter. What about plasma? And isn't there dark matter? Are we going to study those too?" I guess I have some research to do, because although there is a brief sentence in the parent manual about plasma, it's not covered in the curriculum.

Zoë has started a unit on change and cultures. She's studying ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages. She got at least 7 books at the library, and finished reading one in the amount of time it took me to drive to Costco and shop. I guess it's a good thing she has 6 more to read!