Well, the deck is covered in books, a hammock, pillows and a fort, but I think the reading party is finally coming to an end. The weather couldn't have been better! It was really a great day.
Zoë has just stopped reading for the day (near 5 pm). She took a break for lunch, but otherwise she has been reading non-stop since 7 am. She thinks that she has read over 15 books today. Aiden spent all morning reading, and around 3 he started getting stir crazy. He read 4 books and a bunch of Artemis Fowl. Needless to say I think the Reading Party was a big hit! Now I need to take them back to Barnes and Noble and the library to turn in their reading lists.
It was wonderful to hear one of them giggle to themselves about something they read, then run over to share it with me, or in Zoë's case, hail me from her throne on the hammock. We took a break to grab some lunch from the evil empire (I promised they could have a Happy Meal), and have an afternoon snack, but otherwise we read all day.
The morning started out interesting when we found a surprise resident trying to build a nest in a muffin pan in the drawer under the oven. The rodent perpetrator was promptly set free outside. Good thing they wanted muffins for breakfast, or who knows when I would have found him! He's lucky the snake is still too small, or he would have been breakfast for Diamond instead of relocated. Maybe now the kids will listen to me when I tell them to shut the door behind them.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Reading Party Here We Come
We finished out our week of eclectic learning. Aiden is back on the typing bandwagon and working hard to learn how to type at 20 wpm. He's certainly frustrated that it isn't something he can learn in one day. It's nice to find a challenge for him.
They're both doing well with their daily writing sessions. They've produced lots of stories, poems, and the beginning of a graphic novel. The hardest thing about it for me is not editing anything. At this point I'm not even making suggestions for improvement. They will get enough of that when we're working on the projects with our curriculum starting in September.
Today after school they realized they were 11 beads away from their reading party. After lunch they asked me if there was anything they could do to earn the rest of the beads so they could have their party on Monday. They decided they would get one bead for each room that they cleaned. Hooray!! As I'm writing this, they have 2 beads left to go. Tomorrow we'll head to the library to get stacks of books for Monday morning. I'm excited for them. They've worked really hard and have both done an excellent job quelling the "I don't know" answers. I think they only lost 2 beads the whole time for using those words. Now I need to find something to read too!
They're both doing well with their daily writing sessions. They've produced lots of stories, poems, and the beginning of a graphic novel. The hardest thing about it for me is not editing anything. At this point I'm not even making suggestions for improvement. They will get enough of that when we're working on the projects with our curriculum starting in September.
Today after school they realized they were 11 beads away from their reading party. After lunch they asked me if there was anything they could do to earn the rest of the beads so they could have their party on Monday. They decided they would get one bead for each room that they cleaned. Hooray!! As I'm writing this, they have 2 beads left to go. Tomorrow we'll head to the library to get stacks of books for Monday morning. I'm excited for them. They've worked really hard and have both done an excellent job quelling the "I don't know" answers. I think they only lost 2 beads the whole time for using those words. Now I need to find something to read too!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Olio of learning
The last few days have been rather uneventful. The kids seem to have gotten back into the groove of morning classes quickly, although I have had to explain several times why we're not taking the week off since it's technically our 4th week of school. After I told them we have most of July off, they weren't upset and have worked very hard.
In typical Aiden fashion he's already taken his spelling test for the week. I found some 5th grade spelling lists that they're working on. I was astounded that he quickly learned to spell achieve and acoustics among others.
Zoë has been devouring books. She's finished The Westing Game and is ready for the discussion on Thursday. She reads at the grocery store, as she's eating lunch, and while she's walking around the house. She finished both the library and Barnes and Noble's summer reading programs weeks ago.
They're both learning to read music now, and seem to enjoy that part of piano practice. We've also started a new system where they have to write everyday for 20 minutes. I don't care what they write, and I don't edit any of it, but I spend time telling them what I liked most about the work. I just want them to get used to sitting down everyday to get something on paper. They really took to the idea of setting a timer and we've incorporated that into Spanish, reading and spelling practice too.
They have almost earned their first reading party day. It looks like probably some time next week we'll have our party. They saved the beads they earned during Mystery Camp and yesterday we were going to add them to the jar. Aiden put his in with a sour look on his face and Zoë didn't even want to add hers. I knew right away what they were thinking, but pretended to have no idea why they were upset. Aiden said that he didn't want to use the beads from Mystery Camp because they were smaller than our beads and that would mean that they'd have to earn more before they could get their reading party. Zoë didn't want to add the beads because she was afraid that the next time they were working toward a reading party they would have that many more they'd have to earn. I gave them both an extra bead for thinking and communicating and let them count out the same amount they'd earned from our beads. They were thrilled!
In typical Aiden fashion he's already taken his spelling test for the week. I found some 5th grade spelling lists that they're working on. I was astounded that he quickly learned to spell achieve and acoustics among others.
Zoë has been devouring books. She's finished The Westing Game and is ready for the discussion on Thursday. She reads at the grocery store, as she's eating lunch, and while she's walking around the house. She finished both the library and Barnes and Noble's summer reading programs weeks ago.
They're both learning to read music now, and seem to enjoy that part of piano practice. We've also started a new system where they have to write everyday for 20 minutes. I don't care what they write, and I don't edit any of it, but I spend time telling them what I liked most about the work. I just want them to get used to sitting down everyday to get something on paper. They really took to the idea of setting a timer and we've incorporated that into Spanish, reading and spelling practice too.
They have almost earned their first reading party day. It looks like probably some time next week we'll have our party. They saved the beads they earned during Mystery Camp and yesterday we were going to add them to the jar. Aiden put his in with a sour look on his face and Zoë didn't even want to add hers. I knew right away what they were thinking, but pretended to have no idea why they were upset. Aiden said that he didn't want to use the beads from Mystery Camp because they were smaller than our beads and that would mean that they'd have to earn more before they could get their reading party. Zoë didn't want to add the beads because she was afraid that the next time they were working toward a reading party they would have that many more they'd have to earn. I gave them both an extra bead for thinking and communicating and let them count out the same amount they'd earned from our beads. They were thrilled!
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