One Plus One equals, Phew!

Since our last blog entry, the family is finding our stride. Getting organized and out the door is easier, and moods are better.  The Grenonas are finding their groove again!  This has allowed for more time and space for Lauren and I to focus on her learning.

What is working so far, is Lauren sitting down after breakfast to do some lessons. Lately she has been drawn to picking up her math workbooks.  So we've been sitting down at the table to do math for numerous mornings.

"My Book of Simple Addition (Kumon, ages 4,5,6)" is a great workbook to warm her up. She loves the repetitious exercises. She finds the exercises quite simple,  as a result I am seeing this build confidence.

• Example exercises: Saying and Writing Numbers up to 30; saying numbers while tracing them, fill in the missing numbers, and simple adding by 1 (i.e. 1 + 1= 2, all the way to 30). 
• Lauren has completed these pages with relative ease, makes a few mistakes usually when rushing through, but enjoys crossing out and correcting her answers
• Her number writing itself is still quite awkward, but improving
• most importantly, she seems to enjoy it (Phew!). Somewhere along the way I developed a major dislike for math (which I do NOT communicate to the kids!), so watching her happily explore math makes me happy. Lauren's dad on the other hand, is a very gifted math guy. He just taught me long division, which sadly I had (sort of) forgotten. And, surprising enough, it was FUN! Hey, maybe through watching and teaching the children, I will re-evaluate my dysfunctional relationship with math? :) But enough about me...

"Math Ahead- Grade One"-

• Sorting (Geometry & Spatial Sense): 
• Circle the picture in the group that doesn't belong, sort the items that belong to each group/category (i.e. freezer foods from fridge foods, summer clothes from winter clothes, fish and birds, etc...), and looking at a group of animals and Lauren making her own two categories then sorting. She breezed through this section.
• Patterning (Patterning & Algebra):
• Identify patterns such as shape patterns and colour patterns; 
• Identify and extend patterns; 
• identify patterns described in words and 
• create their own patterns. 
• Lauren had difficulty with the last exercise in this chapter. A series of patterns were started and Lauren was asked to continue the pattern using similar colours. We worked together completing them.

Geometry Blocks/Math Manipulatives-

• Lauren has been enjoying playing with the coloured geometry/pattern blocks. Working on adding and subtracting equations. 
• I just found mathplayground.com. Will check that out for fun on-line math games.

Printing Practice-

• 20 minutes of formal printing practice (lower-case letters) in her dry erase printing book
• Lots of printing practice this week while making Thanksgiving cards and presents, and she wrote another story book. Still prefers to write with upper-case letters.

"Basic Phonics Skills- Level B"

• Completed exercises Beginning and Ending Consonant Sounds of b and s. Lauren demonstrated that she clearly understood these concepts and easily completed exercises.
• Learned about the double s (ss) sound and the sh- sound.  Will do another lesson today to reinforce this concept since this was entirely new to Lauren.

Other activities of note:

• Two great back-to-back Spring Leaves Wednesdays- Beach sculpting and Art. Of course Lauren is at ease in both these environments where she can creatively explore and create. This past class we also traced our shadows on the pavement to watch our shadows shift as the sun moved across the sky. We will likely do this again sometime where I can put more time into the exploration and explanation. This will tie in nicely with Lauren's desire to learn about space, planets, etc...
• We have been exploring the compass direction points both in relation to where Lauren's house faces and on the world map.
• Dave involved the kids in the decision making and planning of the window placement and design in their tree house
• Dave also has taken the kids to his work on numerous occasions lately to visit the Treatment Plant at Currents at Otter Bay. They watch dad operate the system and test and treat the drinking water as well as the swimming pool's water.
• Violin lessons on Monday continue. Lauren is still grooving on them, and likes to practice at home.
• Lots of baking at home. We've been gluten-free for the past two weeks, so Lauren has been helping me to bake gluten-free breads, and muffins. She is learning about various flours, rising agents, etc... And also learning that sometimes baking experiments don't work (she has witnessed me tossing a few loaves of unpalatable 'bread' in the garbage!).
• We are going for morning walks with the dog. Our usual route is through the disc park, then take the trails that branch off from there. I hope to do this rain or shine- it is a GREAT way to start our day and we all come home refreshed and beaming. AND, these walks provide numerous opportunities for learning and discussion about the natural world...
• This week we are winterizing the yard and garden. Lauren has her own garden bed so we will examine what needs to be pulled out, and examine the state of her carrot population. I will take this opportunity to discuss with Lauren her gardening experience overall. What she planted that worked, what didn't grow, how could she improve next year's growth, etc...
• The Montessori mornings are good opportunities for Lauren and Matthew to play and learn with kids of all ages. They have been learning songs, baking, crafting and experiencing good old fashioned playtime under the apple trees. 
• One evening Dave bundled up the kids and went up the hill to the ocean-view lot to look across to Sidney and the various other islands. Across this distance, they could see traffic lights change, and cars driving. They were amazed! They then turned their attention to the starry sky. Lauren and Matthew saw their first satellite. They haven't stopped talking about this evening. What are satellites? And so we are learning about satellites. 
• Finally, last night at my parents for Thanksgiving, my brother, Uncle Mikey, set up the telescope, and set it on Jupiter. The kids still haven't got the hang of looking through telescopes, or binoculars, (an acquired skill I think), but they did see Jupiter with their own eye. This of course fed right into Lauren's fascination with space. This week I shall open up our book on the planets and we will read about Jupiter! 

PHEW! That's it for this update. Thanks for reading. I welcome comments and suggestions by all who read this. Happy Thanksgiving! 

Until next time,

Joanne