Math, Engineering, and Critical Thinking

Part of her curriculum included several educational games that have been fun and have done a great job of helping her make connections with her bookwork. Inchimals, Brain Box ABC, and Tegu are three of them.

We have fallen in love with Inchimals! She starts out by laying the blocks out in order, 12 -1. Each block has the numeral on one end and the value shown in dots on the other, two sides have an image of an animal and the other two sides have measurements in inches. There is a spiral bound wipe off book used for solving math problems. She matches the animal image to the rod and writes the corresponding numbers in the blanks, she stacks them together and then counts the inches to arrive at the answer,  then writes the value in dots in another blank. Its a great way to learn math concepts.

Engineering is being introduced by these amazing little wooden blocks, called Tegu, that have magnets in them. Each day there is a model to copy and each week she is asked to invent something new. Today, she improved upon the model she was to copy. True Ellie style.

Brain Box ABC teaches critical thinking. She stares at a card for ten seconds, measured by the hourglass, and then answers the questions on the back of the card. In the following picture she answered all of them correctly, which is normal for her.

Second Week of Kindergarten In Progress

We have fallen into a happy routine here that makes sitting down for desk work much easier and exciting. After chores and breakfast we take a long nature walk through the field roads. We spend our time talking about earth and sky, plants and animals, making observations and gathering items to identify both in photograph and for her nature table. Many times she takes my hand and we walk side by side, other times we will walk or run as the mood strikes and the scenery dictates.

 When we return, if its hot enough we take a quick dip in the pool. This summer she has learned to swim by herself, no floaties! She is our little fish. If it cool enough we throw bareback pads on our mares and head back out to the field roads for a little trail ride. Ellie has spent a lot of time in the round pen, without reins or saddle, learning to sit the trot and gain strength and balance, but these rides are usually at a walk due to the heat. She has learned so much about caring for her pony this year and it is a joy to watch their bond.

 When we go in we start on our lessons, then break for making lunch. Today she helped me fry chicken nuggets from 8 chicken breasts. We talked about measuring, safety, cleanliness, seasonings, and healthy food. She loves nuggets and we love for her to have homemade ones. I had the cutest picture of her helping to dredge the meat but accidentally deleted it. After lunch, we clean up and she gets to watch Wild Kratts, Super Why or Peg Plus Cat for half an hour and then free play for half an hour, while I prep the next activity or catch up on anything I need to do.

Then its back to the school room for arts and crafts and the rest of the lessons. We have been lucky to meet new friends this summer. Miriam, who we met at Library during the Summer Reading Program party, came out for a second play date yesterday afternoon. These two girls have so much fun with dramatic play and outside. Ellie enjoyed showing her the school room and all her books and supplies. It was finally hot enough that they were able to swim together too. Its so much fun to watch them and great to have some mommy talk time too!

 These photos are from Monday and Tuesday of this week. Some of them are things we are working on identifying. So far, through much research and discussion about clubbed antennae, we have learned the difference between a moth and a butterfly.

Willow Pond School is settling in to becoming magical.

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Piano

Lesson two of Piano went well! Here are some highlights:

First Week of Kindergarten

 Can't believe she is old enough for kindergarten. We have been working on preschool skills for months now but this is something entirely different for a momma. After much research and thought we finally decided on a curriculum. We have been having a great time using Timberdoodle Elite package. Here are a few snapshots of what our first week has looked like:

 

 She has always been fascinated by music and plays daily on her large keyboard so we enrolled her in weekly piano lessons. We were happy to meet another homeschool family with a girl her age who had the lesson before us.


 

On Tuesdays we go to gymnastics. She's been going since the first of June this year and is really progressing and she has so much fun. It has improved her listening skills, her balance and confidence in her body.


 Friday we met with a large homeschool group in Martin for a playgroup at the park. We met so many new friends and I learned a lot about local resources. Excited for the co op classes to start.