Learning In Progress, February 2012

This was a really odd month for school. February can be a difficult time for homeschoolers at the best of times, but with our move and pregnancy-related issues for me it was the perfect time for a break.

We took a full two weeks off amidst all the craziness which means we did just a little bit of "regular school" and tried to read and have free art time each day. Because I was in bed for some of this time my record keeping was a little spotty.


Ender is 6 years old, in first grade.

Ezra is 4 years old and having a very relaxed K4 year because of his desire to be included in our school time. Very little is required of him on a daily basis, but he often chooses to read along with us or work on various projects of his choosing.

Faith:
Reading Ender's weekly assignment from church every week.
Finished the review verses for the Wingrunner book for Awana
30 minute Bible Study with Brian each week, Genesis 3 & 4.
Ezra- memorizing his weekly verse for Awana Cubbies.

Math:
Ender completed Lesson 25-35 in Saxon Math 1A
Continuing calendar skills with learning to write dates.
Ezra working with dominoes and dice to match numbers.
Both- playing Too Many Monkeys and Monopoly Junior.

Language Arts:
Copywork and narrations based on our history, science and literature readings
HWT (yellow)- p. 49-59
Ezra: Moveable Alphabet practice with CVC words, working with short vowels.

Science:
Both: Still learning to use our new microscope.
Watched Animal Atlas on Netflix
Narrating from Christian Liberty Nature Reader K, letter J
Read independently from the Christian Liberty Nature Reader

Geography:
Scrambled States of America game
Memory work- the names of the continents and oceans

History/Science/Literature: (These are read together unless marked IR)
Fables by Lobel
If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern
President George Washington by David Adler
(Many picture books, probably around 20-25 that I didn't keep track of)

Memory Work
The Caterpillar by Christina Rosetti

P.E.:
Ender: PeeWee Basketball 1x per week
Ezra: Indoor soccer 1x per week

Fine Arts:
Ender: daily violin practice
Lots of free art time.

Ender's Free Reading:
Finished Magic Treehouse: Dark Day in the Deep Sea
Magic Treehouse: Polar Bears Past Bedtime
And several picture books read to his brother while I rested.

Envision

What I love the most about this house is the light.

 

And the potential.

I've spent a little too much time envisioning the canning that will happen here in late summer and early autumn (and how much easier it will be now that I have more than two tiny squares of countertop!), the upcoming celebration for Baby Girl, the crafting parties sure to happen around the kitchen table, and stockings hung on the mantel in anticipation.


Slowly but surely it's coming together- we have two more rooms in need of just a little more unpacking/organizing (hopefully to be finished today), then only two more rooms to fully unpack. Brian is on a mission to finish by next weekend and he and the boys have been working like machines taking care of what I can't. I sort what needs to go where, make them a list and off they go, moving boxes and sorting onto shelves... *loving* this teamwork.

Yarn Along

{Yarning Along with Ginny again this week}

I started this little February Sweater for Baby Girl right after Valentine's Day, sized it up a bit and got right to knitting... then realized as my yarn cake got smaller and smaller much faster than expected that I hadn't bought the second skein needed to accomodate the sizing up.

Chalking that up to pregnancy brain.

 

I finally got back to the LYS for a second skein and got back to work on it. Another 5ish inches in the lace pattern I think before the garter edging. This little cardi is my absolute favorite knit to gift little girls so I absolutely had to make one for Baby Girl. The lace is super easy to memorize, and now that I'm on my fourth knit through it I practically have the pattern memorized in entirety.

 

I also have to say that I may have developed a Berocco Vintage problem. I picked up this lovely purple last December and when I went in the other day to grab a second skein of the purple I walked out with four more skeins of Vintage worsted and one of Vintage DK. It's just so lovely to knit with! And it's all going toward baby things so that makes it acceptable, right?

 

As far as reading I'm mostly reading school-related books right now- reminding myself about the Kindergarten thing since Ezra will officially start school with us this year and making plans for second grade with Ender. I know it's early for most folks to be planning and buying for school, but I'm trying to get everything organized before baby gets here, starting with the lists for what we want to accomplish next year and from there deciding on curriculum. More on that soon, since I can't seem to stop chatting about our school plans while I'm in the midst of planning them.

In Need of Entertainment?

 

What do you do when you have two little boys that are

oh so tired

of helping their poor mother unpack box after box?

Put them to work with the swift and ball winder.

 

Suddenly work doesn't feel so much like work.

{Yarn is:}

Kollage sock-a-licious in Grape

Berroco Vintage in yellow for baby's Puerperium Cardigan.

Here

We're here.

The important things are unboxed, like the kitchen and the bathrooms. Our next priority was getting the studio set up since I had to go directly into teaching Monday morning. We were able to work on the school area a bit on Saturday night, but not well enough to start back to school on Monday. Maybe by tomorrow there will be a little bit of math or that sort of thing going on around here. Or maybe we'll just wait until Monday...

It's a bit of a crazy week this week in the studio as our recital is just a few days off, but next week starts the slower schedule that we all need for a few weeks before baby shows up.


We're spending every evening trying to get one more box put away, or figuring out how we will best use a particular space. Brian has been a champion un-boxer (surely they give out medals for that sort of thing!) while I've been a champion at, well... sitting on the couch and telling him where things go. Taking it easy as per my doctor, but still trying to get the house into liveable shape.


I haven't been knitting much these last two weeks, but I've been thinking a lot about it and missing it dearly. I have two skeins I need to wind- one for the next baby project and the other for the next pair of socks- the February sweater I started about two weeks ago for the baby is on hold until I can get my hands on another skein of Vintage. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought I could size the pattern up and STILL get it all done in one skein. I'll call pregnancy brain on that one.


I promise some pictures just as soon as I locate my camera.