Term One: Week Two ~ Introducing Our Letter of the Week Program

Our first full and official week of school and so we focused on getting Munchkin's Letter of the Week program started.  He is VERY excited about having "real" schoolwork, and enjoys having a portion of each school day devoted to him.

He was thrilled to have his very own handwriting book. Not only did he do BOTH of his "Ff" pages on the first day, but he also worked on several of the number pages as well.

Quote of the day while working on his handwriting...

"I went off the lines here a little bit mum, but only because I'm SO excited!!" 

"Ff" is for FISH - so we got out the fishing game. 

"Ff" is for FLOWER so we did a flower paper collage project. 

I am allowing the older boys to participate in the art projects associated with Munchkin's program, but only if they get their own work done first.  Monster really enjoyed both the flower collage project, and the "F" covered in feathers! 

 "Ff" is for FEATHERS so he decorated a capital "F" with some pretty craft feathers.

Munchkin's finished flower collage - I gave no guidance or instruction - and was impressed with his skill and creativity. 

When dad has some spare time in his work day, he comes out of the office and snags a boy or two for a little while.  This particular day he and Munchkin worked on (and solved) the Bird of Paradise brain teaser puzzle. 

"Ff" is for FROG so we worked on a frog life cycle worksheet. The older boys did NOT participate in this as it was a repeat for both of them from when Monkey did a Letter of the Week Program. 

I have a beautiful Aboriginal style colouring book of different animals so I make copies of the page that corresponds to the Letter of the Week and the boys colour while I read aloud. The top picture is Monkey's and the bottom picture is Monster's.  Munchkin is a bit slower with his colouring so I will feature his finished product when it is ready!!

Last but NEVER least, our selection of books for the week...

Some of Monster's and Monkey's independent reading for the week.

We found some GREAT books at the library about frogs and enjoyed a long read aloud session one afternoon while the boys coloured their Aboriginal style frogs.  All of these books were interesting, informative and fun to read, but our favourite was probably this last one (above) which would definitely classify as a living book! 

A rather random read aloud choice for Monster and I, but he does love his Horrible History books.  We try to read them in an order that suits our history studies, but sometimes we veer off course.

Term One: Week One ~ Natural and Play Based Learning

Our first week of the new school year started out super hot (39C/103F) so we planned an excursion in the city with friends, and shortened our learning days down to the three that were cool enough to think straight.  It was also an adjustment for EVERYONE to get used to being on the more structured routine of a school term, so a short week was needed.

I kept our focus on play based, natural, and self-directed learning this week and we really enjoyed the activities for this week.

Although Munchkin won't register with the Dept of Ed until next year (when he turns 6) he is working on kindergarten curriculum this year, and excited (most of the time) to be doing school like his brothers.  I will keep his "work" developmentally appropriate, play based, and low key. We will do a Letter of the Week program through the year - which will focus on literature, art, and science, and I will follow his lead for most everything else.

It looks like the winner for read aloud time (at least for now) will be sensory play. All three boys listened to a rather tall stack of books while their hands were busy creating with the magic sand. 

I promised Munchkin we would do some painting this week ~ and I came good with that promise.  I set everything up outside and they enjoyed acrylic paint and finger paint!

Thursday afternoon we were off to the library to restock our library bookshelves! We were also excited to welcome back our favourite librarian (George) after he had six weeks off.  The boys enjoyed some computer time while I browsed the shelves choosing selections for history/geography and science.  See photos below for a more detailed description of what is on each shelf.

The top shelf usually holds our DVD selection and the boys Beast Quest books that they are currently working through.

This shelf holds Monkey's dinosaur books, and then Monster's government, natural wonders, continents and habitats books, and the Ancient Rome books. 

On the bottom shelf we have Munchkin's picture books, a selection of natural disaster books, animal books, and more habitat books.  These are some of the unit studies I'm hoping to accomplish this term. 

I've created another little library book area with the temporary bookshelf I moved into the lounge room after we redecorated.  It isn't overly suited for anything other than very small books though so I'll be on the lookout for something that will work better for us. 

This shelf holds Monkey's Premier's Reading Challenge books. This way he knows where they are and can easily grab one or two when he has some spare time to read. 

The other shelf will hold the books that correlate with Munchkin's Letter of the Week program. I bet you can guess what our first letter will be next week!! 

Monster is making a huge attempt to finish this puzzle as he is eager to move on to a puzzle given to him for Christmas by a special friend of ours! 

We spent all day Friday at our favourite park catching up with our homeschool group! All the children were eager to play together after not seeing one another for six weeks, and we welcomed a new member to the group who was born just three weeks ago!!  So while the children ran around, the mum's chatted and doted on the new baby!

Monkey was brave and climbed all the way to the top of the spider web, so I rewarded him with a photo!! 

Our book selections for the week... On the left is a wonderful picture book about the various different seasons at the top end of Australia. We paired this book with The Seasons Cycle (below) for a mini unit on weather (we'll extend this later in the term when we learn more about extreme weather and natural disasters). The book on the right was one of Munchkin's bedtime stories for the week. 

We enjoyed the Beatrix Potter book and the Roald Dahl book as our literature selections for the week and Monkey finished Flat Stanley for Premier's Reading Challenge. 

Monster spent long amounts of time reading silently and finished two Beast Quest books, while Monkey read Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo silently to himself as it is a Premier's Reading Challenge selection. 

Two more Premier's Reading Challenge Selections that Monkey enjoyed reading. 

 Finally two non-fiction books that Monster and I enjoyed (as read alouds) to kick off our study of Ancient Rome!

Despite the heat, tears and frustrations at the beginning of the week, I'm really pleased with what we accomplished this first (short) week of the term!  I am excited for the learning that is ahead of us and I hope and pray I can share that excitement with the boys!!