dirtsongschool

We've still be taking quite a winter break. Most days have been pretty slow, but we've been lucky to have great play days with our Barefoot group, full of fun, exploring, experiments, and friends.  Another favorite part of the week was making more felt play food and setting up shop. The kids played shop for days, bartering and using play money, too.  Jan 15  Today we did a lot of letter practice using our letter magnets. River seems like she's making good progress on developing phonics and was excited to do it for most of the day.  We also did an expirament from our book 101 Cool Science Experiments where we made a wave in a jar. Slightly in line with our Barefoot lessons lately.  Jan 16  Today we did some easy pages in our Brainquest book. - filled in some numbers on our 100s chart (BQ172) - shape identification (BQ222)

Jan 2 Today we did some easy worksheets to get back into a rhythm. - Counting by 2s worksheet - Measuring around the house worksheet - Map of South America worksheet and labeled on a map where we've talked about Then we were really excited to try papyrus paper - River started on a papyrus coloring page with watercolor paints. She was so excited to have something from Egypt! While she painted we read some of our library books about Egypt before they need returned.  Jan 3 - practiced subtraction with flashcards - subtraction worksheet, (BQ 208) Last night River was practicing phonics on HOP so we did some BQ worksheets to go over digraphs SH and TH - SH and TH (BQ 26, 27) River also spent a while making her own stamps.  Jan 5 With our BU group we discussed ocean acidification. The kids picked their own seashells to draw, and then added them to a jar of vinegar. They also picked a control to put in a jar of water. We spent a long day playing at the park.  The she...

We took a winter break for weeks 17 and 18 from bookwork and lessons. We received lots of games for Christmas and have enjoyed them a lot. "Gameschool" isn't generally a method I have considered but now I'm glad we've found it. River learns best through interest and play, and so it's worked out really well these last two weeks to get some practice with math and word building while playing games, as well as working on confidence, perseverance, thoughtful consideration, etc. We've been playing Happy Hats, Bananagrams, Shut the Box, Uno, Elefun, Candyland, and more. The kids have also enjoyed the tangrams some mornings and evenings.  We've also kept up with our reading, for most of the time we read Christmas stories, but had some Hannukah themes, too. We've also been reading our Egypt extra reading books, and River has really been enjoying a variety of Vox books, especially a MSB Vox book about the human body. We've also tried some early reader Vo...