Reading is.. Fun [or] Mental....

Keona is quite proud of himself this week. He'll tell you: he read an entire book by himself. Currently we are using the Bob Books. We're just taking it one sound at a time and working through them by going on our letter/word hunts around the city and using the Bob Books. I had thought of buying some big curriculum, but I'm not convinced of the necessity, so we're going to try this for a while. For backup, I do have a handbook called Phonics Pathways but so far haven't needed it. We'll just keep plugging along and make a change if we find our progress is not what we would like it to be.

There is so much sparkle and glitz involved in T.V. and computer, that I really hesitate to get curriculums with a lot of razz-ma-tazz to them. I really don't want him to depend on being entertained every time he sits down to learn something.

Our math curriculum, Math U See, is pretty basic as well and so far it's working. We have bricks to count with and a book for written work. The basic idea in the Primar is to build it, write it, and then say it. So far it has been nothing but review. Keona's amazing preschool teacher really covered A LOT last year. In fact, I have decided to skip a few lessons rather than making him sit there doing things he's already mastered. Truthfully, my "schooly" side has a difficult time doing that. LOL However, I think I'll survive and Keona will have something to chew on.

Getting on the board...

So we had our second chess club meeting today. I have to hand it to the boys, they are doing well. Even Keona in his own unique style is catching on. Truthfully, he is more into the social aspect, but as evidenced in the pictures he finds a way to have fun. Hands down though, Parker is the most interested in actually playing the game.



This week we began outside with a review on our huge outdoor board and then came inside to work on naming and setting up the pieces and began with the pawn games. Next week we'll add the Knight and play knight-pawn games. It is a nice, gentle introduction to chess and it won't be long before the boys are ready to play actual games. Perhaps we'll be able to meet up with some of the other little chess groups that seem to be popping up in the homeschool community.... Ya never know!



I'm thinking this, too. Our little chess club should have a cool name....hmmmmm...

Staring the Dinosaurs Down....

This summer we twice visited the Virginia Living Museum to see the visiting Dinosaur exhibit. It was well worth the trip. If you are local and you haven't been, you should put it on your must do list. I can't say enough good things about this museum. Everything is well done. And while you're there, get a membership. You're gonna want to go back and two visits will pay for a membership for a family of 4.

First we got to stare down the large, life-like dinosaur models. AT first, this was overwhelming for Kalani. He only wanted to stay in the exhibit area for a short time, so he and I checked out some other stuff while dad and brother took their time. However, after we left, Kalani chatted about it claiming he wasn't scared at all and it was he who suggested we go back. By the second visit he couldn't get enough and now is very interested in dinosaurs! We saw the famous T-Rex and a Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Pachycephalosaurus (I just like to SAY that one!). They really were as real looking as I could imagine. The mechanical eyes moved and they seemed to look right at you; a little disconcerting when you are standing in front of the carnivores!

Check them out:

T-Rex


Deinonychus (the little ones)

Pachycephalosaurus

After we watched the dinosaurs for a while, we decided to go to the museum’s live animal show. Another excellent choice. They brought out about 5 animals to tell us about. We got to touch them and learned cool stuff like prehistoric millipedes used to be about 3 feet long! They had one from South America that was about 6 inches long. That was cool. Then I heard something that made me really greatful to be alive NOW, not then. Cockroaches also used to be 3 feet long! Can you imagine? I nurse and unhealthy aversion to the ones we have now; I think I absolutely would die of fright with those! Anyway, it has to do with oxygen availability and spherical size. Truly on the way home, I was nursing a suspicion that I was being led down the garden path with this little factoid. However, upon further research, My husband found an article to back it up. Anyway, it was a great little show, not too long, and the boys were thrilled along with mom and dad. Kalani was quite proud to have touched both a snake and an alligator.

As if it all that wasn't enough, we decided to see what was going on in the cafe. We figured we'd be run out by price and bad choices. But, again we were pleasantly surprised. The prices, while not falling in the cheap catagory, could not be classed as a rip-off (as is the case at many of the other local museums) and as an extra bonus: the food was good. I am not yet a connoisseur of veggie burgers but in my attempt to eat better, I decided to try one. It was scrumptious. Really, I've got to find out where they get them. Yum, yum!

So there you have it; it was educational and fun. Even at its most crowded stage, I didn't feel like people were breathing down my neck at every exhibit. A nice trip and we look forward to many more!

Check Mate!

So today was the first day of chess club. We are using a program from Championship Chess that breaks everything down into easy bites for even the littlest players. We have several energetic boys, so we decided to tackle the Little bites in a BIG way. Today, we talked about the board and over the next 8 weeks or so, we'll be learning about how the pieces move around. By Christmas, we hope to be playing matches (albeit on regulation size boards). We talked about ranks, files, and how to tell what each square is named. Us mommies are having a pretty good time learning all the intricacies as well. We were quite pleased with ourselves when we figured out how to keep the ranks and files straight. We file alphabetically and rank by numbers. Is this actaully why they are called ranks and files? Whatever, I won't forget them now!

Have letters to travel....

Yes, my sons are becoming men of letters. Kalani is learning to recognize his letters...though he's not impressed so far and Keona is working on putting some of his into words. He's not impressed either, but somehow we are muddling through. So the other day we packed up our letters and hit the road to find some words and letters. Keona is working on the short "a" sound. Our first stop was the Shell station to get some GAS. The boys got out of the car and sat down in front of the pump and held up the letters. There was a little fun for the boys and some strange looks from other patrons, for sure. Cranks, couldn't they see that big learning was going on?

Anyway, we moved on to Mt. Trashmore where we found a slide for "s". S had a great time playing on the slide and then we found some SAP in a tree while we played T in the Tree. That was a game that evolved as we went and the boys had a great time with that one. Now we are mounting the photos in scrapbooks and doing lots of coloring, cutting, and pasting. We'll continue on this course for the next few weeks and see what turns out.

Five Alive

We were up early for the Jedi to get his long awaited light Sabers

He will now train to be a Jedi Knight

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOUNG JEDI!

(We could show you pictures, but Blogger is not working-- AGAIN)

Daddy says good Night

Big Boy's Night Out

Tonight Keona is sleeping with his Nana and Papa because his brother has minor surgery tomorrow. He is quite a big boy now! Here are some videos to help him feel more at home.

WE LOVE YOU KEONA!

Kalani made this movie!