Monday, September 14, 2009

Sometimes we learn the hard way...

Sometimes it takes a lot of tears and emotions to realize you are learning... That's exactly what happened today with Almond. Fact is, she doesn't like math! I don't know what else to do except be firm about math getting done first thing in the morning...otherwise there will inevitably be something else that will come up, or we will somehow not get to it. Trust me, I've tried everything possible to make math happen! A more gentler approach, different curriculum, unschooling... you name it! So starting today, I held firm boundaries, and whoa! How exhausting! But at the end of the day, she apologized for everything, and we decided will start new tomorrow! Tears aside, it was a very productive day...

I drove Macadamia to high school, and Peanut was the first one up. We got breakfast started, and she told me she wanted to do learning... WOW! So we started discussing "more" and "less" and did a fun worksheet with coloring. She spotted a handwriting practice sheet and asked to practice her "B's". She tried so hard to think of words that started with B... I asked her if she wanted to do some cutting and pasting, and she enthusiastically yelled "yes!" I found a cutting activity with a farm scene along with number cards 1-4 with farm animals. She cut until her hands ached, I helped her finish, then she started going crazy with the glue stick! When it was complete, she told me a story that went with the farm scene, and pointed out her numbers, 1-4...this was all completed by 10 am! To keep busy, she played on the computer, Noggin.com, played dolls and pretend (I had to pretend to be grandma and fairy godmother most of the day), and danced ballet to Bach.



Meanwhile, Pistachio (as usual) got started with learning after breakfast. He read Sounder, and did a few pages in his lit guide, Analytical Grammar, and Algebra. He did complain that he knew everything in the Algebra chapter, so I gave him the chapter test and let him move on...He usually will do math daily, and 1/2 weeks worth of other subjects. He then went on to play the online game, Maple Story, where he insists he learned his critical thinking skills, along with math and improved his reading speed... hmmmm...We unschooled at one time, and this is all they did! lol

Almond did learn a lot, despite the crying and complaining in between... Addition properties: associative, commutative, and zero properties. Astronomy vocabulary was done creating a flip book found at the notebooking2learn yahoo group. She then read The Biggest Bear and enjoyed it!



After lunch, we cleaned the playroom, while listening to a Classics For Kids radio broadcast about J.S. Bach and listened to his music.

We did an oral lesson on pronouns, then read poetry from a Child's Garden of Verses. We discussed rhyming patterns, and she asked to write her own poem (I didn't plan on this), using the pattern aab, aac... So I guided her and this is what she came up with...

The Ant, Cat, and Bear

Today I saw an ant,
That tried to carry a leaf, but can't.
The leaf was eaten by a bear.

Then along came a cat,
It was laying on a mat.
The bear ate honey - the cat didn't care.

I'm so proud of her! Before dinner, we played a game of Go Fish, including Peanut so she could learn her numbers...

Tonight we will do a devotional, discussing what happened today, along with a chapter from Strawberry Girl.

Surprisingly, I managed to cook dinner with baked salmon and stuffing...

Just another typical day in my world!

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