Friday, September 29, 2006

-Read a story about the life of Johnny Appleseed that I found on the internet.
-Astrid completed a word search.
-The girls coloured numerous pictures in colouring books.
-Music class.
-Stopped at A&P for a couple things on the way home from music class.
-Read a bunch of books to the girls.
-Unstructured play: camping, dinosaurs, etc.
-Girls played a game they have: Animals Two by Two
-Muirgen helped me make stir-fry for supper.
-Girls listened and danced to the CD from their music class.
-Muirgen asked a bunch of questions along the line of "Do boys grow up to be daddies? Do girls grow up to be mommies?"
-Read a chapter of 'Charlotte's Web' and a counting book.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

-PEG. Today was the first day of the formal children's program at PEG. The children are going through the creation story. The girls told me that today was all about light and darkness. They sang some songs, played red light, green light, had the first part of the creation story read to them, made pictures where they scratched patterns into black crayon to reveal the colours they'd put underneath.
-When we got home, the girls closed all the curtains, turned out the lights and played with flash lights.
-They helped me make applesauce bread and coconut oatmeal cookies.
-They did water colour paintings, using the Waldorf method of painting on wet paper. We splurged and bought high quality water colour paper, paints and brushes. I'm really glad we did. The way the girls use them is unlike any other painting they do. It is obvious that they are simply enjoying the process and do not care about the final product. They spend huge amounts of time on a single painting, simply exploring the way the paint goes onto the paper and the way they can change the way their picture looks infinite numbers of times.


-Astrid and I painted our Inca sun stones. They didn't really turn out to look like the one in the book, but we enjoyed making them none the less.


-Read a story book about a boy with a loose tooth. Astrid's friend just lost his first tooth. This is the first of her friends to loose a tooth.
-We made Incan stew for supper, using ingredients the Incas would have had ready access to. Astrid chopped up all the vegetables.
-Muirgen, Jason and I had a conversation about ducks - where they live, what they eat, etc. Muirgen was fascinated by the fact that they can walk, swim, AND fly. She thought it was not very good that some ducks eat fish.
-Muirgen explored how adding a certain number of fingers from one hand and a certain number from the other produces a new number.
-Read a chapter of 'Charlotte's Web'.
-Astrid and I had a long (and very good) talk about how we all sometimes make good choices and sometimes make bad choices, how we are all in control of the choices we make and of how we behave. We talked about how everyone does bad things from time to time and how God still loves us and forgives us despite that.
-Songs and rhymes at bedtime.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

-I was watching Connor again so the girls played with him for most of the day.
-We read a bunch of story books.
-Muirgen drew a bunch of pictures.
-The girls helped me make curry for supper.
-They helped me get down and fold the laundry.
-Had a conversation about aardvarks, ant eaters and frogs, what they eat, how they catch their food, what their tongues look like, etc.
-Read two chapters of 'Charlotte's Web' and a counting book.
-Songs and rhymes at bedtime.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

-The girls did not feel like doing circle time, which was a bit of a disappointment for me, as I'd planned out a whole bunch of apple songs and rhymes to do since today is the birthday of John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed).
-We talked about who Johnny Appleseed was and what he did.
-The girls cut apples in half, painted them and made prints.
-They painted their hands red and made apples with the prints of their hands with green thumb prints for the leaves.
-We walked to the library and read a bunch of books. Signed out a bunch of books, including one about Johnny Appleseed.
-Our friends, the Peters, happened to be at the library, so we brought Jul home with us to play for the afternoon.
-The kids played mostly outside, pretending to be fire fighters. The swing set was the fire truck.
-I read a whole stack of the library books we got to the girls, including the one about Johnny Appleseed.
-We added Johnny Appleseed's birthday to our timeline (Astrid wrote it in herself) and she drew a picture of him next to an apple tree. She also pasted on her apple paintings from this morning.
-She was in the mood to add a picture for the finding of the Incan mummy as well, and did so. She drew a picture of an Incan girl, who looked very much like all her other drawings of girls except that she was wearing a very elaborate mask.
-Muirgen glued foam shapes onto a paper.
-Read a chapter of 'Charlotte's Web'.
-Talked about why we don't have feeling in our hair and fingernails which, of course, led to the question "what are nerves?" I tried my best to explain.
-Songs and rhymes at bedtime. Astrid prayed that God would please let her know why our hair and nails were made without nerves.

Monday, September 25, 2006

-I was watching my friend's son for the day, so the girls spent the day playing with him.
-Astrid completed 5 pages in her math workbook.
-The girls helped me get down and fold the laundry.
-Honestly, I'm writing this post a day late. Yesterday was such a blur for me, as sleep deprived as I am, I really don't remember what we did all day. I can't even remember if we read at bedtime. OOPS!
-Oh, yeah... We hung up our wall maps in the dining room - one of Canada, one of the world. Astrid gave Connor a whole lesson in geography, pointing out the different continents and showing him where the Aztecs, Incas and Mayas lived and how to tell where the land is mountainous and where it's flat.
-Another Oh Yeah!... Our housemate, Joannie, cooked supper for us. It was a very elaborate, authentic Chinese meal with ingredients she brought back from Toronto on the weekend. All six of us were present for dinner and had a very nice conversation (most of which I don't remember!) but the girls were both involved in it and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

-Went for a hike at LeMoine's Point in celebration of the first day of Autumn. Collected fallen leaves to press.

Friday, September 22, 2006

-Circle time.
-Astrid completed 9 pages in her geography workbook, all about different types of maps (physical, political, thematic). She is very taken up with maps, directions, etc.
-The girls helped me hang up laundry.
-They spent most of the day playing with the Noah's ark set. At one point Astrid was playing Noah's wife and kept admonishing Noah to get into the ark, lest he drown in the flood. Noah, played by Muirgen, kept saying "No! I'm going to A&P."
-Music class. This is a class I attend with the girls. Today was the first one. Includes all sorts of musical activities with kids of different ages and their parents.
-Stopped at the playground on the way home from music class. Swung, slid, climbed.
-Girls helped me get down and fold laundry.
-They helped make potato pie for supper.
-They experimented with different types of sauces on their suppers. (plum sauce, BBQ sauce, etc). Discovered sometimes just one tastes better than a couple mixed together!
-Jason put them to bed tonight, as I crashed right after supper. I slept a few hours, and now am wide awake, unable to sleep. I just can't win!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

-PEG. Children were up with the moms today. We sang songs and did different musical activities together.
-Girls helped me make pancakes for lunch.
-Astrid looked at some of the Aztec, Inca and Maya books from the library.
-Picked up a few groceries and tried to find some yarn that I need for a knitting project - found out it's been discontinued :(
-Girls helped me pick beans which we divided into bags and distributed to our neighbours as we have more than we know what to do with.
-Astrid did a maze in an activity book.
-Astrid spent a good deal of time making different shapes out of a string of beads.
-Girls helped me make supper.
-Read two chapters of 'Charlotte's Web' and a counting book (Muirgen is really into counting books right now).
-Had a conversation about how a real knight would rescue a real princess.
-Songs and nursery rhymes at bedtime.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

-Circle time.
-Worked on memory passage. Astrid can now say most of Psalm 23 from memory. Just needs a couple reminders. Reviewed other passages we've memorized.
-Astrid completed 14 pages in her new geography work book, all about maps and how to use them.

-Muirgen completed four pages in her shapes and colours work book.
-The girls painted their little sculptures that they made with the left over sun stone clay. The sun stones were still not 100% dry, so we didn't paint them.

-The girls put on thier rain gear and played outside for a bit.
-They invented a game called "Catcher and the fox". It involved a lot of running and chasing.
-Astrid wondered what a "tincture" is, so we talked about herbs, their medicinal properties and how they are made into things like tinctures.
-The girls built with lego.
-Muirgen drew a picture.
-They played with their fairy and mermaid figurines.
-They set up an imaginary painting studio and began by painting each other's faces. This led to painting the walls and furniture (no real paint was involved - few!)
-They pretended the entire first floor of our house was a campground which was covered in water. They made bed boats, boats to eat in, etc. They swam around and took care of their babies as they camped.
-Astrid recited all of the Bible verses she has memorized (including Psalm 23 - the newest one) for Vincent at supper.
-Talked about the meanings of the words"digestion" and "systems".
-Read a chapter of 'Charlotte's Web'.
-Read two counting books.
-Nursery rhymes.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

-Circle time.
-practiced memory passage. Reviewed passages already memorized.
-Astrid completed 13 pages in her new reading workbook. Muirgen completed two pages in a shapes and colours workbook.
-Girls helped hang up laundry.
-Girls built boats out of lego, held an imaginary wedding (we just found out Jason's sister plans to get married next fall and would like Astrid to be the flower girl) played with the doll house, played Mommy (carrying babies in slings, changing their diapers, etc) played on the swingset, drew pictures on the sidewalk with chalk.
-Had a conversation about weather and how the clouds and rain move from one place to another. (It was rainy and wet when we got up, but soon the sun was shining and it turned into a very nice day).
-Had a conversation about tithing: what it is, why we do it, etc.
-At dinner we all shared stories about funny things we've done or that have been done by people we know. All of Astrid's stories were about Muirgen.
-Girls watched Jason repair a broken step on our porch.
-Read a chapter of 'Charlotte's Web'.
-Read a counting book to Muirgen which is her current favourite. She can count up to ten now, but often says eleven instead of seven.
-Rhymes and songs at bedtime.

Monday, September 18, 2006

-Astrid played by herself while Muirgen and I slept in REALLY late. She coloured a couple pages in a colouring book and completed an entire word search all on her own.
-The girls helped me hang up laundry.
-They didn't feel like doing circle time today.
-Walked to the book store. Read a bunch of story books to the girls. Bought three new work books for Astrid.
-Astrid completed the first nine pages in the new math workbook.
-Girls drew pictures.
-Astrid looked at her fairy books for quite a long time.
-Unstructured play (hide and seek, moving day, dress up, bad guys, etc.)
-Girls helped me take down and fold the laundry.
-Nursery rhymes and songs at bedtime.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

-Spent the day in Ottawa/Hull at the Museum of Civilization/Children's Museum. Watched the imax movie 'Deep Sea'.

Friday, September 15, 2006

-Circle time.
-Worked on memory passage. Astrid has first five lines or so memorized.
-Some of the library books we got out about Incas also contain information about the Aztecs and Mayas. Astrid said she wanted to learn about them as well, so we started to read about them. Talked about where they lived (and looked for it on the globe) what they had in common with the Incas, what was different, etc.
-Astrid decided she wanted to make an Aztec sun stone like one pictured in one of the books, so I walked and the girls biked to the art supply store to get some clay.
-We made Aztec sun stones out of clay. We'll paint them next week when they're dry.
-I showed Astrid how to use a pencil and compass to make a perfect circle (to make a pattern for our sun stones).
-Astrid made a couple other sculptures with the left over clay.
-The girls helped me pick beans and tomatoes.
-They played on the swing set.
-Unstructured play: Imaginary play (fairies, dog owners, moving day) building forts behind the living room chair, etc.
-Muirgen's been exploring the difference between high and low notes and how to identify them on her harmonica lately. Did some of this today.
-We had a discussion with Vincent about the benefits of owning a house versus renting one.
-Astrid did a couple pages in a work book (repeating patterns of shapes).
-Astrid practiced drawing hexagons and octagons and talked more with Jason about the math he is working on.
-Muirgen drew a very elaborate picture. Her drawing skills have improved dramatically recently.
-Read a counting book and one chapter of 'Charlotte's Web' at bedtime, as well as saying numerous nursery rhymes.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

-PEG
-Ran errands: picked up bread and cereal, purchased stamps, mailed bills and poems for grandparents, ate lunch on the run.
-Midwife appointment. Girls got to watch the midwife listen to my heart, check my reflexes, palpate my uterus, do a breast exam. They got to examine and ask questions about a models of a pelvis and of a placenta, umbilical cord and amniotic sac.
-Read a couple story books.
-Girls built castles and highways out of blocks.
-Jason was working on some complex math. Astrid was very fascinated by the diagrams he was drawing. He talked with her a bit about what he was doing. She got out some graph paper and tried to draw diagrams that looked like his. This led to her drawing a person made only with circles and another with only squares. She wrote out numbers 1-9. Her and Jason had a discussion about the differences between 2D and 3D shapes.
-Read a chapter of 'Charlotte's Web'.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

-Circle time.
-Read through Psalm 23 once, but Astrid didn't feel like working on memorizing today.
-This being Jason's and my anniversary, we looked through photo albums of our wedding pictures. The girls had fun identifying family members who have changed in appearance over the last nine years.
-The girls showed the wedding pictures to Joannie and talked about them with her.
-Astrid wrote in the date of our wedding on her big timeline and drew a picture of Jason and I in wedding garb. We also finally added the finding of the Inca mummy to the timeline. She didn't feel like adding a picture for that one. Said maybe later.
-We talked about what the girls want to be when they grow up. Muirgen wants to be a fire fighter. Astrid wants to be a mail lady and an archaeologist. She told me all about what she'd do and the adventures she'd have as an archaeologist.
-Girls built with lego and blocks, played dress-up, princesses, created a marching band, pretended to go shopping, etc.
-Astrid sat with me as I filled in a consumer panel survey. She was very interested in it and had me read the whole thing aloud to her after explaining what I was doing and why I was doing it. She gave me her input as to how she felt I should answer each question. We talked about why this information is valuable to marketers.
-Read five or six story books, one of which was a Philippine folktale. We looked for the Philippines on the globe and Astrid compared it's distance from our home to that of Ukraine, which is where her aunt lived last year.
-Girls helped me make baked oatmeal for their supper.
-Jason and I went out for dinner while the girls played at a friend's house.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

-Circle time. Included finger plays about grandparents since today is 'Grandparents Day'.
-Read 'Just Grandma and Me' by Mercer Mayor to the girls.
-Worked on memory passage.
-Girls helped hang up laundry.
-Astrid completed a word search with words about grandparents. She sounded out most of the words before finding them.
-Astrid filled in a poem form about her grandparents (I told her how to spell each word). She did one for each set of grandparents, put them in envelopes and stamped them. I addressed them for her. Tomorrow we'll mail them off to her grandparents.
-Astrid drew two pictures: one of herself in winter, one of our house with each person who lives here looking out of one of the windows.
-Finished making Inca dolls.

-unstructured play: camping trip, doll house, blocks, paper dolls, lots of general silliness today.
-Girls danced around to a kids CD.
-A car accident took place on our street so the girls went out with all the neighbourhood children to watch events unfold. Four police cars came, a woman was arrested and taken away in one of the police cars and the two cars involved in the crash were towed away by tow trucks. The girls were very fascinated. We discussed it with Jason and Vincent over dinner.
-Watched videos Vincent made of the dance class he and Joannie took last night.
-Read a chapter of 'Charlotte's Web'.
-Said nursery rhymes to the girls at bedtime.

Monday, September 11, 2006

-Circle time.
-Block building.
-Worked on our memory passage.
-Looked through a couple of the library books we got about Incas.
-Started making an Inca doll such as might have been wrapped between the layers of fabric in a mummy wrap before burying a dead body.

-Made a list of words related to Incas for Astrid to sound out. She did so with pretty good efficiency and then requested a list of princess words, followed by one of cat words. Each list contained 10-13 words. Her reading is improving quickly.
-I suggested trying a book again and she was into the idea today. She picked out 'Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb'. Made it about half way through. I've noticed she relies heavily on phonics to read, sounding out each word, even when it is the same as the word before or as one that repeats often throughout the text. Doesn't seem to recognize patterns such as certain groups of letters always making the same sounds (such as with rhyming words). I've been trying to point these things out. She's becoming more comfortable with the ever-shifting rules of the English language. It no longer bothers her so much that one letter can have numerous possible sounds. She's getting better at jumping to the next possibility if the first sound she tries out doesn't make sense. She's getting comfortable with the idea of silent letters as well. Following John Holt's advice, I've been telling her that she's right - it doesn't make sense - but she'll get used to it eventually. I think that's really helped.
-Unstructured play (doll house, dress up, walking and caring for imaginary dogs, etc.)
-Astrid helped get down and fold the laundry.
-Girls played on swingset.
-Girls played with dinky cars on the front porch with a neighbour friend.
-Girls dressed up and danced while Jason played piano. They gave each dance a name, put on a new outfit for each one, and told Jason what sort of music he was to play for it.
-Read a chapter of 'Charlotte's Web'.

Friday, September 8, 2006

-Circle time.
-Reviewed Bible passages that Astrid already has memorized and began working on Psalm 23.
-Girls built with blocks.
-Talked about how on this day in 1995 a mummy of an Inca girl was found in the Andes mountains. I didn't know if this would go anywhere, but Astrid was incredibly fascinated. Looked at pictures of the "Inca Ice Maiden" on the internet, as well as ones of Incan architecture and artwork. Talked about where they lived, looking it up on the map and on the globe, what they ate, how they grew their food, how long ago they lived, how they prepared their dead.
-Astrid studied the map and globe for quite some time, trying to find the same countries on both of them based on their shapes. She asked what this or that country was many times. We talked about how you can tell on a map which parts of the earth are mountainous and which are flat. We talked about how much of the earth is covered in water. Astrid traced paths with her finger where boats would sail on various imaginary journeys.
-Unstructured play (large part of which was an imaginary camping trip).
-Astrid finished up the last couple pages in her current activity book (mazes, dot-to-dots, matching, etc.)
-Walked to library. Read a bunch of stories there. Brought home lots of books, including three or four about the Incas.
-Astrid played outside on the swingset while Muirgen helped me make supper.
-Looked through Vincent's photographs from the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa (had some of Incan masks) and of his trip up north to work with the Cree.
- Read first two chapters of 'Charlotte's Web' by E.B. White.
-Said nursery rhymes to the girls as they fell asleep.

Thursday, September 7, 2006

-Went to PEG. Girls interacted with other kids under the supervision of another adult.
-Girls built castles with blocks. Astrid and I had a discussion about the difference between 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes. She learned the names for cubes and cylinders.
-Played with Scrabble tiles. Astrid tried to see how many different ways she could make squares or rectangles out of a given number of Scrabble tiles. We discussed different ways of expressing what she'd made (ex. Four rows of two tiles makes eight, four times two is eight, etc.)
-Again with the Scrabble, I made as many different words as I could out of 10 or 12 different letters and Astrid sounded them out. She made a couple words on her own, as well. Mostly read 3-letter words, some 4-letter words, one 6-letter word (friend). She was very excited at having read such a big word! I suggested we try reading out of a book, but she was too frustrated by the fact that most of the letters were lower-case, with which she is not as familiar as the upper-case.
-Astrid decided to make a book by copying the text from the book 'Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb' by Al Perkins. She only got done the first page, having started it over at least 3 times due to mistakes, but it was good practise at recognizing the shapes of the lower-case letters. She translated it all into upper-case on her paper, demonstrating a knowledge of the lower-case when she really thinks about it.
-Lots of unstructured play (building and playing with train track set, dress-up, tea party, etc.)
-Had discussion over dinner about foods from different cultures with our French and Chinese housemates.
-Both girls did a couple pages in colouring/activity books.