Friday, April 4, 2008
-The girls have requested that we start doing circle time in the mornings again, so today we did.
-They worked on their memory verses.
-I've decided to try the Montessori approach to teach Muirgen how to read. By the time Astrid was her age, she recognized all the letters and knew their sounds. She seemed to pick this up by osmosis or something. We didn't really have to "teach" her. It is evident that Muirgen is not going to pick it up this way, at least not any time soon, so that's why I'm trying this. I like that there are very clear steps layed out that all build on eachother and they all are little games. You're supposed to spend as much time as it takes for your child to master one game before moving on to the next, which could take weeks, according to the book I have. They recommend starting at about age 2.5. Muirgen is 4.5. We played the first game today and she needed no time at all to master it. It makes me wonder if there is any real benefit at starting so young when it takes weeks for children to grasp something they will grasp in 10 minutes in a couple of years. Anyway, I can really see this method working for Muirgen and I feel like she's at a good age and stage to be doing it.
-We read the section from one of the Pioneer books that talked about who the original settlers were. It showed a map of where the different groups came from and even talked about our own ancestors, the Mennonites who settled Waterloo region. We talked about why the Mennonites came to Canada and why other groups of people did as well. We talked about slaves who came to find freedom via the underground railroad. The girls were fascinated with the notion of slavery so we talked a lot about what it entailed, how we feel about it, etc.
-We planted seedlings in little peat pots to plant outside when it's warmer. Hopefully they grow. I've never had success starting seeds indoors before. We planted purple basil, regular basil, thyme, and a flowering vine from the same family as brown-eyed susans.
-We read the section about finding a bee tree in "A Pioneer Story". After words we made honey butter and dug up our beeswax candles to light while we ate honey butter on bagels. Mmmmm!
-The girls cut pictures of food out of magazines and played with it and their little porcelain tea set.
-We worked a bit on Muirgen's seasons quilt (we WILL finish them some day....) All her patches are done and we're almost finished sewing them together.
-Astrid drew a picture of a robber on the window. While she was working on it I wrote out a bunch of addition and subtraction sums on another part of the window and just left them there while I went upstairs. She soon called me to come and look at them. She had changed all of the subtraction ones to adding, but had completed them all correctly, except for where she had to carry the tens (which she wouldn't have had to do had she left it a subtraction question!) So I taught her how to carry the tens if the numbers she's adding equal more than 9. I'm not sure if she got it sufficiently enough to do it again on her own, but I'm sure she could do it very easily with a little reminding.
-Hannah came over to play. The girls set up a "kids only club" in the playroom and locked me out with a skipping rope lock that Astrid devised last week. I could hear Astrid reading books aloud to Hannah and Muirgen.
-Astrid went to her ballet class and Muirgen and Hannah spent that whole time bathing their pet (rubber) spiders using squirt bottles of water, jars and rags. They had a great time and didn't make too big a mess!
-They worked on their memory verses.
-I've decided to try the Montessori approach to teach Muirgen how to read. By the time Astrid was her age, she recognized all the letters and knew their sounds. She seemed to pick this up by osmosis or something. We didn't really have to "teach" her. It is evident that Muirgen is not going to pick it up this way, at least not any time soon, so that's why I'm trying this. I like that there are very clear steps layed out that all build on eachother and they all are little games. You're supposed to spend as much time as it takes for your child to master one game before moving on to the next, which could take weeks, according to the book I have. They recommend starting at about age 2.5. Muirgen is 4.5. We played the first game today and she needed no time at all to master it. It makes me wonder if there is any real benefit at starting so young when it takes weeks for children to grasp something they will grasp in 10 minutes in a couple of years. Anyway, I can really see this method working for Muirgen and I feel like she's at a good age and stage to be doing it.
-We read the section from one of the Pioneer books that talked about who the original settlers were. It showed a map of where the different groups came from and even talked about our own ancestors, the Mennonites who settled Waterloo region. We talked about why the Mennonites came to Canada and why other groups of people did as well. We talked about slaves who came to find freedom via the underground railroad. The girls were fascinated with the notion of slavery so we talked a lot about what it entailed, how we feel about it, etc.
-We planted seedlings in little peat pots to plant outside when it's warmer. Hopefully they grow. I've never had success starting seeds indoors before. We planted purple basil, regular basil, thyme, and a flowering vine from the same family as brown-eyed susans.
-We read the section about finding a bee tree in "A Pioneer Story". After words we made honey butter and dug up our beeswax candles to light while we ate honey butter on bagels. Mmmmm!
-The girls cut pictures of food out of magazines and played with it and their little porcelain tea set.
-We worked a bit on Muirgen's seasons quilt (we WILL finish them some day....) All her patches are done and we're almost finished sewing them together.
-Astrid drew a picture of a robber on the window. While she was working on it I wrote out a bunch of addition and subtraction sums on another part of the window and just left them there while I went upstairs. She soon called me to come and look at them. She had changed all of the subtraction ones to adding, but had completed them all correctly, except for where she had to carry the tens (which she wouldn't have had to do had she left it a subtraction question!) So I taught her how to carry the tens if the numbers she's adding equal more than 9. I'm not sure if she got it sufficiently enough to do it again on her own, but I'm sure she could do it very easily with a little reminding.
-Hannah came over to play. The girls set up a "kids only club" in the playroom and locked me out with a skipping rope lock that Astrid devised last week. I could hear Astrid reading books aloud to Hannah and Muirgen.
-Astrid went to her ballet class and Muirgen and Hannah spent that whole time bathing their pet (rubber) spiders using squirt bottles of water, jars and rags. They had a great time and didn't make too big a mess!
posted by Rachel at 7:26 PM
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