A full week of planned activities!

*Mm*

We made it through a full school week of lessons, and accomplished everything I had planned! I know that doesn't sound very impressive, but it's the first time we accomplished it since the beginning of December (we didn't even make it through half of our Christmas activities, sigh).

Cricket also did amazingly well. She was excited about doing school every day, she was engaged, and she paid attention. I just hope it continues.

Letter of the Week

For our letter of the week activities we used a combination of Hooked on Phonics, Raising Rock Stars, and other resources.

From the Raising Rock Stars work, Cricket loved the powerpoint for the letter M. She also did really well with the words of the week, and also listed several other M words. The memory verse was to difficult for her to memorize, but she grasped the concept and enjoyed the corresponding work.

She really loved all the monkey activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler (I love that she added this option for those of us that couldn't or didn't want to use the M&M's version).

Cricket also did really well with writing the letter M and she grasped the sign for it.

Science

Keeping on the monkey theme Cricket and I used technology (my phone) to learn more about monkeys.

We also discussed monkey parts with these cards, and found the part on Crickets body. She thought it was funny when we got to tail, and quickly told me that she didn't have one of those.  

Crickets has also been very interested in transportation recently, so I threw in this cute magnification match-up.

Math

Cricket worked on a variety of number tasks this wee including: counting; writing; ordering; and placement.

She is still counting to 15 consistently, but Cricket managed to count to 29 correctly once this week. I just couldn't get her to repeat the success.

Cricket really liked the monkey counting sheet, and she wrote the correct shape for all the numbers. She just didn't write them correctly, like for eight she drew a circle on a circle. I showed her the correct way to write each, and we will continue working on this.

I gave Cricket these cute Toy Story number cards, and she used them to match and order numbers.

Cricket also worked with mommy and daddy on placing a number (without counting). For example, I would say "what number comes after 3?" or "what number comes before seven?". She did pretty good with the after placement, but struggled with before.

Art

I think this was probably Cricket's favorite activity of the week. She painted her lower case letter m with a marble.

Cricket colors all the time, but I don't generally consider this as art work. She also loves giving these away, and always asks me to write names on them for her. This week when she finished coloring her "Mice playing Music" she asked me how to spell my name and wrote it herself. I thought it was so sweet!

Music

We talked about music a lot more this week, as a part of our letter of the week activities. Cricket also played a different instrument each day: keyboard; harmonica; wooden flute; guitar; and drums. She also started children's choir, and seems to love it.

Tot School

We played a new game this week. It was a Five Little Monkeys card game. Cricket loved it, and I actually enjoyed it too. (I picked it up at Kohls, but I can't find a link to it anywhere).

Cricket loved watching this baby dinosaur as it emerged from it's egg this week. I think it has been one of our most talked about subjects.

Check out what others are doing at these amazing sites:
 

 

What Cricket Read this week

 

I guess more accurately I should say what I remembered to keep track of. Hopefully we will make it to the library next week, and our reading will be more focused and easier to keep track of.

This week we read:

1. 101 Dalmatians
2. Thomas and Friends: Blue Train, Green Train
3. The Little Mermaid Easy Reader
4. Panda Bear, Panda Bear What Do You See
5. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
6. Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy

 I am also linking up to a challenge I'm participating in

Day late - Monday with Mimi

Cricket and my mom had a wonderful day together yesterday. I don't think I know or can capture all the fun had, but here is the jist of it:

Physical Activity: Tricycle ride, walk around the block, and jumping in leaves
Educational: Large Floor Puzzle and Reading
Fine Motor Skills: Writing, Stickers, and Playing the keyboard
Imaginative Play: They found a "dragon cave" in the yard near Rapunzel's tower, and they worked together to feed the dragon berries and give it jewels.

When they stopped for lunch Mimi told me that she had steaming hot soup, and when Cricket saw this she was very concerned. Cricket told Mimi that she needed to wait and let it cool, but Mimi explained that she liked the soup that way. Cricket then told her "Mimi I really need you to listen to me, and let the soup cool." I love that she is so concerned for others!

We won (and a review)!

I was lucky enough to win a fantastic giveaway from Melissa and Doug waaaaaaaay back in November. I decided to hold onto it for a Christmas present, so I couldn't post about it early on. Then I wanted to wait until Cricket had actually used it, so that I could review it.

First let me say that the contact from Melissa and Doug was top notch , and I got the items quickly and in excellent shape. The theater did require assembly, but it wasn't difficult. The stage is well constructed and really attractive.

Cricket was very pleasantly surprised by this gift, and has loved playing with it. She loves the puppets, and we have found them to be very well made. I picked the pirate, the princess, and the dragon for her. This combination has made for some fantastically imaginative stories.

So far Cricket hasn't quite figured out how to do the stage part, but it is her new favorite hideout and stash spot.

There is only one "negative" we have run into and it is very minor. The clock hands on the front of the theater fall out of position very easily. This really frustrated Cricket  when she was trying to play with it. She would set the time for the next show and the hands would immediately fall out of place. At this point she can't actually tell time, but she disliked that it wouldn't stay where she put it none the less.

Overall though, the stage and puppets have been a huge hit! Thank you, again, to Melissa and Doug for offering this giveaway!

Upcoming CSN Review

I was thrilled when CSN contacted me about the possibility of doing a review for them. I mean, CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find anything you need whether it be swingsets, fitness equipment, or even cute cookware. The options are endless. 


I think I will be reviewing something that I can incorporate into our homeschool time.  I'm leaning towards one of these:

• What Time Is It? Game 
• Melissa and Doug See and Spell
• Melissa and Doug Puppet 
• Melissa and Doug wooden puzzle

I can't wait to pick something out for Cricket from CSN Stores amazing selection and share my review with you. 

Review Week

Review Week

Cricket and I did a review this week. My initial intent was to review what we had covered already and address any concerns. We did do that as you will so, but we also remembered how to follow a routine and complete our work. I learned how to be patient again, and Cricket worked on her listening skills.

I began the week by doing a letter review using the clothespin set from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Prior to our break we had studied through the letter L, and Cricket did really well with everything except the letters I and J. For some reason they were both J's all of a sudden. So we spent the rest of the week reviewing those two letters and other concepts.

Cricket and I both wrote Is and Js in a variety of formats: chalk, magnetic board, pen, and type. I would ask her to write one or the other, and then I would write one and ask her which one it was.

Her favorite review was probably using the power point presentations from 1+1+1=1.

We played a lot with new toys that Cricket had gotten for Christmas. One of her favorites was the new Melissa and Doug Pizza to go with her cake. We had a lot of Pizza parties. By the way thee are great for sorting, counting, fractions, and imaginative play.

She also tried out her new 48 piece puzzle. I think she has pretty much mastered 24 piece ones, but she had trouble with this for two reasons. First it was lenticular (the image moves) and second because of that the pieces were harder to put together. So, we ended up doing this together and I am on the hunt for a regular 48 piece puzzle.

Cricket was excited to try out her new Toy Story Operation game, but it was just a little to hard for her. So I got out her chopsticks and various objects for her to practice grasping and moving (without sound effects) to improve her skills. She thought this was great and spent the rest of the week asking to eat with them.

I used the Melissa and Doug clock to review numbers, shapes, and colors. Then Cricket played with it on her own!

Finally we used our weather board to discuss the season and seasonal items.

We are back with a challenge!

We have been on a home school hiatus, some planned and some not. This week we are going to be doing a review week, and next week we should be back full swing!

I just found this fabulous reading challenge though, and I wanted to go ahead and share it. Reading is definitely one of our favorite activities school or no-school. If you love reading too, or just want to push yourself to do more join in the challenge fun!

We will be striving to reach the "Harvesting" level of 200 books this year. This shouldn't be an issue, if I keep up with our reading and record it!

Precious Moments Storybook Bible Review

 

I had the opportunity to review the Precious Moments Storybook Bible published by Tommy Nelson. I have been searching for a children's bible for my daughter that she could relate to and like.

The illustrations are pure Precious Moments and great for her, and her age group. They are really sweet and she enjoys them.

This is not a complete bible, but it includes all the "main" stories phrased for young children. Cricket really seems to like and understand this adaptation.

Disclosure of Material Connection: To comply with new regulations introduced by the Federal Trade Commission, I must post that Thomas Nelson has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book to review through Book Sneeze. I also must say that the opinions are all mine.