Home Schooling Summary for last week

Last week we talked about building and camping. Fort building, as suggested in The Giant Encyclopedia of Circle Time and Group Activities for Children 3 to 6, was the main event. We built this fort/tent under the kitchen table. Everyone was enthusiastic about it. Brother M was relegated to his own side though, while the girls clustered together.  Cousin J wisely decided to observe from the entrance way with me.

We started a system of chores and allowance in January of this year. This is the first time that I have remembered to take pictures of the pay day.  The America's Cheapest Family (awesome book on frugality) system really inspired me and so we decided to try it.  Instead of being task-based (like "make bed" or "empty dishwasher") it is focused more loosely on blocks of time. There are 4 categories: Morning chores, Schoolwork, Daily Chores, and Bedtime.  They get a smiley for that time frame based on whether they completed their assignment and whether they had a good attitude about it. For Christmas the kiddos received their banks (found here) with the sections: Spending, Savings, and Tithing. Once a week (usually Monday) we tally up the "smileys" (points) and dole out the money. Our chore chart is very similar to the one you can download here. Daughter A gets 10 cents per smiley and Brother M gets 5 cents (we created an "under 3" category so that he would not feel left out). It is a great way for them to learn about managing their money from an early age. Daddy explains about the types of coins and how to add them up. He goes through it with them each week.

A's artistic/crafty side has been taking off in recent weeks. She conceptualizes and executes her designs all by herself. She drew lines around the word "Rocket" here to show movement.  She loves to write "cards" for people and this one has two holes cut so that she could tie the ribbon into it:

She also made this 3D rainbow- colored, cut-out, and glued all by herself. Having most of the art supplies in the kids craft cupboard I think has helped her be free to make things independently.

This is a picture of "Tinkerbell" wearing her leaf costume. Again, she brought in the leaves from outside and said, "I'm going to make fairy clothes with these." I did not understand what she meant, but said okay and went on with making dinner. About 10 minutes later she showed me what she had done:

So proud of her!

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Reading	X	X	Bob books	X	Bob Books
Writing	X	Letter tracing practice	X	Phonics spelling and writing	X
Math	X	Mazes	X	Connect the numbers counting	X
Science	Garden	X	Fort building	X	X
History/Geography	X	X	X	X	X