Tot School

Kayleigh is 25 months old

Well another week gone by. Another great plan thwarted by some really nice weather. There were also a few really cold days so we did some tot schooling then.



We moved on from Brown Bear to Easter/Spring. And the letter C. We totally ignored poor C for outdoor time.


We did manage a few Easter activities before breakfast on a couple of days. Here's hoping next week will be more fruitful because I've got lots of spring and Eastery ideas ready to go. I'm also planning on going to Busch Gardens so we'll see how it plays out. Working ahead in 3rd grade might cause more Tot School delays. We like to hit BG as much as possible before public school lets out. Shorter lines and better weather are important for our amusement park fun. LOL


Kayleigh got to play with "yayee pops" as she called the Easter egg picks from the Dollar Tree.

She liked it so much she played with it all week. And tried to eat them. I have to say they're not
very sturdy. There's only about 5 left. LOL

We got out some playdough. She didn't play with this very long. It wasn't really soft so it was difficult for her to work with. Maybe when we get some fresh she'll enjoy it more.

I made this game with some erasers from Target. I just photocopied them to make the mat and then laminated. She loved doing this over Valentines but she wasn't much into it this week.

We also got out her Magneato's. Big Sis likes them too!

We read Easter Surprise a lot but I don't have any pictures because I was reading. LOL It's a cute little board book about Jesus being God's gift for us at Easter. Kayleigh liked the ducks.

Lastly we had some family fun with a picnic at the park.

Be sure to check out all the other tot's, who accomplish so much more then we do LOL, over at Carisa's.

Weekly Wrap-Up

It's Friday again and time for the Weekly Wrap-Up hosted by Kris.

Our week was good. Again! Woot!

Bible

Our stick-figuring lesson was about the Last Supper. I love how it's a timely lesson. =o)

We also read The Legend of the Easter Egg and did a lapbook along with it. It was pretty simple but Mackenzie enjoyed it. Especially the eggsperiments. =o) We have one to share with you. The other two will have to wait until next week because they are still "in progress." At the moment, while all the activities are finished, the lapbook isn't together. So that will have to wait til next week too.

Math

We reviewed rounding to the nearest 10, 100, and 1000 to help with multiple digit addition. Mackenzie thought it was "fun and easy."

Language Arts

Mackenzie started memorizing A Slash of Blue by Emily Dickinson. It was a very short poem so she memorized it quickly. She has a great memory and always memorizes the poems well before the "alloted" time.


We also reviewed conjunctions and how to diagram sentences that have them.


I've just realized that I've never mentioned our weekly poetry studies. This year we're using A Children's Introduction to Poetry. We're really enjoying the book. It started off focusing on different kinds of poetry. It has an accompanying cd, so you'd listen to various selections of that poem type after reading. Now we've moved on to studying different poets. Same format, read about the poet's life and then listen selections of their poetry. It's been really fun. This week we studied Walt Whitman and I learned that the poem, Captain, My Captain, was about Abraham Lincoln. Oh the things I don't know. LOL

Social Studies

We're continuing on with Carry On Mr Bowditch and Eli Whitney. They're both still having the most horrendus luck. Nat's family and friends are still dying and Eli is still penniless despite his brilliant inventions. Those poor guys. They are teaching us a lot of history though. We're now approaching Lewis and Clark's expedition. And it was interesting to learn of Thomas Jefferson's small part in allowing Eli Whitney's revolutionizing the musket making business.


Mackenzie just stated reading Om-kas-toe, which is about the Blackfeet tribe. The Blackfeet tribe is our Native American focus this week. Did you know that they are always referred to as the Blackfeet tribe? Blackfoot is NEVER used. Sometimes that goes against my "proper use of grammar" instinct.

Science

We are starting a study on outer space. This week we read the Magic Schoolbus Gets Lost in Space. Magic Schoolbus books are always good reads.


We were going to watch the corresponding video after finishing the book via Netflix streaming. Unfortunately that particular video is only available on dvd. And of course it wasn't available in time because all the copies are out. I'm finding that a lot of the videos I want for educational videos aren't available for instant download. It's annoying. LOL Especially when you can only get one dvd at a time. I did order another space one that we'll watch later today. Hopefully it will be good. I'll let you know if it is.


While not space-related, we did do a fun experiment. We made an electrical circuit for a light bulb using batteries, wire, a light bulb, and a bulb holder. We watched Justin do it first and then we took a stab at it.


First we tried it with one battery.

Then we did four.

The experiment inspired Mackenzie to play with her Snap Circuits for the rest of the afternoon.

Win Pom-Pom magnets

for your tot.


Home Grown Hearts is giving away a cool set of pom pom magnets.


Look at how much fun they are. And the ones that you win will be waaaay better then the ones I made. Be sure to enter.

Muffin Tin Monday: Breakfast

It's time for Muffin Tin Monday hosted by the Muffin Tin Mom! This week there was no theme so I decided to do an easy breakfast.

The girls ate raspberries, cinnamon roll cut in half so it would fit in the cups, and blueberries.

No surprise that Kayleigh went for the cinnamon roll, or donut as she calls it, first. All food that is round is a donut to her. LOL

Mackenzie decided to go with the raspberries first. We haven't had those in a while.

Tot School

Kayleigh is 25 months

Hello fellow Tot Schoolers! Hope you had a great week!





There wasn't much Tot Schooling going on here this week. Warm weather and lots of errands put a crimp in our plans. We did get to go to baby gym, our first track meet, our last basketball/cheer game of the season, and a playdate at the park. (Sorry, no pics of the first and the last.)






So let's talk about rice first. Let's talk about how I've finally come to my senses and I'm not getting that out again for a long, long, long time.

I hid the animals from Brown Bear, Brown Bear in the rice for her to find as I read the story. She really like matching the head/tail puzzles last week with the book last week. Not this week.

You can see the end result in the second picture. That is always the end result. I even put it on a huge beach towel one day, thinking when she "spilled" rice outside the container, I could just dump it all into the box when she was through.

First of all, she never actually spills a grain. She does grab handfuls and drop them outside the bin. When there is a towel under the bin, she will crawl over to the edge and then drop the rice on the floor. Which leads to the second problem,the annoying wood floor. When the rice hits the ground it bounces and rolls ALL OVER the lower level of the house. This is one of ten thousand reasons why my husband and I hate wood floors in any place that's not the dining room, kitchen or foyer. But that's a whole 'nother post. LOL








We made a "color" game out the holes in the side of her new ball pit. I call out a color and she puts a new ball in the hole. Sometimes I'd tell her what color, other times she'd tell me. Then I'd pop them out into the pit and she'd giggle.

She made three half-hearted attempts at playing her "B" matching game. At least she got all three right. LOL

She had an impromptu "jam" session with her xylophone. You can't really tell, but she's playing it with a screw driver instead of the mallet. I have no answers to that or as to why she's sitting on the desk. Only questions. LOL

This weekend was her last weekend as a Basketball Buddie through our homeschool week. I love watching her at BB. Her performance there is one of the things I love most about her.

The tot's "play" for 30 minutes. 10 minutes of shooting, 10 minutes of "passing" (rolling), and 10 minutes of racing.

Here's how Kayleigh has adjusted the schedule.

She shoots. 2, maybe 3 times.



Finds a comfy spot on the bleachers and parks herself there with a snack from home and SISSY's water bottle. Her own is never good enough. (I know these are really blurry. I was taking some test shots of an actual game and I didn't feel like resetting my camera for still shots. Plus I'm really bad with action shots to start with. LOL)



She stays like that throughout the remainder of the shooting and the entire "passing" period. She hasn't "passed" since the first time.

Occasionally, she'll pop back in for a quick sprint during race time. Maybe for 1 or 2 races. She opted not to this time.

Then "game" ends and it's time for snack. And here trots Kayleigh, who'll sit nicely in the circle with the other tots. Just like she'd been there the whole time. LOL I wish I'd snagged a picture of that. She's not one to miss a snack.

She also went to her first track meet. She ran big sis ragged while I tried to take pictures of my friend's daughter. LOL

Be sure to check out the other tot's over at Carisa's.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Happy Friday!!!! It's time for another wrap-up hosted by Kris.

Our week went well. Not only did we get our school work done, we enjoyed some nice weather.

Bible

We studied Jesus entering Jerusalem this week. Mackenzie always enjoys this topic. She loves the idea of the people waving the palm branches as Jesus enters the city.

Math

She started multiple digit multiplication this week. The mere idea of it sent her into a tizzy, as usual. Then she actually watched the lesson and said that it was easy. Typical. LOL

Social Studies

It was a very emotional week in history for Mackenzie. Nathanial Bowditch continues to lose family members (Mackenzie has finally stopped counting LOL) and Eli Whitney continues to have a string of bad luck. But I think the kicker was what we learned while reading about the Sioux.


We have been studying Native American's all year with The American Indian Prayer Guide.
We learned how much the Sioux, and other tribes, relied on the buffalo. Mackenzie was really impressed with how they made use of just about every single part of it, including the dung. How they only killed what they needed to survive. We've also been learning a lot about the injustice that the various tribes have dealt with throughout history.


This week she was outraged to learn how the US government encouraged the white people to kill as many buffalo as they could in an attempt to push the tribes out of the Great Plains and onto the reservations. She was just so angry and a bit ashamed. One of the things I love best about our curriculum, Sonlight, is how it doesn't really sugar coat the truth about our history. It lays it out there for us and gives tons of opportunities for some great conversations. I think that it's not only enriched her education but our relationship as a family. And it's certainly helped make Mackenzie more compassionate.


A few weeks ago, I posted a funny picture of my husband with our Sonlight bill. Yes, it's generally rather large. =o) But my husband always says he'd pay double because it's worth every penny when she's able to make thoughtful comments and hold meaningful discussions about the things that she's learned. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

We also use Evan-Moor's Native American History Pockets and this week there was a pocket about the Sioux. Here is Mackenzie with a ceremonial "beaded anklet." Clearly, Mackenzie's is not made out of beads, nor would it fit on her ankle. (Our graph paper was rather large. LOL) But she enjoyed making it and liked the idea of using graph paper to make designs.

Science

This week we finished our study on weather. One day we were talking about ways to harness weather into alternate forms of energy. We watched Mackenzie's pal Justin (oh how she loves Justin) make a wind machine and then we made our own.

We made a few adjustments of our own and then had a fun time testing it out.

When were finished, Mackenzie wanted to make a video like Justin. She figured she could do just as well as he could. So here it is. And she especially wants Luke from Sonlight to watch it too. You'll understand why after you watch it. She had an ulterior motive. LOL

Maybe somebody could use a sidekick? So when she grows up she either wants to be a pop star, work at the Little Gym, or make videos for Sonlight. That's quite an interesting group of interests.

Muffin Tin Monday: Green

It's time for another MTM hosted by the Muffin Tin Mom. This week's them was green.

This week we had (top) spinach and chicken tortellini with pesto, green grapes, pear,

(bottom) green mustard dip for a soft pretzel, and avocado with some Italian dressing.

We didn't have green muffin tins or cups so we used paper ones with a St. Patrick's Day theme. I let them eat with St. Patrick's toothpicks but Kayleigh refused so I gave her a green fork. Mackenzie liked everything, especially the avocado. Kayleigh ate the pesto, grapes, and pretzel. Which was 2 more things then I'd thought she'd eat. LOL

Tot School

Kayleigh is 25 months

Hello Tot Schoolers!!! Another week gone by.



As usual, nothing went as planned. Sheer stubborness early in the week and feeling under the weather at the tail end messed with my best of plans. LOL So basically, other then the illness, it was totally normal.


Here's what we attempted.

1) Teddy Mix and Match from Sonlight's core p3/4. We don't own the whole core yet because she's not ready to sit for stories of that length. So I bought some of the manipulatives. I can do that because I'm a Sonlight-aholic and that affords me free shipping and 10% off no matter how much I order.

It's very, very cute. And just perfect for little hands. I thought it would work well with our Brown Bear, Brown Bear theme. There are several ways to play it. I choose the simplest method. To lay half the cards, face up, on the floor. I hand her a card and she finds the match on the floor. So simple...Unless you're doing it with Kayleigh.

She scattered them.



She hugged them. Clearly she loved them. But she was not matching them. (I don't know why this is upside down. Blogger must want it that way because everytime I try to upload it right side up, blogger turns it upside down. It's annoying. I hope nobody strains their neck trying to look at it. LOL I think I might submit that one to the Sonlight catalog. Right side up.)

Eventually she started to line them up. While not what I had intended, I liked it. She normally likes to stick with flinging so I was thrilled.

Back to scattering.

And then the little monkey threw me a bone. She matched the panda bears. I know you can't tell from this pictures but those are two pandas in her hands. They're dancing. For joy, I think. Then she was done.

2) Heads and Tails game from Carisa's Brown Bear Tot Pack.

At first she just wanted to fling them. Shocking I know. LOL

Then she started to cooperate. For about 2 minutes.

So I attempted to distract her from her madness and brought out the book. I made the matches and then she'd find that animal in the book. She liked that.



We tried it again at a later date and she played along. She was on a roll. For 5 whole minutes. A record for Kayleigh!

3) That was the rice bin. I made her a "B" matching game. I hid the "B's" in the rice. She was supposed to find them and put them on the sheet. I can't tell you exactly what she said when I suggested that but, gathering from the tone of rage in her voice, it wasn't nice or pretty. There is no photographic evidence of the event, other then the shot of the three tot trays. LOL

In fact she was so annoyed that she wouldn't play the "B" matching without the rice. And she loved matching A's a few weeks ago. You never know what the little miss is going to think. She's the same way with food. Oh well, there's always next week. I'm going to hide Brown Bear characters instead and keep the B's separate. LOL

In other news, we worked on the Animal Color Book from Carisa's Tot Pack. She was a little disgruntled at first but once I said things like "Color his tail" or "Color his eyes" she happily complied and colored every page. In fact, she became so enthralled that when, a few days later, I brought out her nicely laminated book she wanted to color it all over. Except that it really was laminated. She was really mad! LOL

So I gave her a bingo marker page from MLF and that pacified her. She even, spent the first 2 minutes marking a few of the animals the same color as they were in the book. Then she decided that purple was best for all of them. She said she's thinking of giving Eric Carle a call and suggesting a reprint.

Other than baby gym, that was our week. She started feeling poorly near the end so we just worked on survival.

We also finally held her "birthday party." A month late. LOL Normally it would be somewhat of a bash, we love birthdays, but it's been a crazy time so we just stuck to a small party with our family here. And we totally copied her big sister's 2nd birthday. Same theme, same cake, same gift, and pretty much the same guests. LOL That cake was really easy and I wanted to make it again. Here's my favorite shots.