girls woolies

I made these green leggings out of a felted wool sweater

Drawing with Children

We just stared using Mona Brookes Drawing with Children the other day. I am having a lot of fun with it and the girls seem to be enjoying it too. I am especially enjoying the warm up exercises.

Just got a copy of Jack's Insects by Edmund Selous It proves to be very interesting and Claire is captivated. I can't wait to read more.
 I looked at  the Burgess Bird book for Children on Kindle and couldn't get into it.
We are finishing up A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Secret School by Avi which have both been very enjoyable. I also just discovered a fascinating essay by Burnett My Robin.
I need to figure out a balance of time specifically intended to meting Emily's needs so that she will give us some peace and I can read aloud to Claire even  if she isn't interested in the particular thing we are reading. She has been making a pest of herself and I am getting frustrated.

I just created a spreadsheet to help me plan and keep track of what we are doing for homeschooling.
It is taking a while to get back into the swing of things and Claire isn't being very cooperative.

We discovered a fun park in Redondo Beach with trails and ponds and some wildlife: HOPKINS
WILDERNESS PARK
1102 Camino Real
Redondo Beach, California

The kids met some other homeschoolers and had fun observing the turtles and water fowl.

Habits we need to work on changing: interrupting, cleaning up right after an activity.

Places nearby I want to check out:
Wattles Gardens Park 1850 North Curson Ave., Hollywood, CA 90046
has a stream, trails, mansion and tea house

BIRD SANCTUARY 2900 NORTH VERMONT AVENUE LOS ANGELES, CA 90027 (323) 666-5046
On Vermont Canyon Road, in a wooded canyon with a small stream, the sanctuary offers views of many species of birds in their natural habitat. Sanctuary open daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
FERNDELL NATURE MUSEUM/Western Canyon 5375 Red Oak Drive Los Angeles, CA 90027 (323) 666-5046	Home Page
Reached by the Western Avenue entrance, this is a paradise of ferns, flowers and plants of many kinds growing along a tumbling brook, forming a haven of cool shade on a hot summer day. A snack stand and picnic area are available. Los Angeles Cultural-Historical Monument #112.

I'm working on planning for the coming year and ran across this: "A Formidable List of Attainments for a Child of Six", a reprint of a curriculum outline from a Charlotte Mason school in the 1890's. 1. To recite, beautifully, 6 easy poems and hymns 2. to recite, perfectly and beautifully, a parable and a psalm 3. to add and subtract numbers up to 10, with dominoes or counters 4. to read--what and how much, will depend on what we are told of the child 5. to copy in print-hand from a book 6. to know the points of the compass with relation to their own home, where the sun rises and sets, and the way the wind blows 7. to describe the boundaries of their own home 8. to describe any lake, river, pond, island etc. within easy reach 9. to tell quite accurately (however shortly) 3 stories from Bible history, 3 from early English, and 3 from early Roman history (my note here, we may want to substitute early American for early English!) 10. to be able to describe 3 walks and 3 views 11. to mount in a scrap book a dozen common wildflowers, with leaves (one every week); to name these, describe them in their own words, and say where they found them. 12. to do the same with leaves and flowers of 6 forest trees 13. to know 6 birds by song, colour and shape 14. to send in certain Kindergarten or other handiwork, as directed 15. to tell three stories about their own "pets"--rabbit, dog or cat. 16. to name 20 common objects in French, and say a dozen little sentences 17. to sing one hymn, one French song, and one English song 18. to keep a caterpillar and tell the life-story of a butterfly from his own observations.

teaching ideas for this week

teaching ideas: Spanish colors taught using finger puppets of various colors one for each finger sing to the tune or "thumbkin" replacing finger word with color word in Spanish read Spanish board books re-read Curious George with an emphasis on "Monkey energy" and talk about appropriate places for it and talk about ways George gets in trouble because of his monkey energy. Re-read some of the earlier Laura Ingalls Wilder books with an emphasis of Laura's helpfulness with chores and quick obedience. Wear mouse ears to inspire us to be like Mrs. Tiddlemouse. Read the story too. Choose chores which one do you want to do first? Re-read poems in our poetry binder and work on memorizing "Shadows" For learning narration and art appreciation... Try brainstorming words about a work of art and then writing a poem or prose narration based on what we come up with.

shared writing

We have started shared writing this week and are loving it. SO far we've been picking a topic that interests us and talking about it or looking it up on the internet for more information in the case of jellyfish then writing something together then the kids illustrate it and re-reading it each day or every other day.
This is what we've come up with so far.
Claire made up this first one on her own:

Ladybugs
Ladybugs are small and cute.
They are so sweet to find.

Jellyfish
They sometimes stay in groups
and wiggle and wiggle and wiggle.
She lives in the sea
a circle like an umbrella
with lots and lots and lots
of legs.

A Riddle Tiddle
A circle with a little hole in it
small and tasty to eat
yum! Salty crunch, crunch, crunch
You can have them with milk
or without.
What are they?