Could have been better

September 21, 2015.  I did not feel well this morning so I had E finish up his Handwriting page 9.  Tonight was home economics with Daddy.  Both E and W learned how to cut up vegetables with sharp knives.

September 22, 2015.  Today's lessons were AAR, FLL, Rightstart, and Handwriting.  We started with Handwriting.  I have discovered a little trick. Today for handwriting we did what I call hand strengthening. My oldest complains when writing and sometimes the youngest too. Today we played with rubber bands. Started with they youngest since he was up. We stretched them and we twisted them. Then for fun we took 2 rubber bands and tied them in a note. Oldest got up and joined in the fun. It takes some dexterity to tie them but they did well and enjoyed themselves. We also learned how to put a correct sized and an oversized rubber band on a stack of index cards (something the youngest wanted to learn so he can help put games up). I hope this helps others who child(ren) need help either with dexterity or handwriting. P.S. The way we tied them together will help them learn to tie their shoes.
     Next up was AAR for W.  We played Tic Tac Toe with 9 of the green cards.  If you read the card you get to place your token 3 in a row wins.  We played several rounds.  Then moved onto Math worksheet 29.  Accomplished 5 problems.  Need to find a better way to teach this particular concept. (56+36).  Last up was FLL.  Lesson 37 addressing an envelop.  We talked about what goes on an envelop and where.  Then I showed W how to do the return address.  W then wrote most of the return address on an envelope.  Need to work on sizing and put lines down.

     E is up.  E needed to read "Fish Class" today, required reading 2pgs.  E read pgs. 103-104.  Took forever. He did not want to do it and he kept getting off topic.  Next up was FLL.  Lesson 37 addressing an envelope.  We talked about what goes on an envelop and where.  Then I showed
E how to do the return address.  E then wrote most of the return address on an envelope. He did really well with sizing and well with forming his letters. I count some of that has handwriting too.  Last up was Math worksheet 29.  Accomplished 3 problems.  Need to find a better way to teach this particular concept. (56+36).
  Thoughts on 56+36 maybe they need more work on place value not sure.  I have found something on the internet that might help with the actually teaching so will try that first.



September 23, 2014.  Today was the first day of our very first Co-op.  We got lost and arrived 30 min late.  We started with the Helen Keller project.  The kids first learned a little about her life and the fact that she was deaf and blind and how she learned to communicate.  Then they went to different stations where blindfolded they tried to sort money, tell time, write their name, hook hooks, and unlock locks.  They also felt what braille was like, learned who made it up, and how it looked.
     Then came lunch, play, and the next project.  The next project they experimented with wood.  They got to see what changed woods color-grass, flowers, dirt, paint.  They also got to use stains (vinegar, wool, and hydroproxide) and tea stain.  They said they had lots of fun.  Co-ops are now the 2nd and 4th Wednesday's of the month.  We hope to go back again.



September 24, 2015.  Today W worked on AAR and HWT.  We played tic tac toe with the green cards.  There were 2 special words (was and no).  W did well and really likes this game.  These were played with the green cards from All About Reading.  Next was HWT.  We worked on Corner Captials on page 10.  Letters H,K,L.  I noticed that he like to retraces his lines.
     Today E worked on Math and AAR.  We focused on place value today.  I think in the long run it will help with adding 2 digits where you end up having to carry (37+46).  We worked on the white board today.  At first he was not getting it so we went to basics.  Tens and ones.  How many tens are in the number 1, how many ones are in the number 1.  We did this with numbers 1-9.  Then we did it with number 10.  Then we moved to numbers 37 and 46 and then we did the really hard number 99.  Next up was AAR reading "Fish Class".  E read 1 page (pg. 105)



September 25, 2015.  Today was finish up day.  W did AAR, RGTST (RighStart), and FLL.   We played tic tac toe with 5 special words and the rest words that could be sounded out.  Did well needed review of for.  Next up was working on place value like what I did with E yesterday.  After a little bit W got the hang of it.  Last was FLL lesson 38, copy work and quotations.  We learned about quotations, did copy work on white board that included quotation marks, and reviewed helping verbs.
    Next up was E who did AAR, HWT, and FLL.  We worked on HWT p.10 letter H,K,L (Corner Capitals).  Did really well.  Next FLL lesson 38.  Same thing has W except copy work was not the sentence out of the book it was "Hi there" instead.  Last was AAR.  He wonted to only read 1 page I talked him into 2 pages.  He read pages 106-107.


September 26 and 27, 2015.  E finished reading the book "Fish Class".