All the other stuff - Week One

Our first week of school went really really well. I scrutinized our "curriculum" choices this year and really evaluated what we wanted to do based on the boys' current interests and learning styles. I did my best to cut out busy work and incorporated things like handwriting into our other subjects. 

I am focusing on using living books and we are all really enjoying the increase in read aloud time. It also helped that the weather had a turn for the worst so cuddling up inside with a good book seemed like a good idea.

 I'll be blogging about our studies in different subjects throughout the week, for right now though I'm just sharing all of the extra stuff that our week contained.

 I broke out the pattern blocks and had them set up for read aloud time on our first day. It kept the boys' hands busy and they stayed attentive while I read. We LOVE our new school room!

 

 

They also did puzzles, played with legos, and used coloring pages and mazes to keep their hands busy during read aloud.

J and I went to a garage sale and scored fifty of the Magic Tree House books (including a number of research guides) for $10! He's reading them on his own time and he's about half way done with book three. In this picture he's reading Day Of The Dragon King aloud to A and I. He has really taken to reading lately and often asks if he can read a chapter during read aloud time. I also have him read a chapter during our drive to and from work so we can sneak in a little extra time.

Since we're using LOTS of living books this year, I wanted to introduce him to the basic idea of fiction and nonfiction. He picked up on the idea quickly and had a great time with this sorting activity. He asked me for more of them so I may have to create my own scenarios for him.

 I found the printables for this activity here. She also has a PowerPoint, unfortunately I don't have the program needed to view it so we had to skip that part.

We're also almost done reading the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Treasury which both the boys have loved.

A used his Quiet Time Box several of the days, and J and I took a trip to the library to stock up on good books.


Overall I'm really happy with the way our week went. I have a couple of hours tomorrow to get reorganized and set up for next week. I'll also be putting together a new quiet time box for A and will share that.