Homeschool at the Laundromat!

Hey, today we did homeschooling at the laundromat!

 

(ok, not thrilled with having to go there.... but that is a huge long vent)

 

The kids were actually pretty great - we got the laundry in the machines and going, then did our homeschooling (except our music practice), and read some books.   When the laundry was done, Delta helped sort (like he generally does) and found matching socks.   Oh, they loved watching the laundry in the dryer!   They had a ball - I was wiped out.

 

oh well, it was efficient anyway....

German

Just thought I'd mention that Mike has been doing some German with them... And today we listened to a kids story in German (with a book, a noise to turn the page....) It is one designed for kids learning the language. It was pretty good - he/we had the jist of the story at least....

Play In

Everything is still going good.  Just keep doing the same stuff.

 

Delta had a suzuki "Play-in" for starting the year.   All the violin players were on the stage (except the brand new beginners) - and they would announce a song, and those that could play it would play it, and the rest would watch.    they would change what instructor was leading it, and some of them would have them do something fun - like play the song with the bow backwards, or have the ones that can't play it stamp out the beat....

 

Delta and some others of his class were told they could play the twinkle patterns on an open E string, which he did.   ON a few of the patterns, he did the patterns very well.   On a couple, he didn't really, because (I was watching), he was watching the kid next to him and trying to do the fingerings!   Anyway, with that number of violins playing, you couldn't overly hear the mistakes.

 

The other funny thing, was Delta decided to play some of the other songs (fortunatly the easier ones, with most of the violins playing...)   Not sure how he decided, although if MOST of the kids were sitting,  he sat too....  if most were playing, he was more likely to try to play.

 

He really enjoyed it.

 

Tonight we watched a violin concert on TV (with full orchestra, and at times dancers etc - but it was with a main violinist whose name I've already forgotten.)   Delta loved it!

First Violin class this year

Things are still going pretty good.  I do want to add in another subject soon (just doing the basics but getting into the routine....)

 

Delta had his first Violin lesson for the year.... it went pretty well.   I don't think we lost a whole lot, although the teacher was basically just doing basics.   We need to fix up his bow hold a bit (which I had known...).   Looking forward to seeing how the group class will work - as it will be quite a wide range of skill levels in the Continuing class....

 

First Day

Just started the year today.   Did the schedule I'd made up, but not everything on it.  I decided ahead of time to start with a few topics, and add more.  (I tried 1 day on the schedule in the summer as a trial, and have done some non-scheduled stuff in the spring.)   As we are doing Kindergarten, it was light.

 

Delta and Echo played with Lego in the morning (they got stuff given to them by my sister when she visited this weekend...) - while I fed the baby.   Then we did a shortened devotional, which included reading from the Book of Mormon (which I had tried the 1 day in the summer), and scripture memorization, and other stuff.    Then they practiced the violin.   They did their reading instruction.   Then Delta  had his first lesson from me on the piano and Echo played a bit on it.  

 

Later we went for a picnic lunch - a "not back to school" picnic in the park by a local homeschooling group.

 

Overall, it went fantastic!   Tomorrow we do "Day 2" of our 2 day schedule.... Math instead of reading.   Next week, I'll add in the handwriting, and/or the Life Skills / Handicraft into the schedule.   Once I've decided on our next literature selection (have already read a few), I'll add in that... 

 

With the reading, Echo was trying to guess a bit much.  (we took a break for a couple of weeks) - so I may have to back up on the sentences and practice words for a bit.     For Delta, I tried to find out where he was comfortable on the letter combinations - and start about there - but it was a bit hard for him.... so we backed up a bit - and I was pleased.   He was reading the words quite easily, and was pleased with himself.

 

He is excellent with his new lego - very good at making stuff to the directions, and ALSO not bad at making stuff himself....

 

Also, on the way back from the picnic, we heard Delta and Echo playing a game they made up in the back seat - and I'm impressed.... They both had 2 different "Arthur" books.... and they were playing "go fish" with the characters.    So, Delta would be on a page in his book, and say "Do you have a D.W."?, and if she didn't, she would say "go fish".  One of them would then turn the page, I think.   Not sure if there is any way to win or anything - but it was very imaginative!

Free Piano

Well, it has been a pretty busy week. We got a free piano!, so I'm going to be able to teach them piano. Mike had his week off, and wanted to do vacation type stuff.... We went to Tinkertown (an amusement park for young kids) and had a hoot. It was also Family Fun Day at "Peak of the Market" so we did that as well. There was a petting zoo at it, and pony rides. It was also to help Child Find - and they had free child id'ing so we did that. The next day our piano arrived - we had to re-arrange the living room for that. We also did the zoo again.

Next week, school officially starts around here, and I am going to start using the schedule I worked out. Delta has asked a couple of times about Kindergarten.... and I don't know how to answer him. I'd already talked to him about him staying home - and he had wanted to - but now he is saying he wants to go to Kindergarten. The homeschooling group around here is having a "not-back-to-school picnic", so I hope that helps a bit.

I'm going to have to be a little hard on Mike I think - for this to work, I need to get the kids in a routine, and Mike doesn't really like routines. When he is off, the kids end up staying up later and later as we go our and drive around, etc. Even if Delta was going to regular school I'd have to nip that in the bud - but it'll be harder with the flexibility homeschooling allows to say, no, they need to be in bed.....

Otter!

Had a good day - Delta got his Otter level in swimming. (yeay!) In the afternoon, we went to the Forest again, and collected a few flowers and some more leaves. The kids really enjoyed watching the grasshoppers as well.

Not much else I guess....