Delta doing great

 

Well, last night, we pressed Delta's leaves - they are now sitting between some encyclopedias

 

Echo is basically finished the letter sounds that are before the sentences in our program.  I'll probably keep her doing review for a bit though.   Delta is onto letter combinations - and his reading seems to have suddenly improved.  He still has to sit and figure a lot of words out, but it is going a LOT faster - he seems to have the blending concept figured out.

Swimming

[asked about what swim level the kids are in]

Delta is in Otters even though he isn't 5 yet - the non-parented lil'dippers and parented lil'dippers don't have a summer class at the same time, or even at times that you could put one in babysitting, get then changed in between, then have the other in babysitting!   Anyway, he is THIS close to passing Otters this time!  He has everything marked by the teachers - he just needs to be tested by the deck supervisor.   So they will test him first day of the next session next week.   So he will probably pass and get his badge, or else they will tell me what he has to work on.

 

Also - the teacher and deck supervisor have both told me that Echo should go into the non-parented lil'dippers (bobbers I think?) now even though she isn't 3.  She passed both levels of the parented one months ago, is tall enough to stand at the deep end of the kid pool, and is comfortable in the water and independant.

 

So, I spent a bunch of time today changing our summer swim times so that she can be in the non-parented, and Delta can still swim at the same time.   It'll be nice if it works out, as I can then walk on the treadmill!

 

This afternoon, for a few minutes, we went and collected leaves.  Delta has wanted to for MONTHS.  I'm going to show him how to press them later tonight.

 

Hopefully we will get in some violin practice (I've let that slide again - sigh) and some reading tonight - but will depend on Foxtrot.  I suspect she will want to eat most of the evening.

 

Oh yeah, Echo is so motivated on reading - she wants to do everything Delta does.  She is always the one that wants to do it - Delta needs coaxing a lot of days.  It just makes me wonder though - she is almost to sentences!   I think there is only 1 more letter - maybe 2???

 

a Few things

Well, it rained today, so we didn't get to do the leaf collecting that I'd told Delta we would do today.  Hopefully it is nice tomorrow.   Also, at swimming today, a lot of kids got report-cards with badges on them.  As Delta didn't, I assume he hasn't passed yet.  I'll be getting his report-card tomorrow.     I think he is just so skinny that he can't float yet, and swimming is harder too.   Oh well, he doesn't seem to notice or mind, and I'm assuming he is improving all the time....

 

Today was a BAD day - but did get some homeschooling in.  I'd read up on the writing program, and it looks pretty good.  It is setup to go along with a different reading program (but is supposed to be ok on its own) - it should be fine, but some of the terms and stuff is hard to figure out without using their reading program...  I did a preliminary exersize with Delta.   There is a bit of stuff I gotta do before really using it.

 

I also had Echo do a few of her reading cards - she now has over 100!  (I introduced "D" to her, and added those words.)    Delta also did some more of his sentences - which finished off the main sounds of the entire alphabet, along with a LOT of exceptions.   According to the book, he would be reading at a grade 2 level now!   But I don't think he is fluent enough to say that - so we need to work at practice.   

 

I also read him the Tale of Benjamin Bunny.  Oh, and they also played with the mosaic pegs.     I have in mind that when I'm working with one child, the other can play with the mosaic - but although I haven't tried that, I have a hard time seeing that working, as I think that they would both be wanting to play with it....   it is going to be so much fun trying to work out how to keep Echo busy when working with Delta, and the other way around!

Beatrix Potter

Tonight I read a couple of Beatrix Potter stories to Delta and Echo.  The Tale of Peter Rabbit - and one about a squirrel.... don't remember its name.

 

It seemed to me we did more - of course there was swimming.   Oh yeah, we also took a little walk down the street - Foxtrot in the snugli, and the other 2 kids walking.  It makes me sad to realize that I don't even know the name of many of the common weeds here!  

 

I also received a writing program I ordered a bit over a week ago.  I hope it is as good as I've heard.

Read a book alone!

Delta read a book by himself yesterday - "Bears on Wheels" by the Bearnsteins.  (sp?)    It isn't the most thrilling book, but he did it himself!

Sumer School

It seems harder to get homeschooling in while my dh is off, and he doesn't have so much overtime now... 

 

anyway, we have been doing summer swim lessons, so that is M-Th....  They are doing great.

 

Today was our shopping day.  At one point while we were doing some waiting, I had Delta and Echo practice their counting with some pennies in my pocket.  They were doing better at it - Echo was counting to 6 consistantly (which was all the pennies I gave her...)  and Delta was counting to 14 consistantly (which was all the pennies I gave him.)    I wanted to stop them right at the point they start getting confused and work from there.

 

Also, violin practice is going a bit better again.   It definately works better when I do it every day!

Which Curriculum?

Still doing pretty good...  didn't do as much today, although Delta was asking.  (Foxtrot was having a "eat all day" type of day.)

 

We have gotten the violin practice going again.  We are enjoying the childcraft set as well.

 

Delta did a simple word search the other day (not sure if I mentioned it or not?).

 

I'm also spending time to decide if I'm going to follow a particular Charlotte Mason curriculum (free) that is online.  There are 2 that I am looking at.  For either, I'll have to modify the history to put in Canadian history instead of American...