Monday

Today is the first school day in 2012.  Today is also a big day because Lil Man is moving into 1st grade.  Really, he was pretty close to ready for it at the start of the year, but I wanted him to get better at writing and some other basics.  Now, he's schooling right alongside the Princess in math, science, history, and grammar.  We do Bible as a family, regardless of age level (even Lil Bit participates).  Princess loves it, but Lil Man is a little hesitant to embrace challenging tasks.  She was like that last year, so I try to make it enjoyable for him and do little bits at a time.  The Princess is very eager to perfect her existing skills, but very much enjoys learning anything new so it is always a delight to work with them.  For our daily read aloud time, we'll be finishing Jotham's Journey this week since we did not finish it before Christmas.

Princess

• Science: reading pp 2-5 and notebooking pp 10,14.  Learned definitions of astronomy, astronomer, universe, constellation.
• CBS:daily work 
• Reading: Little House on the Prairie (ch 10)
• Grammar: Common and proper nouns
• English: Narration and story details from The Fox & The Hare
• Today was a little challenging because everyone is winding down from the holidays, but she embraced the new assignments and did very well.  She is especially excited about Math and is ready for more, but seems to get tied up when we move on so we are going back to the very beginning, starting over, and just moving forward more quickly than we would if it were our first go round.

Lil Man

• Reading: Matthew 26:17-30 (he wanted to read about Communion after church yesterday)
• Science: reading pp 2-5 and notebooking pp 10,14. Learned definitions of astronomy, astronomer, universe, constellation.
• Grammar: Common and proper noun exercises
• English: The Fox and The Hare fable; practiced oral narration of the story
• Handwriting remains his biggest challenge and I really don't enjoy making him practice, but we are only requiring three lines a day.  Today he wrote Psalm 19:1 for science.  I am writing any other narrations that are needed for him because above all I want him to enjoy learning and I know that he will be just like his sister and get there in his own time.  He did great picking up the details of my reading aloud when his hands were busy coloring, so we will continue to allow him to stay busy while he listens.