Blissful E » preschooler

Posts Tagged ‘preschooler’

10 Aug, 2010

science with Baba: relative and absolute time

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth

Ben took the kids through the first few pages of Physical Geology, his first geology textbook from university days, this past weekend.

In this video, Ben explains the scientific principles of "relative time" and "absolute time" to a three-year-old, a two-year-old, a not-quite-one-year-old, and a cat:

3 Comments

Tags: Ben, homeschooling, months 10-12, preschooler, toddler, video

09 Aug, 2010

Nikki is reading

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth

I brought home this library book about Animal Food, and Nikki just sat down and started reading it. She didn't try all the animal names, but "kangaroo," "wombat," and "pink cockatoo" are some of her first multisyllabic words.

4 Comments

Tags: homeschooling, preschooler

05 Aug, 2010

lunchtime learning with sandwiches

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth

As a beginning rhythm exercise in music class, the teacher put stuffed bears on a line and we clapped and said "bear" when she pointed to each bear. Students got to remove one bear at a time, and when the teacher pointed to that space, we held our palms up and whispered, "rest." So a typical rhythm would sound like this: "bear [clap], bear [clap], rest, bear [clap]."

When we got home and started eating sandwiches, Nikki ate one quarter of her sandwich, then excitedly told me that she had made a "rest." So we pointed and clapped for the four sections of her sandwich, "bear [clap], rest, bear [clap], bear [clap]." She has continued to do this for nearly every sandwich she's eaten at home since. Michael has gotten in on the action, and even Vi puts up her hands and says "yea!" when we all cheer a correct rhythm.

I have found it helps my children start the rhythm at the top left of the sandwich if I have them point to the sandwich pieces (or places where the sandwich pieces used to be) and count "1 - 2 - 3 - 4" going right to left, and top to bottom before we begin. It also sets the tempo for our simultaneous bears and rests.

This is one instance where playing with our food is a good thing.

3 Comments

Tags: food, homeschooling, music, preschooler, toddler

03 Aug, 2010

catechism review

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth

Catechism questions are how we begin the day. Vi settles on the sofa with Mama for some numnums while the kiddos curl up in a blanket and answer questions from the Shorter Catechism and Young Children's Catechism. We eat breakfast after catechism.

For a while I started out with Question 1 in both catechisms every day. But it was taking a long time and as the review lengthened to 20 or so questions in the Shorter Catechism and 60 or so questions in the Young Children's Catechism, Nikki sat quietly during the first questions, refusing to answer ones she had memorized already, and chiming in only when we got to 5 or so questions before the one she hadn't yet memorized.

I took a cue from Nikki's silence (and my own growling stomach) and cut down the number of questions we reviewed each morning to 5 or so before the latest ones we're memorizing. In the Young Children's catechism, for example, I just start with Question 72, "How many commandments did God give on Mount Sinai?" and continue through Question 104, "Of what use are the ten commandments to us?" The kids have memorized up through Question 79, and it's a nice grouping of questions, all to do with the Ten Commandments.

This morning, however, Nikki asked if we could start at the beginning of the Shorter Catechism in order to review. She correctly answered all the questions up to this week's, Question 26, "How is Christ a king?", needing prompts only twice, both with more recently memorized questions.

Looks like I can continue to follow her lead and trust her to signal both when she wants more review and when less will do.

4 Comments

Tags: homeschooling, preschooler, toddler

02 Aug, 2010

Nikki’s first performance

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth

Forte School of Music put on its second annual concert (actually 4 concerts in a row - I had no idea the music school was so large!) Saturday.

A couple photos while we waited to be shown to our seats:

the star herself

some adoring (and adorable) fans

The 90-minute show included some fantastic performances and a mixture of solos and group pieces. A true standout was the nearly flawless 8-year-old's performance of Für Elise.

We enjoyed the whole show, and the last act, Nikki's 'Music is Fun' class, was definitely worth waiting for - they played the piano and performed an action song. Baba took a video while I was just offstage with the other mums in case we were needed.

6 Comments

Tags: milestones, music, preschooler, video

27 Jul, 2010

the pen-scoop method

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth

As a left-handed mum of at least one right-handed child, my gravest concern about my ability to homeschool little ones centered around teaching them to write.

With a sudden flash of inspiration during one of her reading lessons, I devised a way to enable Nikki to pick up and grip her pen correctly. Maybe this tip will help someone else as well.

First she lays the pen down, and then she scoops it up in her right hand. Next she flips the writing end of the pen down toward the paper as she curves her fingers around it. Finally, she slides her hand closer to the writing end as necessary. I'm not sure how I thought of this, but the pen-scoop method has made it so Nikki picks up her pen correctly every time.

My initial approach was to hold a pen in my right hand while positioning the fingers of her right hand on her pen to match. Hardly ideal since I don't normally hold a pen in my right hand, and it was trial and error for me to fine-tune her grip each time.

Now that we have pen-grip sorted, the rest of homeschooling should be a breeze. Right?

5 Comments

Tags: homeschooling, preschooler

26 Jul, 2010

begin again

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth

Nikki's insight into her own needs is both astonishing and essential in our homeschooling journey. She deeply desires to learn all she can, but at the same time she knows her limits.

Nikki had successfully completed Lesson 16 in her 100 Easy Lessons book. But the later lessons were a stretch and she began to try to guess what each word was before sounding it out, which wasn't working very well.

So she asked if we could start at Lesson 1 again. We have, and we're up to Lesson 15 for the second time. She's more confident and excited about the lessons, and she has cleared up an initial confusion between the sounds a and ē.

Shamelessly starting over whenever we want is a wonderful benefit of homeschooling!

4 Comments

Tags: homeschooling, preschooler

21 Jul, 2010

bowing and bowing

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth

Sunday afternoon Ben stayed home so Michael and Vi could have a nap while Nikki and I walked into downtown Perth for a special concert featuring the string section of the Fremantle Chamber Orchestra and the Pinnacle String Quartet.

Again on my glamorous kick, I used a short wrap for the first time. For our 40-minute walk Nikki went on my back in a reinforced rucksack carry. I'm definitely going to be looking for more excuses to wear this double brushed Walter's Organic baby wrap in deep purple.

Hans Hug's concert selections were lovely and featured quite a few different soloists. Now that we have a violin student in the house, I paid special attention to the bowing. Nikki paid particular attention to the bowing (curtain call).

As we were leaving Perth Town Hall, a lady who had been selling drinks at the back offered Nikki an orange juice. Nikki said, "yes." We rounded out the afternoon sipping and people-watching in central Perth.

6 Comments

Tags: babywearing, music, preschooler

13 Jul, 2010

a parenthetical expression

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth

This afternoon I overheard Nikki explain, "Vi, if you take apart this track - I don't want you to, but if you do - I'm going to have to work hard again, OK?"