Twaces, Twaces, and more Twaces…

It makes my heart happy that Micah is so eager to do school.  He has chosen to sit and do school with us almost every day since turning 4.  It’s like he woke up and just knew he was ready to learn.  His favorite activity at the moment is twaces (aka TRACING).  He LOVES it.  He loves it so much that I had to buy more books to appease the boy.  I’m thinking I’ll be buying more soon, too, as he’s doing page after page daily.  LOL! 
Tracing isn’t all we do…we also work on writing his name, identifying letters and numbers, patterns, counting, one-to-one correspondence, tracing letters and numbers, cutting, coloring, and just having fun.  His attention span is short-lived if I throw in something he doesn’t like.  If he’s not interested, he quickly says “I’m done with school for today”, and he walks off to play.  LOL!  Following in his older brother’s footsteps, coloring is NOT a huge hit right now.  That’s okay though…he can color…he just chooses not to at the moment. 
He’ll be going to preschool at Byron United Methodist for 3 days a week starting in the fall, and he’s excited because he gets to go to “grandma’s school” (my mom teaches the two-year-old class).  Until then, he’s perfectly content learning with mommy at his own pace. 

I found this idea on Pinterest, and Micah has enjoyed it.

Working on writing his name

Discovery Toys “It’s a Match” Game

Using beans to count

Puzzle time

He wrote this with no guidance…it was a ‘note’ to his daddy

Twaces (tracing – really, drawing lines and following paths for writing readiness)

Scissor skills

Third Grade Week 36 in Review

We finished up week 36 last week, but I’m just now getting to the post.  Here’s how it went for us…
Bible – Our Bible stories were on “God’s Children Look For What Is Coming” and “We Need Help To Live For God.”  We read I John 3:1-3 and 1 John 1:7-2:1.
English – Caleb worked on abbreviations for days of the week and months of the year.  He also worked on transferring paragraphs from print to cursive.
Math – Caleb worked on adding in any order, teaspoon and tablespoon, liters, and equal fractions.
FUN SCHOOL – We had another great week of Fun School.

• Meet the Press Monday – Caleb took 30 minutes to research his chosen topic of ‘Apes’, and then he reported back with 4 facts.

• Make Something Monday – After looking through The Usborne Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do, Caleb chose to make a climbing lizard.

• Take a Tour Tuesday – Caleb chose to work on a website where he could design a panda habitat.  Since he’s such an animal lover, this was super interesting to him.
• Take It To Your Seat Tuesday – Caleb spent some time reading/reviewing the Insects & Small Critters Fact Cards (thanks to Target’s $ bin).

• Who Do You Know Wednesday – This week, Caleb chose to learn about Isaac Newton.  He used books from the library to learn all he could and complete his notebooking page.

• Well-Played Wednesday – Since our Wednesday afternoon was spent at the library, we didn’t get to this.
• Trivia Thursday – Caleb answered questions about what he learned for the past two weeks.
• Turn the Page Thursday – Caleb spent some time reading books from our personal library.

We’ve got one more week of school, and then we get to enjoy SPRING BREAK!  Next week, we’re going to skip Fun School, and focus on Bible, Spelling, English, and Math.  I’m sure there will still be extra learning though, so don’t fret. 

Third Grade Week 35 in Review

We’re still trucking right along with schooling, and we’re slowly approaching the light at the end of the tunnel (the end of 3rd grade really).  Here’s how our last week went:
Bible – Our Bible stories were on “God’s Children Tell God’s Story” and “God’s Children Suffer for Him.”  We read Matthew 28:16-20 and Acts 7:54-60.
English – Caleb worked on when to use do/does, possessives, contractions, and abbreviations.
Math – Caleb did some review work and took a test.  He then began a new light unit and worked on multiplying by 5 and choosing the nearest ten and thousands place.
FUN SCHOOL – There’s not as many pictures this week to show for Caleb’s work, but he did learn stuff nonetheless. 

• Map It Monday – He worked on reading a map.  We used this website to help.
• Mathematical Monday – We played the Real World Math Unexpected Events game.
• Travel Somewhere Tuesday – Using library books, Caleb read and learned about Texas.

• Technology Tuesday – Caleb chose to watch Beakman’s World on Netflix.
• Working With Words Wednesday – Since Caleb has been spending his Wednesday afternoons at the homeschool library time, I decided to let his work for that class count for today.  They’re working on writing a story, so he’s getting in plenty of ‘working with words’ work. 
• Want to Know More Wednesday – Caleb used books from the library to read and learn about Mars.
• Think It Through Thursday – Caleb worked on test prep skills in preparation for the upcoming ITBS test.  He’ll take that in April, so we’re trying to do some practice tests.
• Turn the Page Thursday – Caleb used this time to read from his library books and books from our home library.

Micah’s “Pre”-Schooling

I had high hopes of getting Micah to join us for some schooling time this school year.  However, he hasn’t shown much interest.  And – knowing how Micah is, I figured it would be best to just let him be, and wait until HE was ready.  You see – that’s how Micah works.  We tried getting him to potty train, but he wanted nothing to do with it.  However, out of the blue, he woke up from his nap one day, and he asked to go potty.  He never looked back.  It has to happen on HIS terms.  So, I quickly learned that school was going to be the same way (heck, it’s not required that I school him now anyway, so really it hasn’t been a big deal).
However, on his 4th birthday, he decided he was ready to sit and do some schooling.  We started by letting him work on tracing his name.  He then did lots of tracing and maze pages (prepping him for writing).  To my surprise, he kept asking for page after page.  In fact, he did every tracing page I had to offer.  Once I explained that I didn’t have any more on hand, he was content to go about his business and get back to playing.  LOL!
The next day, he again wanted to do some more schooling.  So, he worked on his name again.  And that’s how it’s been progressing…I do not ask him to school with us.  If he wants to, he comes and asks me if he can do some more ‘traces’ as he calls them.    ***And mommy had to search the Internet for more tracing pages.***
Over the past two weeks, he’s shown a lot of interest in schooling, and I have obliged him.  He’s continued to work on his name, joining big brother to make paper bag puppets, circling objects that belong together (hammer/nails, bread/jam, etc), circling objects that make a pair (socks, skates, etc), and using manipulatives to make patterns.  He’s happy, and that’s what matters to me.  He is seeing school as something fun and enjoyable, and it’s my hope that he will continue to see it that way the rest of his life. 

Tracing the letters in his name

So very proud of his work

Making a paper bag puppet

Thinking about what to use next

Completed project – ‘Puss in Boots’

Working on going from left to right

Circling pairs of objects

Continuing an AB pattern

Continuing an ABCD pattern (He actually asked me to make a red, blue, green, and yellow pattern.  I made it for him thinking that he may not ‘get’ it.  Well, much to my surprise, he did!)

I’m looking forward to seeing him progress and learn as he continues to ask to do school. 

Micah’s 4th Birthday

Micah turned the BIG 4 on March 5th.  We celebrated his birthday last weekend.  He decided he wanted a Cars 2 themed party, so that’s what he had.  We opted to have it at one of our favorite local “jump” places (we’ve had several parties there now), and it was a hit once again.
Since Micah doesn’t like cake, we decided we’d just do cupcakes and cookies.  Well, Brian said that we’d be able to handle it, so I was out to find just the right cupcake recipe.  I tried several, and we finally settled on one that I thought was the best.  They turned out great, but I don’t think I’m up for making cupcakes for a living.  LOL!  After 4 dozen cupcakes and 5 dozen cookies, I’m done baking for a while. 
Micah had lots of fun with his friends at his party, and it was great to celebrate him.  He was showered with all kinds of fun “boy” toys – lots of Batman figures, cars, and his favorite toy of all…the Imaginext Pterodactyl (he’s been asking for it for a LONG time).  He’s turning into such a smart, sweet, silly, and spunky little boy.  Here are some pictures of all the fun.

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