Catching Up!

Last Tuesday we didn't have science class because we had already done the project that Imajine That had scheduled. Thursday we didn't have swimming because it was Thanksgiving. We were pretty laid back with work.


At one point, I decided to have Jayden try a website, Starfall.com to see how well he did. He is definitely beyond that site so I will have to find something harder for him.

I have decided that I will no longer teach both children at the same time. Jayden gets distracted by  Caitlin's antics and Caitlin wants all of the attention on her if she sees that I am focusing on Jayden. So for the benefit of all of us, school starts with Jayden and ends with Caitlin.

Today we did a bunch of things! We started off with a spelling test with our last 5 words.

He wrote out today's day and date.

He worked on his spelling words for this week

Then we did math. I decided to teach him how to add double digits (without regrouping). I thought it would be a little tricky but I definitely underestimated him! He learned how to do it with the first problem! The lesson literally took less than 1 minute! So he worked on the sheet by himself. Once he was done he said "Mom I need harder work! This was too easy!"

There is a HUGE sale going on at Currclick.com where I downloaded a bunch of free and inexpensive lessons (25¢ or less). One thing I got is a "Cloze" packet. I remember doing these in school. With the Cloze packets words are deleted from a passage and the reader is required to fill in the blanks. The cloze procedure is great practice for reading comprehension.

Then we made our first science lapbook. Jayden is very interested in the human body. He wants to know how everything works. He even asked one of his aunts for two anatomy science kits for Christmas!

He gave me a list of things he wants to learn (which we are still adding to with whatever he requests) which started with the eye. I found a lesson at Currclick.com about the eye. It was recommended for 5+ which I actually think is a little too young given the vocabulary. So we used most of the lesson but will be saving the more difficult part for another time when he is ready to go more in depth about the eye.

While he colored the eye, I assembled the lapbook.

 Finished product:

 He LOVES it! He has been reading it all afternoon!

While all of this was going on, Caitlin started out watching a couple of learning shows.

 She quickly decided that she was "angry with mommy because this is baby work and I am not a baby!"

Caitlin did join us when during the coloring part of the eye project.

She also worked on writing her name before calling it quits for the day!