Oh, The Places We Go!

We visited the Coral Reef.

We learned about rituals in Ancient Egypt
(with some fried plantains).

We went back to Khan,

and I think Lu is ready this time.

As I mentioned in a recent post, we're going to slow down on the math front - as far as learning new concepts goes. Lu had already used Khan, but he reached a point where it suddenly got too difficult, and the videos just went right over his head. But with everything he's learned in the last seven months - since he last tried Khan - and with a stronger grasp on English, he was ready to try again and has already earned several badges this week.

I'm not a big fan of the scratch pad, and would rather Lu used paper, 

but... whatever... he likes it because it's all hi-techy I guess.

At first he was kind of annoyed at having to do all the "easy stuff" again, but we talked about mastery, and he agreed that practice was necessary. 

Now, I'm no math expert, but I think Khan is best to start using after a person already understands negative numbers. So, around 5th grade. But that's just our experience, I've heard of people using it successfully with younger children. We started last year when Lu was 8, and it seemed perfect for a while, but like I said - it suddenly got way too difficult for him.

Back to the places we go...

We also went out to the backyard 

to practice poetry recitation 

with a friend from Youth Group.

They are going to recite a poem together

in a couple of weeks.

 It's a very sweet poem in Spanish

about the wind and a cloud playing together.

We went all over the world to look at different birds

with BBC's The Life of Birds series,

and we took a basket of jocotes with us -

our local fruit that is now ripe for the picking.

(I'll get some pics of the actual picking next week)

We went to the jungle

with Human Planet: Jungles

a series we are very much enjoying.

We finished up our tour of Europe.

Lu now knows the location and capital of each country, and has these self-made posters with all the flags and information on language and population for easy reference (the flags were his idea btw - it's not something I would have him do), as well as Europe's rivers and mountains.

We got on a slave ship and landed in Jamaica

where we learned the words to Bob Marley's

Redemption Song,

which gave us lots to think about

and talk about.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind. 

*    *    *    *    *

So, as you can see, we get around.

 

Cooking, Writing, and Poker Face

I love walking into the kitchen to this...

Lu's becoming quite the little chef.

He's gotten into the habit 

of frying his toast in bacon fat. 

Hmmmm.....

I guess I should just be grateful that he
doesn't eat sugary breakfast cereals like I used to.

 

It's nice to see him so independent in the kitchen. It's one of those skills that puts part of a mother's mind at ease - I know he can cook for himself - at least eggs, rice, and griddled vegetables.  

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

On to the schooly stuff -

Lu's been reading a lot lately. Which is great.

He's reading about ecosystems and exotic animals,

Egypt's deities and ancient customs,

he's also reading

Farmer Boy, Shel Silverstein poems,

Aesop's fables, and a survival guide...

But he's still not writing much.

He'll write pages and pages when given a very straightforward assignment -  like writing a science report or a book summary, but he struggles with the more creative writing. 

In my attempts to get him to loosen up with it, I tried the following:

I picked four photos taken by Lu himself and put them on his blog. Then I asked him to give each photo a title, and write one sentence inspired by the photo.

Cool idea, right?

I was so proud of myself...

until, of course, we actually tried it.

Apparently, it's not such a cool idea.

And it takes a long time,

and a lot of frustration on Lu's part.

I thought he did great in the end,

and I loved this one especially -

 FLOR

Flor bella, tú me haces entender 

que no hay que estar acompañado para ser feliz. 

Translation - Flower

Beautiful flower, you help me understand

that I don't need to be accompanied to be happy.

Not bad, right? But more important than what his mother thinks of his first attempts at writing poetry is whether or not he's interested, and he didn't really seem to be. His face was all-telling. Far from enjoyable, it was almost painful.

And then I came across these beautiful and fun guided journal pages generously created and shared by Christie at Grace is Overrated. I wish I could remember and credit the other homeschool blogger who shared them (thanks for sharing - great link!). I gave them a quick look, copied down some of the writing ideas, made up a couple of my own, and created a journal page for Lu to fill in.

 

The pages are free and downloadable, and when Lu is a bit older, we'll print them out and use them as they are. But, I think (especially as English is his second language) that he might have a hard time understanding some of the prompts right now.

We did the first one last Friday, 

and Lu asked for another one yesterday, 

and another one today!

He loves them! 

They make him think 

about words and ideas, 

with really simple prompts.

His face lights up

as the ideas pop into his head,

almost effortlessly.

Yay for writing assignments that 

make happy faces!

So he's not writing a short story

or an autobiography...

... but he's writing.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

On another note -

 Grandma was here for a couple of weeks,

and they got to playing poker... with money!

That's right, my son and my mother gambling

on my kitchen table!

   

Apparently, he has a really good poker face :-/

Unique Days

Now that we're on this new non-schedule, each day is very unique. 

Today, we started the morning with a long shower, 

curled up in towels on the day bed, and read some poetry.

After a bit of math and spelling practice, 

Lu went down to the garden to cut some fresh oregano,

chopped it up,

and made us some breakfast!

 

The Words of the Day: Abhor and Counterfeit

Look them up and use each one in a sentence.

I get words HERE

This is a great little activity for communicating, listening, giving instructions, and following instructions. We sit back to back, each with one sheet of paper. One person draws something and then, using only words, instructs the other person on how to replicate the drawing.

In this one, Lu drew the original and gave me instructions:

His design worked very well, and his instructions were clear.

The instructions might sound like: from the top right of the spiral, draw a diagonal yellow line to the top right corner of the paper. Go to the half-way point on the yellow line and draw a circle the size of the your fingertip.

In this one, I drew the original and gave the instructions:

 (not as successful)

Several times a week, 

Lu calls for me to come running somewhere with the camera. 

He found all these little guys today -

 

 

 (Can you see? It's an ant carrying a piece of bamboo bark)

 A nap, mid-afternoon...

and that was that.

Moon-Catchin' Net

Today we started our Shel Silverstein read-alouds. We read three poems. With each one, I read twice - once while he just listened and once with him reading along silently, then we discussed, and finally he read. We talked about interpretation, metaphors and analogies.




English is my son's second language which, mixed with my British husband's influence, makes for a quite unique "posh" chicano accent. Here he is reading Moon-Catchin' Net.



I've had this copy of "A Light in the Attic" since 1987, and love the illustrations.

Haiku

Your smile is my smile

Millions of poems I hear

Dance among the stars



Check out
KidZone Poetry Projects
for FREE ideas and print-outs

The Life of a Plant - A Life Science Poem