Curriculum Overview

We had a nice Easter here - the kids and Serona were sick so we just had a low key day here. An Easter egg hunt and the Easter story in the morning and then relaxing and watching movies most of the rest of the day. We had an unusual Easter dinner of pancakes and home fries (it was perfect) and then some snacks before bed. We watched Return of the Jedi and Dinotopia with the kids. I finished an afghan I was working on for a friend and it was a relaxing day.

Thought I would recap recent activities with each of the kids for the record.

Rhiannon

We are still working through our basic curriculum of the following resources (plus whatever we supplement with) based loosely around the concepts found in The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer (a nice outline of a classical style education) and The Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola (a nice review of the concepts of a Charlotte Mason based education) :
Phonics Pathways by Dolores Hiskes
Bob Book Fun Set A Level 2
Primary Phonics 1 by Barbara Makar
Storybook Treasury of Dick and Jane and Friends by Grosset and Dunlap
Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer
My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt

Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 1 (Christian Liberty Nature Readers)
by Julia Wright
What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know by JR ED Hirsch
Spectrum Math K - though I can't wait to start Miquon Math

Other activities we work on include:
Handwriting practice (individual letters and sentences)
Nature Study Notebook (personal drawing journal)
Classical Music Appreciation (currently on Beethoven)
Art Appreciation (currently on Mary Cassat)
Handwork (currently potholders)
Letter of the week activities (currently x,y, and z)
Many Daily Read Alouds (see current reading list.

And of course free play time in the yard and with toys. Some of her favorite activities right now include swinging, riding her bike, digging in the sand, playing with her dollhouse, imaginative play and making maps and lists for everyone to follow. When asked what she wants to do she almost always asks for me to read her a book. She also really enjoys books on tape. She is currently listening to Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Prince Caspian by CS Lewis (both unabridged). She enjoys dancing and putting on shows and in general being the center of attention.

Ciaran

We are just playing our way through learning. We are focusing on his ABC's, numbers 1-10 and learning the letters in his name. He seems to have his colors and shapes down now. He has much more patience for listening to stories now. The other day he requested and listened very well through a 42 page non-fiction book on Israel (it did have lots of pictures but still stop took almost 20 minutes to read through). We try to go through his alphabet atleast twice a day pointing to and saying each letter and often tracing them. He can count easily to 10 with help to 20 and is slowly understanding how much things are (moving from route memorization to understanding of concept of numbers). We also do a letter of the week and plan activities and learning around that letter (this week is x,y and z). I am trying to teach him to write and recognize his name (this is currently quite challenging).

Some of his favorite things to do right now are dig in the sand, slide on his swinget, climb on anything, ride his trike, play soccer, build cities with his blocks, drive his cars, playing with his trains and doing puzzles. He also loves stamping with ink and doing anything crafty. He takes part in these aspects of Rhiannons studies, as well as the daily read alouds:

Nature Study Notebook (personal drawing journal)
Classical Music Appreciation (currently on Beethoven)
Art Appreciation (currently on Mary Cassat)
Letter of the Week activities (including keeping a sound box)

Sirah

Sirah just plays with us and is growing so fast. She is crawling all over the place and is getting harder to keep up with. She is starting to pull herself up and stand by herself for a few seconds before falling down again (she gets up and starts again right away), she is beginning to cruise on furniture and it is clear she wants to be more mobile then she is. She is starting to babble more and more and her smiles are still so wonderful. She is definitely fully mobile now and can get where she wants to. She loves try to pick up and eat little pieces of anything and paper. Her toys are often bypassed for some fascinating piece of pea gravel that has migrated from our swingset. She loves being in the backpack or sling (though she prefers the backpack) and just sitting with us. The only thing we do with her is sing to and play with her and talk to her about things.

Peace,
Tenn