back to the routine

We took about a week off (with a little reading and a little math sneaked in) for a visit with grandparents. Now it's back to the schooltime routine.

I've been really focused on 1st grade dd, and I need to work at including preschool time for 3 year old dd. She's been doing puzzles while we work, and she colors, but I do need to work with her a bit more.

thoughts on Children Around the World

I really like the idea of Winter Promise's Children Around the World. Much of it is over dd's head, so I've been supplementing with library books. I had planned to use it again when my youngest is old enough to participate. But I'm beginning to think that it's not quite the program for us. For families who just want to learn a little bit about a bunch of different countries, it might be perfect. But we want to move to Europe.

This week, the focus is Switzerland and the Netherlands. Yet the guidebook has the kids reading about Iceland and Scandinavia. This seems confusing.

Instead of purchasing Children Around the World, I really think I should have looked at the map, chosen a country for each week of our school year, reserved library books and music for each week and googled a few recipes.

Swiss Week

We've been reading Look What Came from Switzerland and another children's book about Swiss culture and geography. Dd has been listening to an abridged audio version of Heidi. I didn't want to do the abridged version, but the complete version is about 8 hours long and I thought she might lose interest. I want her to have a pleasant acquaintance with Heidi, so that in a few years when she reads the book, she will already know it's a great book.

We had raclette for dinner tonight.
http://paisleyteacup.blogspot.com/2007/10/raclette.html

We continue to use Letters and Sounds and Math U See. We began reading A Beka's Fun with Pets, and I'm going to stick with A Beka reading books for the rest of the year. I love the way some phonics drill is included in the reader. I'm really considering buying an ABeka math book. For handwriting, dd has been copying her Bible verses from church.

Our homeschool corner

We do most of our school time at the dining room table or on the couch. I finally organized an area to keep all the homeschool stuff together; it's a corner in the dining room.

The magazine holders are really handy; I have one for each girl's schoolwork.

why did I buy a guidebook?

We read library books about the geography and culture of Ireland.We read Irish fairy tales. We listened to Irish music. We ate Irish and British food.

And after 2 weeks I realized I didn't open the guidebook once. It is too advanced for dd anyway. Focusing on geography, culture, stories, and food is adequate -- and I could have done it all with free library books.

Schooltime weeks ending October 5

Migraines have limited my computer time the last couple weeks, but I seem to be recovering.

I think we're going to stop using Explode the Code and use A Beka Letters and Sounds instead. It is colorful and dd enjoys it more.

In math, we're drilling addition facts and moving through Math U See. We're on lesson 5. Each "lesson" has almost a week's worth of worksheets.

Dd reads aloud to me every day. She read Cat in the Hat to dh.

Handwriting: Bible verses, letters to church class teachers and Grandpa.

Audio books: dd has been listening to the first Boxcar Children book, Paddington Bear, and Winnie the Pooh.

Social activities: Saturday night Bible class, Tuesday morning class, and Sunday night children's choir.

Irish Weeks

We've spent 2 weeks studying Ireland, and I still don't want to move on!

We've read books about Ireland:
A to Z Ireland, by Justine and Ron Fontes
Look What Came from Ireland
Ireland in the Children's Own Words, edited by Susie Brooks

and Irish Stories:
Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk, by Gerald McDermott
Fair, Brown, and Trembling (and Irish Cinderella story), by Jude Daly (this book was VERY popular with dd),
Clever Tom and the Leprechaun, by Linda Shute

We went to a family friendly Irish pub to eat Fish and Chips, followed by Sticky Toffee pudding.
At home, we had a British Isles dinner with English bangers (sausages) and colcannon (mashed potatoes with bacon and cabbage). Dh made "bubble and squeak" from the leftover colcannon. (I could eat bubble and squeak every day.) We also had welsh rarebit twice. These foods were all immensely popular with our children -- and with us. (Welsh rarebit is going to be served at our home quite frequently.)

( Colcannon recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_22600,00.html
http://www.ireland-information.com/irishrecipes/colcannon.htm

Welsh rarebit:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_26813,00.html

picture of a British version of sticky toffee pudding
http://stickytoffeepudding.com/ and a recipe we haven't tried yet: http://www.recipezaar.com/113993

bubble and squeak
http://www.anenglishmaninamerica.co.uk/british-bubble-and-squeak-recipe.php

Irish brown bread:
http://paisleyteacup.blogspot.com/2007/06/irish-brown-bread-easy.html)

Irish music:
http://flameofwine.com/ Lasairfhiona, a celtic singer from the Aran Islands

Now we need to make a lapbook (migraine kept me from googling for pictures) and then we move on to Switzerland.