Days off School

For three days this week it has been our Fall break so I'll take this opportunity to show you some of C's work this past quarter. Many times in lesson planning I find we don't move quite as fast as I think we will. I wonder if classroom teachers have that problem - I don't remember having it before. Maybe having one in a class makes a difference in that we have more distractions, stallings, chores and other things to do before, during and after class! Probably had more cooperation too!

In English Language we're working from two grade one books, using one of them just once a week for variation. We're learning to punctuate sentences, compose stories using words from a word bank, alphabetize words etc. She now says Language is her favourite subject and even did some today on an "off" day. Included is a recent spelling test.

Next is Maths. We've completed Right Start Level B as of a couple weeks ago (has been working on it for 9 months), and now I think we'll just "tread water" for a few weeks before jumping into Level C (2nd grade). We need to review some strategies/algorythms and help her learn to THINK. Overall she is doing very well in Maths but gets frustrated and mad quickly. When she has a good day, it's a GREAT day. One extreme to the next.

And here are just a few other examples of stuff we're in the middle of. I don't have photos yet of her Ancient History class work, or science - that'll be for another blog. Some of our other classes are mostly oral, or on the computer, so nothing to "show".

 In cello, we're on Theme from Witches' Dance by Paganini.

S took this whole week off work again. He began painting - but the rain and the threat of rain prevented him from painting more than just the well house at this point. On Thursday he and C went downtown and among other things, visited the Hunter Museum of Fine Art, which C enjoyed, I hear. I had other work to do so they had a nice "date day". C loved it.

We've had some rain the past few days and our "greens" are thriving. We picked spinach, Swiss chard and curly kale today, as well as ochra, carrots and some tomatoes. The carrots all look like multi-legged goblins - yes, the soil is not sandy enough. Next year I'll dig a trench and fill it with a sand mixture.

Heard the cataract ops went well! G and J are down in Florida for the weekend, visiting M's folk and family. S's parents will be up here next week for Alumni w/e. Maybe we'll have a photo or two of them for next time.

Happy Sabbath!