Rembrandt - Self Portraits

We're studying the Baroque Period in music, and I've decided to stick with the same in art. Today, we were introduced briefly to Rembrandt, looked at a number of his portrait paintings on the National Gallery's website, and then completed a project from our book, Discovering Great Artists. Rembrandt practiced by making drawings of himself with various expressions. After making lots of crazy faces at one another, the boys set to work.

Noah worked in front of my wardrobe mirror.

Cooper set up a mirror at his desk.

We only have two mirrors, so Caleb sat in front of the computer at Nick's desk/my dressing table. He had a great time scribble scrabbling (his words) and spreading papers about.

Noah was prolific.

Cooper spent a lot of time contemplating the best way to go about the project.

Handwriting and Nature Studies

We've put aside the handwriting practice books and have been focusing on some very basic skills. Some letter formation has been learned incorrectly (though often the final product is correct). We're going through a few letters each day. First, we make "air letters." Next, the boys trace letter forms with the pointer finger of their writing hand. Finally, they practice in a wipe-off book. So far, so good. I've already noted significant progress.

Noah practices in the wipe-off book.

Cooper traces letters with his finger (I've added arrow guides to the cards).

 We will be doing nature studies on Thursdays with the Boltons this year but will not begin meeting until later this month. In the mean time, I'll be taking the boys to the nature reserve. We took some photos today and will use them in a nature journal. More on that later.

Our waterproof gear means we can go exploring rain or shine.

The boys were watching fish (minnows, maybe?). They also spotted ducks, Moorhens, a heron, and various bees and bugs. Oh, and a dead pigeon floating in the water. Cooper requested that I take a photo of that too...nice.

Surprise in the Mail!

We were sitting down on the rug for circle time and heard a knock on the door. A delivery man was waiting with two unexpected boxes. Such fun! We did finish our lesson before tearing into the boxes.

What can it be? What can it be?!?!

School Supplies!

Silly boy with Silly Putty. Noah thought this one up.

A bit of the plunder...I don't think we'll need to re-stock some of this for years!

More goodies

After reading Peter Rabbit, the boys used their new crayons to complete a coloring page. 

THANK YOU, GIGI AND PAPAW!!!!

First Day of School 2011-2012

The Student Body: Noah (Kindergarten), Caleb (preschool), Cooper (1st grade)

Desk Work

Science was a big hit. Today we asked the question, "What does a scientist do?" All three boys are eager to be scientists this year.

After school reading...this warms my heart.

Our New School Room

Our third bedroom (think walk-in closet size) was Nick's study and has now been converted to a school room. We won't be able to do all of our schooling here due to space, but the room does offer a nice spot for storage/organization and individual work.

Cooper was checking out his new mini office.

Yep, that's the same bookcase/cabinet that's visible in the above photo.   The furniture was listed on gumtree and fits perfectly. Yay!

I'm super excited about having a space devoted to school!

Mini Offices

The big boys are going to Holiday Club (like VBS in the States) this week, and I'm making final preparations for school which will begin next week. One new addition this year is a mini office for each of the boys. It's taken me a while to compile and organize all of the elements I wanted to include. I glued Caleb's together today and will have each page laminated later this week. The pages will be taped together with packing tape into an accordian-type file. The purpose is to have quick reference tools and to aid in learning basic information. 

Caleb and I had the morning to ourselves. He cut away while I glued. 

Cover Page

 

Caleb has only 2 pages: Manuscript Guide; Colors; Shapes; Left/Right; Alphabet Chart; Number Caterpillar

First 2 pages for Cooper and Noah: Days of the week; Months of the year; Clock; Seasons; Continents and Oceans; Colors; Hundreds Chart; Shapes; Skip Counting Chart

Pages 3-4: Left/Right; Manuscript Guide; Numbers/Words/Hands/Tally Marks; Paper Money; Fractions; Order Words; Coins 

Back Page: Books of the Bible

And that's it. Noah's office is yellow and Cooper's orange. All 3 boys are really excited about using these.

2010-2011 School Resources

I will soon be updating the blog with our new resources, so I've compiled the basics from last year's resources on this page.

Music:

Calvert's Discoveries in Music was a great introduction to music studies. View here.

We listened to this and other classics to learn about various instruments.

Language:

View it here.

Find it here.

Literature:

and all of the books included in the guide (Curious George, Caps for Sale, Corduroy, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Blueberries for Sal, The Little Engine that Could, Floss, A Chair for My Mother, Harry the Dirty Dog, Billy and Blaze, Bread and Jam for Francis, Dr. DeSoto, Frog and Toad are Friends, and Frog and Toad All Year Long).
See the guide here.

Find this book here.

Handwriting:

We're doing traditional manuscript. The Zaner-Bloser workbook can be found here.

Math:

We used Saxon math for Cooper.
Noah used workbooks from Harcourt-Brace that my mom had left-over from her Kindergarten class.

History:

For history, we primarily used this book which can be found here.
We supplemented with other books about the included historical figures.

Geography:

Find it here.

View this book here.

Bible:

See it here. 

Our copy is from First Presbyterian Church, Jackson. 

This great set of verses (ESV) can be purchased from the Desiring God website found here.

Art:

This book is wonderful! It can be found here.

French:

View here.