enjoying nature to inspire all of us to get outdoors more.
How did your children connect with nature this month?
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On Tuesday I found Gerrick reading his NIV Bible. Yes, he was actually reading it. How do I know? Well, when I came in the room, he said, "Song of Songs is disgusting. Listen to this, 'Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth--for your love is more delightful than wine.'"
The next day I pulled the Read and Learn Bible off the shelf and casually said as I placed it on the coffee table, "Hey, I forgot we had this Bible storybook. You might like it now that you're reading so well." He thumbed through it and put it aside, but on Thursday he started at the beginning and read two stories. He put a bookmark in where he stopped. We were gone most of the day on Friday; I'm curious to see if he'll continue to read it next week.
A couple of weeks ago Gerrick took me by surprise when he said, "Mama, I want to start learning how to spell words more. I need something in the workboxes for that."
I told him I would do some research and try to find some ideas for us to try and then I asked my wonderful facebook communtiy for recommendations. Several people mentioned All About Spelling. I checked out the product online; it looks very (VERY) thorough. But then I began to wonder "What would Charlotte do?" A quick online search led me to the answer in Simply Charlotte Mason's super helpful article and video "Homeschool Spelling the Charlotte Mason Way".
I decided to give prepared dictation a shot, so I began the next day with a simple sentence from a book Gerrick had recently read. I wrote it on the dry-erase board and underlined the words he told me he didn't know how to spell. Then he copied the sentence (copywork) and then circled the words he needed to learn. He then wrote those words again.
A couple of days later, he reviewed the words and copied them again.
We talked a lot about picturing words in the mind's eye like a camera takes photos.
Later in the week, we did the dictation. I used the sticky notes as Sonya suggested in the above video to quickly cover errors. Since he didn't get the dictation perfectly (he had the right letters written in the wrong case and he totally blanked out and panicked on the word tail so I told him how to spell it), he wants to do the same sentences again this week. We will, but I think for the near future I will stick with just one good sentence. Two were a bit overwhelming for now, I think.
This includes the instruction manual and DVD with lesson-by-lesson video instruction.
Skip Count CD & Book
These are songs on a CD to help the student learn the skip counting and addition facts. They include a booklet with the words and music. There are two versions of the songs on the CD, one with Christian lyrics, and the other with with the lyrics taken from science and literature.
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Rick (bedtimes): - NIV Bible - The Jungle Book(audio)
Sherry (weekend family storytimes): - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Gerrick's Bucket List
- See bald eagles in the wild - Go to a Lego store - Go to Legoland - Visit the Statue of Liberty - See the Leaning Tower of Pisa - See a gargoyle on a building - Hear a pipe organ played live - Visit the Grand Canyon - Take a tour of the Everglades - Visit a maple syrup farm & make maple candy on snow - Go on a whale watch
