Sum it up Saturday

We've made tally marks, worked with the clock, played with nickels, planted seeds 5 inches apart, picked up toys in groups of five, counted carnival tickets by groups of ten, used the beautiful number grid in the back of Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 to skip count, and simply practiced together in the car while driving.  And this week, it clicked!  He still stumbles over the order some, especially through the teens, but this week Logan mastered skip counting.  I screeched and hugged him too tight the first time he counted from 5 to 100 by 5s.  Its victories like this, which *I*, not a school teacher, get to share with my kids, which makes home schooling so amazing.  We have worked hard together, and we celebrated together.  :)

This week was a jumbled week.  Arrow wasn't feeling too well and pretty much did not sleep for three nights, which means this Mama didn't sleep for three nights.  I had to look back into my camera to even remember what we did this week.  It was the type of week I tend to call "free".  Not free because we don't do anything, but free because we followed the kids' lead more than the books.  These weeks used to scare me because I worried we didn't accomplish anything.  Now I'm learning that we accomplish so much in these "free" weeks and its not always about having a completed worksheet.  So much learning goes on outside of worksheets!

 

Logan wanted to make his cousin a birthday present.  Zac helped him, but Logan used most of the tools himself.  He was very proud.

I introduced the kids to Mr. Rogers this week.  I wouldn't say I loved T.V. as a kid, but I do remember loving Mr. Rogers.  We streamed his shows from the PBS website.  The kids love it, especially Kian, as its geared towards his age range.  Its fun to hear the things they retain from these episodes.  One episode featured the group Stomp.  The kids were enthralled by Stomp so we got on youtube and watched more of their shows.  They were especially excited about this video, where Stomp members are shown making music while hanging suspended from a billboard.  With brooms, my old ironing board, drum sticks, an old metal serving plate, and wine barrel hoops hung from a chin up bar, the kids reenacted Stomp.  They had so much fun!

The kids got to do a bit of phonics and handwriting with my Mom yesterday.  I love when others offer to do school with the kids.  Its fun for them and I think its good for them to learn how to take instructions from someone other than just me all the time.  They both learned new concepts in phonics this week.  Felicity learned a new blend and Logan learned to read two syllable words.  Grammy said they did great with it.

This week I read a little bit about how the children in Finland are taught.  One article said they are let outside to play every 45 minutes.  When a teacher was interviewed and asked how she could ever teach them enough when they break every 45 minutes, the teacher said there's no way she could teach them if they DIDN'T get their energy out every 45 minutes.  Play is such a huge part of learning, and for the home schooler, I think it is especially big.  We can take play breaks whenever needed and I'm trying to do that more.  That being said, when we are home all day, we are limited to our SMALL backyard and the cul de sac for outside play.  We've tried to be creative with space to really give a lot of space over to the kids and this week we added something new to the backyard.

Hooray for play!

 

How was your home schooling week?

Feel free to do your own Sum it up Saturday post and link up in the comments area.