This morning we started back into Miquon with a little bit for everyone - even LittleH#3 did some geometry on a page requiring identification of squares and triangles and then a funny little picture of a man made out of shapes to colour in. That kept him busy for about 2 minutes and my 'village school' type idea of teaching everyone in the same room was good / interesting / still needs work but on the right track!
LittleH#1 had some multiplication pages to do, and I also tore some sequential work out for LittleH#2 as well as finding him some number handwriting pages for practice. Learningpage was the best in the end, but I also did some in orange highlighter for him to trace over. He got frustrated and was sad because his numbers don't look good on paper, and a lot came out backwards today for some reason. That hasn't happened for a while (he is left handed and has done more backwards writing than LittleH#1 did when he was starting out). I told him his head was ahead of his hand and that I know how frustrated he feels. I told him that he was really good at 'mental arithmetic' but that we need to work on 'writing maths' and am kicking myself for letting him do a year of letter writing practice as and when it was appropriate, but not having practised numbers in the same way. So a numberwriting crash course required. He's only 5, it doesn't matter, but he really wants to do maths and writing work so I need to have some 'handwriting time' organised as part of each day.
The multiplication went well for LittleH#1, and a few pennies dropped along the way. We discussed how you describe the sentences - 2 times 4, 2 lots of 4, 2 4's etc, and 4+4. In fact I am pleased that we got a lot out of a fairly simple page - that is what I like about Miquon - it isn't too prescriptive. I am also kicking myself for not buying the online version because LittleH#2 could have done that page as well, and wouldn't have had actually to write any numbers. Think I may well be downloading it later because I am trying to use the Orange Book for both of them and I randomly copy pages before I use them but I didnt do that from the start... I sound like I am in a muddle... I'm not, I'm just trying to save money on resources! For now we are sharing the book. LittleH#1 is further ahead in the book, and I left some of the early pages for LittleH#2 intentionally.
Following lunch (the strangest cheese on toast I have ever made - bacon, eggs, toast, peanut butter and honey on toast - spot the deliberate mistake - no cheese...) we had a lesson in first aid when LittleH#3 fell over and hit his head and nose on the floor. Nosebleed was quite distracting and it wasn't till I put him to bed I saw the bump. LittleH#1 was very good - brought me the frozen peas and teatowel, phone (for moral support!) and then picked up the runaway peas when the drama was over. Lots of good pea jokes and the boys are getting very good at making puns. Need to teach them some other literary devices but for now that one is keeping us very amused. Better than the joke book LittleH#1 is reading. Maybe a school project might be for him to write some of his own jokes down?
I was very pleased with LittleH#1's emergency situation response - something that is a goal for us this year actually.
Currently the home ec project is in the oven. We have jokingly called it Domestic Science (because they like science so I gave the kitchen some Importance in our school!). Today's 'lesson' was a mix (ha, get it?!) of both. We had to 'make' some ingredients before we could make the cake.
- Had no vegetable oil. Needed 100mls. So I 'tested' with LittleH#1 whether 100g of margarine will make 100ml of oil - it just about did. Not sure either measurement was THAT scientific but it did the job.
- Had no caster sugar. Did something I have wanted to try for a while. We put the raw sugar in the blender and made caster sugar. Apparently if you keep going you can make icing sugar. I do believe that. I think ours was a halfway house between caster and icing.
So we have learned how to be economical with what we have got, how to make oil from solid margarine, reinforcing what we know already about 'matter'. As well as how to cook.
Next stop: walk to the shops. I think we will continue with 'tables walking' as really that is the next landmark I want to get to - learning a few of our tables.
In the meantime LittleH's 1 & 2 have been teaching themselves geography with the Leapfrog globe. Reporting exciting things to me as I wash up the dishes and now they are drawing flags. LittleH#2 just showed me the Libyan one he's just drawn. They began looking at continents and discussing volcanoes / islands made from volcanoes / funny names they'd never heard of before. I must record all this 'extra' / natural learning because it makes a very interesting picture overall when I look back, as we have for the review. I really do see these extra 'learnings' as God's provision to us as a family - his provision in the form of their learning.
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