Keys Atheneum Weekly Report

This week we've been really busy. Husband has been working increasingly (holidays), I've been getting ready for my mom to come over (less than two weeks -- yay!) and the children have been off and on with a cold of sorts. It seems everyone I talk to has something. We also attended the Islamorada Holiday Festival yesterday. No snow this year, however. Son was excited to see snow again, but the truck broke down in Homestead and all that snow was melting.. Yes, we live in a warm climate that never gets snow. It's fun to play with snow in weather that doesn't support snow.  We took pictures with Santa, which I'm going to post next week -- hopefully.

Math

I introduced concepts of one-half, one fourth and one third and dividing into equal vs. non equal parts. Son was very knowledgeable about this (undoubtedly from experience sharing with Mama -- hehe) and completed each sheet perfectly. We're using MCP Math Level K.

Poetry

Mix a Pancake by Christina G. Rossetti. We're using Poems to Read to the Very Young.

Phonics

We completed Tanglewood's Really Reading phonics program and I filled out and showed Son the certificate at the back of the book. Now we're exclusively using Spectrum Phonics Grade 1 until the end of the school year (end of May).

Penmanship

He's done all the lowercase letters and numerals, and now we're reversing the order of the book. He just did number 9 on Friday (yesterday).

Reading

This week Son read Me Too! by Mercer Mayer and Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman (this one with help. He's doing great, and picks up books to read without me asking him to read aloud.

Art

The week before Son decorated Christmas ornaments, coloring sketches Husband drew on them, Son's choice.  This week Husband had him looking at Leonardo Da Vinci art in his book and discussing his art and life a bit in preparation for tomorrow's art class. 

Literature

I read aloud a few stories from James Herriott's Treasury for Children: Bonnie's Big Day, Blossom Comes Home and The Market Square Dog. He likes the stories, especially the latter.

Geography

I read about the earth's rotation around the sun from My World and Globe and demonstrated with the globe and flashlight. We also talked about time zones and how the seasons come to be because of the increased or decreased light from the sun. Every day since he says when it's day time: "Now it's nighttime in Asia" and at night he says, "Mama, it's daytime in Asia" :)

Natural Science

After Son gathered materials from outdoors and we sorted them, we discussed what makes something living or biological, natural nonliving or human-made. He seemed to have a good idea of what was nonliving and he knew that his toys and stuffed animals were and that they are human-made. We sorted leaves (fresh or otherwise), pieces of bark, seeds, and an insect in the living/biological category. He has some difficulty in understanding that an apple was living, but after some explanation (it grows, it dies) he understood. I love Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU)! I can see Son making the connections and thinking about the concepts in his daily life.

Piano

We did half notes. We clapped to beats and Son played a simple song and I sang along with him. He did great! The only thing I had to remind him is to keep his fingers curved. I'm using Alfred's Piano Prep Course to teach him.