Go State!

Your interesting tidbit of the day, from Sue: I just learned that the founders and owners of Addy's curriculum company (Sarita and John Holzmann of Sonlight.com) are Spartans.

John and Sarita earned their undergraduate degrees (both with honors) at Michigan State University. Sarita earned a B.S. in Dietetics while John earned a B.A. in Philosophy. John went on to earn the M.Div. at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.

Addy learns about handwriting

Handwriting is in the middle. Handwriting in the middle means that I don't like handwriting and I like handwriting. That's why it is kind of in between.

We do wet, dry, try. First, Mommy writes a letter on the chalkboard. I erase it. Then I dry it. Then I write it. Then I do the same thing over again.

We use a system for traditional manuscript writing called Handwriting Without Tears. It is especially good for lefties, as it helps Addy see that she should start most of her letters and numbers in the starting corner (top left) to avoid reversals. The books give us good memory aids to help form the letters. We use a small chalkboard for the wet, dry, try method Addy described. First I demonstrate how to make a letter on the chalkboard. Then she erases it along my lines with a tiny, wet sponge to work on her pincer grasp and let her arm feel how to do the strokes in the correct order. Then, she dries it with a bit of paper towel to get more practice making the stroke before she moves on to paper. Finally, she practices the letter on paper. While some handwriting programs have the child trace one letter, then make a whole row of letters on their own (often getting worse with each try, I have noticed!), with this one she traces one, then makes one of her own, then traces another, and so on. It helps her keep it in the right form each time. By the end of a page, she can do each letter well.

Addy learning about the Earth crust

This is pretend, but the outside of the egg is the crust of the Earth. The white part is the mantle. The middle is core. That is the pretend Earth. The middle is also hot in real Earth, but not really in the egg. That is the Earth.

The Earth isn't hot on all the parts. Cutting up the egg model was for school.

I like ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt isn't what it used to be. It used to be where their belief was they buried their kings, and then after they bury them they think it will come back to life. But now people still live in Egypt, but their belief isn't that. But they do bury them.

They have to cover their arms, shoulders and their whole face, but not their eyes. Miss Lynn is a nice person. I went to see her because to learn about Egypt, because she went to Egypt. She showed me something made out of sand. It is a pyramid. It got my hands all dirty, but I wiped the sand off. It was fun being at Miss Lynn's house.

After we studied ancient Egypt during week 2 of school, Addy spent an hour with our neighbor, Lynn, who visited Cairo on vacation last year. She showed her pictures of the pyramids and talked to her about what it is like in Egypt today.

Addy plays soccer

I like to play soccer. Soccer is fun. There are six kids. I like to play. It is fun playing.

You can't use your hands. You can only use your feet or head.

There is Alexis, Annie, Emma, Jenna and Kendra. That is all the girls I play with. There are six girls altogether.

My number is No. 5, and I am 5 years old. Isn't that silly? Scoring goals is one of the fun things. I say, "Woo!" when I score a goal. I like the other parts of soccer, too.

I love soccer.

Addy learned

I learned about string instruments for homeschool. Mr. Z. showed me the double bass. I liked listening to it. We all got to play it. Sydney got to, Jordan got to, and I got to.

First I watched a movie about string instruments and then I went to see a real double bass. It was fun. I loved it. Then I got to play with my friends a little while. We played fairies the whole time. Then I had to go.

Addy learned about string instruments in this week's Melody Lane video. We also read about them in an Usbourne book. Her friends' father plays the bass, so she went to their house and got to hear and play with it.

My first days of school

My first week of school was fun. Today was my fourth day. Hi, my name is Addy. I'm a kindergartner. My real name is Adele, but please call me Addy.

I like science. And I like to be a kindergartner. I like the book called Finding out About Everyday Things. That book is really fun to learn about. And did you know that you can tell the distance that a storm is from you by that the light comes first and then count how long it takes for the noise to come to your ears? Sheet lightning is something that is lightning that it goes from one cloud to another.

I like reading the Boxcar Children book. Right now we're reading about the children are living in the boxcar. I don't know what'll happen after that. You'll never know. Or maybe you will. Boxcar Children is a book that the boxcar children found some dishes in a dumpster. It was treasure for them, but wasn't really treasure in real world.

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." That actually is true. That is a very true Bible verse. True Bible verses are school verses.

In school, I am reading a very easy book called I Can Read It! That book is too easy for me, but I read it 'cause that's part of school.

Again, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

You're gonna see a picture of a number line on our sidewalk.

—typed by Mommy, exactly as dictated by Addy