Dori nearing the end of reading lessons

We use a phonics program called "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." Despite the cheesy title, it's a solid method (like SRA of my youth) that really does take 100 easy lessons to complete. Dori finished lesson 89 this morning. We started a tradition with Addy of having a party to celebrate finishing the 100th. Dori has requested a fancy tea party.

Sonlight mapwork

Our curriculum, Sonlight, seamlessly works geography into literature and history so it seems painless. We're reading about slavery, so Addy is filling in the names of all the slave states on an outline map of the U.S. We've been reading about settling the West, so spots in Oregon and other western states are marked.

Periodic Table of Our Family

We're using NOEO Chemistry I and read a book today called, surprisingly enough, "Periodic Table of the Elements." We learned how the 60-some known elements at the time were listed on cards and organized by similarities across rows and columns. Then we created lists about each of us in the family on cards and sorted them various ways so each column and row showed something those members have in common.

American history in marshmallows

I combined three facts to create a special treat for after sit-down school today.

1. We had a box of Corn Chex that no one was likely to eat.

2. Aunt Nini brought these red, white and blue marshmallows for making s'mores and we still had some left.

3. We are studying American history. I'm not sure what this has to do with anything either, other than that I made the treat into a flag.

Egg cartons and muffin tins

Today I put together a surprise for the kids when they wake up, using supplies from my kitchen.

The girls will be working with egg cartons. These hold 30 each and we rescued them after a community breakfast before they were thrown out. (I was too embarassed to ask permission to steal the garbage, so Bob did it for me.)

Addy's egg tray is a multiplication table with 5 columns and 6 rows. She will multiply up to 30 and put the appropriate number of beans in each hole. Daddy brought the beans home from a farmers' field tour.

Dori's egg carton is labeled 1-30 so she can practice her counting. I made sure the 5-10-15-20-25-30 numerals lined up so we can practice skip counting by 5s.

The boys each have a muffin tin. They will do free play, but I'll encourage them to put one item per hole as a fine motor activity. They may throw them on the floor or bang them together. Whatever. A secondary goal is to keep them busy while the girls work.

The tins are filled with goodies Aunt Carol gave us over the years, knowing they might make fun math manipulatives.