Weeks 9-10 have been so full with interesting books and experiences!
This blogpost is already delayed by 4 days between a hectic weekend for the husband and my phone breaking. I usually upload these on Fridays evenings after the girls are in bed(or during the older ones bedtime routine which my husband does) but since he was busy, I had to prioritize them over this and by the time they were in bed, I was too exhausted to do this. So here I am, on a Monday afternoon, typing this up instead of lying down.
Let us get into it!
Math/Poetry-
We revised our unit on time and numbers and we did SO MUCH BAKING! I made bread with Ahna(of which I did not get pictures) and we tried out a new cookie recipe, of which I did get pictures! We had a poetry tea party just us and it was Hopes first tea party! I am getting very into organising these and having fun with poems while snacking. With our first attempt at growing flowers in the garden, I am mentally getting excited for an edible flower theme poetry tea party on the terrace garden!
Science/Nature
We went out foraging for the first time and picked up some wild edibles with the locals. We also brought home a pet caterpillar(3 times in 3 years) and we are hoping to see the cycle again with an older Ahna. We did an experiment while setting up seeds in starting trays with coco peat. Ahna saw how water can travel into spaces without pouring it on top and how the peat absorbs it from within. We had several learning opportunities in our home terrace garden. The one that stood out most to me was Ahna spotting an earthworm and knowing it needed to go back into the soil. She then delicately put it in and covered it with soil in the pots. She has grown to be so comfortable holding worms, my gardening heart is ecstatic! We have also started harvesting from our garden and this time around, I was to track our harvests to study our self sustaining needs for the years to come. I do want to grow most of our vegetables in the future.
We have also been studying about trees and reading about the different parts of a tree, creatures who live on trees, how leaves fall vs how fruit falls(the science behind it) and different textures of barks. We are hoping to go on a nature walk next week and sit and draw a tree together. e had to connect this to “The giving tree” book that Ahna loves so dearly.
Reading-
Ahna has been practicing her reading skills and blending sounds. We have also been enjoying reading living books and Ahna is at such an exciting age of making connections and distinctions. The other day, I mentioned to her that I needed to ‘nurse’ Hope and then I could come read to her, and she made a distinction between the ‘nursing’ and the ‘nurses’ at the hospital. It was such a sweet beautiful moment and my english language teacher heart was happy.
Picture study-
We are continuing with our landscape art study book once a fortnight. Ahna is showing increasing comprehension and growing in her observation skills as well as we talk about the pictures. This particular one required us to talk about the different weather indications as seen in the picture and what we might do if we were there in that backyard garden. She said we would probably pick some flowers to look at, go on a nature walk or have a tea party. Little children and their perspectives are so precious.
I have started moving Ahna towards doing picture study, working on her observation skills further through the medium of drawing. We started with our first drawing of a Bracket fungi. I guess this would also fall into nature study but home education is full of beautiful connections in learning and quite often it is hard to put learning in separate boxes.
Life skill- Cooking
We have been looking at some of her recipe books(the ones for children) and learning how to read the actions through pictures and have been cooking our meals together. She is able to narrate back processes, learning about the different spices we use, the several processes in the kitchen and ingredients used in cooking. She wants to get involved with the chopping process soon and I give her opportunities while holding her hands but I’m content with that for now as we don’t have child friendly chopping tools. We have been enjoying our mealtime devotional which is one letter a day that has a different focus on God’s character. So for example if the letter is G- we did The Good shepherd with that and a verse connected to it.
ART-
Ahna painted her clay creations from her pottery workshop last. She had made a butterfly and a face. I love how conversations about butterflies drinking nectar from flowers is such a common occurrence in our home.
Hindi-
We have been making more friends around our neighborhood and Ahna is fascinated with the hindi language(most of the time). So we have continued to read hindi stories and I started a hindi book with her which focuses on vocabulary, letters and concepts. We will probably use this as a guide to direct our learning with this second language over the next 2-3 years while supplementing it with songs and stories.
We are going for a short staycation next fortnight so I am happy to switch to on the go learning for a bit. Those experiential outings are so fulfilling at this age. See you next fortnight!