The month of May was a good break to prepare for the new academic year. We were so excited to start school with a new perspective and focus. This year, keeping in mind the new adjustment period of having a little one join us, our focus is going to be reading aloud; lots and lots of reading through the day including audio stories. We got a new study table made to help me organize school material for the week after the baby comes. I usually set this up over the weekend with the books, themes, concepts for the next week and we try to cover them over the week. We started with our first day of school with a photo shoot!
Math-
We started the year with a recap of counting numbers up to 20. Ahna could in theory learn to rote count to 100 but I like the approach of her learning the concept of growing capacity while counting so we are taking it slow. We read a couple of counting books, reviewed skip counting, practiced writing a few numbers and measured time. Last year she had developed a concept of time through the clock and now this month we learned about an hour glass. We got one as a present as have been using it for short timed tasks. We learned about the history of different tools which people used to keep time and she loves her little hour glass. I started using some Cambridge books for math this year to guide me through different concepts. I intend to add a lot of hands on activities with new concepts as we come across them. Since these were recap ones, she was very good with completing pages in the book. I love her attention to task and focus and things get done within a few minutes! Go Ahna!
Science/Nature study
This month we conducted some experiments and created some exciting projects. We got some packets of skittles from well meaning friends but my knowledge of food colour in it would not let me have the kids eat them so we converted it into a science activity. We soaked it in some warm water and saw the colour ooze out of it and merge into beautiful colours in a plate. We spoke about how harmful these chemical dyes can be for our body and why we must limit their consumption. Ahna has a very good understanding of foods that do not nourish your body and I believe it helps her with her self control towards it when faced with temptation.
Ahna went for a nature trek this month and swam in a lake as part of her introduction to landforms and waterbodies that we are doing in geography. She found a porcupine quill with her dad and brought it home. We made an entry in her nature journal and she was thrilled to get to draw it on there.
As part of our concept of construction, we build tiny houses using bricks and home made cement. We mixed some flour and water to make a sticky paste which we used to cement together toy bricks. We both made one model over several days and painted it.
As we saw the weather change, she did a puzzle with her dad. She is getting so good at doing puzzles and is growing in her enjoyment for them.
Pets! Such a huge aspect of nature study for us currently is bringing nature indoors. So we brought home a milipede and a tadpole this month to observe them, feed them and call them our pets. The tadpole sadly died in the stage of a small frog because we could not feed it insects as required by it but it was good learning for us. The other tadpoles from the same puddle lived even shorter because the puddle was covered up with mud. We drew the life cycle of the frog in a nature journal and read a poem about it.
We also have some goats that come to grace right outside our home and Ahna always pulls out our informative book on goats and asks me to read it.
Read aloud/Reading lessons/Audio stories
This is probably Ahnas favourite aspect of school. Books being read to her, she getting to sit with books ‘reading’ to herself and her new interest this year, ‘audio stories!’ We read to her every day, regardless of whether it is a school day or now. It is a huge part of our lifestyle as a homeschooling family. I gave tried setting up some of the books we read this month for the pictures but this does not cover all we read.
We read stories by Robert McCloskey and James Herriot. We heard audio stories on youtube by the same authors and enjoyed them. Ahna loved the story blueberries for Sal so we did an imaginative drawing of it while she heard the story(for the 1846584 time).
Her own reading lessons are continuing in different ways. She likes when I write on the backboard and she gets to read words, she reads when we go out, she reads labels, reads a few words as I read aloud to her, and reads on our felt reading chart.
Geography
This year, one of our major study units is learning about the different countries and cultures in the world. We have started with landforms and waterbodies and Ahna is hoping to get to see some diversity here in Goa itself. She went out swimming in a lake in Gia with her dad. Upon returning, she knew by observation, the differences between a lake and a river. We hope to be able to plan more such outings for her so she can learn through her own experiences and observations while enjoying the great outdoors.
I also got her a map of india to see different landforms and waterbodies and as she plays with it each time, she observes new things and asks questions about it.
Art/Cooking/Finger knitting/Picture study
We did picture study using our new art study book. Last year, our art study book was around the theme of landscape art. This year, it is the world of play. The first picture was so exciting for me to study too! It was a historical picture of a bull being tamed by men and women as part of their athletic play. And this is how they would paint their building walls! Using this beautiful intricate designs unlike our monotonous walls in our homes these days.
For art, Ahna made several paintings including cards for her cousins birthday and Hopes birthday and a canvas for her mama. When she was done drawing him freehand, she said “This is devak mama hopping on one leg in Gir watching a lion”. I had to record that on here because it was so cute!
She had a couple of cooking lessons. We followed a recipe for the spaghetti and meatballs, which she LOVED eating too and she helped out in the kitchen with a lot of meals.
Finger knitting is a new interest I’d like for us to try to pursue together this year so we took it up. She is still learning how to twist the rope into her fingers and get them tightened around to work with.
Hope has been joining us eagerly for school time. It has been wonderful watching her do school as well. She is mainly learning through the environment right now and is picking up wonderful habits of organization and orderliness. She is such a joy to have around in our home school environment this year.
See you next month readers!
Brilliant!