Week 15, day 7

Bible (Catechism, Bible story, memory verse): We reviewed the most recent catechism question and a memory verse, and I read them the story of Jesus raising Jairus' daughter and healing the woman who touched him.

Calendar (Update day of week and date of month, record weather and temperature): It has rained all day, and is predicted to continue doing so tomorrow.

Language Arts: We played "letter match", in which the kids took turns looking at a randomly selected set of 4 letter cards with capitals and lowercase letters mixed together, and seeing if any of the cards matched (a capital and a lowercase of the same letter). I secretly reshuffled the deck when P started getting upset over how E had 4 matches when she only had 1. P had no problem figuring out if 2 cards matched; she could see it instantly, and only had to think for a little bit when both lowercase b and d appeared in the same 4-card set. E mixes up p, b, and d, but he's only 3.5 years old - I gave him all the help he needed. I'm actually quite impressed with how well he's doing and I wonder what sort of language arts curriculum he'll be ready for when we start doing kindergarten with him.

P read the 5th and part of the 6th Bob books. The Bob books get harder faster than the Sonlight readers, it seems; the 6th Bob books had 6 sentences on a 2-page spread, which made P start feeling overwhelmed. I let her quit because she had already read a whole book.

Math (5-a-day, other activities): The kids watched the MathTacular video while I exercised and showered, wanting as usual to see their favourites, the water fight (greater than or less than), company store (making change) and snack schedule (telling time).

I forgot to set the timer at the beginning of P's 5-a-day, and she dawdled like crazy until I remembered. She complained that although she likes the money and telling time exercises, and doesn't mind multiple-digit addition, she doesn't enjoy the single-digit subtraction or writing problems in vertical format or sequencing problems I give her. So after she'd finished the 5-a-day, we reviewed measuring lines with a ruler, and I rearranged her 5-a-day review schedule so that she'll get measuring practice more often and the ones she doesn't like (which she understands well, so they don't need to be reviewed as often as I had been) less often. E also practiced measuring lines with a ruler, and did really well, though he had trouble keeping the end of the ruler on the end of the line. Once I helped him, he was easily able to count how many inches long the line was. (We only worked on measuring in inches, but next week I plan on adding centimeters since the concept is exactly the same - they just have to remember to turn the ruler to the correct side).

E's "school": We read a LOT of books today. We read 4 Eloise Wilkin stories: Busy Timmy, Guess Who Lives Here, We Help Mommy, and Baby Dear. We also read How Do You Lift a Lion? and Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? from P4/5, as well as a book Ari's brother gave us about the life of naturalist William Beebe. Ari's dad filled in a gap in his education by reading the kids "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" by Dr. Seuss. Oh, and how could I forget "Hippos Go Berserk" by Sandra Boynton?

Geography and/or science: Reading the science books from P4/5 and the biography of Beebe (who, among other things, invented the Bathysphere and discovered many deep-ocean creatures) counts as science for today. I found P's half-finished Denmark book, but when I suggested working on it she announced that she had already done enough school, thank you, and would work on it later. I decided not to push it.

Other: I reviewed with both kids how to find "C" on the piano, and had them practice playing it using their thumbs with their other fingers unfurled (not in a fist).