Week 16, day 2

Bible (Catechism, Bible story, memory verse): We reviewed this week's memory verse and catechism question, and read the story of the 4 men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus for healing. We discussed how, although the man's obvious need was that he couldn't walk, he really needed Jesus to forgive his sins, and that's something that everyone in the world needs, including those who can walk.

Calendar (Update day of week and date of month, record weather and temperature)

Handwriting: I had P write from dictation the words that she had traced yesterday. I forgot to do any review of "b" and "d" today, but I doubt we'll get to it tomorrow because we'll only have an hour and a half or so between a doctor's appointment (interviewing pediatricians) and P's ballet lesson.

Language Arts: P was to describe how we decorate our house for some special occasion. Not surprisingly, she chose Christmas. I was interested to discover that the decorations she saw as most important, I had barely noticed.

She re-read this week's reader. Having read it once and knowing the story, she was more inclined to guess words rather than look at them and read them accurately, but I insisted that she try again. Sight words are only sight words if you're reading them correctly.

E's "school": We read Noah's Ark and "The Ugly Duckling" from The Tall Book of Nursery Tales. We spent a long time over "Noah's Ark", enjoying the details in the pictures (the concerned expression on the elephant's face when the ark bumped the summit of Mt. Ararat, for example). "The Ugly Duckling" fit in nicely with our study of ducks at Titmouse Club. We also re-read "The Three Little Pigs". (Jeannette, I just looked and discovered that our library has a copy of "The Three Little Javelinas" - we'll have to check it out).

Math (5-a-day, other activities): I promised the kids that we could go to the playground at Bear Creek after we were done with school today, so that inspired P to work at her 5-a-day with diligence. She tends not to look closely at whether I am asking her to add or subtract, so she misread 12-5 as 12+5, but I stopped her before she got too far. Attention to detail is important in life, but it doesn't come naturally.

Geography and/or science: Today's Titmouse Club theme was ducks. The docent did a fantastic job, demonstrating how flippers moved more water than open fingers could, how duck feathers are waterproof, and how ducks filter out duckweed from water (she had a pair of spoons with holes drilled in them, and used them to scoop up weedy water and demonstrate how the weeds remained in the spoons once the water had drained out). The craft involved making ducks out of paper plates and plastic spoons. Then, each child was given a net and instructions on how not to fall into the lake, and they swished around catching zero fish. (I'm sure the fact that it's January didn't help, but it would have to be a pretty idiotic fish that hung around long after a dozen preschoolers started muddying the water). The docent caught 3 mosquito fish and put them in a bucket for the kids to look at, which helped cut the disappointment somewhat.

After we were done with our formal "school", we headed over to Bear Creek Park, which has the best playground I know of in the entire city as well as a collection of birds including rheas, emus, horned owls, peacocks, and parrots. I pointed out to the kids how the rheas' feet were clearly not webbed and not designed for swimming. There were some ducks in a waterway nearby, and the kids found several feathers. They investigated their waterproof properties, and then tossed them into the middle of the waterway, where the wind blew them under the bridge. E was excited about the progress his feather had made for at least 20 minutes. I hadn't planned it out to tie in with Titmouse Club, but it was neat how it did anyway.

Other: We reviewed finding "C" on the piano and each child played all the Cs on the piano with their thumbs. We also played a version of Simon Says, which E is finally old enough to grasp pretty well (P is a pro). I have a "pre-violin" book I bought from the Violin Book company - it's for preparing preschoolers for their first violin lessons, and contains activities for following directions, rhythm, treating an instrument gently, etc. - and the Simon Says idea came from there.