Turkey Talk

I guess it's harder than I thought to write every single day on this blog..or every single week for that matter. ugh. I vow to try harder.

Lately, Punky has been progressing quite well in his schooling. He's working pretty hard at his math..using worksheets and manipulates to get the hang of the skills I've presented. Mostly using the double dice and bears. He seems to pick up most things fairly easily.

As for as reading and writing, he's doing well in that as well. He's read some very long books, and I've been happily surprised. In one sitting, he read 60+ pages out loud. That's a lot for this little guy who hated reading out loud (but loved to be read to) just a few short months ago. His favorite book series right now is Frog and Toad by Lobel. We've also been studying the Pilgrims and the History of Thanksgiving. He's read The First Thanksgiving a few times, and I think understands the history much better this year. He now knows WHY he's celebrating instead of just doing it because he's told to. I haven't "prettied" up the Pilgrims either, so as not to blur history.

He has been having fun though with this unit study. He's made several turkeys, often late into the night. His favorite was when we used a toilet paper roll for the body. :) I've noticed his coloring is MUCH better since regular school. I think while in class he was hurrying to get it done so he could play and goof off. At home, he takes his time and doesn't "scribble scrabble" as we call it. It's not a very important thing to learn, to color within the lines in a nice way...but it's certainly a valuable lesson in patience that he needs to learn. It's a skill he often struggles with. When he creates his own art, I'm not strict about coloring within the lines and such..it's his free form and who am I to begrudge him of it? But I do ask that he takes his time when I print out sheets for him so I can test his patience. So far, it's working and he's doing much better.

He's taken a big interest in rocks and minerals as of late, and I was able to score a free book from the library to keep (with a small donation we made to the library..as with all "free" books we are able to score) about rocks and minerals. He was thrilled to finally look up some of the collected rocks he's found through the years (most of which he "found" at his grandparent's house that his Dad was once an owner of....lol). I also bought him a shell guide and he's been looking up the names of the shells he's collected.

To end our space unit, we were able to catch a space shuttle launch from our back yard a few days ago. The space unit went fairly well. I wish I had devoted a little more time to moon phases and astronauts, but I focused on what he was interested in...and he learned a lot.

Coming up after Thanksgiving, we'll be focusing on Christmas and the holidays. I have a unit planned around How The Grinch Stole Christmas, which should be SO MUCH FUN. Can't hardly wait to begin it.

Until then, we've got lots of turkey talk goin' on. We'll be playing Thanksgiving memory (using pilgrim and food memory cards printed off the net), making some crafts, and reading and creating Thanksgiving poetry in the next few days to conclude our unit study. As always, we'll continue with math, reading, writing and the "extras".