Weather unit and the rest of March

Beware: Lots of gratuitous photos in this blog posting.
For the month of March, Graham and I did a mini-weather unit.  And by "mini" I mean I started the month out well and did like three things and then fizzled.  And because I currently have a $5000 fine at the library, I was avoiding going and checking out some weather books.  Yeah, we homeschool.
Anyway, here is our cool tornado in the jar (via pinterest).  I was skeptical, but it actually really works.  We have left it sitting in the widow of our kitchen all month because it is so fun to play with!

We did a couple of fun weather crafts.

My favorite activity was the weather bath!  Add some blue food coloring and shaving cream clouds to a regular old bath, and it becomes super special and super fun!  Graham and Grayson had a ball playing!

Graham did an experiment in the tub with shaving cream and blue food coloring to demonstrate how rain drops through the clouds.

Last month, I started the "All about Reading" Level 1 with Graham.  He zoomed through the pre-reader level, so I figured he was raring to go for the next step.  Ummmm, not so much.  I had to pull my hair out to get him to sit still enough to do the lessons every day, and when he did sit still enough, he was getting frustrated with the material.  He was just not ready for it.  Totally Okay.  And totally why we homeschool.  So, I am putting it away for a few months to re-visit it next fall.  Anyway, I have decided to work on some other skills for awhile.  We have been doing alot more math lately, and Graham has really enjoyed it.  I think SO much of it at his age is him developing a positive view of math and building some math confidence.  This is something I sorely lacked from the moment I walked through the doors of the public school until the day I walked out.  I think this has much to do with why, even now, I am very reluctant to teach math.  But my boys both LOVE math and so far both of them feel pretty competent and I don't want to do anything to hinder that!
So, one of the things we did this month was to set up a "numbers station."  I pulled out a ton of stuff I had on hand: number stickers, number magnets, number dry erase boards, manipulatives, bingo markers, etc. and just let him play.

One day we got out our scale and he weighed all kinds of things.  He had big fun with this, and I couldn't believe how long he played with it.  We talked alot about why things weighed more, how to get the scale even, and why sometimes one side of the scale was heavier even though there were less objects on it. 

Little Bubba also got in on the action.  He seriously had a ton of fun putting stuff on the scale and playing with the smooth river rocks.

I gave him an egg carton and he played with it forever ("forever" in toddler time is around five minutes or so).  He put rocks in it and then I gave him all sizes of colored pom poms.

Graham is into Star Wars right now.  We did a Star Wars preschool pack.  One day I had Isaac read Graham a Star Wars book.  This doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it warms this mama's heart! Notice diligent/organized/project-oriented child fully dressed and ready for the day while creative/messy/somewhat lazy child is still in his pajamas.  Not that we put anyone in boxes around here or anything.

For Geography studies, Isaac is learning about South America.  We did a diorama of the rainforest.

Here is Graham looking SUPER cute next to the diorama.  Isaac is noticeably missing because when I attempt to take a normal photo with him in it....

....this is what happens.  Part of having a nine year old boy I guess.

I was starting to second guess our geography curriculum, and was about ready to think the whole year had been a massive waste of time from an academic point of view, until I started really working with Isaac and quizzing him on some geographical things.  He can tell you on what continent, what country and often what city many major geographical landmarks are located (El Castillo, Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, Itsukushima Tori, Grand Canyon, The Parthenon, etc.).  He can identify where most major countries of the world are, he knows about many of the important eco systems of the world, and can tell you at length what the differences are between a temperate/tropical/arctic climate.  I am so proud of him!  And, the best part is...I am learning right along with him!

Mid-year update

I cannot believe we are more than halfway through this school year.  It is amazing to me how the months fly by (even though some days seem to drag on and on).  Before I know it, I will be schooling a fourth grader and a kindergartner.
I am feeling pretty good about the progress we have made this year.  I am going to take this opportunity to record some of the things that are going well and what needs improvement.
I will start with my Graham:

Graham has far exceeded my expectations this year.  As both he and Isaac have summer birthdays, I like to give them an extra year of preschool before doing kindergarten work.  However, with how well Graham has been progressing, I think it is safe to say that we will be doing two years of kindergarten as he is definitely doing kindergarten-level work (and some first grade level work).  At the beginning of the year, one of my goals for Graham was to know letter names and sounds.  After just a couple of months using the "All About Reading" program, he has fully mastered uppercase and lowercase letters and their sounds.  At this moment, we have worked through the entire program and I am going to be purchasing the next level soon.  This will move him onto the next phase of learning to read.  I am SO excited to think Graham will be reading on his own soon!  I am so proud of him. If I were to be sending him to public school kindergarten next year, I would be sending him knowing how to already read, and that would be a great feeling!
Graham also knows all of his numbers, can write them and we are currently working on counting to 100.  He can count to 100 by tens, and can count by ones with help.
Graham is able to write his first name without help and we are currently working on his last name.
The areas I need to work further with Graham on are behavioral areas (such as getting along with his brother and being able to handle a "no" answer from mom or dad), stopping some bad-language habits that have recently developed,and furthering his spiritual development.  I need to be more disciplined about doing daily devotionals with Graham and helping him to understand the reason why we expect certain behaviors from him (because of what the Bible tells us) versus us just trying to make his life miserable! :)

Graham is having fun with some extra-curricular activities right now.  He is in Basketball (through a local church), and is taking swimming lessons.  Graham has recently also learned how to swim, so that is a huge milestone as well!

For Isaac, his progress has been less visible this year, but I know he has definitely progressed academically.

His handwriting has been a big area of improvement for him, as well as his ability to do independent work.

Isaac's biblical literacy has dramatically increased.  We have finished 3rd grade Bible already, as well as his TNT book for AWANA.  I really feel as though Isaac has a great understanding of how the Bible is laid out, and some of the main precepts within the Bible.  I think this is truly impressive for a third grader!  Isaac is just beginning Bible quizzing and I am anxious to see how he does.

Isaac needs to work on refining language arts skills, particularly proper punctuation and capitalization abilities.  Some days I feel I will surely never make it through this phase of teaching him, but I recall feeling this way about his handwriting, and now it looks so much better.  I really would like to see Isaac be able to write a short, descriptive report by the end of the year with proper punctuation and capitalization.  I may need to look for a more targeted curriculum to help him in this regard.

Isaac seems to be doing well in Math (this is through Teaching Textbooks) and according to his gradebook, is getting all "A's" in daily lessons and quizzes.  I am very thankful that this is a portion of his schooling I do not have much to do with.  Thank you, Lord for technology!

We have recently started Apologia Science, and I am really enjoying this so far (and so are the boys).

We learned about principles of flight including "Lift," "Thrust," and "Drag." We made our own gliders, flew them and recorded and averaged the length both of them went. Isaac wrote out his hypothesis for what he thought would happen beforehand.
Here is Graham working on his glider.  This experiment was timed really well for us because he recently read a book about the Wright Brothers with his dad and so some of the ideas of flight were fresh in his mind.  LOVE it when things work out like this...it is Serendipity!

Isaac modified his design halfway into the race to make the nose of his glider more like the beak of a bird.  This was a great opportunity to talk about his glider being Aerodynamic!

Isaac is also having fun with some extracurricular activities right now.  Besides testing for his dragon belt (halfway between blue and brown) recently, he has also completed swimming lessons (where he did so well I decided he could wait awhile to do another round of lessons this summer) and is in Basketball with Graham.  As I mentioned before, Isaac just finished his TNT book for Awana and will begin Bible quizzing. Isaac also participated in a play with the local public school where he also did really well and got one of the lead roles!  I am so proud of him! Below is a photo of Isaac as one of the "Cool Cats" in the production of "Cinderella."

First two weeks of school 2012

We have the first couple of weeks of school done! I am excited about how the year is going so far, but I am WELL aware that a million different things can happen to throw off all of our progress and plans. Here's Isaac on the first day of school. He always gets that weird, crazed look on his face when he doesn't want me to take his picture.

Here's my sweet Graham on our first day.

For something new this year, Isaac has an "Independent Research" time.  Isaac will choose a topic from a master list we have compiled together, and then spend at least a half an hour every day researching this topic.  He can use the internet, our books, library books or netflix.  He has to use two sources per topic, and then he will write a brief summary of what he learned.  Here he is researching Steve Jobs.

We have been having lots of fun for World Geography so far this year.  Isaac and Graham both made paper mache globes.

The second week of geography, we visited China.  We made the Great Wall of China. 

I was proud of the boys, they pretty much did it on their own with minimal guidance from me.

Graham is totally enjoying his school time this year.  In addition to our regular activities, we have a monthly theme and will be doing all sorts of fun things to go along with our theme.  For September, the theme is "fall."  We made fall-tree cupcakes.  After we got done, Graham said, "mom, that doesn't look ANYTHING like the picture we saw."  Oh well.  Cupcake goddess I am not.

Wrapping up the 2011-12 School Year

Well, another year of homeschooling is officially in the record books!  Today was my first day not doing school with the boys in the morning and I felt totally off-kilter all day.  I am sure I will get used to having the extra time on my hands pretty quickly though!
Isaac worked really hard this year.  Probably the biggest area of improvement for second grade has been his penmanship.  We started out the year learning cursive, and he is now writing cursive very well.
His reading continues to improve.  My biggest challenge at this point is not to rush him.  I have realized that although he is capable of reading at a very high level, his interest wanes when a book is too challenging for him.  This summer, we will be following a reading program from Totally Tailored reading.  For a small fee, you fill out an inventory on your child's likes and interests, and they come up with a reading plan with books tailored to what they like.
Math went well this year, although his year end review had a few more mistakes than I would have like to have seen.  I am anxious to start with a brand new, CD-based curriculum for next year.
For Graham, progress was a little less noticeable, but it is definitely there.  I think the biggest improvement for Graham is in his ability to sit and focus on an activity for a longer period of time.  Although he doesn't have all his letter sounds and names down pat yet, he is well on his way to that milestone.  Next year we will be doing another year of preschool, so I will have plenty of time to get him geared up for reading. Another big milestone for Graham this year has been his ability to write letters!  He can now trace all letters, and can write his name on his own.  This is certainly something he wasn't able to do at the beginning of the school year.
More than anything, I want to work with my boys at the exact level they are at (which is part of the beauty of homeschooling!).  If they are excelling in some areas, I want to challenge them to work even harder.  If they are struggling in some areas, I will work with them until they feel comfortable enough to move to the next level.  I love the freedom homeschooling gives me to create a completely customized educational experience for my precious boys.  As far as educational goals go, I really just want my boys to love learning.  Working with them and meeting them at their level is part of fostering that love for learning.
I recently have had a couple of experiences that have reminded me that homeschooling is outside of the "norm."  Not only is it outside of the norm, it is actually considered to be a little bit weird by some people!  I think I forget that there are disapproving people out there.  I just live my life, do our thing, pray for God's blessing on what I am doing and chug along.  Little do I realize that all along, there are outside observers making some pretty harsh judgements on what I am doing.  I really don't care though...homeschooling has become our way of life over the past few years, and now I can't imagine not doing it! I know my boys are 110% better off for the educational and spiritual teaching I am giving them each day. I am so thankful to live in a country where homeschooling is still one of our precious freedoms.

Papa Piccolo and the Peabody

We just finished our FIAR "Papa Piccolo" last week. "Papa Piccolo" is the story of a tomcat who adopts two orphan kittens. The story is set in Italy, and the illustrations are done with watercolor. As part of our row, Isaac experimented with his watercolors to come up with some of the variations in color that are illustrated in the book. It was fun to see the different ranges of colors like turquoise blue or brick red he could come up with!

Isaac took the Peabody last week as well. The Peabody is a standardized test that measures proficiency in several areas of academics such as mathematics, spelling and reading. Isaac did tremendously well. He measured at a third or fourth grade level for every category. His areas of strength were reading and spelling. (Not a surprise to his mama that I have one smart cookie on my hands!) Although we weren't required to take the test, I wanted him to take it to make sure we were on the right track academically.

This and That

We are wrapping up our Thanksgiving Five in a Row book this week. This book is called "Cranberry Thanksgiving" by Wende and Harry Devlin.

Today, we did our last lesson by discussing the chemical reaction that allows food to rise when we are baking. The boys took baking soda and combined it with vinegar. They loved watching the foamy bubbles rise to the top of the bowl.


Have I mentioned how much I love Five in a Row? Hopefully the kids enjoy it as much as I do.
On another note, I have noticed some real progress in Graham's fine motor skills, especially with coloring and holding a pencil. His attention span also seems to be improving (yay!), as he is able to sit and color for fairly long-ish periods of time. Here is an example of his coloring at the beginning of the year (this is from the front of the ABC book we are working on).

And today--he even traced the letter "J" accurately without prompting (this is a huge deal!) Good job Graham!

A time to re-evaluate

I feel like what we have been doing lately is NOT working. It's not working for me, and it's not working for the kids. There have been too many days with tears recently, and too much arguing and fighting. I have felt like this is too hard for me lately.
Knowing that this is NOT how God would probably want me to spend my days homeschooling my children, I have decided I need to take a close look at what is not working (and come up with some solutions) and also to look at what is working.
What is not working
Problem #1: Isaac is reading well and both him and I are bored to tears with the phonics portion (which is a HUGE portion) of the curriculum I purchased for this year.
Possible solutions: Drop the phonics portion of the curriculum, with periodic testing to make sure he is still grasping phonics-related concepts. Focus more on language arts (workbook), spelling (workbook and tests), and reading. I may find a supplemental reading curriculum to implement. I would really like to take his reading to the next level, and help him develop a love for reading. I may need to do a little research, and ask fellow homeschooling friends for some suggestions.
Problem #2: The boys are still fighting like crazy, even though I have tried to implement a behavior modification system.
Possible solutions: Implement a new system that is easier for the boys to attain rewards. With the last behavior modification program, they were never reinforced because it was too difficult for them, and they eventually just gave up. The new system will focus more on immediate punishment for fighting, along with easier to attain rewards for not fighting.
Problem #3: I need to be spending more time focusing on letter identification with Graham.
The problem with the Letter of the Week curriculum I am using now is that it requires me to print, laminate and cut out activities every week for each letter. This takes me anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half each week, and I find that I avoid doing it. Also, the activities for each letter are all repetitive (the same activities, different letter). I think we are both bored by it. I need to either spend one day preparing the entire curriculum so we are ready to go each week, or I need to scrap this curriculum and find a new one. Graham needs lots of help on letter identification right now.
Problem #4: I feel like there are too many "holes" in our schooling right now...we are not focusing at all on art, music, science, history, etc. Too much time is spent on things we have already mastered, not enough time on the things that we haven't or would like to.
Possible solutions: Implement one craft activity per week for Graham. Find a science or foreign language curriculum for Isaac. Post an ad on REACH classifieds to see if I can get Isaac affordable drum or guitar lessons.
Problem #5: Not a consistent Bible/prayer time daily.
Possible solutions: This is apathy on my part. We need to begin each day in prayer, regardless of how crazy it is.
Problem #6: The school room is always a mess at the beginning of the school day.
Possible Solutions: Dave needs to work with the boys to clean up the area each night before bed while I am editing. We need to be able to wake up, have breakfast and begin our school day instead of spending a half an hour cleaning up toys from the day before.
Problem #7: Isaac's penmanship is still horrible.
Possible Solutions: Take some of the time we were wasting on phonics and apply it to developing and improving Isaac's cursive and printing skills.
Problem #8: There are portions of our Geography curriculum that are pointless and a waste of time.
Possible Solutions: Because overall, I feel like Isaac is learning about each state, do not scrap the entire curriculum. Just get rid of what is not helpful and is a waste of our time.

Things we are doing well
*Isaac is reading exceptionally well, and is at least a grade ahead of the curve in reading. He is also an excellent speller.
*Graham is still enjoying what little school time I do with him every day.
*Isaac is in a regular routine of doing chores around the house, and is doing them without complaint.
*Graham is also better about helping to pick up his toys.
*Isaac is improving in mathematics significantly.
*I am still really enjoying the "Five in a Row" curriculum, and like that both boys enjoy it. It is one of the portions of our school day that is (usually) calm.

Beginning of the school year update

Well, we have been in school for going on three weeks, and we are getting back into the swing of things. When I am not "in session," I forget how much I enjoy doing school with my kids. It is honestly a part of the day I look forward to. Some days are difficult, and I almost want to pull my hair out, but in general, I love home-schooling my children.
Isaac has been busy with phonics and math. His math was really lagging the first week, but now at the end of the second week, I can already see he is making progress. His reading, as always, is phenomenal! I am always amazed at his ability to grasp reading and phonics-related concepts. He has also been bugging me about learning a foreign language lately, so I am looking into that and trying to figure out which one we should tackle.
We have been busy with US Geography as well, and it has taken me a couple of weeks to feel like I have a good grasp of how the curriculum flows.
I am doing Five in a Row with both kids, and I LOVE IT. I cannot say enough about this curriculum. It is brilliantly and simply put together. Here again, I am still figuring out the flow of the curriculum and how we want to utilize it. I have been buzzing through it, using one story per week, but I think I want to slow down a bit and do a story every couple of weeks instead...there is just too much great information.
The first week of school, we did "The Story About Ping." The kids had read this story before, so it was a little bit of a review. We talked about the geographical components of the story (where it took place, information about the Yangtze River, a look at the people who live around the Yangtze and what their life might be like, etc.). We tied in science with this story and talked about buoyancy one day and did an experiment to test what things would float and what wouldn't (Graham loved this!). I heard Graham a few days later talking to himself about whether something would float or not!
I LOVED the art lessons related to the story. We talked about using colored pencil to create depth and how to draw water.
The second week we read "Lentil." Here is Graham constructing a city out of blocks somewhat similar to the town of Alto, Ohio in the book


Graham has been busy with "Letter of the week." So far we have covered two letters and are onto the third. One activity he really enjoyed is number graphing with manipulatives.

I am also going to "try" to hit story hour at the library for Graham this year. They do a fun craft to go along with the story, and Graham always has lots of fun. We met "Biscuit" the dog of the "Bicuit" books, and here he is with his puppy ears.

Drum roll please....

The selections have been made and purchased for our Curriculum for next year. Here we go:

Isaac, Second grade

Phonics/Language Arts/Spelling: A Beka
We used this for first grade and he is reading great, so I assume it worked well enough to use again! Plus, I found myself omiting very little of the lesson plans, which is my litmus test for a good curriculum.


Mathematics: A Beka
We used Developmental Mathematics this year, and it was OK, but I thought there was a lot missing. I really like the comprehensive approach of A Beka. Plus, the workbook pages are kid-friendly with their colorful pictures. They also tie a lot of the story problems, etc. into geography, which I think is an added bonus.


Literature/Supplemental subjects: Five in a Row
I have wanted to use this program for awhile now, and decided to take the plunge this year. I will also be including Graham in on this portion of Isaac's studies. There are some great, free accompanying lapbooks to FIAR books out on the internet, so we will also be working on those.


Geography: Expedition Earth
This is a great, inexpensive download from Confessions of a Homeschooler (although there are accompanying text books that you need to purchase). We will be traveling the globe, focusing on one country at a time as we fill up our passports. Should be big fun!


Penmanship: A Reason for Handwriting, Sonlight
Being a leftie, Isaac's handwriting has left a lot to be desired this year. We started the year with hopes of writing cursive by the end of the year. Since his printing resembled that of a serial killer, I decided to backtrack a bit and focus just on printing. It has gotten better, but not much. I plan to spend a little more time on his printing before we head into cursive.


Bible: AWANA, various
I may supplement our AWANA Bible memorization with something else, not sure yet.



Graham, Pre-K:
Christian Light ABC Readiness Workbooks. These came on the recommendation of a friend with lots of homeschooling experience who said these are the best.

Confessions of a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week curriculum. This has been hanging out on my harddrive for months, and it is looking forward to being used! I have my ABC tree ready to go for next year!

I'll also be supplementing these two choices with lots of fun activities, various workbooks I have on hand and preschool packs.

Looking Ahead

OK, so I have been doing a little pre-planning for the upcoming school year. I now understand how completely important your choice of curriculum is, and so I truly want to make the "right" choices. However, I also have learned that the "wrong" curriculum is not the end of the world. That is what's great about homeschooling...flexibility! I can keep doing what works, and change what doesn't! A Beka has definitely worked for us for phonics, spelling, reading and language arts. Therefore, that decision is easy! I know Isaac has vastly improved in all of these subjects since the beginning of his first grade year. And, the way I measure a good curriculum (in my limited experience) is to ask myself: Did I use all/most of the curriculum. If I am skipping lots of the curriculum, I know its time to move on. If I am using most or all of it, its a winner!
For math, I have liked Developmental Mathematics, but have found that there are very key elements that are missing. I have had to supplement these workbooks for the past few months. I will probably look for something new for Isaac's second grade year, and have no idea what that might be at this point.
I am also considering "Five in a Row" for a supplemental reading program. I am still learning about it, but it seems like something that might work well for us.
I will keep doing lapbooks/unit studies, which coincides with FIAR. We will continue using this as a way to implement history, science, etc. Whether I will purchase an actual curriculum for these subjects remains to be seen.

Graham will be doing four year old preschool with me full time next year. I plan on using "Letter of the Week" with him, as well as preschool packs and lapbooks. I would like to purchase this for him for next year.

Surprises...

Life is full of surprises. Just when you think you have your plans, something changes! I often think of the verse from Proverbs that says, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." That's why I am so thankful to have a loving heavenly Father that charts my course! (even if I think it is ME who is making the plans!)
One big surprise to me has been the discovery of how much I enjoy homeschooling my children. I know this has to be God working in my life. When I first considered the prospect of homeschooling several years ago, I knew it was something I should want to do, but I just wasn't sure I wanted to. Now, a few years later, I can honestly say that I look forward to those steps into my basement to start our homeschooling day each morning. Some days are not even close to fun. Some days feel incredibly unproductive. Some days are uneventful and routine. But, through it all, I feel like I am enjoying the process, and I know my children are learning and growing. I love my children, so it makes sense to me that I would love to spend time with them watching them learn and teaching them the things I want them to learn.
Other surprises to me have been the way Isaac's first grade year has morphed into something that works for us. For example:
(1) I don't use lesson plans anymore. I pretty much know what I want to accomplish in a day and in a week.
(2) I have stopped using workboxes for now, although I would like to get back to them sometime soon. We have spent lots of time on Isaac's core subjects, and I know by the time those subjects are done, his attention span has dwindled. In the future, I may use workboxes for afternoon work.
(3) I am spending more and more time in the mornings working with Graham. He has really come a long ways in the past few weeks and wakes up each morning and begs me to "do school" with him. Today he said, "Mom, you are the mom AND the teacher!" Yup! He gets it!
I have decided (I think) NOT to continue taking Graham to preschool next year. He has been more and more excited to work with me, has dreaded going to preschool every day, and we could use the extra money. Although I have loved having a mini-Graham vacation every Tuesday and Thursday, it just isn't worth it to me at this point to continue.
(4) we scrapped the four day school week almost right away last fall. I found I was getting more and more behind, and had more pressure to have school on the remaining four days (even if we were sick or had an appointment or something). Five days works just fine for us!

Progress

We are mid-way through Isaac's first grade year, and Graham's 3 year old preschool year! I have lots of things planned for the rest of the year, and I am trying to avoid the mid-year blahs by re-vamping some things and getting re-organized. I took some time this week to re-organize my homeschooling closet. I took out anything related to scrapbooking and am using the whole thing for homeschooling activities. I needed to make it so everything was easily accesible for me. I have found that is the key for me. Not to sound lazy here, but if it is not easy or accessible, I have found I don't bother to do it. My life is busy enough the way it is, I need to SIMPLIFY everything I do.

Graham used his do-a-dot set that I got him for Christmas for the first time today. He loved it! It is such a good activity for fine-motor skills and color identification. It was also good for Graham to use self control as he colored. He likes to just scribble when using markers or crayons. With the do-a-dot printables I found online, he had to identify which color to use first and fill in the correct circles.

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Isaac is improving in his reading, although sometimes it is hard to see the overall progress. I know he is reading longer books, reading brand new material much better, sounding words out on his own and identifying long and short vowels better. I have realized how complex the English language really is. There are really no "absolute" rules with English. I wish I could tell him that EVERY word that has two vowels is ALWAYS long, but that is not true. There are exceptions to everything.
We plan to continue are current curriculum for reading, phonics, spelling and math. I plan on trying to find something new for handwriting, possibly, "Handwriting without tears," but we will see. I also would like to find a better daily devotional to use with Isaac.
Next week we will be starting a LEGO lapbook, this should be really fun for both of us.
Other unit studies we plan to do are: space, pirates, pioneers (may concentrate on Lewis and Clark and follow with a field trip to Bismarck) and Butterflies (in the spring we will do another painted-lady butterfly cocoon study). I would also like to do another spring trip to the farm during calving season, but I don't know if we will do a lapbook/unit study for that yet or not.
I plan to try to make Graham's preschool time more structured and to do a better job of keeping him busy without television!