Thanksgiving Pumpkins
Posted on | November 27, 2009 | 1 Comment
I want to wrap up Fall before we enter into December by sharing Rinoa’s latest art work. We got the idea for this project here – a great place if you’re looking for art projects for kids. Happy Thanksgiving!
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| “THANKSGIVING PUMPKINS” Oil Pastel on Paper by Rinoa Redington (5 years old) November 2009 |
Funnies, Part 2
Posted on | November 20, 2009 | 2 Comments
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“I thought it was called tempura paint.”
– Mica, on a discussion about tempera paints during Art class
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The following instances show how Mica needs to work on her definitions.
Daddy and Mica during Chemistry class.
Daddy: What is a chemical reaction?
Mica: A reaction of chemicals.
Mommy and Mica during Logic class.
Mommy: What is a self-supporting statement?
Mica: A statement that is true because it supports itself.
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During Spelling Class, I usually ask Rinoa to spell a word from her ‘list words’ and then to make sure she understands what it means, I also ask her to use the word in a sentence. The conversations described below happened in August.
Mommy: Rinoa, use ‘hot’ in a sentence.
Rinoa: My mother cooks lunch that is hot soup and I go to the kitchen and touch the hot stove and my fingers burned and burned and my mother had to bring me to the hospital and when my fingers felt better, I told my sister my fingers don’t hurt anymore.
Mommy: I don’t think that’s a sentence. I think that’s a story.
Mommy: Rinoa, use ‘pin’ in a sentence.
Rinoa: I have a map but I don’t want to lose it. I know where to place it – in my backpack! But it might fall out of my backpack when my backpack is open, so I find another place to put it. I know, the wall! But how will I stick it one the wall? I know, I need four pins to stick it on the wall.
So, since we were taking a long time finishing her spelling review because of her ‘long’ sentences, I decided to skip the ‘use the word in a sentence’ part of our review. And here’s what happened …
Mommy: Rinoa, spell ‘hook’.
Rinoa: h-o-o-k.
Mommy: Good. Now spell …
Rinoa raises her hand.
Rinoa: Uh, can I use ‘hook’ in a sentence?
Mommy: Sure but make it short, please!
Rinoa: I hang my bag … or coat … or sweater …
Mommy: (sighs) I said make it short!
Rinoa: (in a hurried tone) on a hook.
Now at the end of every spelling lesson, there are ’sentence prompts’ – questions that are to be answered in one or two sentences to train her in her composition skills. Below are various instances when I was giving her the prompts.
Mommy: What if someone gave you a big jar of honey? How would you say ‘thank you’?
Rinoa: Well, actually, I would just give that jar of honey to a bear because I can’t eat that much honey.
Mommy: What is your favorite game? Describe how to play this game.
Rinoa: My favorite game is hide-and-seek. To play hide-and-seek, you have to trick whoever is looking for you by putting pillows on the bed under the blanket so the person thinks it’s you under the blanket.
Mommy: That’s not how to play hide-and-seek.
Rinoa: Well, that’s what Mica does.
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Funnies, Part 1
Posted on | November 19, 2009 | 1 Comment
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“I don’t like the color green because it’s the color of boogers – not the boogers you eat but the boogers that come out of your nose.”
– Rinoa, explaining why she doesn’t like the color green
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“Look Mommy, I didn’t get my plate dirty. That means you don’t have to wash it.”
– Rinoa, after eating toaster pastry for breakfast
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“I don’t like the color gray but I like Daddy’s hair.”
– Rinoa
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We had a wasp flying around our back patio last September, and Troy went out to get rid of it. On his way out the door, Rinoa was so concerned and said “Daddy, don’t be dead.”
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Rinoa, drawing a butterfly.
Mica: Rinoa, your butterfly is not going to fit on the paper!
Rinoa: Oh! I need a bigger paper!
Mommy: Or you need to draw a smaller butterfly!
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Mommy and Rinoa discussing the gray cloudy weather during Math Meeting time.
Mommy: When the clouds are gray, it means that they are full of water just waiting to fall down on earth as rain.
Rinoa: Does this mean that they are going to pee a long time?
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First Language Lessons
Posted on | November 18, 2009 | 1 Comment
For Rinoa’s grammar lessons, I use First Language Lessons by Jessie Wise. This scripted book not only teaches grammar concepts, but also includes memory work, copy work, and narration. As the author wrote, “Exposure, not mastery, is the goal at this level.” and the daily lessons that are given in small doses are perfect for this objective.
After forty or so lessons, Rinoa now understands the concept of nouns, proper nouns, and common nouns. By next week, she’ll be ready to learn all about pronouns. I’m using Schoolhouse Rock videos to supplement the grammar lessons. I don’t even have to buy them, they’re all in YouTube. Below is the video that got her excited to learn all about nouns. (I just grabbed the first video I saw in YouTube.) And you can’t blame her, the song is very catchy!
Aside from learning grammar, she’s also developing her narration skill. I tell her a short story, and she tells back the story in her own words. The problem I encountered when I started teaching her was she gives too much details that her narration become too long to write down – but she’s learning to pick out the important points and tone down her summary. As for memory work, she absolutely has no problems. I give her a 4-line poem and she has it memorized in one day. Below are two of three poems she has memorized so far.
| Taken August 2009 |
| Taken October 2009 |
She makes up all the hand gestures by herself and the person you hear clapping in the background in both videos is Mica.
Character Sketch of Jessi
Posted on | November 17, 2009 | No Comments
In one of Mica’s writing activities for Language Arts, she wrote a character sketch of her cousin, Jessi. I promised my sister-in-law a few months ago that I would share it, so here you go …
| My Character Sketch of Baby Jessi |
| by Mica Redington |
The first time I met my cousin, Baby Jessi, was in New York. She is a very happy and playful baby. Whenever you put her in front of a mirror, she laughs and giggles. If you play with her a lot, she usually smiles. Jessi loves it when you hold her up on her feet. She loves it even more when you play music and move her around like she’s dancing. Baby Jessi is one of the happiest babies I have ever known.
And what’s a post without pictures? Here are some of Baby Jessi , taken by my brother.
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Lapbooking Meets Notebooking
Posted on | November 16, 2009 | 6 Comments
Lapbooking was introduced to me by my cousin who is a homeschool consultant in San Diego. Apparently, it’s a growing trend among homeschoolers. I think it’s a brilliant idea. Lapbooks are an absolutely fun way to learn and can be implemented in any subject.
Our first lapbook project was for Mica’s literature study on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. In conceptualizing this project, I knew I wanted to try the idea of a lapbook but make it so that the pages can be kept in a 3-ring binder. The result was a fusion of lapbooking, notebooking, scrapbooking, and mixed media collage. (What can I say, I was having fun!)
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| This is what the finished project looks like, kept in a 3-ring notebook. I used two 12×12 cardstock papers as the base. (One of my objectives is to use materials that I already have at home; and believe me, I have an endless supply of cardstocks!) I trimmed off 1″ on both papers to make each measure 11″ in length. I scored the papers vertically so that the width measures 8.5″ each with a 3.5″ flap. I then prepared the various mini books, pockets, and other elements that went on the pages and just had Mica put them together as she completed the different activities that I designed for her. |
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| On the left outside flap, we placed several memorable quotes from the book. On the right outside flap, we placed a trifold minibook that contains quick facts about the book. |
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| The “quick facts” mini book contains flaps for author, illustrator, publication place and date, setting, main character, and ‘what I liked about the book’. You open a flap and find the answer inside. |
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| I had Mica gesso the main pages just for fun. (I’m in this mixed media craze right now.) Then I gave her pictures representing each chapter of the book and she glued them on the pages with arrows to show the story sequence. She rubbed some oil pastels around the pictures for an artistic touch, then wrote the chapter summary beside each picture. Also on the left main page, we attached a pocket that holds strips of paper for each character in the book and another pocket that holds a mini quiz book. On the left inside flap is a questionnaire analyzing the symbolism of the characters in the book. |
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| The right main page is shown here with the chapter pictures and summaries. We also included a bifold mini book that holds another ‘analysis’ question for Mica to complete. On the right inside flap is a short writeup about the author, Charles Dickens. |
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| The bifold mini book is shown here opened up. (I know it’s not exactly a mini book since it’s just one page but I don’t know what to call it.) And there you go, our first lapbook/notebook. Maybe I’ll call it a crossbreed lapbook – yep, that sounds alright. |
Cranberry Classic
Posted on | November 12, 2009 | 2 Comments
Mica started ice skating May of this year and she’s really liking the sport. She spends about 6 1/2 hours every week on the ice. Last weekend, she competed in the Cranberry Classic, a local ice skating event, and received a trophy for getting third place in her division – not bad for her very first competition. She takes lessons from Canadian-born coach, Jennifer Caron.
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Now that she’s done with the competition, she’s getting ready for her first ice show this December. (Can you feel my wallet burning?)
Leaf Raking – Just for Fun
Posted on | November 11, 2009 | 2 Comments
You know you’ve gone domestic when your idea of weekend fun is helping friends with their yardwork. It was my first time to rake leaves. It was actually fun. Seriously.
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| Look at this little girl, hard at work. |
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| Of course, this is what the girls really came for – to jump on a pile of leaves. |
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| Rinoa with her friend Zoe |
Christmas Cards for Gavin, Batch 2
Posted on | November 8, 2009 | No Comments
More handmade Christmas cards from generous donors for your perusal. Please make this fundraiser a success by purchasing some of these lovely cards here. All proceeds go to Gavin’s Trust Fund.
My deepest thanks to everybody who made this fundraiser possible – those who donated Christmas cards, those who donated money, and those who bought the cards. I am truly grateful. We have raised a little over a thousand dollars – not bad, in my opinion – a good enough reason to consider this fundraiser a success. Thanks again so much. In our own little way, we have all helped Gavin. (December 11, 2009)
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| Cards from Lincoln Park, New Jersey |
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| Cards from Cincinnati, Ohio |
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| Cards from Franklin, Indiana |
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| Cards from Irvine, California |
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Christmas Cards for Gavin, Batch 1
Posted on | November 2, 2009 | 5 Comments
I started receiving donated Christmas cards in the mail last week, and it’s very exciting! Even my daughters await the mail everyday since we got the first batch just to see if there’s a package in the mail that day. And they get to open them too!
Anyways, I got crazy busy the past few days – with Halloween and all – so it’s only today that I was able to work on sharing photos of some of the cards I already have on hand.
You can order these handmade Christmas cards, in sets of 8, 12, or 20, here. (Please do!) Note that when you order, you will get a random set of cards. All proceeds will be donated to Gavin’s Trust Fund. (You can read about Gavin and this fundraiser here, here, and here.)
My deepest thanks to everybody who made this fundraiser possible – those who donated Christmas cards, those who donated money, and those who bought the cards. I am truly grateful. We have raised a little over a thousand dollars – not bad, in my opinion – a good enough reason to consider this fundraiser a success. Thanks again so much. In our own little way, we have all helped Gavin. (December 11, 2009)
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| from Rochester, New York |
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| from Cherry Hill, New Jersey |
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| from Alamo, California |
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© 2006-2010 Johwey Redington.
Please don't steal my text or images, it's disrespectful and you'll be subjet to karma! If you want to use any of the images, please email me for a written permission. Thank you.
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