Homeschool Days 80 & 81 - Weds, Jan. 14 & Thurs Jan 15, 2009

Social Studies: Shayla watched an episode on Barney about "Differences" this morning. She came and got me and made sure I watched it with her. We talked about how not everyone can be good at everything. And I explained to her that everyone wants to hear her thoughts and ideas, just like the show's character.

Computer: Shayla loves the preschool shows on PBS kids. So we went to the website and played some online games and things. We used to do this reguarly, but haven't done it in awhile. She really enjoys designing dollhouses at Caillou.

Reading: We spent over an hour sitting together and reading books.

Day 81

Bible: Letter I. We spent time reviewing memory verse with sign and watched Isaac stories on DVD. Then we reviewed songs. (music & movement, memory)

I is for insects. We sorted the insects out of Shayla's plastic animals. Shayla looked at the insects with the magnifying glass. We talked about characteristics of insects (6 legs and 3 body parts) - using plastic bugs as models. I explained why a spider is not an insect. Shayla got "Instant Insects" for Christmas. Those sponge shapes that are encapsulated. You put them in water. We did these for a fun project and named the different types of bugs (we also counted and talked about which color group had more or less). (math, comparison, science)

I is for inside. To teach i sound I called out a word. If it began with Ii, Shayla said "outside." If it began with another letter, but had an i sound in the word, Shayla said, "inside." Oh, and bouncing on the ball, while we do this makes it more fun, too. LOL!

I is for instruments. Shayla loves any excuse to get out the instruments. We had fun playing the various instruments and we made a new tissue box harp or guitar. This was her favorite today. We talked about why the sounds of the "strings" were different (the different thickness and size of rubber bands) We discussed how people have always enjoyed music and there were instruments in the Bible times. We read aloud Psalm 150. We counted how many instruments it named. (math & music)

I is for icicles. We have plenty of those all around our house. We talked about how when the snow melts, it forms the icicles. (science)

Science: We breezed through the weeks' plans because it was about insects and spiders. We have studied these more in depth in the past. For spiders, we looked at a plastic spider and counted the legs. We read a book called Spiders, Spiders, Everywhere. In the book it counts backwards from 10. At the end you count all the spiders. (math). We did Raffi's Eensy Weensy Spider and There's a Spider on the Floor songs. (music & movement)