Monday

 Today we went back to our spider charts that we made.  We converted our numbers into percentages then did a rough circular graph.  We estimated the spacing on the graph.  He did well, but it took a long time just to do the two pages of work.  Half the work is just getting him to do a neat job, which is neatly formatted so that it's legible to other people besides him, and sometimes himself too. 

 After a break we got into some Social Studies.  We read through chapter 1 and discussed as we went along.  He began to write out some vocabulary that was highlighted in the text but he ran out of time when we had to go get K from school.  All in all he worked from 10 am - 2 pm with about an hour's worth of breaks in between.

 Early this evening we stopped by the library to drop off about 8 DVD's which now have late fees applied to them, oops.  And we picked up a new audio book.  He's already read the book earlier this Summer so now this will just be some fun listening. 

And tonight he did some more reading from his Percy Jackson book. 

This past weekend he also went with a friend (who is also being taught at home) to a small art exhibit here in town.  I think they just looked and talked a little bit about which ones they liked and why. 

 Nothing like taking a 'pop quiz' while soaking up the sun on the trampoline.  And yes, I know the board has some spelling mistakes, what kind of teacher am I? lol.  Momentary lapse.

 We call this the math train.  Each card has a math equation on it, addition, subtraction, multiplication or division, sometimes more than one.  The answers are on the back.  Every few cards I placed a tiny candy.  If he got to that card he got the candy, quite motivational.  When he gets the hang of it and picks up his speed a bit we'll do a timed run, if he beats the clock, he gets some sort of treat at the end. 

 Quality reading time with the little guy.

 This is the math program he uses.  So far he's really liking it.  I think mostly because he earns credits with which he can buy items from the virtual shop. 

 He's got his eyes set on this little hamster. 

Picture of the Day

10 minute writing assignment using our Picture of the Day from National Geographic March 2007.  It might not look like a lot but with struggles in processing ideas and getting them out in a timely manner this was pretty fantastic.  I've seen far less with far more time allowed.  We'll work on expanding it during the week.

Also, today we did Math Whizz for about an hour.  By the end it was getting a little painful so we shut it down, but he did really well.  Working a lot with time.

And as usual the bike gang logged a ton of miles, or should I say kilometers as well as some running around tonight too.

We'll finish the night with some audio reading, How To Train Your Dragon.  We'll skip Percy Jackson tonight and just let him lie in bed and listen to a story. 

Spider Web Art Project

We began this project last week and finished it off over the weekend.  He began by drawing a picture, anything he wanted.  Then he used the hot glue gun to trace it.  After that he used a glue stick to cover the back of regular household foil then placed that over top of his picture. 

 

 Using a dry cloth he gently rubbed over the surface to mold it to the picture/dried glue.

 Then using a soft rag he rubbed shoe polish over it.  He had to be careful not to wipe too much or the polish would wipe off again.

 We used a fair bit, and it was stinky.  I'm not sure if we used the right kind of polish, we just used dollar store polish.  Enough to show the picture beneath.

 After finishing that, we left it for a few minutes then wiped off some excess, leaving just enough to stick in the grooves.  And the first picture you saw in this post was the completed project. 

 For a few hours we had it hanging in the hallway but it was just way to stinky so we had to move it to the outside of the door.  The smell is probably gone enough now to bring it back in but it's a perfect little spot for it, we see it all day long while going in and out.

The Diversity of Life

 Since we're covering insects right now it only seems fitting that we start with the Diversity of Life Unit in Science.  Covering the concept of what the difference is between living and non-living things. 

 The first stages of an art project he's working on.  First step:  draw a picture, not too much detail.  Step Two:  trace the lines with glue.  You can use regular Elmers glue but we decided on hot glue so that it would sit higher and dry faster.  More steps to come. 

He also drew a fantastic dragonfly today which we'll use for something else also. 

He's been riding his bike lots today again and is now out running around the neighbourhood with the boys.  Once he gets home we'll do some Math Whizz and Lumosity.  So far he's enjoying it - the Math Whizz.  His goal is to earn 1000 credits to buy a pet dragon. 

And as with every night he's been reading Percy Jackson for about 30 minutes. 

Today felt really loose.  Didn't really do a lot, at least not yet.  But since he's eager to go online to do math I'm certain he won't mind doing a bit more tonight.  A little bit here, a little bit there. 

Great Finds

 Our day started with a walk and some spelling review.  It's funny how well he does verbally yet, his writing assignments seem to tell a different story.  He said it looks better the way he spells it, hmmm....
Our walk took us on a trip to the library which has resulted in another huge pile of DVD's that we probably won't be able to get through and a stack of books on insects.  I thought we'd go to get some visual inspiration for an art project and it just didn't evolve that way. 

 We watched this DVD which turned out to be great.  Very learning centred, including a multiple choice quiz at the end which Mckenzie nailed.  I wasn't sure he was taking it all in since his note taking was sketchy, but it seems that he did.  Still, I think there was just so many great things to go over again so I took notes myself and will make up a little lesson plan on it myself. 

 On the way home from the library we decided to collect foliage from as many different trees as possible.  I think there are a few missing from the photo and it was also hard to narrow down what foliage to collect as there is just so much.  We tried to stick to trees or large bushes.  Not sure what we'll do with them so for now they're just being pressed in our insect books.

 Some backyard friends.  These little guys made eating outside this Summer next to impossible.  But the pattern on their bodies is pretty cool.  And this spider has quite fancy markings.

 Riding his bike, this kid has been a riding machine lately.  He and a couple other kids on the block who are being home schooled having been tearing up the neighbourhood.  So nice that he'll have friends to ride with even when the days are shorter because they'll be able to take time during the day. 

Our Classroom

I think both Mckenzie and I are thoroughly enjoying having a wide open classroom.  That's not to say that we do everything outside but it sure is nice to be able to incorporate the outdoors into our learning.  As you know we've been charting spiders and webs - well, here are some of our new 'friends' and their homes.  It was tough getting photos of the webs in the afternoon light but we managed.  Once again I'm having troubles with the photos, but this time it's not letting me enlarge them.  Try clicking on the image and see if it enlarges it.  The webs are truly beautiful and incredible works of art. 

This particular section of trees are especially well loved by the spiders.  It's a virtual gold mine of webs.