Origami Me Please

Want a good laugh? I have been teaching a A to Z Animal Science Class for our homeschool co-op. I have 23 children signed up for my class. The basic curriculum comes from our local zoo, I supplement it further with researching the web for more information and facts about the animals. So far we have done Alligators and Bats (I now know more about these animals that I ever thought I would). This coming week is Cranes. Last week we made bats that we glued together onto crafts stick, so that you could fly your bat. With Cranes we will be attempting (using this term lightly as these kids range from Kindergarten age to 2nd grade) to make Origami Cranes. Let me first say, I have never done any time of Origami in my life. So yesterday while Kirk picked up Edward from Tap Dancing Class and took him to the park, I worked on honing my skills at this craft. It took my 5 tries and they still aren't perfect. Trust me Origami is as complicated (if not more so) than it looks. Near the end of his Kindergarten Year, Sonlight has them doing some Origami. I better keep practicing, so I know what I am doing. I love homeschooling....I get to learn new things right along side of Edward at times.

No Soccer This Fall

I really need to find a good place for soccer. Maybe I am wrong but I don't think that 5 yr & 6 yr old children should be practicing soccer at 7pm until 7:30 or 8pm. Edwards bedtime is 9pm and I don't think he should be doing an activity that winds him up right before bedtime. This is another activity offered through our rec center. Parents are the coaches, we didn't recieve a call about the first practice until 3 days before it. She could even give me at that time set days for weekly practices. With our schedule we need set days and preferably earlier times. So we just ended up dropping soccer altogether this time and will be asking around about Soccer Programs. Edward will of course be taking the British Soccer Challenge again this summer. That is through the rec center but I must say it is the best program I have ever participated in through them.

Tap Dancing Classes

Edward is enjoying Tap dancing lessons, but I need to find a different place for him if he wants to continue. Our rec center leaves something to be desired. Our first day, we were greeted by a teenage girl with a bit of an attitude. She informed us that she was not going to let the parents stay and watch (umm....this wasn't not mentioned anywhere in the sign up for the class and in all the other classes we have participated in through the rec center we have been able to stay). I looked at her and told her that I would have to see if that would be okay with Edward, as he had not been prepared that he would be being left alone. Plus this broke Kirks heart, he doesn't get to watch Edward do very many activities and he was looking forward to seeing Edward do this. Plus we are new to Tap Dancing so we have no clue what he should be doing to improve. When I said I was going to have talk to Edward first, in a very snotty tone of voice she "informed" me that she had already talked to her boss and her boss was backing her up. Ummm....is her boss Edwards parents or the parents of the other children in the class????? No!!!!!!! Oh trust me, when I get a chance I will be calling the director of the Rec Center and having words about this with them. I understand why she is doing it, because the children tend to pay attention better when the parents aren't there but in the same hand we have no clue what he is doing or suppose to be doing. She will only tell you if you ask her when you pick them up and then she is very vague about it. I was able to find a place locally that provides a Kindertap class, I just need to be able to remember to call them. I have to do so during the day when we are schooling, by the time I get a chance to think for myself and remember it is after 5pm. I am not sure if we have already missed the sign up date for the semester or not. So needless to say, Kirk and I feel that Tap Dancing Classes for Edward are all that they could be for him to truly get an idea about Tap Dancing.

We are 3 weeks in....

We are 3 week into our school year. Edward is finding Kindergarten to be a great adventure. He is loving science. He especially likes the experiments (we have done 3 so far). I like most of the Sonlight Curriculum but I think that there needs to be some serious work and updating done on their Language Arts program. I think we might look for a different one to use next year. We will be starting Explode the Code, as soon as it arrives. I had to order it. We will also be using some of the Tatrus Method once we have our letters down. There are some letters that still allude Edward, but he is getting more and more of them every day. Edward also love math. We are using Math U See, plus working on money. Right now we are working on pennies mainly, plus sorting quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. We have already finished the Box Car Children (book 1). We started the Arrow and the Apple today. I think he will love the story of William Tell. He is very excited about the crossbow that we read about in the story. Of course we also mapped out where the Alps are, along with Austria and Germany on our map. He seems to like map work. We are also doing Calendar work, learning the days, weeks and months. We working on learning the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag, Christian Flag Pledge and the Pledge to the Bible. Of course during calendar time, we also talk about the weather and seasons. We are working on writing our first and last name. Edward has been able to write his first name for a while now but we need to work on neatness. I love the Reason for Handwriting. Edward seems to love it too. We are also doing the Horizons Health, I like it for the most part. I am happy to report that we are able to get all of the Sonlight and various other subjects done in about 4 hours. That is nice. I will be slowly adding other things over the year for Edward to increase his learning opportunities as I feel that is some ways Sonlight is way to laid back on various things but since this is only Kindergarten I don't want to push it to much either....know what I mean?