Today we started a new program called Samson's Classroom. I was able to purchase this quite inexpensively through Educents.
Everyday of doing formal homeschooling (or is the hope) my son will be doing a new sight words list and working through a reading comprehension game. He will be practicing the spelling word list that I designed for him all week. These are words that he has struggled with pronouncing and reading on a regular basis or are taken from his reading program. The goal is to reduce memorization and to cement words into his brain better. :)
Today he showed me how well he knows some of the common sight words which is a confidence booster for him. Each level he needs to do perfectly in order to advance.
Oh Insects...where does that come into play?
We continue to work through our Insects Study from In the Hands of a child.
The lad is enjoying this study. Today we learned the exciting fact that Katydids hear through their knees. That struck the lad in interesting and kinda funny. But the Moon Moth totally intrigued him so we looked it up. They don't eat when they are fully mature, and then to live as adults for only one week (surviving only on what they took in as caterpillars). They go through five larval stages, changing colours at each stage. We read these online articles: Meet the Moon Moth and Wiki.
The question: how do you get a giraffe in the refrigerator?
The answer: open the door. Put the giraffe in. Close the door.
Made me laugh, but the lad was just ... but mom, that won't work, giraffes are too big to fit in, you have to shorten him first!
This afternoon the lad will go for a bike ride (phys ed) and do some horitcultural work with me (planting our beans and moving his broccoli around a bit to make room for our own veggies).
We've continued to enjoy our bird feeders and I am hopeful to put up a finch feeder this afternoon and to get the lad to help me protect one or two of our feeders from the grackles. I like grackles but they will eat a feeder empty in one afternoon and I can't afford to feed that many birds, eating that much food, ALL THE TIME.
This encouraged some research on the boys part. How do you tell a girl turtle from a boy turtle? The size of the tail for the most part. Boys have a longer, heavier tail.