First GradeHow can six years go by so quickly? Wasn't it just yesterday that we were putting the crib together and washing those tiny pink clothes? And now, here she is, a first grader! Since we home school, it didn't make sense to take the traditional first day pictures with a backpack and lunch box, but I still wanted to commemorate the day!
PreschoolWe are blessed to have a wonderful preschool program at our church. Nathan will be going to preschool three mornings a week this year. These are pictures from his first day, and he was so excited! He came home and told me that he had made lots of friends at school. I asked him what their names were, and he replied, "I don't know." Oh well! I'm sure he'll learn their names before graduation!
What We Do All Day 
No, we're not playing, even if that's what it looks like! There are so many wonderful things about homeschooling, and this is one of them. Our science lesson today was about vascular plants. We were supposed to collect and examine leaves to see the veins that carried water through them. Since it was a beautiful day, we moved our entire lesson outside. It's easy to collect leaves when you're sittting in the middle of them!
Nathan enjoys refreshments during the lesson.
Collecting science specimens. Somehow, our study of leaves turned into a study of dirt, bugs, and a really scary looking caterpillar.
I'm sure it won't be long until Lily is toddling around behind her sister with a book in hand, begging, "Read to me!" You can see the adoring look on her face as Lydia reads Dick and Jane stories to her.
One of the first science lessons we had dealt with how botanists separate plants into kingdom, phylum, class, etc. Our book suggested we try this with our shoes. Here is Lydia sitting beside our giant pile of shoes, getting ready to put them in order.
Here we've separated them into four phyla: Sunday shoes, everyday shoes, boots, and slippers. Lydia really enjoyed this experiment and insisted on assigning each of our shoes a "scientific name." For example, I'm wearing a Sandalicus mommius as I'm writing this!
This is just a small snapshot of all that we've done this week. We've had a great start to our year, and I cannot express how excited I am to be homeschooling! We had a wonderful experience last year, and I expect this year to be even better.
What a neat idea for first day pictures! I've been thinking about back to school pictures, but haven't done them yet. I think I'm going to do annual school pictures maybe in October. Anyway, I love the idea!
ReplyDeleteI love the taxonomy activity, too! We'll have to try that! We have been learning that this week, too! The girls are going to be thrilled when they hear that...they have gone around chanting, "kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species" all week. I told them last week that they would memorize those at some point, and they looked at me very doubtfully. They're not so doubtful now!!
Keep having fun, my friend! :-)
I was so proud of Lydia! I left the list on the board, thinking I'd have to drill her on it over last weekend, but Saturday she came out and memorized it all on her own. Even though we were only supposed to sort our shoes as far as "order," she insisted on going all the way to species! Are you using Sonlight science?
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I missed a few days checking your blog! I am so impressed with the curriculum that you are using; it seems wonderful. I am glad that Nathan is enjoying preschool. I know he will make lots of friends. I had the scrapbooks out this week-end and had a few emotional moments about how quickly the children are growing up. Lily has really changed. Looking forward to seeing all of you in a couple of weeks. P.S. I noticed that AU slipper so prominently displayed in your picture.
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