Keeping our rhythm...

We are luckily feeling better today and ready to get back to regular life. We have good day with morning lessons, lunch with Daddy and a quiet afternoon before showering and heading to Great-Grandma's for dinner. I may have to record the Grammy's in case Im running late getting home.

Last night I went through the "skill checklist" from Marsha's site (waldorfhomeeducators@yahoo.com) for GM, and realized he has mastered all the skills that would be considered 2nd grade. We dont work on grade levels because we move through topics until mastery. After a while all the grade levels get mixed up and we find ourselves all over the map, so we work more on GM or GD level. Wherever they are, is where we begin. Anyhow, I also use the Enki guidelines for topics, only because the research has already been done and I agree with Beth's perspective. So GM will begin more work on various social studies over the next few months. He will start by helping to plan our garden for this year and we will work the soil together, learning about what the various plants need, and working from there. He is also going to help Dad build their playground and learn about using tools and following a plan. He is already really good at that part, but still it is on a different scale and he will enjoy it.

Today's Lessons:

Music:
Lap Harp Practice: Hot cross Buns and Mary Had A Little Lamb
Xylophone Fun: We are still playing with the xylophone, the boys both got to makeup a song (improv) and share it with us. They had a lot of fun with it and came up with some creative sounds and rhythms.

Journals: Each of the boys wrote in their journals. Here is a picture of GD's entry. I just let them write about whatever they want (as it is their journal). GD usually writes about something from his imagination, and GM is very literal, writing about something that happened to him. Today he had his own topic, and didnt need me to narrow it down with him. :-)

Story: We re-read The Fairy and The Hare from the Jakata Tales. Each of the boys added an entry into their Good Books about the story.

Math: We are using Saxon Math for the boys, however we do not use the teacher's guides. I will sometimes refer to them if I am looking for another way to explain something. GD is still focussed on physically doing math in a game or activity. We use the Christopherus guide book with him, but GM is not interested in that at all, and the Saxon really satisfies him. He looks forward to it, and his Math Paths.

Language Arts: Each of the boys read a short story and did the comprehension discussion afterwards. Then they each read a book of their choice to wrap up the morning.