Books and Handwriting

I think that I take for granted that Cary is such a good reader that I sometimes forget that she still has to practice her reading and writing skills. A new exercise that I have come up with is to pick a book to read and then ask her to pick her favorite part and write it out. It sounds simple and it is. It is just a way for her to continue her writing skills and keep interested a bit longer in a good book. This week she chose a Fairy Tales Book and picked out one of her favorite tales-Little Bo Peep-

Manatees and More

Living in Florida we all have a special attraction to Florida's wonderful wildlife. The kids love Manatees and Sea Turtles the best. Lucky for us we live in a town that has many attractions and resources to fill our need. We have visiting several times the Manatee Center where we have gone for toddler classes and on our own. I was so impressed with the teaching co ordinator there that I inquired about a regular Co Op meeting there once a month. The turn out was GREAT. I so pleased with my efforts that it has motivated me to get involved with more field trips and co ops as I can. I hope to continue this study through the year and will post pics of the "older kids" soon.

"Let's talk about some dogs"

Did I mention that Carly is a total Dog Lover? Yes she is her mothers daughter and I am thrilled. If it were up to us we would be living on a ranch somewhere with about 50 dogs (and cats) running everywhere. Well here in the real world we have one dog and sometimes it seems like he is enough. So on and on my daughter talks about dogs, looks them up online and gives the calendar dogs on our fridge names. She also has like a bazzillion Webkins and treats them as much like a real dog as she possibly can.

Soooo what is a good homeschooling mom to do you ask. Give her lessons about......Dogs. She reads about them, spells them, classifies them and does reading comprehension exercises. It is really great and she is so into it she does not even realize she is doing school work. Last week we did a Unit study on Golden Retrievers. This week I think we are studying Beagles. Plus we will go to the library and borrow books that are about Dogs. Love it!