This was our first week of homeschooling! How did it go, you ask? Better than I expected: the girls were very receptive to the different "learning" activities I had planned (but kids are always eager to learn, aren't they?); and I was rather pleased with my self-discipline, namely, keeping my computer time for siestas and after school.
We covered color matching and counting (BB); bead sequencing (G); bead transferring with tongs; and bean pouring (Z). I introduced the letter A to BB; and G covered two new Chinese phonetic sounds, "ah" and "ae". Next week I'll start G on math concepts – it took me a few weeks to decide on a program, which I now have on order.
We also discussed the Blessed Trinity and who They are. At the top, G has the completed mobile activity, while BB only got as far as the two pieces. Funny story: G was drawing a picture of Jesus (with a frown) on another crucifix she'd made, and I asked her, "Why is Jesus frowning?" She told me, very matter-of-factly, "Because Jesus doesn't like being dead."
On Friday, we did a bit of scientific investigation with the snow we got overnight. Unfortunately, it wasn't so interesting because I think the conditions weren't just right to get those pretty flakes that you see in pictures. I myself recently learned about Snowflake Bentley, the guy that more or less pioneered snowflake picture taking, his passion. (I read this book to the girls; and I enjoyed flipping through the small selection of snowflake images in this book.)
Afterward, we were a perfect riot of paper, cutting paper snowflakes.
When it came time to clean up, however, they weren't so interested. So I told them how shameful ("diu lian" in Chinese) it was to have someone as little Z cleaning up for them! Here's exhibit A for your consideration.
