Progress
Week 5, Block 4, Dorothea Term (Break Week)
We have focused a little on things domestic, especially in the kitchen. I’m also revisiting the jobs I’m getting Puggle to do.
The Genial Hearth
I’ve just put the kettle on, join me for a cuppa and a chat.Archive for May, 2008
Rest
Two children, asleep in their own beds—in their own room!
Tomorrow we dismantle the cot… for a couple of months:-)
Soups, Reprise
Earlier in the year (Northern Winter), there was a flurry of discussion about soups. I mentioned it here. I wanted to refer back to it at a more appropriate time for the Southern hemisphere (me in particular:-) ), because I really liked some of the recipes and ideas:-)
Carnivals
Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life is hosting the current Charlotte Mason Carnival.
Walking Therein is hosting the current Homeschooling Carnival, End of the School Year! Or is it?
Lap Rug
Some time ago (probably about 10 years:-( ), about a week before my mother’s birthday (in August), I saw on one of those home shows a fabulous looking laprug, made of polar fleece with appliquéd autumn leaves. It looked great, fairly simple, and I was quite sure that mum would like it. So I went ahead and got the material (with a few alterations) and began. I didn’t actually expect to get it done in time for her birthday, but I figured it wouldn’t take me too much longer.
Of course, mum’s birthday is near the end of winter. So shortly afterwards it became too hot to manage polar fleece, so I put it away again. And only remembered to get to it about a week before her next birthday. That continued for a few years:-(
A couple of years ago we were given a polar fleece bunny rug. The construction technique looked like it might be a better solution than appliqué for the leaves (less than half the sewing!)
A couple of weeks ago, in preparation for Craft Sunday, I went looking for material. I quickly decided that I really needed to sort through my stash, which I did. I got rid of a certain amount, but it seemed obvious to me that I needed to get rid of more—and the best option for that was to finish sewing mum’s lap rug (3 metres of polar fleece takes up quite a bit of space!)
And now it’s done:-) I managed to complete it while mum and dad were away, and I’ve just delivered it to their place… it’s out of the house:-)
It’s made of two squares of green polar fleece (1.5m). Onto the wrong side of one of them, I sewed a selection of pairs of coloured leaves (just a straight stitch). I cut through from the right side to remove the green from inside each leaf. I then sewed the two green squares right sides together leaving a gap, turned them right side out and top-stitched. I sewed around the outside of each leaf again (through all layers this time) and then finally cut out the green on the other side. It means that both sides are the same, and (aside from where the seams are) it’s two layers thick across the whole thing.
Most satisfactory:-)
This Week
Our plans for
Week 5, Block 4, Dorothea Term (Break Week)
Singing, we’ll continue with The Cruel War. Revisiting some of our domestic skills…
Puggleisms
As Dada was attempting to determine what was wrong with the toasted sandwich maker…
“The con-fuse might be blown.”
Lawn Mowing
Puggle’s being a lawn-mowing man (he’s loaded the truck—the front porch, with the ‘lawnmower’, the rake, the broom, the ‘whipper-snipper’)… although he came to tell me the lawnmowing man also does gardening.
He’s been doing that most of the time we’ve been home.
Now Bilby has the ‘whipper-snipper’ and from the look of her mouth, she’s making the appropriate sound as she waves it about.
New Niece!
BG has a little sister:-) I’m not surprised my brother has had another girl:-)
I’ll have to see what he ends up calling her before I give her a nom-de-blog. I do like her real name though… it didn’t make my short list for Bilby, but that was mostly because I know a child with the same name (we don’t see her very often at all so I might well have considered adding it again for Cygnet:-) ). And her middle name is one my sister has short-listed for her little one:-)
Jigsaws
For his birthday, Puggle recieved a large Solar System Floor jigsaw puzzle
Suddenly, he’s mad on them! He did the solar system once with me providing directions (find the edge pieces, find the bumpy pieces, put the edge pieces together etc.), then a second time with occasional reminders as to what he was looking for, and since then he’s been doing it several times a day!
Each time he finishes he calls me delightedly to come and look “Mama, I did it! All by myself!”
And now he loves jigsaws… If he sees one when we’re somewhere he’ll stop and do it:-)
Preparing Fruit
Puggle is really enjoying cutting things up. Fortunately, whenever he gets out a plum (or a banana, or an apple:-) ), he is more than happy to cut some up for Bilby as well:-) I’m encouraging this, as the biggest problem I had when Bilby first came home was that I would forget to feed Puggle before I sat down to nurse her—I’m hoping that won’t be a problem with Cygnet!
The best bit is that he thinks to do it himself—I don’t have to ask him!
Carnival
Po Moyemu—In My Opinion is hosting the current edition of the Homeschooling Carnival.
This Week
Our plans for
Week 4, Block 4, Dorothea Term
Language
Introduce phonogram ‘ow’ (sandpaper letters and sand tray)
Duc, Duc, Remos Duc (Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
Audi! (Listen)
Au Clair de la Lune
Merci (Thank you)
English Studies
‘The Two Frogs‘ from The Violet Fairy Book
‘The Snow Queen‘ from The Complete Illustrated Stories Hans Christian Anderson
Narration: ‘The Wolf and the Sheep‘, ‘The Hares and Frogs‘, ‘The Fox and the Stork‘ from The Aesop for Children Ill. Milo Winter (He’s really a bit too young for Narration, so I’m mostly going to be keeping an ear out for re-tellings, or incorporation in play)
Recitation: Politeness and Jonathan Jo A. A. Milne from When We Were Very Young
Art and Music
Folksong: The Cruel War
Composer: George Frederic Handel
Work: Messiah
Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn
Work: The Raising of the Cross
Music: Long/Short (The Kodály Method 1 Lois Choksy) Rain, Rain, Go Away
Art: Crayons
Wax Resist Rubbings (Art Ideas Fiona Watts)
by A. A. Milne
by Andrew Lang
