Preschool Corner- First Week of School!

 

Wow- what a week!  Much more difficult than I expected but I suppose it is a work in progress.  We had our first "official" school day on Monday and for all intents and purposes we did accomplish pretty much everything I intended to and we did stick with our routine.  HOWEVER, I would still pretty much classify it as nightmare!  We tried to do all of our work at the kids table in our school room and Lion Cub screamed the ENTIRE time.  It was horrible.  Rhythm was trying to concentrate but it was near impossible for either of us and he kept asking when we would be done because he just wasn't used to it yet.  I walked away from that morning actually seriously doubting (for the first time) if this was actually going to work.  

Tuesday, though, I got up a little earlier, got a little bit more prepared, had my morning tea and my time with the Lord and vowed to not give up.  Awwww... what a better way to start the day!  I also changed a few things about how we did school!  After our Calendar time (which I will be posting on in more detail soon) we grab our workbox and Raising Rockstars Preschool learning board and move out to the dining room table.  This way I can strap Lion Cub into his seat and have Rhythm in his chair on the other side (key#1- keep them separated!).  I was then able to keep Lion Cub busy with snacks and Tot School activities (key#2- plan things for the 14 month old to do!  More on this soon!), thus allowing Rhythm (and myself) to be less distracted.  Thank Jesus for how smooth this morning went-it completely restored my hope and confidence!

Each day has been different and I won't say that it has been a picnic since Tuesday, but we are starting to get into a rhythm.  Both boys seem to be getting used to how our days are beginning to flow now and they kind of know what to expect.  Every day I have learned a little bit more about how I should arrange our school schedule and our daily routine to better fit our needs, so every day it gets a little bit better.  There is still some tweaking to do, but I already feel more confident and can see that after a few weeks our new routine will feel like old hat for all of us.  Be sure to stop back by on Monday for more details of how I have set up our routine!

But now, on to the actual school work!!  We started using Carisa's AMAZING Raising Rockstars Preschool curriculum this week and we LOVE it!!  It composes the core of what we are working on and it is a terrific fit for us.  Rhythm really enjoys all of the activities and I am amazed at how quickly he is picking up new (or in some cases remembering old) skills.  I can really see his sense of pride and satisfaction when he finishes his work also, which I think will be key to his success and love of learning.

Here is what we did this week:

First day in the classroom...

Rhythm working on his Weekend Report (this printable coming soon!).  He was really trying but....

it was difficult!

Day 2- our new set-up... 

much better!

Saying his verse with hand motions that we added.  By Thursday (we only do a 4-day week) he had his verse down pat! (me- beaming with pride!)

Cutting out his vocab cards.  It took him a while but he didn't complain once!  

He really enjoyed putting them all in their spots!  

Just delighted with himself!

Of course, this is the picture he wanted me to take!  Don't you love his little eyes peeking through?!

Here is a pic from his perspective!  Obviously, this wasn't Day 1!!!

Working hard on writing his "L"s!

This boy isn't huge on coloring but he LOVES to paint (although markers are used more than crayons)!  He keeps telling me that he is an artist!

Other things we did this week that weren't pictured were:

• Clothes Pin Number Match from Confessions of a Homeschooler


• Bastien Piano for Young Beginners


• Nature Study (printable coming soon for this one too!)


• Lots of reading about Farms!  We are gearing up for our field trip to the fair so this week we were learning all about farm machines.  I am going light on this unit though, so we are just doing the reading portion and no other activities.  We are breaking in slow!


• Finishing up Winnie the Pooh!  I am still so surprised by how much Rhythm enjoys this book and look forward to wrapping it up and beginning Charlotte's Web next week.

We also LOVED the music we downloaded to go with our Raising Rockstars Curriculum!  I downloaded 5 of the suggested songs that Carisa posted with the Letter L week on her site from iTunes and we not only listed to them to sing along to during the lesson, but we also played them quietly in the background while Rhythm did his other work and also various times throughout the day.  We especially loved the song from the Seeds Family Worship CD and enjoyed the songs from Praise Baby as well.  It was so nice to have God's word sung through our home all day, especially since we would get the songs stuck in our heads.  The music also seemed to have a calming effect on both boys, helping things be a little less hectic, and promoted concentration.

Alright, I know this post was a little wordy, but it was honest and I hope some of you can relate!  Like I mentioned above, keep your eyes open for some upcoming printables I am going to debut and a post about our routine and school schedule on Monday!  Be sure you don't miss out on the giveaway I am having for The Hands on Bible too!!

Oh, and if you haven't checked out my main blog lately (The Mama Kenz Studio), I have lots of cool stuff going on over there with my new sponsor, Marmee's Bread Market, and I am going to have a big announcement about an upcoming raffle for a Bosch Universal Plus mixer AND a giveaway with multiple winners starting Monday!  So, be sure to drop by and check it out!

OH!!  AND!!  

(I know, you're thinking, "More?  Seriously?!")  But this is my 100th post on this blog!!  Happy dance!  Sorry- I couldn't help myself!

To see other fun preschool posts take a look see over at Homeschool Creations for the latest Preschool Corner Link-up!

Source: http://theworldaccordingtothem.blogspot.com/2010/08/preschool-corner-first-week-of-school.html

»»  read more

Now I Know My A...

Since last week we've started Preschool with Wonder Girl.  She is loving and enjoying it a lot.  For me teaching her and getting her ready for Kindergarten has actually been more fun and busy then when I was teaching Dare Devil Boy.  Mostly cause I know more what I doing this time around and I have been able to get more help and find more resources then I did with him.

This year we are doing a bunch of things with Wonder Girl.  I'm using a mix of Totally Tots and No Time for Flash Cards to help and some crafts to learning letters each week.  Also it has made it more fun for both her and me.  (Even fun for Daddy.  Since he gets to tap into his creative crafty side when he teaches her too.)

Also we have been making a letter notebook.  Which I got the lapbook from Homeschool Share.  Adding to all this I've just made up much of our own Math games to teach numbers, counting, sorting, patterns, & everything else.  Then finally for some handwriting we are doing Handwriting without Tears: PreK Get Set for School program, which she is enjoying.

So here is a peek at last week's letter (Aa) and game.

Wonder Girl making her big "A" alligator

The finished product.

Pasting something in her Letter Notebook.

Simple Egg counting game.

I picked up some plastic eggs over Easter knowing I would use them for something.  Which I have done.  I used pom poms and beads.  There are 12 eggs but the amount of beads or pom poms in each egg only go from 1-6.  Which means that each number is used twice.

Then I used large index cards and labeled each card with numbers from 1-6.  Next I had Wonder Girl stamp something on that card amounting to whatever number is on that card.  Ex.  Card 1=1 butterfly stamp, card 2=2 flowers stamps and so on.

Finally I let her open each egg, count the number of pom poms or beads in that egg, then find and place that object on the correct number card.  Once she was done doing that, she placed the items back in the open egg and left it in the carton.

Source: http://raisingsuperherokids.blogspot.com/2010/08/now-i-know-my.html

»»  read more

Comments from the student body

I'm done with all my classes for the day. Now I need to figure out a way to tell my side of the class that they need to hand in the comprehension they were doing in their first period. Hmmm.

Today for first period English lesson, I told my class of 27 about my forensic science classes back in Uni. And then after that I posted them the psychotic-mind riddles, and they said I was freaky. Well. As expected.

And then you know you need a new swimsuit when your student says this to you:

Student: Ms Ng, do you swim alot?
Me: Yes, why? Can see my tan-lines right?
Student: Ya.

Hahaha.

Me: Ok class, be nice to me. You won't be seeing me after 4 more lessons.
Some people: But why!
Me: Because I'm leaving.
Most people: Why!
Me: Oh. Don't you know? I'm off to get married!
Some people: Huh! So fast! Why never invite us!
Me: (mumbles to myself)
Some people: Then when you coming back?
Me: I'm never coming back. I'm escaping from this treacherous place.
Some people: She's lying.
Me: (discontinues conversation)

What a lovely class. Hahaha. This boy came up to me and said: 'Ms Ng, can I have your Facebook?"

Me: I can't give you my Facebook. I still want it.
Student: (sighs) I meant can I have your facebook account?
Me: Oh. No. Hahaha. I'll give it to you after I leave.

I wonder how he's going to get it after I leave. Hahahahhaahaha. Okay, time for some recess before I scoooot off to tell 3/3 that they need to submit their comprehension.

»»  read more

"A fustian riddle." M.O.A.I.

These four alphabets are triple-played on shape, sound, and meaning. The whole scene is about how to solve it but lengthy, so I only list the author's hints in their original order. The triple-play comes in sequence as the dialogue.

1. M.O.A.I. shape buttocks, anus, and penis.

• "let me see, let me see, let me see.":: see the alphabets, not to sound them.


• "any formal capacity":: formal relates to form (OED 1447, 1827); capacity is any hollow space, cavity (OED 1541, 1704); a hint on vagina, anus, or mouth.


• "Alphabetical position portend":: MO for buttocks and anus, or breasts and vagina; AI for the penis with a sharp head.


• "if I could make that resemble something in me?":: the organs in Malvolio's body.


• "Softly, M.O.A.I.":: softly, not to sound them.


• "O I, make up that":: shapes of "O I" make up this riddle, hole and penis. The "O I" appears 18 times in the 1623 Folio, "O, I" 12 times.

2. M.O.A.I. simulate the sound of a four-stage sex.

• "Sowter will cry upon it for all this":: a seeker will cry out the four alphabets to solve the riddle. M can only moan, O opens mouth, A throats joy, and then cries out I.


• "O shall end":: Malvolio was cursed to end at O, a premature ejaculation.


• "suffers under probation":: suffers under foreplay, a man on probation of sex, the reason for Malvolio's failure.


• "cudgel him, and make him cry O.":: put a cudgel (stick) on his O, anus, and make him cry O; a hint on sound and anal sex.


• "And then I. comes behind.":: the "I" (shaped penis) comes from the behind, another hint on anal sex.

3. M.O.A.I. crushes to a prose, I AM O. I accept anal sex.

• "This simulation is not as the former: and yet to crush this a little":: a new play to crush the sequence of M.O.A.I. a little.


• "here follows prose":: I AM O, is the only possible prose, which makes Malvolio a homosexual or bisexual.

The beginning of the riddle summaries how the anal sex does sway Malvolio's life.

MALVOLIO: (reading a letter)
I may command where I adore,
but silence like a Lucrece knife:
With bloodless stroke my heart does gore,
M.O.A.I. does sway my life.

[1] I:: the first "I" shapes penis.
[1] I:: the second "I" can be Maria, Olivia, or Malvolio. The author made Malvolio read the letter as his soliloquy, so the "I" is taking as Malvolio.
[1] where:: the anus or vagina or both.
[2] silence:: suppression.
[2] like a Lucrece knife:: the chastity like a knife.
[3] bloodless, gore:: a) with stroke on anus, a place without blood, inciting one's heart; b) with lifeless stroke on vagina, breaking one's heart.
[4] sway:: to rock (Malvolio's life).

FABIAN:
A fustian riddle.

Fustian is an inflated, made-up language (OED 1599). It hints us not to treat this riddle as normal language, and to inflate it. Whoever said Shakespeare isn't about riddle, missed this line.

These alphabets are not used for anagram here, but the author made most of the names related to them: M.O.A.I. as Maria, Malvolio, Orsino, Olivia, Antonio, Andrew Ague-cheek, Illyria; C.V.T. as Cesario, Curio, Viola, Valentine, Toby; only excluded Sebastian, Fabian, Feste. It shows how alphabets impact the play--sex sways almost everyone.

(August 17, 2010 by J. F.)

»»  read more

Let my first Knowing be of thee (J. 1254) Morning Newspaper

Let my first Knowing be of thee
With morning's warming Light--
And my first Fearing, lest Unknowns
Engulf thee in the night--

 

Morning Newspaper

[1] thee:: a morning newspaper.
[2] morning:: a hint on the morning newspaper.
[3] Fearing:: that someone took away this newspaper.
[3] Unknowns:: unknown, or ignorant persons in the house.
[4] Engulf:: to disappear mysteriously.

(August 17, 2010 by J. F.)

»»  read more

School Begins: Secret Agent Style

School is off to a great start here in The Muddy Schoolhouse. Here is a picture of our first day blackboard. I am going to teach Cammy how to write in cursive this year. We ended the school year this spring reading creation stories from around the world. We probably read ten different versions...everything from Norse frost and fire giants creating the world to Japanese versions, Native American stories , Aboriginal accounts, biblical and more. So I felt it natural to move into the study of man and community and how we communicate. We are starting the year off by studying the origin of language. We talked today about the oral tradition of history and language and how man began to communicate in more elaborate ways. We are reading passages about the history and evolution of language in several different books but by far my main source is the book Letterbox:The art and history of Letters by Jan Adkins. My daughter is very comfortable with it now but I use the quote "What catches the eye, inspires the hand" all the time. It is kinda like a slogan around the house. So the eye represents what we see around us. The iris is like a clock with ancient symbols at each of the hours marks on the clock. In the pupil a sun radiates the time that our day is to begin 8:15. The eyelashes are the cursive letters that she will be learning this fall: tops are capitals and bottoms are lowercase. The eyebrow is a rainbow. I love to draw a new amazing picture to captivate and grab Cammy's attention at the beginning of each week.

I have been setting up our learning centers all summer. We have a new roommate in what used to be the office so we have had to make a few adjustments in furniture arrangements. This is a tray of rocks and pinecones and any other interesting nature finds on a low shelf so that Karma can get to them.


Here is Cammy posing in front of the new blackboard drawing. You can see the shelf beside her where I have our math center and all of the dividers for each subject ....color coded. I'm really trying to prove to myself that I can be organized.
I put up a bulletin board of sorts a few weeks ago. The idea was for her to write down anything she was interested in learning about. The light bulb above her head was her bright idea! Inside it I wrote the questions Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? We have been talking about different ways of brainstorming ideas. Last year Cammy loved it when we built a time machine to study history. So I came up with the idea of extending that playful learning with a twist. Last year my husband issued Cammy her very own official Universal Time travelers license. This year I sent her an official letter stating that she has been recruited to be a special secret agent for the Universal Time Travelers organization. Today she had her first meeting with my husband complete with an ever changing accent and in disguise (a tablecloth over his head and a dust broom mustache) Cammy laughing her head off. The fake meeting to discuss her training (school work) lasted almost an hour. My husband played his role up so much I thought I was going to wake up the baby I was laughing so hard.

Here is our secret agent in training. In keeping with the secret agent theme we are going to be doing a lot of work on puzzles and riddles and decoding secret messages. Highlights magazine publishes some books that follow this theme. Today she had to decode a secret message that was tied in with ordinal numbers assigned to the alphabet and when she decoded the message it read "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"
Here I am trying to get organized for the school year again. Cammy seems to work best and is more focused and less anxious if she can see the plans visually. I have posted under each subject the basic concepts I would like to cover for the year. Hopefully this will help keep us on track. I am all about teaching Cammy what she is interested in but I also want to keep to some kind of path at the same time and meet certain goals even if we do branch off from the main tree trunk at least we have our roots firmly planted.
This is a glimpse of part of our science center. We go on a lot of nature walks and I am always collecting bits of eggs, bones, fossils, butterfly wings ....all kinds of things to study. Mark jokes that the kids are going to start thinking I am a witch....what with bat wings and slug slime in the jars beside the kitchen...I don't really have those but I can see where he is coming from.

Source: http://mymuddyschoolhouse.blogspot.com/2010/08/school-begins-secret-agent-style.html

»»  read more

Happy Second Anniversary to The Illuminati!

Hello again everyone. Well it's that time of year again, when both my guilds celebrate their anniversaries with big events. The AIE crew did their Summer of Love week last week with tons of great events I may get into next time. On the Illuminati side, you may recall that I came up just short in the running for the officer position to run these events, but I threw in my thoughts and my hat with the wonderful person who did get the job, Soph. I could go into details about the planning, but needless to say Soph put a ton of work into her first event and our guild leader as well as two of us who volunteered to be commanders had many comments on her drafts and hopefully guided her correctly to improve the event.

Phase one of the event was a meeting in Shattrath where we sent pairs of two members off to a new server to level to 5, catch some fish or kill some creatures, and then turn in their gold winnings to Soph to buy a pet for her, when they could move on in teams of 4 back on our server to phase 2. Here's some kickoff pictures in Shatt.

Our unflappable leader and her commander, both in wedding dresses.

About half the group, maybe more of the 35 participants.

Phase 2 of the competition sent teams of 3-5 back and forth from commander to commander in various locations in Azeroth (Zangarmarsh, Elwynn Forest, and Ungoro Crater) with riddles to solve to go get items from low-level instance bosses in about 5 instances. Then the finish line was in Twilight Grove in Duskwood where our fearless leader had set herself up again. I drew the best location in Azeroth, the crystal cave in Ungoro...but probably the worst RP role for me, the war general commander. Get down maggot and give me 20! Anyway,...here's my view of most of the evening, and it is very pleasant.

Pretty colors...

And your friendly commander in the back.

So here are four of the riddles, see for yourself if you can figure them out! These are fantastic nuggets and all the credit goes to Soph on these, as the rest of us had nothing to do with them as far as I know. The idea was to gear up one of your toons for a big battle to come (level up, gear up, profit!)

QUEST 1
Flower Power:
A message from Soph:

I know this might come as a shock, but there is another with my name.
To her shop many do not flock in a land of the past near Festival Lane

Get your guildfrond a lily held-in-the-off-hand.
Similar to a Darkmoon bloom, but of a different brand.

Make sure not to let Arthas talk or back through the inn you will walk.
The instance you must not activate, do not hasten the plagued citizen's fates.
----------------------------------------------------------
QUEST 2
Neck Respect:

Provide yourself with an amulet that suites your mood
Are you lonely, compassionate, hungry, or is your scent just plain rude?

Find the troll that can help you with your Tikbalang and get any item that'll set you apart from the gang.
He claims his Amulets are "Amazing", but do pay attention to his phrasing.

Should you go to the upper city I will look upon you with pity.
------------------------------------------------------------------
QUEST 3
Robe Probe:

There is a Fanglord out there
With such beautiful blue hair.
His robes of deer hair
I wish he would share.

He dwells in a land near the shore
Of plants and water it is poor
go to the place where few have been
and get yourself some moccasin.

Find him where the caverns wail
take a wrong turn and you might fail.
---------------------------------------------------------
QUEST 4
Obscene Machine:

Though triathlons are all brawn I find physical activity to be quite a yawn.
Here is a mini-equation with just enough information.
Hope you aced all your courses, if not feel free to use outside sources!

A= the symbol for the 16th element of the periodic table
B= the opposite roll of greed
C= the 19th letter of the alphabet
D= Oruko Saki is his real name; Splinter's enemy

A=C

(A+B)'C + (D)=
Provide yourself with something Buzzworthy from him... it?

You'll discover this being where you'd find Van Cleef
Go get 'em and give 'em some grief.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

So then once a team found their way to Duskwood they had to locate Soph, who like I said was hanging out with the world dragon spawn point in Twilight Grove. Once everyone finished the quests we all gathered for a party and prizes. Thansk to all the generous donors of the guild once again for giving very valuable gifts for everyone to share!

It's like a hot tub time machine moonwell!

More hot tub fun while we waited for the grand finale.

Prizes and fireworks! What could be better?

Then once all the prizes were handed out for good costumes, good RP commanders (not me), good RP teams, and winning racers, it was time for our semiannual knighting ceremony. While the first two of these ceremonies took place in Feralas on the Twin Spires, we had a star-wars ending type setting with everyone lined up on opposite sides of the ramp up to the portal to the emerald dream. Then the officers stood up top amongst all the flares and called up our newest knights, also known as the grump club and the veteran members of the The Illuminati. Here are some pictures from some of the knighting ceremony, although the flares do make it hard to see a bit!

Congratulations to all our newest Knights. I did not vote on you guys, but I believe the decisions were all correct and warranted. And congratulations to Soph for having such a well-received first event. Now that the big hitter is done, Ekat has a little something up her sleeve pre-Cataclysm. More on that later, but needless to say, just because I'm not an officer doesn't mean it will stop me from running some fun stuff floating about in the old noggin. Stay tuned...

Or as a proper Illuminati "Trials of the Illuminated" participant would say in Ungoro Crater, /salute and HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

»»  read more

School Begins: Secret Agent Style

School is off to a great start here in The Muddy Schoolhouse. Here is a picture of our first day blackboard. I am going to teach Cammy how to write in cursive this year. We ended the school year this spring reading creation stories from around the world. We probably read ten different versions...everything from Norse frost and fire giants creating the world to Japanese versions, Native American stories , Aboriginal accounts, biblical and more. So I felt it natural to move into the study of man and community and how we communicate. We are starting the year off by studying the origin of language. We talked today about the oral tradition of history and language and how man began to communicate in more elaborate ways. We are reading passages about the history and evolution of language in several different books but by far my main source is the book Letterbox:The art and history of Letters by Jan Adkins. My daughter is very comfortable with it now but I use the quote "What catches the eye, inspires the hand" all the time. It is kinda like a slogan around the house. So the eye represents what we see around us. The iris is like a clock with ancient symbols at each of the hours marks on the clock. In the pupil a sun radiates the time that our day is to begin 8:15. The eyelashes are the cursive letters that she will be learning this fall: tops are capitals and bottoms are lowercase. The eyebrow is a rainbow. I love to draw a new amazing picture to captivate and grab Cammy's attention at the beginning of each week.

I have been setting up our learning centers all summer. We have a new roommate in what used to be the office so we have had to make a few adjustments in furniture arrangements. This is a tray of rocks and pinecones and any other interesting nature finds on a low shelf so that Karma can get to them.


Here is Cammy posing in front of the new blackboard drawing. You can see the shelf beside her where I have our math center and all of the dividers for each subject ....color coded. I'm really trying to prove to myself that I can be organized.
I put up a bulletin board of sorts a few weeks ago. The idea was for her to write down anything she was interested in learning about. The light bulb above her head was her bright idea! Inside it I wrote the questions Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? We have been talking about different ways of brainstorming ideas. Last year Cammy loved it when we built a time machine to study history. So I came up with the idea of extending that playful learning with a twist. Last year my husband issued Cammy her very own official Universal Time travelers license. This year I sent her an official letter stating that she has been recruited to be a special secret agent for the Universal Time Travelers organization. Today she had her first meeting with my husband complete with an ever changing accent and in disguise (a tablecloth over his head and a dust broom mustache) Cammy laughing her head off. The fake meeting to discuss her training (school work) lasted almost an hour. My husband played his role up so much I thought I was going to wake up the baby I was laughing so hard.

Here is our secret agent in training. In keeping with the secret agent theme we are going to be doing a lot of work on puzzles and riddles and decoding secret messages. Highlights magazine publishes some books that follow this theme. Today she had to decode a secret message that was tied in with ordinal numbers assigned to the alphabet and when she decoded the message it read "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"
Here I am trying to get organized for the school year again. Cammy seems to work best and is more focused and less anxious if she can see the plans visually. I have posted under each subject the basic concepts I would like to cover for the year. Hopefully this will help keep us on track. I am all about teaching Cammy what she is interested in but I also want to keep to some kind of path at the same time and meet certain goals even if we do branch off from the main tree trunk at least we have our roots firmly planted.
This is a glimpse of part of our science center. We go on a lot of nature walks and I am always collecting bits of eggs, bones, fossils, butterfly wings ....all kinds of things to study. Mark jokes that the kids are going to start thinking I am a witch....what with bat wings and slug slime in the jars beside the kitchen...I don't really have those but I can see where he is coming from

»»  read more