Gee... it's been just a bit since I posted. Let's see... Ryn was enrolled in Head Start and Fort Edward Union Free pre-k this year. I realized almost immediately that public school was defiantly not the right choice for her. I only enrolled her in it because I apparently had a mental misstep, and believed what everyone else was telling me about socialization. Only to realize that 3 months of it had temporarily zapped her innate love for learning! Well, that was the end of Fort Edward, I pulled her officially on November 1, 2012. She had the option of staying in Head Start for the rest of the year though, and chose her self to stay. She LOVES it there.  So, Head Start in the morning and Mommy for the afternoon it is! Glad we found something she is happy with. Now to just get connected to other home school families in the area. Anyway, here's a bit of what we've been up to... 

Dr. Seuss' Birthday fun at the Library

Comparing print sizes in the snow, and working on identifying the animal that left the print.

This one's Clifford's Birthday celebration at the Library.

Merdwin the Magician at the Library.

At the Planetarium in Schenectady.

At the children's museum in Saratoga.

Holding a "talon". Raptor fest at the Library.

Her boat out of recycled materials at Summer Camp!

Holding a dragonfly while it is still in the Nymph stage and living in the water without wings!

With the re-enactment guys.

Catching the tadpoles that we raised and then released!

Helping unroll the balloons at the Sunkist Balloon Fest!

Growing our "Magic" bean plant from the Library... ours had an ant on it!

Good ole fun in the backyard with the sprinklers.

Making pretzels in the mall.

Hello Spring!

Well, I guess were going to focus on Spring now instead of the letter of the week. I have found this amazing website called www.teacherspayteachers.com and it has AMAZING printable stuff, and tons of it is free, and if you have to pay for something you want, at least you know it's going to the person who created it, not some big company who bought the idea. You can search for "Spring", and narrow it down to Kindergarden, then your price range, and TaDaa... there is a whole list of fun things to print out... from math pages to sight words, to games, to well, you get the point. It's amazing!

Bye Bye Letter of the Week!

So for this post, I have no pictures at all. Ryn and I sat down Monday and did the letter A. And just one day of the letter made me realise there is no way I'm spending a whole week on one letter. It drove Ryn nuts! After only 20 min, and 5 letter A themed activities, Ryn looked at me and said "Ok Mommy I know what the letter A is and what it says... this is annoying!" Well, guess I'm just gonna go with themed days or weeks and see how it goes that way instead. The letter a week curriculum has been officially thrown out the window...

Rain makes the Brain grow!

Well, most people would look outside today in dread because rain means the kids are inside... NOT US! Instead, we used today's weather to observe what happens after it rains. First, we stood on the porch and listened. Ryn told me she could hear lots and lots of birds and the rain drip dropping into the puddles. I asked Ryn if she knew why there were lots and lots of birds out after it rains, and she told me because they are looking for all the worms. Next, we used our eyes. I asked her if anything looked different after it rained. She said that she saw big puddles, and I took the opportunity to explain that the dirt was over saturated so the water stayed on top. Then she told me that the sidewalks get darker and shiny with the rain on them. Then, she looked over at our garden... "LOOK MOMMY! The rain made the plants get HUGE!" After all that talking, I finally let her free... she grabbed the garden shovel, and went right to making a mud pit.

 We talked about how she was mixing dirt and water to make mud. Then, the puddle kept getting bigger, and she made a dam to keep the water at bay. She decided to make it out of sticks and mud, just like Curious George did with the beavers.  It actually worked quite well till the rain picked up a bit, them it got washed away by the force of the falling rain. That lead to a conversation about how the rain was falling in little droplets at first, then they got bigger. 

When the rain picked up, we headed inside. 

Then I told her about gravity, and how it is an invisible force that makes things fall down. Then I gave up on that concept cause I couldn't explain gravity any other way than a force, and she didn't grasp the concept of a force yet so... Instead, I started talking about air. I had her "grab a handful of air" and asked her if it was heavy or light. Of course she said it was light. So then I had her hold her air in one hand, and put a pencil on the other. The pencil was heaver. I asked her if she thought the pencil would fall down when she dropped it, and of course she said yes... but the AH HA! moment came when she said it would fall because it was heaver than the air! YES YES YES!!!!!!!

Wow, all that because it was a rainy day... and all that in only an hour? 

No wonder she's a smart little bugger :)

Shaving Cream Sensory Fun!

Well, Ryn woke up from nap time yesterday, and I had her art smock waiting at the bottom of the stairs. She new something fun was up. Well, she put the smock on, and went outside. There I was armed with shaving cream and food coloring on a cookie sheet. Boy did she have fun. We discussed how it felt: fluffy and smooth at the beginning, gloppy and colorful when she started mixing in the colors (color recognition), then after a while it turned mushy, then even sticky after a while. In the process, we practiced drawing all the Letters, the numbers 1-10, and

some shapes. 

After a while, she got board with only using her fingers... and she went "ice skating" on the cookie sheet...

Oh yes, Now this was a FUN learning activity!

Now the shaving cream was slippery, and she had to use her full body to try and balance on it without falling over... this was an unexpected move, but I guess that's what I get for letting her play without restricting her. Full body involvement! 

Yay for gross motor skills!

Spring Surprises

Well, today Ryn noticed that the trees out front were changing. She saw something green on them, so we went and took a closer look. We decided that the green she saw was little leaves starting to grow. Then I put her up on my shoulders so she could get a closer look, and she started screaming with delight. "Look Mommy! I see a LADYBUG too!!!!!!!" So, we discovered that Spring not only brings new leaves, but new animals too... I can't wait until she realizes that the tree is going to bloom as well, seeing as it's a "Bird Berry" tree. I plan on having her observe and draw all the changes this little gem of a tree goes through this year.

My Intent...

Well, I'm starting this blog to keep me in check with my self. Starting Monday, March 26, 2012, I am officially going to be homeschooling my soon to be 4 year old. Ryn is an astoundingly bright little girl who is just full of energy, and the desire to learn all that she can at every moment of her fun filled days. So far, we have purely learned through play, and exploration of this planet. Starting Monday, I have a new curriculum to start putting some order into her learning. We will be following a letter a week system, and fully exploring all aspects of it. Throughout the week, we will cover Language Arts, Music, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, and also include some form of Physical Education as well all based on the letter. WISH ME LUCK!