Week 26

As usual, Ethan got a routine worksheet to finish which include spelling, math, science, social study and Language Art. He did the Beestar.org math practices twice a week. He had to write Chinese everyday too.

We put aside the Dinosaur unit study this week. Since it is still during Chinese New Year, we did a dragon art this week. It is an easy art project..

Material:
A disposable cup. Cut into slit as show in picture for the mouth of the dragon. Put two black dot on each side of the cup for the eyes.

Cut a long strip of paper and decorated it as the dragon body. Cut a semicircle on the first part of the paper and paste it on the back of the cup.

Cut a small hole on the cup and slit a straw into it so that the kid can hold it as they are holding the dragon body.

Tape a stick ( we use the chopstick) on the dragon body so that the kid can hold it with another hand.











Evan is learning to write number 8. To my surprise, he can write it well. I taught him to write it as he is driving along the racing car track.



Learning number with stickers.
I wrote certain numbers on the papers. Evan put the stickers on each line according to the numbers written on the left side.




Natural is the best place to educate the kids. We like to walk around the condo area and enjoy the natural scene. We found there was a pile of white pebbles near the dumpster and on the other side of the pool. We decided to pick them up and put inside our aquarium. Before we do that, I let the boys observed the pebbles and compared them to the other rocks. Those pebbles are so smooth and white in color.

Estimation game:
I like to ask the boys some math questions whenever I got a chance. I asked them to estimate how many white pebbles in total. They both gave me some answers and started to count them all.
Ethan suggested to count them by tens.

Big Brother read to little brother

Ethan is reading a story book to Evan. I just love the way they sit on the sofa quietly and read the books together. Ethan can read book very well and he just feel proud that he can read a story to his little brother. But, sometimes, he read a bit fast and Evan has to ask me again what the story is about.

Week 25 Weekly Homeschool Report

This week we only have four "school" days. I let the boys off on Friday since Chinese New Year is on this weekend.
Ethan still has to finish all the regular school worksheets and complete his math practice online.

Next coming Monday is President Day to remember Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, the two great U.S president. The boys are reading a book about Abraham Lincoln and they made a log cabin out of the ice cream stick. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin, so, I let them made a cabin by using simple material. Ethan put an penny( Abe's face is on the penny) on the paper and made a sun out of it.





I bought a set of U.S President flash card and let them see who were Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

Another way to encourage Ethan to write is asking him to write an invitation cards to his friends. We are moving, so I let him invites his friends over for a playdate. He got to write his own invitation card and mail them to his friends. He was so excited to be able to put a stamps on the envelope and mailed them away.






Art time.
The boys had to use their imagination to put the white color on the black paper. They have to draw something out and let me guess what it is about.





Ethan told me he drew a cactus.






Evan told me he drew some kids playing snowballs.

What do you think?



I just love this book. It shows the boys they can use all kinds of material to make different kinds of faces.





Evan's face'





Ethan's face.

An easy Chinese New Year craft

First, I wrote a word 春, means spring, on a piece of red paper. Chinese New Year is the Spring Festival. Spring means all the life begins again and we are blessed to undergo the cold winter months. The boys have to cut along the words and paste it on the doors.

Week 24 Weekly homeschool report

This week is a bit busy weeks. Chinese New Year is coming, Valentines is coming and it happens this year both fall in same day , 2/14/2010. I let the boys read all kinds of books about both events and do some craft about it.

First, I wrote a word 春, means spring, on a piece of red paper. Chinese New Year is the Spring Festival. Spring means all the life begins again and we are blessed to undergo the cold winter months. The boys have to cut along the words and paste it on the doors.






This week, I started back my Chinese lesson with the boys. It has being a long time they do not write the Chinese words and Eric is starting to complain about it.. I mean nagging to me. I used the 弟 子 规 as a basic learning tool. This is a GUIDE TO A HAPPY LIFE. Di Zi Gui, in English, means standards for being a good student and child. It is the guide to a happy life. For thousand of years, this book contained the recommended standards for students. Even though they seem stringent by today’s standards, it is apparent that the people of that time felt it was important that the child should be well-disciplined and taught moral principles and virtues when still very young. They felt that without strict discipline and moral standards, a child would amount to nothing. Not knowing what it meant to be dutiful to parents and respectful to teachers, a child would grow up not listening to or respecting anyone.



The boys have to recite the books one section each week. To my surprise, they memorized them well and even Evan can recite it without problem. Ethan has to write the words each day and this help him to learn new words and practice to write it.


I start to teach Evan reading. He is a bit slow but I am not rushing him. I let him learn by his pace. Starfall.com is a good website to learn reading. We start the at-word story and he had to trace the words from the story. I make one myself to reinforce his understanding.








We still on the dino unit study. Our wall is getting more dinos on it because each day they are learning one dino.



Ethan has to write a report about a particular dinosaur as show below.





Evan just do some worksheet relating to dino from the learningpage.com.






We are doing some fossil experiments too. I got a bag of plaster and some sand from outdoor. The boys prepare the sand and put it inside the used milk carton. They put their foot inside to make a deep footprints. They stir the plaster with some water and pour it into the footprints. After one hour, it dried up. They then took the dried footprint out and brush it. This is what a paleontologist did once they discovered a new fossil.












Evan is learning to trace.