A special kind of word...

It took Zack forever to get dressed this morning, for Katie to pick up Barbies downstairs and for me to make any decision about what we should be doing today.

The only thing we got done this morning was to talk about the branches of government and the parts of the Constitution, which were highlighted in the kids section of the Sunday newspaper this week. Sept 17 is Constitution Day and there's a community picnic to celebrate, so I thought they should at least know a bit about what it is.

Eventually, we got to work around 3pm with some nouns and verbs. They have been itching to get at the window markers (thanks grandma!) so I had them write as many persons, places and things they could think of on the diningroom window and then some action words on another smaller window.



We had fun and it's clear they basically know what we're talking about but need to work on spelling BIG time. Schoolhouse Rock pays off! (I also can recite the preamble because of those Saturday ditties--and now you can too, if this link works: http://www.school-house-rock.com/wav/prea.wav)

Zack and I then spent about an hour playing SET, a game where you have to pick sets that have 4 aspects in common or different. You really have to see it to get it. Great for Zack to take in each aspect one at a time instead of trying to grasp all the info at once. Also works on what makes a set etc. for math.

Meanwhile, Katie played the 2nd grade math program and finished the telling time section pretty quickly. I'm noticing she does much better if I'm not right next to her, she second guesses herself and asks me for the answers all the time. I originally thought she just didn't understand how to do the problems, but it turns out that she does fine if there's no one to check in with. Interesting.

I'm also concerned that Katie is still writing her b,p and ds backwards and that she can't tell the difference BTW 60 and 06. We all need to get our eyes checked, so I'll mention this when we do.

Katie had to assure her friend Mai that we hadn't moved away and that she could still come over to play, so hopefully that will materialize soon.

Tomorrow we're off to our first homeschool event, Park Day with the NOVA Unschoolers. It's their Not Back To School potluck and book swap and I'm crossing my fingers that there will be some kids Kate and Zack's age and that I connect with a few of the parents too.

Will keep you posted.