As a treat last week Adela and I went to the Museum of Life and Science. We had a great time – Adela chose to spend time at the fossil dig, in the butterfly house, and a quick look through the farmyard. She was very excited to see a butterfly release and even got to ‘hold’ one during the release. Apparently it tickled. We go there often enough that we do a part at a time. It was very quiet there that day and a nice cool day.
Sorry about the break in reporting for a few weeks, but I’ll be back on task next week. Look for posts such as:
Hop like a Quokka
Fossils & Butterflies
Fall Fun
and possibly… Rice Paddy Party
Adela had a chance to have a creature moment when we found a baby raccoon caught in the bottom of our trash dumpster. It was very cute but Adela reviewed her wild animal protocols – no touching without permission even if it is cute and furry! Daddy tipped the dumpster over and we were able to see it come out and immediately climb 30 feet up our pear tree.
Adela was reading one of her Mr Putter books with her Daddy. When she got to the last page it said:
Mr Putter went home with his present, a toaster that sang “America the Beautiful” when the toast popped up.
Adela turned to daddy and asked what song was America the Beautiful When The Toast Popped Up.
Just wanted to share Adela’s story with you. I am very proud of her because writing is not her strongest area because she is very stubborn about writing without help. I will admit I did prompt her with sounding out words that she didn’t know. She is very imaginative and is very creative but putting that to paper is a fight without just writing it for her. She wrote it in her notebook and then copied it to story paper – I noticed she left out her “in” in the last sentence. By the way the top line is the title of her story.
As I had mentioned it in a previous post and I had no other inspiration today, I thought I would write a quick note about our curriculum choice for this year. Last year for kindergarten I attempted to use a prepared curriculum that was very experiential (think Montessori). Needless to say that wasn’t a good fit for Adela or I. It wasn’t so much the activities or philosophy it was the lack of a easy to follow plan. We ended up creating our own curriculum from materials and such we had on hand. We wanted for her first grade experience to be a bit more formal as in second grade we will be required to start providing documentation to the state. Anyway Steven and I went to the NC homeschooling conference earlier this summer and browsed through many different choices. We ended up deciding on a curriculum that is completely planned out that I can just add to as I want to. So far it has been great and I love that all the textbooks and materials come with it. Anyway boring post is now over.
Adela is very excited about us expecting some babies.
ha ha – just veggie babies 
And here is the main section of our garden (However eggplant and sweet potatoes are grown in the bed next to this). This bed grows tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, and cantaloupes. We grow all our vine veggies as climbing vines to save on space. They do great -you’d be surprised the size of watermelons you can get five feet in the air (that is a mass of watermelon and cantaloupe vines on the right). The entire left side of this photo is the tomato section and it is one humongous plant (about the size of a refrigerator!)
Just relaying what I thought was a cute Adela story.
The other day Adela and I had finished her school work and we were working on a jigsaw puzzle together. We were waiting for her aide to come for the afternoon. Adela was looking morose and for some reason (must be my mother’s intuition) I asked “Do you like spending time with Ms. B more than with mommy?” Adela looked at me and said “I didn’t want to tell you, because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.” And here we were thinking we weren’t teaching her to be polite and thoughtful (not that it couldn’t use more work). Adela climb up in my lap and cuddled me…instead of being hurt I just thought it was the cutest thing. She and I talked about when she is with mommy it is when we have to do the work, errands and un-fun stuff and when Ms B is here she can play and have fun and do all the things she wants to. So of course it is ok to like that better. Of course Adela is usually the child that can’t stand not having mommy so this was in complete opposition to her usual attitude.
Here are the hotly anticipated back to school photos you have been waiting to see. And by you I’m probably talking to the grandparents. Every one else just enjoy the usual cuteness. Today was our first day back to school. Last year we dabbled our toes in a home-schooled Kindergarten designed by yours truly. However this year we are using a well established fully planned curriculum (more about that later). We chose to start with a First Grade curriculum even though Adela has a higher academic understanding to acclimate her to the concept of extended schoolwork/multiple subjects. I have a feeling we will be flying through this by Christmas time and possibly doubling up lessons. We will move onto second grade as soon as she finishes - I have a feeling if we continue to home school she will be working well above her age level. However I will have that independently verified when the time comes.
Now for some fabulous pictures.
Adela’s first view of her redecorated classroom.
Schultüte
Steven and I wanted to do something for Adela’s special day.
So we borrowed a lovely German tradition of giving a child a schultüte on their first day of first grade.
Adela’s schultüte contained watercolors, pencils, a tiny Lego set, some books, a school hello kitty, and a few other small things.
Adela is currently obsessed with the Cam Jansen series.
In her schultüte she received a Young Cam Jansen book (a beginning second grade level book).
She also likes the original series (third grade level).
Her reading skills are amazing and we are working on bringing her comprehension (and ability to share) to the same level.
Thanks for Looking
PS – Did anyone notice the Hello Kitty obsession?
It is surprising the lengths I will go to to stay out of the unbearable heat/humidity such as writing on this blog. Just kidding. The end of summer (starting early in my mind) has always been more of a time of resolutions and life changes for me than any New Years. It must be the teacher in me. Anyway, on that note with all the changes going on around here at home I thought that it might be nice to post Adela and family happenings here. I am going to try to regularly add posts/pictures on here and if I can figure out how to do this from my iPhone I will be even happier (more streamlined I think). Anyway here’s a glass of sweet tea raised to “many more” ~ Ali