Homeschooling, foraging, canning..oh so busy here!
Wow, ever since we worked through some issues last week, school has been going great. We are both happy, relaxed, and most importantly, we are having lots of fun.
Spelling words for this week are just a review. For the beginning of the year we will be hitting all the mastery words. So far she hasn't had a problem with any, so it is super quick....
he can cave
let car
say cut
see came
In math this week we are making sure that she has a firm mastery of facts even though she is working on much high level math. So we have worked on what makes 10 this week. Along with reviewing counting by 2's, basic geometry, etc. Pretty quick lessons, but we are easing in to school right now, so it works.
For reading, I just received from my wonderful mom the books used in there 2nd grade classes. We will be quickly working our way through them, focusing on anything we have not covered. I believe we will be into the 3rd grade books in just a few months. But it feels good being able to see any gaps in her knowledge since I know she is reading on a 6th grade level with 4th grade+ comprehension, well and sitting through a 2nd grade lesson would be tedious for her.
History- we are finishing up our unit on prehistory- on nomadic people and their lives and are moving on to the first settlements and study of the fertile crescent.
Science- We are studying the layers of the earth and their make up and will be moving onto volcanoes and the rocks and minerals soon. So excited. A pointed out a cinder cone volcano from our window today. Yep, we can see one from our living room...thankfully it is not the active one on the island. That one can not be seen from here, except for its smoke on a clear day if it is acting up. Today we read "The Magic School Bus, Inside the Earth" and tomorrow we are making play-doh earths and drawing them in our science journals.
My wonderful mom also sent me the 2nd grade language arts/grammar curriculum and we will be working our way through that book.
Tonight we went out and caught a few salmon, picked some berries, and had a campfire at the beach and enjoyed the sunset. Dh cooked over the fire in a cast iron skillet and it was delicious. Its nice to know he can do that, and as A said "If the world came to and end as we know it, like a giant tsunami, we would survive because dad could kill animals and cook for us over a fire." The we listened to 30 mins of her explaining how we would be "survivors" and he detailed plans that involved everything from how to keep the fire going when the weather was bad, to what we would eat for food, how we would build shelter, and how we would stay warm and make clothes. I have to say she had some pretty amazing and resourceful ideas, and I for one would definitely want to be stranded with her here if something happened because her ideas would probably be the ones to keep us alive! LOL.
The rest of this week is going to be busy. DH has taken a much need few days off and will be home, but we are still doing school since he is going fishing in the mornings and sleeping late if he can. By lunch though we are done and it will be nice to have him home. I have SO much I need to do this week. The salmonberries are in and we have been busy picking them, but I need to finish putting them up. I hvae made 2 batches of salmonberry jam. I need to can some plain juice to add to lemonades, seltzers, and to make salmonberry pie with. I also plan on making some salmonberry syrup and canning it. I have fireweed juice frozen, that I made a few weeks ago that I need to make into fireweed jelly and can as well. And I would like to make fireweed honey and can it. That all needs to be done in the next 2 weeks before the blueberries start coming out and I get busy with those, the crowberries, and the cranberries. A loves hot tea and we picked a jar full of wild chamomile last week and dried it. We need to go gather more before the first frost comes so we have enough to last through the winter. This foraging stuff is so fun! So hopefully tomorrow afternoon will be pretty and DH and A can get out and play and I can get busy in the kitchen!
As for now, I am off to bed! Good night all.
Spelling words for this week are just a review. For the beginning of the year we will be hitting all the mastery words. So far she hasn't had a problem with any, so it is super quick....
he can cave
let car
say cut
see came
In math this week we are making sure that she has a firm mastery of facts even though she is working on much high level math. So we have worked on what makes 10 this week. Along with reviewing counting by 2's, basic geometry, etc. Pretty quick lessons, but we are easing in to school right now, so it works.
For reading, I just received from my wonderful mom the books used in there 2nd grade classes. We will be quickly working our way through them, focusing on anything we have not covered. I believe we will be into the 3rd grade books in just a few months. But it feels good being able to see any gaps in her knowledge since I know she is reading on a 6th grade level with 4th grade+ comprehension, well and sitting through a 2nd grade lesson would be tedious for her.
History- we are finishing up our unit on prehistory- on nomadic people and their lives and are moving on to the first settlements and study of the fertile crescent.
Science- We are studying the layers of the earth and their make up and will be moving onto volcanoes and the rocks and minerals soon. So excited. A pointed out a cinder cone volcano from our window today. Yep, we can see one from our living room...thankfully it is not the active one on the island. That one can not be seen from here, except for its smoke on a clear day if it is acting up. Today we read "The Magic School Bus, Inside the Earth" and tomorrow we are making play-doh earths and drawing them in our science journals.
My wonderful mom also sent me the 2nd grade language arts/grammar curriculum and we will be working our way through that book.
Tonight we went out and caught a few salmon, picked some berries, and had a campfire at the beach and enjoyed the sunset. Dh cooked over the fire in a cast iron skillet and it was delicious. Its nice to know he can do that, and as A said "If the world came to and end as we know it, like a giant tsunami, we would survive because dad could kill animals and cook for us over a fire." The we listened to 30 mins of her explaining how we would be "survivors" and he detailed plans that involved everything from how to keep the fire going when the weather was bad, to what we would eat for food, how we would build shelter, and how we would stay warm and make clothes. I have to say she had some pretty amazing and resourceful ideas, and I for one would definitely want to be stranded with her here if something happened because her ideas would probably be the ones to keep us alive! LOL.
The rest of this week is going to be busy. DH has taken a much need few days off and will be home, but we are still doing school since he is going fishing in the mornings and sleeping late if he can. By lunch though we are done and it will be nice to have him home. I have SO much I need to do this week. The salmonberries are in and we have been busy picking them, but I need to finish putting them up. I hvae made 2 batches of salmonberry jam. I need to can some plain juice to add to lemonades, seltzers, and to make salmonberry pie with. I also plan on making some salmonberry syrup and canning it. I have fireweed juice frozen, that I made a few weeks ago that I need to make into fireweed jelly and can as well. And I would like to make fireweed honey and can it. That all needs to be done in the next 2 weeks before the blueberries start coming out and I get busy with those, the crowberries, and the cranberries. A loves hot tea and we picked a jar full of wild chamomile last week and dried it. We need to go gather more before the first frost comes so we have enough to last through the winter. This foraging stuff is so fun! So hopefully tomorrow afternoon will be pretty and DH and A can get out and play and I can get busy in the kitchen!
As for now, I am off to bed! Good night all.
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