Word books

For a year or so now Cap and I have talked about putting up a "word wall". Anyone that's been or worked in a lower elementary classroom has probably seen one. The words are organized by their first letters and are sight words (high frequency words that are not phonetically easy to read) which become easily accessible once they're on the wall to encourage standard spelling and more fluid and independent writing (less of "how do you spell ____?") One of the nifty general education tools of the trade I learned about when I worked with El. Cap is familiar with many of these tools through his graduate coursework from way back when.

Well, tonight, I improvised. I plucked two old notebooks out of a basket and made each of the kids their own "word books". They've been writing and drawing their own comic books like mad lately (which is what they are doing right now) and there's no time like the present.


(click on the pic for a closer look)

Mummu sent them a kids' thesaurus today, another perfect learning and writing tool!

I love homeschooling. I love simply working with the kids on what is rocking their world and embedding my teaching into these interests to develop their skills. After dinner, on a Tuesday night, in summer.

I'm looking forward to sparking their curiosity and making connections with them via some of my own interests in the coming months like nature appreciation and study (I'm attempting to round up some friends for a "Second Saturday" series of family hikes), fitness and exercise (joining the Y still on my "to do" list, handwork (sewing, knitting, embroidery, appliqué --- Target has the basic Singer sewing machine on sale right now for $75), and the performing arts (Chinese acrobats, a Moomintroll puppet show, Dan Zanes' Holiday Hootenany, the Symphony Orchestra family subscription series...)

Life is good :-)