MFW 1st grade: Back to school

Getting back in the swing of things after the New Year didn't come easy for Boo. It seems that no part of school is coming easy for Boo lately though. She is trying really hard, but school is hard for her. We're still moving at half speed with 1st grade, taking two weeks to finish one. This week we did the first half of week 12.

Even though it's been difficult for her, Boo was still really proud to have finally reached this week where she begins her Bible reader and notebook. She's been waiting all year and learning all these phonics sounds. Now it's time to start reading her own book. We used flash cards to practice all of the words on the first page for a couple days before attempting to read it. By the end of the week we made it to the second page and she's doing much better at reading the words than at the start of the week.

The way this will work for the remainder of the year is this: I will read her a short bible story, she tells it back to me, reads a shortened version in her Bible reader, then writes a sentence about the story and draws a picture in her keepsake notebook. The notebook was my favorite part of 1st grade with Sis. We still go back to read it and look at her drawings sometimes. It ends up being such a sweet keepsake at the end of the year. Boo was so excited to begin hers. This week the sentence was done for us, but we colored half the page black to represent the light and darkness. Over the next few weeks we will add to this same picture as we read through the creation story.

 We will also continue to work on phonics and learn new sounds weekly. This week we worked on the /oo/ sound and learned the difference between the sounds in "spoon" and "book." Boo had to write a bunch of /oo/ words, cut them out, and then place them in the correct envelope.

 

 Math is another area where Boo has been having a really hard time. After much frustration I've decided to switch from MathUSee to the MFW suggested workbook "The Complete Book of Math." We will be trying the activities scheduled in the MFW manual to see if it's easier for her. I'm learning quickly that what's perfect for one child may be all wrong for the next. MUS was wonderful for Sis, but it's not been a good fit for Boo this year. We will be starting our new book next week. We've also put a hold on science for now, because reading and math take us so long right now.

For art Boo and Baby Bear learned how to draw fish. I'm surprised that Baby Bear will actually sit and even attempt to follow the drawing instructions. She not too bad for a just turned 3 year old.

Another fun extra thing we did this week was make our own homemade scented markers! This was messy, but a lot of fun. We took turns choosing the colors and fragrances, mixed up the solutions and used our little marker machine to put them all together. The girls had fun coloring pictures afterward with the markers they made themselves!