Break

Our break is over.

We had a fantastic time.

The race.

Grand Canyon.

Sea Life

Butterfly Wonderland

Swimming

It was great to get away and enjoy warm weather and family time.

Moments of the Week

Nate heading our for his last game.

The end of the hockey season.

Getting ready for Spring Break

Very sad dogs watching me pack.

Blue Belted

Nate made his next belt recently.  Today was the presentation.

Nate's dojo nickname is Dogg because of the face he makes when he tries to look tough.

Nate hated it at first, but then he would just make the face when he heard it, and Guro Ben said he wouldn't take it back. 

I am very proud of what he has learned and the success he has had with martial arts.

Today he got his own set of sticks.
They are pretty awesome!

Adventure in Nature

Yesterday was our Wind Cave, Adventures in Nature field trip.

Last time I was given a tip on getting to the park from a ranger.

I was a little nervous, but I tried it, and it made my day!

It was eight miles on this winding dirt road and beyond saving lots of time, it was a beautiful drive!

We saw some turkeys and a magpie, and in the park the buffalo were out near the road!

This week the kids learned about prey, especially the prairie dog.

This was one great perk of these classes.

As a homeschooler of one I could never make a food web like this.

I am so happy he got to be part of a food web.

I think it is such a great visual!

This is Ranger Lenny.  He answers all of my questions even though I am not one of the kids.

There is always a hike, and this week we drove to a prairie dog town for our hike.

Now here is where homeschooling gets funny to me.

While we were waiting I decided to ask Ranger Lindsey a question. 

This is not uncommon.  

I often ask them lots of questions because I am still new to the prairie. 

And some things are really interesting to me.  

Anyhow, I was reading at the visitor's center that they were introducing the black footed ferret into Wind Cave and one of the reasons was because the prairie dog population doesn't have the plague.  I thought that was interesting because the population at Badlands does, there are signs everywhere warning people.  So I asked her, and she answered and Nate never said a word, I thought he was standing far enough away that he hadn't even heard.  He didn't say a thing.

Then the hike begins, and everyone starts walking, everyone but Nate. I'm telling him hurry up, lets go.  He looks really worried about something, and I thought it was just caution that he didn't step in a hole.  But I was actually pulling him to make him move faster.  I am totally baffled.  By the time the hike is over I was super frustrated and just ready to eat lunch and go.  On the way to the car I asked Nate why he was being so weird, and he says, "Mom! I don't want to get the plague!" 

I was totally confused, then realized he must have heard me asking the ranger, but obviously didn't hear the part about this park not having it.

Months ago,  right after Christmas break, we learned about Black Death... or the plague.  I had never heard about it, and was totally fascinated!  Nate gave no sign that he cared or was planning to remember a single word I said.  Apparently he did.  That kid is so strange!

Some things stick.... I just never know which things will!

Lunch cured my hanger, and the drive home soothed my nerves.  

It is so dang pretty on this prairie.

As much as I love the woods back home and the lakes....

Prairie landscapes are incredible, and I can't get over their beauty.

Moments

The weather has been nice.

Another trip to the dog park.

The girls are getting used to it. 

Nate finished this workbook this week.

We watched Zootopia on Thursday night, it was a great movie!

Another huge moment this week was not photographed, but I must tell you about it.

Our spelling curriculum is called Spelling U See.  It runs off a totally different method than the traditional spelling list and test.  Spelling lists and tests were not fun in first grade, but I have been doubting this new method too.

Each day I read Nate a little passage about an animal.  Then we read it aloud together, and he points to each word as we read.  Then we go through it, highlighting different chunks...

consonant chunks, vowel chunks, bossy R chunks, silent Es, and sometimes tricky Y guy.

We do this each day for a week on each little animal passage.  Lots of repetition.  There is also copywork each day, except Friday.  On Friday we do dictation, I read the passage and Nate writes it on his own.  

It is not a test!  He is allowed to ask for help, and we work out tricky situations together(usually c,k or ck!)  I tell him when to capitalize things, and when to put in punctuation. It is timed though, the goal is do as much as you can in ten minutes, but no pressure.  After ten minutes, it's over no matter what. 

In the beginning of the year we maybe got one or two sentences down, with maybe a dozen words right.  I was doubting that this would work.  He seemed to dislike it, but much less than spelling lists and tests.  I had discussed with Dave several times about pulling it, and ordering a regular spelling curriculum.  Slowly though,  he started getting fifteen, twenty, twenty-five words right as the weeks went on.

But today!  Today I got to see the confidence he has been building!  He got through all of the sentences this week for the first time! The timer went off and he was just writing the last word!  And he spelled all of them correctly and only had to ask on a few tricky rule breaking words!  Thirty nine correct words!  He shouted with celebration!  Seriously, I have never seen him like that!  He was so proud!  I could not have been happier for him. 

If you read this blog, you know I am not a great speller.  I am fantastic at memorizing things, but spelling has always been frustrating for me.  As we go through this curriculum I am learning that spelling rules are ALWAYS being broken and it's a real mess, so I have cut myself some slack.  I wonder though, if I had been taught like this.......