Update on Chickens and Summer Learning

I feel like I have written about this before, but I cannot find the post. I recently got a few "School Supplies" online for Sam. For starters, I got a large pack of Expo makers. Sam and Jessie like all the different colors because they can be more creative. It also helps to color code when we do math problems. She is a visual learner. I also got her an inflatable globe. (Mostly for the free shipping, but also because she has shown a big interest in Geography lately.)

The last thing I got her was the big thing. It is a game called Smath. It is like Scrabble, but with Math. I wanted to get her math board game that would grow with her, but I thought she might be a little young for it right now since it is 6+. I went ahead and ordered it, and am pleased to say she LOVES it! It goes all the way from simple addition and subtraction, to multiplication and division, or longer sentences such as 5+(2x1)-6= (Or even longer sentences if you want.) Right now she needs a little assistance because she can't just look at her numbers and see a math problem, but she will get there. Until then, she really likes picking out the numbers as we go over a problem together, and finding a place to put it.

On another note, our chickens are getting HUGE-fast! We recently were able to find out the sex of each one. We have two Hens and one Rooster. Works PERFECT! Now we won't have any territory issues, except maybe with the Dad who still wonders around our property.

I am able to let them out to wonder all day now. They know to come back by bed time. And they know bed time! No kidding. Around 8:30/9:00 o'clock every night, they walk/fly up the back porch stairs and chirp and peck on the door until I come and put them in their pen. One night we came back after 9:00 o'clock and we found them hidden in a little hole behind their pen chirping away.

They are by far the best pets for us. They let us hold and pet them, but they also don't need a whole lot of attention because they have each other. They are easy to take care of since they do their business outside and they feed themselves (grass, bugs, etc.) All we HAVE to do is water them and make sure they are in their pen at night. Plus, it is a good educational experience for Sam and we get free range eggs!

This Summer we plan to keep on keeping on. We have been working daily on our Math. Every morning I have a math problem and word written on Sam's board, and she solves the problem and reads the word. Today was 3+1= _ and Mood (She wanted another word, so I also gave her Cope, Boat, and Tag.) She read all the words. She has been learning about the "Rules," using the songs on starfall.com to remember them, so she just says the rhyme, which I sometimes underline the letters to remind her, and then she says the word.

We also are continuing to go over the date and such. But on top of that, we have been doing fun Summer activities. We just went camping and to the beach. Sam learned so much through her play. We saw a huge turtle, experimented with water, experimented with sand, built castles, fished, etc. We have put our formal unit studies on hold for now because there is so much to be learned in the prettier months without unit studies, between board games and writing math problems and words on the marker board outside in the driveway (Most days we spread a blanket out in the driveway and brings tons of games and writing materials in the driveway and stay outside all day.), reading under the trees in the yard, playing with the chickens, working in the garden, finding worms in the dirt, watching birds build their nests-taking in the abundance of life around us...I'd say we have other things to focus on. And if there is something that truly takes Sam's interest, like Gymnastics has lately, then we will find time for it, just in a less formal way. Luckily we can do gymnastics outside. Sam has checked out several books from the library about Gymnastics. She practices for at least an hour a day. And when we go outside she makes sure to try out her cartwheels, hand stands, and rolls.

And in just two months, we will be signing Sam up with all her new groups and preparing her for a new way of doing things. But enough about that, because I will go on all day.

Expo Markers

Globe

Smath

Playing Smath

Chickens: So tiny when we brought them in.

Hen

Chickens On The Stairs

Rooster

The Rooster likes to play with the Chicks sometimes-and peck at them.

Funny Face