Sonlight Moments: Our Final Moments with Core P 4/5


I was planning to update our progress with Sonlight as we went, but we have moved through Core P4/5 so quickly and life has been so full that I didn't make time to blog much last month. S

Weeks 13-18 

We have been in the middle of soccer season, so I didn't do as many hands on activities and we haven't rowed as many books, but we are still enjoying our learning time together!  I have especially enjoyed all the cuddles on the couch and hearing the little ones ask me to read Sonlight!

I received my Core A and it looks fabulous! I am very excited. It is quite a jump from Core P4/5, so I am glad that we are moving at an accelerated pace. I hope it will better prepare us for the amount of reading in Core A. I think I will be doing one days reading in one day! And I am already nervous about how I will combine it with FIAR. I was planning on rowing 12 books, but am already thinking of shortening that to 6 books and row those over the summer or during breaks. I am really in no hurry to get through the books, don't want to burn out, and want to always keep that love for learning. Plus, it will give Eliana time to mature and get more out of our rows.  

This "6 Weeks" of Sonlight took us 2 weeks to complete.  We rowed part of Make Way For Ducklings the second week and rowed it into the next week.

Highlights:
  • Still enjoying Uncle Wiggily's Story Book (this is Malachi's favorite)
  • kids love to play I-spy with First Thousand Words and Things People Do. 
  • we finished community themes  (T.V. Producer, Vet, Ballet Dancer, and Banilla Festival)
  • started several new books: The Year At Maple Hill Farm, American Tall Tales CD, What's Under the Sea? and Brer Rabbit.
  • LOVED The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit! We weren't scheduled to finish it until much later in the Core, but both kids begged me to finish it! 
  • taking our school to the park! 

4.11.12
Loving the nice weather! 
Week 13: April 8th

Our song this week was "Old MacDonald Had a Farm. . ."

And on his farm, he had a chicken. . .

A few ideas I used for the song:

What if Old MacDonald had a zoo? A pet store? lived in the woods? On a lake? In the desert? Sing the song again using their responses.

"What would Old MacDonald feed his animals?

Community theme: What might Old MacDonald do if he owned a gas station? A bakery? A book store? We talked about the businesses in our neighborhood.

How did Old MacDonald get around on his farm? How did he go to town? What types of farm equipment did he ride on? "Old MacDonald rode a tractor," or " Old MacDonald drove a pickup truck."

We didn't visit a farm, but we have been having so much fun watching Bo chase our chickens around the yard trying to pick them up. I think he is the happiest when he is outside. Eliana has a favorite chicken and she catches her for Bo to pet. I almost got new chicks this spring - even got the chick cage out to get ready for them. But our hens are so friendly, never peck each other and are healthy and happy as can be, so I couldn't do it. They must have overheard me complaining about egg production because the next day we were at full egg production!

Week 14: April 12th

Week 15: April 16th

For Science this week, we learned about jet power and we finished Berenstain Bears Book of Science and Nature. (This is one I could read all over again!)



I was going to do more with jet power, but then noticed that it is repeated again in Core A, so I did what was easiest. (I'm really loving the freedom to not feel like I have to do more during this very busy season of our lives.)

Our song this week was "If You're Happy and You Know It." We went through most of the verses and did the "I Feel. . . " page from the Feelings Tot Pack. 

Week 16:  April 17th

We read The Year At Maple Hill Farm for Science (calendar, months of the year, seasons) in one sitting. It was a nice review of the first part of Berenstain Bears.

For an activity for "Buried Treasure," we planted lettuce seeds in our garden. In the story, a lazy son is tricked into cultivating a field while looking for a buried treasure.  A crop of lettuce is sold for the "treasure" and he learns the value of work.

Week 17: April 19th

Eliana finished Get Set for the Code! (Book B)

Week 18: April 20th

We started reading Stories from Africa (and love it!). Malachi loves it too and requests it to be read first, but I mostly go in order. :)   I am really sticking to the schedule, but reading a week's worth in each book, working my way down the schedule. (I love using the schedule, though, because it keeps me accountable! I don't think we would read as much without it).

I'm not really enjoying The Childs Book of Art, but I read the captions and ask the kids which painting they like best and then talk about why they like it.

Weeks 19-24

Another "6 weeks" have flown by! These "6 weeks" took us a little less than two weeks to complete.

Highlights: 

  • We started reading The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook. This is a first for Malachi, but my second time reading it to Eliana. I am surprised at how much Malachi likes it - he pleads for not just one more chapter, but two, ha ha.  When we got to this book I thought for sure we would have to slow down, but we have been reading 2-3 chapters in one sitting and have actually read ahead several weeks. It is a sweet story. 
  • We read two more new books. Some of the books are spread out over the year, so it is a treat to see a brand new book. We read Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? for Science and they liked that one. For World Cultures, we read The God's Must Be Angry and it was very similar to stories in Africa ~ a good one.  
  • I started reading ahead in some of the books that we read a very short amount in (sometimes only a line or two or a paragraph) as they seem to be dragging out. We finished Eric Carle's Animals Animals and A Child's Book of Art (the later is not my favorite and I just wanted to be done with it). We also finished Dr. Suess' ABC's. We've only read ahead a couple weeks in A Treasure of Mother Goose Rhymes (also very short readings), but I plan to finish this book up soon as well. 
  • I ordered the Betsy-Tacy Treasury to replace the folk tales in The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book and Stories Around the World and to give us a little more reading. We are moving through the Core too quickly and this might help slow us down. We'll continue to read ahead in Milly Molly Mandy and then add in Betsy-Tacy to read through the end of the Core. 

P4/5 Week 19: April 26th


Song: Ants Go Marching Two by Two ~ made Ants on a Log and fingerprint ants.

This page is from my family album. 

American Tall Tales: Fastest Draw in the West (and made up alliteration names)
Readiness: Started Go for the Code Book C and started Developing the Early Learner Book 3 
Math: Eliana worked in Singapore Earlybird Book B and Malachi finished his Singapore 1B math. He asked if he could do Life of Fred Cats now.  
World Cultures: Stories from Africa continues. Luke read two stories and he likes it, too. 
Science:  Finished "What's Under the Sea?"

P4/5 Week 20: April 29th

Luke was reading the Family-Time Bible with the kids and there was a lot of commotion going on in the living room. I thought he was doing his own thing (he does all sorts of crazy things with the kids), but later realized he was doing a suggested activity from the manual!  They were acting out the story of Jonah after reading "Jonah Runs Away." They were running around, hiding under a blanket and then gave God's message to "Nineva."

P4/5 Week 21: April 30th {Rowing Follow the Drinking Gourd}

Our song this week is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." We will be doing some star activities for Follow the Drinking Gourd soon.

We had a good discussion about praying after reading Daniel and the Lion's Den.

P4/5 Week 22: May 6th

P4/5 Week 23 and 24: May 7th

I'm getting a lot of reading in with the kids because I have been tired (running kids to soccer games, staying up late planning for school next year, organizing books and shelves). It is nice to feel accomplished when I don't have the energy to do much else. We did row Follow the Drinking Gourd, but I spread the activities over two weeks (3 days one week, 2 the next). I kept the row simple again and will the next one too, and then I will be done with Volume 2 and will take a break. 


Weeks 25-30


Highlights:

Week 25: May 8th
Week 26: May 9th

I printed and laminated the Five Speckled Frogs Printable to go along with Five Little Speckled Frogs song that is scheduled. 

Week 27: May 12th
Week 28: May 14th
Week 29: May 15th
Week 30: May 15th ~ started Betsy Tacy this week.

Weeks 31-36




Malachi is plugging away on his LA1. He has completed the first 12 weeks. He averaged 3 a week for 4 weeks (having taken the last week off). I give him a hour of computer time for completing one week of LA, so he is largely motivated by that (and the fact that it is easy enough for him to do).

Some of the overlapping of dates listed in my post is because we had read ahead in many of the books so we are moving through the week's reading much quicker now.

Still fun to read a new book. We recently read: How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World (neat book!), Why Do Tigers Have Stripes? The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit, and New Toes for Tia.

I fit in our last row of the school year All Those Secrets of the World in here somewhere!

Week 31: May 20th
Week 32: May 20th
Week 33: May 23rd
{Memorial Day weekend/Pentecost/Trip to Montana}
Week 34: May 30th ~ finished Betsy Tacy.
Week 35: June 2nd
Week 36: June 4th All done!

I didn't take as many notes the last 12 weeks of the Core, and we did not do any extras - just the readings. And we are on Week 29 in Developing the Early Learner, but we will work on that over the summer. Somewhere in all this, Malachi finished Life of Fred Cats and Eliana is still working in ETC primer Book C.

My husband noticed that we were moving through the Core quickly and asked what we were going to do when we were finished. . . hmm, good question! I think we will finish the 3 other books in the Betsy Tacy Treasury for starters. There are some other chapter books that were suggested on the Sonlight Forums that I have my eye on, as well: Thornton Burgess Bedtime Stories: Includes Read-and-Listen CDs and The Teddy Robinson Storybook. (If I do this Core with Boaz, I will add these in instead of Lion Storyteller and Stories Around the World).

We've enjoyed this core very much! and I've never read to the kids this much before! It has become a special time at bedtime, especially, and we'll often read for an hour or longer.  The kids wouldn't mind a bit if I let them have their "box" day with Core A. . . but I want to slow down and enjoy the summer without a schedule. :)

This is my final update for this core. See my previous updates below!

Update #1 Introduction to Core P4/5
Update #2 Songs and Fingerplays & Community Theme

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