Today's Lesson is...

We took Tuesday off to go pick up a dryer. For about two weeks, we were without a dryer. Three kids, a husband who uses a different towel every time he gets in the shower and has only three pairs of work pants currently in rotation and no dryer...my idea of roughing it. What did you do???? you may be asking? Well, it has been so cold, that hanging the clothes out was simply not an option. So, I had every availiable piece of furniture, shower rod, curtain rod, you name it, draped with clothes and busted out the oscillating fans that were in hibernation from the summer. Snow outside, and fans going on in the house...crazy. Hubby said we could manage a little while like that, but then changed his mind when I had to steam iron his pants because the legs wouldn't bend. So, we saw no other option but to get another dryer. Jack was, of course, right by his Daddy's side to lend moral support and the occasional screwdriver.

Today, we picked back up on school. We read our story from Among The Farmyard People called "The Duckling That Needed Something to Do." We learned all about ducks and their babies and the moral of the story was that if you don't have anything to do, help someone. We watched a video of a duckling hatching. The kids thought that was really neat. Lillie did another story page with a picture of a baby duck for some extra added writing practice. I hold her hand while she does these but only to correct. She's pretty good with the movements, enough that I know she's getting it. These animal pages are going in a folder for future reference.
Lillie did another time telling worksheet, this time having to draw in the hands on the clock to represent the correct time.
She practiced writing her upper and lowercase 'a' and tracing triangles and then drawing some independently.
We read the story of Ruth for our bible time and Lillie made a TP roll figure of Ruth gleaning wheat. I printed out a cow cut and paste craft for Jack ...
He took a bit of artistic license and made the boy cow into a girl cow.
I heard Anna tell him, "Hey, Jack! Those are udders. That's how you get milk!"
Lillie started her short 'e' blends today and will begin reading the 2nd Starfall Reader "Peg the Hen".
Charlotte Mason did not recommend narration until the age of six, I believe. So, I was at a loss for how to see if Lillie was actually listening when I read the stories. I'd ask her questions, but she'd stumble around until I told her the answer. So, I printed up a game board and we played review, her against Jackson. Jackson would spin and have to answer questions about letters, numbers, letter sounds,shapes, and colors in order to move on the board. Lillie Anna's questions ranged from working addition problems and reading sentences from her reader to questions covering the material from all the stories we read. Each day, I add the questions for the material covered. Nothing like a little competition to motivate. Lillie Anna got every question dead on right. So, this is how I'm going to "test". It's alot more fun for us all.