| Mount Vernon Homeschoolers |
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April 4, 2004 Newsletter #43 Editor: Suzanne |
Happy EasterSpring is lovely. The cherry trees in our neighborhood are blooming. The maple tree is beautiful. The daffodils in the yard are wonderful and the drive through Alexandria on the parkway is not to be missed. It will be time to dig in the dirt, plant flowers and make some worm gardens and compost some black gold. We all like to plant some flowers and put them outside. We have experienced a cold spring and we are behind in the seed growing this year.On Friday, April 2, Alex had surgery. We will take a spring break for him to heal and keep him inside for about a week. We'll be out and about when he is comfortable. Everything went well, but we have to keep him quiet. So, I told him to stop dancing and made him watch videos. He chose a really bad one and Mom suggested Cat and the Hat. So, he was offended and decided he would be willing to have more surgery if he got cokes, movies and siblings to do dishes. He is lapping this up. |
Reading CircleEvery single day, stop and read together. Pick up two of three of the same book and read together. Read aloud. Gather the whole family together and read a book together. The teens are reading the newspaper and the boys are reading the comic pages.We are re-reading some of the books we have written in the past and creating new ones. Kathy joined us to do Mad Libs from Sponge Bob books because they are funny letters and she could share what she knows about silly stories. They have always been a favorite of hers and she is quite grown up now. Running Family news
Our whole family is challenged to run at least once a day. Turn off
television and go walking or running. Increase your run until you can
go a mile. It will be fun. There is a 6K walk coming up and we all
hope to enter for a $25 fee,
Curriculum Sale at Alpha Omega this month 20% and 15% in May.
Our family ignores the religion and likes the workbooks. The workbooks
can be copied into notebooks and resold on E-Bay when the kids outgrow
it. We found teaching company tapes. Heard good things about
Calc-U-ladder, we also like Math-U-See.We think Saxon drill is okay and
really like Math-It.
Thinkpad computers are good for word processing and there are some reasonably priced ones from $49 Up on E-Bay. We don't like Windows and the operating systems will be replaced with Linux and emacs if Dad has the time to do it. Oleg purchased two Dell laptops and wants to build them up with Dad. We are planning computer building classes for summer school Every Wednesday, Co-Operative Math and Writing Club
Math starts at 10.Review and remedial in some cases. We have been measuring, working with tools to learn inches, yards and meters. Now, we start geometry and review multiplication. This has been a great year for us. The co-operative lessons have been a lot of fun. We use several resources to work with the group. Paul has helped the teens immensely, Lisa N has made math for the younger crowd a fun time. And, everyone has a portfolio of math that shows how well they have done this year. Thanks to the parental mentoring, we have had a good year so far. It seems that it has gone by too fast.
Writing starts at 12:00Co-Operative Writing Club has flourished with the addition of the five v's. We had a session of haiku poetry writing and our four year old wrote:I like grapes. I think grapes taste great.We also had Accident Reporting and brought some toy cars in and made a drawing of a street and placed the witnesses, the houses and the collision. Then, we wrote what we observed and made point-of-view descriptions of the accident. While the younger people worked, the teens were reading short stores due this coming Wednesday. The younger crowd will be bringing a story about friendship in. It doesn't have to be big. But, we will continue with an oral tradition with Mothers helping and art work to decorate the writing. Our next session will be bringing a short story about our friends in and sharing the story with our friends. 
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4-HApril 13 Computer camp
Suzanne's house. We will set up some of the children's
computers and learn to use those. We will have a typing program on
one computer and we will have a contest to see who can type the
fastest with the fewest errors.
Please bring some eggs in wood, blown out and ready to paint.
or hard-boiled and we will try some Ukrainian egg decoration. We
would like beets, onions and tea for the dyes. Bring a snack lunch
and we will plan on doing activities while some people have computer
camp.Although Easter will have passed, we can paint around one table.
April 27 Canoe trip to Accotink Fishing that day.
Bring your poles and your license, we will meet at Lisa N and go to
Accotink to not catch anything and if you buy minnows you'll have to
take them home to your fish bowl.Anyone who wants could rent a canoe and
go around the lake. While some of us play or fish or just have fun.
Think about the Science Fair coming in May. Start thinking about an interactive experiment to share and making posters or boards to share, May is just around the corner and we are already excited about this yearly challenge. Recognizing our graduating seniorAlden is finishing his senior year and he will be our first graduating senior. Congratulations, Alden. You are the first for the whole group. Now go and make a good life for yourself. Make us proud.We would like to recognize all the children's work with a special event . We would like to publish the short stories, poems and examples of math and writing of the younger children. The science projects could also be displayed.This is for discussion in May.In order for all the displays to be seen, we may consider an evening meeting with cheese, soft drinks and munchies. Hopefully, the Dads could come and maybe some Grandma and Grandpas Huntley Meadow Field trip
Thumbnail sketches in Soft tip pen or in India ink or black permanent
marker. Let's decide on a date toward the end of the month and
re-create our drawing trip to the nature book and drawings we made. We
will talk about when and expect to meet on a Monday or a Friday for a
walk and stop to draw birds and animals on a warm, sunny day.
Oleg's RunOleg ran the run vs.row, and came in second in his age group. Congratulations. We are so pleased with your success.
FalconryLook for Kathy and Dad in the back row of the picture at the top . They really liked going to the falconry meet. Kathy joined the group, and they joined in the hunt by beating the bushes for the birds dinner. |
| April / 2004 | ||||||
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 Spring Break, Fairfax Co. Schools April 5-9 |
6 Math Study Group, 7:00 p.m. |
7 Co-Op, 10:00 Lisa's |
8 | 9 Math Study Group, 7:00 p.m. |
10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 Math Study Group, 7:00 p.m. 4-H, 10:00 a.m., Computer Camp Meet at Suzanne's |
14 Co-Op, 10:00 Lisa's |
15 | 16 Math Study Group, 7:00 p.m. |
17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 Math Study Group, 7:00 p.m. |
21 Co-Op, 10:00 Lisa's |
22 | 23 Math Study Group, 7:00 p.m. |
24 |
| 25 Kathy's recital, Holiday Inn Fair Oaks |
26 | 27 Math Study Group, 7:00 p.m. 4-H, 10:00 a.m., Meet at Lisa's |
28 Co-Op, 10:00 Lisa's |
29 Math Study Group, 7:00 p.m. |
30 | |