August 1, 2013

July was a busy month! Jonah turned 5 years old yesterday – my big boy! We had a fun “Happy Feet 5^th Birthday Party” to celebrate our special boy! Birthdays are an emotional time as I find them so bitter sweet… I know Jonah cannot stay a baby forever, but time just goes to fast for me! I enjoy watching him grow and learn, but I also want to enjoy these priceless days, savoring each special moment… soaking them all into my heart to stay forever!

As for summer homeschool: In July we studied America / U.S.A., including the Star Spangled Banner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaGftxRkgPI), the American flag, colors of the flag, stars and stripes, the United States of America, the President of the United States Barack Obama, the first President George Washington, map of USA, fireworks, eagle, Statue of Liberty, Capitol. We listened to American Classic songs (http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/2012/07/top-10-american-songs) and our instrument this month was the trumpet and we watched TAPS and other videos with kids playing the trumpet too! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WChTqYlDjtI. One thing I find so fun is learning along with Jonah! I never knew the story behind TAPS so this encouraged me to look up the words, which I thought were beautiful:

There is one original set of lyrics meant to accompany the music, written by Horace Lorenzo Trim:

Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
All is well, safely rest
God is nigh.
Fading light dims the sight
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright
From afar, drawing near
Falls the night.
Thanks and praise for our days
Neath the sun, neath the stars, neath the sky
As we go, this we know
God is nigh.

Jonah listened to gospel songs on youtube and our song this month was I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z29h7HUcJus). We also practiced signing Jesus loves me and I love Jesus and worked on the letters B-I-B-L-E.

We worked on counting and matching numbers 1-20 and he is doing quite good with this. We talked about and pointed to different parts of the computer. We started a pen pal project with our little cousins and Jonah typed a short little letter with mama’s help. We ended up getting Jonah a keyboard with big keys and colors and also a tiny mouse which is easier for his hands. Jonah is doing great with his color identification!

We also studied ocean life including vocabulary words octopus, whale, dolphin, seal, water, wave, ocean, beach, seashell, and sun. We also studied birds looking at pictures of different kinds of birds, listening to sounds of birds and we saw a brown eagle at Sea World! We watched the dolphin IMAX movie and he seemed to enjoy watching the dolphins swim in the water!

We studied Mighty Machines looking at a Might Machines video and looked at pictures of different machines/trucks. We played with Playdoh, talked about textures and smell (smelling different things). We talked about “eating healthy makes me feel good”, feelings (happy and mad), body part (cheek) which he can not identify when asked. We talked about “time” and practiced signing “What time is it?” Jonah helped to make some pink lemonade cookies – adding ingredients and stirring. We talk each month about people in our neighborhood and this month it was the dentist and we practiced saying “Ah” and opening our mouth to look at our teeth. We talk about good manners signing please, thank you, I’m sorry, we say hello and we say goodbye. We also have been walking our friends to the door to say goodbye and thank you for visiting. We practiced taking turns, being kind (signing kind/nice), cleaning up toys and clothes,

We did fun things like visiting Sea World, visiting friends, swimming, going to parks, the 4^th of July Parade, friends birthday parties, and practiced stretching up high and down low. Jonah especially loves to swim and is doing great with his kicking and getting himself around in the pool with his swim tube/vest. Jonah continues with his weekly speech and occupational therapies once per week.

Jonah does not love to read books, but we did manage to get through some of our books (early reader books; he really likes “Does A Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?” We worked on matching our alphabet letters, our matching vocabulary books (Downs Ed International). We talked about and signed “why?” Our other vocabulary words included bowl, watermelon and corn. We talked about “danger” and that it means don’t touch and keep away – scary!

I had many things on our calendar that we did not get to this month, but with birthday party planning and other family matters etc. I’m sure this will not be the first month we don’t get to everything, but I figure it is better to set our goals high and give us credit for what we do get to!

Now on to August plans for learning!

I hope all our friends are having a great, safe and memorable summer!

Blessings, Sharice