12 Books in 2014 Update 2

In January I posted about making a conscious effort to read more nonfiction in my 12 Books for 2014 post.  Sadly my progress is a little slower than I would like, but I finally crossed another book of my list!

I finished Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon Self-Control, and My Other Experiments in Everyday Life by Gretchen Rubin

I had read The Happiness Project by the same author last year, and found it motivating.  I liked this book as well, however, it did not apply to my life quite as much.  Part of the book concentrates on setting up your house to improve happiness.  Since I live with my dad, I have limited control.  A lot of the other resolutions were very useful and inspiring.  While I may not begin a full fledged "Happiness Project" as a result of reading this book, I have decided to make more of an effort in some areas.  For example, in an effort to appreciate the now more, I have made it a goal to take at least one video of Xander each week.  I am also much more conscious of letting others bring me down.  All in all, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.  Just don't expect an life altering revelations.  I find the small, simple ones more manageable anyway!

My Twelve Books for 2014
In no particular order:
1.  The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller
2.  Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs by Ellen Galinsky
3.  Design Make Play by Margaret Honey 
4.  Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov
5.  The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Champan
6.  Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood by William Pollack
7.  Sparks of Genius: The Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World's Most Creative People by Robert S. Root-Bernstein
8.  Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy
9.  Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley
10.  A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
11.  Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon Self-Control, and My Other Experiments in Everyday Life by Gretchen Rubin
12.  Beyond Snapshots: How to Take That Fancy DSLR Camera Off "Auto" and Photograph Your Life Like a Pro by Rachel Devine

N for Nonliving

See what we did for other letters in the Alphabet in Simple Science.

N for Nonliving

Science Notebook Page (Click the picture to print).

 

    Background

First we talked about what the words living and nonliving mean.  Living things move, grow, need water, eat, make waste, and have babies.  Nonliving need people to move them and cannot do any of the things.  We read a book that explained it pretty well and talked about a lot of examples.

Is it Living or Nonliving?

Materials:

Living and Nonliving cards (print them here)

Procedure:

It was hard for me to come up with something that was very hands on for this topic.  Instead I printed up a bunch of cards with various items and had Xander sort things into two pies.  I asked him why he put each card where he did.  Luckily, he thought it was fun.

Living and Nonliving Concept Map

I decided to try a concept map with this topic. Graphic organizers are wonderful for developing understanding, but I wasn't sure how he would do because he is so young.   I made the structure for the concept map and printed all of the words and pictures to go in the bubbles (you can print it form here).  He surprised me in how well he did.  He was able to find a place for every item with only a little guidance.

The finished product!

Check out my Alphabet in Simple Science Pinterest Board for more ideas!

 

Letter N Week

Letter Formation/Pre-Writing

Tracing the letters with his write and wipe card

Practicing writing in his sand box.

Q-Tip Painting (from 1+1+1=1)

Letter Maze

(Printable here)

Pattern block letters from Confessions of a Homeschooler

Literacy

Cut and Paste Phonics Hunt

(Print it here)

 

Science

We're still doing our Alphabet in Simple Science, and this week was N for Nonliving.

Art

Sensory Play

Light Table Building

Still playing with the magnetic sensory bin from last week.

This Week's Work 

St. Patrick's Printables

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, I have been going a little nuts pinning fun ideas of things to do with Xander's school.  I know there are a ton of great things out there, which I will be using.  However, I also wanted materials to suit his current skills, so I made some of my own.  It includes spelling, sentence building, some math, and some tracing (still working on getting his fine motor skills to catch up to his cognitive ones).  You're welcome to use any of the pages you'd like.  Print it below!

Print the St Patrick's Day Pack HERE

***Update***
I've also made a tracing page and a pattern matching set you can print from here.

St. Patrick's Day 10s Frames