Trees

We finished up our month of studying plants. The boys are very excited to be moving on to insects next.

Devotional: We talked about Bhagavad Gita 10.26 when Krishna says "Of all trees I am the banyan tree" and Bhagavad Gita 15.1-4 about the banyan tree. We also decorated the banyan tree in our yard with some nearby flowers.

Language Arts: We're halfway through Primary Phonics workbook 4. Govinda did pages 24-40. It covered some new stuff like words ending with 'le' like apple and compound words like chipmunk and pineapple. We reviewed 'th' and 'wh' and practiced differentiating similar words like tree and three and can and candle. I'm looking forward to starting r-controlled vowels next! I think he's ready for this new stuff now that the long/short vowel practice has been going on for a while. There are readers that go along with this workbook that I haven't gotten yet but may get soon since they look nice.

Math: We're doing well with Math Mammoth 1B on place value, practicing with tens and ones. He did pages 4-27. We also played with place value number and picture cards, and those really help get an idea of the difference between ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. If we keep doing a page everyday, we will be done in 3 months.

Science: We read more library books about trees and drew some in our book. Govinda really likes the redwoods, so we got some extra books about them and he made one out paper for his lego men to climb. We reviewed all about plants and trees and stapled our plant book together. On to insects we go in our Creation study!

Last but not least is the wonderful news that I have been blessed with a new computer, which means I will be able to share more pictures soon. Thank you everyone for your love and support!

Flower-bearing Spring

Devotional: This week’s devotional was Bhagavad Gita 10.35 with Krishna saying “Of seasons, I am flower-bearing spring.” We talked about spring and the equinox and read stories about spring and flowers.

Language Arts: We’re really liking Primary Phonics. Workbook 4 is getting to be more challenging and still fun. He did up to page 24 this week, focusing on words ending with ank, ink, onk, unk, and ing. He really loves cursive, it seems to be more natural for him than printing.

Math: We had 7 more planned days with subtraction, but he kept saying it was too easy and wanted to move on. I said he could if he took the chapter test and got at least 20 out of 25 answers correct. He eagerly took the test and got 100%! One was originally wrong until he double checked it and found the mistake himself and corrected it. I guess subtraction is easy after spending so much time on addition! So, this week we finished up pages 82-84 of MM 1A. plus the test. Then we did the first 3 pages from MM 1B introducing place value and numbers to 100. We like this math program a lot. He’s having a lot of ‘a-ha’ moments with it.

Science: We added more to our plant book about local Hawaiian plants and their uses. We drew lots of flowers, including a 4 foot sunflower on the chalkboard. We labeled the parts of a tree and read about the rubber tree. Next week we will be finishing up our plant book and our month block of learning about plants.

Lots of love and gratitude to you all! :)

Flowers and Fruits

Devotional: We continued memorizing Bhagavad Gita 9.26 "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it."

Science: We created flowers, leaves, roots, and sepals out of paper, the pistil and stamens out of pipe cleaners (we could only fit two), and the stem out of a straw to help remember the names of the parts of flowering plants. We drew and labeled the parts of a flower with a sliding piece of paper that reveals a pollen tube going down to the ovule. We colored and read about a different Hawai'ian plants and added them to our plant book. We read lots of great books about flowers, fruits, and gardens. How Groundhog's Garden Grew has been a favorite. We planted some seeds in the garden and weeded, too. Some beautiful plant drawings were also added to the plant book.

Language Arts: We started the next level of Primary Phonics workbook 4. We decided to skip workbook 3 because he didn't need that much review, and the new concepts he is already familiar with. So, pages 1-7 were completed. They focused on 'sh' and 'ch', which was review and good handwriting practice. This book gets into R controlled vowels later on, so it will soon be new, hard stuff, but he is ready for it. Govinda really wants to learn cursive, so I've been showing him the cursive letters on the chalkboard. Today, he wrote in his PP book with cursive! He likes how he knows where the letter starts...at the bottom, and it's fun how it keeps flowing without having to pick up the pencil. For reading, he's been practicing with Bob Books.

Math: He did Math Mammoth pages 73-82, which was more subtraction practice with fact families and their addition twins. He's really getting the facts down with the constant practice...no flashcards needed! He doesn't need to look at the abacus for most facts up to 10. He's been expressing his interest in place value and big numbers, so I'm looking forward to doing that as soon as we're done with subtraction in a week or two.

Thanks to all who care to read all of this! Infinite love and gratitude for you all! :)

Seeds, Roots, Shoots, and Leaves!

Devotional: We wrote on the board Bhagavad Gita 9.26 "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it." We added leaves, flowers, and fruits around the border and discussed the verse. We read the story of the sacred Tulasi plant from the book we own called Beauty, Power, and Grace The Many Faces Of The Goddess.

Science: We're adding more to the Plant book everyday. We've drawn and labeled the parts of a seed, plant, and flower. We're watching celery stalks soak up water with red food coloring and drawing it. We've gathered leaves and made many leaf rubbings with block crayons. We've been reading about a different plant everyday and recording it's uses and other important things to know about it. We used Kukui nut (Candlenut) juice to mend a cut (after reading about it). We gathered Kukui nuts, which are 50% oil, and polished our wooden toys with it. Of course we read many library books about plants and how they grow. One library book called Plants Of Old Hawaii has been great with its catchy poems full of information on plants along with a black and white picture which I copy for the boys to color while I read about it.

Language Arts: This week Govinda finished the whole Primary Phonics workbook! It's a great feeling. He had fun looking back through the 80 pages of 40+ days worth of drawing, coloring, and writing work. These past two weeks, he did pages 57-80. He can easily read many long vowel words now. PP helped distinguish the difference between them.

Math: Govinda did Math Mammoth pages 60-72. Subtraction is really going well for him now. Math Mammoth may seem like ordinary workbook pages, but there's something really special about it that is making math really make sense. It makes him think for himself more than any other math program we've tried, which is working well for him.

This week we spent some time remembering our studies of Japan and sent prayers for everyone there for the 8.8 earthquake and tsunami. We discussed survival skills and the history of earthquakes and tsunamis.

Intro To Plants

Devotional: We wrote on the devotional chalkboard Bhagavad Gita 14.4 when Krishna says "It should be understood that all species of life are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father." We drew plants growing from seeds around as the border.

Science: This past week gently introduced our coming study vegetation with story books. Oh Say Can You Seed, Magic School Bus Plants Seeds, and The Lorax are their favorites so far. Govinda drew and labeled the parts of a plant for the main lesson book. We also found all of the seeds in the kitchen and put them in a glass with wet paper towels keeping them against the glass to easily watch them grow. We found mung beans, lentils, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, popcorn, wheat berries, rice, quinoa, millet, lemon seed, tangerine seed, and a cherry seed. The mung beans, mustard seeds, and wheat berries were the first to sprout. We discussed all the uses we have for plants and how important they are for life.

Language Arts: Primary Phonics is becoming more well loved every day! Govinda did pages 46-56, which focused on reviewing silent e words, 'oa', 'ai', and the long e sound spelled 'ea'. The highlight was a funny creation he calls 'pail man', a transformed picture of a pail in which Govinda adds a face to the book's drawing of a pail and draws a body, arms, and legs, sometimes upside down standing on his hands. I'm glad he's having fun writing 15+ spelling words every day to match the pictures. Primary Phonics is proving to be much more fun than spelling tests!

Math: This week Govinda finished chapter 1 on addition and took the test. He originally got 2 wrong, and when I asked him to double check, he corrected them. So, he scored a 91% or 100%, which is a good sign of success! We then started chapter 2 on subtraction and did pages 58-60. I was happy to hear him say 'subtraction is easy'! Since we worked so much on understanding the math facts as a whole and parts, he has realized that subtraction is the same as finding the missing part. This is a relief because when we were using CLE math back in fall, he hit a wall when we got to subtraction. I am seeing the benefits with the Asian method of understanding math compared to the American style of memorizing. Math Mammoth is a keeper for us!

Thanks to all of our well wishers for caring to read about our adventures in learning. Take care and God Bless!

Not Truly Fish

Devotional: We reviewed the story of Matsya and all other related verses to our study of aquatics.

Science: This past week was dedicated to starfish, jelly fish, and shellfish, which are not truly fish. They are invertebrates and do not have backbones, gills, and fins like true fish. Construction paper is always available for spontaneous arts and crafts, and Govinda made a jellyfish and octopus to add to his box of paper fish. I gotta get some pictures of these soon, they're works of art! We finished up the Aquatics main lesson book and it turned out really nice. He also drew a nice picture of these invertebrates for the main lesson book.

Language Arts: Primary Phonics pages 31-45 were completed. He really likes these books and sometimes does more than the 2 pages per day that I require. It's like a phonics and spelling workbook disguised as a fun and silly coloring book. It's all review for him, but the practice is really building his confidence. These pages were focused on silent e words and the vowel teams 'ie', 'oe', and 'oa'. We also did a few lessons from The Ordinary Parent's Guide To Teaching Reading, as we are just filling in the gaps to skip ahead to where I think his reading level is at. His reading level is way beyond his spelling level, and I'm considering reading the highest priority at his age and we'll get more serious about spelling in the years to come. Govinda is surprising me everyday by leaps and bounds by his sudden advancement in reading abilities. I'm planning on using OPGTR to eventually take him to a 4th grade level. He likes the tongue twister poems and silly stories better than controlled readers. Both the boys crack up from one poem story that says "the tank sank...yank the tank!"

Math: Math Mammoth pages 47-53. These pages were very full, but he was able to finish each one in one sitting. Each page focused on reviewing sums of 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Next will be the Chapter 1 test on addition, but I'm going to give it to him as another worksheet without calling it a test, but still observing how he does completely on his own. The constant practice and review of math facts is really helping him get familiar with them. He's even doing math for fun with sidewalk chalk and it seems he is thinking mathematically on his own. He likes MM and wants to keep going with it! The next chapter is onto subtraction!

I'm preparing for our next Creation science study on Vegetation and it looks like fun! :)

Whales and Dolphins

Devotional: "Krishna is an ocean of mercy" was on the chalkboard and the boys had fun drawing more waves and fish around it. We discussed what mercy and grace are. We also talked about Bhagavad Gita 10.24 when Krishna says "of bodies of water, I am the ocean".

Science: We read a lot of books about whales and dolphins. We saw humpback whales at the beach (thanks to the Lord for that perfect field trip). We compared baleen and toothed whales as well as the different sizes of different kinds of whales. We added a ven diagram to the book comparing the similarities and difference between fish and whales. We pondered how amazing it is that the Blue Whale is the largest animal in the world and lives off of some of the smallest animals in the world. The history of whaling was sad to learn, so we are so thankful that it has stopped. We will spend one more week finishing up our Aquatics main lesson book and will next move on to vegetation, as we continue with our Creation science study.

Language Arts: Primary Phonics pages 15-30 were completed, reviewing more silent e words with long a, long i, and long o. He surprised me by reading a very advanced library book, and it seems that more decoding skills have taken a leap!

Math: Math Mammoth pages 40-47 were completed, which focused on sums of 9 and 10 and review of greater than/less than and adding on a number line. Daily practice of math facts is starting to sink in! Next week we'll be done with this chapter on addition and will take a test and then move on to subtraction!

Matsya, Fish, and the Food Chain

We continued with our aquatics block with a study based on the story of Matsya from the Srimad Bhagavatam 8.24.

Devotional: 'Krishna is an ocean of mercy!' We wrote this on the devotional chalk board and drew lots of waves on the ocean of mercy.

Science: We read the story of Matsya several times, which taught the places where fish live...pots/bowls/aquariums, rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, and the ocean. Govinda drew a picture for each in the main lesson book. The Matsya story also taught about the aquatic food chain, which he drew. We discussed and drew how fish protect themselves. We read many library books about fish and how they live and drew many different kinds. The whale shark is the biggest fish and had a few special drawings in the book along with many sharks. Especially fun was the Hawaii state fish, the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a.

Language Arts: Govinda did 8 pages of Primary Phonics workbook 2 which practiced 'long i' words with silent e.

Math: He did 4 action packed Math Mammoth pages focused on sums of 8. Greater than/less than was reviewed.

Water Cycle

We started our aquatics block with the water cycle, based on the Creation book.

Devotional: Krishna is the taste of water! We wrote this on our devotional chalkboard and the boys drew rain, rivers, and ocean, and a glass of water. This is based on the Bhagavad Gita verse 7.8, which we discussed and reviewed.

Science: Govinda drew a beautiful drawing of the water cycle for the aqautics main lesson book. We learned this song to the tune of 'She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain':

Water travels in a cycle, yes it does! Water travels in a cycle, yes it does!
It goes up as evaporation, forms clouds as condensation, and falls as precipitation!

Language Arts: We stopped ETC3 and switched to Primary Phonics, which he likes much better. They're by the same publisher, but the drawings in PP are much nicer and in the mode of goodness. Even I didn't like the drawing on the cover of ETC3 and had to cover it up (it shows a picture for mad and made). PP is what Montessori schools use. It's like a good coloring book, and he enjoys coloring the pictures and writing the matching words. We may try some of the readers that go with it. He's gone through 8 pages covering 'long a' words with silent e. It's all review, but very needed to master those silent e words.

Math: We've been working our way through Math Mammoth and has completed 12 action packed pages since I last posted about math. We're working on mastering sums of 5, 6, and 7. He's catching on quickly and can do more in one sitting now. MM is working well and Rightstart isn't realistically happening at all. The RS abacus it essential for him to do MM, and he is starting to see the abacus in his mind.

Long E, Sums with 5, and USA

We had family visiting and took last week off from school. This week was focused on getting back into the school groove and catching up on household chores, so I decided to do a little bit less normal.

Devotional: We picked a lot of flowers to offer and focused on Bhagavad Gita 9.26: "If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it."

Language Arts: Govinda completed all 8 pages of ETC3 lesson 10, which was about the 'long e' sound spelled 'ee' and 'ea'. His reading and writing skills are getting more fluent and faster with this weekly practice.

Math: We did 2 very full pages from MM on sums with 5. We will probably do this again for next week's sums with 6 so that it's not too much of a workload. We usually do 4 pages per week, but these pages have a lot of problems, and we had a busy week last week, so it's working out nicely to reduce this week's work.

Geography: We read more stories about the USA. This week's favorite was Lentil, and Bee Tree is still requested often. We also read Twister On Tuesday (Magic Tree House) and Red, White, and Blue. Once all of the USA library book requests are in, we will take it easy and review our year of world geography and return to our intro to geography books.

Govardhan, Phonics Review, Missing Number, US East Coast

Devotional: We read chapters 24 and 25 of The Krishna Book in honor of Govardhan Puja this coming Saturday. This book doesn't have pictures, so I read it while they play with play dough and that is working very nicely for all of us. I love reading this book to them! They made Govardhana Hill our of play dough and held it on their little fingers. We drew Govardhan Hill on the chalkboard all together and Govinda drew it with crayons on paper. Jai Govardhan Puja!

Language Arts: We did all 8 pages of ETC4 lesson 9. It was reviewing everything learned in the first 8 lessons, plus some new digraphs with h and silent e words. He did well with it all and is getting more and more comfortable with long vowels with silent e. Handwriting is looking great these days and I'll try to get a picture of his nicely formed letters.

Math: We did Math Mammoth this week, pages 19-22. The focus was on finding the missing number. G really likes the abacus and uses it to solve all of his equations. I love how he has these 'ah ha' moments as he gets a strong foundation in addition facts up to 5. It feels so much better than just memorizing without thinking. MM is growing on us! I like how he is actually doing pre-algebra while practicing math facts. ( 2 + ? = 5).

Geography: We're reading the many library books about the east coast. I'll recall our favorites later. We're cruising through the US a little quicker now that we're almost done with our world trip and we're ready to read more Hawaii books. I plan on doing US history in the future, so I'm not going too far into US geography right now. This is just an overview and gentle introduction the the 50 states. The sad stories of war and slavery are just too much for this young age, IMO.

Ch-Ch-Chant and Greater Than / Less Than

Devotional: This week's devotional was the simple motto "Chant and be happy!" We read all of our stories with Lord Chaitanya and discussed the instructions to be 'as humble as a blade of grass and as tolerant as a tree".

Language Arts: This week was focused on the 'ch' sound and completed all 8 pages of lesson 7 in ETC3. He definitely gets the hang of 'ch' now. We retold the Hopeful H (digraphs with h) story and practiced how Tired T holds the short vowel rod so Clever C will smile and Hopeful H can say 'ch-ch-cheese' for the picture. We also thought of all the words that have this sound and ended up drawing a big picture of chickens with chicks eating cheese and more.

Math: This week in math, we started with Righstart lesson 15 about partioning 10, but the worksheet was a little confusing and I decided to not have him finish it to avoid frustration. For the rest of the week, we went back to Math Mammoth and completed two pages on greater than and less than, which was very easy review for Govinda, but it really helped him feel more confident about math. MM is so much easier for me, and Govinda actually likes to work independently with me checking each equation after he does it. So, now I'm leaning more towards MM full time since it is so easy to use and very well made to keep him thinking!

Geography: We read many new stories about the southeast USA and the east coast states. I didn't want to push any history stuff since it can be disturbing, but G was really interested in Red, White, And Blue, a simple story of how the American flag came about. We will be coloring the flag next week after reviewing the story. I can't believe it's been almost a year of our world geography tour, and we're almost home!

And that's another week at the Soul Adventure School!

The Plan

I've added a new introduction to every new day. We mark the day on the calendar, say the whole date together. Then we think of everything we need and want to do and write it on the board so we don't forget. Govinda started copying it from the board onto paper...by his own will! He carried it around all day and referred back to it throughout the day. Here's the plan he wrote, it's a basic summary of our weekdays. Play, school, stories, clean, play. That's the plan, man!

USA, Volcanoes, 'Th' and 'Wh', and Partioning To 10, Oh My!

Geography/Geology/Art: We read stories from the Southeast USA. So far, the favorites are Rabbit Goes To Kansas, Chicken Joy On Redbean Road, and The Great Pig Search. We also read a National Geographic magazine with pictures of Mt. St. Helens. This lead to a reading of The Magic School Bus Blows It's Top. Then, the boys wanted to explode our clay volcano with baking soda, vinegar, dish soap and paint. So, we did! Then, we painted volcanoes with watercolors. Govinda made Mt. St. Helens, a cinder cone volcano. Navin and I painted Mauna Loa, a shield volcano. We had read about volcanoes a few weeks ago in Mexico with the story Hill Of FIre, where a farmer's field became a volcano. "He was a volcano farmer, and what a crop he grew!"









Fun: We made a new batch of homemade play dough. The boys really enjoy kneading it and then playing with it for many weeks until we make a new, fresh batch.



Language Arts: This week was continuing with the Hopeful H photo story. The focus was on 'wh' and 'th'. Govinda did all 8 pages of ETC3 lesson 6. Wonderful W blows out the candle with all of his questions "Who? What? Where? When? Why?". We also brought out the whistle and recorder flute for fun.

Math: This week we worked on finding the missing part with sums of 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 when one part is 5. G did 4 pages of whole/part partioning with 12 problems on each page. He seems to know them now, but we will review it again soon so that it's not forgotten. The song is helping to remember, and since he seems to be an auditory learner, that will be our review also. We didn't do any MM and he seemed happy about that...it has a lot of problems on a page. Doing 12 of all the same thing was more enjoyable for him. One day this week, I said that he only has to do 6 of the problems, and he insisted on doing all 12. So we will be sticking with RS as much as possible since he is liking it a lot.

Well, that wraps up another busy week in our Soul Adventure School! Thanks to all our supporters and well wishers! I'm also happy to announce that I finally figured out how to center the pictures on the blog. Take care and God Bless!

Adios, Mexico!

Language Arts: We finished all 8 pages of lesson 4 from ETC3, which was focused on 'silent e' words with initial blends. Govinda has taken more toward writing than reading lately, so we're going with that since his handwriting is getting better all the time with more practice.



Math: We did the first 4 pages of Math Mammoth, each with 15+ addition practice problems with sums under 5. He did great with it and had fun turning circles around dots into tracks of excavators and bulldozers!

Geography: We read more stories about and from Mexico and we never got around to making a pinata. We're keeping on moving, though, and started reading stories about the Southwest USA.

We have a big 6-year-old birthday this week, so we are taking it easy with school and having fun with birthday bliss!

Camping Out In Mexico With Silent Everloving E And An Abacus!

Language Arts: You know that changing vowel sounds is not an easy job, so we're camping out with Silent Everloving E for a while until it's all well understood. At least we on a world tour, so we are practicing our silent e words while in Mexico, where Everloving E can be on vacation because in Spanish, there's no Silent E. We finished all 8 pages of Lesson 3 in Explode The Code 3. We'll spend another week or so really mastering long vowels with silent e.

World Geography: We read many stories from Mexico. Our favorites so far are Mice and Beans, The Old Man And His Door, Cocoa Ice, The Parrot Tico Tango, The Tale Of Rabbit and Coyote, and Under The Lemon Moon. We stamped the passports and are getting ready for some fun Mexico activities. I've been introducing Spanish words from the stories and teaching more expressions in Spanish throughout the day. Que bueno!

Math: We're trying out Rightstart Math Level B. So far he likes it. It is more teacher intensive for me, but so far it's ok with me when learning is fun. We skipped the first lessons and started with lessons 9, 10, and 11. It's Asian style math based on the abacus, which is a wonderful math tool. I plan on supplementing with Math Mammoth since Rightstart does not have very many worksheets and I may not get around to all the games intended for reinforcement. On days when RS is too demanding on me with a terrific three year old around, I can give him a MM page and some math still gets done. So far, so good!

Reviewing Silent Everloving E

Language Arts: We reviewed the story of Silent Everloving E, who brings a tray of cookies to consonants so that they can take a break from holding the short vowel rod over the vowels so that they can say their name. She's speechless at the ends of words. We did 8 pages of ETC lesson 2 to review how silent e changes words like pin into pine. I'm seeing how daily practice is building more fluency and faster reading from familiarity with words, so we will continue doing a page or two of ETC everyday to keep up the practice of reading and writing as well. ETC is starting to be more fun because it has some silly aspects. I like how it makes him guess less and sound out more.

Yours Truly Y Standing In For Innocent I

Language Arts: We read the Alphabet Island story about Yours Truly Y, who stands in for Everloving E and Innocent I at the ends of words. Since she can't stand in for both of them all of the time, she stands in for I in short words and E in longer words. We did all 8 pages of lesson 1 in Explode the Code 3. The theme was short words like so, go, no, he, she, me, we, by, my, fly, fry, try, cry, dry and sky. This was all review, but the handwriting practice was needed after summer break. This is probably how we will go about language arts for now, since it is working well. We use the Alphabet Island story and the ETC workbook for repetitive practice.

Noble N Endings

Devotional: We focused on the story of Sudama, a poor brahmana priest who gave a sincere and humble offering to Krishna, the king of Dvaraka, and was rewarded with great wealth. This went with the week's theme about the king and queen changing others.

Language Arts: This week we focused on ending blends with N. Noble N is the king of Alphabet Island and Lady L is the queen. The vowels often make different sounds around them in awe and reverence. This is why Innocent I says the long E sound in 'ing' and 'ink'. These were the word families that we practiced reading and writing this week. We tried our Explode the Code 4 workbook for extra practice, doing 4 pages of lesson 8. After a two month summer break, proper letter writing that was once mastered needs major review, so we'll slow down and go back to Handwriting Help For Kids next week.

Friends At The Ends and Australian Animals

Here's our completed Alphabet Island poster and card holder. I taped clear plastic pockets to hold the letter cards in alphabetical order for easy finding. Then on the other side is where they line up to make words. It has made reading and spelling more fun and even Navin is practicing making words with different combinations and groups of our letter friends.

I've made some changes with our Soul Adventure School. We've started reading something spiritual/transcendental every morning to start the kids with some good things to think about. I'm going to find ways to tie it in with whatever else we are learning about. I'm also starting to do month long blocks alternating language arts and math to really focus on them individually. The world geography study will continue until we have been to all of the continents and then go into only one subject at a time for 2-4 weeks, hopefully adding more science and nature studies in. Art (drawing and painting) will now be part of free time and not part of school to keep it fun and freed up for imagination. I think these new changes will work better for the boys to really immerse into learning.

Devotional: This week we focused on Bhagavad Gita verse 9.18, where Krishna says "I am the goal, the sustainer, the master, the witness, the abode, the refuge, and the most dear friend". We discussed how God is our most dear friend that we can always turn to when we're scared.



Language Arts: The first few weeks of Alphabet Island will be review, so we're moving fast with it. This week we read a story about how the letters on alphabet island get together to make words, and the last letter is always at the edge of a cliff. Some of the letters are scared and have a friend stand with them or take their place. They are Clever C and his pet Kangaroo K, Lady L, Farmhand F, Sloppy S, and Zany Z. Later we will learn more about the vowels, Veggie V (who always is with Everloving E, and she is also scared so she is speechless and silent), and Jolly J, who juggles and doesn't ever go near the cliffs and asks Goofy G to take his place. Govinda did a few of the workbook pages that go with it. Next, we practiced Clever C's and Goofy G's two sounds, which we will go into more next week. I'm finding much success with writing words on the white board for him to read and taking it easy on handwriting.

Reading: I'm so happy to say that Govinda read a Level 2 Step Into Reading Book from the library called Toad On The Road. Now that he's advancing with reading, he says that he likes library books better than the McRuffy readers (I think because they seem more like 'real books'). I'm just so happy that he read a level 2 book! Woohoo!



Geography: We read more stories about Australia and focused on the platypus and echidna, which are the only two marsupial mammals that lay eggs. Australia's animals are quite amazing. We also discussed how in Sanskrit, 'astra' means 'weapon' or 'powerful bomb' and 'alia/alaya' means 'land of', so Australia means 'land of the powerful bomb', which may explain the extreme desert. We discussed the astra used in the Mahabharata that was used to try to attack a child in the womb, which Sri Krishna stopped. Maybe it went to Astralaya and that is why there are so many marsupials whose babies leave the womb very early on for the safety of the pouch. I also read that some versions of the Ramayana say that Sri Rama sent an astra into the sea, which brought up the island of Australia, which makes sense because there is so much salt and shell fossils there. One dvd we saw said that when they brought in irrigation for farming, the salt in the ground rose and the water became more salty than the ocean!

Thank you to all of our supporters and well wishers. Take care and God Bless!