Moving Along Beautifully...

Making a Ten


Thank you Lora for lending us the Double Nine Dominoes. We'll be able to stretch the game even further with those dominoes next week!



A peek into the science and nature room. What do you think we'll be delving into in geology?



In the Atelier




Any guesses as to what the children are making here?





Hint: It has to do with Ancient Egypt...






Scarab Seals!

We learned that the bottom has to be absolutely flat in order to create a proper stamp. The children enjoyed the process and using the special tools Ms. Karen brought from home too!

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A note about the Atelier:

Sometimes we bring in ideas for the children to work on. This is tremendous fun especially when tied into something the children are learning about, and in history, it's about Ancient Egypt, which they're enjoying immensely. Since families rotate through and spend a lot of time in the Atelier, I wanted to share some thoughts that I had when visiting the school on a weekend. I  took a moment to look around at what was created only a year ago. I was reminded how amazing our little schoolhouse is, stood in awe looking at our environments, especially in the atelier.

The atelier is full of materials and abundant media.
Wire, clay, paints, pastels, liquid watercolors.
Tons of textures, papers, fabrics.
Stones, feathers, shells.
A mammoth light table that would make any artist drool.
Books for inspiration. Goldsworthy, Matisse, O'Keefe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Escher...  
Opportunities for open-ended exploration and creation. 

The atelier is the heart of our school.

Yes, the children are receiving a great foundation in academics too. I work hard to make sure they're armed with everything they will need to succeed. In reading, they're soaring. They're learning about the process of writing. Getting an in-depth understanding of math concepts. And then there's science, and nature, and history... all that good stuff. However, nothing makes my heart sing more than seeing inspiration and the open-ended self expression that comes from this space.

This quote below resonates so well with me.

Inspiration, hunger: these are the forces that drive good schools. The best educational planners can do is create the most likely conditions for them to flourish, and then get out of their way.

-Ted Sizer

ASNC: Insects!

We're so excited to be back at the ASNC for their monthly homeschool classes! Their first session was on Insects and we observed insects and their arthropod kin up close in their classroom. We also discovered characteristics of insects that help them to adapt to their environments, had fun using field nets to collect insects from different habitats, and learned to identify and classify them.










It's exciting to see all the homeschoolers/alternative-schoolers in our area.















Some of us finished off our field trip with lunch at Phil's Icehouse and topped off with Amy's Ice cream. A fantastic Friday indeed!

Create an Insect: Roaches and Wasps, oh my!

On our shelf the first few weeks of school...



The children's take home project was on an insect of their choice. They researched, answered questions about their insect, and either made a model, or brought one in.





















A snippet of what our mornings look like. Small groupwork in reading while others are exploring at stations throughout the schoolhouse.



Number bonds continue...



We have a little architect in the house.


And Ms. Karen storytelling...

Number Bonds and Nomads

We're learning the number bonds for numbers 1-10. A number bond is related to a family of four basic addition and subtraction facts. A child can use number bonds to add and subtract. Later, number bonds can be used to show different ways a number can be split up to facilitate mental math or other operations or concepts. Cool stuff, right?




In the Science Center




In the Atelier. Cave Paintings!




We're learning all about Ancient History and we started with the Nomads. Learned all about how they lived, what they ate, and what the word 'Nomad' means and the children did some cave paintings. Next up, Ancient Egypt!

Getting into the swing of things

We finished up our 2nd week at the co-op and are getting back into the groove. We're learning all about insects in preparation for our field trip to the Austin Science and Nature Center and I really enjoyed gathering materials and setting up the science room for this focus.




 I did some reading screenings and we've started our reading groups and math fun. I introduced one of the Math Pentathlon games, Calla, to the children and will introduce a new game next week. These are so much fun!



Math with the Kinder kiddos.

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Sidenote: I brought in the magna tiles I had at home from our small light table  and added them to the set we already had at school. I noticed the children did more building on a bigger scale (obviously, right?). I'd like to get 1-2 more sets in the schoolhouse if possible!

Part of our homework this year will be bringing in monthly family projects so families can work collaboratively with the children and this will help with the supplementation needed at home since we are part-time. We started off with a History of our Life Timeline which the children did such a terrific job of presenting. It was really wonderful to see all the photos and different experiences each child has had.





I enjoyed popping my head into the atelier and seeing the different provocations Ms. Clair offered for the children, from self portraits, to big mural painting, to mixing paint colors for a variety of tertiary and other colors. I want to encourage parents to not be initimidated by working with paints. One doesn't have to be an artist by profession. Bust out the paints and simply enjoy the process with the children!









We brought some fresh compost from our compost pile at home and Ms. Clair shoveled most of it in so hopefully we can get some things planted this week for our fall and winter garden.

Welcome 2012-2013!

Hello Friends!

We're back! It's a new year and we're in full swing.

Our friends were so happy to be reunited after summer break, and we welcomed 2 new friends this year. Everybody has grown and changed over the summer! Our schoolhouse also had some changes. We now have a lovely dedicated Science and Math room, and our back room got nice face lift. Ms. Andrea was giddy with excitement over the new items that were added over the summer and a bundle of fantastic books she was able to collect to add to our library.

Can you guess what we'll be studying first in science? This will go in hand with our first field trip to the Austin Science and Nature Center at the end of September.