Puppies on the Way!

This month has been quite eventful for our little household, along with kiddo's school life.

It was middle of the month when we finally figured out that our two-year-old dog is pregnant. We kind of had an idea about the impregnation time but wasn’t really sure the doggy wasn’t showing yet until a couple of weeks ago. We noticed that Su-ni has swollen breast ready to feed future puppies.

25^th – We noticed today that Su-ni has been moving about in a confused manner. She seemed to be unusually anxious about something. We guessed that she was getting ready to give birth as she looked for a possible place “nest.” Before I left that afternoon, I was expecting that she would have probably given birth by the time I got home. But lo and behold – there wasn’t much change when I got back. We tried to tuck her to a nice made-up shelter for her comfort for the night.

26^th - We were surprised to see the next day that she has moved to a natural ground and had 2 black things moving near her belly. She has finally given birth sometime at night. We still have to think up of some names for the puppies.

Welcome 2011!

The previous months has been pretty busy with school activities and mundane chores. We have just settled on the home front schooling a week after the classes were off.

So far this later part of the year, we weren't able to cover a lot. We've been to a "Science on the Move Exhibit" last October, and pretty much did a lot of book reading at home.

Supplies from Teacher Dad (mostly ebooks), as well as Hardy Boys books that I've dug up in our shelves, comprised what P has read for the year 2010.

Chronicles of Narnia Books 1-7
Hardy Boys (11 titles)
The Mushroom Planet Series (7 books)
Tintin Comics (about 30 files according to P)

I've finally given up letting him write long entries in the Solar System lapbook. That was the BIG wall for him to finish the thing. Instead, we created a table of planet facts of which he has to read in order to fill up. Luckily, I found some "hidden" resources from Teacher Dad's netbook and was able to get some interest again in the Solar System. Hopefully, we'll get the first part covered in this topic this month. At least, we can just expand the lapbook later on if there's another interesting part of the system.

Possible subtopics that can be expanded are:
The Individual Planets
The Sun
The Moon
Other Stars and Beyond
Space Exploration

So long --- until P is ready for the next level. :)

Science On the Move - Traveling Exhibit of PSC

Last week was my son's school foundation celebration week. The kids had to perform mass demo and since the school itself is not very spacious for such, they had to do it at a more convenient city coliseum. During their practice, I found out the Traveling Exhibit of Science at the ground floor of the coliseum. I made a mental note to drop by there with P.

The day came for their performance came and after which, we ventured to the exhibit. I wasn't planning on going there that time but he insisted on going in after he saw one of his friends inside.

Plenty of things to see although way beyond his level but the fun of discovering the manipulative exhibits and running around with friend were enough to keep us inside for almost an hour.

Sad thing is my cam batt conked out and I wasn't able to take any picture except for the one below. :-(


Photo taken with my outdated phone. Unknown little girl was brave enough to try one of the exhibits.

The Mushroom Planet

Since P has started going to a regular school as a K2 last June, and Teacher M has also started part-time teaching outside the house, our learning-at-home activities has dwindled. Instead, Teacher D tried to fill in the gap and provided ebooks like the Mushroom Planet series.

P has already finished the HP series and wants to watch the final movie sequel. But of course, it will be until this Nov that people have to wait for that. As of the moment, it is the Basidium-X that the father and son are occasionally talking about.

But since last week that P had the exam week which only requires them to be at school for an hour (compared to the regular 3 hours), and coincidentally TM is also a bit off from school, we were able to go back to a little lapbooking. P has also been complaining that the teachers at school are teaching him things that he already know. This past week has just been a good chance for us to learn NEW things. We were finally able to finish his Invertebrate Page. This is after a few months of doing the vertebrates and hibernating afterward.

We were also able to finish cutting out the Wizard of Oz stuff but have yet to gather enough stamina to really glue them on. (Ah! We might really have to buy some supply of glue as we have been running out of it.)

At about this time also, (between June to Aug. this year,) P has also tried his hand on journal writing. I might have to scan the entry soon. It's barely a page filled but for a five year old who doesn't really like writing, it is an accomplishment. He was able to write down most of the words there except for some like Science, etc. Well, TM is not pushing now. Crossing my fingers that he would continue to have a positive attitude towards it.

Nighty night as P is a bit under the weather this past week. ;)

Intro to Lapbook this July

Here's a quick post on our activities this later part of July.

We did the science week from sometime around July 24th to 31st. The focus study is the basics of human body. The inspiration was taken from one of the science curriculum I was fiddling with these days and the free lapbook site I fortunately discovered. Some of these lapbooks might be a little daunting at first but as we did part by part, our first foray into lapbooks is quite promising.

Photos of our output are to follow. It must be noted that I tried to let the kid get into the cutting and gluing in the process. During the first ones, he was ok with it. But he still needs more confidence to solely do the things himself. Coloringwise, he is able to. Using the scissors and longer time squeezing out the glue stick might still be tricky. I am considering on getting a new pair of scissors for him, in case that what he's using is not as sharp as it should be anymore. Another one is the glue stick that I chose. I might have to get the "paste" kind of glue--the ca[ and twist thing which is generally just good for papers. Up on my list now.

As for the content of the things that we have covered, I do think that he doesn't only retain the facts and figures (?) but the concepts as well. At least he now knows more about the importance of our bones, muscles, heart and brain. ;)

After the science week series, I'm moving into language and literacy again. A week off and resume next week. Not that we didn't do any learning this week, mind you.

We happened to find a praying mantis in the "kulitis" plant growing in the corner lot. Seeing it's potential science lesson, we took it home. Googled it up and found (basically Asia, South America and only some part of Australia; and it is a carnivore. It only eats other insects even like grasshoppers.

We also took short walks, library visit and playground time for his motor skills.;) Since Lola Mama has been out of the hospital and currently recuperating from her foot surgery, we had our chance of visiting her more often these days. We would sometimes take a walk going to or fro her place to pick some ilang-ilang flowers on the way and do a pretend adventure in our slightly-forested street.

Note to Mom today was to put on some neat shoes and not open toed sandals. Mine is not really very comfy to walk with.

We also had a chance to have his friend over for a day. They played and did acitivities together last Friday. Starting with some mini-letter books, (for the friend to catch up phonics), origami, painting, and a few minutes viewing of Hi-5 and Backyardigans at home. Then off to the city library where we managed to read three books and the playground for their ultimate activity of the day. Did I mention the ice cream that they each got after a day's work and play?

Hopefully, we can put this thing on again next week. It's time to plan for another session!