The Rag Coat

This week we used "The Rag Coat" as our "rowing" book.

She also started back to her gymnastics class this week.

I purchased three maps last week: Canada, U.S. and the World.  We spent time creating a compass rose and we marked placed I had lived, where Grandma Betts lived, and where the book we are reading this week was set.  It is important to do all map work in a tutu skirt and purple jacket.

Then, I pulled out my Grandmother's quilts.  They are probably over one hundred years old and are hand-stitched.  She looked at them and declared them warm, which they are.

Later that day I got out my dulcimer.  While I strummed, she danced.  Then she played on the strings.  She was more interested in dancing then playing though. :)

Then, it was on to directing! and teaching! and singing!

She works on writing her lowercase letters and numbers daily.  We do one page (back and front) of numbers and two of lowercase letters.  I got her little ergonomic grips for her pencil, but she prefers to just hold the pencil.

We continue our morning read and cuddle time.  It's nice and when it finally ends, I will miss it.  

On Thursday, we went to a quilting shop and looked at quilts and bought a little bit of fabric.

Then when we got home, while making dinner, we made butter.  We noted the picture of the butter churn in the book and I explained that they would have used it to make butter.  She was intrigued, so I bought some whipping cream and we made butter.

We had sausage, homemade cornbread, salad with homemade blueberry-pecan salad dressing and homemade butter.  It was a nice dinner.

On Friday morning, we cut the fabric up into pieces.  Mom preferred regular shapes, but Rachel went for freeform. 

Then, we laid them out as a quilt (for her doll).

Then, using fabric glue, I glued the pieces together.  I'll have to do the stitching on the sewing machine, but the glue enabled Rachel to see immediate results.

Of course, the silly straw enriched the whole experience!

Writing

She finished the workbook on uppercase letters today.  The lower photo is her first complete set of letters that were written and not traced. 

Learnin's at the Cottage

For whatever reason, Rachel worked through almost an entire 39 page workbook on writing uppercase letters this week.  She had previously done about seven pages over the course of several months. Then, I showed her the book while I was cleaning my office last week.  She claimed it and dashed off to work in it.  A week laster, she has completed all but the last page.  Her uppercase letters are coming along nicely!

She also had some great nature encounters this week.  In addition to the new bunnies at home that we've been peeking at every day, she saw a water snake and we caught two different types of fish.  She loves the wiggly worms we use as bait.  Whatever we caught, we put in a large bucket for her to touch and look at, before we released them back into the lake.

However, the best moment was Monday morning when we went down to the protected water garden David constructed this spring at the edge of the lake.  Using rocks as a water break, the area on the protected side has sprouted waterlilies, arrowroot.....and frogs!  Rachel and I went down and caught baby frogs and looked at them.  She loved it.  Later, while sitting on a rock in the beach area, a frog hopped up and sat next to her.  She sat very still and watched it.

We also watched hummingbirds fight over the feeders and can identify the Heron's cry now, which signals that it will fly past.

And, last but not least, she got to see a Hellgrammite at the bait store.  Sorry, but I don't have the guts to use those as fish bait.  The man who owns the bait store said they were a natural bait.  I pointed out that they had wicked pincers.  Don't they hurt you?  His response was "Only if you squeeze them."  Ok....how does one put them on a hook without squeezing them?

Photos upcoming....if I could just find my card reader!