We woke up excited about our first day of school! Our intention was to begin with spelling and vocabulary but Dakotah wanted to practice his drums right after breakfast. He loves the 'money beat' and continues to experiment with different versions of that.
After drumming, we moved right into spelling and handwriting. While not his favorite topic, we moved through it without any issues. He practiced spelling rule, mule, tube, cube, cure, and sure. We had to review 'sure' because he added an 'h'.
Next, we moved into History and Social Studies...his favorite! I thought this would be a 30 minute lesson and it turned into 90 minutes...by his choice! He asked so many questions and was so intrigued by what we were learning about. I'm using 'Sonlight' but practicing the secular version. Today, we studied in the Usborne Book of Peoples of the World. He learned what a country is, about different money from various countries, that different languages are spoken, different customs and traditions are practiced between countries. He was very interested in handshakes here in the United States and bowing in Japan. We discussed traveling abroad and the need for passports and visas. I talked about the border between Canada and the US and illegal aliens. He was fascinated by the different flags and what the flags meant. His favorites were the United States flag, Japan and Australian flags. He thought the Saudi Arabian flag was interesting because the markings on it are actual words in their language!
The idea of tribal people (such as the Masai in Kenya and Tanzania and the Bedouin in the Arabian Desert) was interesting. He didn't think people still lived this way.
Lastly, we talked about the differences between rich and poor countries and that the United States is a rich country that is industrialized.
He decided he wants to collect items from Germany such as photos, coins, stamps and learning about their food.
We finished our history lesson with a FaceTime call to Auntie Kimiko and Uncle Philipp! They told Dakotah all about their experience to get Philipp's visa to come and live in the United States. Dakotah was most shocked about the $2,000 cost to bring Philipp to the US. (I'm sorry, Kimiko, for the unflattering photo...I honestly thought it was good until I downloaded it!)
We read two chapters from "Charlotte's Web". Dakotah thinks Wilbur is a funny name. I love that he retains so much information after being read to. He learned the words 'runt' and 'untimely' from the book. Personally, snuggling with him on the couch while we read was the best.
After lunch, we moved on to Language Arts. He learned about sorting items into groups and then subgroups. After sorting items into food, clothing, transportation and furniture...he then sorted the foods into bread, fruits and vegetables, the clothing into winter, summer and costumes, etc. After we completed our lesson, he created ground, air and water transportation pictures using the magazine cutouts and his own drawings. He had lots of fun with this lesson! It was a weeks lesson in one day.
Dakotah's dad came over for a bit to hear Dakotah play his drums! It was a fun break. After his dad left, we headed out to the park for some time in the sun and to get his boy energy out. Bike riding, climbing and running helped but the freezing temperature made us come home a bit earlier than anticipated.
He wanted to warm up since we were chilled to the bone so practicing his scuba skills in the warm bathtub seemed appropriate. This gave me some time to sit by him and warm up while getting some work emails out.
After an hour of scuba diving, he got out and we had a snack while we had our science lesson. He enjoyed talking about living vs. non-living things. We did a compare and contrast on the similarities and differences between the two.
Our day couldn't have been more perfect. I'm sure we will change our schedule and tactics as we learn our routines. We are excited for the rest of the week! Sawyer will be joining us tomorrow!
~ Deborah & Dakotah
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