What are you teaching your kid (s) now?

[goldenwillow]

What are you teaching your LO's? Thought we could inspire each other with new ideas!

DS is 13 months and has been in the garden with me all season! We are learning to weed our fall garden! Pumpkin scarring and zucchini harvesting!

Also on our 6th ASL sign, thank you!

What about you? Looking forward to your responses!

[earthmama369]

Right now, I'm teaching my 4-year-old that not every meal is dinner. Breakfast and lunch are good vocabulary words, too.

I'm teaching my 5-year-old that other people like to get turns talking, too.

And today they've taught me that it is, in fact, possible for two children to get up in the morning and play quietly for half an hour while Mama finishes sleeping. Eureka!

[Mama Rana]

RIGHT NOW, we're learning that healthy snacks can be yummy too. [apples dipped in peanut butter mixed with a little vanilla yogurt; almond butter for the toddler].

But generally, we're learning about ancient Egypt, with a side of helicopters and boats. Math facts, handwriting [sand/salt, chalk, painting w/water], and taking turns passing a ball.

[leighann79]

My 4.5 year old is learning about skip counting and equal amounts. We are also looking at books about pond animals because she loves frogs, ducks, turtles, etc. Today she learned that you don't try to hang from a wet swing set in the rain (I hope she learned anyway. *sigh*).
My 8 year old is learning more about mammals. I think he has checked every book about any mammal possible in the last few months, but we are seeing what else there is to learn. He's also learning about Ronaok (the lost colony) and early settlers. He's also picking up what he can (from books, Survivor Man, etc) about being self-sufficiant and surving. He's making his own tools, trying to make shelters, pretending to make fires, catching bugs, tracking animals, etc. He's a very busy boy.
My 11 year old is learning that math can be fun. PS messed her up when it comes to math, so I'm trying again to fix what they "broke". Lots of math games online, chess, checkers, math riddles, brain teasers, etc. She's also learning about plants and animals.
My 13 month old is learning about in and out, sorting, climbing, signs, what makes his brother and sisters laugh, does mommy really mean it when she says "no", can I get away with climbing up to the computer this time, Etc. LOL

[goldenwillow]

Awesome! Let's keep this goin!

[lonegirl]

Well, Tyr is loving Domino math so every day he is asking to do that. He loves worksheets and loves to trace words. I found a great site that you could type in a story and it would print it out in such a way that it was good for tracing. He also loves playing with his Kids World Almanac Science cards.
His reading is coming along so rapidly he amazes me all the time with the words he can read and what he can't read he tries to sound out.

[Holiztic]

DS (3.5) is taking a break from letters, he was totally thrilled about his first alphabet toy last month (wooden puzzle) and learned all upper case, all sounds, and some lower case in a couple weeks, all from playing and asking me questions. But he's since lost interest--fine with me, we'd never planned to start this soon anyway, he was just so into it (he does seem to have retained the info, though)

So now he's really digging jigsaw puzzles. He's a seriously auditory/sequential kid, so puzzles are not his forte, but he's trying. We have some 12 piece ones from Melissa & Doug and as long as I sit with him and give very gentle encouragement/clues he does fine. When I leave he's lost.

I find it so interesting that my kid talks like a 5 year old (or older), is teaching himself addition for fun, corrects my grammar (today it was misplaced modifier, he didn't know the term, but sure got the concept!), but struggles with 12 piece puzzles! Just shows you how there really are learning types--and he's auditory alright!

[wendybird]

We are all over the place lol.
Algebra all the way down to simple addition. We started a new math, so we all watch the video together to recement the basics. Building with the manipulatives is fun for the whole crew. Online interactive math races are helping hone skills,too.
Rome has fallen and the Celts are not holding together so well. Epic outdoor battle coming soon. We are making banners and choosing teams, as well as preparing a menu for the armies' feasts.
Our skull is our cranium, our sternum holds our ribs together, we have 206 bones.Science is all about body systems. Youtube has been fun with this. There are online games to correctly place major bones in the fewest clicks. Everyone is getting better.
We are working on being able to locate all Countries on a map with ease. Admittedly the kidlets are better than I. I am improving. I am still better at States and Capitols.
We are learning which plants are good fall/winter crops. Seeds are started for cabbage and spinach. Daffodil bulbs are planted for Spring.
The older four are learning/perfecting bread making. They are beginning to learn how and why we make yogurt. They can make simple meals, keeping balanced nutrition in mind.
The baby is learning new words every day and especially delights in our nature walks. The 3 year old is (not) learning letters, but tries hard. She is learning how to play more gently with babies.

[moominmamma]

My 16 yo... teaching her how plan, promote and prepare a full-length violin recital. We're learning together about 19th century Canadian history. Both these things are really nice for me; she's almost ready to "launch" out on her own, and has been very self-sufficient for a long time already, wanting me only as background support. These two endeavors are more than we've collaborated on in quite a while.

My 13yo ... helping him build his confidence as he grapples with 10th grade science, his first ever formal course work. Material is easy for him, but he's totally new to written assignments and quizzes which are written at the umbrella school. For a kid with serious perfectionism, this is a challenge.

My 11yo ... Muisc typesetting/publishing. She's super independent so almost everything else she does totally on her own.

My 7yo ... is learning Powerpoint and converting fractions to decimals, and I'm helping her learn the Vivaldi g minor violin concerto.

And together we're all learning to build a cob oven.

Miranda

[*Jessica*]

Originally Posted by wendybird

Rome has fallen and the Celts are not holding together so well. Epic outdoor battle coming soon. We are making banners and choosing teams, as well as preparing a menu for the armies' feasts.

That sounds like some serious fun! I want more details if you have time to share them! We may have to have a battle of our own.

[NightOwlwithowlet]

We started learning the continents and endangered animals that live on them. But, that actually evolved to classifying animals and plants by kingdom and phylum which lead to classifying vertebrae and invertebrate. We went to the children's science museum and DS had a blast figuring out the different ways to classify animals.

We've been reviewing math (double digit addition and subtraction, time, and money) from last year and started the 'explode the code' book 2. DS has been reading a lot of easy readers about animals. He has been loving watching "Super Why". He getting his new belt in martial arts and learning peano.

[MyLittleWonders]

Well, "right now" I'm teaching ds#1 (9 years old) that though maple syrup does indeed come from trees, it does not grow on any trees in our yard, nor does salsa mysteriously appear in the pantry. (He has no concept of "take only what you need and then add more later if you need more. )

In general though ...

We are moving through the second half of ancient history and are about to land in Greece. Whereas in US History, Columbus, et. al. are about to "discover" America.

We just learned that there are 10 noun forms in Latin - and though we are only in chapter three of LfC A, I'm guessing there are 10 forms for feminine nouns, 10 for masculine and 10 for neuter. Oh, this is going to be an interesting ride.

In science, the boys learned yesterday that the Earth is approximately 75% water - they found that fascinating.

They are learning subject and predicate, and the use of the 8 parts of speech in grammar (MCT Island). I am loving that curriculum and how it explains things.

My four year old is learning to recognize musical greats like Crowded House, Oingo Boingo, and Michael Jackson, and knows that the horns are what make Oingo Boingo's music so much fun. The older two probably know most of the words to Rosemary Clooney's Sisters. (I have a wide and eclectic taste in music and am making sure the boys know the various artists in our iTunes playlist - their favorite song right now is Dead Man's Party.)

And I figured out this week how to help make long division more conceptual for ds#1. He does well with algorithms, but also loves knowing the why things work, and we use Singapore & Miquon purposely because they are conceptual in their approach. But having never been taught math conceptually myself, sometimes I have to stretch my brain around it all. Seeing long division done with place-value discs was great. And he's slowly learning to like multiplication and division as he is slowly, and finally, memorizing his times tables.

[itsnikki]

We just do little day to day things. My daughter (3 yo) likes to help me do chores, and we count everything. She can count to 8, but only if you help her. We do flashcards because she likes them. We got them from Dollar Tree and she really likes her Disney Princess number cards and the Pooh's Go Together Game one. She loves puzzles and building things. She is JUST like her daddy in that respect. We have some wooden blocks of different shapes, and she'll build towers and make her dollies knock them down. She's seriously good at puzzles and can put a small wooden one together by herself.

We read, alot. And since there is a playground fairly close by (about 15 minutes) we go there once a week or so. We play in the yard.

Basically-- every day life. I know I have time to start on more school-type things, but I don't see why we have to get TOO in to that right now. I just want her to play and enjoy herself.

[phathui5]

This week we're away on vacation, so we've been learning about the beach and the ocean

[littlewing]

My 8 year old is reviewing math (and grammar/writing while we wait on the books I ordered last-minute that should be here by Monday)
- in science we're learning about atoms and molecules
- in history we're learning that Catholics and Protestants didn't get along very well, and sometimes that meant someone lost their head
- he did his first logic puzzles this week and LOVED them
- in spelling we learned about hard and soft letters and how some words have both (garage, ice cream)
- in handwriting, we learned the cursive letters e and l, and also practiced joining them a la el, and le
- in literature, we've had the awful misfortune of starting the first of the Lemony Snicket books

My 3 year old learned that mom and dad prefer that he color in his drawing book or on loose paper, instead of the laptop screen. lol

And I'm learning that I'm just going to have to jump head-first into this Latin stuff, b/c the intimidation doesn't just wear off walking past it every day.

[simple living mama]

I've got my daughter learning about the Holocaust. I dreaded this as it's such a hard thing learning about how monstrous people can be but it's important. They have a math tutor this year so I'm glad they will be moving up in math before high school level. They are reading great Newbery prize winning books and I'm making sure their typing skill are great this year. Also, making sure their grammar and punctuation are right on the money because texting can screw all that up if I don't stay on top of it.

[*Jessica*]

We're learning a lot of fun things right now. We've been studying ancient India in history, so we've covered Hinduism and Buddhism and done sand art and meditation. In American history we've just started to discuss the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayans. We're studying weather and the water cycle for science. We're learning some introductory Latin with Song School Latin, which we all love. We're doing lots of fun art projects using Discovering Great Artists. We've been adding more educational computer games in most subjects. We're learning typing with Dance Mat Typing. We've learned the science behind baking cookies, and then enjoyed eating them. We've made videos of the poems they've memorized and recited. We're learning about Leonardo da Vinci and his paintings and inventions, which is incredibly fascinating to the boys. We're learning about the music of Tchaikovsy, and the music of AC/DC. And as always, we're observing the habits of our beloved guinea pigs.

[Hiker Mama]

After an extremely stressful summer full of upheaval and uncertainty, we were so ready to begin "school" this week. We had an open house at our alternative school ( we are hybrid homeschoolers), and attended 2 of our 3 classes. DS (8) is taking a culture, geography, and history class. To go along with that class, we are digging into our ancestors and where they came from. This has involved calling grandparents and interviewing them and learning how to create a family tree. The information we learn will be used by the teacher in our class to guide the activities they do throughout the semester, so they can do crafts and learn specifically about the areas of the world each of the kids are descended from.

DS is also taking a clay animation course at school, and he learned the rules of the class/teacher, how to set up the equipment, and how to shoot a simple clay movie. I am thrilled for this class! I want to take it! He will be taking a Lego class, as well, and the teacher for this one is so sneaky - she is using the awesome Lego lab to help kids learn project management skills - something ds really needs to learn. We won't start this class until the week after next.

On our own we have been reviewing math (ds is still scarred from public school in this area) and working on handwriting in preparation for learning cursive. We learned that there will be a Picasso exhibit coming to our local art museum this fall, so we have been learning about Picasso, cubism, surreal and abstract art. We watched a video (which I should have previewed since it had some adult concepts like eroticism - oops!) about Picasso that explained the evolution of his art. Very interesting - I am learning as much as my son. He has been inspired by all the art books we checked out, and spends large chunks of time every day drawing or painting in various styles.

DD (4) is itching to learn to read and write, so we've been working on that in small increments. She is driven to do things just like her older brother. She is also learning that lying elicits stern punishment, and it's really hard to hide it when you poop in your pants.

Both kids continue to learn tough life lessons about budget making, choosing where the money goes, and how finite money is. I hope they are learning to be content and grateful with what they have. I need to be learning this lesson, too.

We're excited for this year and the plans we have.