See? She really does the worksheets…

Some of the worksheets I’m making up are not for this year… but some are.  Though it’s been a busy week, here are a couple that Naomi has enjoyed this week.

This one’s a first:  map work for the weekly parsha.  She’s fascinated by maps anyway (“No, I’m not – I’m only interested in princesses!”), and with the help of our atlas, quickly grasped that these two were basically the same map to different scales.  (you can find the printable PDF here)

We talked about the journey into Mitzrayim and traced the path with our fingers and then a marker, along with several features that are the same on both maps. 

I also showed her that, however long it would have taken to go directly to Goshen on a camel (I told her a few weeks), the way back took even longer – 40 years!  I showed her a bit of the path that they wandered back, and I think it piqued her interest for incorporating maps a bit more in future.

She also finished up this Chanukah copywork sheet.  At first she kept saying she didn’t know the words, but then read them all quite nicely.  Her handwriting is lousy with the pen – I think we should go back to markers for these.

I really do believe that most of her education at this point should be worksheet-free.  To that end, we finished up our Chanukah money “unit” with loonies and toonies ($1 and $2 coins, and yes, I know they are dumb names!).

We counted them – though I didn’t have enough loonies left to make it a really good lesson.  She “traded” piles of four quarters for loonies, and piles of two loonies for toonies.

We will revisit this subject again, but I like the fact that we have done an entire math unit with absolutely no handwriting required – manipulatives only.  And money is a GREAT manipulative; kids are inherently fascinated by it… it is so tactile, so multi-sensory (jingly, and cool, and it has a metallic smell, too!). 

Fun!  I highly recommend doing simple money math with any kids old enough not to swallow it!  A simple introduction might use a 3-part Montessori style:  “this is a dime” - “show me a dime” - “what is this?”

We have been up to so, so much this week.  Hopefully, next week I will get back to planning ahead and actually writing it all (or most) up!