Announcement List

Hey everyone. I've set up an e-mail announcement list for OakKnollAcademy.blogspot.com. I'm not exactly sure how it's going to work, but I don't plan on flooding your inbox. I'll be tweaking the settings as needed in order to keep your inbox as clear as possible while still updating you on new posts to the blog. Also, feel free to unsubscribe from the announcement list if you want to.

Please leave comments on the blog! The boys love to hear what you have to say about their adventures in learning. You don't have to have a blogger account to leave a comment. Just choose "Other" when leaving your comments and you will be able to type in your name as regular text.

Hope to hear from all of you soon!

Reading to My Brother

The advantages of having a child who can read!

Lotho was gone one night this past week and I had to put the boys to bed by myself. Drogo was having a hard time going to sleep and needed to be rocked. Dimple was in the tub and he and Rill needed a story before bed. I had a problem. Well...you can look at the picture above and see the solution to my dilemma! Just have Rill read to Dimple while I rock Drogo back to sleep. The big boys thought it was fun and the little one had some peace, quiet and snuggle time with Momma!

Cupcakes for Breakfast?

A Very Merry UnBirthday to You!

Yes, we had cupcakes for breakfast on Friday. We read Ask Mr. Bear this week, a story about a little boy who searches for the perfect birthday present for his mother. We talked about the illustrations, being polite, woodland habitats, and all the different animals the little boy meets along the way. We ended the week with an UnBirthday party and ate cupcakes for breakfast. I'm looking forward to next week's book, Blueberries for Sal. I think we'll have blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

First Day of School!

Rill is in Kindergarten! We started school August 1st with a very light schedule. We are adding one new subject each week and hope to have a full slate by Labor Day.

We started out with phonics using The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. The next week we added math using Right Start Math Level A. This week we are adding Before Five in a Row so that Dimple can join us (for now we try to school when Drogo is asleep). We will be adding Handwriting Without Tears next week and Five in a Row Volume One the week after that. I will also be adding Art and Music Appreciation, memory work (Bible and poetry), and Catechism. After Labor Day Rill will be starting a co-op on Wednesday mornings where he'll have Science, Karate, and Art.

So far things are going well and Rill is doing wonderfully! He has really taken off with reading and is looking forward to the day when he can read Farmer Boy all by himself. He's really enjoying math and seems to do better at it than his mother did. Hopefully he'll take after Dad in that subject.