This is the week before school starts. In order to prepare Jennifer, age 8, I have started to get her reacquainted with daily studies. Of course, she was resistant to doing assignments. But I know this habit will make the transition back to school easier for her.

And so today, I created some assignment sheets. Our printer doesn't work, so I had to use just pen and paper. Which ended up working out fine, really. Writing on the lines helped her to work on her penmanship.

We started with math. She used a multiplication textbook she has as a guide. I also created a "math problems" page. (They call them "math facts" at her school.) It was a combination of addition and subtraction problems, using single, double and triple numbers. She got 4 out of 24 of them wrong. Mostly, she got confused over where to add and where to subtract -- which I found pretty strange.

I also had her read one of her many storybooks. In addition to reading, we did spelling. She insisted on 15 spelling words, even though I thought that was a lot. But she was certain that was fine. So, using a Web site that has lists of spelling words for third graders (the grade she is going into), plus some other words I know she has trouble spelling correctly, I put together a list of 15 words and had her study them while I graded her math sheet. Then I tested her on the spelling of the words. She got every one of them right! Even the words she had trouble spelling before. She even spelled "vacation" correctly. Yay!

I wanted to teach her something about science. She was nervous about this, as it is not her strength, but I promised to go easy on her. I put together a worksheet about what earth science is and the different types of fields in earth science. Then I did a short quiz for her to take to see if she understood the fields. For example, "what is it called when you study the water and oceans of the earth?" She correctly answered "oceanography." She aced this worksheet, as well. She admitted her brain exploded from that assignment, but she was proud of doing so well with it.

For physical activity, I told her to go ride her bike for a half hour. And for music, I told her to play instruments with her brother and be a "band." They even created a song. Of course, I couldn't hear it, but it was so cute to watch them perform it. Her little brother kept wanting a different instrument to play. She got a little frustrated with him but at least she got to play her song.

For art, she drew a picture of a little girl rescuing a cat from a tree.

It was an interesting "school day" that wasn't really a school day. We'll see what the rest of the week brings.