Typical School 'Table' Lesson

Around here, about 50% of what we learn is done at the kitchen table. With two school age kiddos and two preschoolers, I try to get as much done in one lump as I can. Jefferson and Reagan can focus better this year but Lincoln is very hard to occupy, as he wants everyones attention. So generally, Reagan works on her phonics workbook, I sit next to her to explain or help as I am also teaching Jefferson spelling (or math or science). In this photo, he is doing the hands-on portion of his spelling lesson, while Lincoln plays with tiles and Reagan finishes her MCP phonics. Adam, thankfully, is at preschool in the a.m.

And in an atypical home school *science* lesson this particular week in November, Jefferson's body decided to react to one of our fermented beverages that I may have kept in the fridge just a tad too long. He has always enjoyed kombucha and never had an allergic reaction to it before so imagine my surprise when his face started to look like I had slapped him silly! Sheesh - the stinking food allergies in this family are gonna kill me...

Daniel Boone's Homestead

My dh discovered another interesting Pennsylvania location for us to explore this fall - the Daniel Boone Homestead. I never knew it was so close to us and I was also thankful that he was willing to take Jefferson and Reagan, considering I was plenty tired in my last trimester of pregnancy (November 11, 2010). For not having studied about him prior to going on this field trip, Jefferson and Reagan were able to learn a ton from the excellent tour guide and people on site.  The rifleman and the blacksmith on site spent quite awhile answering their (and by 'their' I mean my dh's) questions. They learned that the image people have of Daniel Boone is very often inaccurate or biased by different historians. He never wore a coonskin hat (thought it was uncivilized to do so) but rather, a beaverskin hat. Any money that he earned, he usually spent poorly & quickly and didn't care for his 'white' family very well. He even had another family of kids with a native at one point in his life! The visit to this famous frontiersman's original home helped to clear up a lot of these misconceptions created by people and movies. I made Jefferson journal when he got back, because I know that he was able and I wanted him to get down on paper all that was fresh in his mind. But Reagan decided to journal because she was actually interested in all that she learned! Since she has only been working on copywork this year (no other writing) I am always thrilled when she volunteers to write, as it is still a difficult process for her to get thoughts from mind to paper.

May 1, 2011 is Children's Day so visit the website  if you're interested in a very cool field trip! There is plenty to learn and see!

Jefferson's journal:
On my trip to the Daniel Boone Homestead located in Reading, PA I was the spring cellar in the Boone house, saw the horses & sheep, saw the blacksmith shop when he was working, listened to a person tall us about Daniel & had cake & went to the rifle range.  My favorite part was the blacksmitth shop because someone was working it & he told us about it.  I also liked where the person taught us about Daniel. About halfway through his life, Daniel was captured & adopted by Indians. He had a new wife and family. Then he heard about a plan for attack on Boonsburg.  So Daniel went & warned Boonsburg but he was shot in the leg and someone brought him back to the fort to save his life. But Daniel was best known for illegally helping settlers across the gap. Most people think of Daniel Boone as really free-spirited.

Reagan's journal:
We saw the House, the smokehouse, the blacksmith, the sawmill, and a man who taught us about flintlock guns. Daniel Boone was a famous frontiers man who lived from 1734 until the 1790's. And I saw the cellar it had a spring they can use it as a fridge. And they could store food in it so that the food did not get rall [raw - lol!] and so it staes good food to eet. Thay mad lots of things at the blacksmith like nails and horseshoes and lots of other things that are useful. That is what I did on the trip.

Colonial Williamsburg Trip 2010

It's way past time to post this field trip and since it was such a nice one, I don't want to skip it just because life is busy as usual around here.

Although I was planning to take this trip in late October, I only discovered last minute that Colonial Williamsburg was offering a Homschool Educators Week starting 9/11/10 (another in Feb so check out the site!).  So, with no planning under my belt and only a desire that Jefferson should at least experience this piece of history (before we get too far away from his revolutionary war summer learning), I booked a hotel and ran down with he and Reagan for 4 days. It was crazy last minute for me but I feel like that stretches & grows my ability to flex (a talent that I was NOT born with - lol!).

(Her mood prior to getting a side cramp from all the walking!)

We arrived on a Saturday noon, checked in and head directly for the Colonial Williamsburg to get any needed tickets and try to catch as much in the last half of the day as possible. Having not researched our options ahead of time, it was a bit overwhelming at first.  There are evening programs, costume rentals, carriage rides, & numerous museums available in addition to the classes offered to the home schooling groups and various tours available (and even online lesson plans & maps for those of you who are better at advanced prep than I)! 

But we managed to check out an introductory video and the miniature model of the town with it's summary of the city's important part in America's colonial and revolutionary days.  Jefferson was reluctant to start taking notes, but I assured him that wondering around the town with NO background as to it's history or people would be more useless and boring than he would like! He was surprised to learn how large the Virginia Colony actual was and how important it was to the churning revolutionaries. We headed out to explore & I quickly realized that we should have pre-trained for all the walking just as if we were training for a marathon - lol!

We stopped and explored the Great Hopes Plantation first.  Wow - was there a lot to see there! It is only about a quarter of the size of the Plymouth Plantation replica in MA, but full of things to do and learn.  It consists of a smokehouse, well, slave house, kitchen house, tobacco house, master's house (not built yet), fenced in livestock areas and fields.  Jefferson and Reagan started by learning to hand dip candles from a hot cauldron full of beeswax.  It took them quite some time to make just one candle!  We next checked out the cotton field (having never seen a cotton plant before even online!).  The plants were in bloom with yellow flowers which then grow pods full of cotton.  When the pods dry, they crack open and the cotton must be picked.  After observing these plants, we talked to one of the actor 'slaves' only to find that cotton did not actually become a cash crop in Virginia until about the 1820's!  Before this, flax was used for clothing and cotton was not in as high demand as was tobacco.  We also learned that slaves could not purchase their own freedom in Virginia between the years 1720 and 1783.

On to the Colonial town - what a beautiful place!!  Many of the original buildings have been rebuilt and actors wonder around with their instruments or animals. We found many horses in pasture (belonging to the 'richer' colonialists for their carriages) and sheep & chickens.  The streets are lined with trees that would not have been there in colonial times, having been used for buildings or firewood.  Jefferson was thrilled to find a soda machine (hidden away) that accepted credit card for the water bottles ($3 EACH!) that we so much needed and I so foolishly forgot.  We found our way to the brick capital building to wait for a cannon salute.  We enjoyed an amazing fife & drum march along with a moving speech from Patrick Henry and the Governor as they took down the English flag and replaced it with an American colonial flag.  The kids REALLY enjoyed this!

And all this was only in half of a day!  We settled into our hotel that evening and I required Jefferson to journal about the day, using notes he had taken along the way. Though willing to do this for Mrs. Third Grade Teacher last year, he dragged his feet on it for me (in his typical home school style - at least it doesn't rub so hard on me this year as it did in 2nd grade: progress for this teacher momma!).  Sigh.... but I knew he'd regret it later if he didn't have a record of his thoughts so we pushed through and hashed over the events until he could formulate them into his own words.

We visited local family & friends on Sunday but hit the pavement again on Monday, heading straight for the Jamestown Settlement (also having some great home school classes).  We missed the home school classes since I didn't find out about them until 2 days before, but got take a 2-hour tour which was geared toward kids. Wow - it turned out to be nice also!  We started at the three ships (replicas of the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery) used to bring the first colonists over to the new world from England. The kids were amazed at how small they were and didn't think that they would have liked to make that journey even once!  We walked through a small replica of the Powhaten village that would have been close to the settlement and learned how they built their structures with reed woven mats and planted corn in a similar manner to the natives of Plymouth, MA (with a fish under each stalk to fertilize) as well as using fire to burnout logs for canoes (also similar to Plymouth).  Both Rae & Jefferson got to try their hand at using nearby shells to scrape the outside of a burned log and found it harder than they expected! Strangely, we did not learn anything about Pocohantas since we were just lightly touching this bit of history. But I think that the James Fort was the most interesting for the kids.  We learned a ton about how tobacco became a cash crop that saved the colony from starvation (after failed attempts at finding gold, planting corn, cutting lumber, and making green glass) and how the colony protected itself from indians & Spaniards.  We enjoyed a neat demonstration of a colonial gun and wanted to post a video clip but I don't have the patience with blogg*er. Nothing like weapons & armor to attract the kids' attention though!

So here's a tidbit summary on Jamestown Settlement.  If you visit this page, then you'll know just about as much as we do - lol!  I think Jefferson only got the idea of where it fits into history mainly due to the amount that he studied Plymouth Plantation last year.  But I thought the tour was great at summarizing and making some key points clear to the kids!

We took an "Artifacts" tour early the next morning, which turned out to be rather boring, even for me! But we did manage to learn something even though it wasn't quite geared for children. The area is rich, rich, rich with artifacts and give  historians a great view of the cross section of people who lived in colonial Williamsburg. Not only is there a ton of glassware, but planty of pipes, toys, and dinnerware. The other item that the archeologists use to learn about the period is bones! We were surprised to find that the bones of animals in different areas could tell us how well-off the owner of that area was. For instance, a poor person would not ow livestock nor eat good cuts of large animals, like cows so one wouldn't find those bones near their houses. Here are a few pics of some sample artifacts.

On our next tour we learned about daily life & clothing that the colonials wore as well as the fact that Jefferson & Reagan fit quite nicely into the stockades! :-) I think I need to get a set for my house!

The kids told me that our final tour was their favorite - horse & buggies of the period! Colonial Williamsburg keeps many horses (of the original breeds from the period) and a number of carriage replicas which are used to tour people around the city. We learned what it takes to shoe a horse and how many different breeds are kept as well as how very, very expensive the nice carriages were (thus making them much more rare than we think they were).

By the time we were finished running around and were rushing back to our shuttle, we were dead beat! I was amazed at how large the old city was and just how much there was to see and do and learn. Even after so much time and journaling, it seemed like we only just brushed the surface of all there was to see. We didn't even have time to use the hotel pool (a big disappointment to the kids but at least they got to eat at restuarants and have ice cream)!

For anyone who can, this is a trip that is definitely worth it! I think that we'll have to plan this one every few years for the rest of the kids to enjoy as well!

2010-2011 School Year

We have made it through 3 weeks of our new school year and are getting used to all the newness of it. Still need to update my sidebars but here's what's going on around HA....

First big change: Jefferson is at home again! I really can't explain how nice that is - we just love having him home and watching him learn so much! He loved his time away school last year and did very well among the students as well as academically. But by the middle of the year we became aware that God was using the year more as a lesson for us than for him. We were reminded of His calling to homeschool our children and that He is always faithful to meet our needs.

Second big change: we are a little past four months pregnant with our fifth (yup - I counted correctly) baby! We are excited but feeling a bit of pressure due to my lack of energy and first year of accountability with the school district plus the special GAPS diet we are trying to keep implemented around here.  This baby may well just get shoved in box in a white onsie when he/she arrives since I can't yet fathom the prep for it - lol! We only have one child rootin' for a girl while the rest would like another brother but I'm sure that January 23rd will arrive sooner than we all expect! Definitely considering a good baby sling this time if we want to finish the school year...

Third big change: the two littlest boys, Adam (4.5) and Lincoln (2.5) will both be headed to a local preschool, giving me some much, much needed focus on my 4th and 2nd grade students.  So far, I've been shoving them outside or down into our basement play area for a few lessons. That was...until Adam decided it would be fun to peepee on everything in the basement!  Sheesh...what they will think of when noone is looking. September is when they start so, on every day of the week, at least one of them will be in school so that Jefferson & Reagan will have less screaming and fighting to endure from them while trying to concentrate. The boys are both excited and I know they will love it (but not more than I will!!!! as I weep when dropping them off)!

Our plan for Jefferson (4th grade) and Reagan (2nd grade) is working nicely so far though!

4th Grade:
Bible - Kay Arthur inductive study kids series (Jonah)
Sonlight Core 4 History (1850's to the World Wars)
Sonlight Core 4 LA (plus MCP vocabulary and cursive but with no grammar)
Spelling Power
Saxon 5/4 Math (plus DVD teacher)
Chemistry with Answers In Genesis
Rosetta Stone (beginning at year 1 again by his choice)

All reading, read-aloud, geography, grammar, dictation, writing, timeline work, memory work, vocabulary is included in the Sonlight program. He is old enough to study his bible independently now (with my checking his conclusions) and we already enjoy the Kay Arthur inductive studies. We have yet to find any other children's program that isn't just fluff or summarized Bible reading and are seeing progress with him in this study on Jonah already. 

Spelling Power is a program that works for 3rd through 12th grade and only takes us 15 minutes each day. We'll see how it improves his spelling or not by the end of the year.

Having used Saxon math at away school last year, Jefferson requested it for homeschool this year. Aaaaaand then he whined and fussed about it for the last three weeks we've used it!  Oy - a momma sometimes can't win - lol! I think it works well for the way that he thinks but he was just having trouble adjusting to all his different lessons (SL breaks things into little pieces which then makes math feel like it takes too long). Today he decided that he'd have a better attitude about it, thankfully!

 He is already enjoying chemistry and I am relieved to see that the AIG is not too far above his head.  Although we don't always get 3 lessons in, he really likes the experiments so far.  We are using a marble notebook to teach him to record the scientific method to the extent that he can (including any photos, data charts, and drawing). Below he was testing to see whether yeast grow better with sugar or honey as their food source.

2nd Grade
Writing with Excellence Phonetic Zoo (Level A) (phonics based auditory spelling)
MCP Plaid Phonics Level C
AL Right Start Math Level C
Reading to me
Read-aloud
Simply Grammar (Karen Andreola)
The Story of the World (finish v1 & start vol2)
Sonlight Core 2 Science

With Reagan, I am always looking for something....anything....that will work with the way she processes.  She's just not a left-to-right, fit-in-a-box, do-what-everyone-else-does kind of learner.  The Christ Centered Curriculum phonics program that we used for the last 2 years, just doesn't seem to velcro the info into her head nor does it interest her - at all.  So this year, I purchased Phonetic Zoo in the hope that it would help her to develop her auditory processing as well as improving her spelling.  We are taking it slowly, but I hope to have her grab the headphones and complete lessons on her own by Jan. In the meantime, she is really enjoying MCP phonics workbook because she can read the instructions herself, complete 2 pages in a short amount of time, and it's full of color and varying excercises which hold her attention.

For math, we continue with the Right Start program that I love so much and that gave Jefferson such a strong math foundation.  I have found that the only difference in her learning is that she requires more practice (which in this program comes in the form of card games mostly but also much abacus work) than he did in order to deepen her understanding of an algorithm.  I have been pleasantly surprised so far this year at her memory of what she previously learned (she had about 8 weeks summer break due to the pregnancy!) as well as her willingness to talk through her solution process with me.  I think she is finally understanding that I expect her to show me what's going on in her brain so that I can help her to become better! 

Reading outloud is something that Reagan finds to be laborious, except on the rare occasion where she is reading to the little boys.  And yet she needs it more than she realizes since she still doesn't sound out difficult words very well (she just isn't willing to slow down and try - just wants to know or else skip it).  So I have to be careful what we choose for her to read, so that she finds more success than frustration.  We only spend about 15 minutes each day and I hope that this is enough?  Currently, we are enjoying the "Millers" series of readers by Christian Light Publications but I will use anything that I see holds her attention.

Read aloud is just as tough for me to figure out for her.  I am not able to read something like "Jason & the Argonauts" or "Moccasin Trail" and expect any comprehension out of her. So instead of reading from the same things I did for Jefferson (mostly based on where we were in history), I'm just grabbing at straws.  She liked the adaptation of the Odyssey that I found and has enjoyed the last two Magic Tree House books (Ancient Greece & Ancient Rome) but I really want to move into harder works or have her listen to the stuff I'm reading to J. But maybe later - we'll see.

I am hoping to be more diligent in The Story of the World this year, as we barely worked through half of it last year.  This would have stressed me a few years ago, but I have figured out that she needs more in depth study or sources in order to really connect with history (coloring pages, maps, Usborne, DK Eyewitness, Magic Tree House, etc).  And with her slowness to read and write, I could not concetrate much on history last year. I do enjoy SOTW however, and will not be trying to incorporate Mystery of History this year as it does not suite her learning style. My goal is to stay on top of adding living books to her history, so that she starts to get a real feel for the ancient peoples and places.

Science definitely interests her if I can keep it short and to the point. We are using SL Core 2, which is a combination of different studies.  She finally has enough penmanship and reading skills to handle these short lessons.  Plus, I am trying to keep her in the loop on the experiments that Jefferson is doing (below is our lactic acid fermented veggies/pickles).  I find it interesting that she will often be sitting in her own time, reading a Magic School Bus book or some other books from our science shelf!  We will continue to incorporate nature sketches when we can, as she is finding that she loves to draw and she loves to look at Creation. It's so exciting for me to see her interested in something!

Right now we are still in the exciting, new part of the year and are just finding our groove.  Summer keeps interrupting us, but pool time, rollerskating, and bike riding all count as P.E. around here and the weather and camp must be enjoyed as we have it.  The house seems particularly messy (as the 'littles' get more unsupervised time) but the structure is definitely doing us all good and is feeling comfortable again.  I am surprised at what God has done with my teaching style in the 5 years since I started J in Kindergarden! I hope that Jefferson and Reagan will  both learn this year, that above all, I just want them to put in their best effort and be diligent in working through any frustrations they may have.  Reagan needs to learn to accept my correction, no matter how small, with no rebellion (depending on her mood, she can have a major breakdown if I even ask her to erase a word and put it somewhere else on the page!).  And Jefferson needs to get himself out of "I'm being graded" mode and more into "I need to learn/remember something about this for my own benefit" mode (I can already see him starting to motivate himself  better each day and I'm hoping it continues!).

So this may be it for awhile around this blog, as this pregnant momma just can't do everything (this garden shot was 3 months ago - before it turned into an inaccessible jungle)!  I'll try to get some photos or updates in along the way this fall!

Baby Chicks - Fun project!

I love the little things that God brings to our home school experience to make it more interesting and exciting for the kids (and me too)! At the end of our hs co-op, we got an email from a hs acquaintance asking if anyone wanted to try incubating some chicken eggs. Sounds interesting but I didn't think I had time to figure out how to make an incubator.

Thankfully someone at co-op offered to lend us one! Awesome! I mean - how hard could it be to turn some eggs a couple times every day, right?

So the kids helped me to label the eggs so that we could remember to turn them and then they learned that we needed to keep the incubator between 98 and 103 degrees while keeping water in it to maintain humidity. Someone also told us to keep the eggs slanted with the big end slightly upward - haven't figured out if that was needed but we did it.

The egg part was easy (although it has taken us a huge part of my kitchen counter space for 3 weeks) but I worried about them getting turned when Jefferson and I went to Phoenix for a week. But dh turned out to be a good egg turner - even with 3 kids, 2 hermit crabs, a garden/flowers, and a fish to take care of also!

Jefferson and I got back from Phoenix just in time for them to start hatching - 21 days exactly! They waited until evening to do it so I had to video much of it for the kids (and you!) to see. It took each chick about an hour to get itself our and start flopping around. I stayed up late to wait for them to dry before I moved them over to our brooder. We somehow managed to throw it together last minute (typical of me!) with one of our heated lamps, a box and aluminum foil.

Hatching Chickens from DNAC on Vimeo.

We hadn't been looking at the calender closely enough and weren't ready for them to hatch. So we had to wait until the next day to run to a friend's farm to get feed for them. It has been harder to keep the temp in the brooder steady for them since it is an open box but using aluminum foil on top helps.

The baby chicks are very cute and fluffy! They peep and peck and hop and then spontaneously sleep. The kids love to watch them in their box and keep asking me to keep them. It stresses them to be handled but it is hard to resist doing so. Unfortunately, we let some little friends hold them and one got dropped! I was hoping with would be okay but it seems not to be using it's right leg. :-( Future reference for anyone else - chicks ARE breakable!

Here are some cute pics! Glad to have been able to do this project but now that they are smelling up my kitchen, I'm ready to get them back to the farmer - lol! Don't think my neighborhood association would care for any livestock in our backyard (not that I wouldn't mind the healthy, soy-free eggs!)......

Our last couple of terms...

Holy guacamole, am I glad that we made it to break! I could tell in this last week especially that we all need some time out of the normal routine and into the sunshine (although the clouds aren't lettin' much of that through yet).


Every time we get to a break, I can't believe how much we accomplished and how much we learned! So I've got to break it down so I can have a reminder (and encouragement for the next time I need a break, huh?) but it won't be too interesting for anyone else - sorry.

Jefferson

Math - He is slowly but surely learning how to turn his skip counting into multiplication, enjoying working with shapes and symmetry, becoming quicker and quicker with his mental addition and subtraction. His favorite activity over the last terms, however, was learning to use his T-square and 30-60-90 triangle to draw interesting geometric shapes. He still loves the card games too, of course. I am trying to continue to strengthen his ability to put his thought process into words, however, so that I can tell whether he fully understands a concept or not. This also helps him to see math as more than just numbers, but something that is part of life. I can see that he still struggles with this, as word problems still slow him down.


Phonics - This year we have been slowly working through Christ Centered Curriculum, the program we used with him in Kindergarten and half of 1st grade. It's a very thorough and is doing a good job of broadening his vocabulary, strengthening his spelling and reviewing the grammar he's already learned from FLL. However, this is his least favorite subject since it almost always involves having to sit through 2 fussy younger brothers, 1 on-the-verge-of-tired mommy, and a grumbly tummy before lunch. Also, just as I did when we used this program in K, I still find the lessons to be too long and hard for me to shorten. I have to remind myself to keep them light so he doesn't hate them too much.


Grammar - Jefferson is finally getting the idea behind this subject and looks forward to showing me that he can diagram a sentence without my help. As always here - repetition and more repetition. But - he is enjoying it more now that he is more confident (and it helps that I'm working harder to keep the lessons shorter). We are on track to finish FLL but I am learning that I will not be using this book with Reagan.


Spelling - We cover this in our phonics lessons and review weekly.


Reading - What fun I am having this year to see Jefferson read, read and read! I can hardly keep up with the books for him. He always gets his required 45 minutes finished before breakfast. But in January, dh and I found something else vying for his attention - computer games. Since dh makes his living with computers, there's no outlawing them from the house - lol! So we decided that he could earn up to 2 hours of computer time (to be spent only on weekends) by reading 3 minutes for 1 minute of game time. This cut out all badgering and begging during the schooldays as well as any whining when game time was over. And the added benefit is the way he is constantly using addition and multiplication to figure out his minutes. All in all, he's reading at least 1.5 hours each day (minimum) and loving it. He tells me his favorites are the "Millers" series from Rod & Staff and our read alouds - the missionary stories of Nate Saint, Rachel Saint, and Amy Charmichael. He finished "The Tale of Desperaux" and "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh" each in one day (not that the motivation of a movie didn't help). He is writing one narration sheet each week, but I need to work on getting him to narrate to me more often than I currently do. This skill needs more polishing but often gets skipped in the chaos around here.


Spanish - Such inconsistency here! Half the time Jefferson goes to do his computer lesson, dh has done something to the computer that makes the headset not work. And this is the lesson that always gets skipped if we run out of time. So I've asked him to spend some extra time on the foundational lessons and review as he needs to. I need to spend some time catching up with his in the lessons so I can incorporate some of the language around the house.....


History - SOTW2 is dragging on for us this year. I just am not diggin' it and I don't really think it's holding Jefferson's attention either. I just think that we aren't using enough living books or activities to dig deeper - I just don't have enough time. We are only on chpater 27 of 42. But I'm trying not to get to perturbed about it since we are at least learning something each week.


Science - We are STILL not finished with our Astronomy book! Again, this is what gets skipped if we just can't fit it into the afternoon. Jefferson does enjoy learning about outer space and seems to retain the info very well because of this. He likes the little projects and has made some nice narration/illustration sheets for each planet. He was able to do a small lapbook at homeschool co-op as well. But just these past couple of weeks, astronomy has again been set aside for us to concentrate on learning about gardening and he and Reagan are REALLY enjoying it. Photos are posted in our last gardening posts..... Maybe we will get to geology and weather sometime this year?? :-/

Reagan

Phonics - We have finally gotten into a groove with the CCC program. Reagan is more than used to it and is confident that she is doing well. She is VERY perfectionistic about her penmanship and I often have to push her to keep moving instead of getting upset over minor mistakes. She was excited to complete her first copywork sheet and I often find her trying to write something on her own on her other papers. However, we have forgone these lessons for the last month as I started using Phonics Pathways to get her reading (I never felt like CCC got Jefferson reading when he was ready but slowed him down with other tedious work instead). She is able to read short sentences and has finally started her little readers. I can tell that she is getting excited about what she's learning since she is always trying to sound out words that she sees around her! I can't wait until she can start reading short books!


Math - Reagan really enjoys math but I'm finding that it's easier for me to fit in her phonics or reading lesson into our daily chaos. We are behind in this subject, but she is confident is what she's learning (partitioning 10, counting to 100, learning to group, looking for patterns, copying shapes, writing her numbers) and is enjoying it so I am happy.


So over this break, I hope to prepare for the coming homeschool convention as well as the next term. Don't know where there will be time to rest, but hopefully the sun will come out and we'll all get some much needed fresh air! The kids have been enjoying some nice pre-Easter activities at home church and are looking forward to heading to church next weekend for Easter.

Connecting the Dots....

I love to post about the times when our kids make connections on their own (even as I type, Jefferson is pointing to my use of "their"). It's just a nice reminder that they actually ARE learning something, right? Not to mention the awesome grin on their face when they finally connects the dots about something we have been learning.

Grammar has been something which Jefferson has been struggling to wrap his mind around these past 2 years. And I have been wondering why I am even teaching a 'structured' grammar subject at all (rather than a more CM style, exposure approach). He drags his feet at the FLL book and it seems to take him forever to memorize definitions. He gets frustrated when he can't answer my questions about sentence parts (nouns, pronouns, verbs, etc.) that I feel like he's learned over and over (and I won't lie - I get frustrated too!).

But, just like happened when learning to read, he seems to finally be putting these foundational pieces together. It's kind of like turning on a light - only I don't know what it was that drew all the info together! He is finally able to label a sentence and give me good example of different parts. He can finally tell me what each part means and I find him checking his own punctuation and spelling.

Today he was excited to discover a homonym in his science work and also that he could spell both the words AND that one of them was a pronoun. I have taught him this many times but I could tell that this was when he made the concrete connection. You know - the time where you know you won't have to teach it again? I wish I could have caught his face with the camera! It's so funny how such a little thing can be so encouraging to both of us - and I am thankful for that!!

THERE - as in "that place over there, Mommy!"

THEIR - a pronoun that "I can use instead of the names, Mommy!"

Normal frustrations, I'm sure...

So I'm sure I'm not the only one who deals with such things, but refuting a negative attitude during lessons is becoming more of a struggle as the kids get used to this homeschooling thing. I'm finding it hard to divide between the teacher-me and the mommy-me and I think this is showing up as more occasions for discipline occur during lessons.

*sigh*

I guess this is just one of the realities of being a home educator that is starting to set in. Or maybe it's just part of our personalities clashing as the kids get older and more independent? I mean, Jefferson and I are practically identical so when my tendency to be controlling or bossy comes out in me and in him at the same time -it's a recipe for arguing and tears. And then, why is it that a 7yo boy is so insistent that he already knows everything anyway? And when the slightest request for repetition or giving of direction on my part causes Reagan to whine and fuss so the lesson gets dragged out forever, I have to bite my lip and persevere in my own self-control. Her slowness in accepting my direction or her insistence on completing a sheet perfectly, makes me want to pull out my hair at times.

If I didn't have the Lord Jesus as my savior, I would be angry and sad and hopeless and frustrated (actually I likely wouldn't be homeschooling, as He is the one who called us to it). But I am so thankful that He helps me to remain calm, to be better than I was yesterday, to show patience in the face of 7yo attitude and 5yo whining, and to show love instead of barking my anger. I am never more aware of the difference the Lord makes in my relationship with the kids than during school lessons sometimes, since these can be such testing times. I am so very far from where I think I need to be, but I pray for His grace to cover my failures and I am thankful for each opportunity that I have to spend teaching them through my actions and responses.

3rd week of our 2nd term - excitement of the new year wearing off. Yeah... just normal frustrations, I'm sure...

2nd Grade Science

We are finally feeling more in the groove about science around here. I hadn't gotten our astronomy lessons planned when we started in August so we were just working on finishing up our plant lapbook from the summer.

But four weeks ago we finally started in on Exploring Creation with Astronomy (Young Explorers Series) by Apologia. Initially, I thought that it was a little too heavy for 2nd grade and that we would have to spend 2 weeks on each chapter. But I have been pleased to discover that it fits Jefferson perfectly this year! He is interested in the topic so he is listening well and understanding most of it. I am finding that we hardly have to review our vocabulary cards - the book reviews many terms as it goes and builds upon previous concepts.

As for projects, the book offers from 1 to 2 per chapter, some some quite easy and some more in depth. Each chapter also has an assignment for the student's 'Astronomy' notebook. We have been using the blank sheets from History Scribe for these assignments. Jefferson illustrates what he las learned and then writes his narration (with my help still). So far he has in his notebook, the sun, Mercury, Venus, and a mnemonic sentence he made up to help remember the order of the planets (My Very Easy Motorcycle Journey Seems Uniquely Normal Presently).

We've blown up balloons and hung them so he can see the difference in size. This was time consuming and then they didn't stay inflated for more than 2 days, but we had fun doing it and seeing how the planets compare. We've made a Mercury out of flour and craters with pebbles dropped into it. This week we poured hot butter over a mountain of flour to show how the lava on Venus flows and then hardens. We skipped the solar eclipse viewing box until we are ready for an actual eclipse. And we looked through The Astronomy Book (Dr. Jonathan Henry) from the Wonders of Creation series for more creation based info - nice book but a little over his head right now.

Can't wait to continue our exploration of God's universe! After our next week's break, it's on to Earth, Mars, and beyond.....

Week 5 (T1) 2008

This was a tough one just due to my own lack of motivation. Don't really know why, but I didn't have the perseverance that I needed to push through this week's busyness and get school done as well. Don't get me wrong - we got a lot done. But I just don't feel like the week was complete.

First, Labor Day was a wash. I hadn't planned anything for this day but can't quite figure out how to tell my hs software that. So it thinks we just didn't get the lessons for Monday in! I'll have to find out how to adjust that since we will be adjusting things in the future as well. We read a little in the am and went to a great picnic in the afternoon. It was hosted by old friends. We thought is strange as we left as we realized that we feel soooo much more comfortable with the family of this friend (she has a large, large family who were all there) than we do amongst our own church family. Hmmm...

Tuesday was completely nuts! We were all dead-tired from the late picnic and slept in an hour. The cleaning lady woke me up and I spent the next hour just picking up (so SHE could clean up - you know how that goes! LOL!) and trying to get the kids awake and fed before the speech therapist arrived for Adam. By the time they both left, I had to get lunch ready and no one had gotten ANY lessons done! I think I managed to teach Jefferson grammar, math, and spelling and Reagan got her phonics lesson. Reading didn't happen since I had so many errands to run in prep for Jefferson's party.

Wednesday worked but only slowly. We did manage to get some very good reading time in for history and plan the mosaic that they were suppose to do on Friday. Jefferson is finished with his CCC phonics lessons and I have forgotten to order the next book! So we'll just skip that for a couple weeks, I guess. He's good at it, but I can tell that it's not his favorite. I think that we'll take the extra time (*hahahahehehe* Did I just say extra time? As if!) to start a few minutes of cursive practice each day since our Veritas Bible Primer Book 1 has arrived. I think that Reagan's math lesson got skipped! I had much food planning to do to get ready for our first day of homeschool co-op on Thursday.

Thursday was as tiring as I knew it would be with the co-op. It runs from 10:30am til 2:30 and I have to have everyone's lunches ready the night before if I'm going to get any lessons done in the morning. Even so, I was already tired (thanks to Sarah Palin's late speech Wednesday night) and we barely got out the door with all our stuff. Jefferson finished SWB. Reagan did get her phonics lesson this morning - we are working on short i and more penmanship. I know that she can blend and even sound out short words but need to continue emphasizing these basics for a while longer. Co-op was lots of fun for the kids and even I was as tired out by it as I can get. I will be assisting the teacher in the nursery/pre-k/K room, so I'll be with 3 of my 4 kids.

Friday I tried to get through the lessons that were planned but small details related to Jefferson's birthday kept getting in the way and I finally gave up. I was also very cranky. :-/ I think that days like these are why I have planned to school year round - I don't want to start yelling at the kids just because it HAS to get done. So we didn't - the mosaic will wait until next week. Jefferson played with his Legos (gift from his Nana), we read a bit and I worked on food lists/prep for the party. I also had the kids help me with some extra chores since we weren't doing lessons. The head cold that started Wedns for me is finally getting better....maybe that's what pulled me down this week?

Next week will be a better week I hope. I do feel like we are in a groove and I know that a break is coming soon. I can't actually believe that we have been at this for 5 weeks already - it's feels normal again! We will be skipping Tuesday so that Jefferson can go with dh to hear McCain/Palin speak at F&M University. Dave bought him a McCain booklet to give him some more info and we will be learning more about other presidents over the next couple of months. We just want him to have an awareness of this part of our country's democratic process as it happens!

SOTW2 Copywork Printouts

I can't stand having to come up with something last minute for Jefferson to use for copywork for history. And when I do come up with something, I don't like to have to hand write it on the whiteboard or paper anyway. Who has time for that? So I've typed up and printed out his history copywork for each chapter of SOTW2 - Medieval Times. Here is the link, for anyone wanting some easy copywork printouts for this book!

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd7pqd69_2ghwfq5fj

Now, if I could just get those Astronomy lessons dealt with....we're still putzing around with the plant lapbook!

Week 3 (T1) 2008

Don't have much time for a detailed weekly report this week. We are doing well in achieving our daily goals so far. However, I honestly don't know how this happens! It's only by the grace of God that I get to the end of the day and say, "It all got taught, learned, cleaned, fed, and loved today! Amazing!"

This past week, we had trouble sticking to our schedule. This is because I am getting use to homeschooling and to keeping things in my head as we get further into the year. I am getting a better sense for what needs to get done versus what I want to get done. This week was a "needs" week without any extra fun, crafty, or reading projects.

Tuesday was our "run all over the county" to get our farm food for the next 2 weeks, thus shoving lessons into the afternoon where I was tired and their minds weren't as sharp. But at least Adam was asleep! And somehow Jefferson got tons of time in on his Rosetta Stone Spanish. He loves to practice until he gets 100% and then show me that he has gotten farther and better than I have (I'm a slacker and choose not to shoot for 100's)! I like that he is motivated!

Wednesday was just plain gorgeous outside! Add to that the fact that I was miserable tired (doggone Olympics are causing me to miss my bedtime!) and wanted a 10am nap instead of my usual 3pm power nap, and we got nothing done in the morning. I was all kinds of behind on housework and thought we'd just do the school on Thurs. But we dug in as soon as Adam went for his afternoon nap and amazingly, it all got done again! Not the way I like to do it though, since Jefferson didn't get any breaks and dinner got pushed back. You just can't give up weather like that though - it keeps the kids growing and healthy!

Thursday we played a little catch up after a morning run to the grocery (I swear it takes me 3 or 4 trips to get our food for 2 weeks all bought and put away!). We read and read (Arthur but soon it will be Beowulf!) and walked and then did another item for our plant lapbook. Jefferson seems to be learning something from these but Reagan struggles to focus long enough to finish even these little parts. I know she's soaking something up though when she spits info back out at me when we're looking at plants in the yard. We used white carnations this week to show that colored water moves from the vase to the petals - they loved this!

Friday Reagan and I had our first interrupted lesson due to her behavior. Truthfully, she was so fussy this entire week that I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner! I was running through a listening exercise with her for phonics. When she missed one and I corrected her, she started fussing and whining. I tried to talk to her about how learning isn't where we get everything right, but where we practice and make mistakes. But she wouldn't listen and I could tell she was shutting down. I stood up and ended the lesson (with the mistake of slamming my pen down too hard) and a tantrum ensued. For some reason, however, she collected herself quickly and asked me to come finished the lesson! For those who know her, this borders on miraculous since it required her to calm herself AND humble herself. The Lord was good and we finished the lesson happily! Although I shouldn't have slammed my pen, I have decided that I will NOT even try to teach her when she is upset. I want her to associate our school time with happy learning and comfort - not stress or anger. And so far, she is pleased as punch to be "doing Kindergarten!" and I am thankful that God has given me the wisdom to be able to read her body language and keep her lessons enjoyable!

I STILL haven't completed my science plans and am starting to stress about it! I am ready to move into astronomy and I know Jefferson will love it. But the evenings and weekends keep slipping away! When I'm not catching up on the housework, I'm enjoying the kids and can't stick my back to them by sitting at my desk. And I get so tired in the evenings after dinner. I think I'm going to have to ask dh for some special time without the kids.....

But at least the Olympics are over and I can get some better sleep this week!! That will surely help. And for those who know her, please continue to be in prayer for Reagan and how we deal with her wisely and lovingly!

Week 2 (T1) 2008

This week I'm actually going to try to get this posted on time (without giving up sleep and while maintaining all other priorities, right? *snortchucklechuckle*).



Our 2nd week of school went as smoothly as the 1st and I must admit that I am excited to be back into the structure of school! I tried to plan activities and daily items for us all over the 7 weeks that we had for summer, but it still was just too long without school. I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to get less done, be less focused, and less organized when I don't have a well-defined structure in place. I'm assuming that the same goes for my kids since I could see their behavior slide as the weeks went on.



This week had no hiccups (or fishbones) and with no homeschool co-op yet started, we took Thursday off to visit the dr and then some friends at a campground (you'll note however, that even though said campground was 0.1 feet from my sil house, that we did NOT visit her. Apologies have already been made and relationships mended with future assurances that such a slight will never occur again! *snickersnicker*).

Jefferson - 2nd Grade

Bibletime is actually going quite well! I think that Explorer's Beginnings II is going just far enough in depth for Jefferson to make him think and also stretch him to remember. This week he worked through the 1st 3 days of creation in his lessons, colored one timeline sheet and colored 3 pages of his Creation booklet. Dh is a little further along at our lunchtime bibletime (since this is just reading and prayer)- they read about Cain and Abel here.



RightStart Math C - Jefferson is still reviewing a few things from last year. We went over 3 different method to add 1 and 2-digit numbers in his head (complete the 10, adding by 9, two 5's method). One lesson was just a practice sheet (as will every sixth lesson be) and games (Corners this week - his favorite). He also finished up his Addition Chart and learned to read an outdoor thermometer. Over the next month (actually this starts September because he cannot stand to start charting something mid-month! Oy - he is just like me...) he will check the outdoor temp each day and graph it. He loves tasks like this and wanted to know "What time of day will we do it?" I was surprised that he realized this on his own!



Language Arts

Grammar was a bit of a struggle as again I faced the fact that the definitions of a noun, pronoun, and verb were not at all sinking in. This is frustrating to me, having taught nothing but these all last year, but at the same time - understandable. I'm realizing that he just doesn't understand the concepts well enough - so it doesn't matter if he can spit the definitions back out at me. This is where only practice will help him at this point. So we started just copying sentences and labeling the N, P, and V so he could visualize and start strengthening what he learned about them last year. FLL is such a typical left-brained auditory book! He enjoys the LLFY much better and we may just move on over to that as the year goes -we'll see.

Phonics was all about the modified vowel this week. Another example of "I haven't a clue what that means, Mommy, even though we went over it plenty last year and last week!" Now... I know that he can read these just fine, so someone tell me why does he need to know the definition of a modified vowel? We are also working on the definition of a homonym and analogy right now. He seems to be fine with reading, spelling, and phonics but struggles when it comes to fishing words out of his brain (whether it be vocabulary or narrations). Hmmmm.....I seem to have always had the same problem myself. Don't quite know how to help him here - I just try to give him starting words, suggestions, verbal cues and encourage him to use more descriptive words.

Spelling covered some suffixes and the two /oo/ sounds (book, tool). This is all from SWB, which we completed last year, but are reviewing a bit to start this year. He is doing well here and it is showing in his dictation.

Reading - his reading is becoming more fluid although it is still common for him to run right through periods and commas only to stop at the end of a line of words instead. He does very well figuring out longer or difficult words phonetically or through context. He finished up "I Wonder" from the Reading to Learn series of Christian Light Publications (I love these books! Great for new readers and full of character lessons).
For our read aloud time we began "Arthur High King of Britain" by Michael Morpurgo. This is a FABULOUS book for read aloud! I was so into it the 1st day we read it, that I had to read ahead after he went to bed! The author presents this well-know myth in a wonderful manner that draws the reader in and holds us tightly. The illustrations are beautiful. I send a thanks out again to Jennefer at Smooth Stones Academy for her suggestion of this author! Jefferson "snuck" it up to his bedroom tonight and will most likely begin reading it on his own in the morning. He narrated it back to me without even realizing that he was narrating! Even Reagan was captivated with Arthur and Merlin today (and that's saying something since her attention span is so short). Next week we'll do a narration sheet with illustration.


Writing - Our Veritas Press Classically Cursive copybooks just arrived but we didn't use them this week. I dictated 4 sentences for Jefferson to put in his "Journal". This booklet has space at the top for illustrations so I ask him to draw something nice for one of the sentences each week. I have noticed that he is writing faster and more sloppily but does better with the 2nd grade lined paper (1/2 inch) than he was doing last year.


Memory Work - reviewed "God's Beautiful World" and started reviewing the Days of Creation. I forgot to start work on our house rules this week (each on has a scripture verse with it).....


History - we read the 1st chapter of SOTW2 on the end of the ancient Roman Empire. Jefferson worked on a map and coloring sheet after looking through our DK Eyewitness Ancient Rome book (I love these books - eyecandy and great info) and a couple library books. I'm not in project mode yet, so we didn't do anything further this week.

Science - Continued to work on our plant lapbook. Although Jefferson enjoys this, the information seems to be getting to him in a piece mealed way and I wonder how effective is this method. But then again, I'm not too focused on it and we've already exhausted the books I'd planned on reading for this topic. It'll look nice when they are finished!

Spanish - Goodness, does Jefferson love this! He is learning that he needs to speak more clearly in order to enunciate in this new language. He discovered this week that he could go back to parts of the lesson and repeat them until he did better (mostly he did this with the verbal lessons). Somehow he figured out that a 100% is the best thing to get and that practice is how he can get there! Ahhhh... the joys of self-motivation! I let him know how it pleased us that he wanted to do better. I also sat down this week and caught up with him in his lessons so that I know how the Rosetta Stone program works and so I can learn Spanish too. Of course, it was much easier for me, having had a couple years in high school but I expect it will get harder soon. At least my background can help him in pronunciation and with any grammar that he just isn't understanding.

Reagan - Kindergarten

Phonics
I am so excited about teaching her phonics! Again this week I was surprised by how much she already knows and how ready she is to read. I barely even had to explain to her how to blend a consonant with the vowels - these seemed easy to her. I did notice as she read, the directionality difficulties she tends toward (switching b/d, p/q etc). I will have to teach her some verbal or visual cues to fix these but I'm not concerned. We reviewed our vowel flashcards each day, read a blend chart (short a), and worked on her 1st Christ Centered Curriculum lesson (hadn't planned on using this but she seems ready!). She gets frustrated easily with her penmanship - seems to think that every letter must be perfect and holds her pencil very tightly, causing her hand to tire easily. I don't push her at all here since my focus is to get her reading, but she likes to have something to show her daddy!

RightStart Math A
Another good week for her. Lessons are still very simple as I get a feel for how long she can focus and where her strengths are. We finger painted 1, 2, 3's, reviewed dot cards, read 1 to 5 on the abacus, and worked on one tracing sheet. Below I've shown the "Mr. Thumbkin" sheet that we used last week to teach her a visual cue for writing her numbers in the correct direction. We start the 2 at his head, go around down to his feet, and then "Run away - they're stinky!" And we start he 3 at his head, go around to his "Smelly armpit" and down to his feet. She just eats this silliness up and it totally sticks in her head! The key with her is to keep it light and fun (not that Jefferson doesn't need the same thing, just that his behavior is more predictable so I never felt I had to work so hard to make it fun!)

I am thankful that we've hit the ground running this year! The Lord has blessed us and I am more than thankful! I need to tweak our schedule around a bit and be very diligent about my own sleep. I look forward to the week to come!