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.

Painting my thumb green

So anyone who knows me know that I have a LOT of learning to do to be considered a 'green thumb' - lol! But really I'm just glad to be learning anything at all!

Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a meeting at an Amish farm about gardening. The scheduled speaker did not show up to answer my millions of questions (didn't he know that I was going to be there??). So the group moved into more of a question/answer discussion mode. This worked out so well for me! I soaked in the info and varied processes of these experienced women and tried to write it all down so that I wouldn't forget it all the instant I stepped foot back into the chaos that I call 'home with four kids.'

One of things I figured out is that the white 'lime' type powder my farmer friend, Mrs. W., had me use was Aregonite and is used to add calcium to the soil and lower the acidity of the soil. I sewed this in with the seeds and not into the entire beds.

I will admit that one of the things which overwhelms me is the topic of soil composition or acidity. So far, I have no idea how to tell whether my soil is balanced with the minerals and nutrients that our veggies need or not. But from listening to these women, I am feeling better about looking at this as a learning process. Something is bound to grow, huh? I just hope that I can start to get a better feel for what it is that I need to add to the soil over time to improve it for improved food results (or lower bug results).

While all the women use some type of fertilizer (I will be using fish fertilizer - peeeeeuuuwww), some use compost and some do not. Some use the dead and dying leftovers from the garden and till them back into the bed to decompose while others use composted grass or leaves. All of them recommended that manure be let sit for at least a year before use (don't think I did this!) so that it will compost also. Epsom salts and kelp were also recommended to nourish the soil but I will stick to the guidance of Mrs. W for this season or until I know better what I need.

We discussed organic bug repellers (I've made a note to look up something called Bullseye) and beneficial attractors - a.k.a. "good smelly plants." I heard the word "Tansy" enough to know that I will be planting a ton of it to attract lady bugs (aphid eaters) and that I should plant a diverse selection of herbs for other good bugs. Marigolds will keep slugs away (although I don't know why they'd invite themselves to my garden in the first place?) and are edible as well.

I will be attempting to grow two heirloom (50 years or older) varieties this year - tomatoes and green beans. I know that they have better nutritional value and draw all their nutrients from the soil (rather that relying on plant food) but heard many times in the discussion that the soil must be very good for them to produce well. They will not look nice and pretty (like grocery store produce) but should taste wonderful, even if I don't get many this year. This weekend is when I'll get a moment to start the tomato seeds (inside) and sunflower seeds (another request from Jefferson).

I would like to say the Jefferson sat on the edge of his seat with excitement upon learning so much from this discussion. But at only 7 years old, and with the beautiful spring weather calling him, he only made it to lunchtime before running out to muck around with the baby pigs and the chickens and the Amish children, whom he couldn't understand. All in all, he would say he had a great time, but at the end of the day couldn't tell me why it's important that we feed our soil good things. *SIGH* Hopefully, he'll pick up the bug for gardening with me and will soon be painting his thumb as well? He's sure to learn something from his gardening unit eventually!

In the meantime, he and Reagan continued their science lesson this week by working on copywork for their gardening notebooks and making these cute garden dioramas. They always love the hands-on projects! Jefferson had wanted to use the veggies on stick as puppets but was pleased with his finished box instead. We still need to hang our butterflies from the top and glue soil on the bottom (it's been too wet to gather dirt). They did a good job reminding and helping me with watering the garden and helping me weed around the house as well.

We are on our way....getting greener every day! I've never been so anxious for the warmer weather to arrive!

Excited about Gardening!

I love to work out in the dirt and sunshine. Pulling weeds makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something. I love plants and nature.

But I don't have a green thumb nor do I know much about gardening or planting flowers. So when dh built me a little (and I do mean 'little') box garden in which I can grow vegetables for us this year, I was both excited and nervous.

Every year I feel like I have time to get my planting/seeds figured out and then - BOOM! - it's May and I've got nothing planted once again. So this year I prayed specifically that God would give me the guidance and time that I needed to fill our new vegetable boxes since March is halfway over and I hadn't even planned anything.

And I'm excited to say that He very specifically answered me! Last week my good friend, Joyful Mama, gave me a call and told me to get in touch with our farming friend who would be willing to help us both with our gardens this year. And when I called her, she was gracious enough to talk me through planning and timing for my boxes. But the most wonderful part is that she went with me to the nursery to get the seeds and supplies I would need AS WELL AS coming over to my house to plant it ALL with me (in the cold drizzly rain while her husband watched her 6 kids)!! I don't know if she realized what kind of gift this was to me. I never learned anything about gardening growing up and tend to be slow at learning from books. So to have her SHOW me was worth far much more than anything else she could have done!

What a blessing and answer to prayer! I couldn't believe how much I learned and got done in just one day!

(Don't know the name of this, just that it is the same as lime for the soil)

The other exciting part about our garden is turning it into a fun unit for the kids. Jefferson and Reagan went to the store with us and helps with the soil prep. Jefferson has requested strawberries and got to plant his own planter box with them. He helped me sow the peas, lettuce, carrots, and spinach while Rae helped with the onions and carrots and watering.

(Jefferson with his two strawberry plants)

(Jefferson's garden diagram with labels)

It was exciting for them to be doing something different than their lessons and reminded me that I need to throw interesting unit studies into our curriculum more often than I do. Jefferson soaked up all the info on the back of the seed packets and is now continually reminding me of when each item should be appearing while Reagan is already thinking about the food our efforts will produce (hopefully - lol!). This was all accomplished on Thurs instead of heading to our homeschool co-op (after all, she knew the right timing for the season and weather and I would give up anything in our schedule for her help!).

(Reagan's coloring sheet)

On Friday, instead of our history, Spanish, or astronomy lessons, we spent the afternoon starting a gardening notebook for each of us (myself included so that I can keep track of what works for us, what materials I need to have on hand, which veggies I like, etc., etc.). They both drew out a plan of the boxes with the veggies we planted labeled and worked on a cover sheet for their books. Through this I have discovered that Reagan is ready for short copywork and was excited to put her own title on. Jefferson kept reminding me of how much fun they were having (thus also reminding me again that we need a break from our regular studies).

(2 boxes of sweet peas, 1 box of lettuce, onion, and carrots)

(Edging my tiger lily bed so the grass doesn't grow into it)

And looking at the forecast for the week, I'm glad we skipped our planned break (2 weeks ago) so we can use this week for some great outdoors time and garden note booking! We are all just so glad for the arrival of spring!

Time keeps on slipping, slippin, slippin.... into the future!

Got a post or two or three swirling around in my head. Need to get some things down in this journal about school and schedule and science.

But there's just.not.enough.time!!

If only I could figure out how to produce extra hours in a day. Or if I could just get rid of all my kids! But I guess that would negate the point, huh? :-)

So in this tiny snippet, whilst half the kiddos are sleeping and the other half are running around outside, when I should be preparing dinner or at least getting myself ready for my women's group, I'll just drop some photos on here for ya'll to view.

Hey - at least it's something!

(Science - observing and writing about a robin's nest from the yard)

(Reagan - always pretty in blue!)

(Lincoln - caught just chillin' with the remote and a battery in his mouth)

(Jefferson and I)

(Lincoln doesn't like the red pre-flash on my new camera)

(Playing with my new camera)