Over the Autumn Months

There are several posts mulling in my head right now. There is one on second grade botany experiments and demonstrations and another about the spider that hung her sac of eggs right off our grill. I assure you, I got some pictures to share! But they will all wait until another day. I thought it fitting to 'bring you up to speed' on what has been happening around here. In case anyone was curious where I have been these past couple of months.

 

In a round about way starting at 9 o'clock and moving clockwise...

We went to the fair one September day. It was the fair I grew up attending. Always fun to take the children some place I frequented as a youngster. We saw alpacas, cows, pigs, goats, bunnies, sheep, ducks, produce, quilts, flowers, and a milking contest!

Volleyball season has ended. Our oldest gal loves to play and we enjoy watching her. Her younger sister plans to join her this spring in the skills session.

Despite all the fun out of the house activities and field trips, we still homeschool daily. Our youngest is learning cursive.

Flag football season was a hoot! Our youngest son played while my husband and our oldest son served as referees.

For our oldest son's fifteenth birthday we drove to watch his favorite team take on the Baltimore Orioles. It was the last game of the regular season and the O's had already clinched their spot. The team we rooted for...not so much. Their season was over. Donned in red, white, and blue we tread carefully through the sea of orange to our seats high up in the stadium. Despite our attire, the crowd was jovial and welcoming. Probably because their team was securely going on. Ours was not. However, in the end, the Red Sox won to the delight of our birthday boy!

Finally, our youngest daughter decided twelve was the age for her ear piercing (We allow them to decide once they reach 11.) With much courage, she sat in the chair as a tech punched each ear lobe with a blue flower.

Starting in the top left corner...proof that academic lessons are happening. A daughter displaying her Japan map (Mystery of History, Volume 2 activity)

Our youngest trying out the guitar. A generous relative passed the guitar on to us last year. The children have enjoyed this greatly!

Reading never stops around here - for which I am grateful!

The first of hopefully many winter weather storms to come. It's Christmas season, of course, I'm hoping for snow. This strong opinion may or may not change come mid-February. Consider yourself warned.

Yoda pictures are multiplying! After rediscovering his brother's drawing (which you can see here), our youngest decided to make his own.


Some things that so did not make the pictures, because who can take pictures during these?

• IEW writing seminar - excellent day spent learning about essays (Seriously. It was well worth the drive and cost.)
• PSAT - first time one of our students took a collegiate standardized exam
• Food Packing for Liberia (with GAiN) - volunteering to help bag rice and beans was a fun family activity
• Corn Maze outing with the junior high youth group - my husband and I were chaperoning

I'm sure I'm missing a lot, but this is a nice overview of our autumn months. My only complaint is that it went far too quickly.

What Homeschooling Looks Like

...in our house this month.

We got a bunny! My husband and oldest son had built the cage this past winter. A few weeks ago, my parents, who were looking near their home, tracked down the perfect bunny for us. After a relatively long family discussion debate argument, we named him Gandalf. {It was a five to one vote. I wanted to name the bunny Leonardo (think Da Vinci), but in the end I sided with the Gandalf crowd.} Our dog likes to 'hunt' the rabbit. That may not end well, so we keep them separated.

Great success at our local library ~ This time we found two of my oldest daughter's favorite things rolled into one sweet book. What do you get when you combine Star Wars and Shakespeare?...why...William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return, by Ian Doescher...of course. It is The Return of the Jedi written in Shakespearian language!

Our science co-op classes have begun. This year, the co-op has grown immensely. My K-2nd grade class was split into two. I am currently teaching 1st and 2nd grade science and training the Kindergarten science teacher. She will take over completely in the Kindergarten science class after Thanksgiving, but for now, I am running two classes back to back. For my 1st and 2nd grade class, we will begin the year learning about plants. I'm attempting to grow roots for observation during one class. Attempting may be the best word to describe what is or isn't happening in those jars.

My new favorite grammar resource ~ Michael Dahl has written a Word Fun series of books which I recently read some with my second grader. They are fabulous as a review. For instance, If You Were an Adverb tells all the ways an Adverb is used. At the end of each book is a simple to do activity. My son and I did each one after he read the book to me. These were perfect for the start of this school year. We read through the book on nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs as these are the parts of speech my son learned last year.

My oldest son is taking World Literature. Pictured above, he is reading through the first assigned book: The Odyssey. He can read anywhere, even in a hard back chair leaning over a desk! {Personally, I prefer a comfy chair or hammock.} Last year, he progressed through Teaching the Classics with the Worldview Supplement, which we loved! Honestly, for this year, I had a hard time finding a literature curriculum I liked. So far, I am pleased with Excellence in Literature: World Literature.

In the final picture, my husband is reading another library find to our youngest one evening. While he isn't studying the modern age in history or even technology and inventions in science, the book looked interesting and we borrowed it.

Not pictured:
After this weekend, the pool will close. We are sad to see the summer days end, but I know I am looking forward to some nature walks this fall.

My youngest daughter and I went Christmas shopping {already}. Actually, we were hunting through the back-to-school sales for some items to go into OCC shoeboxes. We followed up our successful trip with lunch at Panera's. It was a wonderful time for the two of us. {love being able to get some time alone with each child!}

Volleyball for my oldest daughter started last week and this week flag football for my youngest son began. Our fall schedule is much lighter this year when compared to last year. For this, I am thankful. We've cut back on out of the house commitments and activities, which will allow for more leisurely learning and living. However, I have found it necessary to keep saying no. There are so many good options available!

Today, we are holding our first day of service. We got the idea from my nieces' school. Each April they plan a day of service by going out into the community and volunteering. We were not that organized and our day of service kind of fell into our laps. Three of our children {along with my husband and I} will be helping to load a cargo container with donations. Soon this huge cargo container will be on its way to Zambia. Our oldest daughter's volleyball team will be doing some volunteer work at a nearby Girls and Boys Club. They plan on doing some cleaning and weeding in and around the facility.

Overall, it has been a great start to our school year, and I hope your year has started well, too!



Find more weekly wrap-ups at:

Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Collage Friday at Homegrown Learners

Storytelling, Bald Eagles, and Hands On Activities

It's been awhile {a long while, as in two months or more} since I've done any type of summary of our learning here on the blog. In fact, this school year I've only done one other wrap-up. Rest assured, though I don't always share, we are always learning!

The collage above highlights some of that learning from the last couple of weeks.

So, without further adieu: Recently, in our homeschool...

Places we've gone...include a trip to seek {and find!} Bald Eagles.

People we saw...and listened to! Our family was blessed to sit through a storytelling seminar by the one and only Jim Weiss. He is a master storyteller with much wisdom to share. We are grateful for his willingness to share {and his CDs!}

What's working for us...hands on activities. Whether it be a lady bug activity or observations, a literary extension activity or pumpkin decorating project based on Pilgrim's Progress, our family is enjoying and learning from a wide variety of hands on activities.

I read...The Snow Goose, by Paul Gallico and Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. {A slight time period them going on here, but both books fantastic on their own.}

I'm grateful for...a scheduled whole week off to enjoy the beauty of this season!


May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!



Find more weekly wrap-ups at:

Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Collage Friday at Homegrown Learners

Homeschool Mother's Journal at So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler?

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The First Few Weeks

Whirl. Wind. That's how I would describe the beginning of our school year.
With four children grades first through ninth being educated at home, with three of these children participating in three different fall sports, with two of these children taking piano lessons, and all four of these children participating or volunteering in a midweek ministry at our church...well, yeah, whirl wind describes these past few weeks quite well.

1. {places we are going} - One of those fall sports is girls' volleyball. That's my oldest daughter gearing up to serve. It is her first year playing with the team and I'm pretty sure this is gonna be a long term thing for her. She loves it!

2. {places we are going} - What is summer without a trip to the beach, especially when it really is only a day trip from your home? At least that is what we said when we realized we hadn't been there all summer long. So, we packed up and headed to the shore for a day. My youngest is pictured jumping the in coming tide.

3. {in our homeschool this week} - I taught a former pirate turned football player. 

4. {in our homeschool this week} - We have been adding some living math books to their daily math practice.

5. {in our homeschool this week} - One of my favorite chapter books to read aloud is Wind in the Willows. We started this year by reading, and laughing our way, through it.

6. {things I'm working on} - Thursday of last week, our family decided to switch the family room and homeschool room by moving everything around. We did it all in one day. Now, we are organizing the new room as we use it. That's my desk pictured above. The bag is part of a program found here.

{I'm grateful for overhearing this conversation.} My oldest son to a sister: "No really, you should read this...I'm not sure how to best explain it and even if I really like it,...but it sure is well written." He was referring to After Twenty Years, by O. Henry - a short story he was using in his literary analysis class.

{my favorite thing this week} Science observations and lessons are quickly becoming a family favorite. Pictured above are a science demonstration one of my daughters did during a co-op class, a bird we observed at the beach (it went in the bird journal), a cicada shell my youngest found at a family cook out, the bug collection we are accumulating, and the bird feeder my youngest made during his science co-op class.

For those interested ~
Bug collection is housed in a shallow 12" square scrapbook paper plastic bin with a lid found at AC Moore. I found a piece of Styrofoam to fit and adhered it to the bottom of the bin. We use straight pins to 'pin' the bugs into place.

Bird feeder is half an orange with the fruit scooped out and filled with a mixture of peanut butter, oats, raisins and orange juice. Instructions on how to cut and hang the orange half are found here.

On a side note, I found a great idea for bird seed ornaments to give as gifts here while searching the web for 'how to make a bird feeder'. Of course, I pinned it for later and will be returning to it as the holidays get closer.



Find more weekly wrap-ups at:

Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Collage Friday at Homegrown Learners

Homeschool Mother's Journal at So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler?

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The Final Stretch

...a weekly wrap-up

It has been quite a few weeks around here! I know the days are flying by with me hanging on tightly. After today, we have just two more days of school left.


History Studies: Space Exploration, 1950's-1990's, and Civil Rights

Using The Story of the World, Volume 4, chapters 35 and 36 as a spine book, we have studied Space Exploration, 1960's, and Civil Rights. Some other resources we used were:

• Kennedy Through the Lens, by Martin W. Sandler
• John F. Kennedy and the Stormy Sea, by Howard Goldsmith
• Who Was John F. Kennedy? by Yona Zeldis McDonough
• Childhood of Famous Americans: Rosa Parks, by Kathleen Kudlinski
• Rosa, by Nikki Giovanni
• Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, by Russell Freedman
• Heroes for Civil Rights, by David A. Adler
• Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America, by Kathi Appelt

Geography Studies:
Our youngest son is completing his trip around the world. Pictured above is an art project he did while studying Australia {4}. Next year, my oldest son will complete his own trip around the world. Though his will be more in depth as it will be taught on a high school level.


Spelling:
It is the end of year review for my daughter's spelling course. At the end of the year, we review any words she had difficulty mastering. I retest her on these words. If she is still having difficulty, then we implement a 'right brain' spelling technique I learned last year at a homeschool convention {2}.


New to Our Local Library and Us:

• America the Beautiful: Together We Stand, by Katharine Lee Bates
• Louisa May's Battle: How the Civil War Led to Little Women, by Kathleen Krull
• Barbed Wire Baseball, by Marissa Moss
• You Never Heard of Willie Mays?! by Jonah Winter and Terry Widener
• White House Kids: The Perks, Pleasures, Problems, and Pitfalls of the Presidents' Children, by Joe Rhatigan

What's Working/Not Working for Us:
Several activities are finishing this week, including...

• soccer {5a and 5b}
• science co-op {3 - my youngest son's model of a nerve cell - idea found here}
• AWANA

With the ending of these activities, the children are having more time to play and explore. One day, I found them all engaged in a two board Monopoly game {1}. For those of you curious, the two boards were a regular Monopoly board and a Littlest Pet Shop Monopoly board. The boys agreed to use the very feminine LPS Monopoly board if the Star Wars figures were the game pieces. To this, the girls agreed, and they all four happily played the game.


A Photo to Share:
Look what we found just beyond our dining room windows...

 

 

Find more weekly wrap-ups at:

Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Collage Friday at Homegrown Learners

Homeschool Mother's Journal at iHomeschool Network

Academics, Extras, and Dumbing Down

...a weekly wrap-up, of sorts.

Weeks have gone by in whirl winds. Have you ever had a homeschool season like that? It is incredible to me that the year is almost over. We have about 4 weeks left, and I feel like we are sprinting to the finish line. All the while I am planning for the next race year.

Just what have we been up to? A few highlights are found below.

History Studies are quickly moving toward modern times. We've gone from turn of the century (1900) to the end of World War II.

Some of the history books read were:

• Helen Keller, by Margaret Davidson
• What to Do about Alice? by Barbara Kerley
• Becoming Babe Ruth, by Matt Tavares
• Knit Your Bit:A World War I Story, by Deborah Hopkinson
• Hero Over Here: A Story of World War I, by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
• The Wright Brothers: Pioneers of American Aviation, by Quentin Reynolds
• Franklin & Eleanor, by Cheryl Harness
• Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige vs Rookie Joe Dimaggio, by Robert Skead
• War Horse, by Michael Morpurgo
• Snow Treasure, by Marie McSwigan
• Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, by Tanya Lee Stone
• Anne Frank, by Yona Zeldis McDonough
• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Eleanor Coerr

A movie we watched as a family:
Chariots of Fire {found it on Netflix}



Assigned Reading, from oldest to youngest -

• The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom
• Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
• Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrim's Progress, by Oliver Hunkin
• I Can Read, Book 3, by John Holzmann*

*Ours is the older version.



New, and New-to-Us Books we found at the library -

• What Was the Battle of Gettysburg? by Jim O'Connor
• Bye, Bye, Butterflies! by Andrew Larsen
• Famous African Americans: Carter G. Woodson, by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack
• Mary Walker Wears the Pants, by Cheryl Harness
• Learn to Draw American Landmarks & Historical Heroes, by Stephanie Meissner*

*a new-to-us title



Questions I have...for Math
There are many questions surrounding math as we finish out this year.

• Algebra lessons are wrapping up for our oldest (2). We aren't sure if he'll do Geometry or Algebra II next year.
• Our sixth grader will complete her Horizons Math 6. We were pleased with it for her, but aren't sure what curriculum we will use next year. Her brother worked through Horizons Pre-Algebra in seventh grade, but we are not sold on it.
• Our fourth grader will move on to Horizons Math 5. No decisions to be made there!
• For our Kindergartner who is about to embark on first grade, we are deciding between Horizons and Singapore. 

Decisions, decisions, decisions!



In the Kindergarten corner:
Our youngest, aside from learning basics in math and how to read, is learning about Africa (3) and Human Anatomy (4). I hope to share more about each of these in a future post. For now, I want to share a few resources we found for creating Kente Cloth (West Africa) with paper for younger children. These are:

• Kente Cloth at Crayola
• Kente Cloth Strips at Kinder Art
• Kente Cloth printable lesson plan from Teacher Vision

Extra Activities

• ATC Club (1) - The girls are sending off some insect themed cards for an international trade.
• Volleyball (5) - Our oldest two children are involved in a volleyball skills clinic.
• Soccer has started for our younger two children. The first game was last week.
• Science Olympiad Medals (6) - Our oldest two competed and medaled in two out of three events each.
• Car for AWANA Grand Prix (7) - Though our youngest daughter's car did not place, it looked stylish sporting green and blue colors.

I am Reading
Books:

• Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, by John Taylor Gatto
• The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt

Articles from around the web:

• Meet the Family Who Sent 6 Kids to College by Age 12 from Today.com
• Obama Proposes Universal Preschool for 4-Year-Olds from HSLDA
• Homeschoolers Alarmed by Plans to Track Students from WND
• Common Core State Standards Initiative: Too Close to a National Curriculum, from HSLDA

Find more weekly wrap-ups at:

Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Collage Friday at Homegrown Learners

Homeschool Mother's Journal at iHomeschool Network

Radar, Vehicles, and Circles

...a weekly wrap-up

In Our Homeschool This Week:

• Learning about radar with a neat activity from Exploring Creation with Astronomy, Apologia {1a/1b}
• Mouse Trap Vehicle progress for the competition in our state's Science Olympiad {2a/2b}
• A cute, fire-breathing dragon that greeted me one morning from the white board, drawn by our youngest son who is in Kindergarten {3}
• Finished our read aloud Man's Slave Becomes God's Scientist: George Washington Carver, by David Collins, The Sowers Biographies. We had also picked up George Washington Carver, by Tonya Bolden to peruse. It has actual photographs of Carver and his art work {4}.
• Studied Kandinsky's Squares with Concentric Circles, 1913, from The Usborne Art Treasury, pages 52-55. The children then completed the accompanying project called "Color Contrasts" {5a/5b} We followed the instructions to complete a mixed media art project. However, two similar projects can be found here and here.
• Read the final pages of Eric Carle's Animals, Animals with my Kindergartner. Though I've been through it four times now, I still love this book of simple poems. It is a keeper.

Extras:

Making shapes out of toothpicks for math.
{Idea from Horizons Math book.}

A son's creative idea for carrying his laundry...

Yes, that is a remote control vehicle carrying his clean clothing!



We Are Reading 8 New Books
we found at our library...

Four Pictured Above:

• Langston Hughes, edited by David Roessel and Arnold Rampersad (Poetry for Young People series)
• No Year of the Cat, by Mary Dodson Wade - in time for Chinese New Year
• Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America, by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney
• Heart on Fire: Susan B. Anthony Votes for President, by Ann Malaspina

Four More:

• The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery, by Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin
• Brick by Brick, by Charles R. Smith Jr.
• Linnea in Monet's Garden, by Christina Bjork & Lena Anderson (25th Anniversary Edition)
• Seed by Seed: The Legend and Legacy of John "Appleseed" Chapman, by Esme Raji Codell

Finally...a link to share:
Veritas Press is offering four FREE sample lessons for Omnibus I. Follow this link to get your own FREE sample lessons and find out how you can also be entered into a drawing for $500 Veritas Press gift certificate.




Find more weekly wrap-ups at:

Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Collage Friday at Homegrown Learners

Homeschool Mother's Journal at iHomeschool Network

Hands on Projects and Free Books

...a weekly wrap-up

This week has been full - full of hands on projects!

• Our youngest built a model of Saturn {idea from Exploring Creation with Astronomy, Apologia}. This was a project done during the science co-op class I teach. 
• Our younger daughter is building another AWANA Grand Prix car. This year she opted for a wedge shape. You can see last year's car here.
• All the children worked together to create a one of a kind birthday banner for a special loved one.
• The two oldest children are partners for the Mouse Trap Vehicle competition in our state's Science Olympiad.
• Since our youngest is studying Asia, I attempted to make him a movable dragon puppet. It actually works. The idea and directions were found in Animal Crafts, by Iain MacLeod-Brudenell. {We borrowed it from our library.}

Some great resources we came across this week include:

Art Appreciation - A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin, by Jen Bryant
This library book prompted an interest in Horace Pippin. We found him fascinating. You can read about him here and find lesson plans here and here.

Music Appreciation - We finished our study of Johannes Brahms. Once we finished, our oldest declared he was going to find a biography on Brahms to read on our next library visit. We based our studies off of this biography, but I also found this free composer unit study recently.

Math - Some of our children have enjoyed these Math Challenge DVDs from time to time. This week, we borrowed Doubles and Halves and Complements Making 100 and 1000. We also found this book called A Fair Bear Share, by Stuart J. Murphy. It was a perfect compliment to our youngest's math lessons as he was learning to group items by ten and regroup when necessary.


Some great resources and ideas for Valentine's Day:
I have been collecting these from around the web for next week...

• Logic puzzle by Minds in Bloom
• Free printable copy work from Blessed Beyond a Doubt
• Teaching Kids to Show Love Through Kindness (with a free printable) at Upside Down Homeschooling
• 5 Days of Valentine Activities from Beyond the Cover
• 5 Fun Valentine's Day Books from The Usual Mayhem
• Be a Valentine Bookworm with a free download at Homegrown Learners
• How to Make Yarn Hearts at Parents
• Paper Heart Garland at How About Orange (easy to do, with a neat result)

Now, if I can just fit them all into next week's four days, hmmm.

Free Books
Another homeschooling family blessed us with a stack of books. Many we will use in the years to come (1a), but a few are perfect timing for this year's studies. We have just finished learning about World War I in our history studies. These three new-to-us history books will be perfect compliments to upcoming lessons (1b).



Find more weekly wrap-ups at:
Weekly Wrap-up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Collage Friday at Homegrown Learners

 

 

Bottled Hurricanes, Frozen Water, and Perspective

...a weekly wrap-up

 

In our homeschool this week...

Math
Before Christmas break, we switched my son's Algebra curriculum. He was doing OK, but I was beginning to hear the dreaded, "I hate math" comments. I knew we had to make a change in our approach or the curriculum. After some analysis and discussion with him, we determined we needed to change curriculum. {Typically, we do not immediately change curriculum. It is usually a last resort after we have tried to adapt or supplement our current curriculum. In this case, we determined after some trial and error that it was indeed the curriculum which needed changed.} He is now using Jacob's Elementary Algebra, and is thriving. I am glad for the change.

Science
Using Apologia's elementary science in our co-op has been wonderful. For eleven weeks, we are studying outer space using Exploring Creation with Astronomy. The children are responding well to the experiments and demonstrations. Not to mention, they are retaining a lot of information. This week, we learned about Jupiter. To demonstrate a storm atmosphere, the children made a storm in a bottle following the directions in the text (1a-1b).

Writing
My youngest daughter's writing co-op class, which I teach, is learning about who/which clauses. We use Institute for Excellence in Writing methods. All Things Fun & Fascinating has proven to be interesting to both the girls and boys in the class.

Nature Observations
We had a light snow fall on Monday night. The children found a few icicles to inspect, too (2a-2b).

Music
We are finishing a children's biography on Brahms called The Young Brahms, by Opal Wheeler. We have read several seven from this series. Each one is quite enjoyable.

Art {co-op class}
Teaching a group of middle schoolers perspective was at first a challenge. However, then I pulled out my copy of Lessons in Perspective Drawing, and it has been much easier. Today, the children drew houses using two vanishing points in their drawings.


*In case you noticed, or are beginning to wonder...Yes, I teach three classes in two different co-ops. At one co-op, I teach science to younger elementary grades. In the other co-op, I teach writing to older elementary grades and art (drawing) to middle school grades.


A helpful homeschooling thought to share is sometimes you need to assess and make some changes.

Things my children are working on include cleaning out some of their paper messes (3) and finishing some works of art. Pictured above is my son's Yoda drawing (4), which he has been working on since summer time. It is about the same size as Yoda.





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Creativity, Sandwiches, and Risk

...a weekly wrap-up

After last week's jam packed days of academical, but fun lessons, this week feels a little less structured. We did learn interesting facts and complete projects, but honestly, it was a lot less organized lessons and a lot more impromptu activities.

In my life this week, I am preparing for my daughter's birthday party. It has a Shakespearean flair to it (4), and I will share all the helpful websites and resources we used next week. {Those that didn't make it to my board on Pinterest.}

In our homeschool this week, we celebrate another 100 days of school today!! There is just something about reaching this point in the school year. We'll do a few book lessons, go roller skating with some friends, and eat some sweet treats to celebrate.

My favorite things this week were games (2a) and puzzles (2b). One day I found our oldest son teaching our youngest, who is six, how to play Risk. He told me, "Mom, he's doing really well, but I'm still gonna beat him!"

What's working for us is watching the children's creativity blossom. Pictured above are snowflakes with glitter glue decorations (1a), twirled paper (1b) from this kit, and a painting (1c). However, it isn't just creativity with arts and crafts which we encourage. Often, our children create interesting objects, buildings, and animals out of Lego blocks. And, just yesterday morning, our boys created an amazingly complex railroad track out of their wooden railroad pieces. A child's imagination and ingenuity are wonderful to observe.

I am reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, finally! I finished The Magician's Nephew and am on to book number 2 in The Chronicles of Narnia. I've been trying to read this series for years, but each time I have wanted to begin, a child had the first book. Finally, on New Year's I found the series available, and I started. {I should be completely honest and confess that I had to commandeer the second book from a child who was partway through it, but in my defense she is currently reading another book and had tossed this one aside for the time being.}

I am cooking teaching my youngest to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (3).

I am encouraged by this woman's words of wisdom. I was blessed to hear Diana Waring speak in several break out sessions of a homeschool convention last year. Her words continue to encourage me as I read her various articles and posts.
   

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Westward Expansion, Art, and Resources

...a weekly wrap-up

At the beginning of the school year, I was able to write a weekly summary almost every week. Somewhere along the way, I stopped. This week, as we return to a full week of lessons after a two week Christmas break, I thought it would be fun to do a weekly wrap-up.

Some highlights from our homeschool this week:


History -

Our history lessons are chronological, and for the fourth year in a row, we are using Story of the World. This year we are in Volume 4. Chapter 16 summarizes U.S. westward expansion. The children completed the outline and map from the Activity Guide. Then they set about to read a few short books, including

• The Battle of the Little Bighorn, by Charles Wills
• Laura's Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder, compiled by William Anderson
• If You Were a Pioneer on the Prairie, by Anne Kamma 

Each child read and summarized one book. They were given a choice of books from our own bookshelves. Additionally, our oldest has started a research paper about Theodore Roosevelt. This is for both history and grammar.


Science -

Wednesday co-op started again after a break for Christmas. {We only attend the science classes.}

The Kindergarten-3rd grade class I teach is currently learning about outer space. We ended the year with a class on earth and began this year with a unit on the moon. A book I read my Kindergartner at home during the three week break was The Reasons for the Seasons, by Gail Gibbons. {We borrowed our copy up from the library.}


Reading -

Earlier this week, I shared what books we began the new year with. If you missed that post, then you can find it here. Pictured above is my youngest daughter reading her assigned reading (1).


Art {American West Artists: Lessons, Ideas, and Resources} -

To accompany our history lesson, we looked at some Native American works of art, including "Sans Arc Lakota" Ledger Book, 1880-1881, by Black Hawk. You can see it here, and find an adaptable art appreciation and history lesson here.

Then, each child completed a "Native American Hide Painting" following the instructions in Geography Through Art. My oldest son's is pictured above. He decided to chose a symbol which was meaningful for each year of his life (2).

Another day, we took a look at Paintings of the American West from the Eiteljorg Museum. It contains 24 post card size prints of the museum in Indianapolis. You can explore some of the museum's collections on their website. The Native American collection is found here and the Western collection is found here.

We also looked at George Catlin's Catlin Painting the Portrait of Mah-to-toh-pa - Mandan, 1861/1869. You can see it here, and find an art appreciation and history lesson using the art piece here. There is also this fabulous site I literally stumbled across and found a wealth of pictures, artifacts, original writings, and first hand accounts about and of George Catlin. The site is found here.

Finally, we read a book about Frederic Remington called The Life and Work of Frederick Remington, by Ernestine Giesecke. I did a little research to find some ideas to incorporate into a lesson. Below is a few of the sites I found which may be helpful if you are planning your own lesson of Remington.

On-Line Resources for Frederic Remington:

• Frederic Remington Art Museum - lesson plans
• an idea for a Frederic Remington art lesson - found here
• Frederic Remington Online - a list of museums, websites, and resources
• Frederic Remington - The Complete Works - view art work here

Math -

Our youngest is learning how to use a ruler to make a straight line (3).


Sunday School -

The Kindergarten teacher sent home a craft with my son. It is Moses as a babe in the Nile River (4). Is it not adorable? All made from cut pipe cleaners (basket and reeds), a small round smiley face sticker, small blue felt blanket, and a jar filled partway with glitter glue. With the lid fastened shut, the glue has yet to dry, and you can still make the 'water' move. This, of course, may or may not be good in the long run. One tip upside down...and a possible uh, oh.


I was inspired by these Compassion prayer cards found at Compassion Family.


A new blog I enjoyed reading this week: The Homeschool Minimalist


I am working on finding enough time to try all the great ideas I see on Pinterest! I joined right before Christmas, and I can see such benefit in using it for organizing online articles, inspirations, and ideas, especially since I am using one board to help plan for an upcoming birthday party with a Shakespeare flair.

Not only that, where else can you find all these great ideas for using paint chips?
These links are to actual posts, not the pins.

• Make a Valentine's Day Heart Garland {seen here}
• Devise a Word Family Game for children learning to read {check it out here}
• Create a Calendar {seen here}

And, if you are using Pinterest to plan for lessons, you may be interested in this article I found about printing out pins and including them into your planner.

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Pinatas, Library Books, and Pilgrims

...a weekly wrap-up

Honestly, it is hard to believe we have completed over 1/3 of our school year already. Where did the time go? I love these weekly posts of wrapping up our activities. They help me catalog and remember what we have done, where we have gone, and all we have learned...

What's working for us...using up old craft supplies and kits is economical. It is a good thing!
What's not working for us...old craft supplies which should have been thrown out. The paper mache was impossible to work with and was a lot messier than we had anticipated. I thought it would be easier than newspaper and flour, since it was a kit and all. Not so much! Next time, newspaper and flour it is, or maybe a fresh kit. However, the children had fun and this week, after two weeks of waiting for it to dry, finally got to paint their creations.{4}

Places we've gone...include the library!

{1} We found an illustrated Around the World in Eighty Days, which is the book our oldest daughter is finishing this week. Robert Ingpen's illustrations looked interesting, and my daughter wanted to check out the book just for the pictures.


{2} Additionally, we found a nonfiction book about the Dust Bowl. Our oldest son had finished Out of the Dust a couple weeks ago. It probably would have been better to have this book while he was reading it. However, the book is still fresh in his memory and Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl, by Albert Marrin is quite interesting on its own.

In our homeschool this week...
{3} We found three interesting books about our 50 states this week at the library. Each is a fabulous way to review previously learned information as well as learn a few more interesting tidbits about each state. The books are:

• United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds, by Hudson Talbott
• Go, Go America, by Dan Yaccarino
• The Train of States, by Peter Sis

I'm reading skimming...American Passage: The History of Ellis Island, by Vincent J. Cannato and Denied, Detained, Deported, by Ann Bausum. After reading a few Thanksgiving/Immigrant stories to the children, I was interested in learning a bit more about American Immigration and found a few books at the library to read.

A photo to share…Have you seen this? I was so excited when I turned the page of this year's Compassion Gift Catalog and saw this picture:

An opportunity to help "Teach an impoverished mother to read and write" so she in turn will be prepared to teach her own children. As I continue to teach my youngest to read, how can I not think of helping another mom learn to do the same?





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Pumpkin, Party, and Puzzles

...a weekly wrap up

{It's true. Sandy visited us, but didn't stick around these parts long. Our hearts and prayers go out for the people and areas affected severely by both Sandy and the recent nor'easter.}

I am grateful for my helpers in the K-3rd grade science co-op class I teach each week. 
1. These three amazing ladies help and encourage all 17 of the children, including one especially energetic teacher's kid (ahem). This week, I decided to bake them all a loaf of pumpkin bread as a way to express my gratitude. {This is part of our family's effort to spread out teacher gifts over the autumn months rather than wait until Christmas.}

In our homeschool this week:

2. The children stepped inside the voting booth with my husband and I on Election Day. (I had the girls and my husband took the boys.) The girls were full of questions, and chatted nonstop while the surrounding curtain did nothing to muffle their voices.  I appreciated their enthusiasm and retention of what they had recently studied. That night they watched some of the news coverage. The next morning, they followed instructions to shade their own maps.

4. Our youngest completed the first in the I Can Read It! series. {Ours are an older printing.}

6. We finally completed an artist study on Claude Monet. 

One place we visited was a public garden.
5. The seasonal sights were beautiful and I'll be sure to post some pictures next week.

My favorite thing this week was a birthday party!
7. It is such fun to celebrate life, and even more special to celebrate one of our children's birthdays. Our youngest daughter had a birthday party and chose a detective theme. It was such fun to share the day with our family.

One resource to keep on hand are puzzles.
3. Our children keep returning to their puzzles, even after playing electronic gadgets. Puzzles, even the paper, homemade version pictured above are among their favorite toys.





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Geography, Elections, and Teacher Gifts

...a weekly wrap up

In our homeschool this week…
1. Our youngest is learning about Brazil in South America as part of his Travel the World studies.
2. The kindergarten through third grade science co-op class I teach, is almost finished exploring biomes.  Their most recent classes included deserts and mountains. {Pictured above is my son's Gila Monster from the lesson on deserts.}
3a-3b. As we take a slight break from our history studies, the older children are learning about Presidential elections and reviewing American geography.

I’m reading…
books about the season to my youngest, a book about after the American Civil War to all the children, and the Hunger Games trilogy in my spare moments.

Places we’re going…
We traveled to a corn maze last weekend with our church's junior high youth group.  My husband and I began volunteering in the ministry during September and have been enjoying every minute of it.  Right now, we are just learning the ropes and hopefully making some contribution.

Things we are working on…
include gifts of appreciation.  In the past, we have made homemade gifts to thank Sunday school teachers, co-op teachers, coaches, etc. who have volunteered their time and talents to the benefit of our family.  This year, I decided to try to complete these 'teacher gifts' before Thanksgiving.  We will work on various tokens of gratitude over the next several weeks.  {Pictured below are the chocolate covered pretzel rods we made for science co-op teachers.}  By finishing them earlier, I am spreading out the cheer and creating a bit more room in our December calendar.  

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