Homeschool - Units 4, 5, and 6

I don't feel so flustered writing this homeschool post as I did writing the first three units.  I am saying "Units" because it doesn't necessarily mean we took 1 week to do a unit.  Sometimes we have to spread it out over 6 days of school - "life" gets in the way of a perfect "on time" school day.  But this expectation of mine is slowly fading, because I'm "used to" the kids doing a full day of school, 8-3, and homeschool, well, it just looks different.  I'm not tied to a Sept-May schedule, and I can do what we need to with the time we have.  Some days we get 1/2 a day completed and do 1 1/2 the next day because of whatever-event.  I really like the flexibility of how this curriculum is planned out.

So, let me review units 4, 5, and 6 for each child.

VANESSA!

Unit 4
- "One Dusty Camel" focusing on the sound of letter D.
- Bible Lessons about Jacob lying to his father Isaac, pretending to be Esau.  We acted this one out, I was Jacob in a chair, blindfolded.  She put on fuzzy sweatshirt arms and said she was Esau and wanted the blessing.  A craft to go with this was to write her name dotted in black marker, and try every color but black to try cover her name.  It was not possible, since the dotted "Vanessa" still stood out among the scribbles.  It is better to be yourself and not cover up who you are and pretend to be someone else.  Song - "The blessing that will be".
- Jacob leaving home, traveling a long distance to meet Rachel, wrestling with God on the way, having a dream about the ladder filled with angels and seeing God, and Esau forgiving Jacob.
- Devotional with letter D, "Do all things without complaining." Phil 2:14
- continuing to work on handwriting letters, kindergarten math concepts, and reading new words.

Unit 5
- Review week - refocus on A-D.  Read all devotional stories from A-D again, and she loved all this review.
- Bible: Joseph's father gave him a special coat, Joseph went to find his brothers, Joseph was sold (coin activity - the Egyptians gave his brothers coins as a trade for Joseph), Joseph worked in Egypt, and God took care of Joseph in prison. (all these were acted out every day, her fav part).
Song "Joseph's Dream"
- continuing to work on handwriting letters, kindergarten math concepts, and reading new words.  New story of the week she reads is "dot is on the sand, come and sit on the dot, dog. this dog is on the dot."  She struggles with the word "this".

Unit 6
- Letter E week.  "Joseph's Brothers" focusing on sound of letter E - all their jars were "empty" and the brothers were hungry.
- Bible: The king had a dream, Everyone obeyed Joseph, Joseph helped his brothers, Joseph forgave his brothers, and she finishes unit 6 tomorrow, where she will learn that Jacob blessed Joseph's sons.
- Song "7 Fat cows"
- crafts, LOTS of coloring.
- continuing to work on handwriting letters, kindergarten math concepts, and reading new words.  Story of the week is "ant and a red can.  can is on the sand. ant sat on the red can on the sand."  She's still working on this one.

CALVIN!

Unit 4
- Reading through history: Stories of the Pilgrims.  Wonderful book!  as the Pilgrims tried leaving England again, the ship's captain sailed away with only the men.  Women and children put in prison. King James finally let them go and leave England.  Holland was full of new things the Englanders had to get used to. Windmills, water canals, leaks in the dike were common and had to be patched.
- Science: How many drops of water can you fit on a penny?  Water has tension, this is one way boats are able to float.  We also made a dike of playdough in a long pan, poured water on one side, and the dike kept the other side dry.  We poked holes in the playdough to make leaks and plugged them!
- Storytime to end the week was Luke 12: 13-21 - rich man was asked to give up all his possessions to follow Jesus and he was sad walking away with this thought.  His treasure was on earth.
- Art projects to go along with each history lesson.  
- Geography - Ocean is 3/4 water. Learn location of oceans. Why were most new cities built by water?
- Poetry: Daybreak! fantastic poem to go along with this.  Copied all of this for handwriting, and drew amazing pictures to go along with it.  His imagination is incredible.
- Bible study: Matthew 6:19-21.  Store up treasures in heaven - where your treasure is, there your heart is.  The Pilgrims left lots of things behind, but they had to leave them behind and follow what God wanted them to do.  Their treasure was in heaven!
- Song "Where your treasure is"
- Math daily
- Handwriting - copy poem of the week.
- Storytime - I finished the Bibliography about William Henry Harrison and we learned he was the first president to have a slogan for his presidential campaign. 9th president of the USA. He died 4 weeks after being in office.
- Language arts - spelling of the week, and learning what asking sentences are.
- Schedule reading in his Early Reader's Bible - between 5 and 9 pages a day out loud to me.

Unit 5
- Reading through History: Boys and Girls of Colonial Days - much like Stories of the Pilgrims. A Pilgrim family came to Amsterdam on a ship, a Dutch family let them live with them.  Girl waited patiently for dad to arrive after she did.  Amsterdam looked so different than England.  Streets were canals, houses were brightly colored, and tulips were everywhere.  Many houses leaned because the ground was so soft.  Water was delivered via boats on the canals near their houses.  They learned to speak some Dutch.  History Bible is Luke 2:39 - as Jesus grew, God was pleased with Him.  Jesus was filled with wisdom and grace, and was obedient to his parents.  The Pilgrim children tried to be obedient to their parents and God.
- Science: Light moves in waves through space - see this illustrated by blowing rippes across water that is very still.  Tulip grows in a pot.  Forming babies in wombs are crafted beautifully.  "God's Wonderful Works" science pages to go along with this.  Calvin is really interested in science so we have a lot of deeper science exploration with videos/research if he gets an idea to go further anywhere.
- Bible Study: Psalm 139:13-14. "For you formed my inward parts, you covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works and that my soul knows very well.".  Most of his scripture memorization happens when he is doing headstands.  He says it feels really good to stand on his head.
- Song: "You Knit Me Together"
- New storytime book called Sword in the Tree. An "Adventure" book this time! We spread 100 pages of this book into 20 lessons so a few pages at a time, and he soaks in every detail, and ends up referring back to this story multiple times a day, wondering what might happen next or how a character must have felt.  He is learning how to narrate to me what we read.  This is a learned skill and has to be practiced a lot.
- weekly spelling words.  So far he's an A+ speller.
- Schedule reading in his Early Reader's Bible - between 5 and 9 pages a day out loud to me.
- Copying poem "Song for a Little House" and illustrating the poem.

Unit 6
- Reading through History: "Stories of the Pilgrims" book.  In Holland, there is a weekly scrubbing day.  The Pilgrims had never seen anyone keep house so well.  Dutch people believe storks bring good luck, but the Pilgrims didn't believe in luck, the believed in God's providence.  In the winder in Holland, the water in the canals froze and they ice skated.  Pilgrims moved from Amsterdam to Lieden.  They were poor but wanted a good place to live.  Bible story about history, Ps 51:1-7 - This Psalm reminds us we were all sinful from the time we were born, and Jesus cleanses our sin when we ask for forgiveness.
- Poetry: "The Months"
- Bible study: "Review Week", say each verse again, and each day refer back to Units 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 each day and listen to each corresponding song.
- Science: Storks are birds that do not have webbed feet.  Science textbook for extra learning about storks and what they do.  As weather gets colder, look at ice. Put one piece of ice in a fleece mitten, and another piece of ice in a dishcloth.  Which melts faster?  The warm mitten kept the ice from melting. Canals exploration - what are canals?
- Artistic expression - a big red heart with two slits cut in it.  A strip of white paper goes through it - one end of the paper has a black heart, one end has a white heart.  Pull the strip through to show how the heart covered the sinful heart and showed the clean heart.  He made some cool illustrations on this to show a person sad by the sinful heart, the word "Pray" between them, and a person happy near the white heart and a drawing of heaven.
- Storytime - continuing to read through Sword and the Tree.
- Language Arts - copying "The Months" poem for nice handwriting, learning about questions and what words start an asking sentence "who, what, when, where, why, which"
- Daily math work.  He learned to "borrow" or "rename" like doing 300-182.  And was initially frustrated but it "clicked" and now he can plow through them no problem.
- weekly spelling words.  So far he's an A+ speller.
- Schedule reading in his Early Reader's Bible - between 5 and 9 pages a day out loud to me.

VIOLET!

Unit 4

-Reading about History: Finishing up about Ice Age- Tribes were different than other tribes because of climate and diet.  Hunting became difficult and they kept moving, not making a home in one place too long, avoiding territories other tribes hunted.  Climate was crazy after the flood waters went down and the ice sheets were left.  Each tribe had their own language, culture, and foods they used.  They spread further and further. Some went across bridge to Alaska and beyond – this was the beginning of the Indians in America.  Child’s History of the World textbook explained that people who scattered always settled near rivers because it provided water, food, and a mode of transportation from settlement to settlement. Trading began, settlements grew and turned into cities, governments were formed to control the people.

- Storytime – more from Life in the Great Ice Age, and Genesis 10 and 12.

- Timeline cards – added  Ice Age.  No exact date because we don’t have enough information.  After flood and before Tower of Babel.  Added Tower of Babel card.  As the ice Age came to a closer, the Earth’s climate became more stable, probably like it is now, and civilizations began to flourish.

- Made a map with playdough of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, learned where the Persian gulf is, where Mt. Ararat is where the arc may have rested.  Where walls of ice had formed and blocked travel in certain parts of the land until it melted, which may have helped form rivers.

- Independent History Study – Drawing and Writing through History, using cursive to copy the historical accounts and drawing the tower of Babel. 

- Poetry “To Any Reader”  - by Robert Louis Stephenson. 

- Drawn Into the Heart of Reading – This is the first week I attempted to add in something I bought for Violet.  It is a Literature program that takes a genre of a book, either Nonfiction, Adventure, Fiction, Mystery, etc…and has workbook pages to help her dive deeper into thought about the book.  She chose Naya Nuki, the Girl who Ran, and we are doing this for the next 15 assignments.  She did Day 1 and 2 this week.  Loves the book, and the workbook helps her organize the main ideas, supporting parts, and helps her think about the book and also incorporates Godly character traits she can pull out of the book, like Attentiveness, Cooperation, and Obedience.  So far she’s liking this, but it takes more time in our day.

- English lesson daily.  

- Math daily

- Bible study daily.  She’s studying Psalm 1:1-6.

- Science: Finish Tundra book. What is protist? A monera? Describe a caribou’s footprint like a snowshoe, difference between dwarf willow and black willow.  God sends the rain and snow and has a plan for all His creation.

- Dictation practice 3 times a week.

Unit 5

Reading through History: No more ice! Moving onto Egyptian civilization!  When people scattered, they went south into Africa as well.  The Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest in the world.  What are hieroglyphics? Rosetta stone – how it helped us learn how to interpret hieroglyphics, how the Egyptians believed in and worshipped many gods.  Their civilization formed along the Nile River. People in Babylonia were known to worship the sun, moon, and stars.  We worship the Creator, not creation.  Reading also in Grandpa’s box about God speaking to Abram and how God used Abram.  Left Ur, went to where God told him to go.  A Savior would come from Israel!

History project: made a clay cartouche of lady Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s name in hieroglyphics.  Made homemade clay, next day carved out the writings, next day painted it.  Watched a video about the Rosetta Stone. Amazing!  Codes weren’t cracked until the 1920’s.  Our information about Egypt is fairly recent even though artifacts and writings have been saved since people discovered them.

Researching hieroglyphics. Over time, it became unusable.

Vocabulary: mummy, derricks, monuments, Sphinx.

Poem: “A Good Play”

English daily

Math daily

Bible Study daily – this week in Psalm 127:3-4.  Children are a heritage and you are a blessing from the Lord!

Song: “Children are a heritage”

Science exploration: What’s living in a cactus? Animals and plants need special adaptation to survive in the hot desert.  Describe a saguaro cactus.  What makes holes in it? Name animal that can live in the holes in the cactus.  Job 38:37-38 – paint a picture in our mind about the Lord watering the dry Earth. Saguaros can grow as tall as a tree. They grow very slowly!  How does the waxy coating on the saguaros help it to store water?  Put a wet paper towel wrapped in wax paper in the sun along with another piece of wet paper towel sitting out next to it.  After an hour, the one sitting out was dry, the one inside the wax was still wet.  Saguaros have a waxy layer to keep water in.

Timeline cards: Added Ancient Egypt, Abraham, and Babylonia. 

Unit 6

-Reading through History: Grandpa’s Box book – Abraham was promised 3 things.  Explain how God tested Abraham’s faith in His promises.  Abraham trusted God.  Abraham gained land, had a son named Isaac, from whom a great nation would come.  God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  Genesis 25 – what can we learn about Esau?  Esau and Jacob were opposites, both had many flaws, but God chose Jacob to carry out his plan.  Esau’s choices displeased God and we see this throughout the Bible.  As time passed, Jacob had 12 sons.  The older sons were jealous of Joseph, so they sold him into slavery and Joseph landed himself in Egypt.  Joseph interprets dreams, gains favor, and is put in charge of storing food for when famine would hit after 7 years of plenty. When famine struck the land, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to  buy food.  Pharaoh became concerned about how big the Hebrew people were getting so he tried mean ways to control their population.  He made them slaves.

Storytime: Tirzah. This girl is in a Hebrew family and is brought out of Egypt by Moses.  This is supposed to be a read aloud I read to her but it is so long I’m having her read it to herself.  Amazing story – and it is helping her connect to the desperate situation the Israelites were in.

-History project: Design a crook.  Pharoahs had crooks and flails – research the meaning of these things. 

-Drawing the writing through history – copying words in cursive and drawing Abraham, the Sphinx, and a sarcophagus.

-New timeline card: Joseph (1700 BC)

-Poetry: “Summer Sun” – some work with this and some creative writing once a week.  Reading it to appreciate it and also reading it out loud to someone else in the family.

-English daily (apostrophes, quotation marks, spelling, capitalization, diagramming sentences)

- Drawn into the Heart of Reading book and workpage.

- Dictation 3x a week.

- Math daily. Learning that 4x5=9, therefore 40x5=90, and 400x5=900, and so on.  Using mental math to do 23x4 (round to 25x4, then subtract extra).

-Bible study: Psalm 127:3-5.  Copy it in cursive, Children are a Heritage.

-Science exploration: Spines on a cactus protect it. Shallow roots find water near the surface before it evaporates.  Desert temps can be 120 degrees, the ground can be 170 degrees. No shade, no clouds.  Explain why collard lizard faces the sun. Why does desert go from hot to chilly when sun goes down? What do desert honey ants eat? Describe a honeypot ant. What does Ps 19 say about the sun?  Most animals come out at night to hunt. 

She did a science experiment to learn how bats help cactus flowers made seeds.  She had to get the edges of a tall glass wet, dip it in sprinkles, then put a coffee filter (with a circle cut out) up near the top of the glass so it looked like a flower.  I poured in a bit of juice in the bottom of the cup and she had to drink it with a shortened straw, so she leaned in and got sprinkles all over her face.  The sprinkles represented pollen as the bats shove their faces in a cactus flower to drink the nectar.  When a bat flies to another flower, it combines male and female pollen to create new cactus seeds. We watched a youtube video of bats eating nectar out of cactus flowers, which only bloom 24 hours a year.  Wow. 

She's also watching an Egypt documentary on Netflix and is helping her see what it looks like inside a tomb, and more about ancient Egyptian civilizations in general.

Violet's cartouche

Calvin's tulip like those in Holland

language arts practice

Calvin writing

Calvin's handwriting

and this is what Vanessa does all day.

Calvin's timeline drawing

I have to explain this one.  Calvin is adding things to a timeline throughout his year of school.  His focus right now is the English pilgrims that lived in England and King James tried forcing them to go to his church where they thought it was not the right way to worship God, so they instead met in secret and quiet places to stay hidden. Yesterday was one of the days where we completed an event in a history reading book and he did some research about it with me as the guidebook instructed us.  The story involved a family in the 1600s who escaped the oppression of King James in England and fled to Holland by ship, a country where they could freely worship God.  The book describes in detail what it was like when the family arrived in Holland for the first time and the things they noticed.  They were up on a big flat wall and could see rooftops.  They noticed lots of big windmills.  They saw birds on top of rooftops, and one of them was on one foot, apparently sleeping.  We learned that Holland's land (in Amsterdam) was below sea level, so it was always in danger of the sea water flooding it if there was a big storm.  The people built up a big wall of stones, brick, and mud, which we learned is called a dike.  The dike has a wide base, and a flat top.  Even the kids who lived in Amsterdam were instructed to keep "an eye out" for leaking through the dike so it could be repaired immediately.

Calvin had a history activity by creating a dike.  We used a thick chunk of playdough and smashed it in the shape of a dike right in the middle, and made sure there would be no leaks.  We poured water on one side of the pan and the dike held the water back and left the other half dry.  We were instructed to poke holes through the playdough and "make leaks" and quickly repair them by plugging them with chunks of playdough.  He loved this so much.  He made leaks, plugged them, added more water, made a storm, and kept the other side dry.

We used the internet to learn about the windmills in Holland, how they were enormous and had gears inside the posts attached to pumps that continually pumped out water from the city back out into the sea over the dike so the land would stay dry.  We watched a short 9 minute video that explained how the windmills are still in existence today, but are considered a back-up to the more advanced and more efficient gas-powered pumps used today, but that they're still functional and their original use was to pump water out to keep Amsterdam dry.

Some time later, we added to the timeline, and his instruction was to draw a little picture to help him remember Holland.  He drew this picture with no help or words from me, which made me realize how much he remembered about the history learning that day.  He drew the house with the two birds (one on a nest, the other "guarding the nest" but realizing there was no apparent danger, decided to sleep on one leg), drew the windmill (a side shot), a dike with a wide base, a flat top, the water ABOVE the land, and a swirl of wind.

This event goes in the "1600" column on his timeline so as we go through the year he can see how events lined up in history.

He has such a detailed brain and I love to see him learn.  He got excited about this!

Guess where we went today? To our favorite orthodontist, of course!

Violet and Calvin had orthodontist appointments today (Violet - recall check, Calvin - first check)!

I got to meet Rachel's employees Nicole and Jordan today.  Rachel did a full x-ray on Calvin, and checked Violet's teeth.  

Violet has a crossbite and Rachel predicts she will need an expander to push the teeth wider before treatment begins, but we're still waiting for more adult teeth to come in before treating anything.  Violet needs to brush/floss her lower teeth better.

Calvin's full Xray revealed all teeth are present (none missing) and that some adult teeth are ready to come in but the baby teeth still have full strong roots and won't be falling out by the adult teeth pushing them out of the way (which means they're probably behind the baby teeth, not "in line" with them).  So Rachel explained how 3 of the baby teeth need help coming out so the adult teeth can avoid eruption problems.  Daddio, we'll be calling you to schedule!  :)

Michelle invited Vanessa to color with her behind the front desk so Vanessa happily colored the hour away.  Michelle kindly printed her some pictures from the computer and Vanessa stapled the three pages together and gave me a book she made with those coloring pages.

Of course, we came home with funny gloves and they turned into weapons, balloons, and crazy silly toys.  When the got filled with water, mommy tossed them. :)

Eli wrote his name

Eli noticed Vanessa was working on school books so he hopped up onto a chair next to me and said, "Can I do school too?"  I gave him the white board and a marker and wrote his name.  He watched me, and then got the marker and proceeded to write his own name with no help from me!  Maybe he's working on this at preschool, but I didn't know he could do that.
Good job lil' buddy!

Rapunzel reported for her school lessons tonight.

Writing letters carefully

reading some simple stories!

She got all decked out in a fancy dress, many headbands to hold up a huge long blanket on her head, and a crown, and told me that Rapunzel was ready to do school.  hahaa!  She's reading simple words!

Tonight she sounded out the letters "A - N - T".  She eventually said, "Ant!" and I said, "Yes, you got it right!" She looked confused and said "What's an ant?"  I drew a picture of the little black bug with 6 legs and she said, "No, mom, that's an a-yunt!" like it had two syllables.  Funny.  I had to explain that ant is pronounced with one sound, not two.  She seemed to get it.

A funny Eli quote

Not much content to this post, but I wanted to write down this before I forgot.  Eli woke up after his nap today and wanted to eat some cheerios.  I poured him a bowl and before I got the milk poured in, he used his hands to pick a few dry cheerios out and popped them in his mouth.  He said, "I'm going to eat just a tiny smudgle!" His little invented word was so cute. "Smudgle!"

3 (or 4...I CAN'T remember) weeks into homeschool

OK, it's not really that bad.  I am losing track of the days, but I'm not so much focused on how long we've done this but rather, what unit/day we are on with the kid's guide books.  My goal of this blog post is to update on what the kids are learning and how life is.

Vanessa: She is going through a learning guidebook from Heart of Dakota meant for kids 2-5.  It is technically a preschool program, but it has extensions for Kindergarten level.  She learns a little rhyme that teaches a story and phonics for each letter for each Unit (5 days worth of material).  She reads a Bible story, a little ABC devotional once a week to correspond with the letter, does a craft activity, sometimes acts out the Bible story, and listens to a song that goes with everything.  In addition to this, she does a Kindergarten level handwriting book, math book, and a lesson on how to read.  I don't have a schedule for her 3 extra books, but we take them at her pace.  She flies through the math, does about 1 or 2 handwriting pages to practice letters, and I work 1-1 with her to pronounce words in the reading book at her pace.  To sum up her units:

Unit 1
- A-A-Adam rhyming/make the motions song once each day for a week.
- Bible lessons: God made the world, Everyone is Happy, God Makes Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve Disobey God, and Cain kills Abel
- Once/week devotion with a verse that starts with the letter A: "A soft answer turns away wrath." Prov 15:1.  This devotion spoke to her little heart.  It told a story of two girls who had a little fight and the girl who spoke sweetly turned her friend's anger into softness and they became friends again.  Vanessa learned the word "wrath" and she often reminds me to speak softer.
- Songs "God Made the Universe", "Two Trees", and "God's Promise"
- crafts that go with each thing..rainbows, etc

Unit 2
- Noah's Big Boat rhyming/make the motions song once each day for a week
- Bible lessons: Noah builds a Big Boat, The Animals go into the Boat, It Rains for Days and Days, Noah and his family are safe, Proud men build the Tower of Babel
- Once/week devotion verse that starts with the letter B: "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God."  She liked this too - and realized that when she makes peace and is kind to her siblings, God is happy too.  We make peace with God when we confess our sins to God and believe that Jesus took the punishment for our sins.
Song "Noah Built a boat"
- crafts

Unit 3
- "Clippity-Clippity C-C-Clack! God tells Abraham you must pack!" rhyming/make the motions song once a day for a week.
- Bible Lessons: Abraham is God's friend, God Gives Abraham the Best, God promises Abraham a son, Three men from Heaven, God tests Abraham's love.  She "gets it!" with the story about God telling Abraham to kill his son Isaac as a sacrifice.  I had to explain that God was simply testing Abraham and had a bigger plan than Abraham could see.  She could see that a sacrifice was necessary, but God provided a ram caught in the bush JUST IN TIME so Abraham didn't have to kill Isaac.  Cool to see her learn that.
- Once/week devotion verse that starts with the letter C: "Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord." Col 3:20.  Story about kids who knew what they were supposed to do well, but rushed instead, went out to play, and came back in because they felt bad they didn't obey their parents.
- Song, "God began a nation"

Vanessa's reading has picked up paces!!  She is on the third lesson of 20 in the Reading Lesson book, and reads stories like "Meg sad, meg met sad dog, sad dog sat, meg sad." and "the cat met the dog. the dog met the rat, the rat met the cat"

Calvin: He is going through Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory (2 levels above Vanessa) guidebook.  His "Learning Through History" part gives an overview of early American history from 1565-1860.  It emphasizes God's plan throughout history.  His Bible memory verse, devotions, science, art, geography, timeline and history activities, poetry, writing skills, and music are all inspired by the "learning through history" focus, so the entire day of learning is connected.

Unit 1:
American Pioneers and Patriots book - I read this to him and they are stories of what it may have been like to BE a pioneer getting on a boat from Spain to Florida.  Catalina and Pedro, characters.
He's making a timeline and adding things to it as we go.
"The Storm" poem (some ships didn't make it)
Geography: 7 continents
Bible study verse, Psalm 4:8 about peace.  The pioneers had peace even though it was hard.
Music, "I will lie down in peace" song about Ps 4:8
Spelling list for the week.
Read-aloud story time, introduce the word "Biography" - I'm reading William Henry Harrison and spacing it out to spread across 4 units of school.  He loves this book and can't wait to hear more!
Calvin reads aloud to me for some time every day from The Early Reader's Bible.  He's an emerging reader. Getting stronger.
Math (Singapore 2A) and does a scheduled lesson.  Its been easy for him the first 2 units and the third has been harder, mentally adding things like 34+172 but he's catching on.
He copies the assigned poem for handwriting practice.
Science: learning how blubber keeps sea creatures warm, oceans have currents (water experiment shooting water UNDER water), flying squirrels and how they can glide 3 times further than they are up in the air.  He totally got this. "SO IF A SQUIRREL IS 100 FEET UP IN A TREE, IT CAN GLIDE 300 FEET AWAY!!" he exclaimed in amazement.

Unit 2:
American Pioneers and Patriots book - Sally and Richard. Kids had a lot of responsibilities!
Story of Ruth - the pioneers could have given up and gone home, but just like Ruth, they faithfully stayed on their path.
"Father, We Thank Thee" poem (appreciate/read classic poetry)
Galatians 6:9 "do not lose heart while doing good"
Song "If we don't lose heart"
Spelling/grammer - introduce idea that sentences have two parts, subjects and predicates. Write some subjects, write some predicates on index cards - mix them up to make your own sentences. He loved this, and wanted to add more.
Reading from Early Reader's Bible
Math assignments (laid out for me in the back of the book - what to do for each unit/day)
Read more William Henry Harrison biography
Copying poems for handwriting

Unit 3:
Stories of the Pilgrims - explained how the believers were pressured into going to King James' church and they hid in the dark places and moved from house to house to worship God the way the Bible wanted them to, not the way King James wanted them to.
Poem: "Uphill"
1 John 4:15-16a God is Love
Song "God is Love"
Spelling
Copy poem in nice handwriting
Biography reading
Reading on his own
Math
Science, pollen moves from flower to flower by bees. Flower stops smelling fragrant when pollen is gone.

Violet: She is going through the Preparing Hearts for His Glory (2 levels above Calvin) guidebook.  Her "Learning through History" focus is an overview of world history from creation to the late 1900's told in story form.  Biblical stories are woven through other stories from world history to show the flow of history.  It involves read-aloud books that I read to her, books she reads herself, oral narration practice, written narration lessons, oral comprehension and opinion questions, Biblical applications, geography quick-finds, timeline entries, vocabulary studies, research questions, weekly history projects, weekly notebooking, copywork, and corresponding independent literature readings and assignments.  (I pretty much copied that from the back of her book, it said it much better than I could have).
Her basics learning (reading, writing, math) section includes poetry by Robert Louis Stephenson, dictation practices, English books, Bible study on Psalms with music, science readings, weekly notebooking, oral narration, comprehension and Biblical application questions, and experiments.  The science loosely correspond with the history.
Violet's units are only 4 days per Unit, while the other kids have 5 days per unit.  Violet's work takes 4-5 hours per day, and this gives me the flexibility to have her only do 1/2 day's work if we have to and finish on Friday, or if we are on schedule, have her take a day off and focus on piano or something else she's interested in (typing lessons, a longer art project, etc).  I have liked this flexibility A LOT.

Unit 1:
"Grandpa's Box" book - a story of a grandfather who tells his grandchildren the story of salvation.  Chapter 1-4 (one chapter a day in this unit).  Narrate back to me what you read.
Read/talk about Ephesians 6:10-20 with me.
History project - make a shield of faith and draw your own coat of arms.  Research what these things are.
Independently drawing and writing through history - this is drawing historical things and copying the story of creation in cursive.
Research what is a coat of arms.
Appreciate/study "The Swing" poetry
English lesson
Dictation (she studies a paragraph, then I read it to her and she has to write it exactly as it is written without looking).
Bible Study Psalms 1: 1-2 Lots of questions to ask and answer
Math according to schedule.
Science exploration - Arctic tundra, this could be reading with me, drawing the animals, learning
Vocabulary work from reading Grandpa's Box (warfare, allies, traitor, rebel, memorials) - use a dictionary, write the entry word, definition, use it in your own sentence.
Start timeline cards.  First card, "Creation ~4000 BC.

Unit 2:
Life in the Great Ice Age Book. Assigned pages per day.  This book is fantastic.  Super cool illustrations, and tells a story of a boy who may have lived in a tribe in the time after the flood waters went down and what was left were sheets of ice, and the climate was really different than it is today. More extremes.  Survival, hunting, cave art.
The True Story of Noah's Art. Another awesome book.  Illustrations blew me away.  Drew both of us into the life of what it may have been like to be Noah.  Loved this book.
Research other culture's flood stories.  Every culture has a flood story.  God's is true.
Art: study warm/cool colors.  Make a backdrop of warm or cool colors, let it dry, and paint a vibrant rainbow over the top of it.
Poem "Bed in Summer"
English
Dictation
Bible Study Psalms 1:1-3
Song "His Delight"
Scheduled Math
Science exploration about Arctic Tundra
Globe and how the TILT of the earth explains the seasons.  Made playdough Sun and Earth, toothpick at angle through Earth, and show how sun shines on where we live as the earth goes around the sun - explain days and a year, and seasons. Neat to see her pick up on that. Axis, equator, north/south hemispheres.
Timeline - new card "Flood ~2300 BC"  The flood changed the earth.  It was harder to survive for both animals and people. Many animals struggled to find food.  Man and animals hunted each other.
Science exploration - what makes ice melt?

Unit 3:
Life in the Great Ice Age Book.  Assigned pages per day.
Cave art! Made her own cave art which I was super impressed with.
Poem "Rain"
English - learning about types of sentences (asking, telling, commanding, exclaiming) - diagramming sentences (subjects, predicates), organizing things alphabetically.
Dictation
Bible Study Ps 1:1-4 - explained what is chaff, saw video on chaff blowing away.
Scheduled Math
Science exploration, arctic tundra, permafrost, how plants need what sun they get to survive up for north.  Life cycle of snow mosquito, when does arctic tundra have no night, how does a caterpillar survive the winter? it makes its own chemical that acts like antifreeze so it doesn't turn solid frozen like salt acts in water to make it freeze at lower temps)
Vocabulary study (sought, stalking, hulking, imbedded, North Star).
Add next timeline card "Tower of Babel" - people scattered and spread across the earth after God confused their languages.

This gives a quick overview of what they're doing.  I am still figuring out what works best and when.  Calvin needs to be upside down half the time he's learning something.  He loves to snuggle in a chair when we read, and he must have his blanket.
Vanessa is mostly content to wait for me to have some windows of time to help her - she's figured out I can't help her when I'm helping Violet and Calvin.
There are moments it feels insane, but calm moments when the teaching seems to be really effective.
I forgot MY OWN MATHEMATICAL METHOD of subtracting an equation like 6000-357.  I had to re-learn that.  Oh wow.  Violet helped me, hahahaha!!  Kids are our teachers, sometimes!

I can see how the could easily take over my life.  Yikes.  I'm learning balance.

The cool part of homeschooling is getting up when we want.  Kids are allowed downstairs after 8:00.  We eat breakfast (NOT in a rush!), then start.

Vanessa is content to color and draw all day.  She wants me to print things for her to color constantly and she's super into making her own books, which means she staples all the things she colors and draws together with a title page that I create on a word document that says "Vanessa's book of pretty stuff" or "Vanessa's book of mermaids and princesses".   She's so cute and funny, and sometimes we call her a mosquito because she's VERY persistent in getting MORE COLORING PAGES!! haha!

Eli goes to preK twice a week, and I thought I'd incorporate him into Vanessa's lessons more, but I don't.  He naps every day, so I try get her stuff done while Violet and Calvin have free time and he's sleeping.

We eat and cook sprinkled throughout the day.  Cleanup is constant and Violet and Calvin do this after every meal.  OK, I'm working on that...but lunch...every day.  They clean counter tops and sweep floor and load the dishwasher for me.  One time Calvin said "its SO full!" and insisted he needed to put the soap in and run it.  I said "ok..go for it"...and when I opened it up 2 hrs later, the entire top rack was empty.  haha.  I had to explain to him both racks had to be full.  He got it.

Another PERK of homeschool is that we now have the TIME and FUNDS to get them into gymnastics!!  Once a week on Wednesdays, we go to Cedar Valley Gymnastics.  Vanessa and Eli have a class (with other kids too) from 12-1, and from 1-2, Violet and Calvin have class together.  The instructor is pretty great and they are learning a lot already.  The gym has tables set up so I can bring school work along with me and we're actually productive.

I could make an entire new post about the gymnastics experience so far but for the sake of time, I just can't.  I have a mountain of Awana things to process tonight, and my main goal was to update my readers on how school is going!

first and last day at Byrnes pool this summer

I'm not sure why we didn't get to this pool more.  (maybe because we were gone so much this summer!?)  Kids were begging to go once and I had to call and find out when it closed.  The last week it was open, we went on that Friday, Aug 21.  It was a perfect sunny day and everyone enjoyed the 3 hours spent there.

Violet was all over the pool.  Calvin could now touch up to the rope that separates the rest of the pool and the deep end.  Both Violet and Calvin independently went down the slide many times.  The walk up the steps is very cold and windy.

Vanessa could touch in parts of the main pool area, but I still made her wear her life jacket on "the other side of the rope" which separated the baby area from the main pool.  Eli was ... how do I even describe him...CRAZY.  He wanted to swim with no life jacket so he needed constant supervision.  He wanted to go in the deep part where he couldn't touch so I held him and he wanted to push himself to the bottom of the pool and shoot himself up and have me catch him.  Again, again! he yelled.

There was a 15 minute adult swim in the middle of the day so I "splurged" and got each kid a treat from the vending machine.  Calvin and Violet snickers bars, and Vanessa licorice cherry bites, and Eli peanut m&ms.

Calvin told me it was the best day ever!

creative kiddos

Calvin and Violet had a couple hours to play outside a couple days ago and found that the long dead "sticks" that were poking out of the orange tiger lily plants were perfect for picking and laying out in the grass to form paths and sidewalks all over the lawn.  They only picked the dead ones, and Calvin exclaimed, "we're helping you AND playing at the same time!" haha.

Iowa State Fair 2015

This was a first for our family!  We explored the fairgrounds at the Iowa State Fair on August 22.  Rachel invited us and treated us to a lot of things - meals, tickets to shows, etc.  The crowds were thick, and it was tough to keep track of everybody, but there was lots of fun mixed in!  

highlights:

- "Crazy Mouse" spinning roller coaster ride that Rachel, Violet, Calvin and I went on.  Lots of spins, turns, and screams.  Rachel said her brain was shaking after the ride.  

- Eli and Vanessa, who were too small to go on the roller coaster, got turns on the trampolines.  They both had huge smiles and enjoyed that.

- watching Calvin's face as he viewed a cow giving birth on a video screen ("DOES THAT HURT!!?!??!")

- Red Trouser comedy show 

- gyros and corn dogs for lunch

- cotton candy! (Eli didn't like it, Rachel got him some salt water taffy candy instead)

- seeing the award for the weirdest vegetables, the twisty carrot looked a lot like something that came out of our garden last year.

- life size cow made of butter

- riding the sky glider!

- strawberry smoothies!

- eating dinner at the mexican restaurant on the way out of town.  Thanks to the app "Yelp" for helping us find it.

Calvin and I on the "sky glider"!  Don't lose your flip flops!

A dream come true for Vanessa - her own cotton candy ON A STICK

Vanessa jumping!

Eli jumping!

First day of homeschool work 2015

This scene looks all too perfect.  There have been great moments, like when Calvin can not wait to snuggle up with me and have me read to him for his history storytime.  And when Vanessa sounded out letters and read words like "cot, cat, rat, mom, dad, am, and sam" and learns how to appropriately write her letters a, g, d, starting with the top, not the bottom.  Vanessa had a devotional book I read to her which explain a verse that started with the letter "A" - "A soft answer turns away wrath", and went through a scenario where a child was angry and a soft word calmed the situation.  She now reminds me to say soft words if she notices me getting upset, haha.  Its so funny and annoying at the same time.

Calvin built a lego boat today (Saturday morning! on his own) to illustrate how the spanish explorers would have had a better experience on the sea.

There have been stressful moments - like when three kids say "mom! what's next!" or "I need help!" all at once.

But so far, we've gone through 4 days of schoolwork in a week.  Calvin's math is too easy so I'm ordering him the next book up.  Violet likes all her stuff!  Her history focus is an overview of creation to now, the "big" events and will build a timeline through the year that covers spans of what happens in each 1000 year period.
Calvin's history focus is early american history, 1500-1900.  I'm reading him a biography about William Henry Harrison which he looks forward to every day.  He puts his blue blanket on the chair in the piano room and says "this is our reading spot!"  He's studying a poem called "The Storm" which correlates the idea that storms happened on the sea when the pioneers were exploring new lands.  His verse is Psalm 4:8 which reminds us that the explorers trusted God to keep them safe.

They've gotten to do some science experiments and learn how blubber keeps whales warm way deep in the water by spreading shortening on one finger and putting it under cold water, and the covered finger felt warmer.  Lots of "ews" and "whoaaa that works".

Kids each have a Bible devotion or Bible study worked into their daily work, and the lessons all tie together.

And much more.  Violet's work takes 5 or so hours to get through, Calvin's takes approximately 3 hrs, and Vanessa's takes about 45 minutes.  I'm working on what works.  It may take me a few weeks to settle.  But so far the kids seem to love what they're doing and overall enjoy "being at home".

Viewing Western Home construction with Mama Row

Mama Row was pretty excited to have the kids come visit and see the construction for the Western Home expansion!  We saw a guy there with his drone video camera who sent it up flying in the air to record the progress.  He let the kids look at it and he flew it up as high as he could go (165 feet) and showed the kids the video camera.  The trucks were digging, dumping, and bulldozing - a classic scene that looked like it came right out of a children's book.

She invited us all over for cranberry/nut cookies and mango smoothies!

This toy.  Favorite of all time at Mama Row's house!

Eli is starting preschool! (preK open house photos)

The last "first" for us - our littlest, Eli, is starting preschool on Tuesday, Aug 25.  I took him and the other kids to visit his classroom open house and deliver all his school supplies.  He loved the classroom!  He was attracted to the trains and the fish.

He had a hard time letting go of the watercolor paint set we brought for a school supply.  We'd just shopped for them that morning and he held the watercolor paint set during the whole trip to Walmart and he knew they were for his school.  He was pretty concerned when we had to put the paints and all the rest of the preK school supplies on the table at drop off that night.

I did let him use the watercolors to paint something when we got home that evening so he could use watercolor paints.  He created something worth saving too, so that was fun.

His teacher this year is Mrs. Blough who has been a teacher there since 2009.  She's seen our kids in and out of the preK for years and Eli is the first in our family she gets to teach so she's super excited!

he had to let go of those paints, the hardest part of the night

there is a fishy in there.  He noted the mesh over the top of the tank and said "can I touch the jump-o-line?"

He found his name!  Eli seems to be a popular name among his age group so I'm glad he's the only one in the class.

trains! He sometimes calls them "ding dings".

and he's in love...trucks galore...

Dena Blough and Eli

found his name by a hook for his backpack

painting at home with things we had at home - he loved this part

Boogers

Dad (to Eli): Eli, don't put legos in your mouth.
Eli: I'm not putting legos in my mouf, I'm putting boogers in my mouf!

oh Eli.

School at HOME!

God did it.  He changed my heart.  He's leading me by faith and has created in me an excitement to do this!

Feels like I've stepped off a cliff, but I'm gaining footing.  I've talked to a lot of other moms/dads and families who do this thing called "homeschooling" and I've realized the enormous support there is and how surprisingly common this is around here.  

The thing that made me realize it was the right thing to do was not enrolling the kids in Waterloo Christian gave me the biggest sense of relief.  I'm not saying this is my forever school decision.  It is for this year, and if we like it, we'll continue.  No more painful early grumpy mornings, frantic lunch packing, fundraising, and dealing with school-kid-friend-drama, and the circus that we used to call the school year will come to a pace that we control.  Sure, I'll get less "me" time.  I can say honestly that I do worry I'll get overwhelmed.  But Dave is so sweet and sensitive to this, and understands I'll need to exit the scene when necessary and hang up my "mom hat" for the time I need it.

We told the kids a few weeks ago and Calvin jumped in my arms and was the most excited.  Violet's initial reaction was that she might miss her friends and wanted to go back for "specials" which would be music and gym, but that isn't the plan right now.  Vanessa didn't seem to really grasp it but she mentioned she wanted to go to Violet and Calvin's school.  I guess I'm a little sad she isn't going to get the Miss Smits K experience but that's OK.  She doesn't even know what she's missing.  And I think she might gain the most benefit from the get-go with school at home because she seems the be the most affected by peers.  She's extremely social and can make friends with anybody so I just wonder if people might distract her from "going to school".  Calvin is my home-body and is the most excited.

So Google became my best friend - and I began researching and reaching out.  I joined a facebook group of Cedar Valley homeschoolers.  I asked others about curriculum and "how-does-this-teaching-multiple-kids-thing-work" and stumbled across a suggestion for a publisher called Heart of Dakota.  Christ centered, every daily lesson in all areas of study planned out for me and explained in detail "what mom does", and really amazing books.  The curriculum is based on the Charlotte Mason method "doing fewer things better" and can be summed up in this I found on her way of thinking: 

"Living Books: Probably the best known of Mason's methods is her use of living books for every subject possible instead of dry, factual textbooks or books that are 'written down' to children. Rather than books written by committee, as most textbooks are, living books are usually written by one person with a passion for the topic and a broad command of the language as well as the ability to write in an engaging, literary style while communicating great ideas rather than mere facts. The size of the book is not as important as the content and style- it should be alive and engaging.^{" (this quote found on Wikipedia)}

The curriculum is literature-based and tells stories of history, rather than dry facts.  I am praying this will be a blessing to our family and we can learn on our own schedule and hopefully add in some really fun "extras" on the way.  I like how the history lessons wrap in Bible history so it is all one subject, not Bible here and history over there, since the Bible is a historial book as well, I like how they're combined.

I got a tip from another mom that her absolute favorite thing about doing school at home with kids is that she can "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness..." WITH THE FAMILY and the rest is added as God will use the chosen school materials in a way that the kids need to learn through the rest of the day.  

Eli will still go to OHCP for 2.5 hrs twice a week, and the days he is at home, he'll share working on the Little Hands to Heaven guidebook with Vanessa, whatever he is able to pick up, but I wanted something they could do together.  I got 3 extra books for Vanessa to go through that help her progress in handwriting, math, and reading.

If you want to look at their books, their website describes them.

Violet - Preparing Hearts for His Glory

Calvin - Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory

Vanessa (and Eli) - Little Hands to Heaven with kindergarten extension books pulled from Little Hearts for His Glory

So here we go! I'd love prayers for how to work out my daily schedule.  Working out kinks can be frustrating but we'll figure it out.

Vanessa gets a much needed hair cut

Before - I can't believe how LONG it was!

after

My little girl with her head in the clouds, or rather, under the sea.  She wishes she was a mermaid.  This long curly hair is so beautiful, but it is so hard to take care of it.  It only looks best about 20 minutes after her bath when it dries nicely with it all combed out and curled up.  One night and it is all over, and she wakes up and it is everywhere.  Tangled, in knots, and what ends up happening to it is an effort on my part to "keep it in place" which meant a small rubber band holding the top half to the side and a pony tail, bun, or braid for the rest.  Then the little fuzzy short hairs near the top of her head escape and she looks like she's stuck her finger in a light socket.

I was giving Eli a haircut (and the reason for his was when I noticed a tangled chunk of hair sticking straight out horizontal from his head) and thought I'd give Vanessa a trim too.  After swimming for hours one day at home, I knew it was all tangled up.  I had her get out of the pool so I could comb it out, but what convinced me it was time for a trim was a golf-ball size mass of tangles that I tried for 30 minutes to carefully untangle.  That method was clearly not working.  I had her stand outside in her swimsuit with a hose with warm water and I shampooed and conditioned her hair outside.  Washed it, rinsed it, and then smeared so much conditioner in it I felt like her head and my hands were all one big slime ball.  It worked though.  I used my fingers to pull hairs free of this tangled mass and eventually got it straightened out.  The above "before" pic with her hair all wet was after detangling it.

I cut about 4-5 inches off, and it sprung back up into curls.  She was initially disappointed it wasn't long but I told her it looks like Sofia the princess she loves and she felt better.

conversations with Eli

Eli: "Shoo-ah-doo-uh-doo-uh!"
Me: What?
Eli: "Shoo-ah-doo-uh-doo-uh!"
Me: What is that?
Eli: I just want to say dat.
Me: OK
Eli: (notices a lego canoe) "Will dis poke me?"
Me: No
Eli: "You said no?"
Me: Yes
Eli: "Shoo-ah-doo-uh-doo-uh!"

and earlier this morning:

Eli: "I want breaf-dis.  I want pancakes."

and he requests this when he's done swimming:

"I want costume."

which means wrap the towel around his chest and leave his arms out.  Who would have ever come up with that description other than a 3 yr old?

~Another funny: When I say to him, "Eli, you're my water baby."  (because he loves swimming!)
He gets all limp, wants me to hold him, and he hugs me and makes baby noises."  hahahaha!

Vanessa (5) and Eli (3) doctor checks

I had forgotten I'd scheduled doctor check ups for these two kids.  My phone calendar notified me that these two kiddos had well-child checkups with the pediatrician on Monday at 11:45 am.  My first day "back from vacation".  Wasn't too big of a deal.   It actually worked out OK because I needed the doctor to give a glance at Calvin's big toe, which he smashed pretty hard with a hammock pole on Sunday evening.  Never in my life have I heard him scream from his thousands of injuries worse than this one.  He was messing with the large "S" hook on the end of one pole that was not connected and it came out of the hole and the pole dropped onto his big toe.  yeah, ouch.  Anyway, after 30 minutes of screaming and crying, ice, and ibuprofen, he calmed down.  We had thought to take him to the ER for xrays, in case it was fractured or something, but ultimately decided to wait.  

So, that's a back story.  I realized the younger two kids had appointments so I was glad for the opportunity to bring Calvin and ask her about his toe.

Violet stayed home with Dave while he worked in his office.  I think she read books.  Either way, she didn't need to go.  She was sad for Calvin's injury and I think had a vested interest in what the doctor was going to say but it was just easier for me to remove one child from the scene so the visit to the doctor was less hectic.  Those rooms are tiny anyway.

We drove there and Vanessa and Eli took turns pushing buttons to open the doors.  Vanessa knew to push the 4 button the way up and the LL (lower level) button on the way back down.  Eli and Vanessa got all their numbers from the nurse - Eli is 38.2 lbs and Vanessa is 40.3.  One of these days he's going to pass her up.  Vanessa's BP was 96/55 and Eli's was 80/40 or numbers close to those.  Quick vision testing - both said the image of the house across the hallway as a barn, not a house, and Eli copied her and said it was a bar.  

Both younger ones were to change into those little robes that open in the back.  Vanessa was excited, put it on, and said, "I'm the angel of arendale!!" and danced around in it.  Eli did not like it, and ripped off the "jamas" he called them.  

Doctor came in and examined them all, and concluded both are in perfect health.  Eli answered the doctor's question "what is your favorite color?" by pausing to think and answering "purple".  She asked him if he was a boy or a girl and he answered boy.  Doc asked what his favorite food is and he said, "oatmeal".  He willingly laid down and let doc check his body, smiling and turning his head a lot.  He happily reached down and touched his toes when she looked at his back.  For such a stinker he can be, he has another joyful agreeable side to him that came out in the office.  

Vanessa enjoyed the check up too.  Pokes, questions, etc.  She said "Vanessa Jo LaMarche" when doc asked her what her full name was.  

She looked at Calvin's puffy black and blue toe and decided since it looked bruised and not out of line, and acknowledged that the specific area that got smashed is an incredibly sensitive part of the body - her suggestion was to wait a week and if pain stayed the same or got worse, then get it checked out further.  Calvin was good with that.  Its kinda funny having Calvin temporarily handicapped.  He is walking on the side of his foot and can't run.  He told me when leaving the doctors office that walking is actually kind of nice.  Normally he'd be running ahead as far as he's allowed.

So happy and thankful for healthy kids!!  (it was helpful to not have any shots today!  Next will be Eli's boosters when he is 4)

waiting rooms are always an adventure!