Three Cheers for Spring!

We had a beautiful day here in Wisconsin today.  The temperature climbed to a balmy 55 degrees, and there was a gentle wind turning the blades of the wind turbine next door. 
We took our Spring Break last week, as The Principal had to go out of town for work and we felt like tagging along. The kiddos loved our stay at a waterpark hotel, and no one was ready to head home.
Due to our exciting adventure last week, we decided to ease into the week and enjoyed some fun activities today. 
We usually start out the morning with Mom's Read Aloud Hour.  The kiddos moaned when I said it was time to jump back in to our historical fiction book. Instead I pulled out our ' Poetry for Young People: Edgar Allan Poe' and we read 'The Raven'.  This has long been one of my favorites.  I mean, how could you not love such phrases as: 'while I nodded nearly napping...?' 
They worked through their usual Latin, Copywork, Dictation, and Math.  I've decided to hold off on spelling for the week as we need to re-evaulate Language Arts for J-Straco based on the fact that he is going to need 6 months of vision therapy for his over convergence issues.
For History today we watched the first segment in our new 'Drive Through History' DVD.  We cuddled up in the movie room, made popcorn and enjoyed hearing more about early American explorers.  The boys loved the format, and no one moved from their chairs for the entire half hour episode. I am trying to incorporate more visual lessons into our history curriculum to reinforce what we are learning.
While The Princess got her beauty sleep, the boys worked on some independant projects. Farm Boy composed a new song to play on the piano, and J-Straco made a goldfish vending machine out of blocks.  You pull a 'lever' and goldfish crackers come out the bottom.  The Princess thought it was an extremely cool way to have her afternoon snack upon awakening.

We spent a couple hours outside in the afternoon.  Farm Boy collected more rocks for his collection, and J-Straco took The Princess for a walk in the woods.  Everyone enjoyed riding their bikes, and The Princess learned how to pedal today!! Go Princess Go!

The boys wrapped up the day with the their normal evening routine;  music practice, multiplication flash cards with daddy, and Boys' Bible Study with daddy. We are working through Kaye Freeman's bible study books, currently using Choosing Self-Control.  I HIGHLY recommend this series, it has been really well received by the boys. 
The rest of the week is predicted to be stormy and cool, but we saw the evidence of Spring outside today. A robin hopping across the backyard, the green of our strawberry plants as they start to grow.  Everyday brings a chance for a new beginning!
Happy Spring!!

Weekly Report

Here is what we did this week:

 Latin- Completed the chapter on Latin adverbs and worked on memorizing the table blessing in Latin.

Language Arts- Narration and Dictation from WWE book.

Daily Copywork

Narration from History Reading

We read 'Eats, Shoots, and Leaves' by Lynne Truss and discussed the importance of proper punctuation.

We took the week off from Grammar Island, and All About Spelling.

 

Geography:

They had to show me they could draw the lines of lattitude from memory and label them.  They are now working on adding Africa in it's proper place.

History:

We are studying about the English colonization of the United States.  Our read-aloud for the week is:

Raleigh's Page by Alan Armstrong.

The boys are really enjoying this book.  We started reading this over the weekend, so when we started reading about Sir Walter Raleigh in our SOTW book the boys recognized the names of Raleigh's peers, and remembered a lot about Queen Elizabeth.

Farm Boy got mad at me when I read in SOTW about how Raleigh was imprisoned and eventually beheaded.   He said, "Mom, you ruined the book for me!"  Ooops, I guess I could have waited on that little fact until we finished 'Raleigh's Page'. 

We also downloaded and listened to the chapters on Sir Walter Raleigh from The Awakening of Europe by M.B.Synge.

Math:

Math Mammoth- J-Straco worked on multi-digit multiplication

Farm Boy worked on measuring and adding fractions

Nurturing A Love of Reading

Lord! when you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life.  Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night - there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book.  ~Christopher Morley

Hi, my name is Becky and I am a bibliophile.  My obsession with books began when I was very young.  My mom says I learned to read when I was three years old.  The first book I remember owning was a gift from my Aunt, "The Read-it-Yourself Storybook" copyright 1971. 

Isn't it beautiful? My three year old has recently discovered it on the bookshelf, so I have spent many precious hours introducing her to my dear old friends.  Stories like; 'Emily's Moo', 'Too Many Bozos', 'Eddie's Moving Day', and 'Tony and His Friends' are all found just beyond the tattered lavender cover.

One of the most exciting and memorable moments in my life was when my mom brought home a large box of books she had purchased for a couple dollars at a garage sale. I carted them up to the attic, which wasn't easy considering we had an unfinished attic with a drop-down chain ladder. I balanced a piece of plywood over the floor joists and spent all my free time reading in front of the window. I suppose it was far from an ideal reading spot, as it was hot in the summer, freezing cold in the winter and had no electric lights. To me though, it could easily become a hot air balloon soaring over the clouds, a bear-filled cave, or a lush, tropical oasis. 

I remember fondly my elementary school librarian and how she would read to us every week-the most exciting tales of unusual people and far away places.  I still to this day have an indescribable admiration for her.  

I remember how my 5th grade teacher had to scramble to find more books for me to read because I read everything on the reading list in the first 2 months of school.

I remember my highschool literature classes where I was introduced to such authors as Edgar Allan Poe, Toni Morrison, George Orwell, Chaucer and Hawthrone.

I remember the college class I took my senior year in high school: Introduction to a Genre: Drama.  I  became familiar with the plays of Tennessee Williams and Thornton Wilder.

I remember when my wonderful husband bought me a Kindle for my birthday last year.  I rarely go from one room to another without it.  I have even discovered I can put it in a zip-top plastic bag and read in the bathtub.  My favorite time to read is between the hours of 9:00 and 11:00 at night. The house is unusually quiet, blissfully quiet, and there is little chance of being interrupted by a call of, "Mom!"

Today, as I home school my children, I am doing everything in my power to give them the same love of books. Why? 

The stories of childhood leave an indelible impression, and their author always has a niche in the temple of memory from which the image is never cast out to be thrown on the rubbish heap of things that are outgrown and outlived.  ~Howard Pyle

The knowledge they glean from books, will help form them into intelligent, pensive, well-spoken men.  I want reading to become a habit they will never want to break.  While reading is all bout fun and adventure at this stage, they will learn very soon about the joy and satisfaction that come when you find the answer to a question you have been seeking, and answers to questions you didn't even know you had!

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it.  I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint.... What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.  ~Henry David Thoreau

That is why I want my children to love reading.  An easy feat it most certainly is not.  My boys are very curious, active boys who love to ride bikes and climb trees.  Even in the winter they would rather brave the elements to make snow forts and sled down the snow-covered corn field, before they would choose to sit still and read.  I have been reading, researching, and racking my brain to raise them up with a love of the printed page.  Here are some of the changes we've made over the years to

 make books a bigger focus in our home:

* Absolutely no electronics on school days. This includes television, video games, and computer (unrelated to school).

* For every chapter book they finish, I take them to the bookstore and let them choose any book they would like. 

*We keep a book log on the side of the book shelf where they record how many hours per week they read.  They can trade in their 'book hours' for 'video-game hours' on non-school days.

*I choose 'living books' with engaging characters and exciting plots.

*I read aloud to them 1-2 hours a day.

*They have the option of staying up 30 minutes past bedtime to read. They have their own booklights which they think are pretty cool!

*I play audio books during quiet moments of the day-mostly breakfast and lunch time, and while they are settling down to sleep at night.

*I let them see ME reading. I read during our quiet reading time along side of them. 99% of the reading I do is on my Kindle, but during quiet reading time I make an effort to pick up an actual book so they can see what I am reading. 

*I tell them about the books I am reading and encourage them to do the same. They love to talk about the characters in their books.

*I re-arranged our main living area to make it a more comfortable spot to read and listen to books. I was inspired by Oliver Demille's explanation of their living/reading space in his book "Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning". 

The Princess and I love to sit in the rocking chair reading books.  Her favorites are: 'Corduroy', 'Goodnight Gorilla', 'Katy No-Pockets', and 'Caps for Sale'.  She just may be a bibliophile like her mama.  The boys like to read sprawled upside down on the couch, or in a blanket-topped fort under the table.  When I am reading aloud to them, they like to build with legos or blocks at the game table.  Sometimes they set up rows of little green soldiers in preparation of some important battle. In the summer we enjoy quiet reading time outside in the hammock, on the deck, or on a blanket spread in the field by the woods. 

Will my efforts be rewarded? In one way or another, they most

 definitely will be. As adults, will they surround themselves with books?  Will they spend every free moment reading? Maybe not, BUT.......they will have wonderful memories of countless hours curled up on the couch reading and hearing of brave knights, daring adventurers and stories of self-sacrifice. It will be a part of them.  And, they will know where to find it all again. 

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.  ~Groucho Marx

Happy Birthday Princess!

A Week in Review

I broke down and bought a new History curriculum a few weeks ago.  Going into this school year, I tried to organize my own study of Early American History, as we are in year 3 of 4 in our history cycle. I have a plethora of books on that time period, and decided to add Time Travelers Lapbooks  for some hands-on. We are really enjoying the Time Travelers.  There is so much to choose from; making maps, timelines, games, cooking projects. I do modify it slightly by putting completed activities/pages in their History binders instead of a lapbook.
However, at this point in the year we should be closing in on the Revolutionary War and we are still reading about early American explorers.  How did that happen?!?
I purchased Easy Classical History because it is basically a schedule which coordinates many different books, most of which I already own.  I thought if I had a schedule with nice little boxes to check off, it would help keep me on track.  So far, so good. There are no 'extras' with EC, it gives you the schedule of reading along with questions to prompt your child's narration. 
The main spine is 'The Story of the World' by Susan Wise Bauer.  We LOVE anything by SWB.  I listen to her audio lectures often as I've never been fortunate enough to see her in person.  She is the author of 'The Well Trained Mind; A Guide to Classical Education at Home', which is definitely the backbone of our homeschool. 
Easy Classical History also uses 'A History of US' (a series of 11 books) by Joy Hakim.  I really like this series.  The two books work really well along side each other.
There is A LOT of reading with this curriculum.  If you don't have at least 2 hours a day to devote to all the reading it may not be the best choice for you.  To give you an example, this is from last week's schedule:
Read one chapter in 'Story of the World', 3 chapters in 'A History of US', 40 pages from 'Explorers who Got Lost', and all 20 chapters from the book 'Madeleine Takes Command'. Yep, all in one week. 
Luckily my guys tolerate it all really well.  I sit on the couch and read while they play quietly on the floor or at the table.  They usually choose Legos or dominoes, although our new love is Kapla blocks. 

J-Straco is my budding architect.  Here is a church he built, and a skyscraper below:

Here are a few more pics from the week:

J-Straco's Bananagram board-once a week we push the spelling curriculum aside and play Bananagrams. The boys LOVE this game.

The boys working on their duet, 'Step by Step' by Rich Mullins.  J-Straco's guitar teacher is helping the boys get ready to perform this at our church talent show in April. 

Farm Boy's Geometry.  He is learning about 3D shapes and how many edges, vertices, and faces each has. That kid is a math whiz! It takes me twice as long to check it as it does him to complete it.

J-Straco putting his greek letters in order.  Seriously, greek is HARD!

J-Straco's  Latin--The boys are memorizing The Sanctus and The Doxology in Latin this month.

Farm Boy's Geography- learning to draw the world map from memory.  We are starting with the main lines of lattitude and then will progress to the continents and countries.

Boys playing 'Set'. This is a crazy challenging- but fun game.

Quick Snuggle Break!

The Princess has been enjoying Cuisenaire Rods this week.  She likes the fun pre-math activites we found here, created and shared by a sweet homeschooling mama. 

Making a Sailboat

I think I'll start Miquon Math with her in another year.  It uses the Cuisenaire rods and is a very gentle, discovery based curriculum. 

We played around with the C-rods for quite a while.  She loved building bridges and houses for her little animals.  We also had fun playing a little game. I told her the biggest rod was named Mr. 10.  We compared all the  other rods to Mr. 10 and discovered he was the biggest.  Then, I showed her Mr. 8, and told her he was sad because he wasn't big like Mr. 10.  I explained we need to find a friend to help Mr. 8 get bigger like Mr. 10.  She tried putting different rods with the 8, until she discovered the 2 next to the eight was as big as 'Mr. 10'. I'm going to leave it at that for the moment, I don't think she's ready for the actual operation.
She has many years ahead of her, now is the time to have fun, explore and make discoveries.