Autumn Outdoor Hour Challenge: Ducks and Geese

You can find nature just about anywhere, and I noticed one day that near our local Target store, next to the shopping mall, is a small body of water out beside a back parking lot.  Knowing one of our Outdoor Hour Challenges was to observe ducks and geese to compare them, we stopped one day with daddy to see if we could find some birds.  Of course I did not have my camera with me.  Oh well.  Here is Emma’s nature journal page from later that day:  We found more than 70 birds, evenly split between ducks and geese!  After watching them swim around for a while and talking about their different colorings, neck length, etc, we went down near the edge of the water with some snacks from my diaper bag to see if we could tempt them to come out of the water.  We wanted to see their feet.  Well, apparently young children, ducks, and geese all have similar taste in snacks, because the birds happily climbed out to eat.  Makayla was the only other child who wanted to make an entry in her nature journal that day, so here is hers:  We have been doing several other nature explorations lately and I’ll try to get those posted a bit more regularly.  Don’t forget to check out the other entries for this challenge at Handbook of Nature Study!

Things on My To Do List

  We all come to those moments when we seem to be running out of time.  It may be an upcoming holiday, birthday, or moving day.  For some reason the last two days I have really felt like I’m running out of time before this baby is born.  Now, as of tomorrow I still have 8 weeks to my due date.  I’ve had my babies as much as 2 weeks early or 2 weeks late, so in as little as 6 weeks Caleb could realistically arrive.  I’ve sat today listing out all those things that I still want or need to get done before Caleb arrives.  Would you like to see part of my list?

• Give Daddy and the boys haircuts.
• Restock pantry, make sure we have ingrediencts for easy meals, snacks.
• Buy birthday presents for the 3 birthdays between now and Christmas.
• Buy Christmas presents – there is no way I’ll be shopping in December, so it needs finished by the end of Oct.  Thankfully, we keep this pretty simple.
• Get the crib set up, bedding washed.
• Get the baby boy clothes out, washed.
• Check kids’ shoe sizes, find boots for everyone, etc.  Some are probably ready to move up in size.
• Remove blinds on 14 windows (most are broken in some places thanks to dear boys).
• Put up curtain rods and curtains.  Of course I need to measure windows and go shopping for clearance curtains first…LOL.
• Switch out kid clothes for the fall/winter season.
• Return all library books.
• Finish up doctor checkups and dentist cleanings for those who need them.  Um, that means I should probably schedule them, right?

Okay, so there you have most of my list.  I know I can get it all done if I don’t wait until the last minute.  Now I just need to figure out where to begin!

What things are on your to do list?

Vocabulary Cartoons Review

There are many subjects a family can choose to include in their homeschool day. One of those is vocabulary, and to be quite honest, we have not bothered to study vocabulary as a subject in our family. We read a lot and always look up the words we do not understand, which works well for us. When we were sent Vocabulary Cartoons from New Monic Books I had no idea what to expect. This book is written for grades 3-6 and they have higher levels available for SAT prep.

Vocabulary Cartoons covers 210 words, with a review quiz after every 10 words. The review quizzes have a place to match the 10 new words with their definitions as well as fill in the blank sentences to use those vocabulary words. The answer key is in the back of the book.

When I first opened the book I read the three page introduction, explaining the concept of mnemonics, a fancy word that simply means ‘assisting the memory’. Vocabulary Cartoons uses rhyming and visual mnemonics to make learning new words easy. Each page is laid out as follows:

The word fathom, it’s pronunciation, and definition are the first things a student reads. In this case, fathom means ‘to understand fully’. Vocabulary cartoons then gives you a rhyming word and silly cartoon to help you remember the meaning: Fathom loosely rhymes with ‘fat thumb’. The cartoon caption tells the story: “Doctors could never FATHOM the reason for Larry’s FAT THUMB.” Replacing the vocabulary word with it’s definition, you can see how it makes sense, and what child will not remember such a silly picture as the boy with a really fat thumb? Under that you age given three sample sentences to show the use of the vocabulary word.

What We Did: Once I understood the layout of the pages it was easy to sit with my 4th grader for a minute each day and learn the new word with it’s rhyme and cartoon. On subsequent days we learned a new word and quickly reviewed the words we had already learned. She retained words well, the rhyme associations made this an effective method for her.

What We Thought: While we see that Vocabulary Cartoons really does work, we still don’t feel the need to have a vocabulary curriculum added to our day. Our family will just stick with studying word meanings as they come up in our everyday learning and read alouds because they are more relevant to my children that way. Vocabulary Cartoons will stay on our shelf because it works and one of my children may use it just for fun down the road.

You can read what my Crewmates thought about Vocabulary Cartoons here.

{Disclaimer: I received one copy of Vocabulary Cartoons to enable this review. I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

Top Ten Books on my Finished Pile

I have seen Top Ten Tuesday appearing in my reader over the last several weeks and finally decided it was time to participate.  Basically, on Top Ten Tuesday you offer up your top 10 list on any topic you wish.  Today my theme is:

Top Ten Books on my Finished Pile

I’m a reader, I always have a few books going for myself, a few for the children, and a waiting list of books to get to.  This list is the last ten books I read just for me:

1. Within My Heart by Tamera Alexander – I’ll post a review of this one in a few days for Bethany House.  It was good, set in Colorado in the late 1870’s.  I enjoyed it.

2. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen – Love it!  I enjoy seeing the story unfold, seeing the different sisters and how they react to their situations.

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – Another great classic, one that I had not read in a long time. 

4. Lessons at Blackberry Inn by Karen Andreola – I reread this one again.  I think the thing I loved this time around was seeing how Carol tries to do too much, and how she learns to slow down and let others help her.

5. The Family Nutrition Book by Doctor Sears – I like this one, I learn so much from it about what our bodies do with the foods we eat.

6. The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer – Yes, technically it is 5 books, but they go together and read them all in a row.  I like them, what can I say?

7. Hearing and Reading, Telling and Writing: A Charlotte Mason Language Arts Handbook by Sonya Shafer – Wow!  What a great book to really pull Charlotte Mason’s words and sort by topics.  The chapters on Narration, Copywork, and Reading Aloud were my favorite.

8. Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock – Okay, so I’ve not read all 887 pages of this yet, but I’m working through it.  Makayla is too, she keeps taking it from my desk and looking things up in the index to read about.

9. The Story of the Orchestra by Robert Levine – Reading this in preparation to do a unit on the orchestra, instruments, and composers, but I really enjoyed it myself.  It is very kid-friendly and comes with a music cd you play tracks from after reading sections.  I’m thinking we may enjoy it after I have the baby because basically the kids can do it without me.

10. Getting It All Done by Marilyn Boyer – This is an ebook I have that is only 50 pages but is packed full of great ideas and real life for a busy homeschool family.  Best of all, it was NOT one of those books that make you feel guilty – like you ‘should’ be able to do more than you are.  I enjoyed it a lot.

Well, that’s my top ten list for the week.  Go to Oh, Amanda! and see everyone else’s top ten list for this week.

All About Homophones – Our Thoughts

A reader asked what we think of All About Homophones, so I thought I would offer my thoughts so far.  Homophones are words that sound the same while being spelled differently and having different meanings.  For example be and bee, see and sea, to, two, and too. 

 

I will preface this by two things:

• We have only used this for a few weeks. 
• I bought this product with my own money, it was not given to me to review.

In All About Homophones there are a variety of resources to use:

Graphic Organizers – The six graphic organizers resemble scrapbook pages with a place to draw a picture for each homophone, and spaces to write some or all of the following for each word: the word, definition, synonyms, a sentence using the word.  Makayla does one of these for each new homophone set she learns, and ultimately they will be bound into her very own homophone dictionary.  There is a page of ideas for using the Graphic Organizers for homophones as well as other purposes.

Homophone Worksheets – 101 fill-in-the-blank sheets give the student practice with different sets of homophones.  Each page is dedicated to one homophone set.  There are two pages of ideas to take this further in creative writing, art/drama, speaking, and more.  The homophones are divided into sets for grades 1 – 8, though a child can easily cross over grade levels.

Crossword Puzzles – These correspond to grade level homophone lists.  There are 14 puzzles, so after learning the words listed a student gets another way to practice their new homophones.

Card Games – Instructions are included for six card games, and printable game cards are provided for 26 homophone pairs, with instructions to create your own cards for other homophones.

All About Homophones offers even more resources, from books to read, to tongue twisters, riddles, and puns using homophones.  The appendix offers answer keys, handy indexes, and a mega-list of homophones that you can extend your family’s learning with.  There is a 32 page sample you can look through HERE that is a great look at All About Homophones.

How are we using All About Homophones?   Two or three days a week Makayla looks up definitions for a pair of homophones, creates her graphic organizer page, and does the accompanying worksheet.  It’s that easy.  When she finishes all the word pairs to do one of the crossword puzzles I will slip the puzzle into her workbox as a surprise.  Every few weeks we will make cards and play some of the homophone games, though we are waiting to begin this until she has finished at least 10 word pairs so the games are not too easy (she is 9 after all). 

What do we think?  Makayla enjoys making her own “reference books”, be it a homophone dictionary or an atlas, so this is right up her alley.  She also enjoys words and grammar.  I bought the e-book version for $27.95.  I like being able to print directly from my computer.  This book is something I will be able to reuse for all of my children when they are ready, which makes it a wonderful investment.  It covers words for grades 1-8 and then includes an even bigger master list in the appendix, which means not only can I use it, but I can expand it if I have a child who particularly loves this study. 

Workboxes X 5: Conifers are Cone Bearers

I expect this week to roll along about the same as last week.  Our planned work is similar in many areas, so if this sounds familiar that is why.  I actually had the workboxes loaded Saturday afternoon and ready to go, which was nice.  Here is what’s inside our workboxes this week:

All About Spelling – Makayla, Joseph, and Emma each have their work to do in their assorted levels.  Daniel will join in on the phonogram cards. 

All About Homophones – This is just Makayla.  I will post my thoughts about this product later this week because one of my readers asked – for now just let me say we’re enjoying it!

Math U See – Makayla will be reviewing skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s in MUS Gamma.  Joseph and Emma will be introduced to skip counting by 2’s in MUS Primer – time to pull out the skip count songs!  Daniel and Oliver will be using pattern blocks this week to work on shapes and patterning.

Psalms study – Makayla and I will be studying the 23rd psalm this week.  The whole family will be listening to/trying to sing hymn 108 The Lord is My Shepherd.  Click on the title to hear it.

Writing – Makayla liked retelling an Aesop fable last week so she chose another one to do this week: The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse.

Reading Aloud – We decided there is no need to choose only one book to read aloud, so we will alternate chapters of Fablehaven 2: Rise of the Evening Star and chapters from another book about Paddington Bear.

Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek – Makayla will learn more of the Greek alphabet this week, and so will Mommy!

Constant Conifers – if the weather cooperates this week we will spend time learning about trees, specifically conifers (cone bearers).  I am hoping for no rain but cool temperatures, maybe that is asking too much…LOL.  I have some neat books to read, including one that tells the story of how fire is important to some species of trees.  We will use our nature journals to record some of the trees we observe.

What is going to be in your workboxes this week?

Looking Out the Window

While I have several posts rolling around in my Windows Live Writer to finish, this morning I just wanted to share a quote from the Relief Society Broadcast I attended last night:

My dear sisters, each of you is unique. You are different from each other in many ways. There are those of you who are married. Some of you stay at home with your children, while others of you work outside your homes. Some of you are empty-nesters. There are those of you who are married but do not have children. There are those who are divorced, those who are widowed. Many of you are single women. Some of you have college degrees; some of you do not. There are those who can afford the latest fashions and those who are lucky to have one appropriate Sunday outfit. Such differences are almost endless. Do these differences tempt us to judge one another?

Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” The Savior has admonished, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” I ask: Can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer—with Mother Teresa—“No; we cannot.”

—President Thomas S. Monson

President Monson’s entire talk was wonderful, he began with a story that truly set the stage.  While I can’t repeat it word for word, the story basically was this:

One day a woman and her husband were sitting down to breakfast.  Looking out the window, she saw her new neighbor had hung out laundry to dry.  Much to her dismay the laundry was dirty.  She was shocked, commenting to her husband that someone needed to teach their neighbor how to wash laundry. 

This scene was repeated several times over the next few weeks, each time the woman was disgusted at how her new neighbor would hang dirty laundry up to dry.  One morning, however, she saw that her neighbor had finally learned how to wash her laundry - every item hanging on the line was spotless. Commenting about it to her husband he sheepishly replied, “Oh, no dear, I finally got up early and washed our dirty windows.  Our neighbor’s laundry has been just fine all this time.”

Isn’t that just like life?  I know I find it so easy to made judgements and criticize others through my dirty windows.  I need to spend more time working on my own life, and less focused on the perceived faults of others.

Introducing the Night Bus

Well, we finally bought a van!  We have been happily trucking along in our Windstar for several years but there is nowhere to put baby Caleb’s carseat when he is born (in 9 weeks!).  The children have already lovingly named it The Night Bus and asked if we can repaint it some crazy color like purple or red.  Daniel needs a lot of help to get in.  It is a 2006 Ford E-350 XLT in great shape. Emma and Joseph can climb in a little easier. Here is the driver’s area.  Lots of room.  Looking back you can somewhat see the three bench seats.  It seems such a long way back.  Here is another shot from inside.  Ultimately, when Caleb is born we will rearrange so that two children are in each seat:  Emma and Caleb, then Joseph and Daniel, with Makayla and Oliver in the back.  Each older child is the helper for their younger sibling.

Now we need to find floor mats to keep it clean, put some blankets in for snuggling on trips, and mommy needs to learn how to drive and park something so big.  Okay, so the driving part isn’t too hard, but I may never be able to park again!

Week in Review #65: New Subjects and Old

Sometimes it is hard not to laugh.  As you can see from the picture above, Makayla brings a book everywhere, but most especially to the breakfast table.  I remember doing the same thing at her age.  I wonder if my mom ever had a hard time getting me to stop reading and do some schoolwork . . . sorry mom! 

It has been a good week, even with adding in several new things to our homeschool and places to be outside the house on two separate mornings.  The only comment about the new subjects was made by Makayla at the end of the first day, “I feel like Hermione (from the Harry Potter series) with all these subjects Mom.”  Thankfully it was said with a smile!  Here is our report:

Math is trucking along for all the children.  Makayla had no trouble with multiplying by zero and one.  Joseph and Emma are starting to remember a few math facts that they’ve been doing over and over.  Daniel counted things all week, and Oliver threw things all week.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some, right?

All About Spelling now involves 4 of my children.  I didn’t plan it that way, I was shooting for my 3 oldest being involved.  Makayla learned that i and o followed by two consonants can often be long vowels.  A few examples include:

• find
• most
• told
• cold
• kind

Joseph and Emma have begun using AAS as their reading program (read all about how and why we’re doing it here).  They practice a few phonograms a day and read from the reader.  My fourth student is Daniel – this was not planned!  He likes the cards and when I pull out the phonogram cards he is right there repeating what his bigger siblings are learning. 

All About Homophones has been a fun addition to Makayla’s workboxes this week.  She really enjoys words and so three days this week she worked on some homophone pairs.  She’s making a picture dictionary with definitions, synonyms, and drawings for each pair, plus she has a worksheet where she uses the right word in each sentence.

Gg Letter of the Week for Daniel and Oliver was fun, coloring gumball machines, dot painting letter g, and more. 

Hey, Andrew!  Teach Me Some Greek is going smoothly too for Makayla.  We’ve settled into an easy pattern for this review item.  She does 2 pages of a letter per day (each has 4 pages).  The next day she does the last 2 pages of the first letter and the first two pages of the next letter.  It’s easy, she’s getting constant review, and so far she likes it.

The Psalms study for Makayla and I is easy to do each day.  We’re actually using the King James Version of the scriptures, (the product came with verses written out from the New International Version), so I print a copy of the psalm and each day we have some defining, highlighting, or question answering to do.

Makayla’s writing this week - she wrote her own version of the Ant and the Grasshopper this week after reading Aesop’s fable.  I posted it here.  She also wrote a song/poem this week, which she informed me I was NOT to post on the blog.  I think this was inspired by her second week of piano lessons.  Her teacher encouraged her to play around on the piano and make up her own songs as part of her practice each day and Makayla is loving that.

We did finish A Bear Called Paddington this week.  The kids all loved it, and I have several other Paddington books on my shelves now to read.  We are still trying to decide what to do for our next read aloud.  Some of the kids want me to read the second Fablehaven book to them, while others are voting for more Paddington Bear. 

Our introduction to modern-day Greece has been fun as well.  We’ve learned a lot about this country in just a few days.  The funniest thing was hearing my children make connections with the historical and myth things they know of, such as Zeus, Mt. Olympus, and the Parthenon. 

That is enough about our week.  It is over and the children are ready to play outside – so I’m off to oblige them before it gets too hot out!  I hope you had a great week, be sure to link up over at the Weekly Wrap-Up when it is available!

Schleich Toys Review

Who doesn’t like getting toys? My kids were ecstatic to discover a zoo in our mailbox one day. Schleich sent us the following toy animals:

1. Asian Elephant Calf
2. Przewalski’s Horse
3. Gnu
4. Gnu Calf
5. Okapi
6. Donkey
7. Swabian-Hall Piglet
8. Dartmoor Pony

After the squeals quieted down each child was allowed to choose one animal for their very own; the rest became ‘family toys’. Technically, my two year old Daniel has now claimed two, the gnu and it’s calf. Originally he chose just the gnu. After a few days of a disappearing calf I realized he was sleeping with the gnu family every night. To say these are well-loved would be an understatement!

I really like the Schleich toys for a few reasons:

• They are sturdy. Each figure is solid and has withstood the love, play, and attention of my 5 children.
• They are beautiful. The attention to detail thrills my children, who love God’s animals. When you’ve seen a Schleich animal there is no way the cheap animal figures compare. That’s what you get when each figure is hand painted!
• They aren’t just your everyday farm animal. Well, they offer those too, and for some children those will be the most-loved choices. However my children are zoo aficionados and loved finding the okapi (which they have seen in real life) as well as the gnu, which we had never heard of before.

What my children think: They love the Schleich figures and are hoping for more. These are the first animal toys they reach for now, and when they aren’t playing with them you find the animals tucked under pillows or displayed on dressers.

Now, I have to be honest here, I have one semi-complaint. They only sent one catalog along with our figures and my children all want their own! Literally weeks later my children take turns browsing the catalog and planning which Schleich figures they want to buy. You see, Schleich does not just make animal figurines. My oldest son wants the historical knights figures. My oldest daughter is plotting ways to acquire the elves, fairies, and dragons (along with every animal Schleich makes). My younger daughter wants different figurines as well. I know what is going on my Christmas shopping list this year!

Schleich toys vary in price depending on where you shop and the size of the toy you purchase. On Amazon the animals we received in our package sell for anywhere between $1.98 and $6.99 as of this posting.

You can read my Crewmates reviews to see what their families thought of the Schleich products.

{Disclaimer: I received these toys for free to enable this review. I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

Looking Ahead: NaNoWriMo 2010

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and that month is November.  Last year Makayla and I each wrote a novel in 30 days.  As an adult participant in NaNoWriMo my goal is set for me: 50,000 words between 12:01am November 1st and 11:59pm November 30th.  I made it past that a little bit last year.  Students participate in the Young Writer’s Program and their goals are set by their coach (me!) or themselves.  There is a handy guide to give you an idea of word counts for each grade.  Makayla wrote over 3000 words last November and met her goal. 

Why am I telling you about this?  Because this year you can join in the fun.  Yes, despite the fact that I am due to have a baby near the end of November and I have given birth as much as 2 weeks before my due date, I am still going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year!  If I can do it then you certainly have no excuse…hehe!  The Young Writer’s Program side of NaNoWriMo is also a great opportunity for homeschoolers, but something you may want to work up to through October.

The real treasure trove of the Young Writers Program is available for educators, which includes homeschool families and groups.  An adult signs up as an educator and then has access to the Teacher’s Lounge, the big orange button in the upper, right-hand corner of the site. What’s so great about that?  Let me tell you!

Inside the teacher’s lounge are FOUR levels of writing curriculum to help you get your young writers ready for November and through the bumps along the way.  Educators can download lesson plans and printable workbooks for:

• Lower Elementary School (Grades K-2)
• Upper Elementary School (Grades 3-5)
• Middle School
• High School

The cost for all of this is FREE!  And just in case you didn’t think of it, the high school level workbook is a great place to start for adults as well if you are not sure where to begin working on a novel.

So tell me, will you join me in November for the 2010 NaNoWriMo?

The Grasshopper and the Ant - Retold

by Makayla - 4^th Grade

One spring day there was a grasshopper singing to it’s heart content. An ant came along carrying a piece of corn.  “Oh, come and chat with me,” said the grasshopper to the ant.

“No, I am finding food for the winter. You should do the same,” said the ant to the grasshopper.

“Who needs to?” said the grasshopper, “winter is ages away and I want to sing. You can go ahead and gather food if you want. I will go ahead and sing. There will be time to get food another day.”

Late that fall the grasshopper did gather a few things for winter, but the snows came sooner than he expected. Not long into winter the grasshopper was starving. He watched the ants eat seeds and corn that they had picked all summer. Meanwhile he had very little to eat left in his hole. He begged for food, but the ants said he had been lazy. They refused to share. The grasshopper hid for the winter and ate very little so he would not run out.

He was very hungry when spring came. The next spring found the grasshopper picking and gathering food for the winter. He did not want to starve next time. He had learned that if you don’t want to run out of food in winter you need to gather your food while it is still warm outside.

Pregnancy Update and Rude Lady

It has been a long time since I gave a detailed report on this pregnancy, feel free to skip this post if you’re not interested!  This is a picture Makayla took of me this morning.  Today’s appointment was interesting in that it is the first time I took all 5 children (who are 9, 5, 4, 2, and 1) along with me to see the midwife.   Going to a busy office with several doctors and midwives with 5 children in tow is not for the faint of heart! 

What happens when you are 31 weeks pregnant and you take along your 5 children to your midwife appointment?  The rude lady I referenced in my title appeared before we even made it in the office door.  As my children and I were walking up to the front door this woman was sitting outside on a bench.  The conversation, sadly, went like this:

“One…two…three…four…five…Oh My GOSH!!  And you’re pregnant?!  Are they all yours?!?”  said in a very loud, shocked/appalled tone.

“Yes, ma’am, they are, and we’ll have baby number six around Thanksgiving,” I say calmly, smile and usher my sweet blessings past her to the door of the building.

“I would never want that many children!” she couldn’t resist saying, still in the loud, disgusted voice.  Now here is where I responded slightly less graciously than I probably should have – blame it on pregnancy hormones.  I turned around and said:

“Yes, Ma’am, and that is why we’re glad they are all mine, not yours.”  At which point my children and I reach the door and go inside.  Sigh.  Is it really that difficult for people to keep their rude comments to themselves?  Especially in front of my children?

Thankfully the rest of the visit was wonderful.  My children sat together quietly in the chairs, we were taken back quickly, and my midwife was thrilled to see all my children, each of which she has delivered.  As for the details of my report:

• I am 31 weeks pregnant, due in 9 weeks on Thanksgiving Day with baby #6, a little boy blessing. 
• I started this pregnancy weighing 187 lbs and today weighed in at 207 lbs, for a total weight gain of 20 lbs.  My average weight gain for past pregnancies is 51 lbs, (no, I’m not kidding), so this is a great number for me. 
• I am measuring in at 35 weeks along,  a full month larger than where I ‘should’ be.  Yes, my midwife double checked.  It doesn’t surprise me, my muscles waved the white flag a long time ago. 

Well, now that we’re all home again I am going to go enjoy my children, after all, they’re some of my favorite people!

Balancing Product Reviews While Homeschooling

I have received a few emails from readers wondering how we handle homeschooling while we participate in multiple product review opportunities.  I have been asked how we keep from getting ‘behind’ in our schoolwork when we get new products in each month to use.  This post will be my attempt to explain how it works at my house.

First, we are very flexible.  Even our regular curricula can be paused for a time.  For example, last year as part of the TOS Crew we reviewed more than 7 math items - supplements and full math curricula.  For the supplements it was easy to use the review item a few times a week as an extra assignment for the review period.  There were also times we put our math curricula on hold completely to focus on a review item.  Typically, these breaks still found us working on similar math concepts and I found that when we returned to our regular curriculum we would be able to test out of several chapters and move ahead.

We also tweak things to work for us.  A book can be read aloud instead of assigned as independent reading, we can work quickly through a review item if it is too easy for my child, or slow way down and only progress through a small portion of an item that is too difficult for where we are at.  When starting any review I remind myself that I am the boss, not the product.  While I am willing to give the item a good try the way it is intended, I also feel comfortable making it work for my family.  A good example of this is my review of Sue Patrick’s Workbox System.  Ultimately, the exact system outlined in the manual was not a good fit for my family, however, our tweaked version still works well today.

Another factor in not getting behind is that we do not consider the public school scope and sequence to be the right one for our family, so there is nothing to be ‘behind’ in.  We are not trying to cover the same things the public school grades do each year.  Having read their entire Academic Content Standards (which are being revised again as they weren’t working …LOL), I quickly tossed out their elementary and middle school standards as arbitrary and fractured in general.  They had no rhyme or reason for the science or social studies content coverage in those years, teaching tiny bits of information for a topic one year and adding a little the next year.  Learning a few facts about the sun and moon one year, then not learning about the planets until the next did not make sense. ;-)  We prefer to follow a subject as deeply as a child is interested right now. 

We also began our product review journey with prayer, and continued it with prayer.  When the opportunity came to join the TOS Crew, we prayed if that was where God wanted us to be.  It was, and I realized at that point I was taking my curriculum plan and tossing it out the window to accept God’s plan.  I firmly believe He is the one influencing which products we end up receiving to review.  I have learned so much about myself and my children (both teaching and learning styles) as we have tried so many different products. 

When we finished our first year on the Crew I honestly thought we were done.  When I was approached to continue into a second year as a First Mate I was taken by surprise.  I spent several weeks talking with my husband and praying over the decision, and did not move forward until I had a clear answer.  A week or two after accepting I found out I was pregnant with baby #6.  I know God was orchestrating things again, because if I had known I was having a baby any earlier, I would have been too overwhelmed to consider continuing on with the Crew for another year.  Things are working wonderfully and I am still learning a lot in the process. 

If an outside company approaches me with a review opportunity I look at our current commitments and pray over whether we should add another review.  Many times I say no.  If I see a product I would like to review, I pray before approaching a company, because I do not know what other things are on the horizon, but God does.

On a very real day to day basis how do we fit reviews in?  A little bit at a time!  Right now, for example, we have five active review items:

• Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek level 1 – Makayla is doing this and it takes about 5 or 10 minutes each day.
• Young Hearts Longing for God: Psalms study – Makayla and I are doing this together, again, it’s only 5 or 10 minutes.
• Expedition Earth – This curricula we have been using for over a month now.  It takes us about 20-40 minutes a day, depending on how much my kids want to do, and has been our main unit study during that time.  We know what we think of it (love it!) and my review will appear on The Curriculum Choice next month.  We’ll keep using it to learn about countries for as long as my children are interested.
• Constant Conifers unit study from Shining Dawn Books – We’re just starting this, and it will only take 2 days a week for a few weeks.  The great part?  It involves taking the kids outside, so they don’t think it is work.
• Brill Kids Little Reader Software – This is brand new today and slated for Oliver and Daniel (ages 1 and 2).  5 minutes two times a day is all it takes.

I also have a few reviews penned that will post on the blog in the next week, one went up today, so those items are done.  As you can see, even with 5 review items going right now it doesn’t take much time out of our day.  We still fit in math, spelling, reading aloud, and lots of other things. 

So do you have any other questions for me?  Leave me a comment and I’ll do my best to answer, whether it has anything to do with this post or if you have a completely unrelated question.

Salem Ridge Press Review

Books come in all varieties and have been published for many years now.  Salem Ridge Press is a company that is republishing wholesome children’s books from the 1800’s and early 1900’s.  Salem Ridge Press offers hardcover, paperback, and in many cases e-book format as well.  I received three of their titles to review, so let me tell you a little bit about each one.

The first title, Mary Jane – Her Visit ($12.95), came in e-book format.  This sweet story is one for younger children and tells of five year old Mary Jane’s visit to her grandparents farm.  It appeals more to girls, at least at my house, as it centers on a little girl, but was a sweet story.

The second title, The American Twins of the Revolution($12.95), also was in e-book format.  This adventure is based on a true story of twins who help hide a shipment of gold from the British, gold destined to pay the wages of General George Washington’s troops.  Here is one for boys and girls both, as the twins in this story are a brother and sister pair, and it was an interesting view of the Revolutionary War.  We liked it well enough.

Soldier Fritz and the Enemies He Fought ($10.95) arrived in paperback format.  This book tells the story of a young boy during the reformation in Germany, around 1525 A.D.  Fritz and his mother and sister buy a bible from a peddler who met Martin Luther.  What a new concept it was for my children that having the scriptures in your home to read was something that did not used to be available.  That purchase leads Fritz’s family to discover anew the stories we all take for granted, and the relationship we may have with our Savior.  They must go into hiding for a time to avoid being cast into prison, as the local church of the time did not approve of Martin Luther or his idea that the ‘common man’ should have their own scriptures to read, instead of relying on the clergy. 

My children identified well with Fritz, who learns to battle his temper and his pride through the course of the story, and really enjoyed this book.  We will read it again when we return to a study of the reformation.

Salem Ridge Press offers other titles for both younger and older readers, several of which I think my children would enjoy in paperback.  I like that I can read these living books and know that we are going to not only dive into the time period, but come out on the other side unscathed by bad language or inappropriate content.  They seem to be choosing wonderful books to republish! 

You can read about the books my Crewmates’ reviewed from Salem Ridge Press here.

{Disclaimer:  I received these books for free to enable my review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

Teaching Reading – My New Plan

While visiting a homeschool friend today she reminded me I never did post about what we are switching to for Joseph and Emma to work on reading. Up to now they’ve been doing Rocket Phonics (read my original review) and it has been a great way to start off my very active, hands on boy. Joseph will be 6 next month and he has hit the point where he wants to start reading regular things: the book off the shelf, a sign, a note. Unfortunately, Rocket Phonics relies on helpers to slowly take a child from reading basic phonetic words through learning about long vowels, etc. Very slowly. After some prayer I knew we needed to make a change because Joseph is ready now, not 6 months from now. The new plan is to begin using All About Spelling Level 1 with Joseph and Emma. This easy program gives them the keys (or rules) for how words are spelled. There is a reader available to accompany AAS level 1, called Cobweb the Cat (originally called Beehive Reader 1). I own it, and you can read my review here. Later this fall two more readers will be released that correlate with All About Spelling level 1 and we will add them to our collection.

Now, let me explain something. Joseph and Emma can already read all the words except for the very last Step in All About Spelling Level 1, where long vowels are introduced. While we’re going to start at the beginning, we may go quickly through some lessons, and slower through others. The first Step teaches them all the sounds the letters of the alphabet make (the first 26 phonograms). That means they will learn that Aa says: a as in cat, a as in cake, and a as in father, or that Gg can say g as in goat or g as in giraffe. I will continue this lesson for several weeks while we move ahead with the steps that follow. We began reading from the reader today, and it went great. I expect to be ready to teach the long vowel lesson at the end of level 1 within the month, and then we will start All About Spelling Level 2 and take it slowly. All About Spelling Level 2 covers more phonograms such as vowel pairs, keys (rules), etc. There are also two readers available for this level right now: What Am I? and Queen Bee. I own them both, and reviewed What Am I? right here.

Now, if you’ve been paying attention, my 9 year old is using AAS level 2 right now, because she is using it as a spelling program. She will finish it and move on to Level 3 this year, she is halfway through already. However, where I expect Makayla to be able to hear a word and spell it, I only expect Joseph and Emma to see a word and pronounce it, which is why they can move into Level 2 so soon. It is easier to read something in front of you than to hear something and pull the letters out of your mind keeping all the rules in mind as you build each word. Hopefully that makes sense.

Oh, one other note. If you read my reviews linked above (you did, didn’t you?) you will see that the All About Reading curriculum, using the readers mentioned, is due to be published this year. I contacted the company to check how soon that will happen and the date has actually been moved to January 2011. My son is not willing to wait that long, which is why we’re just going to take All About Spelling and the readers and run with it.

So do you have any questions for me about my reading plan? Leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer them!

{Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with All About Spelling in any way, I just like their products.}

Meerkat and Space lapbooks

I have my camera back so here are photos of the lapbooks my children finished last week.  First up, Emma’s Meerkat lapbook (free on Homeschool Share, and we skipped some pieces, so there is more there).  She is my bright rainbow coloring girl.  I suspect her artistic side is much stronger than my other children’s so far, as she will sit and draw or color for hours and ask for more.    You can see inside some of her favorite pieces here.  If a piece involves writing I just have her narrate her answers and I write them for her.  It makes lapbooking more enjoyable for a 4 year old.  Joseph’s lapbook is one I got free as part of my lifetime super membership to Hands of a Child.  It is called Exploring Nearby Space, and again, there were more pieces we could have done for the lapbook, but we choose a few and run with them instead.  Joseph really enjoyed this lapbook and I need to make time to explore his love of space further very soon here.  What I found neat to watch was his attempts to read the pieces he was gluing in, as several had cut and paste answers he could use.  Makayla also did the Meerkat lapbook Emma made.  She liked learning about meerkats.  We do not have tv channels, so she the only meerkats she has ever seen are the ones in the Disney movie series The Lion King. She chose to use markers as well, and colored almost every available spot on the pieces.As you can see, Makayla writes her own narrations in.  This minibook had flaps about several jobs in a meerkat colony.   We had fun with all our lapbooking last week.  As of right now the kids do not have lapbooking planned for this week, but we’re in the midst of lots of other fun things.

What was the last lapbook your child made?  Do you have a favorite lapbook or lapbooking company?

The Hands of a Child links in this post are affiliate links.  If you make any purchases through my links I will get a small credit and you will support my children’s lapbooking habits – Thank You!

Favorites from Babies to Fourth Grade

Tomorrow’s Blog Cruise question is:

“What are your favorite resources for the ages and grades that you are teaching?”

I could go on and on, I’m sure. I have favorites for different children. Right now I will only speak for babies through 4th grade, so bear with me as I try to mention a little of what I’ve loved and why. If it is on a younger age list it is probably still loved by the older kids too, so read it all!

Babies and Toddlers

1. Signing Time DVDs – I love this for the whole family together, but I see the most benefits using ASL with our babies and toddlers. It is amazing how many tantrums can be avoided or lessened because a non-verbal child can communicate with you through sign. We own lots of Signing Time DVDs. We have seen these help our children speak, sign, and learn their letters, numbers, and colors, among other things.
2. Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD – This is a fun, easy way to introduce letters and their sounds to little ones. Emma (child #3) learned her basic letter sounds in one week at 18 months old because her big brother and sister were watching this. There are two sequels we like too.
3. Duplo blocks, cars, dolls, art supplies, and playdoh – anything they can play with, count, or create with. An empty box is great too!
4. Books – we read aloud from day 1 with a baby(literally, in the hospital), and as soon as possible give them their own books to chew on and enjoy. We do not just stick with little baby books in our reading aloud either. Eric Carle books begin to be favorites about now.

Preschoolers

1. Letter of the Week curriculum – This is fun, lots of fun. Laminate everything and it’s much more indestructible, which means the younger children can play with it too.
2. Books – Favorites at this age usually include Curious George, Blue’s Clues, and Dora, as well as Madeline, though we read both above and below those in age range.
3. Homeschool Share – I love the free units and lapbooks available here. I find that giving them a story to love expands their interests to new areas painlessly.
4. Math manipulatives, art supplies, Duplos (the large lego blocks), and Legos for the upper end of this range.
5. Starfall.com – a wonderful free website the kids can enjoy and play around with reading skills.

Kindergarten-2nd Grade

1. Unit studies – We pick a topic and go with it. If we want to study history it goes so much better with a story to make it come alive. If we want to study science we choose a story to make it real, plus go see or do anything we can related to it. Homeschool Share is a good place to start here, as are the Download N Go units, though they have a bit much writing for the lower end of the age. Expedition Earth is a great year long geography curriculum we like for this age, older children too if you add some extra books in.
2. Books – American Girl historical books were wonderful for my oldest daughter, we’ve liked classics like Wind in the Willows and Charlotte’s Web, and many more.
3. Math U See – This curriculum saved my daughter, and seems to be working wonderfully well for my next two children. It is gentle, fun, and sticks with a topic long enough to really understand it.
4. Peterson Directed Handwriting – This is a great place to start for handwriting, it begins with kinesthetic movement and trains the muscles. I’ll be honest, I’m very relaxed on handwriting. We don’t shoot for beautiful penmanship, just legible, but this is doable.
5. More art supplies and math manipulatives – of course.

3rd-4th Grade

1. All About Spelling - If you have not wanted to begin before now, it’s time to pick up All About Spelling and get going. I’m actually getting ready to try it with my current Kindergarteners, but Makayla began closer to 3rd grade and it was great beginning then too.
2. Apologia Elementary Science books – Whether you use them as a full year course each, or just use as a resource when doing your unit studies. Makayla reads these for fun, and has been known to take them to bed with her.
3. Unit Studies – Time to go more in depth, let them dive in a bit deeper and start producing writing related to what they learn. We still love lapbooking at this age! Following their interests really helps this learning take root. Let them have some say in what you study.
4. Books – Lots more! You can’t read aloud enough, even once they begin reading well on their own. Now is the time you can really begin stretching their ears with older material. My kids all loved hearing the Hobbit and the seven Chronicles of Narnia books. Makayla, my 9 year old, has loved reading the Fablehaven books, Heidi, By the Great Horn Spoon, Harry Potter books, Black Beauty, The Secret Garden, and many more.

If you want to learn more about favorite resources for homeschooling you can read the other Blog Cruise entries on Tuesday.

Rumble! Zap! Pow! (book review)

A few weeks ago I received a pre-release copy of Rumble! Zap! Pow! ($12.99) to review from Tyndale House Publishers.  This hardcover bible storybook for children has a cartoony comic book style in light pastel colors.  Each story is short and has a ‘mighty thought’, such as “God rescues his people”, as well as an activity idea for the child. 

Both my husband and I took turns reading from this book on our own and I also read some of it to our children at first.  I have to say this bible storybook was not something we liked.  It is heading to the trash once this review is posted.  The stories were simplified so much that they were not worth reading and important doctrines were missing or even distorted.  For example, it skips completely over the story of Jesus being baptized.  The book tells children they can give blessings to their loved ones as an activity relating to the story of Christ blessing the children.  No, I’m sorry, they can’t.  They do not hold the priesthood, which is the authority and power to act in God’s name.  I do not recommend you purchase this book.

{Disclaimer: Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book to review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

Workbox Plans x 5: Greece and Much More

Time to share our homeschool plans for the week!  Things are always an interesting mix of regular and changing subjects around our house, so here’s the plan for your reading pleasure.

Family Workbox

Greece Today Unit – I blogged about this here, so read it!  We’re study modern day Greece for a week or two as Makayla and Mommy begin learning Greek with a TOS review item, Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek.  I did decide not to muddy the phonics waters for my younger students, so while they will learn about Greece with us, they will not be introduced to the Greek alphabet and it’s pronunciations.

Reading Aloud – We will finish A Bear Called Paddington this week.  I have no clue what we will start next.

Nature Study – We are beginning our Constant Conifers unit from Shining Dawn Books this week as well, probably two days this week.  It involves time spent outside, as well as reading some fun books my library gathered for me.  This will be ongoing for several weeks.

4th Grade Workbox (Makayla)

All About Spelling Level 2 – Step 14 covers I or O followed by 2 consonants.

All About Homophones – Brand new to us and by the creator of All About Spelling!  Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently (and have different meanings).  A few examples:  ate/eight, son/sun, pair/pear/pare, night/knight, fair/fare.  This looks to be a fun study and to start out we will only do this 1-2 times a week, unless Makayla asks for more.

Writing – I printed out Aesop’s The Ant and the Grasshopper and want to have her practice her key word outlines and retelling this week.

Young Hearts Longing for God: Psalms – This is also a new review item.  Basically each week Makayla will read through a Psalm every day, with different questions and activities to do related to it.  I will be doing this right along with her.

Math U See Gamma – Lesson 2 is multiplying by zero and 1.  It should be an easy concept, I hope!

Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek – Level One spends most of the book introducing the Greek alphabet one letter/sound at a time, with a few pages of handwriting and activities per week.  We’re not sure what to think of this review item yet!  Learning Greek was never something that crossed our minds, so it will be an adventure.

Piano – Makayla will have her second piano lesson Monday and then practice all week. 

Kindergarten Workbox (Joseph and Emma)

All About Spelling Level One – Surprise!  After prayer and looking through our options we decided it is time to take a break from Rocket Phonics and begin using All About Spelling with our beginning readers.  The first lesson is learning all the sounds each letter says (the phonograms).  That will probably take a few weeks as some letters (vowels mostly) have 3 or 4 sounds each.  We will double handwriting with this and have them practice one line of beautiful letters each day. 

Math U See Primer – Lesson 17 if I remember right, still working with 4+4 and 5+5.

Reading to Mommy – They will each read to me a little each day.  Combined with the Family workbox, that’s all my little Kindergarteners will be doing.

Preschool Workbox (Daniel and Oliver)

Phonics/Letters – We’re going to do a letter G week, learning to recognize letter g in print around us, say it’s sound, and of course it goes well with Greece.

Math/Numbers – We’ll work on counting as high as they can this week.  It will very different between Daniel and Oliver, obviously, but we’re dots on our dominos and other fun things.

Reading with Mommy – I will pick a few books to snuggle up and read with these guys, both familiar ones like Curious George and new ones from our shelves.

Signing Time – Everyone will participate, but this is really for the little guys.  This week we’ll do My Favorite Season.

That’s all we have planned for the week!  We will be taking Tuesday and visiting some friends, then the 5 kiddos will come along with Mommy to visit the midwife on Thursday.  Other than that it should be a regular week.  What are you going to be learning about this week?

Greece Today – A Unit Study Resource List

This week we will be starting a short unit on what life is like in Greece today, not the history of Greece.  Why is that?  Well, Makayla will be helping me to review the curriculum Hey, Andrew!  Teach Me Some Greek.  We’re jumping in to level one, which teaches the Greek alphabet, and it only makes sense to learn a little about the country along the way.  I think our unit will last a week or two, though we will be learning Greek much longer than that. 

Want to see the resources I’ve gathered?  You might be surprised how few I’m using.  I really do intend this to be a short unit.   We’re From Greece by Victoria Parker – This is the perfect introduction to Greece for all my children.  You learn about the lives of 3 children in different areas of the country.  This will be the first book we read.

Let’s Visit Greece by Susie Brooks – This book gives us lots of child-friendly two page spreads about life in Greece, from islands and mountains to feasts, shopping, and celebrations.

Country Explorers: Greece by Madeline Donaldson – This whirlwind tour of Greece will be perfect for Makayla, a bit more in depth information on each topic packed into a small book.

I’m pulling the following printables from my reproducible book Another Trip Around the World:

• Greek Flag to color
• Map of Greece to label
• Crossword puzzle to do

Makayla will also do the Country Report page from our Expedition Earth curriculum.  While Greece is not one of the countries covered, this report page is generic for any country and will work well.

For fun she may check out the Time for Kids web tour of Greece.  It has a clickable map, timeline, native lingo, and more.

That’s it!  Really.  I read through the other library books I found on Greece and realized that we don’t need to go deeply into this, it is just to give us a little exposure to the country.  We have lots of other things going on this week in homeschool.  I will be doing a separate post about our plans for the week, so stay tuned!

If I Had my Camera . . .

Okay, you are going to have to use your imagination today.  My mom borrowed my camera for the weekend and so I can’t add any pictures to this post. 

If I could add pictures I would want to show you the following things:

1. The 2 inch long Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar Makayla found yesterday.  They are such bright things – yellow, white, and black stripes. 
2. The Space lapbook Joseph finished yesterday.  I was so proud of him – he actually enjoyed lapbooking and couldn’t wait to share what he learned with daddy.
3. The Meerkat lapbooks Makayla and Emma finished yesterday.  Both turned out cute, and it is fun to see the difference in their coloring choices, among other things.
4. Makayla’s ant farm!  We bought her one of those green gel ant farms for her birthday (In JUNE) and due to the hot weather the ants could not be shipped until this week.  They arrived yesterday and she was so happy to introduce them to their habitat.  They are Western Harvester Ants, and she loves them already.

See what I mean?  Things just aren’t as fun to read about without a nice photo or two.  I am sure, just because I can’t take pictures, that this weekend will be filled with all sorts of neat photo opportunities. 

Oh well.  Stay tuned for a post about our homeschool plans for next week (we have a lot of new things starting) and hopefully a post about my new reading plans for Joseph and Emma.  For now I’m off to enjoy the green glow of the ant habitat with my children, who are up while it is still dark on a Saturday morning. 

Week in Review #64: Making it Up as We Go

I started the week with a plan.  You can read all the details here, but basically we were to do math, spelling/phonics, writing, and tigers.  Tigers was to be our big unit for the week.

Tigers lasted two days.  Yep, read about that here.  It was just so interesting we blew through it, including a whole lapbook, in two days.

So what’s a mom to do when the kids get a unit done early?  I let the kids choose topics to learn about for the rest of the week and we ended up with meerkats and space.  Talk about an eclectic mix!  The girls have been learning all sorts of interesting things about meerkats – did you know they can eat cobras and scorpions?  The poison doesn’t bother them.  Joseph has asked to do more space things each day, always something that warms a mother’s heart.  He has been learning about the ways we explore nearby space, including telescopes, space probes, satellites, and the space station.  We learned it takes 6 months to get to Mars!

In other areas:

Math (4th grade)– a relatively smooth introduction to multiplication for Makayla.  She’s not excited that there was another math book ready when we finished the Beta book.  I had to break it to her that there are enough math levels for her to have a new book each year for the next 6 or more years.  Oh well, math is a fact of life. 

Math (Kindergarten) – Joseph and Emma’s Math U See Primer is getting them used to using the blocks for addition without the paper showing them the blocks.  In other words, they see regular math problems like 1+6=, or 5+5= and have to grab the blocks for each number and work out the problem, instead of just matching the pictures.  They are writing their numbers more, and my oh my are we sloppy!  But I’m just thrilled they are willing to write them.

Spelling (4th grade) – Makayla had no real difficulty with step 13 in All About Spelling Level 2.  There was one rule breaker word and she remembered it after the first day. 

Phonics (Kindergarten) – We have stepped away from Rocket Phonics for a few weeks.  We seemed to hit a wall where Joseph wants to read, but because of the way RP uses helpers, he cannot transfer a lot of his reading outside of the RP book.  It is not teaching him rules for long vowels, etc, fast enough.  I’ve been praying about what we’re going to do now.  I love the foundation Rocket Phonics has laid, and that it was such a hands on way to introduce reading to my son.  However, right now I’m thinking we will be moving in a new direction to continue our reading progress.  I’ll update more on that next week hopefully.  For now, he has been reading regular phonics readers to me and learning new words/rules a little.  Emma just rolls along after him.

Phonics (Preschool) – Daniel and Oliver are both working on letters and sounds.  Daniel is having fun with sounds, while Oliver has started trying to name the letters a bit, and sing the alphabet song.  Cute, though mostly still unintelligible.

Writing (4th grade) – Makayla has written something different each day this week, from a letter to a friend, an entry in her journal, to poetry.  She’s having fun playing with words in the poetry, so I want to introduce a new poetry style next week.

Nature Study (all) – We got outside several days this week around the rain and had fun listening and exploring.  We also listened at the window in the rain one day, then dealt with a terrified child yesterday evening during a major thunderstorm with tornado sirens blaring.  Sigh.  At least it was during the day, which meant I was not woke up in the middle of the night by a frightened child.  I hope to post a nature journal entry later today or tomorrow. 

Read Aloud – I blogged about the new book we are reading aloud, A Bear Called Paddington.  It is really funny and all the kids are enjoying it. 

Those are the highlights for our week!  I’m off to plan next week’s study of modern-day Greece because we’re starting to learn Greek next week (it’s a review item).  Well, technically, I’m going to take all 5 kids along to Oliver’s pediatrician appointment first – yeah, not my idea of a great time, but it’s got to be done.  This post is linked to the Weekly Wrap-Up too.

Something New at Our Busy Homeschool

Guess what I did today?  I added a new way for you to follow Our Busy Homeschool!  Up to now I have offered Google Friend Connect because that is the way I follow other blogs.  I’ve never taken time to figure out how to offer anything else, until today.  However, if you look at my right sidebar now this is what you will see:  One of my newest readers gave me the nudge I needed to add subscribing through e-mail.  What that means is that every time I post over here on the blog you can get it delivered right to your inbox(or so they tell me!).  So if you like that option go ahead and sign up, but please (!) remember to click over and leave a comment once in a while so I don’t get lonely, or I may not want to offer email subscriptions.  I love interacting with my readers and it could get awfully lonely without your comments and questions!

A Fun Read Aloud Book!

Yesterday we started a new read aloud book.  I will be completely honest and say I did not pre-read it first.  I felt pretty comfortable just cracking this one open and going for it, and I did check it out in my Read for the Heart book.  Before I tell you the title of the story I want to tell you what my children think, so bear with me.

We climbed onto the couch and I showed them the cover.  I asked if they knew where Peru is, and where England is.  It was a no to Peru and a yes to England, so we peeked at a map to find Peru.  Then I read a chapter and put the book up on a shelf.  Immediately my children began begging for me to read the next chapter.  I sent them off to run and play for a bit, telling them they had heard enough for now.

Later in the afternoon when tempers began running short I called the children to the couch again.  In my hands was the book.  Everyone was riveted for another chapter, laughing and enjoying the story.  Each chapter is a stand alone adventure it seems, which is fun.  At this point I knew I had a winner on my hands.  I went to the computer and ordered a few of the sequels through Paperback Swap.

So just what is this great new read aloud story?    A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond.  Originally published in 1958, this tells the story of a little bear from Darkest Peru who comes to England and joins the Brown family.  Go check it out from your library!  It is sweet and funny enough that I am enjoying it every bit as much as my children are!  You can learn lots more about Paddington at the official website.  Be sure to check out the Then and Now section to learn more about each book.

What are you reading aloud to your children right now?

AlphaTales Review on Curriculum Choice

Today’s the day you can check out my next post for Curriculum Choice!  This time I’m sharing about a fun alphabet book series we own.  Here is your sneak peek:

“One of my favorite book series to read to my younger children is the AlphaTales set by Scholastic.  I found mine at a yard sale one summer and we have had lots of laughs and phonics fun since then. 

Each book focuses a letter of the alphabet with an animal main character who begins with that letter.  The silly stories and cheerful illustrations draw your child through many words that begin with the highlighted letter sound.” 

Click Here to read the rest!

As always I would love it if you leave me a comment over there.  You can also check out my past posts for Curriculum Choice.

Tiger Lapbooks and More

I mentioned yesterday that Makayla blew through the Tiger Lapbook from Homeschool Share in just two days.  Here are the pictures of her finished lapbook.

The cute little tigers on the corners of this page actually cover up a question about tigers and the answer Makayla wrote.  In the Finding Prey flap she wrote about how tigers hunt as well as the kinds of prey they eat.  Here is a picture inside the other three pieces: She was impressed to learn that tiger canine teeth are as long as her finger (3 inches).  In the second folder of the lapbook are two more question tigers, a drawing she made of a tiger, information about their habitat and home, and vocabulary.  Here is a picture with the funny tiger flap on the right opened:    It is where she talked about tiger anatomy, how God’s design for parts like their eyes and claws works for their lifestyle.

Emma also made a little lapbook Tuesday.  This picture shows her narration about tigers, which I wrote down as she said it.   Under the narration she drew a tiger in his habitat (the forest).  It reminds me of a coyote, but I won’t tell her that!  Inside her little lapbook she has two flaps.  T is for. . . Tiger, and a flag of India she colored because we have been studying India, after all, and tigers live in India.    Yesterday evening the three oldest children decided they wanted to work on another lapbook starting TODAY.  If anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas already, paper and toner might me good (haha).  We use so much of it!  Emma asked to do the Meerkat Lapbook from Homeschool Share and Makayla is doing that one too.  Joseph chose the Exploring Nearby Space lapbook from Hands of a Child.  Space is something he loves, so he is pretty excited about this lapbook. 

Joseph was very specific that I print his lapbook pieces on colored paper so he doesn’t have to color anything unless he wants to.  Yes, that’s my son.  The girls, on the other hand, wanted their pieces printed on white paper so they can color and decorate to their hearts’ content.  Funny, but true.  Joseph will probably blow through making his lapbook in a day or two, while the girls may take longer with their coloring and creating.  I cut out some of their pieces last night to expedite the lapbooking today.

Where will Daniel and Oliver be in all of this lapbooking?  Well, Daniel will probably be cutting with scissors.  That is his favorite thing to do.  He may ask for some glue to put all the bits into a folder.   Oliver, on the other hand, will be coloring with markers.  He has become quite the coloring snob!  He does not want anything to do with crayons if there are markers available.  He will go through his coloring box and throw every crayon on the ground, leaving all the markers in his box to use.  It’s very funny.

This post is also linked to Walls of Art Wednesday, as my girls were both quite excited to share their tiger drawings from their lapbooks.  Maybe next week we’ll have a planned art project to share – I’m getting in the mood for some fall leaf crafts!