Apr. 18, 2006 - Co-op... writing
Well, we HAD cancelled co-op today, but then this morning I got an email from Stephanie saying it was TOO HOT to go camping (it was supposed to get to 100 today! Yikes!) But, since we had planned on NOT having writing, none of us had our homework done. So, we decided to go ahead and get together, and do our homework together.
I got out my big roll of paper for the little girls, covered the table, and let them paint pictures of their families. I hadn't planned on art, so I really had nothing at all planned. Seth came in later and I painted his hands and had him make hand prints. Then he painted with the bruch for a bit. He's only 2 and he seems to want to try a little of everything that the big kids do!
Kerra and Sprite worked on a logo to use with the screen printing kit. They are hoping to make a Christian/homeschool themed logo and use the screen printing to print on some shirts to sell. That will be a good lesson for them in a lot of things, so its cool. We'll just save our Renoir-style oil painting project for next week.. or whenever we get our oil paints in!
The boys basically just played after writing. My Dh was home and took all the girls to gymnastics, so Stephanie and I sat and talked for a couple of hours. I felt bad for not "accomplishing" anything... but it felt really good to just sit and talk with another homeschooling mom that I feel very connected with. I think I needed some girl time or something. It was a very big thing today for some reason.
I am so thankful that I have such wonderful friends.
That's about it!
Apr. 17, 2006 - Today (and Friday) ~ How we finally found a way to do algebra with no tears!
At least thus far... I found a video series at the library called "ACE-MATH" prealgebra. It works GREAT for Sprite, and it works for Kainan as well, so Yay! I think it works for Sprite, first because the woman goes slowly, explains the same concept with three or so problems, and mostly, because Sprite can't interrupt her to ask questions and make it seem harder than it is.
So ~ Sprite and Kainan are doing pre-algebra from here on out, probably only 3 days a week, because I do want them to do some practical application math as well over the summer especially. However, I want them to be getting a taste of algebra, because Sprite really needs to be able to tackle that full time in the fall. She'll already have her plate full with Biology co-op, so I don't want her to have to start two hard subjects at the same time. It would just send her into a funk.
With Kainan its no big deal, since he'll just turn 11 this summer, but he just flows with it so naturally, I'm letting him go ahead and do it with Sprite. It might make it a little easier for him to get in all the advanced math courses later on.
The rest of our day(s) just included math for the other kids (including a Reading Rainbow on Math, and a cyberchase marathon that we just happened to catch on Friday right after school! )
Paris got a Jumpstart Typing Cdrom & Grammar Rock Cdrom in her Easter basket. She really wants to learn to type so she can have her own blog/livejournal. As a matter of fact, she wants to start learning it RIGHT NOW, so I may have to get off the computer:)
Apr. 13, 2006 - Yes, I stink... Apprently I'm not able to have 2 "big days" in a row this week..
Had a slow morning today. Dh was home, so we kind of had more discussions going on than normal.
We had a good discussion of Joseph-related issues. Dealing with personal issues, hurts, etc. in a healthy way. Knowing that it is okay and healthy to be angry and express it in a healthy way (and not healthy to NOT express it at all) but not to let yourself get full of bitterness or a need for revenge.
We did Johnny Tremain again, and that led to a discussion that very much fit in with Joseph, as Johnny was unfairly treated as well.
We did some math ~ but in the trying to ease into pre-algebra, its painful. I think we may just focus on Mega Math for the rest of the spring/summer and start Algebra in the fall. We'll do a lot of pre-algebra dvds in the meantime... with a lot of financial education "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" stuff. The boys are verrrrry interested in money (watching daddy do taxes got their questions started) and investing, etc.
The kids all did their independant subjects. Jaedin finished book 2 of Redwall, so he'll get a new book tomorrow. We now have a basket of Revolutionary War era type books for the kids to use for reading... they do those for their "Konos" reading and sometimes for quiet time as well.
Anyway ~ Its Sprite's time ont he computer ~ so I'll post some recipes later!
Apr. 12, 2006 - Wednesday......... Big day!
Okay, so not a really BIG day, but a FULL day ~ with no real stresses!! Whoo Hoo!
Anyway ~ it was a typical day, we did Joseph by Charles Swindoll for Bible, with a lot of discussion about Joseph's undeserved imprisonment, etc.
The kids all did independant reading. Then Paris and Abyni worked ontheir Mary Cassatt lapbooks a bit while I was fixing lunch. I finally got to read the next chapter of Johnny Tremain ~ Kainan was just going nuts wanting to know what happened next:)
I did math with Paris while Sprite and Kainan watched their pre-algebra dvd. Then it was more independant subjects, Sprite did some reading with Paris. Jaedin, Paris and Kainan all read some Jean Fritz books set around the Revolution... and so on and so forth...
The Swan Lake DVD that returned in the wrong case to the library has been found, so we're able to finish watching it tonight...
That's all the excitement I can think of!
Apr. 11, 2006 - Tuesday Co-op ~~ Ladies Meetings ~~ friends
Well, we had co-op yesterday again and the first part went really well. Apparently two of the families have decided to drop out as they didn't come yesterday again. I guess I managed to push at least two people away thus far with all my emotional stuff... although I don't know that to be the reason, because I haven't heard from them, but I tend to think I've done something. Well, at least that's a first in a long while. I must be getting better at least.
At any rate, the 4 remaining little girls and I read a book on Mary Cassatt, and then they all drew pictures of her and her family for our lap books. Then I let them get out the water colors. We wrote "Mary Cassatt Impressionist" on the outside of our lapbooks with wqhite oil pastel, and then the girls painted over the letters with colorful paints so the white would show through.
Stephanie hadn't had time to order the paints yet, so the older girls actually worked on their design for the screen printing. We're going to get the screen printing kit out after we get done with the oil painting Renoir style.
The boys just played Monopoly, because honestly, I was feeling too out of sorts to be very productive at that point. I really need to learn about Duccio so I can teach them something... and I need to remind Stephanie to bring the huge book she has.
Anyway ~ that was the extent of our day. Last night I went to a laides prayer meeting with a friend... it was really good. Nice to be out with friends.
Apr. 10, 2006 - Monday... Dh's home:)
Dh has to take the week off of work because of the accident last Thursday ~ of course he was gone most of the day anyway at Dr.s appts, lawyer appt and meeting with the insurance adjustor. We did get to go grocery shopping together, so that was some nice time.
Anyway ~ we did school today. I got another DVD from the library ~ Standard Deviants Pre-Algebra... and Sprite finally gets it!! Yay!! I'll be borrowing this one againa nd again when she has issues with algebra this year!
We read some more of Johnny Tremain... I stopped just as Johnny was heading to Mr. Lyte's home to prove his kinship. The kids were so mad at me for stopping there:) I'm so mean!
The boys are both on book 2 of Redwall. I hadn't realized that I got a book with the first three books compiled in it! I thught it was a rather large book... but who knew? Anyway, when they finish those, I have at the library a couple of historical fiction books that correlate with teh Revolution/Johnny Tremain time period.
I realize we weren't actually studying that time period, but since its kind of coming up anyway, I'll probably pull out the KONOS unit on that as well... the Ballet thing is good ~ we watched a ballet based on "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and the kids were fascinated with the story. I printed out the online Charles and Mary Lamb version to read to them (yet again) and we're going to maybe go through the original Shakespearian version... AFTER our field trip later this month.
We're going to see The Marraige of Figaro! I'm not sure which kids are going to go and which I'll leave... but Abyni actually really wants to go. She loves the classical and opera music more so than anyone else, so I'm thinking that even though she's the younbgest, she may be the one who likes it the most. I borrowed a couple of dvds from teh library with clips from different operas. We'll watch them, read about the opera a bit, listen to some songs from it and then make a more informed decision.
SO ~ I guess I'm going to go be productive now... where do I start?
Apr. 6, 2006 - Thursday ~ Sick Day ~ IEW
Sprite and I were both sick today. No "school" although the youngers did watch some educational video, K & J haved played Monopoly almost all day... and prepared twice baked potatoes to go with the hamballs that K made yesterday. We ought to have a real meal... done in time tonight!!
Paris and Abyni (with much help from Mommy) made a big dent in the disaster that used to be their room. I'm beginning to have hope that there is indeed still carpet under all the clothes. On that note, I posted a TON of little girls clothes on freecycle today! There will be atleast a few bags of clothes that I will never be picking up again! Do you suppose if they end up with only thre outfits to their names that they'll eventually learn to pick them UP????
So... IEW to completely change the subject) Institue for Excellence in Writing...
I have heard nothing but RAVES on this program. I have several friends that use it... and my own children seem to be thriving with it. However, I myself really don't get to actually watch it myself. I am usually in the kitchen the entire time doing art with the younger girls.
I must say though, that although my Dh and I both love writing ourselves, and consider it to be a valuable asset, I had yet to find any "curriculum" or method of teaching writing that was anything otehr than hit or miss or totally uninspiring. IEW has been wonderful ~ bringing out creativity and actual WORK, even from my boyus, who untilnow loathed writing... and they were really bad at it because of that!
I have seen wonderful results, and I am SO thankful that my friend found the IEW tapes at our HS support group and offered to share!! I would have never been able to afford to buy them any time soon... and I never would have even thought of finding it any other way!
So, my recommendation is that it is certainly worth doing! See if you can find it on loan from a HS group ~ or even go in with other families and do it co0op style ~ that has been wonderful for our kids to have other kids to read their stories aloud to and bounce ideas off of!
That's all for today... I need to go check ont he little girls progress~
Apr. 5, 2006 - Wednesday......... sleepy day~
I'm not sure any of us has caught up with the daylight savings thing. Of course the fact that I am not sleeping well at all isn't helping. I've been up late and have had to drag myself out of bed each morning, so that's not helping. Sprite appears to be having issues getting to sleep at night too, so she's been struggling with the mornings too.
As a result, we're starting later than usual and running later than usual.... but it all gets done, so I don't suppoe it matters. Oddly enough, the boys are suddenly getting up earlier, so they're really enjoying playing outside int he mornings now that the weather is nice. Our dog, Kitty is enjoying all the extra play time too:)
Really the only "different' thing we did was watching Standard Deviant's DVDs fro grammar and basic math. The kids all watched the grammar one and were pointing out the few things they had learned from the IEW videos from co-op, and Sprite even pointed out some things that are on our "Grammar Poster" upstairs. I didn't think anyone ever looked at it:)
The math dvd was very well done and reviewed thigns that Sprite and Kainan especially need to refresh before starting algebra this summer. I think I'll have them watch it a couple more times, as well as reserving the pre-algebra dvd from teh library next! Sprite does really well with visual things. It helps her to be able to SEE it being worked out and explained.
All the reading is going along well. We're all really enjoying the Joseph study and having a lot of really good life application type discussions, etc. We are all enjoying Johhny Tremain as well. I'm enjoying it as much as I did in Jr. High!:)
The Konos stuff at the moment is self control and body movement. Sprite shows us her ballet, and reading the Ludy's book on courtship. She just loves their books. The boys are reading books on learning about growing up, handling moods and emotions and whatnot. Its good for them to get the info and they both seem to be learning a lot.
Paris and Abyni have been working together a lot this week. Paris being gone to camp this past weekend really seemed to bring the two of them even closer together. Not that they weren't close before, but they've been nearly inseparable this week! They were at the kitchen table this mornign doing math together. Paris dumped out a big jar of extra change and stuff, and she and Abyni were sorting, counting and adding up the coins. She was being a really good teacher!
Right now they're in my room reading to each toher until Abyni is ready for her nap.
She's been listening to her CD "Opera for Kids" for naptime each day. She definitely has different tastes in music than the other kids!
Anyway ~ the kdis are all doing their reading, then Kainan will be making hamballs for supper... then we'll finish off our day with our read aloud... and that's it for another day.......
Apr. 4, 2006 - Tuesday Co-op
We did Art and Writing again today.
I slept wayyyy too late, almost missed the fruit lady! (She actually delivers our fruit and veggies, but the kids all call her the fruit lady)
Shawna and Pam both hve sick children this week, so
The little girls and I wrapped up our VanGogh lapbooks (I had forgotten them ~ bad BAD teacher!) and then they finished coloring and shading their Mary Cassatt drawings. They did SO well. I have GOT to get a camera that works well so I can document these kids artwork!
The little girls left for gymnastics (I even remembered to send the monthly fee this time!) and I started art with the older girls. We finished the Renoir sketch that they started last week (exciting, I know)
Then, being the awesome organized person that I am, I lost the boys art... so we couldn't finish their pictures. Now they have homework... and they were THRILLED to not have to do it today when they could be playing together instead.
Sprite and Kerra have decided to do ballet together next year (YAY! Carpool!!!) and were outside practicing all over the yard. It was so cute:)
Kainan and Joshua are already obsessing about the possibility of getting to do CHEF basketball together next year (again with the carpooling ~ our families are going to be sick of each other!)
And that is added to the co-op biology class that Sprite will be doing with Kerra next year. I don't know where our writing/art thing will end up next year, if it happens at all... I don't know what will happen with gymnastics either. In some way it seems so far away, but now is the time to start thinking about it.
Apr. 3, 2006 - Monday
Monday tends to be shorter than other days... we seem to get a sluggish start after the weekend, I guess. Daylight saving REALLY didn't help this week.
Anyway ~ I read the Johnny Tremain part today where he has the accident and loses the use of his hand and basically his entire future that he had planned. We had an interesting discussion about how, although Dove was at fault for his own actions, and had not done the right thing, Johnny was still responsible for making the choices that led up to his accident. No one made him work on Sunday, no one made him skip steps (like cleaning up the melted was that he later slipped on) etc.
We discussed what we thought Johnny would do with himself now, whether he would be bitter and just let himself give up, or if he might find some new direction and ambition in his life.
The kids all did independant subjects and we had lunch, writing, and read Joseph with discussions...
Tonight is ballet and scouts... and I have to do the taking and hauling the kids from place to place. Ugh. I hate Monday nights. Not fun.
At any rate... I need to go fix supper so the kids can eat before we leave.
Apr. 2, 2006 - Friday Science... I forgot...
Since Sprite as up late, I let the other kids play outside in the GORGEOUS wetaher before starting school late.
After a bit, they came RUSHING in the house all excited because they were observing bees... Jaedin and Paris had even gotten close enough to see their "proboscus" and everything. They were SO excited!! I told them to go ahead and go observe... science doesn't get any better than that!
Jaedin spent EVERY spare moment until bedtime that night reading through every single science book we had reading everything he could find on bees. He is so awesome! I love homeschooling....
I went to the homeschooling Highschoolers workshop thing Staurday with Dh. We ended up leaving early as I wasn't doing well, but we got a lot of info and reassurance... and some challenges. It was great to do that WITH Dh and be able to have him be informed and help with decisions... as well as the kids helping with them too, of course, but it was really nice to have him so immeditaely directly involved.
Then we went and hit a bunch of garage sales... had dinner and came home all nice and relaxed...
Mar. 31, 2006 - Concerts, Camp, Writing etc
Dh went to a concert last night with Sprite and one of her friends. They all had a good time (even Dh:) and got home really late. I think its so great that they can do these things together. I'm certainly not up for concerts at this point... NO desire to go, and we definitely aren't comfortable with her going alone either... so I'm glad that Dh is willing to go with... and enjoys himself as well! Anyway, I was expecting Sprite to need to sleep in, but she was up at 7AM ~ at least an hour early for her!!
Paris is leaving for camp with her Brownie Troop this afternoon. Not something I would normally let her do... but Dh said it would be fine, and I do know and trust her leader. There will be plenty of security and no men allowed inside the gated campground. I'm sure she'll be fine... and I may even be fine too!
Anyway, because of that, Paris and I have been fairly distracted today getting her stuff together. She did manage to finish most of her "thank you" notes from her birthday today as well as reading.
I have a big library trip today as well... although I guess I usually have two full backpacks to return.. and then about that many to pick up off the hold shelf. We have the greatest library system ever!! I love being able to just search and reserve stuff online from any of the libraries in the area and then just pick them up at my library. Awesome time saver for me!!!
Umm... other than that, normal day ~ not too much excitement... I'm having the three older kids use the writing techniques they're learning at our co-op to re-write a popular easy reader/children's story for Tuesday's unofficial homework... since they technically didn't have any, but I still wanted them to practice what they're learning. Jaedin is re-writing Where the Wild Things Are, and Kainan is doing Are you My Mother? I can't remember the name of Sprite's story... but I can't wait to read their final product!!
Mar. 30, 2006 - In the midst of life... School happens
Yesterday the kids started the audio tapes of Mega Math. Paris did math with Abyni, Sprite did writing with Paris, Kainan did reading with AByni, I couldn't tear Jaedin away from Redwall...
We started a new readaloud for Bible time ~ Joseph by Charles Swindoll. Sprite is reading his book Esther. I just love his Bible character studies. He does a great job of making the past come alive without it being a novelization. Great great books! I've read his Moses one too and loooooooved it.
I'm starting Johnny Tremain today, since we finished The Prince and the Pauper last week. The listed read aloud for our Konos unit is Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry, but Sprite just read that last year, and I am not up for a disturbing-in-that-way kind of book.
The excitement abounds... things go on. I need help with laundry. I need a maid.
Sprite is going to a concert tonight with a couple of friends and Dh. She is soooo looking forward to it:)
Mar. 23, 2006 - The Prince and The Pauper
We finished reading The Prince and the Pauper today, so the kids got to watch the movie with Errol Flynn.
They did Bible this morning with Sprite while I ran over to the store to get a money order, then we did independant subjects until lunch.
I finished up The P&P and they went to watch the movie while I sewed up Dh's costume for the play on Saturday.
That's the extent of our school day!
(Jaedin is absolutely LOVING the Redwall book. It takes him an additional 5 or 10 minutes to put it down once the class time is up. He just gets SO completely absorbed in his books... reminds me of his parents:)
Mar. 6, 2006 - Back to the land of the living!
I'm well! I'm well! All is back to normal... or as normal as it gets here:)
Although Abyni woke up slightly feverish ~ everyone else is back to good health and we managed a full school day. I let Paris cook for her "math" and she made a batch of homemade power bars that were SO scrumptious! You have got to try them... the kids all loved them. She has a couple more granola bar-type recipes that she wants to try out, so we'll have some different choices.
I find that I'm really drained today. I woke up early because Dh accidentally called me on his way out the door. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I just got up and decided to work on my story a bit... actually a story of my life that I seem to add to for a few months out of each year. Some day maybe I'll have it actually "caught up" and have a huge novel out of the deal:)
Anyway, that's the extent of something new ~ Oh, since I couldn't find the Prince and the Pauper, I just sat and read some Shel Silverstein poems... I love his stuff. I especially LOVE the book of his Runny Babbit a Billy Sook by Shel Silverstein. Jaedin also finished Alice in Wonderland, so he started on Redwall today.
Mar. 1, 2006 - ToDay... lotsa independant study
Well... today I had a horrific canker sore ~ actually a lot of them, where I bit the inside of my cheek really hard the other day. It hurt so bad whenever I opened my mouth. Needless to say, that didn't go over well for reading aloud!
I had Sprite do the reading for Bible... and had the kids do all of their own reading today. I was just feeling wiped out anyway, so I suppose it was good that I got a rest.
They still got their subjects done, and watched a dvd called "The Way Things Go" with a really long Rube Goldberg chain reaction set-up. For some reason Abyni found it hilarious and just rolled with laughter.
After school and chores were done,t he kids were outside playing for hours ~ in the 85 degree weather! Holy cow! I can NOT believe how HOT it got today. Wow.
The "Fruit lady" came today. She delivers fresh produce to your door once a week. It is AWESOME! We got a bunch of greens for salads, sprouts, cucumbers and peppers. The fruit ~ so far~ is fantastic... I'm so glad to have someone else pick it all out for me:) We, or rather everyone else, had what looked like a fantastic salad with leftover chicken for supper with some leftover burritos from the freezer. It was so hot today that I really just didn't have the energy to cook.
Lord, I sound very pathetic today! Ah ~ but tomorrow will be a better day. My sinus infection will be gone, my canker sores on their way out... and my energy level back to normal!
Hallelujah:)
Feb. 24, 2006 - Need for change
Yesterday we did a school day ~ although Kainan was feeling sick ~ his glands we visibly swollen in his neck, so he just pretty much stayed upstairs and listened to his audio book Men of Iron by Howard Pyle (who has become one of his favorite authors)
The rest of us did a school day. We discussed the industrial revolution in general terms ~ the effects it had on society and families. We discussed life before and after and different things like chamber pots and sanitation issues, cholera, etc. It was enlightening for me. I didn't really put much thought into all the effects it had on so many people. I really love history ~ this time around. I hated it in school growing up!
Anyway ~ we did a short Latin/Greek review, math facts on the computer, reading, Prince and the Pauper, history, etc.
The kids watched part of a dvd about the Auto Plant and how those work, from the designing of the cars on paper to the finished product.
So after school, I got a wild hair and rearranged the living room. I LOVE it now. Its more flexible. I took my wine box shelves that used to be horizontal behind the couch and put them vertically up against a wall. We moved about everything except my desk and the schoo hutch ~ which I probably would have moved but its FAR too hard to move without completely emptying it AND getting a dolly to move it with... even then it would be heavy.
So now it feels like a new room. I love change:)
Last night we saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Spotlight Theater where we had done The Wizard of Oz play last fall. The kids enjoyed watching it ~ but they all said they liked being on stage more:) They must take after their parents, because Dh and I were thinking the same thing!
That's all ~ we'll be starting a little later today because we all got to bed so late and slept in a little...
Feb. 22, 2006 - I'm feeling so clever:)
I lost the gasket part of my blender... and it was SO annoying to not be able to use it for liquids.
I MADE one out of a plastic whipped cream lid!!:) It works!1 Yay! Now, why did that take me so long to figure out? We've not had a "liquid" blender for months!, so it was a pretty laid back realxed lots-o-reading and a couple of videos kinda day. (BTW The Mike Venezia artist books and videos are the bestest for the younger kids!)
And, BTW ~ we did do a school day today ~ nothing terribly exciting. We were all still tired from art/writing & game night yesterday!
Feb. 22, 2006 - Learning to Read...
And developing a love of reading.
I, of course, am by no means an expert on the subject, but have had numerous people ask me in the past how I got my children interested in reading, how I taught them to read with no curriculum, etc. So, after responding several times to emails, I thought I'd just write up on long speech and get it done with:) Maybe then I can get it all down without forgetting half of what I wanted to say!
First off ~ I've been blessed with girls who loved to read ~ just sooo wanted to learn to read, that they almost taught themselves. They had a great drive to learn. Paris and Abyni got a LOT out of www.starfall.com. They learned SO much. Abyni loved the Leap Frog dvds ~ and playing computer Jumpstart cds as well.
Other than that, for teaching phonics I generally just made "games" with index cards/construction paper. I would make cards with all the sight words and play memory ~ the older kids played a lot with Abyni, until they had that down.
I own TONS of easy readers that really encourage kids, and are uplifting to them when they can "read all by themselves" ~ this generally goes against my feelings on "twaddle" type books, but I make an exceptions for learning phonics. At any rate ~ these books only last so long and the kids need to move on.
One of the biggest problems I had with my boys (Who, by the way, did not pick up reading quickly at all!!) was that once they learned the basics, it seemed to take them forever to get to the point where they could read anything more than easy readers.
They got so discouraged, because the things they wanted to read were just too hard. They would stumble through and then give up. I finally realized that they were mostly just having problems with a few words. So, I chose a couple of good "boy" books and read through them myself, picking out any words that I thought might hinder them ~ either with reading or the definition.
I then wrote them all down in anotebook, listed by chapter. I would do "vocabulary" with the boys each day before reading. I did this separately since they were at different levels and they found it stressful to try and "keep up" with the other. I would have them read the words aloud to me ~ explainging any blends/pronounciation rules as we came across them. They had to write down any word they couldn't read to me, and then come back and read them to me again. Once they had all the "hard words" from a chapter down, they got to read a chapter.
The books I chose first were Red Dog by Bill Wallace, Zia (sequel to Island of the Blue Dolphins), The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum and Matilda by Roald Dahl. Both Red Dog and Matilda were the absolute best books. They both had the boys (more so than with any others) begging for me to do extra vocab with them so they could read just one more chapter. Generally I made them wait... and gave them a different book to read (Henry Huggins went over well, as well as The Million Dollar Shot **Other books listed below)
This improved their reading levels so dramatically, they went from being two years "behind" their age level, to being a year ahead within 10 months. They were just loving the books. We did narrations, so the boys were telling me everything that happened in each chapter as they read, so I knew they were comprehending what they were reading. It ws great. It helping to encourage them, and helped them be able to read books that actually held their interest.
Other books my boys loved:
**All of the Hank the Cowdog books by John Erikson (These are hilarious:)
**All of the Magic Treehouse Books by Mary Pope Osborn (Paris is liking these too finally!)
**Beverly Cleary (which Paris is also reading now as well)
**Indian in the Cupboard (a little later)
**Encyclopedia Brown books
**The Boxcar Children series
Paris is also enjoying ~ The American Girl books right now as well
Abyni is reading the easy readers and just loves reading "Biscuit" and any Dr. Seuss!
We try to have a quiet time each night ~ and have done this since our oldest was 4. The kids all have to stay in their rooms and be quiet. Those who can read (even a little) have to read. The little ones can read, and then just color a picture (about what they read or whatever) The older ones have to read and then can do journaling or word puzzles. They have been raised this way ~ without knowing anything different, so for them it has just been the way you get ready for bed:) It helps to settle everyone down ~ and gives Dh and I some down time with some quiet to discuss things or do our own reading.
My Dh and I have always loved reading and read voraciously... it was a huge priority for us to instill the same love of reading in our children.
Also ~ I always make sure to include the younger kids in Bible time reading ~ All the kids get a verse to look up and read aloud. Even when Abyni needs help with a word or two, she still feels so good that she is "old enough" to read the big Bible. Before she was able to read that, she would read a story out of her "Beginner Bible" ~ which she did for our Christmas story this year. That seemed to boost her reading level immeasurably as well:)
And yet one other thing ~ I forgot ~ I always do at least one read aloud during school time. I do my best to find good, interesting books for them to read for their school work ~ and make sure they have a variety to choose from. They all do independant reading for History and they all have a "literature" book that they are reading at any given time (excpet for Abyni who is five) When we are learning about a certain time in history, I make sure they have a variety of history and biographies to read. BTW ~ Robert Quackenbush does the best biographies for the younger readers... Jean Fritz and the D'Aulaires for the slightly older ones!!! Awesome Awesome Awesome!! For their literature, I go by the booklists at www.amblesideonline.org for suggestions as well as
http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000-primary.html
I don't force the kids to read something (generally) that they are absolutely not enjoying either. I don't like to read a book that is just draaaging along, and I don't expect them to either. Sometimes, if I really want them to read something that starts slow, or that they don't think they're interested in, I'llr ead the first couple of chapters aloud, and then make them take over:)
Feb. 17, 2006 - Friday ~ the "favorite" day
Well, the general consensus is that Friday is the best day of the week. Even better than Saturday I guess because they have something like sleeping late to look forward to:)
Anyway ~ we had a nice productive day today. We're finishing up the energy/electricity unit and heading for the Industrial revolution next week. The kids are each working on a timeline page for our binder-timeline for one of the inventors we've read about/studied this past month. Its interesting to see what information the kids find pertinent and memorable!
Some of the inventors they've chosen:
Wilbur and Orville Wright (should have been saved for the next topic, but oh well)
Samuel Morse
James Watt
Robert Fulton
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Edison
Alexander Graham Bell
John Gutenburg
We skipped math for today and did a Greek/Latin root word quiz instead. The kdis all knew the definitions better than I thought they would. Sprite remembered some from our conversation last night as I sat looking through the dictionary for different words that would use our roots.
The kids did their independant subjects for the day, including practicing their writing process they learned the other day.
I started reading The Prince and The Pauper. I know it has nothing to do with our unit, but we own the book and I loved it in school, so that's what we're reading. The kids already love it. Besides which, the only book listed for this unit as a read aloud/older kids book was Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry which Sprite and Kainan have both read recently.
Anyway ~ off to do my research mentioned in the previous post.
