I've decided to pop back on this blog and use it again for keeping records of our homeschool activity.  We ventured out and tried a charter school this past year (didn't like it!) and so we weren't really Soaring Arrow Academy for a whole year!  I missed being us :)

Literature:
Last week we read the Lamb's version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and then went and watched a free Shakespeare in the Park performance of the same play.  I forgot that I had ordered a movie version of the play from Netflix, so we proceeded to watch that as well (with just a bit of fast-forwarding from mom).  By the third run-through of the story the boys were fully understanding it and able to bask in the humor of the awkward situations.

History:
We are studying the American Revolution this summer.  I'm anxious to get finish Truthquest's American History for Young Students I, and then go through II and III over the next year.  This month we've read Chapters 51-55 of This Country of Ours, alongside Sleds on Boston Common, Paul Revere's Ride (Longfellow's poem with delightful illustrations), General George Washington, Story of the Liberty Bell, and various commentary from the TQ guide.

The boys added Paul Revere, George Washington, and Daniel Boone to their timelines.

For independent reading on the American Revolution, C has read The Value of Foresight:  The Story of Thomas Jefferson,   .  Micah has read George Washington and the General's Dog, Paul Revere's Ride (again!).   Daniel has had the following books read to him:  George Washington and the General's Dog.

My dad sent us a link to a book called The Young Trailers.  The book is set in Kentucky during the time of the Revolutionary War.  We started reading a couple chapters a week.  The boys find it very interesting as we just studied Daniel Boone last month, so we've had a taste of Kentuck.

Geography:
We are headed to Yellowstone this summer, so Hubby decided the boys should have an introduction to the Rocky Mountain States.  We read about these states in the Young People's Atlas of the United States (16,17).  We also covered Montana, Idaho and Wyoming in our Trail Guide to U.S. Geography (mapping important items on each state map, learning to find information on maps and in the atlas and through Google.  C did special research projects on Idaho's --- and Wyoming's --- and M researched Idaho's --- and Wyoming's ----.)  I downloaded the student eBook (Primary level for all 3 boys) and am loving how much easier it makes this geography program to go through.

I spent a lot of time last week planning for our next school year.  I love having "year round" school, but admit that this month of August "off" is really nice as well!

Munchkin went to Disneyland with his grandparents last weekend and had a wonderful time!

This week we were very busy!  On Monday we "found the house" under all the dirt and clutter that had piled up over the weekend.  Tuesday we spent time learning about Mormons in preparation for the Mormon missionaries coming over for dinner that night.  Dinner with the Mormon boys was really fun, and the conversation felt somewhat fruitful.

Wednesday we spent the day in Lincoln at our friends' new house.  What a blast!  We played, talked, and went swimming in their club pool.  We had yummy cake to celebrate Munchkin and one of the boys from the other family's birthdays.

Thursday was the last meeting of a little summer women's book club I put together.  We went through the book Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney.  Each week we paid a young adult to watch the kids while we talked grown-upese!  This week the two young gals had organized games and activities planned for the kids.  Afterwards, we shared lunch and enjoyed a swim party!  We even had cake and sang a second time to Munchkin and a little gal friend of ourse.  Woo Hoo!

Friday was spent running around town getting ready for a co-ed, multi-age family baby shower on Saturday.  It was also Munchkin's 5th birthday!  That evening, to celebrate his birthday for real this time, we went to John's Incredible Pizza with my husband's parents and husand's sister's family.  We had a blast and spent too much money!

The baby shower was a blast!  We did a baked potato bar which turned out fine, but not as well as our last attempt at this project.  My husband did a hilarious game centered around The Price is Right involving baby items.  In another game, my oldest son actually got to drink soda pop out of a baby bottle -- yuck!  I think he kept drinking even after he lost the race :)

We had a busy, fun week.  Tomorrow is church.  Next Monday is helping their grandma grocery shop while one of our sons stays with great grandpa and another goes for a web design lesson with their grandpa, my dad (a teacher who is off for the summer).  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are open to fill up with a California lapbook class with the Smithers cousins, and preparing for church family camp.

I am very much looking forward to starting homeschooling again - so things can slow down!

I think I'm going to begin using this blog as a place for keeping and sharing our homeschool activities again.  It got too complicated last year, keeping paper records and trying to blog about them as well.  These year, the bigger boys and I designed little day planners for them to keep their own records.  I think I will summarize what we do hear, and let them record all the specifics.

Our first experience with a Reformation Day Party was a good one.  Although my husband and I are complete novices when it comes to Church History, it was fun to study and learn in preparation for passing on the exciting stories to the little ones who came to the party.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Church at Wittenberg.  Churches have picked this date to commemorate what God did to bring the gospel back into light and spread that light around the globe through the Protestant Reformation.

Because we are the type to take a tradition and tweak it to fit what God is doing in our own lives, we didn't focus on the Reformers who seem usually make the Reformation Day spotlight like Martin Luther or John Calvin (besides, we didn't want to have our first Reformation Day steeped in controversy!). 

Having recently grown in our awareness of how powerful the Word of God is to change society, cultures, and the hearts of men, we decided to spend the evening focused on what God did through William Tyndale -- namely translating the Bible into English and getting it into the common people's hands.

Here is hubby wearing a silly shirt I found on the Internet for him (he didn't want to dress up) that reads:  WILLIAM TYNDALE IS MY HOMEBOY.

We sent out an invitation letting folks know in brief what a Reformation Day Party was, and telling them they could dress up in Renassaince Era-type clothes or as Bible Characters if they wished. 

We had all sorts of folks show up:  knights and maidens, barefoot peasant boys, gentlemen, and even princesses!  Noah and one of his ark animals came to the party.  There were even a few modern souls in attendance :)

                        

                     

We started the evening with 2 active old-fashioned games.  The first was Barley Break,  a fun group tag game (click here for lots more game ideas).  We also played a bean bag toss game -- with an incredible homemade board and bags made by our coolio Uncle David (pictured here with his darling peasant daughter Sandrea!).


We next moved the party into the other room where our friend Tonya instructed the kids on crafting their own little individual Bibles from fancy card stock and old-fashioned-looking stickers (scripture and art).  All the verses she picked for the stickers had to do with God's word.  The end products were just beautiful!!

Overall, it was a very fun party.  We definitely felt like beginners at celebrating Reformation Day :)  Ron says he'd like to do it again next year, with a different focus next time. This could be the start of a new family tradition!

For Further Study:

On Reformation Day and Reformation Day parties:
http://www.sundayschoollessons.com/refday.htm
http://www.doorposts.net/reformation.asp (you can buy a party guide here)
http://homerealm.lifewithchrist.org/permalink/7041 (ideas from a gal's blog)
http://www.oldlutheran.com/humor/reformationideas.html (more random ideas)
http://www.challies.com/archives/002169.php (Tim Challies on Reformation Day)

On William Tyndale --

www.williamtyndale.com (click through the galleries for historical facts and really cool paintings)

www.tyndale.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tyndale

http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/ (includes a neat timeline of Bible translation history)

http://www.gentles.info/BibleHistory/BF2.pdf (really nice flow chart, a bit complicated, of Bibles through the ages)

The Bible Smuggler by Louise A. Vernon

10 Boys Who Made a Difference (one boy is Tyndale)

The Queen’s Smuggler:  William Tyndale by Dave and Neta Jackson (I haven't read this but very much enjoy the Jacksons' Hero Tales books).

Torchlighters’ William Tyndale DVD

God’s Outlaw, a 93 minute drama on William Tyndale (I haven't seen this)

On Western Civ and the movement of "liberty" in general --
How Should We Then Live?  by Francis Schaeffer
The Story of Liberty by Charles Coffin

FYI:  Did you know it was William Tyndale, translating the Bible, who introduced these words into the English language:   “Jehovah,” “Scapegoat,” “Passover,” and “Atonement?”  Pretty cool, eh?!  He also coined the phrase "my brother's keeper!"

Bible:  We almost finished up What Would Jesus Do? this week.  Great book.  A good reminder that our faith should encapsulate all of our lives.  For Bible Memory, we did serious studying of  the First Catechism this week as Micah has a "quiz" coming up at church soon on this.  Daniel went through his preschool fighter verse pack and is doing well remembering them!

History:  Micah asked where the alphabet came from.  We looked it up on the computer and even found a cool video of the "evolution" of the alphabet. 
In history, we are currently studying the Pony Express.  The boys enjoyed listening to Riding the Pony Express Christian silently read Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express as well.  We watched Old Yeller on video this week -- it finally came back to the library for us to check out!

Literature:  We spent approx. 3 hours reading aloud Shadrach by Meindert DeJong this week -- probably 3 hours next week should finish it.  Every minute of this book is delightful to me as well as the boys.  I feel like the book is a peek into the mind of a little boy.  The author has an incredible way of expressing childlike thoughts, fascinating empathy for children.  I would not have known about this author if it weren't for a my favorite book about books -- Who Should We Then Read?!  Our whole family is richer for the introduction.

Other Language Arts:  CJ is doing very well at memorizing roots of words.  He learned his first Latin root this week:  .  These are the words he and I have memorized so far:
After reading Madeline, we talked about the literary devices of poetry and repetition.  We will add these to our list of "Choices a Writer Can Make" in the boys' notebooks, with descriptions and examples.

Art:  We did a picture study of Snap the Whip.  After reading Madeline, we talked about how the drawings within were of real places in Paris.  We taked about how the illustrations were not photographic (fooling the eye into thinking they are photographs), but rather the artist's impression of the streets of Paris.

Science:  After reading Madeline, we talked about what an appendix is (Madeline had her appendix removed in the story).  We looked up drawings and photos of appendixes on the Internet (I love GOOGLE).  Also after reading this story, we talked about Health, especially the need to wash hands after going potty and before eating, brushing teeth, and eating nutritious balanced meals.

Math:  After reading Madeline one day, we noticed the symmetry in the artwork.  We talked about symmetry.  Daniel LOVED counting people and things throughout the book.
Micah and CJ worked daily in their math curriculum.

Preschool Day:
The boys' 4-year-old cousin joined us for a morning this week, so we decided to have the big boys teach "preschool" in lieu of our regular work (we had been planning to do this for Daniel but had put it off, having little Sammy over too made it even more fun!).
We busted out the book MADELINE and got out our Five In A Row unit study book (the book is named FIVE IN A ROW as you are supposed to read the book 5 days in a row, doing lessons springing from the book each day).  CJ picked out the arena he would like to teach -- grouping and dividing.  After reading the book and discussing "compassion" (the girls in the book "smiled at the good, frowned at the bad, and at times were very sad"), we went to the computer and checked out our neighborhood on Google Earth.  Next we flew right on over to Paris, France!  Woo-hoo, the things you can do with Google!  We also looked at photos of French flags and a map of France.  Back in the living room, Christian placed 12 marbles in front of the boys, telling them they were the 12 little girls from the book.  Sam and Micah arranged the marbles into several different counting groups (how many groups do you get if Miss Clavel sends them three at a time to brush their teeth? etc.).  Micah wanted to read to Samuel and Daniel, so he read from a few BOB BOOKS.  Next, the boys spent 1/2 hour designing and playing with tangrams.  What a fun morning!

Real Life:
Ron took Micah's Tiger Cub troop to visit a new police station.  What a fun and educational trip!  The boys looked at guns and tazers and handcuffs and even saw the emergency call center (a 9-1-1 operator spoke with them).  The video made it look like so much fun that I am sorry Daniel and I didn't go along!

What a fun week!  Dad had the week "off" to work on our new family business.  We had a lot of fun eating lunch with him every day, and even going to the pumpkin patch (again) with him on Friday!  The older boys were able to learn a few "tricks of the trade" as well -- soon we'll have little video-editors to help with the business! 
Probably due to the cold going around our house, attitudes around here stunk at the beginning of the week.  I put aside proper literature readings for the week and we began reading aloud What Would Jesus Do?, a children's edition of the classic In His Steps.  The kids love it, and it seemed to put us all in the place of watching our 'tudes.

Bible --- still reading through I Kings and II Chronicles (chronologically).  We are up to Jehosophat (red) and (blue).  Reviewed Bible Memory verses for home and Catechism for Sunday School.


History -- we took a break from our regularly scheduled reading this week to read an interesting biography of Columbus (Columbus Day was Monday).  We also learned a bit about Blaise Pascal (see Math).

Science -- The kids watched an incredible video put out by Moody Institute of Science called Children's Science Adventures:  The Wonder of You, A Mystery Story, and A Matter of Taste.  They learned about skeletons, caterpillars, and what and how certain animals eat in the wild.

Language Arts -- Micah requested a break from his Alphaphonics, so we are taking 2 weeks off.  He is doing extra math work every day in Phonics' place.  CJ learned a few more Greek roots in English from the Roots Up.  We continued to read a poem a day.  The boys did copy work.

Math -- Micah is plugging away in 1st Grade Miquon and having fun.  Nothing new just yet.  CJ, however, is learning the coolest stuff in his Miquon book!  This week we discovered Pascal's Triangle.  If I ever learned this in school, I completely forgot it.  This is the niftiest thing I have ever seen, and I know I am no aware of half of the "magical" properties of this triangle!  Created to help a friend with gambling odds, the triangle also reveals triangular numbers, counting numbers, doubling numbers, etc. etc. etc., depending upon where you look.  And it is so easy to construct, a 2nd grader could do it!  Cool stuff!  CJ also did some graphing in his workbook.

Real Life:
The boys came along with Ron and I to Classical Families this week, the theme of the week was Science.  Besides getting lots of ideas for future science studies, the boys were able to watch a teenage friend, Risa F., practice a speech on Nature Journaling.  We are inspired to spend more time on our nature journals!
We went with a bunch of friends to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm (our 2nd time in one year -- how silly are we!).  It was a fun, long day!  Bishop's is the most interesting pumpkin farm I have ever been to.
In Cub Scouts this week, Micah built a boat and CJ made a sailor hat.  The theme of month is boating.
We attended a bike auction at UCDavis. 
We had 2 big boys spend the weekend with us while their parents were out of town.  Loads of fun, plus the boys learned a whole slew of new clean jokes!

     
The Homeschool Bus :)                              One Happy Family (the extra is our pal                                                                                                                     Ryan W.)
    
Daniel's best bud Micaiah, what a cutie!      Some of our park pals along with Sweet                                                                                             Lydia and Super-fun Eva.

We started off the week with a bang by going to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm after church with a couple dozen churchfolk!


Bible:  We are finally back on the memory verse train, starting up with something easy (and extremely needed around here, especially with Mom) this week from Psalm 141: 
"Place a guard, oh Lord, over my mouth!  Keep watch over the door of my lips!  Let my heart not incline to any evil!"
Still in the Ahab-era of Israel's history (I Kings), we read this week about Elijah's interactions with Ahab, the drought from God, the widow's provision, and the big contest between God and Baal over who could start a fire (guess who won, even with a major watered-down handicap??).  The boys narrated this last story to me, I typed up their own words and they used this for copywork to go in their Bible Notebook.  They also drew pictures of this story for said notebook.

Science:  We read What Happens to My Hamburger?, learning about digestion.  The boys took notes for their science journal.
Micah learned a bit about dinosaurs - we had lots of time to play a new dinosaur board game while waiting for the allergist this past Wednesday.  Actually, Micah learned a few things about allergies at the same time, as in how those nasty scratch tests work.

Math:  Micah kept up in his math workbooks this week, typical 1st Grade fare of addition and subtraction practice at this point.
Christian's Miquon math was SO interesting this week!  I don't recall ever learning about triangular numbers, do you?  Fascinating stuff!  We used the little Cusienare Rods to build triangular numbers and square numbers.  Finally, all this stuff I memorized as a kid has some concrete meaning in my mind!  I am so thankful to God for the gift of Math!  What a divine science mathematics is...absolutely fascinating.  And to think...if it weren't for homeschooling, I may have never known :) 
CJ was so interested in what he was learning he taught some of it to Micah! 
Oh, also, my mom mentioned that she didn't think CJ knew his times tables.  He certainly did last year, but it had been a few months of little to no practice.  So...he practiced filling in times table sheets each day last week, and took a test on Friday.  I think we'll keep up with quizzes for him to try to beat the previous week's score (last week was under 6 minutes, unfortunately I used the oven timer and it doesn't show the seconds so we will have to upgrade to a better timer next week!)

Technology/Language Arts:  The boys learned quite about PrintShop this week.  To quote CJ, "If I had known about PrintShop before, I would have been doing this instead of playing video games on Saturdays!"  The boys each created (several of) their own business cards, with pretend careers.  CJ and Micah made a newsletter, all about a yucky car accident (ewww!)  The boys made adorable banners for Ron and I, which I'll post here for you to see.  Are we lucky parents, or what?

More Language Arts:  We read As You Like It from Beautiful Stories of Shakespeare for Children and read a poem each day.  We read how the Rhinocerous Got His Skin by Rudyard Kipling.  CJ added several new words from English From the Roots Up (and Micah learned them as well) and Micah plodded forward in AlphaPhonics.  Daniel is speaking more and better each day.

History:  We read in --------- about The Alamo and Mexican War.
 
Cub Scouts/Real Life Learning:  Micah practiced the Pledge of Alligence, learned how to "post colors," and learned about public safety officers such as policemen and firemen.  CJ is learning about boating and came home with impressive knot-tying knowledge.  Daniel and I made oatmeal cookies while the big boys were gone to scouts, and he did much of the measuring himself.

Fall has fallen!  Yippee!  The air is crisp, the leaves are falling, we have baked and eaten Pumpkin Muffins!  I LOVE FALL!!

 

Due to a busy week and mom who didn't feel well, I fear I didn't do as well at recording our schoolwork this week.  Here's what I did write down/remember:

 

Music/Art Appreciation:  We listened often (background music) to a Mozart CD, as Mozart is our composer for the term.  The kids love this music and dance and hum to it all the time.  We began art study with a print by Henry Winslow called "Snap the Whip."  The boys would study the painting for 2 minutes at a time, then we put the painting down and they each describe (youngest first) something new they discovered about the painting.  We will do this several times with one painting.  It was amazing to see all the new discoveries they made.

 

 

 

Bible:  We are plugging away in I Kings, going back and forth between the real Bible and our story bible.  The kids noticed today that the list of kings of Israel so far is COMPLETELY in red (red = bad king, blue = good king), and that Judah has so far had only one good king.  We are up to the point in history where Asa is king of Judah and Ahab is king of Israel.  Just getting into the drama of Ahab and Elijah -- I can't wait.  What great stories!

We listened to the story of Esther and Joshua in the long ride to a friend's house.  The stories are word for word from the King James version of the Bible, but read dramatically by George Sarris (see The World's Greatest Stories) for more info, "The Prophets" is our favorite tape!)

 

History:  We are studying the Mexican War and pioneers (from the U.S. and Europe) who settled Texas, by finishing up Johnny Texas.  With only 2 chapters left to this delightful book, I plan to finish this weekend.  While visiting Grandma and Grandpa T. this weekend we found out that Grandma's Great-Great Grandpa fought at the Alamo!  His name was John George Rhodes.  She showed the boys a photo of Grandpa Rhodes, and he certainly looks the part!  I can't wait to figure out more about this man.

The boys re-read So You Want to be President? for fun, and discussed many things about our former and current president.

 

Math:  Christian and Micah worked 3 days in Miquon workbooks and 2 days in Singapore workbooks.  We also had FUN doing logic exercises with cuisenaire rods from a book just given to us called,

 

Science:  We learned about electricity, including information about atoms and how power plants work.  We learned about the rotation of the earth around the sun and the rotation of earth upon its axis, and how these affect seasons of the year.  (Sunshine Makes the Seasons and The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip)

CJ also read on his own (and to his brothers) all about optical illusions from the Usborne Book of Science.

 

Literature/Language Arts:  We read from Burgess Book of Animals, and plan to make this our new lunchtime reading.  We read the real fairy tale of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp (so different than Disney!) along with the story How the Rhinocerous Got His Skin by Rudyard Kipling.  We read 3 of Aesop's Fables.

CJ began working in English From The Roots Up, learning the greek roots photos, tele, and graph.

Micah kept plugging away in AlphaPhonics.

We read a poem outloud each day.

Service:  We brought lunch over to the boys' great grandparents this week, and vaccummed their house for them.

 

Real Life:  Our friends recently moved out to the country near Lincoln, CA.  I babysat the kids while the mom and dad cleaned up the old house.  The boys got to look at horses, check out the hay lift and loft, play in a creek, make boats to float down the creek, have a mud fight and run around in wide open spaces.  What a fun day! 

We also went to our very first Family Contra Dance!  It was English Line Dancing, similar to square dancing, with a fiddler playing, a caller teaching moves and telling you what to do next, switching partners and dancing with neighbors, swinging and making group circles, etc. etc. etc.  What a fun workout! 

I was terrible, but I had a wonderful time.  CJ and Micah were great!  There were lots of people there (50-75, and I heard it was a small turnout of the usual group), about half teenagers and the rest of the people a mix of littles from about age 6 and up to grandmas and grandpas in their 60's -- a completely multigenerational evening.  It was wonderful to see all the young men learning how to be near young gals and yet to be appropriate!  Gentleman-training was a serious part of the evening, as were lessons in modesty and being inclusive of others.  We will go to one more practice in November, and then the "Fall Ball" in December, where we dress up and should be a little better at the moves (Ha!  We shall see!)  Daniel was too little for the evening, but CJ and Micah did fabulously well.  Nana came with us!

Here's a random picture from Google Images of a group contra dancing:

 

 

We spent ALL DAY last Sunday deep sea fishing near San Francisco.  The kids learned so much, enough to call it educational.  We practiced fishing skills, got a physical workout, and learned about seasickness.  The fisherman showed us his "fish finder," an on-board radar system that detects fish under the waters.  We caught lots and lots of rock fish, and practiced patience while NOT CATCHING cod!

Anyway, we were exahuasted come Monday morning.  HIP HIP HOORAY for the freedom to let the whole family sleep in and basically take Monday off of school (we still a few schooish things, but later in the day, after sleeping in, a leisurely breakfast, and housecleaning).  I enjoyed having a day to go through all the boys summer/winter clothes without feeling like I "had" to get certain things done.  Homeschooling truly makes life simpler!

Bible
We read through I Kings 11-15, for the most part out of Ergemeir's Bible Story Book.  I figured if I was getting confused by all the names that sounded alike and all the kings from Judah and Israel, the kids must be getting lost as well.  The children's book makes it much easier, without leaving much out at all. 

 

We began a "Kings Chart," listing all the kings we come across for the divided kingdoms.  We are writing the kings the Lord dispproved of in RED, and the kings he praised in BLUE.  So far, there is lots of red :(  The kids were cute, wanting to put Saul's name up in half red and half blue!

History:
We put aside Texas history and the Mexican War to focus on the California Gold Rush -- in preparation for the Cub Scout trip to Sutter's Fort this weekend (see "Real Life" below).  We read 2 delightful historical fiction books, which I would recommend to anyone in this time period:  Treasure in the Stream:  The Story of a Gold Rush Girl and The Legend of Freedom Hill.

We read a few more chapters of Johnny Texas.

We read an excerpt from Biblical Worldview magazine about "mythstorians" and how the media tends to re-write history.  The article mentioned Washington Irving being one of the first to bring the Columbus flat-earth myth to life.  The boys glued this excerpt into their notebook page on Washington Irving, along with their narration of Rip Van Winkle.

Math:
CJ, Miquon -- measurement in meters and centimeters, figured out areas and perimeters, lots of math with cups, pints, quarts and gallons, and learned about temperature measured in Celsius.  CJ also spent several hours playing with his new calculator and adding up the words in all his favorite books :)
Micah, Miquon -- Addition and Subtraction, learned about the number line and how taking hops down or up it is the same as adding or subtracting.
We read Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland aloud -- what a great book!  It introduced kids to concepts of degrees, angles -- acute and obtuse and 90 and 180 degree angles, and parallel lines.  The book is written in such a way that the story was amusing even if some of the facts went over the boys' heads.

Daniel and Micah spent a few hours playing in our math manipulative box, measuring rice, counting sticks, doing one-to-one correspondence, etc.

Language Arts:
Phonics for Micah:  moving right along in Alpha Phonics, lessons 41- 55 this week.
The boys continued doing copywork.  English from the Roots Up came in the mail on Friday, so CJ will begin this next week.  I am spending more one-on-one time reading with Daniel, and allowed him to play starfall.com because I think it will help with his auditory processing.

Science:
We read Chapters 1 and 2 of The Burgess Animal Book for Chlidren.  We also read Rock Collecting by Roma Gans and Prairie Dogs Kiss and Lobsters Wave:  How Animals Say Hello by Marilyn Singer (thanks to my dad's school for this donation!).  The boys each drew and wrote about something they learned in their nature journals.  We read the Magic School Bus book about honey bees.

Literature: 

We read The Tempest from Beautiful Stories of Shakespeare for Children, and four of Aesop's Fables.

Computer: 

CJ learned how to hack into his blog template and change the color scheme, using an html color chart found on the web.

Real Life (in educationese this is referred to as "Field Trips"): 

Besides deep sea fishing, CJ also visited a very cool exotic pet store with his cub scout den and learned neat facts about reptiles and other creatures.

 

We went to Sutter's Fort with Micah's cub scout den on Saturday, bringing our current history stories a little bit to life!

 

We went to a dog park to work on training our dog to come when called.  There we met a man who is writing a book on the language of dogs.  He taught us a few things to look for to understand what a dog is communicating with his body language.

 

Nothing beats a first day of school which includes cuddling together on mom and dad's bed to read a good story -- and spending time with the whole family (dad took that day off of work!)
Overall, we had a GREAT "first week" of school!  Learning is so much fun, and trust me, I am learning right along with the kids.

Here's a brief rundown of the past week:

History:
We finished Old Yeller.  I cried.  We read Rip Van Winkle and talked about the author Washington Irving.  The boys narrated the story back to me, which I typed up for them.  We will do a notebook page on Irving for our History notebook next week.
We began reading Johnny Texas, a fictional story that covers the Mexican War of the late 1800s.  We need to speed up our History studies, to get to WWII as soon as possible, but this is incredibly hard to do -- it is delightful to immerse ourselves in a time period.  Everyone loves history!  Thank you, Truthquest History!

Bible:
We finished up our Proverbs study this week.  The boys made pages for our Bible Notebook.  We finished reading from Wisdom and the Millers.  We are on to the next era of ancient biblical history next week. 
We began a new memory verse this week, Psalm 52:5-6.   I really feel that we have neglected the kids' memory practice, and hope to make this a priority this year.  We found a neat Memory System here, and are using these ideas with the Fighter Verses suggested by Desiring God Ministries.  In our memory box, along with bible verses, are/will be questions from a children's catechism, days of the week, months of the year, and poetry.

Literature:
We read A Midsummer Night's Dream from Beautiful Stories of Shakespeare for Children -- the kids listened attentively, better than I ever thought possible.  We also read The Lion and the Mouse and The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf from Aesop's Fables, doing copywork from each of these.  We also read Toads and Diamonds from the Blue Fairy book.  The boys love reading a poem each day from our poetry anthology.  (Did you know Robert Frost once said, "Poetry is organzined violence on the English language?"  I learned that in the Classical Families meeting this week!)

Science:
We read "A Very Special Moon" from the current issue of Nature Friend magazine, Our Stars by Anne Rockwell, and Night Sky by Carole Stott.  The older boys worked in their nature journals, recording facts and interesting thoughts about the moon and space, including a photo of our neighbor and explanation of how he invited us over for star-gazing.  I plan to photocopy the boys' journal pages and give them as a thank you note to the neighbor.
We have decided to go through the Considering God's Creation curriculum with another family.  We won't go through it as quickly this way, but it will be loads of fun.  At home, we will stick to interest-led science for now (learning about whatever the boys are interested in).

Math:
The boys were faithful to work in their math workbooks every day last week.  Both boys are working in Miquon right now, Micah in 1st grade books and CJ in 3rd grade.  I am learning a lot from CJ's book -- Miquon is very hands-on and really asks you to think.  I had no idea math was so clever -- it's like magic!  Anyway, CJ's Singapore math is on its way via mail, and Singapore is much more drill-and-practice oriented.
This week CJ worked on Squaring, and Micah practiced Addition and Subtraction and made up addition and subtraction problems from pictures.

Other Basics:
Micah continued phonics practice in Alpha Phonics.  CJ hasn't worked on English from the Roots Up yet, as it got lost in the mail on the way to our home!  He has worked on math or silent reading while Micah has done phonics practice.  Daniel is working on Speech practice as we read baby books and memorize child-sized portions of scripture (he loves the little illustrations from the Foundation Verses made for preschoolers).
We just didn't get to Music and Art this week.  With Dad taking Monday off of work, and the kids and I taking Friday for a park day with friends, Music and Art got the squeeze.  Oh well.  There's always next week!

Well, we haven't started offiical "school" yet, that begins next week.  I thought I'd begin reporting and recording some of the interesting things the boys are learning!  They are always growing and finding out about so many new and cool things, it is a shame not to keep track somewhere!

History:
We are finishing up Old Yeller this week.  Wow, have we learned a lot.  Besides the history of the United States in the mid-1800's, we have learned a lot about farming and responsibility, and even had a little lesson on puberty (thanks to the explanation in the book about castrating hogs!).
We listened to Billy Scott Faces the Firing Squad, a true story of a young man fighting for the Union in the Civil War, who bravely faces his punishment in front of the firing squad and is given mercy by Abe Lincoln (Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Viewpoints of Civil War, Responsibility, Bravery)


Science:
We took a trip to the zoo with our cousins this week!  Christian took lots of photos, click here to see his work!
Our neighbor invited us over to look at the stars through the telescope he made himself!  The boys loved seeing Jupiter along with 2 of its many moons.  The neighbor showed us the Summer Triangle, and the North Star (and now the boys know how to locate this star using the Big Dipper).  We saw a "globular cluster" through the telescope that was not visible to the naked eye (called M-13).  It is 25,000 light years away, and 145 light years in diameter.  Too cool!  Who knew we could be star gazers in the City?  I think we are going to be really nice to this neighbor so we can be invited back soon!

Bible:  We are still in Proverbs.  Reading some from the Wisdom with Millers, and some from the book of Proverbs.  The boys will pick a Proverb, write it for copywork, and illustrate it for their Bible Notebook before we move in Bible History.  At night, Daddy is reading Grandpa's Box.  This is a chronological overview of scripture in story form.

Computer:  We are making a photo-video memory for Dad's birthday!  Adobe Premire, using the scanner, downloading I Tunes, etc. etc. etc.  Christian is still blogging and messing around with digital photos and video.

We also took a trip to the library, and the kids played educational computer games.  Daniel loves www.starfall.com, a fun pre-reading website.

"Official School" begins next week!  Yippee!

I have spent this week getting ready for our official beginning of the school year next week!  The boys have spent this week as they have much of the summer, enjoying friends, playing lots, reading, playing board games, practicing real life math -- learning with or without "official" school!

A few photos of unofficial learning this week:

  

 

 

We usually "school" year round, since things are pretty relaxed around here.  This year, because CJ is 8 years old, we are getting a little more formal, and I wanted time to prepare so it would go off without a hitch.  We didn't do any math workbooks or phonics work this summer, although Micah is reading lots of beginner books to himself, and you couldn't keep CJ from reading.  We kept up our History Studies on a small scale by reading Amos Fortune, Free Man (excellent story!) about slavery, and we are currently in the middle of Old Yeller (also excellent!  I feel like I understand men and boys better with each of these wonderful boy-books!).  Old Yeller has helped the kids really understand life in the United States in the mid-1800's.  (I can't remember the old Disney flick but sure hope that it is well done, we plan to watch it as soon as we finish the book!)  We have continued our Bible Study throughout the summer, with generous breaks for vacations and outings.  Ron has been faithfully reading Grandpa's Box to the kids for evening devotions.  This book goes through the main stories of the Bible, pointing all the while to the grace of God.  The kids have had lots of good questions, and we are all learning from these readings!  Our many field trips and vacations (including the Grand Canyon) have also been very educational.  I'll post photos soon of our many summer adventures, and file them under appropriate dates -- so check back in old posts if you'd like to see the pics.

 

What exactly are we going to do this Fall 2006 semester?  We plan to block out a few hours each morning for school time (after Breakfast and Bible and the boys' Morning Routine), spending each day of the week focused on different subjects.  Here's a copy of our proposed weekly schedule:

 

Every Day:

 

Bible and Breakfast (we just finished learning about Solomon and the temple he built, and are taking a break from Bible History to think on Solomon's Proverbs, using Miller Family book)

Reading Aloud Together for 30-45 minutes – (History, Literature, or Natural Science, depending upon day of the week)

Read Poem of the Day (incredible anthology found here, we printed it out and had it spiral bound)

Copywork (bought StartWrite program and began creating personalized copywork books for each boy!  Yeah!)

Math (CJ is in 3rd grade Singapore and finishing up Miquon, Micah is still in 1st Grade Miquon but will move faster as we being practicing math every day)

Tutoring -- Micah – Phonics, CJ – English from Roots Up, Daniel – anything one-on-one

 

 

One Day Each Week:

 

 

Bible – notebook what we’ve been learning in Bible, do extra research, acting out, etc. etc.  On this day, use bible verse for copywork.  Plan into these days character studies from Instructions in Righteousness.  Teach Bible tools such as using a concordance, bible dictionary and atlas at this time.

 

Language Arts – analyze literature, re-write stories (use IEW ideas picked up at Modesto Conference), Family Writing practice (Rosetta Stone Spanish computer practice while kids take turns dictating stories to me).  On this day, use literary prose for copywork (from one of our readings or from one of our poems).

 

Science – go through Considering God’s Creation, notebook, add living books, etc.  On this day, use one of the songs or poems in CGC for copywork.

 

Music/Art/Everything Else – Listen to Hymn of the month, Folksong of the Term, possibly listen to classicsforkids.com if there's time, use a verse of hymn-of-the-month for copywork and figure out meaning, every month or so do a Great Artists activity, use this day to notebook History stuff.

 

Extra Day – visit grandparents (I would like to visit each of our living grandparents once a month, and perhaps start an elderly care ministry visitation for the off-week)

 

A friend and I are also prayerfully considering starting a homeschool co-op.  Each family would take turn teaching lessons, and we would meet once a week.  We are thinking 2 weeks of true co-op, one week for field trips, and one week for ministry (elderly home ministry, feeding homeless, baking cookies for shut-ins, helping with church projects, raking lawns, etc. -- the possibilities are endless).  I think this co-op would be loads of fun and would help us see lots of people that we enjoy, without being busy almost every day of the week!  We'll see how it goes.  Homeschooling is so much fun, it knocks my socks off.

 

 

Whee!  Round and Round We Go!

 

 

Our friend from church created this Statue of Liberty, out of all sorts of materials!  We LOVED seeing something made by someone we knew.  Next year, we hope to enter some of our art and/or science projects -- if I remember before the deadline, that is!

 

 

Searching for the Queen Bee!

 

 

Here's Daniel trying to avoid Daddy's camera -- then Dad gave Dan the chance to capture dad on film!!

 

 

The big boys get quite serious over building potato bugs.

 

 

Here's Micah's!

 

 

And CJ's!

 

 

Wouldn't ya know it, we ran into a group of friends here at the Army obstacle course!  The Fountains, Scotts, and Bridges kiddos were doing the course over and over and over...I'm surprised there was no throwing up!

 

 

CJ liked the feel of being behind the wheel of the Army Hummer!

 

I have come to enjoy the Sacramento County Fair over the California State Fair.  Same fair grounds, but less people -- and everything is more local (obviously), from the animals to the artwork.  I really hope to have the boys enter something in the next county fair.  And Ron is seriously considering renting a booth to advertise Digital Details...what fun!  Maybe Christian and Micah could sell marshmellow guns from dad's booth!

Besides CJ playing Madlibs (reviewing of nouns (plural and singular), adjectives, adverbs, verbs) and Micah doing color-by-sum worksheets, Daniel practicing the S sound, and a few really cool dice games, we spent this week doing what those in institutional school would call Field Trips :)  Besides 2 long trips to the ear doctor for Micah's ear infection, we went to the Discovery Museum, the County Fair, a wedding in Santa Cruz, The Boardwalk, and the Tech Museum.  Whew!  What a week!  I can't wait to spend a few days catching up on our reading and housework, and just "being" with the kids...

 

             

 

                    

                  

 

Painting scenery with cousins:

 

Toby and Micah painted buildings and Spiderman.  Toby likes Spiderman -- it helps that the actor in the recent spiderman movie is named TOBY MacGuire (Toby reminds us of this often).  Micah's scenery is on the left.

 

These 2 cowboys and indians painted a wilderness scene,

 

and had a little shootout in front of it :)

Bible:  We are still reading through I Samuel.  Read this week about King Saul chasing David.  So fun to watch the kids faces as the Bible describes David drooling all over himself and drawing on walls so he would appear crazy.  Or the nasty man who hacked all the priests to death -- yuck.  Or how about Saul going into the cave to relieve himself!  That one was a winner.  The kids acted out on of the scenes where David was on one side of the mountain and Saul on the other -- and the narrow escape God provided.  The Bible is wilder and more interesting than primetime television.  Oh, we were also able to read the particular Psalms David wrote while these events were taking place -- thanks to Greenleaf's Guide we knew where to look!

 

History and Science through Tree-in-the-Trail:  Yum, this book is good.  I thought we would finish it this week, but we haven't.  We continued the story through a few generations of mountain men, learning about buffalo stampedes, helpful oxen, and how yokes were made.  The tree died, and pieces of it were carved by a mountain man into a yoke for oxen.  I am sure we'll finish the book following the yoke to other places in the Santa Fe Trail area.

We just happened to buy a pirate gun at dollar store, and the next day found a gun sketch in Tree-in-the Trail that was almost identical, and explained what each part of the gun was used for.

 

History:  Santa Fe Trail.  Read Lewis and Papa:  Adventure on the Santa Fe Trail by Barbara Joosee.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book for daddy/son reading -- inspiring stuff.

 

Science:  Read new issue of Nature Friend magazine.  Found earthworms and filled a jar of dirt to watch worm trails (Cub Scouts).

 

Art:  The boys made and decorated megaphones to use to yell "GO DADDY" during Dad's playoff volleyball game at work.  Painted skit scenery with cousins -- CJ and Peter made Cowboy and Indian scenery, Micah and Toby made tall buildings and Spiderman.  We reviewed the color wheel and primary/secondary colors with paint.

 

Reading (Micah):  BOB books, Berenstain Bear books, up to Lesson 40 in Alpha Phonics.  He is impressing us all with his improving reading -- and enjoying every minute of it!

 

Literature:  This was the last week of the "school" year for Story Time at Library!  We read the Greek myth about the Minotaur.  We continued to read Sir Gibbie by George MacDonald.  The boys read many books to themselves -- I haven't kept track of them all.

 

Language Arts:  The boys completed this exercise.  You can view their final prose here and here.

 

Math:  Christian was getting frustrated with Miquon (the chapter on functions and number lines), so we decided to go back to Singapore for a bit.  (We had decided a couple years ago to use these 2 curriculums in tandem because they are so different, making sure not to leave any gaps.  Right after our decision, we received an article in the Sonlight Catalog expressing the reasons why one should use both of these curriculums!)

Well, Singapore has been collecting dust for a few months as Miquon has been quite exciting.  Getting Singapore 2B down, we found it is on the easy side for CJ.  He should probably move on to 3rd grade, but we are going through 2B orally quickly first, just to be on the safe side.  This week he went through Chapter 2, Multipication and Division.

 

Real Life Math:  Practice reading electric meters (place value) on wonderville.ca and in our yard.  Lots of mancala.  Measuring homemade cereal, converting everything to cups, pints and quarts.  Read The Fattest, Tallest, Biggest Snowman Ever (Hello MATH READER, Level 3 -- Measurement).

 

Service:  Baked cookies for our favorite librarian, Mr. Tim.  The boys helped bake cookies and made an incredible card (Micah drew our family in the middle and the boys pasted "books" all around our family with our favorite titles written on them) to give Mr. Tim as a thank-you at this week's story time.

 

Special Events: 

Tabernacle Experience:  We went to see the almost life-size replica of the tabernacle at Warehouse Ministries.  We didn't want to take the hour-long audio tour, but instead walked around to each of the stations, reminding the kids of the signifcance of each of the things God asked Moses to include (for the time and to be a shadow of Messiah too).  We came home and reviewed our Moses lapbook!  So very cool to watch something from our Bible lessons come to life for the kiddos.  Very cool.

Eagle Scout Ceremony:  Thursday evening we went to watch Marcel Wyland, one of Christian's Cub Scout Assistant Leaders, become an Eagle Scout.  What a fabulous ceremony!  Christian's den was in charge of the flag ceremony.  Marcel performed a speech on the history and benefits of scouting.  With all the wonderful contacts we have made this year, and watching mature, wise young men like Marcel, we officially are sold on scouting.  Only 2% of scouts make it Eagle Scout.  75% of those who do make Eagle Scout from our scouting district come from TROOP 107!  It is a really neat pack, a Christian charter, with dedicated fathers all over the place.  Did I mention we really like our scout group??  I don't care how expensive gas gets, this is the pack for us.

 

P.E.:  I suppose with 3 boys under 8 it is silly to keep track of "physical education!"  But this week we started something new.  Mom is walking in the early mornings with the dog, and the big boys requested to be awakened to walk with me.  One day each week, Mom has a "walking date" with CJ, and another day one with Micah.  Very fun one-on-one time.

The boys also learned from dad how to play baseball -- how to hold the bat, how to hold the mitt, how to pitch etc. etc.  Mom learned some too, until dad blasted her in the shoulder with a hard baseball and she quit!

 

Just me and Uncle Sam, hangin'.             A sweet oldie, showing off his collection

 

 

Paying close attention!                          Thank God for chain saws, eh?

 

 

A few of the kiddos                            Micah and Stephen -- buddies for years!

 

 

Spinning wool, the old-fashioned way                              This boy loves chicks

 

CJ and DJ show off the rope they made

" To learn to read is to light a fire;

every syllable that is spelled out is a

spark"

~ Victor Hugo

----

Bible -- We just purchased Greenleaf's Guide to the Old Testament, started Monday with Lesson 92, aiming for 1 lesson a day, to finish up the O.T. in a few months.  This will be a transition for us, as we have mostly been reading a bible story book (Egermeir's Bible Story Book -- an excellent bible story book for young'uns).  This week we read about Samuel anointing David for future Kingship, David knocking down Goliath, and David and Solomon's friendship in the midst of crazy King Saul.  Interesting story!!  It is fun to read these stories again, seeing them through the eyes of my boys. 

We are considering buying Bible Study Guide for All Ages, as Ron and I both think it looks pretty neat, but we aren't sure which volume to start with, and wondering if it is worth the money or if we should just stick to the way we have it.  Hmmm.

 

Literature -- We read Rudyard Kipling's How the Camel Got His Hump from Just So Stories, We have continued to read Sir Gibbie by George McDonald.  Ron is still reading Winnie-the-Pooh at bedtime.  Thanks to Micah, the boys have been listening to a delightful reading of Pippi Longstocking on audio tape over and over -- during quiet time, in the car, during chore time, at bed time -- you get the idea.  We started listening to Rascal by Sterling North on audio, but will have to leave the rest of it for next week.  We learned about tall tales, and how many stories of American heroes have morphed into tall tales.  We listened to several tall tales read aloud by Jim Weiss on CD (including one on Johnny Appleseed).

 

The 3 R's -- Christian is working in Miquon this week,  Chapter N -- Number lines and Functions.  Micah is working in his 1st Grade math book, on addition/subtraction forward/backward equations.  Micah is plugging away in Alpha Phonics, and is getting more and more confident at reading "readers" out loud to us.  He read 2 Berenstain Bear books aloud to the family this week (many times!).

 

Economics -- Mom is re-reading Whatever Happened to Penny Candy, a book I highly recommend as a primer on money to anyone over the 5th Grade.  It is super easy to understand and acutally fun to read -- written as if an uncle were answering his middle school nephew's questions about economics.  CJ and Micah read Round and Round the Money Goes:  What Money Is and How We Use It and The Buck Book.  Many conversations this week centered around money and how its made and how it works.  Did you know that it now costs more to make coins than they are actually worth?  Got that tidbit in an email this week!

 

Service -- Yikes!  We didn't really do any service this week, except for in our home with each other (a place where service can constantly be improved), and picking up litter at Farm and Tractor Days.  Oh, the boys did make me breakfast and gave me a nice homemade card for Mother's Day!

 

Family Worship -- We are reading Choice Stories for Children.

 

Science and History -- This week (and next) we are reading Holling C. Holling's Tree in the Trail -- a combo science/history/art/nature study book about a tree that grows up in the middle of the Sante Fe Trail.  Beautiful book!! 

Chronologically, we are supposed to be studying the Mountain Men and the Sante Fe Trail, mid 1800's.  However, this Tree in the Trail fell into my hands (SCOPE book sale last weekend), and it seems like too much the perfect timing to pass it up. 

So far in the book (we are about 1/3 of the way through), we have reviewed a lot and picked up new info along the way.  Coronado's search for gold and discovery of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon in the 1540's are mentioned.  The story centers around a tree that began to grow just one year after Santa Fe was founded (right around the same time as the founding of Jamestown).  By way of story, we learned bits about Kansas, Comanche, and Sioux Indians.  We learned about buffalo hunting.  We saw glimpses of Spanish settlers and padres as they passed by the tree.  We reviewed the Lousiana Purchase.  The book shows a diagram of the inside of the Tree, which provided a FASCINATING time line for us to view historical events by tree rings!  We finished this week reading about the Mountain Men (French Trappers who lived among the trails) and the covered wagons that started coming across the Santa Fe Trail.

I highly recommend any book by Holling C. Holling.  I only wish there were books this beautiful about our local history and flora and fauna.

 

We went to Farm and Tractor Days in Rio Linda with several other homeschool families.  It was pretty cool to see all the farm equipment from the early part of the 20th century.  We also saw old fire engines, made rope with a rope machine, watched women spinning wool, and waited in line twice to take a ride on the trailer being pulled by draft horses (bad luck, each time the line was shut down for another activity right when it was our turn!), made a few little crafts, and enjoyed a picnic lunch (and a game of tag) with our friends.  The older men and women, from some sort of tractor club, were very knowledgeable and eager to share and show-off their antiques!

 

Science/Nature Study -- The boys learned how to start a fire with magnifying glass -- and learned NOT TO EVER DO THIS WITHOUT AN ADULT'S PERMISSION AND PRESENCE!  We talked about how the magnifying glass is a converging lens because it bends the sun's parallel rays so that they all converge on a single point, making that one spot hot enough to burn.

 

Cub Scouts -- Christian finished up his requirements for Recycling and Nutrition.

He will graduate from being a Wolf Scout at the end of this month!  Next year, Micah gets to join Dad and CJ on scout night!  Yippee!