This week Mark and I rowed Climbing Kansas Mountains.  (Five in a Row Volume 3)  Mark thought it was neat because Brooks is from Kansas and the little boy in the book's name is Sam.  Here is what the book is about:

When Sam's father suggests that they "climb a Kansas mountain," skeptical Sam says, "Sure . . . and watch pigs fly," but he changes his mind after his father drives him to the grain elevators where they climb "as high as eight houses stacked like blocks." Sam thinks the land looks like their tablecloth, "but with ribbons of road instead of red," and his house seems to be "hiding under trees like a sneaky cat." With homespun imagery and a laconic style, Shannon's ( Dancing the Breeze ) text emphasizes Sam's pleasure in "sharing time" alone with his father: "just me--no brothers--in the big front seat." Allen's ( In Coal Country ; Going West ) pastel illustrations are among his best and are particularly well suited to the text: the green patchwork countryside fairly shimmers in the hazy sunlight, while the heat at the dusty, small-town intersection is nearly palpable.

Mark placed the story disk on Kansas.

We also placed a story disk on our time line at 1993 because the book was written in 1993.  We learned about the State of Kansas and the state flower, animal, insect and tree.  We had lots of fun discussing metaphors and tried using metaphors throughout the week.  We talked about how fun and special times are with just he and Daddy and added a picture to his book of Mark and Brooks at a hockey game together.  It was also very sweet for me to hear Mark say "but family times are great too" 

Of course Mark worked in his phonics and math book this week as well.  One day he was waiting on me to come do his phonics work with him and I arrived to see he had done some pages by himself.  I was even more pleased to see what a nice job he had done.  He did great spelling all of the words.  He has his "s" backwards in "sip" and in "lips". 

Last week I rowed Very Last First Time with Mark.  We had so much fun.   When I rowed this with the older three children, they had never been to the beach so it was hard for them to grasp the tide being in and out.  Almost every time I read the book this week,  all of the children gathered 'round.  There is just something about these Five in a Row books!!!!!!  Mark really enjoyed it.  It was fun to see his mind really thinking through it all.  We talked about how neat it would be to walk around on the sea bed but none of us would really want to do so as it seems like it woul be scary.

I followed almost all of Jane's recommendations as we rowed this book and we really had a great time.  We've had a lot of fun with the title and Mark is now often saying "this is my very flast first time to ....." 

As usual, I'm late in reporting our rowing adventures.  We recently rowed The Bee Tree. 

When we first began this book, Mark didn't care for it.  He does NOT like bees.  He was stung by a yellow jacket at the end of last summer and that has stuck with him.  After reading the book the second day, he was enjoying it much more.  We didn't do a lot of the activities from the FIAR manual on this one.  We will do more of those the next time we row this book. 

He tried hard to convince me to allow him to put honey on a book but I haven't done that.  We did have fun acting out the book and chasing our own "bee". 

It has been wayyyyy too long since I blogged about our adventures with Five in a Row. 

This week we read The Story of Ferdinand.   

We have had a great week rowing with Ferdinand.  We have "studied" about flowers and bees and cork trees and Spain.  Mark has talked about how unkind it is to want bulls to fight and stick them with the long sticks to make them mad.  We have acted out the story many, many times and talked about what we would do if we sat on a bumble bee.   We didn't do many of the activities from the FIAR manual on this one.  Much of it was above Mark or didn't hold his interest.  I'm sure the next time through we will do more from the manual.  This time we really enjoyed doing our own thing.  We found Spain on the map and have had Spanish dances (though none of us really knows anything about them)  LOL 

It has been a great week with Ferdinand.  

We did this Five in a Row title last week and the first part of this week with Mark.  He really enjoyed the book.  We didn't do a lot of the activites from the FIAR TM because many of them were above him.  Mark calls the book "Yangtze River book".  He asked me to read it many times each day.  I was able to get away with reading it just once a day; however, he did talk his siblings into reading it for him at other times during the day. 

I copied the cover of the book (reduced in size) and we put it on our time line at 1933, when it was written.  He really liked this.  Usually it's just the older three that put stuff on the time line.  We also put one of the copies on the map at China.  He would ask me "Where Yangtze River be?"  By the middle of the week, he could tell me that it is in China. 

He also really liked how the master would call the ducks "La-la-la-la-lei!".  He asked me if one day I could call him that way.  We did.  It was fun.

Mark also learned to site read 6 words last week. 

The older three still enjoy FIAR as much as Mark.  They have chores and then free time while I do FIAR with Mark.  Everyday they did their chores quickly so they could join us for FIAR. 

We have so enjoyed this book this week.  It is by Jacqueline Martin and illustrated by Brad Sneed. 

This book is another Tall Tale, which has been a fun follow-up book to The Gullywasher. 

We have talked about the terms "bend and meander".  We talked about how a bend is created in a river. 

We have talked a lot about Simon Henry.  How he isn't active in anything in the community.  He is off to himself and doesn't participate in the community potlucks.  At the beginning of the book it says, "He didn't smile one day out of seven".  I asked the children if they thought Simon Henry knew Jesus.  They all said "no" but then we talked about WHY they thought that.  After discussing a few different things (all of which were good and valid points) we decided that because he is lacking joy and when Jesus is Lord of your life you have joy.  We talked about how Potato Kelly was nice to him in a "different" way.  She approached him in a different way than she probably would have someone else but it did bring him around to being involved with the community and he did SMILE. 

Simon Henry was rather prideful in saying that he could catch anything.  Sam noted that pride is a dangerous thing (can you tell what he has dealt with)  :-)

The illustrations in this book are GREAT.  I think I say that about every FIAR book.  There are some good watercolor illustrations of the river and of the catfish, Oscar.  We talked about the cross section image and this afternoon the children are going to illustrate either a cross section image or a water scene with the scenery being reflected in the water. 

We also discussed Sneed's unusual drawing of items.  He does more of a caricature.  In a couple of pictures, Oscar, the fish, is bigger than Simon Henry.

The conclusion of the story is wonderful.  Potato Kelly and Simon Henry both kept their words (vows) to one another.  Potato Kelly promised throughout that if Simon Henry caught Oscar she would buy him new boots and a new hat.  Simon Henry promised that if he didn't catch Oscar, he would join the potluck and sing with a bullfrog and dance with his fishing pole.  Then he also added that he would eat his socks.  In the end because they kind of caught Oscar and kind of didn't, Potato Kelly bought Simon Henry the new hat, new boots and new socks.  Simon Henry came to the potluck (smiling), sang with a bullfrog, danced with his fishing pole and ate soup with his socks in it. 

Tomorrow we will have a Higgins Bend Song and Dance dinner.  This has been a great book that we have all greatly enjoyed. 

Today is .  We are putting this title on hold to continue it next week.  We had errands to run this morning and while we got our other school stuff done, we won't be getting to this today.  On  I'm having lunch w/ two dear, dear, dear friends .  I can't wait to spend some time with them.   

Yesterday, , everything got off track.  We didn't get around to FIAR.

So we will pick The Gullywasher back up next week and then we'll be going on vacation!!! Whooo HOOOOOOO   

Oh what a fun book this is.  The children laughed and lauged while I read. 

Before I read the story we talked about Tall Tales.  They all immediately thought of their Grandpa.   

I think their favorite part of the book (today) was of the hummingbird and the hair.  They all laughed so hard. 

After reading the story, I asked the children where they thought this story took place.  I was very pleased that they remembered the Palo Verde tree from our rowing of Roxaboxen.  So their first guess was AZ.  I encouraged them that was an excellent guess.  Then they talked more and decided that it was probably Mexico.  They decided this because of all the Spanish.  We placed our story disk in Mexico. 

Today, as we read, I had the children listen for the vocab. words from yesterday.  We also discussed the importance of detail in the illustrations.  We had lots of fun with this one.  Ted Rand is the illustrator of this book and he is an excellent one!

We weighed each child and then checked on-line to see how much it would cost to mail them to their Nana and Papa's home.  We made a paper for each one titled "Mailing (child's name)" and then put our city to their Nana and Papa's city along w/ weight and cost.  Then they each illustrated them being mailed.  It was fun to see how they got there.  Rebekah and Bethany Grace both chose a train.  Sam chose an 18 wheeler. 

We decided today would be a good day to make our Desert Glass Candy from Roxaboxen.  We talked about May visiting her Grandma and how Grandma's take the time to do fun things like that.  The children said that Grandma Mary probably even made some snacks for May to eat when she had to be mailed back home.  I am THRILLED to report that our candy turned out wonderfully this time!!!  Amazing what a difference a candy thermometer makes!!!  The children were so excited it turned out this time and it was another reminder of how properly preparing makes a lot of difference.  Tonight we are having Chicken Pot Pie and, of course, potatoes.  I don't think you can read a story based in Idaho and not serve potatoes. 

Here the children are w/ the candy before we broke it.

Here is the candy after we broke it (this part was a lot of fun)

And here are the children with the candy before they eat it. 

Sam said it tasted like it had too much sugar.

Bethany said it was just right.

Rebekah said she couldn't really taste the orange flavoring but it was okay.

Today we made our vocab. papers for our folders.   We also discussed fictionalizing a true incident.  The author took the basic facts and added in extras to make up the whole story.  The children just loved knowing that parts of this story were true and May was really mailed to her Grandma Mary's home (so much for me not saying what the solution was on Day 1, huh?)  We talked about taking some true facts and adding in extra details to make up our own stories.  We had fun with it. 

As if you can't tell, I LOVE FIAR.  This stuff is so much fun. 

Today the children made stamps.  They traced the outer edge of the stamp on the cover of Mailing May and they created their own stamp.

Bethany's stamp was of our family on the beach (can you tell she's excited about our upcoming vacation? :-)  )

Rebekah's stamp was of a post office with "mailing may" written on it along with Five in a Row.  She said everyone should know about Five in a Row. 

Sam's stamp was of the children playing in the rain.  Playing in the rain is one of his favorite things.

We discussed Alliteration as the title of the book is an alliteration.  Each child thought of a title of a book they might write including an alliteration in the title.

Rebekah's title:  "Me and My Dearest Ducks" -- she has a pet duck

Sam's title:  "Dog Days Gone Wild".   His original title was "Dreary Dog Days" -- can you tell this child is melancholy? 

Bethany's title:  "Bethany the Beautiful Ballerina" 

Then we discussed hyperboles since May used one on the very first page of the story.  The children had great fun coming up with some of their own. 

Rebekah's:  "I hung up a million pieces of clothes on the clothesline"

Bethany's:  "There were a million toys to pick up in the living room"

Sam's:  "I just can't think of one".... need I mention the melancholy thing again

We added all of these things to our folders for this title. 

Another day of very still children as I read Mailing May again today.  Today as we read we talked about many different things.

We discussed the difference in the department store from the book to today's department store.

We also talked about how May didn't know SHE would be the one leaving in the morning.  Everything that was going on would have lead her to believe that Pa would be leaving for a trip.  May did not complain when sent to bed early nor did she complain about rising early.  She did not ask question after question after question.  She accepted what her Ma and Pa told her and followed the instructions she was given. 

We looked at some old stamps and talked about stamp collections.  We also compared the pictures of the post office from then to our post office today.  The children noted the old stove, the wanted posters, the horse and buggy, train and the very large scale.  They commented that today the wanted pictures are in a little book on a desk and mail is delivered in many more ways now than then.  They also noted how much smaller the scale in our post office is.  They did wonder if the post office uses canvas bags so we have written that down to ask them when we go in later this week. 

We talked briefly about the different classes of mail, but the children weren't at all interested in that topic. 

Oh what a great little book this is.  I really liked it and the children all sat quiet and motionless (unless moving to see the pictures) as I read this title today.  Mailing May takes place in Idaho.  So we found Idaho on our map and placed our story token there.  We also found the capital of Idaho. 

We made our folders for this book and put a couple of things in it.  We talked about Idaho being the 43rd state to join the Union of USA in 1890.  We talked about Lewis and Clark since they passed through Idaho.  Of course, we talked about potatoes. 

I asked the children "what did May do when her Ma and Pa told her they couldn't afford to send her on the trip to see her Grandma?".  They each noted that she had self-control and tried to get a job to pay for her trip.  The solution that Pa came up with is a grand one and one the children really enjoyed.  (I won't put it here in case your family wants to read the book but the title is a good give away) 

The children all said they couldn’t wait to go to the post office this week and ask them if they know about this story. 

We briefly talked about Daniel Boone because May mentioned feeling as adventuresome as Daniel Boone. 

Sam wanted to know why they didn't just walk to Grandma Mary's home.  In the back of the book it mentioned the steep mountains and that the only way to get to some places was via train. 

We are all looking forward to rowing this book again tomorrow

Today after we read The Raft we found WI on the US map and placed our token there.  We talked about the lakes.  We colored the State Flag of WI, made pages for our folder of their state bird, Robin.  We also read about the Badger since they are called the Badger state.  We talked about their dairy production.

We also spent quite a bit of time talking about relationships.  This book really draws out this topic of conversation.  We are all enjoying it very much. 

We did not get any FIAR done yesterday because we met friends at the State Fair.  We had a great time.   to those of our friends we joined yesterday that are reading here. 

Today we did read The Raft.  We enjoyed it and it provoked much conversation.  In fact, it provoked so much conversation that I'm not sure how we will ever get done in one week. 

The children all noticed the sour look on Nicky's face on the first page.  This brought up great conversation.  The children all talked about how Nicky should have received the instruction his dad had given him without sulking about it.  They also noted that he did have self control in not crying as it said "I felt tears starting again, but I blink hard and looked out the window". 

They also wondered where the mother was, which was a great lesson in the wonder of writing that an author can leave.  The author doesn't tell us where mother is so the children all decided that she was either dead or away taking care of sick family and couldn't be with her son. 

There were many character issues to discuss in this book.  Nicky told his grandmother that he didn't like what she was serving for dinner.  The children all immediately knew that he was not honoring his grandmother and her hard work for preparing this meal for him. 

We discussed many things in this book.  I really enjoyed hearing the children 'pick apart' the character issues of this book but I more greatly enjoyed them sharing the same struggles they have had (do have) and how they are working on it or areas they have conquered (with the help of Jesus).  They all talked about how God blessed Nicky's time at his grandma's home even though Nicky had such a bad attitude about it.  We talked about showing love and honor at all times, even when we don't *feel* like it. 

The illustrations in this book are great. 

Another thing the children noted was that the Grandma just kept on showing love to Nicky even though he wasn't showing the same love to her.  One of the children said "that's just like a Grandma" 

We did get our folders made but that is about it.  We didn't get any of the other work done I had planned for today (with FIAR) but I think what we did accomplish was far better.  I'm always so thankful for little windows into the hearts of our children! 

Today we took a walk down to our local grocery store to buy the ingredients for our Desert Glass Candy recipe.  The children were excited about making and tasting this treat.  We made the candy but it didn’t turn out quite right.  We really needed a candy thermometer and I didn’t realize that I needed one (bad prep. on my part).  I tried to guess when it might be at 310 degrees.  Not a good idea.  So instead of glass candy we have more of a chewy candy.  It really doesn’t taste very good but it does look pretty.  I told the children we would make it again but AFTER I buy us a candy thermometer. 

I used my mistake as a learning opportunity for the children.  We always need to prepare and prepare well.  Because I didn't prepare well none of us could enjoy the treat.  Had I spent better time in preparing, we would have all enjoyed a tastey treat.  We talked about how my bad prep and poor choice in not preparing well affected everyone -- not just me.  Not only did it end up being time wasted but I wasted money too.  I sought the forgiveness of the children for not having prepared well and told them I will work more diligently at preparing better in the future. 

We read The Year of the Ranch today in addition to reading Roxaboxen again.  The children drew pictures of a Roxaboxen town and our folder/books are complete (for now).  We also talked about the colors of the southwest and really looked at the art work in the book. 

We have had a great time with Roxaboxen and we look forward to beginning The Raft on Monday.

Oh WOW there is soooooo much to do with this title (as with all FIAR books) that there is simply no way we can accomplish it all in one week.  I am taking the suggestion of the FIAR creator and just spending this one week on it though and we will return to it another time during the year. 

Today we read some other titles to go along with Roxaboxen.  We read Saguaro Cactus, Arizona Facts and Symbols and Webs of Life Saguaro Cactus.  We have even more books to read tomorrow and tomorrow we will also prepare some food from the FIAR cookbook section.  We also did vocabulary words today and the children illustrated each word. 

  Prior to reading the book today, I had the children illustrate our buried treasure activity from yesterday.  I then had each child tell me what lesson they learned from the activity. 

Rebekah said:  My favorite lesson was that Jesus loves us and we don't need to focus on money, money, money.  We need to focus on the love of Jesus.  That is where our treasure should be. 

Sam said:  I like that the lesson was that Jesus loves you.  That is the best treasure of all.

Bethany Grace said:  My favorite lesson was if you tell someone, "I found acorns" that doesn't help them.  If you tell someone, "I found quarters" that doesn't help them very much.  But if you tell someone about the love of Jesus, that would help them a lot. 

Before reading the story today, I told the children to listen carefully and count how many times they heard the word "I" in the story.  We read the story and then we talked about how we didn't hear the word "I" any in this story.  We talked about it being written in third person.  Each child then wrote a story in third person.  We put these along w/ their illustrations in their folders. 

For fellow rowers, you'll appreciate that Sam's main character in his story was Papa Piccolo. 

Today is .   Another great day with Roxaboxen today.  Today we had a special visitor to our town of Roxaboxen.    We headed outside to our tree house for our 2nd reading of this book.  Jesse Bear joined us.  Prior to our reading time, I went outside and buried three "treasures".  The children found all three treasures and then we took time to discuss them.

1.  acorns -- could be used for our town money.  This "money" is only found during one time of year though so that can makes times in this town hard if you don't manage wisely.  

2.  a container with quarters -- they decided they could save it, buy something or share it. 

3.  a note that says "Jesus Loves You". 

We then talked about if and how these "treasures" would help other people.  We also focused on Matthew 6:19 - 20

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Then we spent the majority of our time on Matthew 6:21

²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We compared our three "buried treasures" to this verse and discussed what the best treasure of all is and what seemingly appeared to be a worthless piece of paper ended up really being our best buried treasure for it can lead to ever lasting life. 

A truly great time in our town again today. 

The children are all outside enjoying their town right now and they decided they could name their town Rocksaboxen since they are using a lot of rocks. 

And this  is for my husband in case you make it over here to read today. 

Just as I knew it would be, Day 1 of rowing Roxaboxen was GREAT.  We had a grand time.  We learned where AZ is on the map and placed our story disc there.  We learned the four corner states.  We learned the State Bird, Flower and Flag for AZ.   We also made our folder for this book. 

The most fun was pretending in our own little Roxaboxen town.  The children love playing doll house and they had it all set up so we played our town was Roxaboxen -- in our case because everyone's last name was Roxaboxen.    In our town, we had an emergency.  Baby Roxaboxen was missing.  The Mayor had an immediate emergency on his hands.  He had to assign a search committee etc..  We had some great lessons along the way.  The mother that had lost Baby Roxaboxen had yet another good lesson in putting things where they belong.    She spent some time thinking about all the trouble she had caused all the citizens of the town all because she forgot where she put her baby. 

Our Mayor, Sam, didn't want to work at first.  He wanted to do all the telling but no working himself. 

The children came up with a list of rules for our town and talked about what makes a good mayor.  Our rules were:

no fighting

do not drive too fast

obey commandments

do not hit

do not say "my house is the best" and we talked about that is called pride.  Then Rebekah said "¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction,  And a haughty spirit before a fall.  " Proverbs 16:18

Of course, I, as the mother, was very pleased w/ this bible verse being brought about during our town meeting.   

They also decided that a mayor should:

be a good leader

hard worker

treat others the way he would want to be treated

lead by example.

We truly had a great time with this.