Live and Learn

April 10- 14 Although it we're already pretty relaxed with our learning, it was nice to have a week off. We slept in (well, as much as little one would let us), played outside on the swingset in the treehouse, worked in the yard, visited the library and watched some episodes of Reading Rainbow (about music) we'd put on the DVR several weeks ago. We had a whirlwind day on Tuesday. First we made another trip to MOSH. We've visited several times (have a yearly pass) but hadn't managed to see the planetarium show. It wasn't all that great but we still learned a few new things. The emphasis on evolution was a bit much at times but even that spurred some good conversation with oldest afterwards. I hear the laser music shows are pretty good so maybe we'll give one of those a try. Next we went to the Cummer Museum. On Tuesdays admission is free after 4 p.m. Dh met us there and took the kids to the children's area.  My hands-on, kinesthetic learners love that children's area. With the kids happy and occupied, I used the opportunity to wander the halls at the opposite end......the "adult area"! ;-)  Since it was the week before Easter, I decided to visit the european art collection which features many pieces of religious art. I hadn't seen many of those paintings since my college years and it was quite a contemplative and restorative time. I rejoined dh and kids and we all took a walk through the gardens. The garden was in full spring glory - little one about had "pretty flower" overload. It was all we could do to keep her from picking one of everything in sight. Here's a picture out front by one of the impressionist sculptures left from the Sewell exhibit. After we left the museum, we took the chance, while near downtown, to visit our new Main Library. We didn't have much time so we were only able to visit the children's area. We were very impressed. It is set up in an "old Florida" theme - lots of lovely greens and blues everywhere. The furniture is aquatic themed - manatee and alligator couches. They have spacious arts and crafts rooms and a children's theater. The kids were overwhelmed with all the books and comfy reading areas and could've stayed for hours. I promised we'd come back. I really hope to get to some of the programs there this summer. This picture isn't very clear (I think I had my flash off) but here's middle on one of the chairs.

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April 3-6 We worked in quite a bit of time outside this week. The weather was perfect - clear skies, bright sun, slight breeze and warm. We're enjoying it while we can - that warm will change to HOT, sweating, draining, miserable HOT, within a few short weeks. Anyways, we've had the greatest time with the bubble machine ds got for his b'day. Yes, I said bubble machine. Here it is: (pic from amazon.com) I would've never bought this myself - we can blow our own bubbles (for $30+ less) thankyouverymuch - but the grands,  after getting a suggestion of "bubble stuff" as a gift idea, bought bubble machines. :) Anywho.......learning was not lost in this endeavor. The machine put out a fair amount of bubbles when assembled according to directions. However, dc soon figured out the inner workings and that if they tilted one end of the machine, the liquid would run *toward* the draw hose and.....voila!......more bubbles - lots more bubbles. They (okay, we) had so much fun chasing those bubbles everywhere and popping them. (Sorry for the big pics - I reduced all of them but the first two aren't changing.) Middle got some Math Start readers (by Stuart J. Murphy) for his birthday and we enjoyed re-reading some of them. It's About Time Henry the Fourth Jack the Builder (a new one) Double the Ducks We also read: To the Tub Just Another Morning Farm Flu Pickles to Pittsburgh Holly Bloom's Garden And several great poems in various books. We've really enjoyed poetry reading this year. For Science we read: You Can't Take a Body to a Repair Shop (cute book!) Middle is loving the readers from the library and is progressing rapidly! We read one a day this week (I alternate pages with him). Oldest read "Journey to Nowhere" and "Boston Jane" for assigned reading and "Little House on the Prairie" for free reading (listened to it on CD). Math, Grammar and Bible reading (Judges) daily as normal.

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Nothing like a day at the beach, right? Yes, I know, I said spring break wasn't until next week but when Dad was able to take a few days off this week (and not next), we decided to start a little early. Everyone had a wonderful time as evidenced by the cries when it was time to leave (and the requests that we come back next week during "real" spring break!). The beach was not very crowded to begin with and by the time we got there, most of the early morning arrivers were packing up. Dc spent their day digging and sand castle building, running in and out of the waves and playing in the hole Dad dug for them. Middle chased the birds quite a bit and oldest spent a good part of the afternoon riding the waves on his boogie board. And Mom? Well, she took in as much of smell of sea air, feel of the warm sun on her face and the sound of the surf as she could get and *relaxed!* Nothing relaxes and refreshes my spirit like a trip to the beach. I also found some time to take some pictures (didn't want to miss documenting dd's first trip to the beach), read and listened to some music on my iPod. So after a day full of play, relaxation and time together, we packed up and headed home. We left with sand in our toes, shells in our bag and promises to be back soon (during "real" spring break!).

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Middle turns 6! He's the one, well, in the middle of course (camouflage shirt)! :) Those are friends to the left, oldest behind him and little one to his right, cousins to the far right (boy and girl) and PopPop (my dad) helping to get everyone in the picture. He started off the day with a t-ball game. He hasn't lost a bit of enthusiasm and can't wait for each game....and practice! He has a great coach and has learned so much about the game. He was the captain today and got several hits - we just gotta work on the catching part. ;-) On first base waiting to run. and making it around to home to score a run! We had his party later in the day - a baseball themed party with family, friends, food and fun. Happy 6th birthday, middle!

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Along with lots of time outside (see entry below)......... Middle Storytime books: Rub a Dub Sub A Chair for My Mother A Dozen Ducklings Lost and Found Little Lessons from Mom Little Lessons from Dad Petropolis To the Beach Poetry, Bible story reading and History and Science reading (started "Children Just Like Me"). And of course, piano practice each day. Oldest Assigned reading - 2nd half of The Children's Shakespeare (Cymbeline, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Twelfth Night and As You Like It). Free reading - Journey to Nowhere. Still reading through Judges in the Bible.

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We've got it! I originally scheduled our spring break for April 10-15 (to coincide with the local school schedule) but between starting the week after coming back from a trip out of town and the beautiful weather we're having, I've been on the verge of switching weeks since Monday (and yes, the thought of taking two weeks has also crossed my mind as well!). When I wrote up this week's schedule a week or so ago, I didn't really get a chance to fully plan it out. How fortunate for us! Instead of taking the week off, we've taken full advantage of that light schedule. We've worked on the schedule at our leisure - doing a little bit at a time, whatever we felt like with lots of time for creative play and whatever else came along the way. All week we've been pulled outside. We've planted some new plants and transplanted others, both of which need lots of watering and I've noticed how everyone has volunteered to help water and how we take our time doing so and linger afterwards. By today, there was just no more resisting - for any of us. Oldest finished his work and headed out the door to practice some soccer. Middle saw him and ran out the door right behind him. And you guessed it, little one saw her brothers getting out and she ran for it too. Within minutes they called to me to join them and it didn't take much to convince me to drop the cleaning I was getting ready to do and head outside instead. We stayed outside until evening and even though we played, rode bikes and scooters, we all learned a little bit too. Middle noticed the irises had bloomed just since earlier in the morning and then went about checking all the plants we watered. He'd already been watching new bud growth on a crepe myrtle we transplanted near the front door and after the irises, he's totally into plants and their growth cycle. Here's a few pics of the irises and roses we've been watering and watching. Later, middle and little one got out the sidewalk chalk and wrote words and drew all over the driveway. And they also spent some time blowing bubbles - seeing who could blow the biggest, the most and which wand made the best bubbles. We also began another adventure when a dog, obviously a chow and obviously lost, kept running through our yard. I could see he had tags but couldn't quite convince him to come to me. Soon a pickup truck came by and slowed as the dog ran through our front yard. The truck pulled off to the side of the road and a man got out. Before I could speak, he made a motion to me that looked like he was telling me "just a minute," "stay back" and something else I couldn't figure out. Not wanting to cause trouble and thinking it strange that he didn't say anything, I walked away. Much to our amazement the truck pulled into our driveway and out came the man with some type of keyboard in his hand. He motioned that he couldn't speak and immediately began to type. As he finished each word he'd hit a button and the keyboard would speak the word. He told us the dog's name (Teddy Bear) and that his fence was in disrepair and that Teddy Bear was a digger. It was about this time that I looked and saw my dc w/ eyes as big as quarters but yet inching closer. One time he misspelled a word and upon seeing him irritated, I said the word. He seemed pleased that I tried to help and that was all it took for our "conversation" to take off. After exchanging a few more pieces of information he shook his head and waved goodbye to each one of dc. As he backed out of the driveway, oldest asked me why the gentleman couldn't speak and we had a wonderful conversation about drawing conclusions too quickly (me assuming the man was unfriendly), the difficulties many people face doing things we take for granted and how good it felt to reach out and make a new friend.  Not that I hope Teddy Bear escapes again but I sure hope we get another chance to "talk" with our neighbor. All in all, a good day I'd say. :-) And more proof that all learning does not, and should not, take place in a classroom - or any home version of it either. :-) And yes, we'll be back outside tomorrow!

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March 20-24 Books read during storytime: Amos Camps Out Hugs & Kisses Pizza and Other Stinky Poems No Dogs Allowed 31 Uses for a Mom (and yes I did do all of them!) Uncle Lester's Hat Toes Have Wiggles Time to Say Please Lunchtime for a Purple Snake Read some more poetry,  story out of Egermeier's Bible story book, a page out of the Children's Encyclopedia and pages out of "Living Long Ago" on Tuesday and Thursday. For Science we read "You Can't See Your Bones With Binoculars." Middle read from a reader each day (from the library) and a piano lesson (from Pianimals).  A page of Handwriting Without Tears and Letter Skills K each day and a Math workbook page 3x a week (ds' choice). Oldest is reading in Judges in the Bible. A lesson a day in Math, Daily Grams and Easy Grammar. Assigned Reading was from The Children's Shakespeare by E. Nesbit (The Winter's Tale, Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear). We finished book A4 in Mindbenders today. More poems for Classic Poetry, History on Tues.& Thurs. (SOTW chapter 26 on Tuesday) and Science reading on Wednesday.

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March 13-17 This will go down as the week we entered into the delightful, colorful, creative world of David Wiesner's books. I found out about him from a recommended reading list and came home from the library with Tuesday, Free Fall,  Hurricane and The Three Pigs. These are storybooks but have very few words - the story is told through the illustrations and what colorful, detailed and demonstrative illustrations they are. I knew oldest would find them interesting, knowing his appreciation for drawing and illustrations but I wasn't so sure about middle. Turns out my fears were totally unwarranted -my comic loving, detailed-oriented boys loved these books. They had no trouble following the story and had a great time pointing out the visual cues (to Mom who didn't notice nearly as much). Although the illustrations in Free Fall and Hurricane were beautiful and The Three Pigs funny in its own right (definitely not your same old story told over again!), it was Tuesday that captured our attention and had us laughing the most. The story is about what happened on Tuesday as the sun went down - in this case, frogs rising on their lily pads and soaring into a nearby town. They fly through a clothesline laden with clothes, into the living room of a sleeping grandma to watch tv and match wits with an outside dog.  The magic ends as the sun begins to rise and frogs begin to descend quite rapidly from the sky.  You really have to see the illustrations to experience the humor in the story - my description doesn't do it justice. Tuesday and The Three Pigs won the Caldecott Medal and Sector 7 and Free Fall were named Caldecott Honor Books. Here's a link to a website: David Wiesner, The Art of Visual Storytelling. The site has biographical info on the author, info on each of his books as well as insights into the creative process of some of the books. Give them a try! We also read some other great books: Leonardo, the Terrible Monster, Wild About Books, Good Night, Gorilla, Little Pea, 33 Uses for a Dad, Amos, Ahoy, 31 Uses for a Mom and Meet Wild Boars. Since middle has gone through all the readers at the house, it was high time to progress to the "reader" section of the library. I brought home an assortment of readers and we read through one each day. His reading ability has really taken a jump over the past few weeks - he tries to read everything everywhere. I am thrilled with his enthusiasm and lack of intimidation. He's at what I call an "in-between point" where he's beyond phonics instruction but hasn't learned quite enough to pick up a storybook and go with it. I'm going to try a few more weeks in progressing levels of readers to get him over the hump or at least close to it. I think that, plus his own determination and drive will get him closer to where I know he wants to be. I've thoroughly enjoyed the process of teaching him how to read. It has been a blessing. It was so easy - a testimony to waiting for readiness, learning from past mistakes with oldest and *flexibility*! Oldest continues to progress through his schedule - some days are better than others. Some days a spark is there and I feel confident about the path we've chosen while other days there's just routine and schedule and I wonder if there's a better way (and more importantly, *what* could it be and do I have the energy left to find it?) and if there'll be a cost for taking a more relaxed path.  Obviously only time will tell but so far the peace we've experienced this year in comparison to previous years and the trust I feel I've won from oldest are enough to calm those doubts and fears and give me the confidence to keep going.

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We had a lovely impromptu breakfast tea this morning (Irish breakfast tea and banana bread). Amongst other poems and a chapter out of Carry On, Mr Bowditch, I  read this poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Oldest immediately picked up on the contrast and comparison (said it sounded like something out of Proverbs) and in his usual right-brained visual way, gained meaning from the poem by *seeing* it in his mind. I'm growing to love poetry. Can't say that I "get it" yet but my appreciation for it sure expanding by leaps and bounds. Such a creative way to express emotion and feeling. I love how so much can be said so simply and w/ so few words and how it requires thought to understand it. Poetry seems to have a way to get down deep into feelings - brings them out and puts words to them. Amongst other things, poetry lends itself to be identified with, bringing comfort and affirmation in the process. Such was the case with this poem. It so aptly described how I've felt lately. Solitude Laugh, and the world laughs with you, Weep, and you weep alone; For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own. Sing, and the hills will answer, Sigh, it is lost on the air; The echoes bound to a joyful sound, But shrink from voicing care. Rejoice, and men will seek you, Grieve, and they turn and go; They want full measure of all your pleasure, But they do not need your woe. Be glad, and your friends are many, Be sad, and you lose them all; There are none to decline your nectared wine, But alone you must drink life's gall. Feast, and your halls are crowded, Fast, and the world goes by. Succeed and give, and it helps you live, But no man can help you die; For there is room in the halls of pleasure For a long and lordly train, But one by one we must all file on Through the narrow aisles of pain. by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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March 6-10 Highlights Middle: Read Alouds - The Noisy Way to Bed, Harry & the Dinosaurs Say Raah, Little Polar Bear and the Husky Pup, It Was You, Blue Kangaroo, What Shall We Do, Blue Kangaroo?, I Love Your, Blue Kangaroo. Science - I Fall Down (gravity) Oldest: Continue in Mr. Revere & I and Carry On, Mr. Bowditch.

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February 27-March 3 Highlights Oldest: Assigned reading - Mr. Revere and I Read Aloud - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch Plodding on through Math and Grammar lessons (Easy Grammar and Daily Grams) History - Chapter 23 of Story of the World 3 and If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution. Logic - 3x a week. We work on this together most of the time. We're getting quite good at it. :) Poetry - continued reading in Classic Poetry. Music - listened to this week's Classics for Kids and also a cassette of Lives of the Musicians (Vivaldi & Bach). Middle: Poetry - read from A Child's Garden of Verse, Nibble Nibble and Poems to Read to the Very Young. Math - Number Skills K 3x a week. Work with money and practice telling time on alternate days. Read a book, Bunny Day on "time" day. Handwriting - a page a day in Handwriting Without Tears. I can't say enough good things about this program. So gentle and easy. History - Living Long Ago and a 2 pages in Usborne's Children's Encyclopedia each day. Nature/Science - we read Big Tracks, Little Tracks and Floating in Space. Read Aloud - Olivia Saves the circus, A Kitten Called Moonlight, Dumpy LaRue, Clever Beatrice, Book!Book!Book!, Cook A Doodle Doo, Fannie in the Kitchen and Air is All Around You. Also a chapter in Stanley, Flat Again each day. Piano - practice each day. Reading - daily - reader, page in Letter Skills K, word family card, sight word cards, page in Beginning sounds workbook.

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February 20-24, 2006 Nature walk and drawing at the park. Wednesday of this week we packed up our art supplies and headed out to the park to take a nature walk and pick something to draw. It was a beautiful day - sunny with a slight breeze. We picked a few spots along the path to draw and also stopped at the end of the trail near the river. Here's middle drawing and little one and everyone near the river I just can't say how much I love this park. It was so refreshing to get out of the house and walk amongst the trees, hear the birds sing and look at the flowers and the river. I'm so glad to finally take an opportunity to take the classroom outside - hope to do this more and more as lovely spring weather descends upon us. Oldest finished Along Came a Dog by Meindert DeJong for assigned reading and If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution. We read soe more poetry from Classic Poetry together. We worked on Math together almost every day this week. It does seems to be helping some - even if for nothing else but to make math go quicker. Middle and I read some more great picture books together. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Officer Buckle and Gloria Toby, Who Are You? Toby, What Are You? Doctor DeSoto Score One for the Sloths The Shrinking Mouse Horace and Morris but Mostly Delores Hooway for Wodney Wat Princess Penelope's Parrot Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog For Science we read Pop! A book about Bubbles and Energy Makes Things Happen and we continued in Living Long Ago for History. For reading, middle read a little each day out of some Abeka readers along with sight word cards, word family cards and a page out of Letter Skills K. Middle is progressing right along with his reading. I am so proud of him. It has been so nice to go along at our own pace, follow middle's readiness cues and to use a mix of materials instead of one curriculum. For Math we read some living math books and did a few pages out of Number Skills K. We continue in Egermeier's Bible Story book and daily piano lesson/practice.

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February 13-17 Highlights from week 19. We read some great picture books this week. We've been through a dry spell with story books the past few weeks so I decided to check out a few websites with top 100 type lists to get some ideas. Here's a list of what we read: Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing Horace and Morris Join the Chorus Wiggle The Boy Who Loved Bananas Sit, Truman Diary of a Spider Flat Stanley Diary of a Worm Olivia Plaidypus Lost Kitten's First Full Moon Bath Time Olivia and the Missing Toy Everyone (especially little one) loved the Olivia books. I'd seen them before but never got around the checking them out. Diary of a Spider and Diary of a Worm are both by Doreen Cronin who wrote a few other books we love including, Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type. Both boys loved the humor of Horace and Morris Join the Chorus. I'm looking for some more of those. I'd been looking for a series of Science books similar to the Math Start books by Stuart J. Murphy. I finally resorted to plunking down in front of the Science section at the library and going through book by book. My efforts paid off as I found the Science Play Series by Vicki Cobb. These books cover a variety of science topics on a very basic level and include fun "experiments" that are more like play (and don't worry, you won't be running around for materials!). We continued with the Bob Books this week. Middle has learned enough sight words so that we were able to start playing "Sight Word Bingo." He loves it! He's still faithfully learning and practicing piano. As a matter of fact, he's come up with "backward school" which means we reverse the order we normally do things - all a ruse to get to do piano *first!* Oldest: I was able to work with ds each day in Math. I really enjoy the chance to work with him (well mostly - he's such a unique thinker!) and he's glad Math goes by quicker. :) I'm trying to expand on the methods taught in the book and cater more to his learning style (well, if I can ever figure out what it is!). So far we're having a good time and I think that counts for something. :) He's reading Along Came a Dog by Meindert DeJong for assigned reading. And I've started reading Carry On, Mr. Bowditch to him as well as a section or two from George Washington's World each day. Both of these books are excellent history reading. We're still reading poems out of Classic Poetry and are both getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. Ds is quite intuitive - he picks up more meaning than I do. Logic seem to be becoming a burden so I've reduced it to 3x a week. Tuesday was Valentine's Day. We celebrated by.....being without electricity all day! The local electric company erroneously turned off our power - we'd paid the bill by phone during a weekend and somehow the payment didn't get credited and we were put on a disconnect list. Fun! At least we got in our breakfast before it went off but had to cancel our Valentine tea. I had a card and small gift for each of dc waiting at their place at the table. Here's a pic:

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February 6-10 Highlights from week 18. Middle: We read some cute living Math books - Monster Musical Chairs, Henry the Fourth, A Pair of Socks and Rabbit's Pajama Party. We also watched a video about telling time - Time Flies. We read through some Bob books this week. They work ok but middle doesn't seem to like them as much as the "Now I'm Reading" books. We're no longer using "I Can Read It" book but I'm using the word family cards I made for oldest back when we went through it. We ended up reading three Smithsonian books - Armadillo at Riverside Road, Swan Flyaway and Jack Rabbit and the Prairie Fire. Oldest: Assigned Reading: The Bears on Hemlock Mountain and Tolliver's Secret. For History - Winter at Valley Forge. More reading from Classic Poetry. Math is going ok - I'm going to try to start working through each Math lesson with ds. I'm not sure how consistent I'll be able to be but I can tell ds is struggling doing everything independently and would get a boost, not only in Math, from us working together.

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(I've still got week 16 & 17 to write about but I couldn't help but post about an exciting trip to the park. You'll see summaries for those weeks added in after this entry in the coming days.) I've been waiting since late last summer for a county park not far from our house to open. This particular park sits 54+ acres on the river and has several walking trails, a playground and a picnic area. Knowing the general location, I knew the scenery would be beautiful and that it would be a wonderful place to go on nature walks and birdwatching. So we've been driving by, checking for updates in the community newspaper and calling the county for any information as to the projected opening. Dh found out a week or so ago that the park, although still under construction, was slated to open soon. Sure enough, Sunday afternoon, we drove by to find the sign up and the gates open. Dh took dc down there for a quick visit Sunday afternoon and everyone came back with glowing reports. I planned to go some time this week but after struggling through a typical Monday morning and seeing the beautiful weather outside, decided to pack dc up and head to the park. I am so glad we did! My expectations were pretty high and the park, even partially complete, exceeded all those expectations. The whole place is absolutely beautiful and so well planned. I love that the planning not only includes preserving and showcasing the natural beauty of the area but also the history of this particular place in the county. The kids wanted to play on the playground a bit before walking and I was so pleased to see that even the playground, although housing your typical activities (slides, ladders, swings etc.), was themed to the park. The largest piece is fashioned after an orange processing plant - with "crates" or oranges as steps and a conveyor belt as a slide. Another play area for smaller children is a tractor with the park's name on it. There's also a tire swing and a see saw - and everything is under a canopy of trees. Here's dc on the orange "crates and on the tractor Dd looks like she's in jail but this was on the "musical pipe" section on the other side of the tractor. After playing a while, we took the path out to the river. It starts out on a wooden boardwalk bridge then moves onto a paved path through the woods. Along the way there are benches to rest on and take in the surroundings. You are surrounded by large trees, ferns and some type of bright red berry bushes. There were a few upturned trees and dc were amazed at the huge exposed root systems. Here's a pic of the berries The property has three historic structures which date back to the 1900's - a farmhouse, shed/garage (with machinery for processing fruit from the grove) and another 2 story structure. The county plans to renovate these structures and open at least one of them as a cultural museum. The structures are located at the end of the walking path, near the river, where coming out of the woods, the land opens up to an open area full of gigantic oaks and magnolias and beautiful river views. The feel of the history of the land was palpable and all our thoughts went to what life was like 100 years ago here and who had walked, worked and played where we were walking. Here's a few pics of the trees Dc at the base of one of the trees And here's a view from the bluff out to the river I was struck by the shape and remnants of a stained glass window on the side of the two-story structure. I cannot tell you how excited I am to have such a wonderful place so close to home. It's my new favorite place! I'm thinking of packing a picnic lunch and going back tomorrow! :)

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January 30 - February 3, 2006 Highlights from week 17. Middle: Living Math books - Sea Squares, Ten Little Monkeys, Missing Mittens, Sunny Numbers and Seawood Soup. What If? Just Wondering Poems were a hit - full of curious kid questions and funny rhyme. Smithsonian Series - Daddy Longlegs at Birch Lane Oldest: Poetry from Classic Poetry (SL3) Classics for Kids - learning about William Grant Still, a 20th century African-American composer.

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January 23-27, 2006 Highlights from week 16: Middle: We finished reading through our Frog and Toad collection and started an Arnold Lobel collection. We read poems from A Child's Garden of Verses, Nibble Nibble and Poems to Read to the Very Young. For Math we read The Greatest Gymnast of All, It's About Time and Double the Ducks. We continued daily reading through Children's Encyclopedia and twice a week in Living Long Ago. We're still slowly working through a few workbooks - Math Skills K three days a week and Letter Skills K every day (one page). We also do a page in Handwriting without Tears a day. We're still enjoying reading through "Playful Pals." I highly recommend these early reader books - they make learning to read easy and so much fun! I got out the sight word cards I used with oldest and we've been going through some of those each day. Oldest:  He read Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin and started Toliver's Secret for assigned reading. He's reading The Light in the Forest for free reading. He's also listening to Johnny Tremain on cd - supposed to  be a read aloud but we just can't seem to get to it consistently. For History he read And Then What Happened Paul Revere? (and also watched a video) We keep plodding along through Math, Grammar and Logic.

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Week 15 January 16-20, 2006 The weather finally cooled down enough for us to have a fire in the fireplace Sunday night. Oldest enjoyed it so much he asked for me to start another one on Monday morning...and Tuesday and Wednesday - we ended up having a fire everyday. Something about that fire worked wonders with oldest - he needed very little encouragement to do his work. He'd load it all up, go to the playroom and plop down in the recliner. He said to me one day "Mom, why wouldn't anyone want to homeschool? How can you beat getting to do school in your pajamas and sitting in a comfy recliner in front of a fire?" This was middle's treat of the week - school in the treehouse. Once he finished his written work, I gathered all the books we read and told him to follow me. He couldn't believe we were really going to the treehouse (and mom was going to climb up in it - dh hadn't made the ladder yet). The weather was beautiful that day - cool, bright sunshine and a slight wind rustling through the leaves of the tree every now and then. We snuggled, laughed, read and talked together. It was a sweet time for both of us. I have a feeling we'll be visiting the treehouse quite a bit more. And here's what little one enjoyed the most - listening to a book on cd. She just couldn't get enough of this Smithsonian book about a little porcupine. She listened to that story over and over (and talked about it all week - "Mom, the pork-a-pine hurt his paw!"). I'm not sure whether it was having a book read to her or being able to listen on her own or the story itself but she was totally taken with that book. Now that I know how much she enjoys it, I'll have to get out some of our books on tape and see about getting more from the library. Other highlights of the week: Middle: Some fun living math books: Circus Shapes, Monster Money and Every Buddy Counts. Also got back to reading Frog and Toad - he really gets into these now and laughs out loud at Toad. I got out some of oldest's Bob Jones readers and we went through those. He really enjoyed taking turns reading. More piano lessons - he's playing his exercises with the cd now. Oldest: Read The 13 Colonies, The New Americans and Ben & Me. He continued to listen to Johnny Tremain on cd.  Lately he's shown an interest in dogs so I picked up a dvd on dogs (from the Nature series on PBS) at the library. We watched episode 1 this week.

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January 9-13, 2006 The new plans continue to go well. Middle and I worked in his math workbook 3 times during the week and and worked on money and time the other two days. Reviewing money one day a week really helped middle with recognition and values. We read the cutest living math book - Monster Math Picnic. For phonics and reading we continued reading out of Animal Antics, doing some phonics windows, word family and sight word cards and some workbook pages in Letter Skills K (Abeka). We're still reading out of Living Long Ago (Usborne) for history and are learning about different kinds of homes during the ages. We read several poems during the week from various books. Handwriting Without Tears is still going well - can't say enough good things about this curriculum. During read aloud time we read: 10 Little Rubber Ducks, How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?, Tell Me What It's Like to be Big, The Mitten and The Doorbell Rang (a really good counting book btw). Another new thing we started at the beginning of the year that I haven't mentioned yet is piano lessons. Middle plays the piano most every day and expressed an interest in taking lessons. We don't really have the time or money for lessons right now and not knowing how long his interest would last, I went in search of a curriculum I could use to teach him myself (and learn a little along the way too). I found Pianimals and decided to give it a try. So far so good for both of us. I'm so happy for middle to be learning and also to finally hear some music from our piano! Oldest spent his week going through his normal schedule. He read Phoebe and the Spy and listened to Johnny Tremain on cd. He also read What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin for History. He's doing well with his newly added daily logic pages. I think he's finally figured out how to use the clues. This week's Classics for Kids was about Franz Schubert.

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Week 13: January 2-6 A good first week back. Teatime with poetry, dictation, a visit to the museum, readers and read aloud enjoyed and new plans worked out pretty well. Oldest started The Cabin Faced West and finished it on Monday then went on ahead in our read aloud, Johnny Tremain. By week's end he'd finished it too. He tells me it's a great story and that I need to read it. I told him I'd put it on the list of books that I'm behind him on - I'm almost finished with The Witch of Blackbird Pond and plan to start The Sign of the Beaver next. Oh and I need to try to fit in The Cabin Faced West too. He did the logic problems like they'd always been a part of the schedule - I might be wrong but he just may have enjoyed them. Middle really enjoyed his new history reading in Living Long Ago. For reading we went back through some of the Animal Antic stories and we also did some workbook pages in an Abeka phonics workbook. He's doing so well with reading. He's picked up speed which has really increased his comprehension - he's enjoying what he reads now. I got out the change jar on Tuesday and we played with and counted money. He'd been struggling with counting by fives so counting nickels was good practice. Over Christmas break I ordered a few Handwriting Without Tears workbooks for him to practice in. He did a page (one letter) each day. We started reading Eddie and the Fire Engine, a chapter book. I'm still reading picture books but am trying to slowly add in some chapter books. We hadn't had teatime in a while so everyone was excited when I put on the tea on Tuesday. I baked some muffins to snack on while we read. Everyone got books for me to read and I also read a few poems. As I said above, we went to a museum this week. There was an exibit at The Cummer that I'd been wanting to take oldest to called Beyond the Frame: Impressionism Revisited, The sculptures of J. Seward Johnson. The exhibit features three-dimensional representations of famous impressionist art. Imagine being able to walk beside the umbrella carrying couple in Caillebotte's, Paris Street; Rainy Day, walk around in Van Gogh's, The Bedroom, mingle in and amongst the revelers in Renoir's, The Luncheon of the Boating Party, It was absolutely fabulous!  His attention to detail is amazing - you really felt like you had stepped into the painting and were a part of the action. The added dimension gave you a whole new way to appreciate these famous works. The sculptures, though very accurate, are not exact replicas. The sculptor put in his own creative touches here and there. If you looked close enough, you could find all kinds of little "behind the scenes" action in his The Luncheon of the Boating Party sculpture entitled "Were You Invited?" And behind the boating party scene is J. Seward Johnson's own boating party - he's sitting at a table amongst fellow sculptors and artists. Here are some pictures: "La Promenade" based on Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street, Rainy Day "Welcome Home" based on The Bedroom by Vincent VanGogh. That's oldes on the bed - yes, you could actually do that! "Were You Invited" based on The Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. J. Seward Johnson's own boating party (that's him with the brown hat and hand raised). "On Poppied Hill" based on Woman with a Parasol-Madame Monet and her Son and Poppies by Claude Monet. "Family Secret" based on Two Sisters (On the Terrace) by Pierre Auguste Renoir. Little one, who was quite amazed with the little girl.

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