Hands-on Activities

Over the last month we have done some fun things including more in depth composer study, lap books, literature on CD, and Bible study. It is hard to believe that we are already eight weeks into our school year. While we studied ancient Sumer civilization Rebekah was having a hard time relating to the material, so I ordered a couple of hands-on activity books to supplement our curriculum. The lapbook we did turned out to be a fun way of learning extra things that were not part of what we had planned.

Cover:

Inside:

Rebekah wrote her own definitions of key words:

Houses and Inventions. Inside the houses booklet Rebekah wrote about what the houses were made from, and inside the wheel booklet she pasted that they invented the wheel.

Back with stick puppets:

As we finished up our study of Ancient Mesopotamia I found a great video at the library, Ancient Civilizations for Children: Ancient Mesopotamia. They have Egypt and others, so I will definitely be using these as a resource. As we moved on to Egypt Rebekah created a salt dough map of the country. I helped her shape it, but she added her interpretation of the mountains and the land. After the map dried she painted the Nile River, the sand, and finally the grass. She can pinpoint Egypt very quickly on the map now. It was a very fun project, particularly for someone who enjoys art.

Rebekah is presently reading the 1st grade reader by Harriet Taylor Treadwell. When she read "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse" I discovered that she did not know the difference between city and country. She got confused because she relates country to a country in the world, like the U.S. So I introduced rural and urban. On a whim I pulled up come pictures of the country and of the city. Rebekah cut them out, and she sorted them and pasted them in a folder to make a lapbook. It was nothing fancy, but it gave her a hands-on activity to learn the difference between the two. I have picked up Jan Brett's version of the story, and we are reading it now. Joshua is enjoying the book with us as well.

 
Rebekah is also working on a lapbook for Bach. We are still listening to his music, and we just started the dramatization on CD of Bach telling his story to a girl practicing his music on the piano called Mr. Bach Comes to Call. We are also getting ready to watch the video of Bach's Fight for Freedom. We managed to finish Trumpet of the Swan for literature. While it did get more interesting as we read more it was not a favorite. I think part of it is that there are not nearly as many pictures as what Rebekah is accustomed to. We were able to get a copy of it on CD of the author reading it, so we could listen to a chapter while on the road to pick up Joshua or drop him off, or if we had an errand to run. We have just started reading Peter Pan, and we are getting a similar start as the last book. She just really misses having pictures to observe while I read.

Rebekah is getting a double dose of Bible. Along with our ancient history study and geography of Egypt (and Africa), we are reading Genesis about Abraham and Isaac. Of course, Rebekah's favorite story is about Isaac and Rebekah. :-) In addition, she is attending a Bible study class on Daniel while I am studying the same thing in my moms Bible study. It is neat to be studying the book together. It was cool to tie together the things we knew about Mesopotamia and about King Nebuchadnezzar since he was the king of Babylon. I've been having fun learning right along with her!

The latest thing I bought for Rebekah was a puzzle on Africa. Each week she labels the African countries she can remember and then adds a couple more to her map. After about two weeks I noticed that she was not retaining it, and I am sure it is hard to remember when you only do geography once each week. So today she worked her new puzzle, and afterwards I had her label her map for memory. Not only did she recall the four countries she had been working on the last couple of weeks, she knew an extra one. She added two more countries to her map in addition to the five she already knew. Hopefully as she continues to work her puzzle she will retain her memory and learn more.

New Beginnings

Where do I begin? Well, Tuesday was orientation for Joshua's preschool. Before we went I was really unsure if we would continue to send him or not. He was asking to stay home with me. He was afraid, afraid of the unknown - having a new teacher, meeting new kids - and being away from me. One of the main reasons we send him to preschool is for him to gain some independence. He is very clingy with me, and I want him to learn to be in someone else's care other than his parents or grandparents. At church it is like pulling teeth to pull him off of me sometimes unless he is very familiar with the workers. So, for this reason I think it is good for him to go to preschool. Another reason is purely social and to make new friends. I had no expectations for educational goals since I had heard they do the same curriculum for pre-K4 as pre-K3.

Well, it was a bit of a challenge leaving Joshua in the classroom while I went to the parent orientation, but he finally let me go, and the teacher later told me that he was fine within a couple of minutes. And for the record, when I returned to pick him up afterwards, he was beaming and showing me his "magic playdough". He had a great time!

As I flipped through Joshua's folder I saw that they are using Handwriting Without Tears this year, so they are going to prepare the kids to begin writing. I am so excited about this! It is new to the school, so that is one major new thing they will be doing this year. I had thought about purchasing the curriculum to use with Joshua this year, but then I decided to wait and just work with writing in the air, in dry rice, in sand, etc. instead and hold off on any formal lessons. Handwriting Without Tears focuses first on forming the shapes of the letters with wooden pieces and works progressively toward writing. It is a fun way to teach handwriting and penmanship in a non-threatening way. I think it will be a good fit for Joshua.

On Thursday Joshua had his first day of preschool. When we first arrived he just stood outside the classroom for a few seconds, but as soon as I helped him get his folder and backpack put away he was on the floor playing with the cars. No clinging, no begging to go with me. I was amazed! So, as long as it works to pick him up at noon I will continue to keep him in preschool. This will give him some educational time too while I give Rebekah undivided attention to homeschooling.

Speaking of which, we have had a crazy week! Two days this week we didn't get to start our schooling until after lunch which makes for a late day, so I'm still trying to figure out a schedule or basic routine. I have switched things up a bit this week to get the main subjects in, and we've put off some things due to time restraints. I'm learning to be flexible.

Thursday we had a field trip with our homeschool group. Wow! The group is huge! We went to the Pumpkin Patch playground which was perfect since it is large enough to accommodate us all. I meant to take my camera and left it at home - actually, placed it on the garage floor as I put Micah in the van and forgot to turn around and pick it up - so I have no pictures except for a couple I took on my phone. It was great to talk to other moms, a few of whom are in the same boat as me as first time homeschooling moms with young children.

So, what have we done this week? Well, in history we have started Rebekah's lapbook for Sumer/ancient Mesopotamia. She has learned about the layout of the land, what they farmed, how their houses were built, how they dressed, and she knows about the ziggurat. I am not teaching all about gods and goddesses other than that the people worshipped them instead of the one true God. Today we started a salt dough map of Egypt. I told Rebekah to put the mountains on as shown on the relief map, and she literally made mountains. I love that she put her own creativity in it. By Monday it will be plenty dry to paint details such as the bodies of water and the grassy areas.

In math we have been working hard on telling time. Rebekah is doing quite well at it, but when it comes to reading a real clock she doesn't want to take the time to figure it out. It is definitely a challenge for her, but she is able to do it when she thinks about it. Today we started subtraction, and since she has been doing problems already like ?+3=8 she caught on to subtraction very quickly. She is always ahead of the game too, thinking things like ?+?=28, and she wants the two numbers to be the same, so essentially, she is trying to divide in half.

Wednesday morning we had our first week of Bible study. We are going to be doing a Precept study on the book of Daniel. Rebekah's homeschool class will be doing the same for kids. There is a children's book on Daniel but is geared toward older children who are reading and writing well. Rebekah's class will be geared toward younger children, and they will get to draw what is read to them. I'm excited about this study and to discuss it with Rebekah throughout the week.

I gotta say that since last week's reading of The Trumpet of the Swan that it is getting better. The story is more interesting now, and I got a great tip from a former homeschooling mom. Today I let Rebekah play with her math blocks while I read to her. I had her narrate the chapter, and she remembered a lot of the story. I'm not sure how well this would work with a boy, but allowing my daughter to play with something quietly while I read did wonders!

So, that in a nutshell is what our week has been. I still deal with Rebekah dragging her feet some, but today once we got started she didn't want to stop! We spent way more time on history than I had intended, and she chose to complete a whole lesson (6 pages) in math instead of spreading it over a couple of days. She is eager to finish the book and move on to the next.

Oh, and we have two tadpoles that are developing into frogs. Their little hind legs have formed and now their front legs. It is neat to see them changing!

Learning the Ropes

Last week was our first full week of 5-day homeschooling. It is a learning experience not only for Rebekah, but also for me...in more ways than one. I am learning right along with her, which I am enjoying very much. I'm also finding what is working for us and what is challenging.

Math-U-See has always been fun, and we are finishing up the Primer after two years. We went through it very slowly taking lots of breaks and coming back to it as she was interested. Some days even while in kindergarten over breaks she would ask to do math, so we pulled out her workbook and Cuisenaire rods. We are finishing up with learning to tell time on a clock now and will move on to the Alpha book shortly. The first few lessons are a review of the Primer, so we'll just skip them. She knows those lessons well, so I don't see the need to spend a lot of time reviewing them.

Joshua is starting to show interest in the Cuisenaire rods as well. I bought him the Primer workbook and then had decided to wait a year before starting him in it. But when he showed interest I took the plunge to pull out the workbook. Well, he is able to do the problems fine, but we have a long way to go for the written portion. Instead of circling the correct answer he wanted to try to trace the number, and they just looked like scribbles over the number. If we pursue anymore in the book I will just do it orally. He has a while before he is really ready to use any sort of writing device.

Science has been fun too. We are going through the six days of Creation and focusing on one thing that God created on that day. Since we are on the first day we have been studying light. Last week we studied shadows and how they change throughout the day, and we made a sundial observing where the shadows fall each hour of the day. This week we are learning about light reflecting and refracting as well as looking at color such as a rainbow.

A friend of mine who has homeschooled her children for many years invited me to her home before we officially started our year. She showed me all the fun activities she did with her kids and what her grandchildren do now when they visit. Her house is full of games and activities, and she gave me lots of ideas to do with the children that is fun and engaging. Before we left I ended up with a jar of five tadpoles. Their swimming pool was full of them. When I returned home Joshua was ecstatic over his tadpoles! The newness wore off after a couple of days, but the kids are keeping good tabs on them. We are now down to two tadpoles, and I'm hoping that at least one will make it to grow into a frog. It is a fun nature study for the kids.

Literature has been a bit challenging. Right now we are reading Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. It is not a very exciting book, but I didn't want to give up altogether. It is interesting to learn some of the natural things about swans, but the story has not grabbed us like I had hoped it would. We plan to read Charlotte's Web later this year, so I hope it is much more enjoyable for us, plus we'll get to see the play in the spring.

We have studied Bible history, and many of the stories so far Rebekah has been familiar with from Sunday school lessons. While reading the biblical account of Noah's ark we also read The True Story of Noah's Ark. I highly recommend this book! The images are beautiful, and while we don't really know what life was like on the ark because the Bible doesn't tell us, the author of the book tells what it might have been like. You feel like you are on the ark with Noah as you read along in the book. At the end details on the dimensions and how the ark was probably made is given. Rebekah saw what looks like pieces of wood that could be put together to build the ark, and she decided she wants to make one. So, Darrin is working on some plans to help her make a model ark, and that will be their project together.

After reading about the Tower of Babel we read about the first settlers of Mesopotamia. The lesson was rather textbook-like, and I really struggled getting Rebekah to pay attention. I have spent a lot of time this weekend looking for ideas to make world history fun. So, we are going to make a lapbook on Ancient Mesopotamia as well as do some hand-on activities about the culture. We'll actually probably venture off from our curriculum to do these things, but I think it's important that this be a FUN learning experience. Narration is very challenging too, so lapbooking will be an opportunity to narrate in a fun way, not just orally.

Johann Sebastian Bach

I'm doing this more for our benefit than anything, but feel free to use it if you'd like. For the next few weeks we are going to study Johann Sebastian Bach. We will read the blurb on Bach from Lives of the Musicians: Good Times and Bad by Kathleen Krull (a book my students loved when I taught elementary music) and Sebastian Bach, the Boy from Thuringia by Opal Wheeler.

Recently I saw a one-day freebie sample from a website that posted several YouTube videos of a particular composer for music study, and I thought to myself, "I could throw this together and not have to pay anything." The only thing is I have to decide which version on YouTube is the best. But for now, this is what I'm going to do.

So, instead of viewing each video directly on the site that shows advertisements that I may or may not want my children to see I will post them here where they are easily viewable.

I chose these pieces of music because they are some of the most famous works of Bach. I was going to add "Minuet in G" but discovered that it was actually composed by one of Bach's students but has been wrongly credited to Bach himself. I never knew that until last night! Ha!

This is how music study is done. Several works from a composer are selected. You can also use a CD of one composer. Sometimes all the works are orchestral or from one larger work, which is okay, but try to select a variety of works from the one composer, and if the music changed over his or her life choose selections that vary from the lifetime. (Beethoven's music fell into three stages, so it would be best to listen to music from each stage to hear how his music progressed from Classical to more Romantic and much stronger as his personality changed due to his hearing loss). Over about six weeks have your child listen to the music. Let them become familiar with it. Play it during meals, in the car, while they play quietly, etc. By the time they have heard lots of music by the one composer they should have a pretty good idea of what his or her style is and be able to recognize the pieces. The child may even hear a new work and recognize that it is by that composer.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, 1st movement

Air on a G String

Prelude and Fugue in C minor

Tocatta and Fugue in D minor

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

We're Homeschooling!

Okay, I'm going to try this again. We'll see how well I do this time. I've had good intentions, but the lack in motivation, and once I get behind in blogging I get overwhelmed and just quit. We'll it's a new beginning.

After much prayer and consideration, crying and praying and talking things through, we decided to homeschool. I am more than thrilled! Rebekah always changed her mind as to whether she would prefer staying home or going to school, and even after we made the decision she wanted to go to school with her friends. However, since I bought her a mommy and me scrapbook to do for her handicraft she is very excited to be home, and she can't wait to decorate with the stickers and papers. It will be a fun project for us to do together.

So, what will we be doing? I'm glad you asked! Two years ago I attended the local curriculum fair. A friend told me about the Charlotte Mason workshops. I had never heard of CM, so due to this friend's recommendation I attended the first one explaining Mason and her philosophy of education. There are many websites that can explain it better than I, but what intrigued me was that Mason believed in teaching the whole child, not just filling the mind with a bunch of facts. Children learn using living books, books that grab the reader and make the pages come to life. Dry facts and textbooks are not used. (No wonder kids hate school! They are having to learn dry facts.) I also love that the arts are important in a Charlotte Mason philosophy. As a musician that is important to me. One thing that is a stretch to me is doing nature study, but I have found some great resources for that, and I will get to learn along with the kids.

So, our plans this year are to learn world and Bible history from creation to ancient Egypt - Genesis through Deuteronomy - as well as the geographical region, Math-U-See - a math curriculum that is hands-on and uses manipulatives, penmanship and some copywork, art, music, poetry, science about creation, and various literature books by E.B. White and others, and scrapbooking. Rebekah will also do some reading herself, and we may add Spanish. It is going to be a fun year!

In addition, we are part of a support group, which consists of mostly families from our church. It is a big group! They do field trips together, have play dates and holiday parties, and the moms meet regularly without the kids. Even some of the dads get together if they can. Rebekah's age group at church is at least half homeschoolers, so she will get to see these kids quite a bit, and some of them will even be at Bible study on Wednesday mornings while the moms are in their Bible study, so Rebekah won't be lacking in seeing friends this year.

Joshua is asking to stay home this year, and right now we are unsure. For now we have plans to send him to preschool two days each week. The main concern is pick-up time. If I pick him up at noon it doesn't give me much time in the morning for teaching Rebekah, but if I wait until 2:00 I run into Micah's naptime. We will probably try both times, and if neither work I may keep Joshua home as well. Some things he can learn right along with Rebekah too, and I don't want him to miss out on the great activities we do with the support group should they fall on one of his preschool days.

I'm excited to see what this year holds for us and our family and to experience new adventures as we delve into the world of homeschooling.

I'm BAAAAAACK!!!

So, I'm doing laundry late tonight because Rebekah packed her dirty uniform in an old backpack instead of in the hamper, and she needs to wear it tomorrow for chapel. So, while I'm piddling on Facebook I'm reminded that this was the time I used to sit and write blog posts. Late night before bed. So, why not post now?

Now, where do I begin? I guess I'll start with our eldest. Rebekah just turned 6 1/2, and that was pretty significant to her. She is no longer our little 6-year-old daughter. She's now a big 6 1/2-year-old girl, and she was sure to tell everyone she saw that day and the following few days after that she was "six and a half". I think she was nearly as excited about her "half" birthday as she was her real one! She is maturing more lately and is becoming a better helper at home. I have found that when I make a list of specific things for her to do (i.e. "put away books", "fold blankets", "pick up paper") she is able to tackle the items that need to be done, and she marks them off in her own way as she completes each task. It has allowed her to become much more independent, and now she wants to help me in other areas.

Joshua just turned 4 years in February. He has really matured a lot in the past few months as well. I notice it more, though, when Rebekah is not around. I guess when she is with us he takes on the "little brother" role (pestering his sister), but when she is at school he is the oldest, so he acts bigger. Yesterday after we left The Little Gym I had to run an errand and then we went to DQ Grill & Chill for lunch. I love that it is not busy, plus they play Christian music. They had run out of spoons in the plasticware container, so I let Joshua walk up to the counter by himself while I watched him from across the dining room. When he came back he nearly jumped to me, so proud that he had done it all by himself. After his meal he got to pick out an ice cream treat, so I let him go back up there to let the cashier know what he wanted. He walked in line behind another customer, waited patiently for his turn, and then after ordering his treat he waited and walked slowly back to our table so he wouldn't spill his ice cream. I was so proud of him! Before we left an older couple about in their 70s came up to us to compliment me on Joshua. "That's a fine boy you have there!" They had watched Joshua and saw me keeping an eye on him. It made me feel good as a mom to have an older and wiser couple compliment me. Now, most days are crazy, esp. with big sis around, but that truly was a proud mommy moment, and I made sure Joshua knew it, too.

My baby is ONE! Yes, Micah is 12 months! It's hard to believe! (I guess this means I need to update my header.) He has had a rough winter along with Joshua. They both have had lots of colds, but Micah has been hit with some ear infections lately. He is on #3 now since February. I am hoping once the warm weather is here to stay that he will not have any more problems. Micah has also been dropping off the weight chart, so we went to see a GI doctor on Friday, and he has put him on some supplements to increase his calorie intake. So far he has gained 11 ounces in 4 days! Plus, he is sleeping through the night! It had been so long since he had slept this well. I never realized it was because he wasn't getting enough, but it makes sense now. He is such a happy boy that it is hard to know when he needs something. He doesn't cry much, and he is very content. Even with this most recent EI he has never complained. He just plays with his ears, and he does that at times anyway, so it's hard to know if it's infected or just messing with them out of habit or fun.

I'm about to fall over asleep, so I'd better wrap this up, and hopefully get the second load of laundry in the dryer soon so I can hit the hay. Reason #497 to homeschool: no specific uniform that you HAVE to wear on a particular day of the week. OK, that's a whole other blog in itself!

Here are a few recent pics of the kids.