Wrapping Up Week 11 (2015-16)

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Weekly Wrap Up 2015-16
 I love that we’ve gotten into such a good groove this year that every week feels productive.  I think it’s mostly due to the fact that the boys are working independently on so much, freeing me to stay on top of the household and the little ones for a good portion of the day.  Of course, a big part of it is that I have SO much more energy now that I’m no longer pregnant.  Maybe I’m odd, but I find life with a newborn far less tiring than pregnancy.

This week in our Preschool

Arianna and Nico had a fun week doing purposeful activities while the boys did their schoolwork each morning.  I’ve set up this little table for them on the far side of our school room, and it’s close enough that they feel like they’re with us, yet separate enough that they’re not a distraction.  This week they kept busy playing with unifix cubes, painting with watercolors, and doing lots of coloring.

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I also gave Arianna a few simple alphabet dot-to-dots, and she was quite tickled to be doing “real” school work.

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We finished the week doing nature study with Daddy, spending a few hours at a local nature center.  Nicholas loved discovering acorns, and especially liked the ones with “hats” that he could take off.  All the boys had fun collecting them, and Ian was fascinated when I told him about how the Native Americans ground them to use the flour for cooking.  We’ll have to go back and gather more to try out a recipe or two.

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Read Alouds

For history we continued reading King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table.   I’m really glad we’re going through these.  I’ve read many modern variations of the Arthur stories, and reading an older one is helping me figure out a lot.  Ian’s enjoying them as well.

For fun, we continued James Howe’s “Bunnicula and Friends” series with Return to Howliday Inn.  We also started Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers, in an attempt to get through most of the books from Ambleside Online “free reads” for Year 2.

King Arthur   Return to Howliday InnMary Poppins

Writing

Fables, Myths, and Fairy TalesThe boys are really enjoying the writing class they’re a part of this year.  We’re going through Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales: Writing Lessons in Structure & Style from the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW).  The book itself is geared toward 3rd-5th grade, but since many of the kids in the class are younger, we’re going through it at a pace the boys can follow pretty well (though I let Elijah dictate a lot to me since he’s still working on learning to actually write).

I think Ian’s favorite part is just being there with his friends and getting to feel like he’s in “real school.”  He loves participating in class, but he’d be perfectly happy to skip the homework.  Elijah, however, loves the whole idea of writing the stories, and ever since we introduced adjectives, he’s been getting great delight from finding the perfect wordsmad libs to use as he retells the stories.

To help the boys remember the various parts of speech I let Ian pick out a book of Mad Libs, and we’re having fun practicing our nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (plus more!)with DC Comics Super Hero Mad Libs.

Independent Learning

The boys are continuing to go through their Spanish lessons from Middlebury Interactive Languages, and Ian just finished the tenth week of lessons in his Veritas Press history course.  Both courses have been a big hit, and I’m thankful that they’re working independently and learning so much!

Language Skills

I’m currently requiring the boys to spend time on Reading Eggs twice a week, but I’ve been giving them a lot of freedom as to what they did each time.  This past week Elijah got started on Reading Eggspress, and I realized that both of the boys would really benefit from the reading comprehension lessons, so now I’m having them go through at least one of those each week.

Math

Elijah started working through Teaching Textbooks Math 3 this week, and so far he’s doing well.  The only problem it’s created is that both boys now have to use the one computer it’s installed on to do their math lessons, so I have to make sure they each have something else to work on when the other one is on the computer.

Upcoming Reviews

We’re enjoying several products right now, so watch for these reviews in the next few weeks:

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Book of Astronomy (Crew Review)

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Book of Astronomy Review
Growing up, my brother was the one interested in space, and I’m only now beginning to realize how much I missed out on by not listening to him more.  For the past couple months, our whole family has been learning together as we go through the Book of Astronomy Set from Memoria Press, a company known for its classical Christian education materials.  This set is a great way for elementary students to learn about the constellations and the solar system.

About The Book of Astronomy Set

Logic, Greek Myths and Astronomy Memoria Press Review
The Book of Astronomy Set consists of a Student Book and a Teacher’s Guide, which contains the full text of the Student Book with the answers written in, blackline masters for creating overhead transparencies, and tests for the end of each unit plus a final exam.

There are four units in the book.  Unit 1 is the longest because it contains introductory material that will be needed to go on.  Then it covers the constellations found in the summer-fall sky, and the summer-fall zodiac.  Unit 2 covers what can be seen in winter, and Unit 3 covers spring.  Finally, Unit 4 takes a look at the solar system, covering the planets, dwarf planets, and major moons.  At the end of each unit there are “Exercises,” where the student answers questions about specific facts presented in the previous lessons, and draws and labels the constellations.  There are also further exercises at the end of the book that cover information from all four units.

The first assignment is to memorize the 15 brightest stars in the universe.  We memorized the list by singing the names to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and both boys had it down within a couple days.  In true Classical style, that memorization work was an essential foundation for the rest of the course.

Workbook pageI love the way the lessons build upon each other.  For example, when the first constellation (Lyra) is introduced, the students write out the names of the 15 brightest stars (which they learned earlier), as well as listing Lyra next to Vega, since it’s part of that constellation.  Each time a new constellation is learned (both the Roman and English names), the student adds it to the list, rewriting all the stars and constellations learned so far.  Through this continual repetition, the students become masters of the material and can not only say the names of the stars and constellations (I was really thankful for the pronunciation guide at the back of the book!) but spell them properly as well.

Because many of the constellations were identified back in ancient times, it is helpful to have some familiarity with Greek mythology.  The book actually includes page references for D’Aulaires’ Greek Myths, so we were able to spend some time reading about Hercules and other important characters whose names popped up as we went through the Book of Astronomy.  (Other Crew members received the Memoria Press study guide to go along with D’Aulaires’ Greek Myths, so check out their reviews by clicking on the banner below if you want to find out more about that product.)

Our Experience

The Book of Astronomy is designed for 3rd grade and up, but I was pretty sure Ian (8) would be able to handle it even though he’s just finishing up 2nd grade.  After looking at the materials I decided to invite Elijah (6) along for the ride as well, so I bought a second student book for him.  I think both of the boys had more fun because they were going through it together.

Astronomy Workbook
I especially appreciated the continual practice drawing the constellations.  It made it that much easier for the boys to start finding the real thing when we’d get a clear night and search the skies for ourselves.  We talked about how knowing the stars has helped people find their way for thousands of years, and we ended up starting a unit study on the Underground Railroad after learning about the Drink Gourd/Big Dipper and how it helped guide slaves to freedom.  One night when I was out, the boys spotted the Big Dipper and were so upset that I wasn’t there to see it with them!

stargazing
Going through the Book of Astronomy has given my boys a new appreciation for the night sky.  I loved watching Elijah and my father looking up at the stars one night, pointing out what they could see.  Grandpa was pretty impressed when the 6-year old said, “That’s a first magnitude star!”  It won’t be long before he’s telling him the name of it as well, for I intend to keep going until we have finished this whole course.  I’m so impressed with how much the boys and I have learned so far, and I’m looking forward to what’s still to come.

I’m really glad I went ahead and included Elijah.  Both boys take great pride in filling in their Student Books, and I think these are going to be wonderful references for the boys to turn to for many years to come.

Logic, Greek Myths and Astronomy Memoria Press Review
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Revisiting Middlebury Interactive Languages (Crew Review)

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Middlebury
Foreign language is the only subject I feel completely unqualified for teaching my children at home.  It’s really hard to teach something you don’t know, especially when your pupils are quicker at learning it than you!  I’ve tried a few different ways of teaching Spanish, and one of my favorites is an online course from Middlebury Interactive Languages.  Last year Ian went through the first semester of Elementary Spanish 1: Grades K-2, and we recently got to review the second semester as well.

About Middlebury Interactive Languages

Middlebury Interactive Languages offers a wide range of online classes for various ages, giving students a chance to study Spanish, French, Chinese, or German (not every language is available at every level–see chart below).

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Students can complete the course one of two ways: independently or interacting with a state-certified teacher fluent in the language. (The second option costs more but is necessary for the student to receive official credit for the class from Middlebury Interactive Languages.)  The courses are designed to cover one semester (the K-2 course contain 35 lessons per semester), but students using the independent option can work at their own pace and have up to six months to complete the lessons.

About Elementary Spanish 1: Grades K-2

Elementary Spanish 1: Grades K-2 is an engaging way for young students to interact with the language.  Each lesson consists of several activities that involve listening to traditional stories from Spanish-speaking countries, matching vocabulary words and pictures, and recording themselves speaking the words they are learning.  (You do need a microphone for this feature, but it doesn’t have to be anything fancy.  Our’s laptop’s built-in mic worked perfectly.)

word match

The first semester (which Ian completed last year) has lessons grouped into 6 units:

  • Greetings
  • Numbers
  • Family
  • Colors
  • School
  • Review

Ian is now about halfway through the second semester, which includes the following units:

  • Body
  • Animals
  • Calendar
  • Food
  • Descriptions
  • Review

The units do not build upon one another.  They’re essentially just ways to build vocabulary related to different topics.

Our Experience

Although these courses are designed for one student, we usually have our school computer displaying on our family room television, allowing all the children to follow along and learn.  All of them really enjoy the program and often want to repeat the stories over and over.  I appreciate that the stories are told completely in Spanish, even though there’s no way children going through this course will understand every word.  They learn to recognize the key vocabulary words as they go through the lessons.  English translations are available for all the stories, and Ian always asks me to read them after the first time he hears the story in Spanish.  Other than that, he is able to complete the lessons completely on his own.

The one thing I think would improve the program would be more chance to use the words and phrases the students have already learned.  It’s a great way to build vocabulary, but I don’t feel like Ian had to retain anything except when he came to the final review unit.

Overall the entire program is a hit, but Ian’s favorite part is definitely the speaking portion.  There’s just something fascinating for kids about recording their own voices and hearing them played back, especially when they’re speaking new words in a foreign language!  I love listening to them pick up the nuances of Spanish pronunciation.  I think this is such an important part of learning a new language, and it’s something impossible for a non-native speaker like myself to teach them.

If you want want to find out more about the different languages and grade levels in other courses from Middlebury Interactive Languages, check out their website and then read some of the other Crew reviews by clicking on the banner below!

Middlebury Interactive Languages Review
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Wrapping Up Week 10 (2015-16)

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Weekly Wrap Up 2015-16
I love the feeling of a week well done.  We were still finishing up school at 4:00 Friday afternoon (unexpected circumstances wiped out most of Thursday), but we got through everything I had hoped to complete, and the boys were still working with a good attitude right up to the very end.  That right there just made my week.  Everything they accomplished was just icing on the cake.

Preschool

After last week’s emphasis on blocks, we moved on to play dough this week.  All the kids found a spot at the table at some point during the week, but Elijah and Arianna put in the most hours for sure.

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Arianna really wanted to spend time on Reading Eggs this week, and to my surprise she specifically requested to do lessons she’d already done.  Since I’ve been concerned that she was flying through lessons without really absorbing what was being taught, I decided to reset her lessons all the way back to the beginning.  She really liked going through them again with the extra boost of confidence that comes from knowing what to expect.  I felt a little bad at erasing the progress she had made, but I think it was the right decision.

Science

Our lessons this week in Our Weather & Water (from God’s Design for Heaven and Earth) had to do with exploring the ocean.  This is a topic that has fascinated Ian in the past, so much of it was review.  Elijah joined us in reading the lessons, and then all the kids enjoyed watching Bill Nye the Science Guy: Ocean Exploration.  We also talked again about Dr. Robert Ballard, probably best known for finding the wreck of Titanic, who is one of the world’s leading ocean explorers.  He happens to be an old friend of my dad’s, so we’ve enjoyed following his work over the years and checking in with his Nautilus Live website to see what’s currently being explored and studied.

Nautilus Live

Read Alouds

We’ve continued doing a lot of reading over the last couple weeks.  Ian’s Veritas Press Self-Paced History Course had him scheduled to read The Minstrel in the Tower by Gloria Skurzynski over the past two weeks, but he enjoyed it so much we flew through it in a couple days.  Then we moved on to some of my own historical literature selections.

We started with The Little Duke by Charlotte Mary Yonge.  I was unfamiliar with this classic, but it is one of the books scheduled for Ambleside Online Year 2 and it fit with the time period so I thought we’d give it a try.  Ian surprised me with how much he enjoyed the book, and we finished it early as well, moving on to King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green.  We only got through the first part of the first chapter this week, but that was a perfect intro and led us to watch The Sword in the Stone for family movie night, which all the kids enjoyed.

minstrel   Little Duke   King Arthur
For fun reading, we continued in James Howe’s Bunnicula and Friends series with The Celery Stalks at Midnight and Nighty-Nightmare.

Celery Stalks at Midnight   Nighty Nightmare

Independent Learning

Both boys continue daily drills on xtramath.org, and this week Elijah finished up the first grade lessons on CTCMath.com.  I debated several options for what to do with him at this point.

  • Stick with CTCMath and move on to 2nd grade?
  • Go back to lessons and practice book pages from MEP?
  • Take a “break” by switching to Life of Fred?
  • or let him do what Ian’s doing for 2nd grade and dive into Teaching Textbooks Math 3?

I narrowed it down to the first and last options just because the other two would require more from me than I can consistently give in this season and then asked him what he would prefer.  He decided to join Ian on Teaching Textbooks.  Since that’s my long-term curriculum plan at this point anyway I decided there wasn’t much point in trying to put it off just because technically he’s only in Kindergarten.  I doubt he’ll have any trouble based on what Ian’s done so far, but if at some point it gets too hard we still have other options.

Upcoming Reviews

We’ve got a lot products we’re checking out right now, so watch for these reviews coming soon:

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Family Games from USAopoly (Crew Review)

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“Daddy, will you play a game with me?”  It’s Elijah’s nightly request.  So when we were given the opportunity to review two games from USAopoly, he was probably the most excited out of all of our game-loving family.  Tapple: Fast Word Fun for Everyone and Wonky:The Crazy Cubes Card Game are welcome additions to our growing collection of games we can enjoy together.

Tapple: Fast Word Fun for Everyone

Tapple
Tapple is exercise for the brain!  The object is to think of words in a given category that begin with each of the letters on the game board.  Each player has ten seconds (the timer is part of the game board and requires two AA batteries) to think of a word that starts with a letter that has not been used yet, then push down that letter and hit the timer to start the next person’s turn.  If you can’t think of something in that category before the timer goes off, you’re out.  The categories (with two levels of difficulty) are listed on cards that fit neatly into the bottom of the game board when the game’s not being played.

Tapple Details
  • Ages 8+ (our older boys, 5 and 7, also enjoyed playing)
  • 2-8 players
  • 10-20 minutes to play (or as long as you want to keep going!)
Our Tapple Experience

playing TappleMy boys both loved Tapple so much they wanted to take it to a family party, where we taught our cousins, Grandma, and Auntie how to play.  It was a great way to bring all ages together for some fun rather than everyone going off on their own.

The box says no spelling required, and for the most part that’s true.  We had a few incidents where one of the kids tried to use words for the wrong letters (like pressing down the “s” key for “celery”), but other than that the only real limitation is vocabulary.  That’s where my boys tended to get tripped up and the “ages 8+” guideline makes sense.  We all enjoyed the game so much, however, that we just modified the rules a bit when playing with only them.

Wonky: The Crazy Cubes Card Game

Wonky
Wonky is a fun building game that might drive a perfectionist crazy.  It consists of nine wooden cubes (each with three flat sides and three slightly curved sides) and a set of 54 “strategy cards” that instruct you as to which block to try to stack next.  If the tower falls on your turn, you have to draw three more cards.  Players win by being the first one to use all their cards (or successfully stacking the ninth block).

Wonky Details
  • Ages 8+
  • 2+ players
Our Wonky Experience

playing WonkyAgain, even though my boys were below the suggested age level, they both enjoyed Wonky and requested it multiple times.  They had a little trouble stacking the blocks, but since that’s the whole point of the game it didn’t really bother them.  I was probably the most frustrated player.  My goal wasn’t so much to win as to build the tower, so I could only take the game for so long as time after time the boys knocked it down and stacked blocks so it would fall for the next person (which is actually a good way to win).  Eventually I just got the game out on my own one time to try building the tower (which I never managed to do)!  No one else seemed to struggle with that aspect, however, so this perfectionistic mama decided to just let this be a game for the rest of the family.

About USAopoly

USAopoly has been creating popular board games since 1994, including both original games and special editions of classic board games.  If your family likes games as much as ours, be sure to visit the USAopoly website to check out more of what they have to offer.  And if you want to know what other Crew families thought of Tapple and Wonky, click the banner below to read more reviews!

USAopoly Review
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Posted in Homeschool Resources, Parenting Resources

Christopher Columbus from YWAM Publishing (Crew Book Review)

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YWAM biographies
In recent years it seems like Christopher Columbus has been presented more as a villain than a hero in the history lessons taught in American schools.  When viewed through a modern lens, it is easy to condemn those who lived in the past, but I think Columbus is an important historical figure for my children to know about, so I was excited to have a chance to review Christopher Columbus: Across the Ocean Sea and the corresponding Unit Study Curriculum Guide, part of the Heroes of History series from YWAM Publishing.

About the Book

In the 208-page softcover book (also available in various e-book formats),book cover Janet and Geoff Benge tell the story of Columbus’ life all the way from his childhood in Genoa through his death.  An early interest in sailing and later experience in mapmaking birth in him a desire to set out across the Pacific to find a way around the globe to the East.  After an unsuccessful attempt to find support with the King of Portugal, Columbus eventually manages to convince the King and Queen of Spain to finance his mission.  After crossing the ocean, he spends many years exploring the islands he discovers, but faces many trials and disappointments due to the political situations on both side of the Pacific.

About the Unit Study Curriculum Guide

The Unit Study Curriculum Guide is currently available on CD-ROM and requires a flash player to run.  The disk contains three main parts:

  • brief biography of Christopher Columbus
  • unit study
  • about the authors (with video interviews)

CD-ROM Main Screen
There are also separate overviews with ideas for using the entire Heroes of History series in classroom, homeschool, and group settings.  The 17-page homeschool overview was obviously created by someone familiar with the differences between classrooms and home education.  I appreciated the organizational chart provided to help families read through several books in the series on either a 1-year or 2-year track in studying American history.  (They suggest choosing one book from each time period, but it would be easy to read through more than that, especially on the 2-year track.)  I also really liked that they broke down suggestions into “Parent-Directed Study” and “Student-Directed Study,” allowing the study guide to be helpful for a wide range of homeschooling styles.

The 80-page unit study itself is an incredibly rich resource, full of ideas for using the book as a launching pad for lessons in multiple subjects, such as history, geography, writing, reading comprehension, public speaking, drama, and art.  There are far more ideas than you could ever use, so you and your children can pick which ones will work best with their interests and learning styles.  Here’s glimpse at some of what’s included:

  • Key quotes (great for copywork)
  • Questions to go along with each chapter
  • Suggestions for projects, essay and creative writing prompts, etc.
  • Field trip ideas
  • Ideas for further study (related themes to explore, lists of books, videos,  specific National Geographic articles, websites)
  • Reproducibles (fact sheet, maps, timeline with events for students to fill in)

Our Experience

I have been familiar with the Christian Heroes Then & Now series that is also put out by YWAM Publishing, so I had some idea of what to expect from Christopher Columbus: Across the Ocean Sea.  The book itself is still a bit beyond Ian’s reading level, but it worked well as a read aloud.  Some days we read a whole chapter, and other days I only read part of a chapter, but Ian had no trouble following the story, and we stopped a lot to pull out the globe to find the places about which we were reading.

Honestly, I like Columbus a little less after reading this book.  While he is not portrayed as villainous as many modern historians would have us view him, neither does he seem a likely candidate for a series about “Heroes of History.”  However, because of its balanced approach, I think the book is a great starting point for discussions about respecting people, how to share the gospel cross-culturally, how people in different time periods viewed things differently, and so much more.  While reading about the treatment of the natives Columbus and his countrymen encountered, it is easy to jump to judgment and issue a blanket condemnation.  At times Columbus’ attitude and his pride are less than admirable.  Yet at the same time, I think it’s important to help my children understand that people in his day didn’t always think the same way we do, and there is still much about Columbus’ adventurous spirit, determination, and persistence that can set a powerful example for those of us reading his story.

Because of Nathaniel’s unexpected early arrival, we weren’t able to do much more than just read through the book and study locations on the globe. However I did spend some time exploring the study guide CD-ROM, and I was beyond impressed with the thoroughness of the unit study and the wide variety of suggestions.  I’ve seen these study guides at conventions, but I never realized what a treasure they are!  When we get to this time period in our history studies I could easily go a bit crazy incorporating some the ideas included here.  I will definitely keep these books and unit studies in mind over the next few years, because they are a rich resource that will help my children absorb details about the time period being studied in a fun, engaging way.  Members of the Crew reviewed many different titles from the Heroes of History and other YWAM series, so to find out more, click the banner below to read their reviews!

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YWAM Publishing Review
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Wrapping Up Week 9 (2015-16)

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Weekly Wrap Up 2015-16
 Whew!  What a crazy five days we had last week!  I really needed the weekend to recover.  Several of the kids’ activities started up, and it may take us a while to feel settled with the schedule for this fall:

  • Writing class
  • Music classes (choir, handchimes, composer study, and more)
  • Wrestling twice a week for the older boys
  • Ballet/tap for Arianna
  • Trail Life USA for the older boys
  • the last few weeks of swimming lessons

Add to that a beach day (turned park day) with homeschool friends, and it’s amazing we got anything done at all over the course of the week!  For the last few years I’ve been very deliberate about keeping our schedule light, but we’re testing the waters this fall to see how we do with so much going on.

This week in our Preschool

It seems like many schools have gotten so focused on academics these days, that they’re neglecting classic early childhood activities.  No such problems here!  Arianna and Elijah spent HOURS this past week playing with blocks.  I was amazed at some of the structures Elijah built.  (You’d think I’d have a nice picture here to show off my future engineer’s genius, wouldn’t you?  There goes that Mom of the week award.)

Science

In Our Weather & Water (our first term’s book in God’s Design for Heaven and Earth) we read about tsunamis.  I remember as a kid having a mental picture of tsunamis that must have come from Hollywood, so I wanted my children to have a more realistic idea of what a tsunami looked like and how much damage it could cause even if it didn’t look like the movies.  We watched a couple YouTube videos of actual tsunamis, which really made an impression.  (Then we watched one of those crazy fictional accounts, talking about how different it was.)

Crazily enough, we had a beach day planned with our homeschool friends on Thursday, and we had to cancel it because of a tsunami advisory for our part of the California coast following a major earthquake in Chile.  It really brought our lesson home!  I think the disappointment my kids would normally have felt was actually lessened by the cool factor of the possibility of an actual tsunami.  Thankfully there was little to report after the day had come and gone, but it helped make science an exciting subject for the week.

A few final thoughts

I’m so thankful for the weeks we spent earlier in the summer trying to establish routines for the boys to work through their lessons independently.  That was the only reason they were able to get through 99% of their scheduled work for the week.

Elijah beltI’m also really thankful for the chance to get the boys involved in wrestling.  It’s a great sport for our family because their smaller size doesn’t put them at an automatic disadvantage, and it gives them a positive outlet for all that “boy energy” that threatens to drive this mama crazy at times.  They absolutely love it, and it was wonderful to see the gleam in their eyes as they set about trying to get the best of their opponents.

Upcoming Reviews

We’re enjoying several products right now, so watch for these reviews in the next few weeks:

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Wrapping Up Week 8 (2015-16)

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Weekly Wrap Up 2015-16
 ballet prayer-001We are officially back to school.  (Week 7 was more of a trial run, but I counted it because we did quite a bit of schoolwork over our summer break to make up for lighter days I knew would be ahead.)  The boys resumed the majority of their subjects this past week (with the exception of spelling and handwriting because I just wasn’t that on top of things). Arianna’s worship ballet class started up again.  And now that our long lost printer has been found and set up (Hallelujah!), I feel like we’re finally moved in and life is back to normal.

Read Alouds

I debated about going back to Michael Polpurgo’s retelling of Beowulf after these past several weeks off, but Ian didn’t resist at all when I picked it up again, and we finished it in less days than I had planned because he was into it.

I love being able to tie in quality literature with our history studies, especially since Ian is doing all his history lessons online through the Veritas Press Self-Paced History Course (Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation) so I’m not as involved as I was last year.  I try to sit in on it most days, but I’m not always able to be there for the whole lesson.  I’ve already learned so much, as has Elijah, just from being in the room when Ian’s lessons are displayed on the television as we works!  Sharing stories helps me enjoy his history studies even more.

Veritas Press has several literature selections that go along with the lessons, but there are many weeks with nothing assigned or others with books we’ve already read recently, so I’ve put together a list of additional books I’d like to read together on those weeks.  Just planning out the rest of our history reading for the year this week got me so excited for the months ahead and the wonderful stories we’ll get to explore together.

In addition to our historical literature, I want to continue reading plenty of chapter books with Ian just for fun.  By taking turns picking books, I have a chance to share some of the classic literature I know he wouldn’t pick up on his own as well as some of my childhood favorites while still letting him experience the joy of making his own choices.  This week we finished Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe, and we were so excited to move on to the next book in the series (Howliday Inn) that I forgot it was my turn to choose.

Bunnicula  Howliday Inn
Ian wants to keep going through the series, but I told him he’ll have to wait through my selections.  I keep telling him he could just read them himself, but he prefers listening, so it may take us a while to make it through the rest of the books if his interest holds.  Even if he’s not yet compelled to pick up books to read by himself, I’m glad he enjoys them so much.  He’s already determined to help Nathaniel enjoy family read alouds.

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Independent Learning

Language Skills

All three kids spent time on Reading Eggs this week.  I need to have Arianna repeat lessons more often, because while she does okay online, what she’s learning just doesn’t seem to transfer to reading from real books.  We sat down this week to spend time reading together and it proved to be a frustrating experience for us both.  I’m not sure whether the problem is that she’s really not understanding or just that she lacks confidence.  She still so young I don’t want to push her at all, but it seems odd that she can do things in Reading Eggs but not offline.

Both boys are also working through units in Elementary (K-2) Spanish from Middlebury Interactive Languages.  Last year Ian completed the first semester while Elijah watched and occasionally did a few lessons.  This time I’m having Elijah work through the first semester on his own while Ian has moved on to the second.  I really wish I could give them more opportunities to converse in Spanish, but I barely know more than they do (and I’m sure they’ll surpass me soon), and so far I haven’t found a way to make that happen.

Math

Elijah is almost through the 1st grade lessons on CTCMath.com.  I’m not sure what I’m going to have him do after that.  I guess he can just move onto 2nd grade, but at some point I think I’m going to want to have him settle a bit more.  Maybe I’ll try to supplement with another program so he doesn’t go too quickly through the lessons.

Ian has been plowing away at Teaching Textbooks Math 3, completing 5 lessons (plus any quizzes) each week, but since there are only 118 lessons altogether, I’m going lighten up his weekly load a bit as we start up our music classes on Friday as well as a writing class on Tuesdays.  As I was planning for the rest of the year I jotted down some notes to keep us on pace to make sure he does at least get through all the lessons this year, but I think we’ll have lots of wiggle room.  I doubt he’ll have any interest in trying to move up to the next grade level a little early.

Upcoming Reviews

We’re enjoying several products right now, so watch for these reviews in the next few weeks:

Posted in Weekly Wrap Up

The Plans I Have For You by Amy Parker (Book Review)

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We were recently given the chance to review a copy of a delightful new children’s book: The Plans I Have For You by Amy Parker.  From the first time I read it, I was thoroughly charmed.  The book conveys a powerful, important message for children about how God wants to use them, no matter what careers they may choose.  The simple rhyming text by Parker and cheerful, colorful illustrations by Vanessa Brantley-Newton capture readers’ attention on every page.

The title of the book comes from a familiar verse from the Bible: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'” Jeremiah 29:11. It’s a verse that is often thrown about with little regard for its original place in Scripture, so I was a bit wary when we first received the book.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that apart from being printed on the inside cover, the verse doesn’t appear in the actual text of the book, where it would most likely be used out of context in a way I don’t care to model for my children.  Instead, Parker explores the deeper idea that God knows our futures and He does indeed have plans for each of us.

The book is told as a message to children from God.  Its main idea is that whatever career they may choose, God has a plan to use them, whether that be as a nurse, a zookeeper, and entomologist… whatever!  “You are my hands and my feet there on Earth.  I’ve given you a purpose— it’s been there since birth!”  Throughout the book, children are pictured using their talents in various ways (painting, cooking, dancing, playing sports or musical instruments) and encouraged to do the jobs God is counting on them to accomplish.  “Remember that I, who made the whole world, made YOU.  And there’s nothing that, with my help, YOU can’t do!”

I would have loved at least one picture of a mom tackling the monumental task of discipling her children, but I’ll settle for the part about finding your passion and trusting God to “send you BIG jobs to be inspired about!”  I think the message of this book is so important for children to grasp.  It’s not just pastors and missionaries who do God’s work.  Doctors, construction workers, and scientists are all used by God for specific purposes as well.  Amy Parker has done wonderful job of sharing God’s heart in an exciting way that I hope will stick with my children in the years to come as they learn about the plans He has for each of them.

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Easing Back into School (Wrapping Up Week 7)

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Weekly Wrap Up 2015-16
cutest newborn everWe’re settling into life with our little one and trying to find our new “normal” now that Nathaniel is part of family life. (Is he not one of the cutest newborns ever???  I’m so in love!) This week I started preparing the older boys for getting back to our school schedule.  We touched a little on history and math (we’d squeezed in our full week’s worth of science the day before Nathaniel surprised us with his early arrival), but mostly we spent hours every day reading aloud.

In the chaos of the first couple weeks after the baby was born, the kids had used up at least a month’s worth of screen time.  I was so tired of having the television on that this week I just announced that there would be no more watching shows until after everyone’s afternoon naps.

Baby-IslandAs the kids sat down for lunch on Monday, I grabbed an old childhood favorite, Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink.  (I figured if there was ever a time when my boys might be willing to sit through a story about two girls and a bunch of babies, this was it.  They loved it!)  We read through the entire book before bedtime that day because every time I went to put it down Ian would beg for more.

I decided to take turns choosing chapter books to read together, and over the course of the week we finished two more and started into another.  Ian’s first selection was The Deadly Curse of Toco-Rey (Cooper Kids Adventure Series #6) by Frank E. Peretti.  When we’d gotten through that one I picked The Witches by Roald Dahl, and we finished out the week reading the first couple chapters in Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe, which we already read a couple years ago but Ian wanted to read again.  (Can you tell he loves anything with a hint of spookiness? Not my favorite genre, but all of these met with my approval and made him feel like he was getting a special treat since I usually don’t allow the ones he picks at the public library.  These were all from our family’s collection.)

Toco Rey   witches   Bunnicula

I love seeing Ian getting excited about books.  Right now I have lots of time to sit and read to him while I nurse the baby, but sometimes I have to turn down his requests, and I hope he’ll feel motivated to read more on his own when I’m not available.  And if all he got out of school this week was a deeper enjoyment of books, I’ll call it a successful week.

Posted in Weekly Wrap Up
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