4.4.11

We did very little in the way of official school last week. Adam got back from a missions trip to Nigeria and promptly came down with an illness that ended up being caused by campylobacter. He was out of commission all last week, even needing to go the ER to get fluids and antibiotics through an I.V. Thankfully he is feeling much better (still taking two different antibiotics, though) and was able to go back to work today.

As far as unofficial school, Adam educated us all about Nigeria: the people, the land, the work of him and the rest of the team, etc. Plus he had over 600 pictures and some video to show us.

One day a fellow homeschooling mom told us about a website that has a streaming video of a bald eagle's nest. Her son became fascinated with it and wanted to learn as much as he could about eagles. They decided to build an eagle's nest in their backyard and needed to gather sticks. They invited us on their stick-collecting outing at a local park. The boys certainly had fun in the woods picking up the best sticks and branches they could find. :)

Friday Jude made a bald eagle lapbook using print-outs and ideas from this website. He absolutely loved this project! I think we'll be doing more lapbooks in the future. It's a great way to quick off a unit study on a subject or reinforce something we already learned. Jude is very much into animals right now so I think I'll find another animal-related lapbook we can do (just as soon as I get more ink for our printer!).

Yesterday (Sunday) was one of those amazing weather days. After church we went to my parents' for lunch and spent the afternoon with them then came home and continued soaking up the warm air and beautiful sunshine. It go windier and windier throughout the day and night, and by this morning thick dark clouds had rolled in, foretelling rain. Thankfully, the temperature was still in the 70s early this morning AND Jude and Audrey got up before 7:30 a.m. so we were able to get outside to enjoy the last bit of warm air before the rain and cold.

After breakfast and playing outside, Jude did one page of addition in this math book and one page of handwriting. We continued reading about Martin Luther, learning that he was hidden in a castle as protection from those in the Roman Church that wanted to kill him. Our project for the rest of the morning was making castles out of cereal boxes wrapped in a aluminum foil with construction paper doors, windows, flags, etc. They turned out really well! I actually didn't think they would. :)

Part of our afternoon consisted of building a big tent in the living room - a pretty great rainy day activity, if you ask me. :)

3.23.11

Wasn't I supposed to be keeping up with this blog a little better than this? I think so. :)

Today we jumped back into homeschooling after taking some days off to soak in absolutely beautiful Spring weather. Highs in the 60s and 70s and SUNNY most of the time... how could we resist being outside?

Anyway, today we did a few different things. I allow Jude to choose what subject he wants to work on first and he almost always picks his favorite: math. He's practicing addition. He did one workbook page then used blocks similar to these to make up his own addition problems which he then wrote on his chalkboard. I've noticed he can give the answer to easy addition problems quickly, without thinking (something like 4+1 or 3+3).

Next I started reading about Martin Luther from his history book when we got side-tracked by the storm rolling in, which dropped marble-sized hail. That led to running outside after it stopped to pick up a bunch of pieces to save in the freezer, which led to videos on YouTube of much bigger hail, then  an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy about storms. In that episode there was a simple experiment we could do with a 2-liter bottle and water to make a tornado. The kids thought it was awesome and each took a few turns trying it, with my help. Luckily we had a 2-liter bottle we hadn't yet recycled. It was a quick and easy science activity.

After our little detour we got back to reading about Martin Luther.

Next it was on to science and a brief overview of the digestive system. We read about it in one of our human body books first. Then, I cut two different colors of yarn to the length of both the small and large intestines and laid them out on the floor, winding it around a bit. I had them do the science activity in this weeks unit (which was a little weird but they liked it). They crushed crackers with a fork (like chewing), then put the cracker crumbs into a Ziploc bag and added water (the stomach). As they walked along the yarn (intestines) they mushed up the crackers and water. All to represent digestion. 

Jude finished up his other work: handwriting and a couple pages about rhyming words in his Finding the Answers book.

We do most of our reading before bed. We read about five storybooks and three Spring-ish books: A Nest Full of Eggs, The Reason for a Flower, and God Made Birds (which is apparently of print but has great pictures in it. I think the copy we have was mine when I was little).

Today was one of those really great homeschooling days. We didn't do anything spectacular. We followed the curriculum but also ended up doing something unplanned: learning cool things about storms and doing a fun experiment. Stopping in the middle of the work we're "supposed" to be doing to take a great opportunity to observe and learn about hail and thunderstorms, just wouldn't happen in a regular public school. I love homeschooling.

2.25.11

This morning we woke up to a dusting of snow (will winter ever go away??) and it just seemed right to stay inside for the morning. The kids watched a little bit of TV but even though they woke up about an hour earlier than usual, they were wide awake and ready to play. At this point, I can't remember exactly what they were playing but they were getting along and I was able to straighten the house, get a shower, and do some laundry. At some point in the morning there was a dance party to some dance music CD of Adam's from 1996. :) Jude wore himself out dancing all around the living room.

This afternoon, after running two quick errands, we played games - literally for a few hours! Jude and Audrey took turns bringing out games to play. We had a lot of fun! :) Then there was, of course, Wild Kratts, jumping on the bed, dressing-up, eating dinner, then straight to bed because they were pretty much exhausted!

2.22.11

I forgot to mention yesterday that we read a bunch of books before bed, including Hop on Pop. Jude read about three-fourths of that book on his own! I'm really starting to see reading "click" with him - it's so cool to witness! I was getting worried about teaching him reading and I was kind of avoiding it, thinking it would be too hard or that I'd mess it up somehow. It's not that we weren't doing anything, because we were and do, but I wasn't purposely doing a reading lesson each day. Somehow, though, it's been sinking it. Imagine that! ;)

Today we went to the library and he picked out four comic book-type books (two Star Wars and two Transformers). I read one to him tonight and then he was looking at another by himself while I read half a chapter of The Wind in the Willows and he was picking out words, as well as sounding them out. :) He might not have been listening to what I was reading about Rat, Mole, and Toad but that's okay. The best thing about it all is how proud he is of himself when he is able to figure out words on his own!

Today's other learning highlights:

• Jude finished digging out his T-Rex dinosaur bones (with a little help from mom and a hammer). He assembled the bones. The plaster made a giant mess in the kitchen but was so worth it. He was incredibly excited to dig out, clean off, and identify each bone.
• More necklace making, while I cleaned up all the plaster dust on the table and kitchen floor from the dinosaur dig.
• Audrey completed MANY pages in her new maze workbook, as well as a few in her numbers workbook.
• Jude completed about three 1-to-100 connect-the-dots and several mazes. He also did about five pages in a first grade phonics workbook AND he finished his first math book! 
• We read about how God keeps His promises. We are also starting to read the New Testament in Jude's picture Bible.
• We took a trip to the library to return books and get new ones. This time I limited Jude and Audrey to seven books each. This way, we'll go to the library more often (a good thing!) and they aren't overwhelmed by a large number of books. 
• Wild Kratts, of course. This time about elephants.

I really need to remember to take pictures during the day!

2.21.11

This afternoon we ventured out into the rain to United Art and Education. That is probably one of my favorite stores. What is better than a store filled with all kinds of educational and artistic goodies? Not much - and the kids agree! We looked for over an hour and picked up several things that we were drawn to.

I picked up a few different activity books for Jude and Audrey: connect the dots, mazes, phonics (Jude), and numbers (Audrey).  I also bought a blow up globe since we have friends in other countries and Adam will be traveling to Nigeria next month on a mission trip. Jude asks often where in the world different countries are and I thought it would be nice to show him on a globe rather than a flat map. I also got a 1 lb. bag of assorted plastic beads and some kind of plastic string to use to make necklaces and bracelets.

Jude and Audrey each picked out a dinosaur to dig out of plaster. They also wanted owl pellets (synthetic - thank goodness!).

After we got home they went right into trying to dig out their dinosaur bones. It really is hard work and they gave up after 15 minutes or so and moved on to dissecting the owl pellets. They both thought that was pretty neat. Jude had fun identifying which bones were what and trying to reconstruct the mole.  Audrey lost interest before Jude did and she moved on to working on her connect-the-dots book.

Next up was stringing beads to make necklaces which lasted for almost an hour.

Then, of course, they had to watch Wild Kratts on PBS. I like that it's on right about when I need to start making dinner - it makes it easier to cook when I don't have to worry about how the kids might act during the "witching hour" that seems to come at that time of day! 


Today was fun! It's always nice to get a few new things to explore and keep them busy on a rainy day and at the end of a long winter.



Side note: I really need to start taking pictures every day of the things we do! I think it would make my blog more interesting. :)

2.17.11 (Thursday)

Again, today was just too nice to spend inside doing schoolwork! The temperature was warm but the wind was blowing strong. We had lunch out, went to the park for awhile, visit with my parents and went out to dinner with them. Our morning was a tough one but once we got out in the afternoon, everything was fine.

One of things I love about homeschooling is that when we want a day (or a few) off, we can take them. Jude is so far ahead in his schoolwork right now that it isn't a problem if we skip school to thoroughly enjoy great weather. I anticipate doing this quite a bit once April rolls around so I'm sure we'll be working hard once it gets cold again  so that we can take off on perfect-weather-days.

We finished reading the first Hardy Boys book. Jude was very much excited to finish it. Tonight before bed we read an Ameila Bedelia book but I'm sure we'll be diving in to another chapter book pretty soon.

Both Jude and Audrey absolutely love the show Wild Kratts on PBS. I don't mind that they watch it because they really are learning about animals. All throughout the day Jude will inform me of all sorts of different animal facts that he learned while watching. He's also had a renewed interest in wild animals because of Wild Kratts so we've gotten animal books and magazines at the library recently, and he's been playing with his animal figures again.

I much prefer his interest in animals and Hardy Boys books to his Star Wars obsession (which seems to be waning for now)! :)

2.16.11

So yesterday felt like Spring and it was just way too beautiful out to stay inside. I didn't have Jude do any school work but there was plenty of outdoor play all afternoon - something we all desperately needed after so many cold, dreary winter days.

We did read two more chapters in the first Hardy Boys book before bed. Three more and then we're done! Jude is getting very anxious to find out what happens.

2.15.11 (a Tuesday)

After a morning spent straightening the house up (me) and playing (Jude and Audrey), we ate lunch, then sat down to do some schoolwork. I've found that it generally works better for us if 1) I'm able to do my chores around the house first thing and 2) the kids are able to fully wake up, play awhile, and eat plenty before we start school.

Yesterday we ended up not doing school officially. Of course, there is always learning taking place and skills being practiced ... like the kids making Valentine cards for their great-grandparents, nature documentaries being watching, and just talking about anything they ask questions about.

Today Jude did two pages in his Handwriting Without Tears workbook (lowercase "i"). His writing workbook is his least favorite thing to do. If he has writing to do in some other way, I allow him to skip this.

He is at the end of his first math book of the year, Early Kindergarten Math 2A. Math is one of his favorite subjects and he has very easily and quickly grasped every concept so far. Last Friday he learned about the fraction one-half. Today it was one-fourth. He folded and colored some paper, then cut it out. Upon unfolding it, there was the one-fourth colored, three-fourths uncolored. He did this with the one-half as well. He really liked this activity! He likes anything that is hands-on, it seems.

Jude also did a few pages in a rhyming workbook. This was something else that was very easy for him.

He isn't reading yet. Well, some. He has no trouble blending letter sounds or recognizing familiar words. He doesn't seem to have the confidence to read, yet he is very pleased with himself when he does. I'm hoping to really work with him on reading in the coming months. I was waiting because I want to be sure he is ready. I don't want to force him to learn to read... I want it to occur in a natural way so that he LOVES it. His interest in books is high (I mean, we're reading a Hardy Boys book that we started last week and are almost finished with and he has three more waiting in the wings) so I'm sure he will be an avid reader once he learns how.

Let's see, what else? We played outside at the park. We talked about and played with money - how many pennies are in a quarter, dime, nickel, how many quarters make a dollar, etc. We read two chapters of the first Hardy Boys book before bed tonight.

Coming up soon is details of what curriculum we are using and what additional books we use.

The Purpose and an "About Us"

This blog will be a journal of sorts - more for me than anyone else - to keep a record of all the things my two children do each day as we live life and homeschool. Often it's hard to differentiate between the two as we seem to constantly blend everyday life and learning - and how can we not do that?? It is so natural when you have the mindset that every thing is a learning opportunity and you've see the evidence that kids want to learn and they will and do learn all the time, without being forced. It's very neat to see it happening.

I consider us to be eclectic homeschoolers. When Jude was younger, we were definitely unschoolers. Now that he is six, we have started to follow a curriculum while still doing our own learning thing the rest of the time. Though we certainly haven't stuck to the curriculum hard and fast. In another post, I'll detail the ways we're ahead and behind.

If we were institutional schoolers, Jude would have started kindergarten this past Fall. Audrey (age three) is preschool age and always joins in when we sit down to "do school." She enjoys joining in when she can on whatever Jude is doing. She also has her own workbooks and activities to do when she wants.

Even though my kids are only six and three years old, my homeschooling philosophy has already changed from what I thought it would be six years ago when we first started researching homeschooling. I'm sure things will change again and again as Jude and Audrey get older. That's what I love about homeschooling: we can adapt our methods, curriculum, activities, and schedule to suit our kids as they grow and change. There's no better way than that to give Jude and Audrey the best education possible!