SOTW: The more things change...

The more they stay the same. How little the world has really changed over the span of humanity, only now they put it on TV and tweet about it. W is learning about the Middle Kingdom of Egypt for history and ancient people and dictators fighting for power, all while the news of the death of Gaddafi is in the headlines. It certainly puts things into perspective! When I asked W where Libya was he said without hesitation "next to Egypt". He remembered it from our lesson maps and the GeoPuzzle.

I have been stretching the Middle Kingdom lesson into a few days and today we listened to the CD and did the narration. W and C also made "golden" Nubian bracelets with yellow card-stock and they attempted making sock monkeys with beans. We are about to head into the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt and some Bible stories which he has covered in Sunday School, so I think by hearing these again they will sink in more with W, though he may surprise me at how much he remembers.

Geography Puzzles

Last week during a rainy day W and I did puzzles that tied in with our Giraffe that Walked to Paris theme, as well as studying about Africa. We used the GeoPuzzles for the continents of Africa and Europe. I helped him form the outline and then asked him if he could find the interior pieces and he turned them around until they fit.

We used a yoga mat to keep the puzzles stabilized. They are made of sturdy cardboard and most of the pieces are shaped like the countries. I showed W how they overlapped yet it looked like Europe was zoomed in since it has some smaller countries. These puzzles are fun for all ages and a great way of learning about countries all around the world. We often use Google Maps and Google Earth as well when focusing on particular countries for FIAR or seeing "directions" in our stories, like how the Giraffe Walked to Paris, or where the ingredients came from in How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.

Full Fall Days

We have been having a good week. I am feeling really happy with where we are at in general. W is rolling along with Story of the World (Ch 10, W began Ancient China today), Math-U-See (Ch 5 Alpha), science supplements, Explode the Code 1 1/2 and Printing Power workbooks among many other things. Today we made pizza dough for homemade pizza to go along with the book we are rowing this week, Little Nino's Pizzeria. That post will be once we have the photos of the finished product. ;) Anyway, this was something both boys enjoyed using their measuring cups and seeing how the yeast changes and makes the dough rise.

This week we hosted our FIAR co-op here Monday, and went to another homeschool co-op yesterday. So far the focus has been on the New England states. The kids listened to a book on the Nashua River called A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History. Then one of the moms did a presentation. The kids brought in some rocks, leaves and twigs to add to a large container of water to see that once they settled, natural things did not hurt the water. Then they added in paint and oil, and quickly they got the idea of what should not go into the water supply! They also read One Morning in Maine, we have been on a Robert McCloskey kick lately for sure.

W has been enjoying this co-op, but I find it challenging to keep C entertained through the whole thing. He sits down and listens to stories at home, but his attention span is better for short stories, and his energy level is high. It is an afternoon co-op at the time he usually takes a nap at home. They had a variety of puzzles and activities so he did pretty well, and since this was our 3rd time going I felt more comfortable with him doing his own thing.

FIAR: How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

Last week W chose to row How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. We had done this one last year and recently the geography co-op we're in read Marjorie Priceman's other book How to Make a Cherry Pie and see the USA, so he had a renewed interest in this theme. Not to mention there is pie in the title, and it is apple season here, so he knew he was guaranteed an opportunity to help make a pie! He helped measure ingredients, squeeze lemon juice on our apples as I cut them, stir, and put the pie bird in.

W's pie

We utilized our GeoPuzzles and maps for this one to locate all of the places mentioned in the book. I printed out a sequence- matching card game created by Karen Prior at FIARCircle.com. We laminated and cut out the cards so we can reuse it and keep it in W's FIAR notebook. It came out great and inspired me to use the laminator more often. I had to chuckle when reading Pioneer Woman's blog post about her new-found obsession with her laminator. It is a common sickness with homeschooling Moms around the world. ;)

See the pretty cards? We made a NH card with the blank one for "Home". He had fun putting all of the modes of transporation, food ingredients, and places in the right order. 

This week we are rowing W's "favorite Five in a Row book so far" according to him: Salamander Room by Anne Mazer. Wish us luck in finding a salamander or newt in the woods this week. He is on the hunt!

What we're using this year (part 1)

It’s been a while since I did a post on the curriculum we’re using (besides FIAR of course). This year first grade was a bit more intimidating, although I know it shouldn’t be. We sent our first letter of intent to homeschool in July. That felt very liberating, but after that the need to plan for this year set in. We are not using a box curriculum and haven't yet, so planning each subject was a wee bit overwhelming at first. Now that we are a couple of weeks into our routines I am seeing what works and what can wait a while. I find that with W just leaving books that I want him to read around the house will work almost by osmosis, since he loves reading most anything. I will break this post into a few posts by subjects.

Math

W is using Math-U-See Alpha this year, which he started last spring after finishing their Primer, but took a break on over the summer. As we started our first week he got a bit frustrated (mainly the writing part) so next summer we may keep doing some worksheets more often. He loves math but sometimes it is a chore to sit down to do workbook pages, but he loves the Math-U-See blocks and even little C can join him in building towers and bridges with them. W finished up Chapter 3 and is starting Chapter 4 this week. We didn’t watch the DVD lesson overview for 3 (How I’ve missed Steve!) We will catch up on that this week. As Math supplements W has Kumon workbooks on Geometry and Counting Money, as well as the board game Sum Swamp.

Science

First grade is traditionally supposed to be when you learn about how your body works. You know, organs, muscles, skeleton, etc. Unfortunately, W is totally freaked out by anything like this right now, so we will ease into that gradually. He prefers to focus on Astronomy, so for now that is the plan. W loves the book A Child’s Introduction to The Night Sky by Michael Driscoll. He also likes doing experiments, and has a mini weather station that his Grandpa gave him set up on the deck to check the wind speed, temperature and rainfall totals. W is also keeping a nature journal and I encourage him to observe things outside to notice all the details of the local wildlife and changing seasons. I want to work in a few more trips to the Aquarium in this year as well, especially to see some feeding times and shows for the animals like the penguins and sea lions.

History

Initially I resisted buying a history curriculum, as W learns a lot by reading books, but something drew me to the Story of the World. I am drawn to history. Yes, even census records and some dry facts, but I know most people aren’t. W isn’t necessarily drawn to it unless he understands the context, the story that it tells. This curriculum is Classical in approach but it is very accessible. We went ahead and ordered The Story of the World with the workbook for Volume 1 (Ancient Civilizations) and the book on CD. We have so far made an archeology dig in the sandbox, learned about the Fertile Crescent and are working on the Egyptians this week. One of the projects is mummifying a chicken, but I don’t think I’m ready for that one yet! I love the workbook, and we are keeping a notebook with printouts of the pages along with a journal for narration and W’s illustrations along the way. Adults can brush up on their history knowledge with this book as well; I am excited about introducing timelines to W! :)

Geography

We are members in a local geography co-op which just started up last week. The co-op will travel the United States through literature so it is a great way of learning of the different regions of our country. We also have 2 GeoPuzzles for the US & Canada, and Europe. W likes them as puzzles so it is kind of a sneaky way to work in learning about other places while he’s at it! They are tactile maps and many of the European puzzle pieces are the same shapes as the countries. I am planning to get some of the other GeoPuzzles for Christmas this year. W also subscribes to Highlights’ “Which Way USA?” as a supplement.

Coming soon: books and curricula we like for literature, grammar, writing, spelling, spiritual development, art, languages, exercise, an overview of unit studies we're planning for this fall/winter, and a C update.

FIAR: They Were Strong and Good

This week is a shorter week due to our Labor Day holiday which was spent at the Pawtucket Red Sox game in RI. We also met for our first Geography themed homeschool Co-op this week so there went half of Wednesday. :) Therefore, I chose a book which didn't have as many accompanying activities for this “four” in a row week. 

They Were Strong and Good by Robert Lawson is a simplistic tale of the narrator’s parents and grandparents. These include a Scottish Sea Captain, a Dutch girl who lived in NJ, and a Southern preacher. His father fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, so this book is a gentle way to introduce this time period. 

The lovely ink illustrations outshine the story, but there is plenty of food for thought. The book was written in 1940, so it does come across as dated. If the same kind of story were written in 2011, I would hope that the overall theme would be the ancestors written about were human. That would make it easier for any generation to relate to the people who came before us. We all may like to believe our ancestors were perfect beings, but they dealt with similar struggles in their everyday lives as we do today. It is important to keep that in mind instead of idolizing people. This can be said for historical figures, leaders and celebrities as well. /tangent

As Genealogy is a hobby of mine, we have done some lessons to look at census records and photos of W’s own ancestors on both sides of the family, and made a family tree. We talked about the countries that his own ancestors came from including Ireland, Italy, England, Scotland, and Germany. We have the Europe GeoPuzzle so that is useful for learning the shapes of the countries and locating them on a map. He also learned about one of his own Civil War ancestors who was from New Hampshire. W thought it was cool that he was a farmer and lived in the same state that we do.

Resources for They Were Strong and Good can be found at Homeschool Share and googling printables for the states and occupations mentioned. Check out Ancestry.com to build your own family tree online, or print out a basic chart for your child to fill out.

Next week begins our monthly Five in a Row Co-op with some other homeschooling families. We are excited to share ideas and choose a story for September and October that other kids will “row” along with us. This will be our initial meeting and information session for parents who want to look at the curriculum materials before jumping in.

FIAR: Miss Rumphius

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney was our first Five in a Row book this fall. W made a lap book which he will keep in a binder together with other FIAR related stuff, so once he has enough material he can make a table of contents to find it. Miss Rumphius traveled the world to places where the snow never melted (like the Alps), deserts where she rode a camel, and ultimately she found a home by the sea in Maine. We used maps and geography puzzles to locate the places she went. 


Ms. Cooney’s artwork is just beautiful in this book. She also illustrated Ox-Cart Man which we are familiar with (and it is set in NH). For many of the printable resources we used for the lapbook this week, check out Homeschool Share.


Our garden is winding down, but W decided to plant lupine seeds next year so we will add it to a list for a garden plan for the spring. He also learned about different ways that seeds travel. He got to see that up close as well during a visit to the Ashumet Holly Preserve on Cape Cod this past weekend, as he had a few traveling seeds stuck to his sock.


Miss Rumphius plants many Lupine seeds to make the world more beautiful much to the delight of future generations of children. This book asks a thoughtful question to children and adults alike, what will you do in your life to make the world more beautiful?

excerpt from W's lapbook

This would definitely make the world more beautiful!  It took him all week to think of this, but it is sweet for sure. Future mission trips, perchance?

FIAR The Glorious Flight

I was not familiar with Alice and Martin Provensen before reading The Glorious Flight which is covered in Five in a Row Vol. 1. After this week, I will be looking to add some more of their books to our home library! W enjoyed The Glorious Flight, and it was a perfect book for FIAR since it has many different elements and you could really go in any direction with this one. First of all, for geography we covered England, France, and the English Channel. We also talked more about French culture and language which we had previously talked about when reading Madeline for FIAR. Other topics which applied to the book included art, language arts, history, inventors, the science behind flying and of course early aviation. Another great book about aviation is The Little Airplane by Lois Lenski, which is very descriptive of the mechanics of the airplane. Today to finish off the week we made paper airplanes and tried flying them outside. (Most of them were a little top heavy thanks to taped-on "propellers").

W finished the first book of Handwriting Without Tears "Letters and Numbers for Me" and was very enthusiastic about singing the song featured at the end of the book. He is on chapter 13 for Math-U-See (Addition Plus One) and I love watching that little light bulb go off as he figures out the problems. On Thursday we spent the day in Hudson with Aunt Julie, and then met with friends for the annual downtown trick or treat. It was such fun! Needless to say W didn't get much workbook work done that day, but we had a great time with his best friends from Hudson (A & his little sister C and their mommy). We will do a separate Halloween post (or re-cap post) in the next few of days.

I couldn't resist introducing W to the episode of one of my favorite television shows of all time Road to Avonlea entitled "Dreamer of Dreams" (Season 2), when Jasper Dale tries to invent a flying machine. Image courtesy of The Magic Lantern Road to Avonlea Epiosode Guide. W loves the kid scenes in Avonlea but doesn't quite know what to make of Mrs. Potts yet. But really, does anyone? :)

Early in the week, our picture books by post swap book arrived! Thanks to Zoe & her kids at Playing by the Book. W was thrilled to have a package to open and inside was Wendel's Workshop by Chris Riddell. It is a hilarious book to read aloud and also inspired W to learn more about inventors and robots. Thank you so much to our book swap partners!! W has read it dozens of times already. Your book is currently en route but I will let the title be a surprise when you receive it.

     

Apple Pie!

Last weekend we went apple and pumpkin picking at a local orchard. This week for Five in a Row we are reading How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. So of course the first thing we did Monday was make an apple pie following the recipe in the book using our freshly picked apples. The pie was delicious and W enjoys helping (his favorite thing was the egg wash on top of the crust). The pie did not last long enough to get a photo. We may make another for the weekend, and will still have many apples leftover for a big batch of applesauce. Next week we will be hosting a pumpkin painting party for a local homeschooling group so we will decorate the pumpkins the boys picked out.

In the book, many countries are visited while the girl gathers ingredients for apple pie (semolina wheat from Italy, a chicken to lay an egg from France, Cinnamon from Sri Lanka, and apples from Vermont to name a few). It reminded me a lot of Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle, which our family is very familiar with. Since we already read Madeline for FIAR, W recognized the Eiffel Tower from the artwork in the book. We had fun playing around with Google Earth "flying" from one country to another as well.

Today the sun has finally come back. We had several rainy days in a row, so it is nice to be able to play outside more finally! W helped me gather some of the many acorns that are covering our front yard to use for decorating. I also finished painting the bookcase we got at the Mill Store to put in our loft as a library/ homeschool center. I added adhesive chalkboard to the inside of the cabinet doors for the bottom part, so I will take photos once it is up.