The Long Winter

W and I finished reading The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I have read it so many times, yet reading the full book aloud was a wonderful experience. W took turns reading several chapters to me as well. We have had The Mild Winter here in New Hampshire this year, which was pretty unusual. So we have had to make due with imaginary snowballs and paper snowflakes for the most part (but I'll take that)!

See the flour in the drawer?

Ironically, our book club has been pushed back due to weather (the one day it was freezing rain/hail/snow here), so we will meet this Friday, barring inclement weather. We tried out the activity we had planned anyway last week, as I was not even sure it would work very well. We used an old fashioned coffee mill to grind wheat (using hard white wheat seed). It takes a couple of turns through the mill but it does wind up producing  flour. Next up, grinding enough to actually make bread. This will take a while. It was difficult enough for W to turn the crank so it showed him how hard it would have been for the Ingalls family to endlessly grind wheat to survive during their most difficult winter on the prairies of South Dakota.

Here are some highlights from W, age 6 and 11/12ths :)
"I liked the parts about Pa helping to dig out the train line, and the wheat in the wall that Almanzo had. I liked Merry Christmas when they were all excited, and Christmas in May. The chapters when Almanzo and Cap Garland went to find more wheat were good. And I liked when Almanzo made pancakes for himself and his brother."

Brrr!

It is the coldest day in about 6 years here in New England (therefore the coldest day in W's life so far). Our original plans to play in the snow were dashed as a result because I don't want anyone to get frostbite. W is working on a writing book and I am trying to remind him to write some thank you notes. His writing is slowly improving but he prefers to write in all capitals. I can see a big difference from the fall when the letters were all different sizes, now they are more uniform so he is getting there. He is chugging along with Math-U-See, and is now almost done with chapter 19 of the Primer. I should probably begin researching the next steps for this program so that we will have something to continue with this spring and summer.



Appropriately this week we will be reading Reuben and the Blizzard by Merle Good and P. Buckley Moss as a faux five in a row. It is a book we bought when we took a trip to Pennsylvania's Amish country in 2009. Our book club was rescheduled to this Friday due to last Friday's snowstorm. We only have a couple more chapters of Farmer Boy as our read aloud as well so he should be done by Friday and we will watch the Almanzo Wilder documentary with our homeschool book group. It is available through the childhood home of Almanzo in Malone (Burke, NY).

Over the weekend the boys got to visit with their cousin & uncle and go to a bookstore which was a nice treat for all of us. On Sunday we were signed up to bring the food for coffee hour at church and that went off well (kind of glad to have the stress of that done with) and we enjoyed bible study in the evening as they provide a babysitter and we got to hear the band rehearse too. :)

New Year

It is back to homeschool reality after the holidays. It was fun having Jacob around the house, and our Christmas season stretched into the New Year and we all enjoyed it. W was eager to jump back into his usual routines. The snow which the boys enjoyed so much is now melted away and hardened into icy patches. The snow people have gone away for now, but are sure to be reincarnated after the next big snowfall. Last week we "rowed" Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton, not the perfect week for it but it was still seasonal. W was already familiar with the story and it has nice illustrations that the readers can spend a long time looking at and discussing (especially the Geoppolis map page). It gets kids thinking about directions.

This year I couldn't bring myself to make resolutions, although one thing I am striving for is finding a way for myself and the boys to keep active inside even though it is freezing outside. Some solutions which I have found extremely helpful include: indoor basketball, dancing to CDs (especially Imagination Movers and Taylor Swift), the Fisher-Price SmartCycle (Toy Story, Thomas the Tank Engine & Bob the Builder games), and yoga for kids DVDs that we can do together. So far I have resisted the rather strong urge to invest in a "real" video gaming system now that there are some neat interactive games on the market now although I would refuse to buy anything violent. I was never much for video games (in fact my Mom used to be much better at me on the original Nintendo Mario, she was the original gamer Mom!)

Today we are "rowing" a non- Five in a Row book but one that could easily be one: The Year at Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen. It covers each month and shows the changes that each season brings to the animals of the farm. We are also reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder as a family read-aloud, and have a book club meeting coming up next week so we are working on quilt blocks as a long term project. January is actually a great month for reading both of these books, which begin in January and each span a year.

       

Currently Reading - January 2010

This year I plan on posting some favorite books each month. Some will be seasonal or to go along with a theme, but many will likely be some favorites that we enjoy reading together often. The boys received some wonderful books for Christmas (and C’s birthday). W is taking pride in being able to read the BOB series of books on his own.

January 2010

· Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton

· Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton

· Winter Days in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (My first Little House book)

· Winter on the Farm by L.I. Wilder (See above)

· BOB books Set One: Beginning Readers by Bobby Lynn Maslen

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Suess

· My First Signs (Baby signing)

Sledding

oops, chasing the sled :D

We went sledding two times before Christmas (well, W and J did the sledding part while C and I played in the snow). W had never been before, and loved it. Last year with a newborn we hadn't gotten a chance to take him, but he surprised us and took right to it. The second day we had the opportunity to meet up with several homeschoolers and all the kids enjoyed sledding despite the cold weather (the Moms on the other hand got cold quickly!) C liked sitting in the snow although it was pretty cold so after a while he got fussy both times. Now that most of the snow is gone here I am finally getting a chance to upload pictures. It is still extremely cold out however. ;) W cannot wait for a storm that will provide the elusive "snowman snow" as this stuff was very fluffy and did not pack into snowballs or men at all.

We had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed our family parties. Between C's first birthday being in early December and then preparing for the holidays the whole month seemed to fly. I can hardly believe that it is almost 2010! Have a happy New Year! I have learned a lot this past year and now we are unschooling for preK. I look forward to all that this year brings in our homeschooling journey.