Little Men Namesake

   When we started the blog, I didn't go into much detail into the name choice. Our blog was named "Little Men" not just since we call our boys that sometimes, but also as a shout out to one of the lesser known books by the esteemed author Louisa May Alcott. She is famous for Little Women, but the sequels to the classic novel are usually not remembered. Good Wives is often seen as part two of the book and has been thus included in most publications. Little Men and Jo's Boys and How They Turned Out followed many of the lives of  the original characters from Little Women, and of course added new characters for the school for boys that Jo March Bhaer started up with her husband.

The books are available free online or cheaply on Kindle, and are a wonderful peek into a world long past. Children's literature was not LMA's favorite thing to write, but it gave her success and became what she was known for. If you are ever in Massachusetts, a visit to Orchard House and a jaunt over to Walden Pond to follow in the footsteps of Henry David Thoreau makes for a lovely literary day trip. When W gets a little older I will take him back, since the only other time he was at Orchard House he was in utero. :) The books will make for good family read alouds in the future.

I have a soft spot for Victorian literature, much of it is still relevant today in many ways and many of the gems of the past are just waiting to be enjoyed. The picture is courtesy of the Celebration of Women Writers web site which is a wonderful resource. There are lots of books available online that otherwise are difficult to find copies of, and extensive links to background information; a treasure trove for bookworms, history-philes, and homeschoolers.

  

FIAR book review: The Rag Coat

Last week we rowed The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills. The book deals with the concepts of loss, grieving,  friendship and acceptance. It is set in the Appalachian region although there is no specific state or town mentioned, so besides giving an overview of where the Appalachian Mountains are located, W wasn't too interested in the geography parts of our FIAR. As a science component he learned about coal, how it forms under the earth, and mining, and especially due to a news story about mining W appreciated how difficult that job is, and exclaimed he didn't think he would want to do that when he grows up. We were thrilled for the miners in Chile as they were rescued last week.

We listened to a lot of Bluegrass music, including Dolly Parton's touching song "Coat of Many Colors", which the book was partially based on. I think Dolly has even written a similar book based on her song. As a bluegrass fan myself, we do listen to it a lot anyway. :) Another appropriate song for the week was Brad Paisley's "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" which is about working in the mines in Kentucky.

W's favorite activity of the week was making a collage out of fabric bits he cut into a rag coat. The template he used was from the Aussie Pumpkin Patch blog's Free Lapbook printable. We also found another book set in the Appalachians at the library, When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant, which could have been a great book to row (I am going to keep that in mind for the future). W enjoyed learning about the johnny-house, and I think he is thankful we have modern day plumbing. He watched the pilot for Christy, which is probably more interesting to older kids (and adults, I enjoyed it more now than I did when I was growing up), as is the book of the same name by Catherine Marshall that the series is based on. The television show is beautifully shot and gives viewers an idea of the realities of poverty in the Appalachian region in the early 20th century.

For Math-U-See W is starting addition, which he has already been able to do in simple verbal problems for a while and loves it, and seems to be enjoying writing a bit more. He has been asking to do more with it lately so that is encouraging to me. Over the weekend we went to our local library booksale and found some great children's books (score!), and checked out the annual Pumpkin Festival in Keene, but that deserves it's own post.

    

Toddler Speak

In the past couple of weeks, I have noticed C using new words each day. Sometimes it surprises me. Last week before our pumpkin painting party, we had the pumpkins lined up on the rail of the deck, and all of a sudden he pointed and said "pumpkins!" Well, it didn't sound perfect, more like "punkins" but I knew that is what he meant so it sounded clear to me. He also loves pointing out hats now, since he has a hat to go along with his Halloween costume. I absolutely love this age. Being the youngest, C didn't really need to speak much since his older brother does a lot of that for him ;) and we hadn't focused on baby signs beyond milk/nurse, all done, and more, but it is nice to know he is progressing. We still don't understand most of his babbles but I am not worrying, he definitely knows what is going on.

One of my big worries with homeschooling was how to keep the little one busy while the big one does his lessons. Gradually, we are getting in the swing of it and trying to keep C busy, but often crayons and paper or playing with his trains can keep him happy while W works. Another biggie is to keep the snacks rolling; grapes and pretzels can be very entertaining. C wants to be involved in what we are doing, and he can, just on his own level. He will have the benefit of going through Kindergarten. Twice. :)

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.

  

September Reflections & Great Web Resources

 The past month has been a whirlwind of moving in all while getting settled into our Kindergarten homeschool year as well. We have been loving rowing our first few books with Five in a Row, which we may refer to as FIAR on the blog sometimes. In the past few weeks we have read A Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack, Lentil by Robert McCloskey, Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, and this week are wrapping up September with A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno. Through the stories we have covered a few geographical and cultural lessons about China, America, France, and Japan.

W is now on lesson 9 in his Math-U-See Primer and we are working on place value by using the "tens" and "units". Each lesson has 7 pages and some days he does a full lesson while others he will do one or two pages and then other math related projects. He enjoys playing with the blocks after he finishes the lesson part so that keeps it fun. We try to work math in other ways as well, like in FIAR projects and cooking (although he got pretty frustrated when actually trying to use chopsticks for their intended purpose). :)

Initially I did not know where to begin with teaching science. FIAR has a few science projects, but not many, so I picked up The Giant Science Resource Book for grades 1-6 which will be useful in the next few years. We used the section on leaves and trees to identify some leaves outside and then Will wrote the names onto cards which are now adorning our refrigerator.

W has wrapped up Hooked On Phonics Kindergarten levels 1 & 2, and is using a few different materials for handwriting which he is slowly improving with. I wouldn't push him into it except I do want him to be on the same "level" as the public school kids as he will have to be evaluated before homeschooling first grade in NH. Most of all right now we are enjoying settling into our new home and spending more time outdoors. Over the past month we have also attended a Colonial Fair in Massachusetts and an Apple Fest in NH, and have been lucky enough to meet some new friends in our town.

We are always on the lookout for homeschool resources on the internet, and here a few of W's favorite sites for reading, games, mazes, and music.

• Boowa and Kwala
• Starfall
• PBS Kids
• Playhouse Disney
• Childcareland - free printables and activity ideas
• Usborne-Quicklinks - if you have any of the excellent Usborne internet linked books this website has all the related materials. We have used it for the First Thousand Words in French book.

We would love to hear about your favorite kid friendly web sites and homeschool resource sites!