Midsummer Musings

I'm not entirely sure how summer seems busier than the school year right now, but that appears to be the case. Great stuff going on, but with all the comings and goings and children staying up later than usual my writing time here is next to nothing.

My new book, Faith@Home, is coming out within a week or two. I'm incredibly pleased with the cover design by the great people at CSS.

The Patriot had a wonderful week at soccer camp and is very excited for his first soccer season this fall:

Crockett and Toddzilla loved Indian Village camp and were completely exhausted after a week of canoeing, archery, rock climbing, caving, fort building, and everything else boys love.

The little boys and I spent lots of time at the pool while their brothers were at day camp.  The Patriot passed his swim test and is now a proud rider of the slides!

I'm attempting to get our school year in order. The girls have interviews today at Veritas Academy, where we're hoping to take a few classes this fall. A new venture for all of us!

Late Mid-Year Roundup

March always feels like the beginning of the end for all things academic. There's lots left to do, of course, but considering many of our co-op classes finish at the end of April - the end really is in sight.

This has been one of our most successful years to date, which has been a pleasant surprise. A baby always complicates the schedule  - with lots of holding-on-the-hip teaching, talking over baby babble (which is surprisingly loud), and dealing with extra mama tiredness. Right Hand Man has been our worst sleeper by far so my Keurig has quickly become my new best friend.

Hubby has taken over the phonics work with Crockett, our current kindergartener. While it's a joy to see an emerging reader beam with the satisfaction a new skill, it's a major chore getting there! The painstaking work of sounding out every.single.letter is hard enough on it's own, doing it within a busy household can do me in faster than anything else. A few evenings a week Hubby and Crockett head up to our bedroom and work through the phonics books in peace and quiet. Then they wrestle. Win-win.

Here's where we are:

Bobo: Lesson 70 in Saxon Algebra 1/2. Still taking our time in First Form Latin. We're near the end (finally) but I think I'll stretch it out and not begin Second Form until next year. Her Literature class has probably been her favorite this year (Notable Youth of Purposeful Discussion). The book list: Call of the Wild, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Devil's Arithmetic, Number the Stars, Where the Red Fern Grows, and The Giver. Each week they post answers to comprehension questions on an online forum; they meet monthly to discuss the current book and hand in their final essays. Life Science and American History (first semester was Ohio History) - both taught by dads in the group. Halfway through with Vocabulary from the Classical Roots (A). Art class. She's working hard right now preparing for the annual National Piano Playing Auditions, again doing an International Program which involves gazillions of memorized pieces (10). She recently took her last belt test in Tae Kwon Do before her Black Belt so the training for that begins in earnest now. Her first ever basketball season ended Sunday. She loved it and wants to play again next year. Working one evening a week in our church's nursery and participating in the middle school youth ministry.

Elbow: Lesson 70 in Saxon 6/5. Reading and loving the Raiders from the Sea series. Taking a break from Latin - will begin First Form next fall (Finished Latina Christiana I and I prefer the format of First Form so I didn't want to start her on LC II). Working on writing skills with various grammar, journaling, essay writing etc. Violin - Suzuki Book 3. AWANA. Her big love is gymnastics. Tae Kwon Do. Also in the American History, Life Science, and Art classes with her sister.

Nothing like a baby brother to keep you motivated to finish your math!

Toddzilla: Almost halfway done with Saxon Math 3, finishing Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day with our co-op, beginning cursive, Pathway Readers (so excited to do Sonlight American History next year so he can read all those great books!), dictation, typing, Spelling Workout B (almost done). Art class. Tae Kwon Do. Minecraft (sigh).

Valentine's Party at the Boys' Science Group

Crockett: Hooked on Phonics with Hubby, Saxon Math 1, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, Handwriting Without Tears, Art Class. Skylanders on the iPad. Also, captain of the boy's playgroup (keeping them out of our way during work time)

The Patriot and Right Hand Man: Either driving us crazy or making us laugh. So, so sweet together.

Up next: our baby turns one this week!

Back to Work

It was a slow moving crowd on Tuesday morning when we started back to our school routine. The older children came down with their comforters wrapped around them and plopped themselves on the couch for family bible time those first two mornings, definitely more asleep than awake. By the end of the week we hit our groove again, but I will say it's tough coming back from two weeks off!

A few highlights:

Toddzilla and Crockett working on notebook
pages for Story of the World: The Ancients

Elbow getting literally blown away at science this afternoon
while learning about hurricane force winds and other climate related topics.

You gotta love the things only home schoolers can get away with!

My motivation lags a bit in January and February so I bolstered up some perseverance over break by re-reading two of my old standards: Margin and The Underground History of American Education. (There's no one quite like John Taylor Gatto to remind you - from time to time - why you do the things you do).

Crockett gets to start Tae Kwon Do tomorrow. Considering all things Ninja/Samurai/Power Rangers are his ab-fabs, I'm banking on martial arts being right up his alley.

From the School Room: Week 7

Notes from the trenches...

Still loving that we moved our family bible time to first thing in the morning. Lots of great, bleary eyed, pajama clad discussions. The best way to start the day.

At lunch we're memorizing Scripture passages all together. They all have their AWANA verses every week, but this has been something fun to do as a group. So far we've done Psalm 1 and I Corinthians 13:4-8, 13.

Bobo is almost done with Famous Men of the Middle Ages. She's been taking notes and doing some sketches along with her reading. When she's done, she's going to pick one of the famous men to write her first research paper on. I think I'm going to use Sonlight's packet, "How to Write a Research Paper" to get us started.

Elbow just finished Tale of Despereaux and has begun The Railway Children. Some of her reading list this year comes from Ambleside online, some are my picks.

Toddzilla is reading the Pathway readers out loud to me. We love Rachel, Peter, Andrew, and Miriam!

The girls' science group has changed to a seminar format this year- eight girls, one lecturer - with some experiments and field trips thrown in. As they study Earth Science they're also getting quite an education on taking notes and tests. Toddzilla's science has been pretty much non-existent. I'm working with another mom on getting our boys in some hands-on classes at our science museum and a few field trips to our amazing metro parks and nature centers.

Latin: We're in three different curriculums right now, a little hard to manage but do-able. (Especially since now I've been through the first two more than once). Toddzilla is using Prima Latina, Elbow Latina Christiana I, and Bobo First Form Latin. First Form has been a perfect jump. It's definitely more intense, but we're moving at a slow pace.

All three are using Spelling Workout and Saxon Math again; Elbow and Toddzilla are in various Handwriting Without Tears workbooks.

New for Bobo this year is Critical Thinking: Book I.  I'm not in love with this curriculum by any means. It's not well explained, and I prefer books that the student can basically open and go. I rarely even buy a teacher's manual. (Of course, my oldest student just turned 11 so we're not in waters too deep yet). Even with the teacher's manual, it's difficult to understand what's expected. The targeted age range is 7-12th grade, so it may be a bit higher than she's ready for. The Well Trained Mind recommends it for sixth grade and thus far those grade guidelines have served us well. We'll see how far we take this one.

Happy to Return to History

Finishing Human Anatomy and Physiology means we're back in History mode - a favorite spot for all of us. We're tackling the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance this year - our second time through this period. (We use The Well Trained Mind's four year history cycle, meant to be traveled through three times throughout a student's pre-college career.)

We're currently reading Adam of the Road out loud, Elbow just finished Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Bobo Augustine Came to Kent. Lots of great picture books for the younger set:

When we study in the evenings (or on regular school breaks) we generally have a visitor:

A neighbor friend making her Beowulf page for her history notebook

This little one was on spring break right after Easter and ran over every morning saying, "Can I do home school today?" I'm seriously not that fun a teacher, people. Really.

The girls are also using Institute for Excellence in Writing's Medieval Based Lessons in Writing.

Dem Bones, Dem Bones

We're working our way through the chapter on bones in our Human Anatomy book and having fun making a plaster, glow-in-the-dark skeleton.

Mixing the plaster.

Letting the bones dry overnight after removing them from the mold

Gluing the bones onto our poster,
after painting them with glow-in-the-dark paint

The final result!

As you can see, there are generally no small boys hovering around our science projects. This is by design. We have always done science and history in the evenings, after the short-attention-span/busy-hand set has gone to bed. In the past, we've hit both subjects most nights - maybe a half hour on each. This year we decided to do history in the spring and summer; science now in the fall and winter. After almost six months of this plan (we did cycle 2 of Ancients this spring and summer, based on The Well Trained Mind), I can say it's been a huge hit in my book. Not only do I feel less pressure to rush through things, we have the opportunity to do more hands on projects.

If all goes according to plan (does it ever?), we'll continue on with science until spring, and then switch over to Medieval/Early Renaissance history.

Poems

Elbow - not prone to writing of any sort - came up to me the other day and said, "I have a poem I want you to type for me." This is rare for her so I sat right down to type. Here's her offering:

The Beautiful World and Jesus Christ

I love to watch the birds high up in the blue, blue sky

I like to watch the bees that work near the flowers

I love the beautiful world here that You made for us

Why do I deserve to live here?

Because You sacrificed Your life for us

Died on the cross, were buried in a tomb

Risen to heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

You will come again

When the world should end

And judge the living from the dead

The living rise with you to heaven

And live forever in Christ.

This afternoon I asked Bobo, who has penned more poems and short stories than I can keep track of, to write a poem in response to her reading from The Tale of Troy.  Here's her offering: (I have thoroughly corrected her spelling, which left LOTS to be desired).

THE SIEGE OF TROY

In the belly of a wooden horse

hidden and tucked away

hide 12 soldiers - hopes as bright as day.

Waiting, waiting ,waiting for the signal light

To lead them to Troy

The light that conquered Troy town

That brought the end to the 10 long years of pitiless revenge.

The attack came, boiling hot

And Meneleus ravaged and sought

For the one who started it all

With a smile her heart did fall.

But woe is Hellen - pityless fright

Hiding in the shadows of night.

But soft and pure is her love

So Meneleus, do spare her!

The right deed done by her love-bearer.

And so my friends

This story ends

With the love unbroken twixt two people

Many years of fighting have just gone past,

But I am sure their love will last.

Love, Revisited

We're back in Ancient Greece for history. Elbow has always loved the gods and goddesses of Greece; at four her favorite book was D'Aulaires Greek Myths. Her love has been rekindled with our current study. Today she declared that her next birthday theme will be - you guessed it - Ancient Greece.

Tonight we read about Hector's funeral in a re-telling of The Iliad. I commented on how slighted Hector's siblings must have felt as his parents eulogized him as their favorite son. Elbow deadpanned: "They probably do the same thing at all the funerals. It's just an act. You know how over-the-top dramatic these Greeks are!"

Extra Benefits of Latin

Bobo, typing a chapter summary this afternoon: "How do you spell seizes?"
Me, upstairs, with baby babbling in my ear: "c-e-a-s-e-s."
Bobo: "No, seizes!"
Me: "s-q-u-e-e-z-e-s."
Bobo, frustrated: "No! I mean occupo!"
Me, laughing that Latin conquered even the noisy mayhem of afternoon assignments. Stupor Mundi!

The Mummy in the Middle...

... is Toddzilla.  

We're back in Egypt after several years away from the Ancients. Our first cycle of history started with Story of the World; we did volumes one, two, and half of three.  When we hit the Age of Exploration, we stayed in the Americas and switched over to Sonlight Core 3 and 4 American History.  

For Egypt: We're reading lots of picture books to include Toddzilla and Crockett.  Elbow is reading Songbird of the Nile, Bobo's doing The Golden Goblet, and Hubby is reading The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt to the girls in the evenings. Henty is another one of those authors we hear so much about and are just now discovering for ourselves. This is no light read: lots of dictionary help is needed when I take over. Hubby was dubbed "The Walking Dictionary" by the girls when we stumbled with all the nautical terms in Carry on, Mr. Bowditch. His expertise obviously translates to ancient Egypt as well. Not that I'm annoyed or anything.

Nana teaching the girls about early writing 

while they use hieroglyphic stamps.

Crockett getting ready to sculpt 

(and embedding said hieroglypic stamps in his clay)

Elbow and Toddzilla working on clay tablets

Bobo making bricks for a pyramid

I showed everyone this post and picture of our first time through Egypt. They were so little! When Elbow read Bobo's remark about the Hebrew slaves doing all the work on the pyramids, she retorted, "Actually, they weren't slaves, they were paid in bread and beer - that's what the research says." To which older sister huffed, "The BIBLE says they were slaves."  

The Week After

It's been a busy, good week since I returned from Mexico late Sunday night. The fort had been held down beautifully by Hubby and his mother; the return to routine was good for both me and the children.

Bobo passed her gold belt test with flying colors. (This time, I actually had her there on time.) It's been fun to watch how much she loves Tae Kwon Do. Our club has everyone eight years and up in one big class - the higher belts helping the lower ones. There's lots of great mentorship going on with teens, other adults, and the wonderful man who runs the program. Elbow and Toddzilla moved up to the Advanced Juniors class after Christmas and continue to enjoy it as well.

It's always nice when studies in different subjects overlap and bring what we're learning all together. As we study ungulates (horses, cows, sheep...) for science, we're reading Little Britches for history - all about life on a ranch in the early 1900s. Finally, the girls and Hubby got to try their own hand at cowboy life on a field trip:

Bobo had worked on a composition focusing on William Tell a few weeks ago. Last week her McGuffey reader had a comical selection about the mishaps of a few boys attempting to put on a theatrical rendition of the famous tale. All this obviously led to lots of William Tell re-enactments around here. We're awaiting Hubby to video their silent production (I play the evil tyrant so I'm incapacitated), then we'll add the "William Tell Overture" as background music. I'm having more fun with iMovie than they are, I'm sure.

In other, less pleasant, news: my almost 3 year old is auditioning for his role as neo-Toddzilla. His favorite line - at about 100 decibels is - "I WAS TALKING FIRST!" He actually never is talking first, it's all about interrupting. Details, details. The Patriot can't get enough of stairs lately: trying to go up, and unfortunately, down, all the time. We learned that lesson the hard way. Luckily, he survived. I, on the other hand, almost didn't since I was the one who left the basement door open. My older ones reminded me it was a maxima culpa moment, rather than just a culpa one. Thanks.

For My Records: Mid Year Report

Math: Bobo is about half way through Saxon 5/4. Elbow is in the last quarter of Saxon 2. Toddzilla, just because he sometimes asks to "do math," has done about 20 lessons in Saxon 1. I only take this out if he asks though, because I'd rather wait to start this until next fall. I continue to love Saxon Math for it's thoroughness and repetitive practice.

Latin: I was hoping to be half done with Latina Christiana I, but we're a little shy of that. I'm intrigued that the Highlands Latin School - of Memoria Press fame - goes right from LC I to it's new book First Form Latin, rather than first doing LC II. We'll figure that out when we get closer.

History: Still working our way through Sonlight Core 4 American History. I think Bobo's read more historical fiction this year alone (including the summer) than I ever did. My goal for the year is to have the girls memorize the presidents, the states and capitals, the Preamble to the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address. They've done everything but the Gettysburg Address, so that's up for the new year. We're well past the Civil War now, but I'd still like to get that accomplished.

Science: Just finished chapter eight in Apologia's Zoology 3. Up this week is a horse back riding trip with out science group, in conjunction with the study of horses and horse care. We'll start the Botany book - in the same series - this spring.

Language Arts: Plugging away in Spelling Workout for both girls but I'm not overly convinced it's useful. Bobo will finish Writing Tales I this week and move on to volume II. We haven't been doing a formal grammar, because they're getting quite a bit from Latin, Writing Tales, and copy work/dictation (And, of course, SchoolHouse Rock!) My plan is to start the grade appropriate Rod and Staff books next year for both girls. Bobo is almost done with an online typing course and will continue to practice by typing her final drafts of science reports and Writing Tales assignments. This is still a very slow endeavor! Both girls continue to read out loud for me from their McGuffey readers - Elbow each school day, Bobo less often.

Week in Review, Again

Another week with nary a post. We've been busy "preparing the way:" baking cookies, sculpting Jesse Tree ornaments, getting lessons done, and now enjoying a rare weekend when Hubby doesn't preach. That being the case, we'll cram the weekend full of fun things we don't generally get to do because he's busy preparing.

Hubby was the substitute teacher at Living Waters Classical Academy on Thursday, as I went out to breakfast with a friend (and he goes into church after lunch on Thursdays). He hadn't done that since Bobo was in kindergarten. (We still laugh about that day - her spelling book asked her to put her words in ABC order. He told her to put the letters in each word in ABC order, sort of missing the whole point of alphabetising and spelling.) Things went much better this time around. When I called to check in, he said, "there's just one math problem I can't explain - she's doing like 12th grade math!" (Just so you know, it's Saxon 5/4 - not exactly 12th grade math - but we won't tell him that).

The Joy of Learning?

Me: "Ludus can mean school or game."

Bobo: Now that's a stretch.

Week In Review

One of my best buddies turned 40 - Happy Birthday, Nan! Here's hoping we're taking a girl's trip soon to celebrate!

Friday, last: a fun field trip for the big kids and Hubby to Spirit of America, which fit beautifully into our American History studies. Then off to our science co-op where the girls shared their "Weekly Wolf" newsletter with the group, including articles on dingoes, wild African dog packs, and a few jokes.

The weekend was full of Tae Kwon Do, the children's choirs singing, the regular busy-ness of Sunday morning...

This week we studied ursidae (bears) for zoology, read The Great Turkey Walk for history, worked on states and capitals, continued to learn the second declension masculine for Latin ("learning" might be stretching it a bit; this is coming slowly), carried on in math, writing, and spelling.

The Patriot's big accomplishment was hanging out in the high chair like a big boy:

Almost Done

We're finishing the regular school year this week. That doesn't mean much more than the girls can then say they're in second and fourth grades, rather than first and third. (Which means a lot to them, of course). When we moved to Ohio we bumped both girls up a grade because the cut off dates here were different and both girls, having fall birthdays, were already on the borderline. So it seems very strange that I will soon have a fourth grader in the house - albeit a young one.

We're putting spelling, copywork/writing, Story of the World, and science on hold until Fall. We'll continue math and Latin four days a week. And today we began our Sonlight early American reading, which we'll do throughout the summer, mostly outside while the boys play. Toddzilla liked the beginning chapter of Sign of the Beaver - I have high hopes that he'll stick with us. Elbow is reading Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims for her independent* work and Bobo is doing Pocahontas and the Strangers.

*Right now Elbow prefers reading out loud to me, so that's the way we started today.

Year End - Sort Of

The girls are backpack clad and taking their standardized tests this week, which means the year is sort of coming to an end. I say sort of because it's only April, and also because we don't really stop lessons in the summer. We continue math and Latin and usually do a few less formal, out of the ordinary subjects.

I'm still figuring out our summer plans, but one thing we'll pursue is the Sonlight Core 3 early American history books. We'll do the read a-loud selections in the evenings and I'll have Bobo read the student books during her daily reading time. Elbow can tackle some of them - like Squanto and Sarah, Plain and Tall - but I'll have to find some substitutions from the library for her.

We just said goodbye to my in-laws and my brother's family is coming this weekend, so it's light posting around here for awhile...

Back At It

Our second semester looks a lot like the first, the girls will continue their current studies with a few changes:

• We're about to finish the second volume of Story of the World. When that happens, we'll move right into volume three, which is the late Renaissance and Early Modern Times.

• Elbow finished the First McGuffey this morning, and will pick up with the Second tomorrow.

• Bobo is almost done with her second Classically Cursive copybook. When she finishes, she'll begin Writing Tales.

• Once we've mastered the Pater Noster (for some reason this particular prayer is taking us a long time to get memorized), we'll be done with Prima Latina. I think Bobo will begin Latin Christiana I and Elbow will get her own copy of Prima. She knows all the vocabulary and prayers already, but it will be her chance to do the workbook.

• Our science group is more than half way through Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. It's our week to host and we're on crustaceans. I need to buy a fresh lobster and some unpeeled shrimp for the children to sketch and diagram during our group time. (Hubby will surely want to cook the lobster after class, not sure how that will go over). We've got one very brave (and scientifically trained) mom in our group. She'll do some dissections with the shrimp. I don't go there. Last time she handled some fish with the children and there was an eyeball bouncing around our friend's kitchen floor.

• Toddzilla needs to sit down and work on forming letters, but he's all boy and not one bit interested. I'm not pushing at this point because he can recognize all letters (capital and lower case) and knows their sounds already. He learned this entirely from the Leapster Letter Factory cartridge. One day I'll write glowing praises of the Leapster and it's indestructibility, not to mention it's ability to teach early phonics and other fun stuff.
  

Mom Schools

I've now waded through both A Thomas Jefferson Education and the Thomas Jefferson Home Companion. Both contain great information - and lots of it. In many ways, this method of education overlaps with what I've found most helpful in The Well Trained Mind and the teachings of Charlotte Mason. It's not a radically different philosophy, but there are many helpful, insightful pieces worth repeating here. I want to tackle my favorite parts so today I'll start with the idea of the Mom School.

Before reading this book, we found ourselves in a Mom School for the first time this year. (Of course we don't call it that, but after reading DeMille, that's exactly what it is). Every other Friday afternoon we meet to discuss a chapter of Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. The host mom is responsible for that week's discussion: we have the children do reports, we do the experiments from the chapter, we play games relating to the lesson, we go on field trips. It's amazing! Last week's host mom is a science guru herself, and knowing there may not be time for reports, said it was optional. My girls begged to do one. That's how inspiring this group is (I'll get to the "inspire, not require" part of DeMille's book another time).

Because this group has been so successful - and so much fun - I've decided to start a Liberty Girls Club using the same basic idea. (The Home Companion has lots of ideas for this exact club). We'll read a designated American Girl Doll book, talk about the historical time period, do a craft/project that relates to the book, you get the idea. There's something very important about both the parent and the child being invested in learning together.

"Mom Schools greatly enhance children's education...Through group learning, children share their enthusiasm with each other, strengthen desire for knowledge and enjoy mutual inspiration and encouragement. Adults benefit from combined strength, and we all pull each other up."

A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion

Wednesday's Thoughts

• Gearing up for the big debate tonight. Jennifer's got some ideas for an election night party.
  
• We're studying conjunctions in Latin, which of course led to, "Can we get Conjunction, Junction from iTunes?" Which of course was yes. Between Latin and Schoolhouse Rock, I think we've got grammar covered.
• Haircuts for the boys today. There's nothing cuter than seeing your children's eyes again after a long absence. Which reminds me of my freshman history teacher, Mr. Fure. We had a particularly interesting speaker one day; after which, my teacher said, "Michelle, it's the first time I've seen your eyes all semester." I guess I was tired that year.
• The host family of our science club next week is offering to send any interested child home with an African Dwarf tadpole. Is this a good thing? Experiences?