Still here

So you are thinking I fell of the face of the earth, or just quit blogging. No neither of those I just have either been busy or just not inspired. However, before our first day of school is here and I start sharing things about our new school year I thought maybe I should sum up the end of last school year.


It really is hard to believe Sierra completed kindergarten and Zoey 2nd grade. Last year really did go quickly now that I am here looking back on it. The girls both learned so much last year and we managed to have fun too. Sierra completed Before Five in a Row and began Five in a Row volume 1. The first book she choose was Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. She loves this book. She had such a good time with it she wants to do it again for the first book of the new school year. I would rather move on to other things. Anyways, one of the things we learned about with Mike Mulligan was personification. This was fun because I made big eyes and put tape on the back and let them personify things around the house.

 She personified the plant,

her jewelery box,

 and my laundry basket.

 

Zoey got in on the action and personified her light switch. Pretty funny I thought.

Other lessons we learned with this book included the history of the steam shovel (very brief), new vocabulary words, being flexible with changing times, drawing basic trees, and showing motion in a drawing. We used the sandbox to try out some road engineering and also took some time to look at all the road construction going on all around us. I also got out the geo boards so we could explore geometry and both of the girls loved using them. Looking back I can see why Sierra had so much fun. 

Road Construction

At the same time Zoey started Five in a Row volume 4 with the book Albert by Donna Jo Napoli.

This is a heartwarming book about a man who is a bit afraid to leave his apartment but he sticks his hand out his window everyday to see if the weather is just right. One day when he does this a cardinal starts building a nest on his hand.  We love how this story turned out. Check it out from your local library to find out for yourself. You won't be disappointed. The illustrations are beautiful too. Since this is a volume 4 book there are many more activities to do. We took a long time to explore this book. We learned about city living and apartments. Zoey made and painted her own apartment building from a cardboard box. We discussed compassion, discovering the truth, and subtle symbolism. We had fun imagining where the plane in the book was going and what was in the packages the people on the street exchanged. We also explored comics. This had led us on what is called a rabbit trail, further learning about a subject a child is very interested in. Zoey had made some of her own comics a few months before this just for fun. Now she started drawing comics again as we did a little research about comics. We extended it even further this summer. We started a unit study called Crazy Cartoons. It is Download N Go. We have used some of these in the past. We have not finished yet but so far Zoey is loving it. She loves to draw, tell jokes and write. Perfect way to combine these three things. More on this in a later post. 

Other subjects we explored with this book were the mathematical aspects of baseball, observing birds, cardinal research, joints in the human body, and so much more. We spent weeks on this book. Another  thing the manual suggested was learning about pantomime. I explained what it was and we tried pantomiming ourselves. It was pretty funny. Then we looked up videos on YouTube of Marcel Marceau and Charlie Chaplin. They begged for more Charlie Chaplin. Weeks later they asked to watch more. They really thought Chaplin was so funny. I agree.The crazy thing is even with all the time we spent with Albert we still didn't do everything I had planned. Maybe next spring we will explore this book again. Zoey liked the book so much I bought her a used copy on Amazon this summer. I am going to surprise her with it on the first day of school. Using the library book was fine but now she has a copy of her own. (Note to self, need to get Mike Mulligan for Sierra)

While Zoey finished up Albert, Sierra started a new book Papa Piccolo by Carol Talley. This is a story about a tom cat that adopts two orphaned kittens. It takes place in the city of Venice, Italy. We learned all about Venice and gondolas and streets of water. We did so many wonderful activities with this book too but I will just share pictures of one fun thing I took pictures of. The girls got to try out painting one way Michelangelo painted. 

Sierra was so peaceful when she was painting. Zoey didn't like having to wait her turn. 

While all this was going on we continued on with our regular math, spelling, phonics, handwriting, grammar ancient history, and art class. They also had so much fun with Muddy Boots and other science classes at the two local nature centers and finished another year with PE class at the recreation center. No wonder I haven't blogged! We have been seriously busy. Here are a few pictures of the last day of school. I put together buckets filled with fun little surprises like bubbles, stickers, colored pencils, and more. They loved it. (Thanks to Grandma and Poppy too) 

Last day of school.

Oh and I can't forget the zoo, organic dairy farm and strawberry picking!

Sierra riding horses at the zoo.

Zoey feeding lorikeets.

Lorikeet and Zoey hanging out.

Sierra not so sure about feeding the lorikeets.

Riding horses at the dairy farm.

Feeding hay to baby animals.

Zoey riding horse at farm.

I didn't take any pictures of the cows. LOL!

Strawberry picking!

Well I think this is enough for now.

No wait just a few more pictures...

PE class

Last day awards.

Library book club group picture.

Zoey doing her Laura Ingalls Wilder presentation.

OK, now I think I am done. I know that was long but I suppose that is what happens when I don't blog for so long. 

Coming soon.......

Crazy Comics and Summer Download n Go

and 

Chicken Mummy!

and 

Back to School (in September)

A new adventure with Poetry - Tea Time Tuesday

Starting last August we added Tea Time Tuesday to our school week. It really is quite simple but the results have been excellent. I read about Tea Time Tuesday on the Brave Writer website. Here are Julie Bogart's (the creator) recommendations for Poetry Teatimes. Our teatime may be a little different but the main idea is there. Relax with some tea (or lemon-aid in Sierra's case), some treats, and poetry. The girls love it so much. The best part is Zoey is enjoying poetry again and Sierra has been memorizing short poems to share.

For our first teatime the girls got all dressed up. Frilly dresses, necklaces and rings. I didn't expect them to do this but it was cute. They also invited along a few of their stuffed friends. In the beginning I selected some books of children's poetry but now they look for books of poetry themselves.

Here is what it looks like at our house.

A few weeks ago when we had snow for three days. After playing outside in the snow we changed Tea Time Tuesday to Hot Chocolate Wednesday. The girls loved it. 

We do not have Teatime every week but when we do we all seem to enjoy it and learn something in a relaxed and delicious environment.

Art Class

Last summer I stumbled across a DVD art class for home school families. Then I found it on sale at a really great price! Woo Hoo! So what is it you ask? It is called Home Art Studio. This is where I purchased it.   Art teacher Lindsey Volin does a wonderful job teaching directly to the students. I love this part. The girls follow her instructions so I get a break from teaching.  It is very simple. The girls and I gather the supplies, put in the DVD and start art class. The girls really like Ms. Volin too and say she is nice. (Hmmm, compared to grumpy old me...lol)

They are both using the kindergarten and 2nd grade DVD's this year. So far they have both enjoyed all of the lessons. They have been learning different art techniques and about different artists.

 

 

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...

 

 

 

 

Love that tongue! Ha!

 

So we are all having a great time with this new art class added to our school this year. The girls can't wait for the next class. 

 

Also, I just want to add that I in no way profit from this and I am not associated in anyway with the product. Just wanted to share the fun we are having with family and friends. Have a great day! 

P.S. I have read other reviews where the parent said they loved the program because they are not the artsy type. Well I am. I don't necessarily love the mess but my girls have and will always be exploring art. However, my way of doing this is more of a free exploration method. Zoey and Sierra benefit greatly from this program because it teaches art technique and art appreciation among other things. Personal style and creativity is also encouraged. Thank you Mrs. Volin!

 

Paul Revere's Ride

"Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere."

Wow, I didn't realize how long it has been since I updated my blog. Things have been busy as usual. Anyways, I know I already posted on Facebook about Zoey doing a Paul Revere presentation at the library, so I thought I would share how we got there.

Back in September when Zoey and I were selecting a book from her Five in a Row curriculum she saw, Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. She decided to save this book until after Mat and I returned from our trip to Boston in October. Hopefully, I would be able to tell her even more about the history of Paul Revere. Shortly after we returned we started with the book. I read it once but on the following days Zoey wanted to read it to us. She fell in love with the book. I was not surprised since Zoey loves poetry and this book is a poem based on the events of Paul Revere riding to warn the minute men all over the countryside that the "Regulars" were coming.

We began our adventure with the book on the first day by finding Boston, Massachusetts on the map and putting our story disk there. We also discussed history. We talked about the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's ride, the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence. After this I suggested Zoey could make a basic time line of these events. I always have required assignments and optional assignments. The time line was an optional drawing activity so I thought she would love it but I was wrong. We moved on. The funny part is weeks later when the girls were painting with watercolor paints Zoey painted a beautiful timeline of these events. Kids make me laugh.

We also discussed how light was a main theme in the artist's illustrations. There also were five new vocabulary words from the book, and finding the name of a ship in italics. We had fun noticing the different colonial architecture, learning about fog over rivers or other bodies of water, subtracting dates to solve a riddle and learning about artists using reflections in water.

I was able to find so many books about Paul Revere and in the American Revolution time period. The girls really had so much fun with these books. We learned Paul Revere was not the only one who warned people that night. We read books about Paul Revere's life. We even read very funny picture books about Paul Revere, John Hancock, George Washington and more. They kept reading a book called John, Paul, George and Ben by Lane Smith. It is a funny book that jokes about what they were like as children. One of the books we had from the library was Who Was Paul Revere? by Roberta Edwards. The girls liked the book because Paul's head is huge on the cover. One day while we were at the library, the girls favorite librarian, Ms. Sherry, asked if Zoey would like to join the book club. It just so happens that in November each child was choosing a book from the "Who was" series. Zoey was so excited. This series has many books and gives a history of the famous person perfect for a elementary aged child. She exclaimed, "I want to do Paul Revere! I want to do Paul Revere!" Even Sierra was excited.

Next Zoey read some of the book herself and some of it I read aloud to her. She put together a small display board with eight facts about Paul Revere. The one that she was the most intrigued by was that he had two wives (not at the same time) and each of them had eight children. Five of those children died as infants or young children. She also decorated the board with drawings of Paul Revere. When the day of the book club was here she dressed up in her home made costume of Paul Revere. She made a horse head to go on a yard stick so she could have a horse to ride. Here she is ready to go...

I love the masking tape to hold the hat in the shape she wanted. I offered to color it brown but she declined multiple times. Sometimes I forget to let her work be her work.

 

Here she is with her board and her timeline painting.

 

And here she is at the library. She also memorized the beginning of the poem and said that in addition to reading her eight facts about Paul Revere.

 

 

I was surprised that she was not too nervous doing it. She seem to really enjoy herself. I am amazed that one simple book took us so far in learning. I shouldn't be though. We have been using Five in a Row for over three years now along with other things but we continue to learn so much from this curriculum. Way to go Zoey! Keep up the excellent work.