Random pictures

I thought it would be fun to add random homeschooling pictures occasionally. These were from today.

Justin doing math and bundled up in front of the little space heater

Reading with Jonathan (Ryan likes to join us). We are cuddled up on my big bed, which is where we do most of our reading.

Artwork - deer picture

I think art lessons would be fun, but on the other hand I think the best way to encourage art in children is to just let them be creative. And believe me, there have been some doozy creations around the house!

Awhile back, I purchased some art curriculum from the thrift store that looked fun, and will eventually go through it with the boys. But my favorite thing is to just pick up books from the library with really pretty artwork and let the boys sketch. It is just natural.

The latest find is a book called The Big Snow by Verta and Elmer Hader (written in 1948). The pictures are sketched. Some are black and white but others are colored. They are very beautiful
The way I usually "get them" to draw is to just show them the book and suggest that if they want, there are pretty pictures in there to copy.

I read the book to them last night at bedtime, and first thing Justin was up wanting to draw the pictures from the book. He drew the following picture this morning. It is a buck, a doe, a fawn, and a squirrel all in the snow. I thought it was really cute!

Schoolhouse Rock

I remember watching SchoolHouse Rock on Saturday mornings when I was little. The other day I found a Schoolhouse Rock multiplication video at the library, so I thought I would check it out since Justin is learning the tables. Obviously there would be some of the videos I wouldn't like (one had a boy sticking his tongue out at another kids, tacky music, etc), but I really like some of them.

I like this one... it made me smile :-)




I have heard Jonathan singing this one several times:

Learning Through "Living Books"

According to Charlotte Mason, living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject “come alive.” They can be contrasted to dry writing, like what is found in most encyclopedias or textbooks, which basically lists informational facts in summary form.

I am not opposed at all to textbooks because facts are important. But, on the other hand I PREFER living books (don't we all?). They are much, MUCH more interesting. And you can learn so much from them! So, for our family, we will read both living books and textbooks.

We are currently reading Mary of Plymouth :A Story of the Pilgrim Settlement by James Otis (written in 1910!).Something sad that I think has happened over the course of time is the "dumbing down" of children's books. It is just assumed that a child will not understand a book unless it is written in the most simple of terms. That is not true! As I read this book, I ask the boys "what does that mean?". Most of the time they do, in fact, understand. I think the main reason they are able to discern vocabulary is because of the way it is used in the context of the sentence. I believe this is a great way to learn new vocabulary words (or old vocabulary words for that matter)!
If they do not understand, it is very easy to explain the meanings to them. However, it is not necessary most of the time.

Some of the vocabulary words from today:

quill
shallop
savage
oars

I think also that it goes the same way for reading the Bible. If I do not read to them straight from the Bible, how will they understand Biblical terminology as they grow and mature? I definitely do not want them to search out the newest versions available that have been watered down to entertain the reader. Of course I read Bible stories to them but I think reading straight from the Bible is necessary!

Pictures... FINALLY!

Here are a few pictures of the giant crawl through ear that we made...


This part was only paper, but it was supported by giant castle blocks and chairs.
We made a big tunnel out of blocks (not pictured), and then on the other side are the inside parts.....

Jonathan is holding the cochlea. Justin is holding the ear drum. Ryan is holding the hammer, anvil, and stirrup (hard to see). The ropes represent vestibular & auditory nerves. The large tunnel represented the auditory canal.

Learning about Outer Space

Today we read a book called I Wonder Why Stars Twinkle (and Other Questions about Space).

I got this book from the library so it has evolutionary point of views, but I think it is necessary to address these issues instead of avoiding them. I think it is important to know what other people believe, to look at it from a Biblical perspective, and then to conclude why we believe what we do and why others reject Intelligent Design/Creationism.

While reading the library book, we also looked at the book of Genesis to find out what the Bible says.

For example, why do the Sun and Moon exist? An evolutionist can say, "to give us light and darkness" but if they answer this question they must admit Intelligent Design. Random chance offers no reason for order.

But the Bible has all of the answers we need!

Genesis 1:16-18
16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

We also enjoyed reading about all of the questions people ask about space and how it is for an astronaut who visits space.

We immensely enjoyed this YouTube video about eating in space. This was a real treat for the boys since they have never seen anything like this!

NASA DestinationTomorrow - DT17 - Eating In Space (2005)

Multiplication songs

I found this when I googled for multiplication songs:

One way of doing it although I am laughing at myself singing it.

Multiplication Songs

2’s

Sung to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12,

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

14, 16, 18, 20.

How I wonder what you are.

3’s

Sung to “This Land is Your Land”

3, 6, 9, 12,

This land is your land.

15, 18,

This land is my land.

21, 24,

From California,

27, 30.

To the New York Island.

4’s

Sung to “Old MacDonald”

4, 8, 12, 16,

Old MacDonald had a farm,

20, 24,

E, I, E, I, O.

28, 32,

And on his farm he had a dog,

36, 40.

E, I, E, I, O.

6’s

Sung to “Jingle Bells”

6, 12,

Jingle bells,

18,

Jingle bells,

24, 30,

Jingle all the way.

36, 42,

Oh what fun it is to ride,

48, 54,

In a one horse open sleigh...

60!

Hey!

7’s

Sung to “Happy Birthday”

7, 14, 21,

Happy birthday, to you.

28, 35,

Happy birthday, to you.

42, 49,

Happy birthday, Mom and Dad.

56, 63,

Happy birthday, to you!

and 70!

(And many more!)

8’s

Sung to “She’ll be Coming ‘Round the Mountain”

8, 16, 24, 32,

She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain when she comes,

40, 48, 56,

She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain when she comes,

64, 72,

She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain,

80 now we are done!

She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain,

(la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la)

(She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain when she comes!)

Update

We have been really busy so I have been a little slow updating over here. Routine seems to settle in and I have a hard time pulling myself away.

This update is basically a run down of what we have been doing.

Daily morning routine:

• Prayer - looking at prayer list from church and any others we want to add
  
• Bible story from Arthur Maxwell's The Bible Story
• Verse (We just learned Isaiah 55:3)
• Review Character poem "Attentiveness"
  
• Read Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends (The other day we were in the library and Jonathan randomly told the librarian "I love my brothers". This fact, to me, is a big deal. It is something we are praying for openly with the boys) .
• Read excerpts from a Childcraft encyclopedia I got from the thrift store. Right now we are studying about doors and how different doors work. Jonathan said his favorite door would be a bed door. I can imagine them locking each other in one of those!
• If I remember, we exercise.
  

Then we separate. Justin goes to the table for seat-work (writing, spelling words, worksheets) while Jonathan comes with me to my bedroom. We prop up on a bunch of pillows and cuddle on my bed while going over his assignments, math & phonics drills, and reader (Jonathan especially loves this, and complains if I suggest sitting anywhere else or doing it any differently).

After that we switch. Jonathan goes to the kitchen table to do seat-work/papers while Justin comes to my bed to cuddle and go over his assignments, read, & do math and phonics drills.

For Justin we are doing a lot of drills for multiplication. I am also going through a really neat book I got for him from the library called Marvelous Multiplication: Games & Activities That Make Math Easy & Fun. He is thrilled with it.

Here are a few games we made have played to learn Math:

From the book :

*With "Can You Eat Just One?" & "Pair It Up" we used grouping(and eating) raisins
and pairing socks to learn times tables.

*Using Flashcards:
One day we played "golf". I used the flashcards and pretended they were "Rook" cards. He had to recite/answer them correctly to get points.

Yesterday while saying his drills, he used a car with batman sitting in it to go to the next level each time he said a number family. Frankly, he would never get very far if he were just sitting and drilling. He wiggles and jumps the whole time he drills and I think it actually helps him to concentrate (wiggling). It's amazing how much better he learns if he is allowed to move!

During all of this Ryan either joins us in the bed, plays with puzzles, colors, or builds blocks. If he wants (it's entirely up to him), I also invite him to the bed to read just to him or learn some type of preschool thing. Some days he is for that; other days he just wants to play.

Hopefully if there is time, the boys do their chores. This is something I am working to get better at. Some days we do this and other days I end up trying (the key word being trying) to do everything myself.

Justin does a lot of free-time reading after seat-work. My goal has been reached, in that he picks up larger (100-150 page) books and reads them without being told. His current choice is a biography about Abraham Lincoln. He told us last night that... back then, people got "milk fever". He went on to explain to us what milk fever was.

Thursdays look completely different than other days of the week. Since we are way ahead in Language arts (we do 2 lessons a day), we use that day to study extra electives (science, history, physical education, ministry, etc). We do study science & history during the week, but Thursdays we take more time for it and our historical time-line.

I hoping to start a music study in KONOS soon for Thursdays. It is very intense and you actually make instruments while you learn them, learn orchestral position, etc. I could learn a lot myself from this!

Well it has taken me forever to write this post in an organized way, so I will end for now.

Cheddar or Cheater

Yesterday the boys sneaked into the candy dish sometime during the day. I usually work with them one at a time while the other does chores, and then they switch up. I think the sneaking must have occurred by each while I was concentrating on schoolwork with the other.
I noticed very quickly during Jonathan's seatwork time that he was not concentrating and was being very hyper. So I checked the candy jar and it had an obvious "dent" in it! Yes, they both admitted. "I had five" Justin said. "I had 3", said Jonathan.

It always affects Jonathan the most.

I was telling Michael about it when he got home and during suppertime we had "Mexican meat cups". The bag of shredded cheese was sitting on the table and Jonathan was trying to read what the bag said. He said "chee-dar" (instead of cheddar). He then said, "What if God is making that bag point at me and say "cheater" since I didn't try to do my schoolwork today?".
After I composed myself and stopped laughing I assured him that it said "cheddar" and that "no, God isn't calling you a cheater because you were hyper".

Safety

Today we read a book called Safe at Home. It discusses fire safety in one section and general home safety in the other section. It is more interesting than just a regular text book because it is in story form. It is story about a family who made their apartment complex safer.

We also had a fire drill (which the boys enjoyed immensely!). The boys pretended to be in bed and then I pushed the smoke alarm. The first test was really funny because they ran through the house, but I made them do it again. I explained to them that we do not panic or run but that we walk quickly. We discussed our meeting place in the back yard.

We also reviewed different things you should do in different situations (Crawling on the floor, feeling the door to see if it is hot, breaking windows to get out if the door is jammed(or hot), fire prevention techniques, etc.)

Overall our fire safety study went well and the boys enjoyed it much more than I imagined that they would. We will continue to discuss more safety issues in the future and review what we have learned regularly to make sure they remember what to do.