Duck for President!

Because of the upcoming election, I was looking for something fun to use to explain elections to Hannah. We love the books Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type and Giggle, Giggle, Quack, so I felt delighted when I discovered Doreen Cronin's newest book - Duck for President.

Duck becomes frustrated with all of the work he has to do on the farm and decides to hold an election to determine if he should be the new farmer instead. He wins, of course, and quickly discovers that "running a farm is very hard work." He then becomes governor and president, each time thinking that a higher office must be easier but learning that they all require a lot of hard work. In the end, Duck realizes that he would rather just be a duck. The story is delightful and provides a perfect starting point for a discussion about elections, campaigns, and the characteristics of a good leader.

Because we enjoyed our last lapbook so much, I decided that we would make another one for this unit. Duck for President has a wonderful website (www.duckforpresident.com) that includes downloadable buttons and campaign posters, a campaign commercial for Duck, and classroom activities and discussion questions for students. I also found a great deal of information in the printable teachers' guide on the website for Time for Kids. In fact, this coming week, we plan on using the information on their special election section as we discuss the election in even more detail.

Hannah and I ended having a lot of fun putting this lapbook together. I'll use the pictures to tell the story...


First, we discussed the character qualities of a good leader. Then, we used our knowledge of Duck from the other books to describe Duck's character. We made a flap book with those characteristics written under the appropriate flap:


Next, Hannah and I identified the chores and responsibilities that Duck had on the farm. We compared those jobs with the work required of him as farmer, governor, and president. I made a little tab book, and Hannah helped me write the different responsibilities for each job on the coordinating page:


Hannah looked at a variety of campaign buttons for Obama, McCain, and Duck, and then she created her own campaign button as if she were running for president. She came up with the slogan all by herself:


We talked about who the current leaders are in each job:



I identified nine vocabulary words that Hannah would need to understand as we discussed the unit. Using a dictionary and online resources, we came up with fairly simple definitions for each word. I wrote the words on small cards, and Hannah wrote the definitions. A small pocket in the lapbook stores the cards until we need to review them:


Finally, we moved on to our discussion of the current election. We put everything pertaining to Obama on the left side of this section and everything pertaining to McCain on the right side. We glued the sample campaign buttons down the sides, and I cut out the pieces to make the Democratic and Republican symbols, and Hannah glued them together and placed them on the bottom of the page:

Using the information provided and a word bank, Hannah completed the following venn diagram from the Time for Kids teachers' guide:


And, when we had finished, Hannah enjoyed doing some of the other activities from the two websites:



Hannah greatly enjoyed this activity, and I felt thrilled at my first attempt at designing my own lapbook for her. What a fun way to study the election!

Life Lessons from Corn

Yesterday, during a fall harvest party, another homeschooling mom taught a wonderful lesson using freshly picked ears of corn.

First, she gave each child an ear of corn and had them begin to pull the kernels off and place them in a basket. As they worked, she talked about the corn kernels and the chaff and how we would rather be like the corn instead of the chaff. She demonstrated how the chaff just blows away, and illustrated Psalm 1:4 - "Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away."


Then, she talked about each individual kernel of corn. Holding up a large kernel and a small kernel, she asked the kids which one would produce a greater harvest of corn. Of course, the kids all chose the larger kernel. The mother then explained that each piece of corn, whether large or small, had the potential to produce an equal amount of corn when planted. She told them, "Just because you are small does not mean that you cannot do great things for God. Just like the small piece of corn, if you follow Jesus, you can produce a great harvest for Him."


Continuing, she asked them what kinds of things they could do for God. After fielding some answers, she shared Matthew 9:37-38 - "Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'" She explained to the children how the kernels of corn are like people who do not know Jesus and how telling people about Jesus is just like helping God harvest his "crop."


It was such an amazing object lesson - one I am sure the children will remember for a long time.

When they finished removing all of the kernels, the mom provided pre-sewn cloth bags with just a small opening, and the kids put all of the corn inside and glued the opening shut to create their own beanbags. It was such a fun and educational party! I enjoyed it so much that I took home an extra ear of corn to repeat the lesson with Ben and Becca...

A Budding Artist

I am impressed by the way that Hannah's drawing ability is gradually developing and maturing over time. Not long ago, her sketches so vaguely represented their real-life models that she had to explain nearly every picture to me. Recently, though, she has been focusing a bit more on detail and proper positioning as she creates her drawings.

Today, she called me over to show me a sketch she had completed on the magnadoodle. While looking at a magazine picture, she had attempted to draw a hummingbird. I was amazed at how closely her drawing matched the picture that she copied.


Now, obviously, this is still the work of a five year old, but notice how the position of the wings and tail mimic the wings and tail in the picture. And, for the first time, she drew a side view of a face with only one eye showing and a beak instead of a smile. I thought she did an excellent job!

Pumpkin Fun

In light of the fall holidays, we decided to have a little fun with pumpkins while Daddy was at youth group on Wednesday night.

Better Homes and Gardens has a wonderful tool for creating pumpkin faces online. It is a great way for preschoolers to plan out what kind of jack-o-lantern they want. I let Hannah and Ben each have a large pumpkin, and I helped them use the website to choose their own eyes, noses, and mouths for their pumpkins. Then, I printed a stencil so I could carve their own designs into the pumpkins for them.

First, I removed the top and let them pull all of the seeds and "goop" out of the center of the pumpkin. We separated and cleaned the seeds and threw the rest away. Then, I used the stencils as a guide to carve the faces they created.

I think they turned out pretty cute:


Last year, I found a wonderful recipe for toasted pumpkin seeds, which results in the best pumpkin seeds I have ever tasted. I never liked the tough hulls, but this recipe involves boiling them in salt water to soften and season them, and then roasting them to produce crunchy, flavorful seeds. Even the kids like them! So, after cleaning up the kids, I used the seeds to make a delicious and healthy treat. Yum!

Country Market Field Trip

On Tuesday, our MOPS group took a field trip to a local country market. My kids just love this activity every year, and in spite of the cold temperatures, this year was no different. The kids break up into groups and rotate through a variety of stations: sorting apples, making apple cider, milking a pretend cow, riding on a hayride, exploring a hay maze, playing on the big slide and rope swing, drinking fresh cider, and picking out a pumpkin to bring home. I'll share a few pictures from our fun day.

Making cider with an old-fashioned cider press:


Becca running through the hay maze:


Hannah, Ben, and Becca picking out their pumpkins:

Bible Reading

For Hannah's 5th birthday, we got a great deal on a kids' study Bible from our local Christian bookstore. I told Hannah that now she can have quiet times each day like Mama and Daddy. She seemed excited, and I saw her reading occasionally, but I did not realize how much she was doing until I picked the Bible up yesterday. Her bookmark is at page 175!

When she awoke from her nap, I asked her if she had been flipping through pages or reading straight through, and she said she had read every word up to that point. Wow! She seems to love reading the Bible herself every day.

I bought her the first book in the Magic Treehouse series last night when Josh and I were at Barnes and Noble. We listened to a couple of the books on CD when we got them in Wendy's kids' meals, and we enjoyed them very much. However, I think I will hold onto the book for a while before I give it to Hannah. I'd hate to distract her from her current infatuation with reading God's Word!

Hannah's Art

Here is Hannah's lovely drawing of fish:

Progress Report

I realize that I share a lot of the fun activities that we do, but I do not often describe our day-to-day schedule. Some may think that we do little that resembles actual school work, so today I want to give a little update on the progress we have made so far.

Hannah is about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way through the Sing, Spell, Read and Write first grade curriculum. She has regular spelling and reading tests and does very well on them. I did a basic online reading assessment with her the other day and discovered that her reading level is 4.7. This means that she is reading as if she were in her seventh month of fourth grade! I am not sure about the accuracy of the online test, but I do know that she reads very well. Last night, for example, she read about half of our Bible story, easily handling many multi-syllable words and recognizing letter patterns that I have not even taught her yet.

In math, we have not done as much, but Hannah has learned to add numbers where the sum equals 1-9, and she can theoretically count up to 999, recognizing the units, tens, and hundreds places. Though she still struggles a bit with handwriting, especially with writing letters backwards, she has improved quite a bit, and all of her writing is legible and good for her age. Additionally, we have done units and activities based on books and interests that she has expressed.

Ben has also been blossoming in his work. He loves to do Sing, Spell, Read and Write, and he has finished through letter K. He actually knows almost all of his letter sounds and is beginning to understand the concept of rhyming. Ben's teacher gushes over his ability to cut with scissors and trace very neatly, and although he has trouble with the lower case e, he can just about write his name independently.

I enjoy homeschooling more each day and love pouring my energy into my kids' education. I do not often detail our daily schedule, because workbook exercises do not make for very good blog posts. But all of us learn and grow a little more every day, through all of the tasks we accomplish, and I like to think that we are closer as a family as well.