The Wheel on the School

Last week, Hannah and I finished the first chapter book we worked on together - The Wheel on the School by Miendert DeJong. What a lovely book! We both fell in love with it from the very first page. Lina, the main character, is so sweet and thoughtful and full of dreams. She reminds me very much of my Hannah!

At first, the book focuses only on the school children and their teacher, as they are the only "important" characters in the story. But gradually, more and more characters become "important" until the list includes the whole town and even some people in adjacent towns: the oldest man and woman, the young tots, the fathers, the women, the poor tin man, and even the once-outcast legless man with a cherry tree in his back yard. By the end of the book, everyone has come together to make Lina's "impossibly impossible" dream a reality.

Last Friday, Josh surprised Ben by taking him away for the weekend to a Virginia Tech football game with all of the guys on that side of the family. Since I didn't have to plan any school work for Ben that day, I decided to spend the whole day with Hannah working on a project to wrap up our reading of the book. I planned to do three lapbooks - one on the book, one on the Netherlands, and one on storks. In advance, I found a few printables from homeschoolshare.com, and I designed a few booklets myself. Using some non-fiction books from the library about the Netherlands and storks, Hannah and I planned out the rest of the ideas. She did most of the writing, though I wrote the titles on each item and the tiny labels on the timeline. I also filled in the main character list, when her hand became tired. Of course, she helped me by listing characters and describing the main events. Once we finished assembling the lapbooks, Hannah decorated the cover of each one. I am absolutely amazed at how they turned out!

The cover for the book lapbook:

The inside of the book lapbook:

The cover of the Netherlands lapbook:

The inside of the Netherlands lapbook:

The cover of the stork lapbook:

The inside of the stork lapbook:

In addition, during play time yesterday, I noticed that Hannah had used her Legos to build a replica of the village of Shora. The little girl even has on a pair of wooden shoes!

Amazingly, Hannah has nearly finished reading the entire book for a second time on her own! The reading level is fairly challenging, but she loves the story so much that she does not mind. This is one reason why we opted to homeschool this year. Last year, school exhausted her so much that she never wanted to read on her own anymore. She seemed to have lost her love of reading. Obviously, that love returned once we provided a more restful and academically stimulating school environment. I am very excited by how this project turned out, and I am already considering our next one when we finish our new chapter book. I love how much fun learning can be - for my kids and for me!

A Matter of Science...

... or perhaps I should title this "The Science of Matter."

One disadvantage of buying my curriculum online is that I do not always know if it will meet my expectations. For that reason, I debated about this science curriculum for a long time before I finally purchased it. In fact, I think it sat in my Amazon cart for almost 6 months before I finally committed to buying it. However, after a little over a week of school, I can say that I am more than delighted with this book! It has exceeded all of my expectations so far.

The author of this book, Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, is an environmental scientist who dislikes the random fashion most elementary science curricula use to present topics. He decided to create a book to teach even young children to think about science as a whole and to see how various topics build on each other. Rather than jumping from animals to weather to rocks to plants, this curriculum weaves together different branches of science while guiding students to think as scientists.

Using the book, we began with the idea of organizing things into categories. We practiced grouping items around the room into categories, and I showed them how to complete larger jigsaw puzzles using the same idea. First, we categorized pieces into edges and non-edges. Then, we grouped them by color. A seemingly impossible task quickly became much simpler.

This week, building upon that idea, I introduced the concept of matter and its three states - solid, liquid, and gas. We found various items around the house and organized them into these three categories. I showed them that all of the liquids needed containers to keep them from flowing into the carpet. Josh even explained "viscosity" to them, and they could identify which liquids had higher or lower viscosity. We experimented with ice and butter on the stove and saw how matter could change from one state to another, and we also discussed how living things are a combination of the three states - not just one.

As a final project, I put together a small book, with a label or sentence on each page, and I allowed the kids to write and draw what they learned about matter. I gave them a lot of freedom, though I required that they write at least one thing on each page and I assisted them with spelling if needed. I was so impressed! Their books showed just how much they really learned about the subject:

Ben, age 5 (kindergarten):


Hannah, age 6 (first grade):

Finding a Routine

We started school officially on August 25th. The kids excitedly got dressed in new clothes, made their beds, and hurried outside for pictures. In fact, they finished their breakfasts and sat at the table for school about 20 minutes earlier than required, because they were so anxious to begin!

Through some experimentation, we have come up with a good routine. Each day, after the kids finish their breakfasts, they come to the school table and open their folders. Hannah and Ben put stickers on their charts for accomplishing three things - making their beds, cleaning their rooms, and getting to the table on time (by 9:00 am). Then, all three kids work on the few worksheets I put in their folders the night before. This allows them to get started whenever they are ready and provides a few minutes for me to get out my materials for the day. Once they finish, they return the work to their folders and put their folders back on the shelf. Becca loves being included in this and actually cries if I do not give her school work to do!

After this, we start our real school day. We begin by reading and discussing a Bible lesson from a wonderful book, entitled Mighty Acts of God by Starr Meade. We pray together, and then we review the calendar and the rules for our school:

1. "Children obey your parents." (Colossians 3:20)
2. "Be kind and compassionate to one another." (Ephesians 4:32)
3. "Do everything without complaining or arguing." (Philippians 2:14)
4. "Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry." (James 1:19)

From this point on, each day varies. We usually do math, and we alternate science and social studies. We have time outside, art lessons, stories, projects, and we always have a morning snack.

After lunch, Hannah writes in her journal while I put Becca and Ben down for a nap and eat my own lunch. Then, Hannah and I spend the afternoon working one-on-one. Nearly every day, she completes a "Raceway Step" in Sing, Spell, Read, and Write and takes a test on any spelling words she did not already know from the previous day's lesson. Amazingly, she has only needed six spelling words so far this year: cheap, chocolate, which and witch, and whale and wail. She sometimes has free-choice time to work on crafts, do puzzles, or read, and then we end each day with me reading aloud to her from a chapter book. She has completely fallen in love with the book I chose to begin the year - The Wheel on the School by Meindert Dejong. Every day, she begs me to keep reading, and we often do not end our school day until 3:30 or 4:00!

Our routine has worked very well, and the kids like knowing what to expect each day. Our clock chimes each hour, which helps them keep track of the time and measure the day. They all enjoy school days quite a bit, and I try to alternate desk work with more active learning so they do not get bored or worn out.

Additionally, I love school days as well. I enjoy directing their education and seeing them discover new things. I love that my kids can solve for an unknown, explore in-depth science, and read books at their reading level instead of their grade level. And, I especially appreciate that I can study God's Word with them each and every day and watch them mature into independent thinkers and kids with character! Though I am exhausted at the end of the week, I am thankful for the chance I have to educate my own children. The blessings far outweigh any difficulties...

A Summer Summary

Now that school has started for the year, I feel like I should give a brief summary of our summer. Between my badly sprained ankle, the blessings and demands of an abundant summer harvest, and our two long vacations, I have been too busy to post until now!

Here is just a brief list of the fun we had:

• Camping for a week at the state park, including crayfish hunting, rock climbing, and canoeing.

• Riding the trolley into Philadelphia (from my parents' house) to see the Franklin Institute.

• Spending a day at a friend's house, including picking blackberries and meeting their chickens.

• Visiting the Please Touch Museum with grandparents and friends.

• Exploring the Camden Aquarium.

• Enjoying Grandma and PopPop's cabin

• Picking apples and plums

• And much more!

Now that summer is drawing to a close and we are beginning a daily homeschooling routine, I look forward to the coming of fall. I love cooler weather, colorful leaves, apples and pumpkins, and the spicy, earthy smells of the season. And, I enjoy looking back at our fun, knowing we could not have asked for a better summer!