Back to Fun

I was going to title this post “Back to Work,” but that did not seem to fit the beginning of our school year so far. Sure, we have done quite a bit of work – math pages, grammar worksheets, history memory cards – and we have had to arrange teaching times around the baby’s naps. But, we have also had a lot of fun.

On Monday, Hannah and Ben learned about the center of gravity. They began by figuring out how to balance a potato on a ruler, using only a pair of forks. Then, they used what they learned to balance a broom on the palm of their hands by first identifying the broom’s center of gravity.

We also had our first Phys. Ed. Class on Monday. A few years ago, I got a free fitness and health package from Subway, including two pedometers, a stopwatch, and a year’s worth of lesson ideas and activities. The kids have gym once a week at co-op, but I want to add a bit to their learning at home as well. The kids loved experimenting with the pedometers, counting the steps needed to walk around the house or get the mail. Becca has even decided to eat a healthy breakfast every day, so she can feed her brain and maybe get better grades on her school work.

Today, Becca experimented with reading maps. I made a map of our property and marked several “treasures” on it. Then, she used the map to find the treasures – just a few nickles and gumballs. She needed a bit of help from Hannah to find the last few, but I may mark some more treasures next week and let her try again until she gets the hang of it.

I think everyone’s favorite lesson this week came from our new geography curriculum – Mapping the World with Art. We read a brief lesson on ancient maps and then followed several steps to draw maps of Mesopotamia. The kids’ maps are surprisingly good! The curriculum is supposed to be for ages 10 and older, but even Becca could follow the steps to draw a decent map. By the end of the year, the kids should be able to draw a map of the entire world!

After we drew the maps, we used edible chocolate clay to make Babylonian-type maps, using chopsticks and drawing cuneiform markings on them. I baked them, and everyone enjoyed delicious, warm chocolate map cookies with a glass of milk as an after school snack. I intended to take photos, but they did not last long enough. Geography should be a lot of fun this year!

I am so thankful that the kids have been working more willingly this school year. Perhaps they are just older and more mature. (They are in 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th grade now!) Or, maybe they work better with checklists of work to accomplish instead of scheduling subjects at specific times. Regardless of the reason, they have been finishing their regular work more quickly, which leaves room for a lot more fun and experimentation. This should be a wonderful year!

Two Kids and a Baby

OK, she is not a baby anymore, but she is my baby, and I cannot believe she is old enough for kindergarten this year!

This is my first year formally schooling all three kids. Becca is in kindergarten, Ben is in second grade, and Hannah is in third grade. When I first began this homeschooling adventure two years ago, my oldest was in first grade. Now, somehow, my baby is old enough for school. How does the time pass so quickly? Some days seem so long and frustrating. Then, I blink, and the kids are older, and I wonder how the baby I cradled in my arms could be the lovely child standing in front of me.

I found the photo I took of the kids on our very first "not back to school" day, and I am amazed at how much they have grown in just two short years:

School has been interesting so far this year. Hannah has matured quite a bit since last year. She works independently, does beautiful work, and complains very little. She especially loves our language arts curriculum, and her work shows her love for writing. For example, she had to fill in a blank to make a fragment a complete sentence: "________ is funny." My answer key suggested "He" as a possible answer. Hannah wrote, "The clown dance at the circus." I actually have fun reading the sentences she creates!

Ben still wiggles and sings and fools around, but he is doing better than last year. He finishes all of his work, in spite of the fooling around and complaining. I am hoping that he will continue maturing, like Hannah, and eventually have a bit more focus. I think his biggest struggle is not wanting to work hard at anything, but he is learning the benefits of hard work in soccer this year, and I think that may carry over into his school work as well.

Becca has been a bit of a challenge so far. She loves the idea of school, but she does not like me choosing the activities. I know she loves cutting and gluing and reading and workbooks, but she complains about every activity. I think once she settles into a routine with the other two, she will enjoy school a bit more. And I am sure I will find what methods work for her personality, just as I discovered for Hannah and Ben. Becca's biggest challenge, however, is her desire to use the chairs and desks as her own personal jungle gym instead of simply sitting in them. I struggle teaching a little monkey who swings and leaps all around the school room. Again, I think with discipline and practice, she will adjust to this as well.

I am excited about this school year! I have a lot of fun ideas and I cannot wait to learn and explore new things with the kids. Truthfully, even though I love summer vacation and appreciate the rest, and in spite of all of the challenges, school time is my favorite part of the year.

And the First Month Flies By...

As I write this blog post, I cannot believe that we have already completed more than a month and a half of school! The year has been both fun and frustrating at times, filled with lessons from life and not just lessons from books.

We have traveled quite a bit - to the zoo, the children's museum, Cedar Point, and COSI. Josh took Hannah and Ben to see a football game at Virginia Tech, and I took Becca on an autumn excursion to my parents' cabin. We even drove to Grove City College for a friend's wedding and spent some time with a wonderful family near Pittsburgh. Somehow, I still managed to squeeze in a few photo shoots as well!

During this crazy month, we lost our sweet kitty, Barky, to an illness called FIP. He was young, and his sickness and death were sudden and unexpected. We took some time off of school to love him for a couple of days and then grieve our loss. The kids made memory boxes and have learned a lot about death and loss and sadness - life lessons I never expected to teach them this year.

Through all of this, we are actually making progress with school work, too. Hannah is flying through her math again, and Ben has finally mastered his addition and subtraction facts and is moving on to more difficult problems. He spent the first few weeks making and practicing flashcards from + and - 0 through + and - 9. Now, he is doing much better with his math because he has the facts memorized and no longer needs to calculate each problem in his head. Both kids like Spelling Power, although I have to keep reassuring Ben that he is supposed to get words on the pretests wrong - otherwise, he would never learn anything new!

Social Studies and Science remain the kids' favorite subjects (I will share more of those lessons in later posts), and they love doing Spanish a couple days a week, too.

For reading and language arts, we are working our way through First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind. Ben just began Level One, and Hannah just completed that book. They love the simplicity and repetition and are learning quite a bit. They especially love memorizing the poems in the book. We have been reading longer chapter books together, too. We just finished reading The Secret Garden and then listened to the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre version and watched the movie. I ordered James and the Giant Peach yesterday and hope to begin it in a week or so. I think it will appeal a little more to my adventurous Ben, though he also appreciated the lovely story in The Secret Garden.

I love our Bible curriculum this year. We are using a book called Our 24 Family Ways. Each "family way" is a kind of rule for the family follow, though really, they are more like ways of living. Each "way" has five daily lessons, a coloring page, a brief story intro, a character quality, and a Bible verse to memorize. The lessons are short enough to hold the kids' interest, but deep enough to make them think. Even my littlest has memorized the verses, and the verses are often fairly long - 2 or 3 verses at a time. Still, with repetition, they have learned the verses and the family ways very well. I also posted the family ways on our wall where everyone can read them, and when a child needs a "break" (like a time out), he or she sits and reads through the ways and then tells me which ones were not followed. I love that they are specific and thorough and well-grounded in Scripture. We begin each day with the Bible lesson and prayer, focusing on God right from the start.

Finally, with a few exceptions, I have designated Fridays as "Project Fridays." Each Friday, we put aside our regular school work and tackle a project, either together or separately. All three kids created beautiful lapbooks on the animals of their choosing, and we have begun working on making our own movie together. Our next project will likely be a "Space" lapbook, inspired by the content of the story they wrote for our movie script. These Fridays have been the most fun and educational school days, and I hope we can continue them all year!

So, as the first months of the school year fly by, hopefully I will more faithfully update this blog and share what we are studying and experiencing. As the blog's title proclaims, "learning is life" - and we are certainly spending most of our time living and learning together!

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...

Bugs at School, Bugs at Home

For those who do not already know, we had some tough educational decisions to make this year. Our elementary school received a low rating on the state report card two years in a row, which qualified Hannah to apply for a voucher to attend the private school of our choice. She would only be eligible this year going into kindergarten, however. Otherwise, she would have to attend the public school for a year before she could apply. As we have no interest in sending her to a failing school, this would be our only year to consider this option.

Before we found out about the vouchers, I had often told my friends that a certain private school in our town (From here on out, let's just call it "Private School" since I'd rather not post my child's elementary school on the internet!) would be the only school that would make me consider not homeschooling. I love the learning style and I had a feeling that Hannah would thrive there. Hannah also seems a little socially immature at times, so I thought that interacting a bit more with other kids her age would be beneficial for her. So, we applied, and she got the last place open in kindergarten. We officially received the voucher in August, and she started school last week.

Of course, I felt nervous about sending her off to full-day kindergarten after having her home with me for almost 6 years. But, we love her teacher so far. (We'll call her "Ms. K.") The evening after the first day of school, I received this email from her:

"Just a note to let you know how much I enjoyed being with Hannah on the first day of Kindergarten! She is just a sweetie! She is also my number one bug finder! I love a girl that loves bugs---since I am not a big fan of the creepy crawly pals! She found all kinds of activities during free choice time! She loved my magnetic picture case! You can switch the picture around and use different magnetic shapes! She loves to investigate! How cool is that! We will work on the bathroom routines so she doesn't spend too much time---although even in there you can hear her singing and being happy! She is a doll and I am just so happy to get to know her! :)"

How could I not love a teacher who has figured out after only one day how much Hannah loves bugs?!

Apparently, Hannah can locate every spider web, earthworm hangout, and wasp nest at the school. They had their first library day on Tuesday, and of course, she brought home a Zoobook magazine about insects. She told me that she loves bugs more than any other animal. In fact, she squealed with delight when I accidentally stumbled across a page that identified the strikingly pretty bug that was crawling up her arm in the garden last month. She begged to see picture after picture of the somewhat uncommon Whitecrossed Seed Bug.

Then, this morning, Hannah got up early for school and was ready to go a bit early. We put her backpack in the car and walked out to the garden to inspect the vegetables for a few minutes. As we turned to head back to the car, something white and dew-drenched caught Hannah's attention.

"Mama," she asked, "is this a spider web?"

I looked at the web and replied, "Yes, and see the cool shape? It's called a Funnel Web Spider, because it makes this web in the shape of a funnel."

Hannah bent down very close to the web to study it in more detail just as a tiny bug snagged itself in the sticky threads. Suddenly, a pretty brown spider, about the size of a lima bean, rushed from the hole to see what had disturbed his web. Hannah jumped up and down and shrieked excitedly, gushing on and on about the amazing spider and how he raced out of his web into her face.

I checked my watch and hurried Hannah to the car so we would not be late. The entire way to school, she chattered about the spider, exclaiming that she would tell her teacher and principal all about it as soon as she got to school.

I am not exactly sure how a child of mine learned to love bugs so wholeheartedly. I do not especially like spiders or bees in my house or too close to me when I am outside, but I do think that they are interesting and often very beautiful. I typically prevent the kids from killing bugs when they are outside in their own habitat, though I do kill most bugs in our home. And, I am the one who purchased the Audubon bug guides in order to learn about the many bugs we have seen, so I guess I would say that I have a healthy appreciation for them. But not like Hannah - I think she is in love! Perhaps she will be an entomologist someday... At the very least, I know she will never be an exterminator!

And it begins...

We officially began our school year this year on August 3rd. I cannot believe how well Hannah is doing so far! I'll give just a brief overview today and then share more details later.

We started right in on the first grade reading curriculum this year. Hannah can read most of her books on her own now, with limited help from me. I think her preschool teacher will be shocked when she realizes how well she can read this year.

Her teacher will also be surprised when she sees Hannah's handwriting. This is another area in which Hannah has grown tremendously over the summer. Her letters are all recognizable now, with no help from me. She is still working on keeping the letters on the lines and making them face the right direction, but she is doing so much better!

In math, we just started basic addition. She completely gets the concept, but she is still counting to get her answers. Memorization is something that will have to come with time, though.

Finally, we are having a blast with the unit studies. I really don't think Hannah even realizes she is "working" when we do these. We began this year by looking at a globe and talking about water and continents and how the earth rotates on its axis. Then, we identified North America, the United States, and Ohio. Our first major unit is North America, and we are going to be reading books and learning geography and science based on those books.

Because Nana and Bubba traveled to the Grand Canyon this summer, we started by focusing on that. We read a beautifully illustrated kids book called "I See Something Grand," found the Grand Canyon on a map, talked about the animals in the canyon, discussed erosion and how it works, and looked at the pictures from Nana and Bubba's trip. Both kids loved it!

Today, we began one of our major ongoing projects for the year, as well. With lots of help, Hannah covered a large Styrofoam ball with paper mache. Once it dries, she's going to paint it blue, and then we will glue each continent onto the globe she has made as we discuss that continent. Because the core is Styrofoam, we can use straight pins to label the specific locations we focus on. Hannah had a blast getting so messy today! I'll have to take some pictures once the painting begins to demonstrate the work in progress...

Poor Ben... he wants so badly to be involved in whatever Hannah is doing, but he doesn't have the patience for any worksheets quite yet. I am hoping that preschool helps with that a little. He always reads with us, and then, he'll sometimes draw on blank paper or use his safety scissors to cut the paper into a hundred tiny pieces. I know that's good practice for him, since Hannah couldn't use scissors until she was at least 4. He's also become obsessed with his letters. He loves taking a set of laminated cards with letters on them and tracing the letters again and again with a dry erase marker. He actually does a very good job staying on the lines, too!

The poor little guy is such a perfectionist, though! He cries and wants to give up if he's tracing a rectangle and the line is a little wobbly instead of perfectly straight. And he gets mad if his letters don't look exactly right! I keep telling him that he's doing exceptionally well for a 3 year old, and that it takes lots of practice to draw straight lines and perfect letters, but he still gets very distraught. I don't know where he could have gotten that trait... ha, ha.

I'll finish with Hannah's first unassisted journal entry (well... except for adding one apostrophe and having her turn a few of her a's and p's around):


Translation: "I didn't like the roller coaster, but I did like all the other rides at the fair."