Beginning a Co-op

This year, some homeschooling women from my church and MOPS group banded together to form a homeschooling co-op. The group meets at the same time as MOPS, so younger kids can attend the MOPPETS kids program, and the homeschooling moms take turns teaching the school age children. I decided to participate, partly so Becca could attend MOPPETS, and partly so my kids could experience learning in a small-scale classroom setting for more than just Sunday School.

We divide the children into two age groups: kindergarten through second grade and third through fifth grade. Each meeting lasts for two hours, and the kids have two lessons, with a brief break in the middle. Both age groups study Ohio history, which makes me happy because I know little about Ohio history. Additionally, each group has a different age-specific lesson - subjects such as creative writing, poetry, photography, seasons, etiquette, and first aid. The younger kids often have arts and crafts components, and all of the kids seem to have fun!

At first, I was scheduled to teach a few of the first lessons, but my broken leg prevented me from attending. As disappointed as I felt about missing out on teaching, I felt worse for the kids, because I knew they needed a chance to get out and be with other kids. This winter has been much different than I anticipated, and we have been cooped up in the house more than I like. However, a wonderful woman in the co-op called and volunteered to drive Hannah and Ben to co-op for me! They had such a wonderful time, returning home afterward bubbling over with excitement about the lessons and the activities. Even Ben willingly sat and did the writing assignment for the next class!

In February, the other mom also drove me to co-op, and I got to teach my first lesson, helping third through fifth graders learn about photography. I am excited that I get to teach a class again, since that was my major in college and my original career plan before I had kids. I also appreciate that my children have the opportunity to learn from other teachers, spend time with other kids, and even create messy art projects that I cannot attempt at home, especially with a broken leg...

Though many of my plans have changed this winter, co-op has been a blessing for both me and the kids, giving us a bit of extra enthusiasm at a time when cabin fever threatens to become overwhelming.

***The picture of Ben working on some co-op assignments is courtesy of Hannah, who loves the digital camera she received for Christmas and takes pictures of EVERYTHING she sees... just like her mom!***

An Enchanting Tale

As part of our morning routine, I have given Hannah pages from a workbook that thoroughly covers grammar and writing skills at a first and second grade level. She has completed all of the grammar lessons and now must apply those concepts to her writing. Today's assignment required her to write a story or a report about a frog or toad. It suggested topics and word choices, but of course, my little author already had plenty of her own creative ideas. After several hours of writing and brainstorming and talking through her ideas, Hannah finished her enchanting tale: "Rainbow Diamond's Wonderful Treehouse."

Here is her story:

Once upon a time there lived a frog who lived in an enchanted forest. She was an enchanted frog. Her name was Rainbow Diamond. Rainbow Diamond is an enchanted name, as you can see. But this was no ordinary forest. The hills were pink, the trees were purple, the flowers were green, and she was all the colors of the rainbow! Unlike other frogs, the only problem in her life was that she couldn't find a home.

Then one day, she lay down in the mud just relaxing and wondering what she should do to have a home. Then, all of a sudden, she saw a rainbow lily pad come floating toward her. She gasped! There on the lily pad was the most wonderful seed! It was all the colors of the rainbow! "Is that seed magic?" she wondered. She did not know that the seed was very magical indeed.

It was so very magical that as soon as she planted it, up grew a house. She was so excited about her house that she didn't see Hannah the fairy come flying toward her. Finally, she noticed Hannah. "Hi, Hannah," croaked Rainbow Diamond.

"Hi, Rainbow Diamond," said Hannah.

Then, Hannah spied the high, enormous treehouse. "What a big treehouse!" said Hannah. "How did you make it?"

"I planted it," answered Rainbow Diamond.

"Let's go for a swim," said Hannah.

"Sure, we can go for a swim," said Rainbow Diamond.

"All right! Yay! Hip hip hurray!" they yelled together.

"Wow! Look at that strange glow," said Rainbow Diamond.

"And I know what it is," said Hannah.

"What?" asked Rainbow Diamond.

"A lamp," said the fairy.

"How did you know?" asked Rainbow Diamond.

"I gave you the seed, and I gave you the lamp. I wanted you to have a rainbow house and a rainbow lamp, just like you. I know that today is your seventh birthday. Happy birthday, Rainbow Diamond!" said Hannah.

"Wow! Thank you, Hannah," said Rainbow Diamond. "What a wonderful friend you are! Would you want to live here with me?"

"Sure, Rainbow Diamond!" said Hannah.

They both lived together in the treehouse for the rest of their lives.

The end.

A Budding Mathematician

Most people who know my children would assume that this post would be about Ben, and for good reason. Ben is currently moving through the same first-grade level math book as Hannah, slowly but surely. He understands the concept of addition and has memorized his +0, +1, +2, +8 and +9 facts, though he is still a bit shaky on the 8's and 9's. His fine motor skills and his need to wiggle out of his chair fairly regularly limit him to only a few minutes of math per day, but I am satisfied with his progress, especially for a kindergarten boy!

However, this post is not about Ben, but about Hannah. In the past, Hannah has struggled a little to grasp mathematical concepts such as place value, whereas Ben seemed to understand it almost instinctively. This year, though, everything suddenly clicked for Hannah, and she is just flying through her math book! She has memorized all of her addition facts and has moved on to subtraction. She enjoys it so much, that she often completes an entire unit in a day, including the test - and she rarely writes an incorrect answer! Actually, I have had to console her once or twice when she has missed a question on a test, because she becomes quite distraught when she does not get a perfect score. I am glad that she wants to excel, but I would hate for her to give up when the work becomes more challenging, simply because she cannot handle being less than perfect...

I must say, however, that I feel delighted that she cheers when I give her math worksheets to do in the morning, and I smile gladly when she announces, her face aglow, "I am good at math!" I think I am going to have to order the second grade curriculum soon, though. At the rate she is working, she will have completed the first grade book by the end of October...

Loving the Library

As part of our homeschool routine this year, we visit the library every other Monday morning. That gives us time to read the books we choose, while also allowing us to rotate the books regularly to match our lessons and interests. Usually we pick out a few books to fit with a school theme, while the kids choose other books simply because they look fun or interesting.

Last week, while browsing the non-fiction section, I noticed a nice picture book about John James Audubon. Written as a poem/letter from Audubon to his father, explaining his passion for studying birds and nature, the story interspersed various writings from his journals and his actual paintings of birds alongside the lovely illustrations in the book. As an aspiring author and illustrator, Hannah grew more and more delighted as she learned Audubon's story. As soon as I finished reading her the book, she leaped up from the couch and announced, "I'm doing that! I'm going to draw pictures of birds and bugs and sea creatures when I grow up!"

She asked if she could draw some pictures instead of doing her Sing, Spell, Read and Write that afternoon, and I agreed. First, she brought her pumpkin to the school table and studied it carefully, drawing exactly what she saw, just as Audubon did. Then, she took a second piece of paper and wrote a brief paragraph:

"This is a pumpkin that I drew all by my self! I copied a real pumpkin. We also might make pumpkin pie or bars. I really like my pumpkin."

When she had completed that page, she asked permission to get two apples out of the refrigerator, and she drew those as well. She had one large, green apple with a stem, and one small red apple with no stem, and she again focused on drawing each one as she saw it. She finished by writing another paragraph:

"These are two different kids of apples. They are two different colors. One is red and one is green. They look so yummy that I think I am going to have to eat them for a snack."

I love seeing books inspire my children to learn, and I love having the flexibility to change my schedule as needed to accommodate their excitement for what they are learning. Sometimes their creativity extends my lesson plans beyond what I even expected to teach, and, thanks to a wonderful public library, we have a fresh supply of books to broaden our knowledge and kick off new ideas for studying and exploring the world.

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...