Cowboy Charlie

Thing Two and I have been working through Volume 4 of Five in a Row this school year.  Vol. 4 is a bit different than 1 - 3, in that the lessons are a bit more detailed and more lessons to choose from.  Because of this, you plan a book for two weeks.

This year, I have been trying something different, in that I am not planning to far in advance for each title.  I do have a general idea of when I'd like to hit the titles, but other than that, I let Thing Two pick a title on the first Monday and we roll with it. 

His selection of the next book was "Cowboy Charlie" by Jeanette Winter.  The following is from the inside of the dust cover, about the book:

Charlie was a boy with a dream. But not just any dream. Charlie's dream was to go west, to be a cowboy. Charlie's mind couldn't be changed. He held on to his dream as tight as can be. Tha's how it is with dreams - the real ones just don't go away.

Sure enough, pretty soon charlie was on a train heading to Montana - the land of open sky. And the moment that Charlie first saw the frontier, his heart opened as big as the sky above. At last, Charlie was home.

Jeanette Winter's sparkling illustrations and down-to-earth, carefully research story tell the tale of a boy who had a courage to follow his heart - a boy who became the great American painter of the Wild West, Charlie Russell.

Yesterday, he proudly said, "I am going to read the book, because I want to see all the pictures!"  I was impressed with his word attack on unfamiliar words (and not that many at that).  He did well with trying to figure those few out.  I do enjoy listening to him read!

Well, colds have been hitting our house and I wasn't sure what all I would get done.  Fortunately, most of their work is independent and they got to what they could.  Thing Two begged for FIAR today.  So we snuggled up, under blankets, and I got a turn to read the book.  Afterward we listened to a couple different versions of "Home on the Range" and "Buffalo Dusk" by Carl Sandburg.  Having a good internet connection makes quick work of research and some good laughs while listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks sing "Home on the Range"!
 

Daily Scheduling

I've been busy, busy, busy.  Printing things for school, making wish lists for when we attend the HEAV Convention, and about to print more blank weekly lesson sheets.  Yes, it may be a bit early, but given we will have a couple weeks of school in June, I want to get an idea of how school may look with some of the new subjects we are adding this year.

For 2011/2012 school year, I am hoping to add:

• typing
• Spanish vocabulary using Rosetta Stone Latin America
• Phys. Ed.
• Nature Studies (been meaning to do this and have neglected it greatly)
• more art, but through our Unit Studies, Geography, and History
• A Child's Geography written by Ann Voskamp

 Most of these may only be 2 or 3 days a week and may need to be shuffled some once we have fall activities figured out.  This is in addition to Five in a Row, Beyond Five in a Row, Amanda Bennett's Unit Studies,  Mystery of History, Math-U-See, and Language Lessons from Queens Homeschool Supplies.  These we've used in the past few years with a lot of success, so we're continuing with them.

Finalized - wish I could use that word!

Over at Heart of the Matter, they are having a "Not Back to School Blog Hop" where everyone is posting their curriculum for this school year. From what I have been seeing, it looks like everyone has there full year planned out. Sure things might change, but a basic road map has been laid out. And here I felt pretty good that I had through Christmas pulled together. So, without further hesitation, here IS the curriculum we've got lined up:

Math ~ Math U See:
Thing One: wrap up Delta and move on to Epsilon
Thing Two: wrap up Alpha and then onto Beta

Language Arts ~ this is from Queens Homeschooling Supply and the boys seem to be doing well with it so far (I'm excited because this is the first LA program where the boys are excited about it. The lessons are short, to the point, and easy to grasp. I've already had Thing Two looking through books for silent E words after finishing his lesson).
Thing One: Language Lessons for the Elementary Child 2
Thing Two: Language Lessons for Little Ones 3

Spelling ~ Sequential Spelling for both of them (still need to figure out where Thing One is in the books, Thing Two will start at the beginning)

History ~ we're using Mystery of History vol 1. We started it mid year last school year, so we're still working through this one. We'll move onto volume 2 when the time comes.

Unit Studies ~ Lined up so far, and carrying us through Christmas or into January:

• Chronicles of Narnia Bible Study and will add in other things from Home School Share, focusing on The Magician's Nephew for now. We may pick up other books later in the year
• Castle Diary with lap booking pages from Home School Share
• The Testimony of Charlie Coulson - a unit study for Civil War times
• Thanksgiving Unit Study from Amanda Bennett
• Christmas Unit Study from Amanda Bennett
• Pioneers Unit Study from Amanda Bennett

Five in a Row & Beyond Five in a Row ~ various titles I'll pick in the Spring

Science ~ both boys love science. We've got a few books for various science projects. We'll use those or Google for more.

Bible Studies ~ we actually do a lot around here for that. We've been working through "Training Hearts, Teaching Minds" by Starr Meade over the last few months, reading the boys bibles before bed, and during the school day, we'll be adding "An Honorable Boy - A Bible Study for Elementary Aged Boys" (one for each boy).

Co-op ~
Thing One: Dangerous Boys and Cooking
Thing Two: Free Play and Galloping the Globe

Field Trips ~
Maryland Renaissance Festival
Cedar Creek Reenactment
Plays at George Mason University
Possible trip to Jamestown, VA

When written out like this, it seems like a lot of school stuff. Amazingly, with 11 days under our belt for 2010/2011 it's not to overwhelming.

Happy Schooling,


P.S. Forgot to mention (and know it is posted elsewhere), but Thing One is in 5th Grade and Thing Two is in 2nd grade.

Christmas Tour

Welcome to our house at Christmas time. On the Five in a Row Boards, some are posting photo's of their home at Christmas time and I'm finally getting to some of ours.

The front of our house. Not that you can see clearly, but
there is holly and lights around the front of our porch, wreaths in the
windows on the second level and one in the living room window.
There are also candle lights in each window. Also, not visible,
are red bows on the gates to our back yard.

Better shot of the snowman on our front porch. He's
made out of three grapevine wreaths, a hat, scarf, and boots.
Picked this idea up from Southern Living a few years ago.

Our Santa collection. Think we're up to about
eleven. Because there are so many sizes, it's hard
to take one photo and have them all fit.

Indoors, our one and only Christmas Tree. It is
Thing Two's year to put the star on top.

The NOEL letters I painted last year. They're gold and
sit on the dining room window.

When I was single, I'd hang stockings on this shelf.
Then after Kevin and I were married, we kept hanging our
stockings on this shelf. It's become "the place" that we hang them
even though we have a fireplace.

The second take of the Advent Calendar I made
this year. Yes, we start on one and will go until the 25th.

Made this card holder this year as well. It is Christmas
themed fabric cut into strips that are approximately
one inch wide by approximately six inches long. I then
tied them onto a ribbon. There are a few gold, wire trimmed,
ribbons in there that I made curly. When we receive a card, I
slip on a curtain clip to hold the card (the clip isn't a full circle,
so it slides on easily).

Art and Shadowing

Today, for art in "All the Secrets of the World" we discussed shadowing, how a shadow is cast from it's light source. If the light source is above you (think bright, sunny day, at noon) you won't have much of a shadow; when the light source is in front of you, your shadow is behind you; when the light source is behind you, your shadow is in front of you. Here's our photo demonstration:

Here's the light source in front of Thing Two and his shadow
behind him.

Here's the light source behind Thing Two.
Yup, you guessed it, his shadow is in front of him.

Don't recall which photo it was during, but he got a bit confused, because there was enough light coming in that he told me the wrong direction of the shadow. I had to rephrase the question to something like "Which way is your shadow going as a result of the flashlight?" He got it then the correct answer.

School this week!

Sure has been a hoot! We're not even rowing "Owl Moon" yet. Okay, so that maybe a bad joke if you don't know the Five in a Row books.

Ferdinand has probably given me the most giggles and time to think. There is one portion of text that says "Well, if you were a bumble bee and a bull sat on you what would you do?" While reading, I'd typically pause after this, to which Thing Two would respond, "I'd fart!!" Really don't know where this came from, but today he actually said something along the lines of "sting the bull" which is close to what the text said. I was almost disappointed. The story makes me think of my oldest, Thing One, as well. In the story, Ferdinand the bull, is content to do his own thing, under the cork tree, sniffing flowers. He isn't lonely or anything; he just doesn't have a desire to but heads with other bulls, run around and snort, or anything else a bull might do. The story reminds me of how God makes each of us so different from the next and just because you don't fit society's view of normal doesn't mean you don't have something to contribute.

Anyway, I took a few pictures yesterday, of their Art projects for the day. Yesterday, I choose to post a Wordless Wednesday, so I'm writing about Art today instead of Math. The boys had fun with figuring out balance with stuffed animals - a lesson from Hanna's Cold Winter. Thought it was cute that Thing Two used his own hippo in the picture. Both boys did well on that task. For Ferndinand, we discuss drama and how to express yourself given a few different cue cards; things like sitting on a bee when you are the bee, sitting on a bee when you are the bull, running and snorting like a bull, and a few others. That was fun to see the boys getting their wiggles out.

The boys acting out bulls running and jumping,
hence the blurriness of the photo's even with the
camera being on sports setting.

Learning about balance with using their stuff animals;
an art assignment from Hanna's Cold Winter.

Happy Sunday!!

I've finished lesson planning, for the most part, for the next couple weeks. In looking around for pictures of the books we are rowing for Five in a Row, I came across this web page about Trish Marx, author of Hanna's Cold Winter. It's a neat page and will review a few times during the next couple weeks.

Anyhoot, Thing One will be working through "Hanna's Cold Winter" and Thing Two will be working through "Ferdinand the Bull".

Manic Monday

Odd heading, I suppose. Sure feels like it has been a manic kind of day though, as I sit back and consider all that has been accomplished and all that is still left to do. Was up before 6:00 AM today, sitting with my bible and bible study book. It was dark, except for minimal light (trying to keep the boys sleeping!), and a bit chilly. Thing one was up before I was finished, but said something to the effect of "I'll be quiet so you can finish your quiet time!!" He followed through with that fairly well, too. The day progressed from there. Here's what has been accomplished thus far today:

• school with each boy
• reorganize Thing One's folder
• breakfast for everyone
• clean-up
• putting school stuff away
• packaged up a book to go back to a friend
• getting ready for the day
• speech for Thing One at the public school
• orthodontic appointment for Thing One (pallet expander got stepped on)
• run by post office
• straightening up of lots of little piles of stuff
• going over some Webelos requirements
• going over some Bobcat Requirements with Thing Two
• played with dulcimer for a bit
• sent out a couple e-mails
• organized stray newspapers
• threw away a few handfuls of trash
• looked at Thing Two's leaf pile and helped make it bigger
• cleaned a bathroom
• gotten four loads threw wash & dryer
• one still in wash and one more to go all the way through
• unloaded dishwasher
• reloaded dishwasher
• made progress in clearing off coffee table
• put away a few craft supplies
• came up with meals for the week
• talked with a friend, briefly, on the phone
• got the boys Razor Scooters folding again with the help of a little WD40
• updated sidebar on blog to account for new FIAR book for Thing Two
  

Now to just get rid of a few more piles of stuff during the rest of the day, read some more in bible study book, start reading chapters in "The Case For a Creator" and collapse later.

Science Friday

Not an original idea, but I am back dating a post for Friday (post being typed on Sunday); we raced out of hear for camping shortly after finishing Thing One's science lesson. One of the lessons is entitled "Science: Chemistry - Bananas and Oxidation". You know those fruit (and some vegetables) that turn brown shortly after being peeled: bananas, apples, and potatoes for example. It's a chemical reaction to air when the white flesh is exposed to air. Here's what was done and observations made:

A banana, not exposed to air yet. Should be banana white,
except for a bruise maybe.

Just sliced to allow for more oxidation.

About 35 minutes later, the first signs of the banana slices
turning brown. This took a bit longer than was anticipated.

Approximately 20 minutes later, the slices
are darker brown.

Just over three hours later, a skin is forming over
the slices. These where left out until Saturday evening.
They weren't much darker before being dumped into
the compost.

Next time we try this, we'll have put lemon juice on some of
the slices. Citrus fruits have an acid in them that make oxidation
slow down. It would have been interesting to note the difference
between the two groups.

Monday Musing

The weekend sure did get away from me. Don't remember much from Friday evening, probably spent a portion of it knitting. Saturday, we ran A LOT of errands and even a return of one purchase. Yikes, a lot of tracking between stores. Got to sew some duvets for the boys new comforters. Two sheets (@ $4.50 a piece) were a lot cheaper than the almost $20 or almost $30 the boys were looking at. Let's see, $18.00 for the four sheets or $50 for two pre-made. That's a no brainer of what to do. That evening I even got to hang out with a friend and meet some new ladies that I recognized from church, but hadn't met yet. Sunday was just as crazy. Church in the morning, then lesson planned for a couple hours until hubby was home for lunch. Cleaning, more lesson planning, waiting for hubby to get home with a color cartridge so I could print things for school (that was an ordeal he can describe on his blog!!). We got to some cleaning in the basement and watched some ball games. Dinner was finally made and eaten to be followed by printing, in color. The boys to bed and finally working on the long over due checkbook.

So, it's now Monday and the pace hasn't slowed much. Got up, exercised, ate breakfast, got ready for the day, sorted and started our mound of laundry, finished lesson planning (and still a bit to do), and onto school. We're wrapping up most of the work now, to break for lunch, then the library, possibly another return, to back home, to a bit more school. Still need to update the sidebar pictures too. That will have to be later today though. A bunny trail from school let us learn that there are 6.7 million square miles in the USA (were we live obviously), 6.59 million miles in Russia (setting for Another Celebrated Dancing Bear), and 127.77 square miles in Japan (setting for Grass Sandals).

Hope your weekend and Monday have been more relaxing than ours!!

A Fall Snack

Over on the Five in a Row boards, earlier today, there was a thread labeled "temptation". Upon opening, to read more, you were greeted with this link. Yes, go check it out. This post will wait patiently (lol ~ as if it is really going anywhere!!). Anyway, the apple looks REALLY good, but at almost $23, I could feed a small army of children the same treat, but homemade. We actually have Fuji Apples at home, Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, and a Caramel Syrup. Here's what our snack today looked like and it was quite yummy!!

Good School Day

It was definitely one of the better school days we've had in awhile. We got along, things were accomplished, no tears shed, generally speaking a good day. I'm particularly proud of Thing One. He has often struggled with writing; coming up with ideas, formating sentences, putting them in a good order. Today, we played catch up on a bit of school and one assignment was to write a Tall Tale about "The biggest fish I ever caught", based loosely off of Higgin's Bend Song & Dance. He stuck with it and finished it quickly, for him.

Thing Two had fun today with his art ~ we focused on Origami. He had fun making airplanes and learning how to make a sail boat/hat.
Well, now it's time for me to put my "house cleaning" hat on for awhile and get some chores done. Hope you have a great day!

Busy School Day

We have gotten a lot of school type things accomplished today. Some of it book related, some of it nature related, and now Thing Two is picking up a little Spanish as he plays his Diego game.

There was a lot of time spent outdoors this afternoon, too. Here are some photo highlights ~

Decided over the weekend, that we'd work a little harder
on memorizing the times tables. It's such a nice day, would be a shame
not to do some of the work outside. Had them skip count, the 3's, as I
wrote them on our drive way. Then I asked what 3 x _____ equealed.
Thing One would have to tell me and jump onto the number. We
did enough of that to hit all the numbers 1 - 10 a couple times.

While we were out doing math, I was able to
finally photograph a salamander.

Need to double check, but I think this might be a
bee hive in a tree.
Turns out this is a Burr tree, with an irregular growth,
sort of like a wart. Makes for interesting carvings.

Another item to check on ~ think this is a heron.
I was right on the heron, but to be more specific,
it's a female Great Blue Heron.

Playing in the water. Thing Two was actually running through
the water, tripped, and fell into the water (not during this photo
though, a bit later). He was soaked by the time we got home.

Thing One was having fun walking across, bare foot. Both boys
really enjoyed playing in the water. While we were in this area, I also
pointed out a bend in the river and tied it back to Higgins Bend Song & Dance.
This is such a wonderful area, I'm hoping to make it out more often,
even when we row Owl Moon. I'd love for the four of us to get out one night.

This was the first time walking through the woods that we came across
deer AND I had a camera. Very cool!

Beginning of the week

It's the beginning of the week, it's the beginning of a new day. A day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

I do have reason to rejoice today as well. When I sat down to lesson plan (think it was Friday), I realized I should have looked for school books at our local library sooner. If they don't have them on the shelve, it can take any number of days for an inter-library loan to come in. I put a few on hold; not much I could do but wait.

Chuckled this morning as I thought of my blog and the sidebar. I can easily add the picture of Thing One's book, but for Thing Two it would be a bit more difficult as I didn't know what book would come in or if I'd have to look at a different FIAR volume and see if I had any of those books. I figured I'd just put in question marks for his picture.

I checked e-mails just a bit ago. "Grandfather's Journey" came in and is available for pick-up. YEAH!! I'll swing by this afternoon with a few books that are due today or later this week and pick-up the books on hold. I'll be able to change the pictures on my sidebar later today.

Thanking God for the little things in life that can make me happy.

Wifely Wednesday

A friend from Five in a Row has been posting "Wifely Wednesdays" on her blog. After a little consideration about the blog post I wanted to write today, it seemed to fit under this heading; at least I think it does.

It began last night, while at Costco, as we discussed buying Oreo's or making more home made goodies. The Oreos were put back because Kevin mentioned that he'd just open the last roll (which usually has about 14 cookies) and I figured I could make cookies in a few days. Given that, I really didn't think to much more of baking, knowing that between what was in our cart and what was at home, we had everything we needed.

This morning, as groggily made my way to the kitchen for a cup of tea, I found this ~


When I checked in with Kevin a bit later, he said something along the lines of "Well last night you mentioned you'd make cookies and it's kind of hard to do that when the butter is frozen!" That is true, however, we just didn't have the same time line of when the said cookies would be made.

Instead of getting flustered by it, choose to be thankful that he was thinking ahead and after school and lunch today, I made triple chocolate cookies. I put some Hershey's Special Dark Coco Powder in with the flour and used brown and white chocolate chips. Here's how they look ~

All is well, that ends well ~ and smells well.

2009/2010 school year

. . . . has begun with a sick household. We've managed to get through Five in a Row lesson from "Night of the Moonjellies". We talked about running a business and responsibilities. The boys came up with great lists for this, but Thing Two said it best "I would want to run a school so it could be an 'unschool' and cut out all the boring stuff". Way to go to go kid!!!

The remainder of today, we might just work on household responsibilities (yes, I mean chores).

Pictures to help keep the memories are good pictures right? So here come the first day of school pictures:

Serious (but not to serious) first day picture!!

Only Thing Two really got into the silly picture.
Thing One just rolled his lower lip!


It can't be a "good" first day of school without something sweet cooking. These are peanut butter cookies (pre-made dough from cold section of grocery store), cooked, then push in a mini reese's cup pressed in when still soft. I used a mini muffin tin that has 24 cups. Hope they taste good, as I can't smell them.