Finishing curriculum

We have a lot of transitions going on in our homeschool right now.  We just finished up our survey of ancient history using Story of the World vol 1, and we are very close to finishing up our physics for science (we've had so much fun, but it has definitely lasted much longer than I expected).  I've started adding in Language Lessons Through Literature (which has been much enjoyed by myself and the kiddoes), and typing lessons for the kiddoes have FINALLY been implemented.  Plus, last week Goblin finished up RightStart A for math!

Since history is an unending story, we're continuing to follow it right into Story of the World vol 2: Middle Ages.   We do some review each time we transition between cultures, so now that we've discussed the fall of Rome, we're due.  However, I prefer to review science and history at the same time, so this will wait until we've finished physics, so I have time to put together our Jeopardy-style review game.  Plus, the first few sections of volume 2 are still dealing with Rome, so we'll take this time to do a proper round-up for that empire.

When we finish physics, aside from going through our reviews, we'll move on to another area of science.  I was planning on hitting chemistry next, but the kiddoes have been crazy for the human body and brain models we found in the store around the holidays.  So the plans have changed.  Our next area will be a study of the human body.  Depending on how long we spend on that and the kiddoes interest, we might round it out into a biology/ life science study afterward.  I must admit, it's sooo much easier to find resources for a young elementary study of humans than it was physics, which has been really nice.  Of course now, I have to be much more critical of what resources I do use or else we'll all be overwhelmed!

Since Goblin finished up a level from one of his individual programs, I gave him a week off from math.  Technically, he still did some math, but it was our fun filler math activities, rather than his usual program.  We're going to move into RightStart B, but we'll be taking it pretty slow.  He's understanding well and could probably fly right through a lot of this level as well, but since he's already ahead of where he needs to be, I like the idea of slowing things down and leaving more time for playing.  We'll lessen the number of days we spend in his 'program' and fill the rest in with other things, reading math story books like Number Stories of Long Ago and One Grain of Rice and practicing with our math games.

We seem to have settled into a very comfortable routine for our homeschooling days, which has brought me a lot of peace of mind.  For now, we are staying the course with curricula that have been working and adding in additional supplements for subjects we haven't covered well (I am not great about making time to study music, but that is one of my goals for 2014).  I am so happy with where we are right now, and looking forward to more fun as we keep moving along!

--Little Miss Crazy

Fun with Math

Goblin has been having a great time and flying through RightStart A's final few lessons.  This week we completed the whole level!

Although the math balance wasn't used in many of the lessons this level, he still played around with it a lot.  His number sense and understanding amazes me.  One of his last lessons was all word problems, and he buzzed right through them in no time flat.

During one lesson using the balance, we put different amounts of weights on each side of it, then Goblin had to figure out how many to add to the smaller side to make them equal.  Plus, I had him write out the equations we figured out this way.

I could not be more happy with how well RightStart is working for Goblin.  He doesn't always want to do his school work, but as soon as I pull out the abacus, he ALWAYS gets excited for math.  Lots of manipulatives, games for reviewing, and variety in lessons really make RightStart a winner for him.

We're going to take a full week off from math (formal math, at least) to celebrate finishing this level.  Then we'll move into RightStart B and keep plugging along.

--Little Miss Crazy

Looking ahead in Language Arts

I've been looking for a new language arts program. Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE Logic of English.  But soon my kiddoes will be through the programs. So I decided to start searching for our "next step."

One of the best things about LoE has been that it covers all of language arts: reading, writing, literature, handwriting, grammar, vocabulary, phonics, and of course spelling.  It is great to have all those bases covered for now, and it would be amazing to find another single program to do it all again.  I am still on the lookout for that perfect program to combine all that and not be prohibitively expensive.  But in the meantime, I'll be piecing together what I know, what I have, and what I feel can give us a simple but thorough approach.

I know I will continue to use the tools from LoE to practice phonograms and probably move on to the advanced ones to give my kiddoes a good base, coupled with review work on spelling rules.  So, my primary focus has been on finding something to cover the other areas of LA like literature, grammar, and writing.

I've decided to jump in with both feet and try out Language Lessons Through Literature for our primary curriculum.  This will determine our readings, grammar practice, copywork, and additional narrations.  It even includes some picture study for a little bit of art appreciation, which has certainly been missing from our schooling.

We'll be coordinating our language arts work with our read-alouds.  LLTL covers one grammar concept at a time using examples and practices from those readings.  The kiddoes will also need to begin doing oral narrations based on fables as well as some from the picture studies.  LLTL also includes a daily copywork or dictation assignment from those readings and narrations.  It does a very nice job of tying all the learning to the literature selections, which I really appreciate (and those selections are all public domain books, which keeps the expenses down).  This allows the kiddoes to see grammar and literature elements in their actual reading, rather than random exercises, so they can more easily connect them to something real.

Copywork and dictation are the basis for writing in LLTL, and should be plenty for the boys.  I'm still looking for something to add in a little more structured writing work for Athena.  I may just choose one concept (outlining, introductions, etc) to work on and assign a monthly project (a la BraveWriter), rather than trying to find another full program to add in, although this is definitely up in the air (I'm having a lot of fun researching programs, even though I still haven't found one I want to use).

We'll continue with our poetry and hot cocoa days, since the kiddoes love those, but LLTL also includes a poem to read with each lesson.  If they don't enjoy having it as part of their daily work, we can always skip it; and I'll make sure to read those poems during our usual poetry time. :)

The best part of LLTL, for me, is that I can begin to add it in now.  The program is laid out for only 3 days a week and can be very flexible.  I have been meaning to give the boys the chance to slow down in their progression through LoE Foundations, and this should be a good way to substitute a day or two a week and still be doing something worthwhile.  A gentle introduction to grammar and an increase in their writing awareness should be just the ticket to keep everyone working without getting burnt out.

--Little Miss Crazy

Flying apples, flour, and racing in circles

Newton's second law is best summed up with the formula F=ma or force equals mass times acceleration.  It seems like it should take a lot of math to explain newton's 2nd law.  But in fact, it takes a marshmallow and a golf ball. :)  Let me explain.

Gravity is always our go-to force to study, since we can easily see it in every day situations.  When the apple falls onto the knife, it de-celerates because of the addition of friction, which changes the downward force until it finally comes to a stop.  This demo left the kids a bit confused, so we looked into something a bit more fun . . . and messy. :)

We filled a container with flour (sand would have been less messy, but I didn't have any on hand). Hulk held up a golf ball, and Goblin held a marshmallow.  Then, they dropped them into the flour. 

Then we measured how deep the holes made by each object went into the pan.  Since they had different masses (golf balls are much heavier than marshmallows), we can see the difference in force at which they hit the ground based on the difference in the impacts (the depth of the hole they made).

Since the boys were covered in flour, I made them go outside to shake it all off, which I think was everyone's favorite part of school for the day. Science should always be a little bit messy and a lot of fun.

--Little Miss Crazy

Introducing the Jewish nation

Along with our discussion of Egypt, we talked about the Jewish nation. The Story of the World uses Bible stories to explain their origins and how they ended up in Egypt.

First they related the story of God telling Abram (later Abraham) to go to Canaan and obey him, and he would make Abraham father of a nation.  The family line continues from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob.

Then we have the story of Jacob's sons. He had 12 sons; the youngest was Joseph.  He is best known for his coat of many colors. But he also was taken away to Egypt because of his brothers' jealousy, where he eventually became very important to the pharaoh.  He even warned the pharaoh about an upcoming famine and was put in charge of grain rations.  Eventually his brothers were also hit by this famine and came to Egypt for grain. The family was reunited, and Joseph encouraged them all to move to Egypt, which is how the Jewish nation and the Egyptian empire came to be in the same place for a stretch of history.

The kiddoes each painted their own coat of many colors, and they all turned out very differently.  They each started with the same template but came up with very different ideas of what such a special coat would look like.  Goblin even drew in the man within the coat on his picture. :)

This week was strange for me, since it was more of a Bible study weekthan a typical history week. Of course, a great deal of the information we have about our history comes from religious texts, since those have been considered the most important documents to preserve.  In the end, it all does come out to be a very cohesive story, and at this stage, that's what it's all about

--Little Miss Crazy

Calendar building

Right after we celebrated New Years, the kiddoes felt very interested in keeping track of the passage of time (another happy outcome of making resolutions and plans for the entire coming year).  I jumped on this frame of mind and pulled out some resources I've been holding onto .

The kiddoes (well Athena and Goblin anyway) built their own calendars that they plan to use to keep track of the days.  They have had calendars before but still always get lost during the weeks, since they have very little desire to pay attention to the days and months passing.  This time, since they have made their own personal calendars together, I am hoping they will feel more motivated and hopefully keep one another in check (everyone likes to show they're just as good or better than their siblings).

Goblin only made the first two months for his calendar (January and February), but he has been doing a pretty good job of marking off days as we go through the month.  Some nights he forgets, but usually he is very excited to cross out each day when he goes to bed.

Athena made the full year's worth of calendar pages along with fun holiday decorations.  She hasn't been crossing off the days, but she does tell me what day it is when she wakes up in the mornings usually.
 

Although Hulk said he wanted to make a calendar too, he never got around to it.  He was too busy reading Ten Apples Up on Top!.  And I can't say I'm unhappy about that distraction, though. :)

--Little Miss Crazy

Hieroglyphics and Cuneiform

I wanted the kiddoes to understand that the civilizations building in both Mesopotamia and Egypt existed at the same time.  To bridge the two cultures, we spent a week discussing the similarities and differences in the writings that survive today from each culture.

In Mesopotamia, their writings were carved into clay while it was still wet, then baked to preserve the message.  The Egyptian writing, on the other hand, has been found on 2 mediums: stone tablets and papyrus.  Early writings were carved into stone tablets, and a few hundred years later, the Egyptians found a way to make paper from reeds and used this for writing.

The kiddoes used some alphabet charts from the Story of the World Activity Guide to draw their names in both languages.  Since the later Egyptians wrote on paper, they wrote their names in hieroglyphics on paper.

But cuneiform (the Mesopotamian writing) was formed with a series of wedges carved into wet clay.  So we formed our own tablets out of wet clay.

The kiddoes used pencils and other tools to recreate the wedge shapes to form their names in the clay.  We also used a straw to make 2 holes along the top of each tablet, and after letting them dry (we used air dry clay), we ran a string through the holes, and the kiddoes got to hang their cuneiform tablets on the wall in their rooms.

This project was a favorite of mine.  Putting your name (or a common word) into different languages is a fun and simple way to learn to compare and contrast.  They already knew how their names looked in English, and now they know how might have looked in other cultures.  They also had to create each, so they can understand similarities and differences in the "how" as well.  The final bonus: the kiddoes were so excited to display their creations and tell about what they learned.

--Little Miss Crazy

Stepping up Cooking Lessons

As part of the kiddoes' education in general life skills, we are teaching them to cook. We consider cooking to be a skill everyone should learn  if they want to live independently.  Mr Crazy loves to cook with the kiddoes and has been including them in our family cooking since they were very young, so working on this life skill is more like continuing a family habit.

Honestly, I hate having the kiddoes in the kitchen with me; cooking is just one of those things I enjoy doing all by my lonesome.  The kiddoes would love to have more opportunities in the kitchen (especially Hulk-- he asks to help me cook almost every day), but for the sake of my sanity, we only work on cooking every now and then.  Cooking lessons only happen when I am thoroughly calm and the time in the kitchen has been well planned, which makes this even more awesome for me.

Omelets: simple and so yummy.

Athena made a significant stride last week.  She used my Betty Crocker cookbook, found a recipe that she wanted to make by herself, and made it.  (I was there to supervise, but I didn't help out with any of the process-- she deciphered the recipe, found all the ingredients, put it all together, and did all the cooking on her own.)  This means that I was able to let her work on her cooking without having to go plan it out or deal with feeling stressed about cooking with her.  If she can do it herself, I can just sit back and watch.

This doesn't mean that my job as her cooking teacher is over.  But it does mean that I can start allowing her to make more of her own choices about what she would like to learn in the kitchen.  We can also work on adding more variety and trying out things that have more specific instructions than just mix and cook/ bake.  I'm actually pretty excited about this idea.  Now someone remind me I said that when we put it into practice. :)

--Little Miss Crazy

Chains of Energy

A subject I intended to cover over a week or so ended up being so much fun that we took two full weeks plus a few fun side tracks before we finished it.

The law of conservation of energy states that energy can not be created or destroyed.  Instead, energy transfers and changes forms: light, sound, heat, mechanical, chemical, etc.

First, we needed to establish that energy can be transferred from one object to another.  The easiest way to do that is to bounce two balls one on top of the other.  The energy from the bottom ball is transferred into the upper ball when they hit the ground, causing the top ball to fly much farther than it ever would have on its own.  Such a genius simple idea.  I would love to take credit, but as usual, I spotted this gem on E is for Explore!.  They just have a great way of making these ideas so simple.

We illustrated the idea of energy moving from one thing to another over and over again (making energy chains) using dominoes (technically, these pieces are from Colorfall, making them much more colorful and fun than ordinary dominoes). The kiddoes kept building paths and knocking them over for a long while.

Then, the important twist: energy can also change forms as it transfers.  We pulled out our old friends the Snap Circuits to demonstrate this concept. Our Snap Circuits Light kit allowed us to make our energy change form numerous times. We started with chemical energy in the battery, which changed to electrical energy running through the circuits, which became light energy with bulbs and fiber optic wire, which then moved across the room and turned into sound energy through the speaker.

We did some other demonstrations of energy changing forms, but our Snap Circuits certainly won the day and illustrated the concept perfectly.

--Little Miss Crazy

House Bound PE

An unsung part of our homeschool time is physical education.  Honestly, I forget about it ALL the time.  Mostly because my kiddoes spend so much time running around that it seems a little silly to worry about whether they are getting enough physical activity.  But there are definitely times when we need a little something extra to get us all moving, especially when the weather makes it difficult to get outside where we're used to running off our energy.  Since we live in the great white north, we have a lot more days that are too cold than days that are too hot, but both are equally tough on outdoor-just-being-kids-and-running-yourselves-silly time.  For days like these, we do employ some useful alternatives.

My newest favorite is a youtube channel I recently found: Cosmic Kids Yoga.  They have a variety of "adventures" that the kiddoes take part in, with corresponding child friendly yoga positions.  My kiddoes have really had a lot of fun with the cheery instructor and the fun and sometimes funny actions.  The number of videos is quite limited at the moment, but my kiddoes ask to do each one again and again, so we have really been able to get a lot of use out of it.  This makes an excellent rainy (or snowy) day activity to get the body and the imagination moving.

Another great resource for our in-house PE is our Nintendo Wii (we actually upgraded to the WiiU earlier this year).  Mr. Crazy and I have been so impressed with this game system over the years and have really enjoyed it for a way for the kiddoes to be able to enjoy video games and keep active.  Some of our favorite titles for active time include: WiiFit, Just Dance, and Sports Resort.  Almost any games that involve a degree of movement will work well, though, since I've found that when you start the kids moving around, they often continue without the need for a "game."

My single favorite resource for active time in inclement weather is the radio.  Turn on some lively music and tell the kiddoes to get up and dance!  My kiddoes love dancing, so it takes no encouragement to get them to bop to the beat.  After a few minutes of the radio turning on, they will all cluster in the living room and start making up their own dances-- even if they started out at the opposite corner of the house.

One day, I will need to be more intentional (and work a little harder) to get my children to keep up their physical activity during the days.  But for now, I love our simple methods.  I continually find that the simple ideas are the ones that work.  Young children really have the desire to be active, so it just takes a tiny spark to get them moving.

Use painter's tape to make a hopscotch game on the floor; have a race to see who can get to the mailbox first; grab a laundry basket and ball to shoot some hoops.  Every little bit helps and leads along the path to a healthier, happier family.

--Little Miss Crazy

Greek gods

My kiddoes fell in LOVE with Greek mythology.  I can't blame them; I fell in love with it when I was in school too.  And am still in love with it to this day.  I named our ferrets Scylla and Charybdis (and if you get the reference, I will give you a cookie and explain the significance in my life).  The kiddoes listened to myths every day for about a month, then we did a read-aloud of Black Ships Before Troy  by Rosemary Sutcliff (a retelling of Homer's Illiad, which had some pretty gruesome battle scenes, but was still an excellent read).  In addition to our regular historical survey of ancient Greece.

So when it came time to decide on Halloween costumes, they all agreed to dress as a group . . . to dress up as some of the Greek gods and goddesses.  I could not have been more proud of them.  This wound up as one of their major projects during our study of ancient Greece: they helped come up with a lot with ideas and put the details of their costumes together.

Hulk went as Zeus; Goblin went as Poseidon; and Athena went as Persephone (I was really hoping for Athena, but she did not like the warrior aspect which really surprised me).

Zeus was carrying a lightning bolt and golden arm cuffs along with his golden mask with a mini-crown in the front to show that he was the King of Gods and Ruler of the Heavens.  Persephone was dressed in a typical white robe, but all of her details were dark to signify her part as the Queen of the Underworld.  (You can barely see them here, but she even had hair sticks in her hair which looked like a pair of dark horns.)  Poseidon carried his traditional trident and also wore a chain around his neck holding a stone to control the Kraken (Goblin was very proud of his Kraken stone-- he wouldn't stop playing with it-- even for pictures.)

The kiddoes learned a lot from the mythology of the ancient Greeks, and they were even inspired to more role play like this on their own.  Inspiration is my favorite holiday treat.

--Little Miss Crazy

Solar Rover

After our overview of energy, we started discussing types of energy, and during one of our mostly-off weeks, I snatched up a kit, and the kiddoes got to make a solar rover.  During the construction, we got to talk a bit about solar energy: how we see it used day to day in people, plants, etc.  And of course this project brought up the idea of using it as an alternative fuel to power items, which is a pretty new concept for them.

They really only got to build the vehicle portion, since the solar panels were pretty much ready to go.  I connected the wires for them the first time, but when they got tugged, the kiddoes reconnected them themselves after folding down the panels to keep the sun out.

Ta da!  Complete!

Whoops-- not quite complete.  The kiddoes needed to add their own bits of flare to it (of course). So it ended up being so much more than a blank case.

They were so surprised to see the rover virtually speed off across the deck without any batteries or additional inputs.  Even though we made this on a sorta cloudy day, it still worked very very well.  Plus, the clouds helped the kiddoes see that it genuinely was the sun which was powering their vehicle, since it would slow down and speed up based on the amount of incoming sunshine.  By the end, they figured out to adjust the panels to pick up the most solar energy.

--Little Miss Crazy

Resolutions and Plans for the New Year

Happy Happy Happy New Year out there in cyberland.  Speaking of the new year, I restarted an old tradition this year.  I haven't bothered even thinking about New years resolutions for a number of years, but this year I had to make a whole list of them.  Number one was not ditching my blog for two months at a time.  ::Sigh::  I am a bad blogger.  But I am hoping to be a better blogger in 2014.  And since the only people who read this know me personally, I know you'll forgive me and keep reading. :)  I love you guys.

Speaking of New Years resolutions, I also sat down with the kiddoes to celebrate on New Years Day (I only made it to about 10pm on New Years Eve, and the kiddoes had a regular bedtime.)  We toasted 2014 with sparkling grape juice, and I helped them come up with some resolutions of their own.  I wrote them all down, so at the end of the year, we're going to look back and see if we made any progress.

After the first few examples and ideas, the kiddoes all resolved to improve their cooking (once one of them got the idea, they all thought it was a good one).  They also each made one resolution about something school related.  My favorite resolution of the year was Athena's: she resolved to learn to hold goblets better (because we drank our sparking grape juice out of glass goblets).  It makes me laugh so much just to think about how seriously she felt about her goblet-holding skills.

After they got stumped on the resolutions idea, I decided to make another list; I asked the kiddoes what fun things they thought we should do over the coming year.  They had some very good ideas for THIS list.  Athena requested that we do more science, which I love hearing.  Goblin wished we could go visit our far away family members (which is definitely being planned, although we still don't know quite when).  Hulk had a fantastic idea that had never crossed my mind.  He thought we should make our own board game.

Ticket to Ride: easy enough for kids, still fun for adults

We play a LOT of games, especially board games.  I think they're great for encouraging critical thinking in the kiddoes, and Mr. Crazy and I both LOVE games.  As a matter of fact, we had some friends over to ring in the New Year playing board games, card games, dice games, and computer games.  But the idea of making a game that's all our own really blew my mind.  It definitely jumped to the head of my things-to-do-in-2014 list.

--Little Miss Crazy