Weekly Wrap-up: August 25-30

Okay, so I know I’ve been a homeschooling mom for over a year now, but for some reason, this week feels like the week I’ve arrived.  This week, I felt like a “real” homeschooler, at least as far as the typical homeschooling stereotypes go.  Here is a brief list of all the “typical” homeschooling things that we did this week:

1.  We housed living creatures in the name of Science:

2.  We incorporated recipes in our education, and we made salt dough for the first time.

Both of these endeavors were undertaken for this week’s Bible lesson, the story of the lost sheep.  It dovetailed well into our Psalm 23 memory work, and our salt dough sheep pen allowed us to bring in Jesus’ words about being the gate for the sheep.

3.  I spontaneously adjusted our schedule to include extra learning opportunities.

I am not known for my spontaneity, but when I realized that we were learning about cnidaria this week in Science (a phylum which includes jellyfish), it occurred to me that there was a Five in a Row book called Night of the Moonjellies.  I have not yet been able to incorporate FIAR this year, so I leapt at the opportunity to work it in naturally.  The only hiccup is that our library has only one copy of the book, and there is a wait list for it.  Since my enthusiasm was not to be deterred, I ended up buying the book for full price at a local bookstore—something I never do!  It was worth it to have everything work together.  The pictures above show some of our learning.  On Monday, we played a free printable game that reviewed the story; on Tuesday, we did our Science lesson on the life cycle of a jellyfish using styrofoam cups, yarn, and dried beans; on Thursday, we did math story problems (not pictured); and on Friday, we completed our cnidnaria page for our Animal Kingdom book.

Also on Friday, we made a somewhat spontaneous trip to our zoo to see the jellyfish…

…only to find out that our zoo doesn’t have jellyfish!!  (What kind of zoo is this???)  The kids tried to tell me, but I was in too much denial to heed their warnings.  However, anemones and coral are also types of cnidnaria, so we did get to see some good examples.  We also saw other animals, rode the carousels, and fed the lorakeets.

I guess I could make that

4.  We rolled with the punches and used scuttled plans as learning opportunities.

5.  We did some literary decorating.

Luke finished the Harry Potter series this week, and I saw a friend post a Dumbledore quote on Facebook.  I had been wanting something to go above his HP LEGO display in the family room, and seeing that quote gave me an idea.  A couple hours and $42 later (the cost of printing the free downloads at Walgreens, plus the cost of four frames at Michael’s), this was the result.  I also re-hung my framed “I Have a Dream” speech in honor of it’s fiftieth anniversary, which cemented my “nerd decorator” status.

6.  I did an actual craft with the kids.

Throughout the week, the kids diligently worked on their variation of this craft.  Seeing all the directions (complete with video) totally intimidated my non-crafty self, but I screwed up my courage, and we tackled this Viking ship.  I gave the kids some freedom to expand on the original design (hence the black ships), and we didn’t quite get done, since we were deterred by our zoo day today.  But I included the pictures of each of our three days of progress, and we will probably add the shields next week.  The reason it was only three days of progress and not four is

7.  We scrapped formal learning one day to go on a field trip.

The Schmerhorn Symphony Center and the Country Music Hall of Fame are right across the street from each other in downtown Nashville, and throughout the year, they offer a free field trip package for homeschoolers.  We first toured the Symphony Center with a wonderful guide.  Then, we listened to a musical presentation demonstrating the “difference” between a fiddle and violin.  Afterward, we walked over to the Hall of Fame where we were given a second tour.  Because of the musical presentation at the Schermerhorn, “Bonaparte’s Retreat” has been added to our Spotify playlist, and because of Charlie Daniel’s fiddle at the Hall of Fame, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” has been added, too, and has received considerable airtime on our car trips.

Between our crafts and our field trips this week, we didn’t have time to get all our other lessons accomplished.  We did do about 90% of our Language Arts, Math, and History, but our Geography, Art, and read-alouds fell by the wayside a bit.  The kids also read to me only three days out of the five.  However, I feel okay about those lapses because lately, I’ve seen both of them engage in more self-directed learning.

For example, on Sunday morning during church, Anna took it upon herself to do a little copywork out of her storybook Bible (top right picture), which in turn prompted Luke to write out both Psalm 23 and the books of the Old Testament from memory.  Since neither of them are fans of copywork, I was pretty shocked at this aberration.

In Geography, we were supposed to be studying the Scandinavian countries (and also Greenland), and we did do a bit of that in the beginning of the week.  We also listened to our Geography songs often in the car.  However, I had really meant to pull out our Europe Geopuzzle and have them work it to reinforce their sense of where Scandinavia was.  Alas, that dream fell by the wayside.  However, this morning, Luke dragged me into the dining room and proudly showed me the Scandinavian countries that he had dug out of our Europe puzzle all on his own (bottom right picture).  He even found Greenland in our World puzzle and tried to work that in, as well.  So that lesson plan inadvertently came to pass, which was pretty cool.

I was also sad that we didn’t do as much oral reading this week, but I realized that we were doing fine when we stopped in at the library to pick up a few books before going to play on the playground.  Both kids were excited to play on the playground, but before heading out there, they spent about fifteen minutes reading to themselves (while I read my own book).  I noticed this week how much they both read on their own, and that makes me happy.  Which brings me to my last reason I felt like a homeschooler this week:

8.  I was overjoyed, instead of dismayed, by this scene of disarray because even though the room was a wreck, my daughter was reading a book about Vikings in her spare time.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her to pick up her mess.  I just tiptoed away and let her learn in peace.

I’ll leave you with three other images that in their own way, exemplify our homeschooling life, although I don’t have time right now to unpack them.  They are simply:  Anna exploring a huge moth; Luke’s LEGO re-creation of the scene in HP 6 where Harry and Dumbledore retrieve the locked (complete with floating Inferi); and an after-dinner puzzle with a friend who came over to eat with us.  Luke and I were playing chess at the other end of the table, and this whole scene followed a round of Skip-Bo and cookies.

It was a full, exhausting week, and I plan on toning it down a bit next week.  All that, in addition to tutorial, gymnastics, tae kwon do, and playgroup, was too much.  But for one week, it was a fun type of crazy, and we enjoyed being Homeschoolers with a capital H!

Wordless Wednesday: Field Trip Edition

Weekly Wrap-up, Aug. 18-23

I really can not believe that we just finished our fourth week of school!  Four weeks!  It truly feels like we just started.  The idea that we are closing in on our first month just blows my mind.  And I have to say, I still love it so much.  Don’t get me wrong—it’s not like the day-to-day is all sunshine and rainbows, and it’s not like I’m known for being an extremely patient person (Ha! Quite the opposite!), but at the end of each day, we really are all happy with school.  I’ve noticed this more this year, based on our dinner table prayers and conversations.  Both kids have thanked God for school this week, and they both have talked enthusiastically about what they’ve been learning.  Last year, review time often elicited groans and resistance.  This year, they like telling what they’ve been learning.  (So far, at least!)

Okay, let’s start with the school part of our week.  In History, we started what will be about a month of learning about Vikings.  I’m so excited about it, and so far, the kids love it.  The only really “hands-on” thing we did in History this week was to make Viking jewelry out of clay.  Unfortunately, when we left our clay out in the sun to dry, an abrupt rainstorm came and ruined it!  Yuck.  It just happened yesterday, and the kids still haven’t realized it.  They are going to be so disappointed, but I’m hoping our Viking ship craft on Monday will cheer them up!

We also found lots of funny Horrible History videos on Youtube that deal with the Vikings.  They are silly, but they really do reinforce the things we have been reading.

Even though History has moved on to Europe, our Geography lessons called for one more week in the Middle East.

I made the worksheet that Luke is doing using printable maps from Enchanted Learning.  They have made my life so easy in the area of Geography.  I have already made a worksheet about Scandinavia for this coming week, with instructions for labeling the capitals.  I even added a simple matching exercise at the bottom.  I’m telling you:  Enchanted Learning + Microsoft Publisher = Easy, Free Geography worksheets!

The kids’ Language Arts continues to be pretty typical.  They both have a fairly heavy workload this year, and I’ve realized that I have them working with a ridiculous number of curriculums for LA, but I just haven’t figured out a more streamlined way to have them learn everything I want them to.  For their readers, Luke is reading How to Train Your Dragon, and Anna is reading Viking Ships at Sunrise.  I picked both to correspond with our History lessons.

One LA victory this week came when I had the kids write dialogues.  Luke typically does not like creative writing, and usually gives me the bare minimum of effort.  This week, though, he wrote an elaborate exchange between Ron, Harry, and Kreacher, where they were all looking for Ron’s wand.  This was all on his own; I wasn’t even in the room.  In fact, when I came to check on the kids, he had already written his dialogue, and he and Anna were repeatedly acting it out.  That may not sound like much, but it was a watershed moment in the Kirby house!

In Math, Luke learned about carrying this week.  One tough thing about Singapore is that they have emphasized mental math so much that it took Greg a little while to convince Luke of the value of carrying.  He is so used to last year’s assignments which required him to look at two 2-digit numbers and add them in his head.  Thus, when confronted with similar problems this year, he would just add them mentally rather than carry the one.  Finally, Greg won him over to the new approach by showing him how you have to carry to add bigger numbers.

After that, Luke was on board:).

In Bible, we read the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  Our curriculum had us do a little exercise with hidden Easter eggs that taught about Jewish tax collectors at that time.  And we also made a collage of things for which we are thankful.  I think that the point of that was that gratitude leads to humility.  That’s the angle I went with, at least.

On a sidenote, Anna really loves that she can wear whatever she wants to our school!

This week, we also memorized Psalm 23.  The kids really wanted to act it out each day, so I let them.  I also used this mini-book as a memory jogger.  I printed it out on cardstock and then cut it apart.  We read from the cards each day, and I think the pictures and the repetition really helped put it in their brains.  Regardless, by the end of the week, they could each recite the whole thing.

In Science, we read about the different kingdoms of living things and worked on the cover of an Animal Kingdom book to prepare for our upcoming unit on animals.  It was a light week.

I ended up skipping Art because we met some of our friends for lunch on Friday, and then Luke went to spend the night with them.

One other thing I did, school-wise, this week was to let the kids set their own learning goals.  Specifically, I let them choose something or some way that they wanted to learn, and then I presented each of them with an “Explorer’s Pass,” which let them “opt out” of one day of Math, Writing, or Language Arts in order to learn about whatever they wanted.  Anna wanted to learn how balloons were made, so she used her Explorer’s Pass to watch youtube videos on the making of balloons.  Luke wanted to incorporate LEGOs into his learning, so he used his pass to make a Viking ship.

This week, the kids also started back at their tutorial, where they take Music, Art, and P.E. once a week.

They loved it, even though it had undergone some staffing changes.  In fact, they seemed more enthusiastic this year than last year!  And I love that they have some time surrounded by kids and in classes with teachers who aren’t me:). 

The kids and Greg also harvested our potatoes this week, which had been planted with no gardening knowledge and had not been tended at all (I really am a bad gardener).  We were all genuinely shocked that something actually grew!

Here are the rest of the highlights from this week:

We continue to love our afternoon of tae kwon do, Barnes and Noble, and gymnastics.  This week, Luke broke his first board in tae kwon do!  In B&N (where we go during the gap between tae kwon do and gymnastics), I have loved that Anna is not just as into reading as Luke.  They both still love the toys, but inevitably, they end up in a row full of books! 

We also enjoyed our time with friends.  Sam and Ruby spent the night this past weekend, which the kids loved.  We also had an afternoon playdate with my bff and her kids—always a highlight of the week.  And another friend, Viviana, came over after our Thursday playgroup at the library, bringing her kiddos.  So it was a nice, full week of friends.

On Friday, we met Courtney and her boys again for lunch, and then Luke went to spend the night with them.  Anna had a playdate lined up at a new friend’s house, so she and I went straight there from lunch.  Then, we had a nice evening just focused on Anna.  First, she and I went to buy a balloon animal kit (per her new obsession and her educational goals:)); then, we went to get her ballet uniform.  I figured that since Luke wasn’t with us, it would be a good time.  Next, it was back home for a pizza/movie/game night where she got to choose what we watched/played.  She loved not having to acquiesce to Harry Potter, which has been the norm lately.  Instead, Greg and I endured watched a lengthy Strawberry Shortcake video, followed by the closest round of Sorry! ever!  Anna ended up winning, and not because we let her!

Lastly, I wanted to share a few shots that encapsulate some of the joys of homeschooling.  For one, I’m glad that they have some time in the morning to do school with their dad.  His job regularly keeps him out to 7:00 or later, and so we cherish those morning times with him.  I also love that we can have mid-day playdates with friends, like our Friday lunch date with Courtney and the boys.  It’s so nice to get together with friends whenever we want.  Lastly, I love having the time to play board games as a family, despite my husband’s busy work schedule.  That’s not a perk of homeschooling, per se, but I do think it puts us more in the mindset to enjoy such things.

So that was our week.  If you stuck with this post to the end, bless you!:).  I hope everyone else had a good week, as well!

Another conversation with Anna

During a long conversation about where she was born, why babies are born in hospitals, why some babies aren't, etc.

Me:  Anna, how many babies do you want to have?

Anna:  Two.

Me:  Okay...do you want a boy and a girl, two boys, two girls--which combination?

Anna:  It doesn't matter to me.  I'll just take what comes out.

Me:  That's probably good.  You can't really choose, you know.

Anna:  Yeah, and mamas shouldn't be grumpy just because they wanted a girl and got a boy, or wanted two girls, or things like that.

Me:  [Something affirming]

Anna:  Even if I got a baby like Luke, I would love him just like you love us.

Me [amused]:  I would think you would be lucky to get a baby like Luke.

Anna:  Yes, and I'd be lucky to get a baby like me, because I'm so sweet!

This girl has been killing me lately.  Luke has funny conversations, too, but his are generally more logical and less random.  Well, they are still kind of random.  For instance, while we were having this conversation (as I was braiding Anna's hair this morning), Luke burst in from playing video games and said, "Anna!  If I was trying to get a hundred of something and needed only 32 more, how many would I have?"  Of course, Anna said she didn't know.  "Sixty-eight!"  he exclaimed.  Then he turned to me and said, "I have 68,000 coins on my video game and need 100,000...but I didn't want to ask her that hard of a question."  And then he was off again.

Life with a five and seven year old is so fun!

Conversations with Anna

Me [after Anna recited almost every detail of her most recent Rainbow Fairy book]:  "Wow, Anna, that's cool.  What was the fairy's name in this one?"

Anna:  "Um, I think it was Chole the Toppez Fairy?"

Me:  "Hmmm...I think you mean Chloe the Topaz Fairy?"

Anna:  "Well...I'm pretty sure it was Chole."

Me:  "How did they spell it?  Was it C-h-l-o-e?  If so, that's Chloe."

[Long pause]

Anna:  "Well, how would you spell Chole?"

Me:  "C-h-o-l-e.  Chloe is a French name*, so it's pronounced differently.  The "h" is silent, and you say the 'e.'  It looks like Ch-lo, but it's pronounced Chloe."

[Another long pause.]

Me:  "I think Chloe is a pretty name."

Anna:  "I think Chole is prettier."

Whatever, man.


(I just looked it up.  Apparently, it's of Greek origin.  Again--whatever, man:)).

Weekly Wrap-up, Aug. 12-16

Wow, another school week is done!  This week was a lot of fun, especially since our history has now shifted to Europe.  I had so much fun talking about monks and pilgrimages and the Holy Roman Empire with the kids, and we had some great history lessons.

My favorite one happened on Monday.  We read about how the monks would copy manuscripts, and in doing so, passed Scripture down through the ages.  After reading about that in Sonlight, I showed them pictures of the Book of Kells, which is an absolutely gorgeous manuscript made around the year 800 (which, coincidentally, is when Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, something else we learned this week).  I’ve actually seen it in person when I went to Dublin in college, and it is fabulous.  We especially focused on how much love and care went into the manuscripts, and I printed out some fancy first letters, so that the kids could decorate them “like the monks did.”

This activity went so well.  The kids took their tasks so seriously and really put some work into them. Luke decided to color his letter in Gryffindor colors, and did most of it with a fine tip marker, which made it take much longer:

Anna concentrated even more, and spent lots of time deciding what colors to use, even getting my input.  She spent a lot of time coloring while on my lap while we talked all about the monks’ lives in the early Middle ages, and how very different they lived from us.  From start to finish, history took two hours, which I totally had not planned—but it was completely worth it!  We then glued the letters into their History notebooks!

So that was History.  This week in Science was pretty simple.  We started learning about animal classification, and there was only one lab.  It was very basic, but the kids loved it:  they were given pictures of several fictitious creatures from the planet “Blobonia,” and their job was to study the characteristics of each and then to group the male and female of each species together.

First they formed a hypothesis by grouping them according to their own observations and deductions, and then they received a chart from a “friend” who had studied the animals in their natural habitats in Blobonia.  By completing the chart, they would be able to see the actual matches and compare them to their hypotheses.  Anna got them all right, and Luke only missed one pair.  I was really surprised how much they enjoyed this little exercise!

In Bible, we read Jesus’ parables of the mustard seed and the yeast.  I couldn’t find any mustard seeds to plant at Lowe’s so I settled for basil and oregano:).  Their seeds are both pretty tiny, so I think they got the picture.  We also made some bread using quick rising yeast.  Hmmmm.  Let’s just say I’ve never made bread with yeast before, and ours didn’t exactly “rise.”  The kids were undaunted, though.  They just said they were Hagrid’s “rock cakes” and gobbled a whole loaf up with their lunch.  They even proclaimed it to be “like Carrabba’s bread—but better!”  (It wasn’t:))  Even though our bread didn’t rise, they did get to see the effect of yeast in our last activity, which was to let yeast inflate a balloon.  That was fun, and it worked well.  Throughout these activities, we were able to discuss how the kingdom of God started from one man and spread throughout the world—right into our own lives!

Language Arts, Math, and Geography were pretty much the same as the last few weeks.  Since we are still studying the Middle East, I let them work the Middle Eastern portion of one of our Geopuzzles, and they liked that:

We also enjoyed some school outside, since the weather here has been phenomenal!

And we took full advantage of our school environment by dressing creatively for class on Thursday:

That day we also did nature sketches for Art:

…and we went to the library to check out more Rainbow Fairy books and to meet with our weekly playgroup:

The other fun thing that happened this week was that gymnastics started back!

Anna, of course, was super-excited to resume her classes, but this year, we also signed Luke up.  He was a little nervous, but he ended up really enjoying his first class.  His class is small—just him and two other boys, who are brothers.  But the boys are really nice, his instructor is cool, and he had lots of fun.  I really hope he sticks with it because I think that it will be really good for his physical skills.

That pretty much wraps up our week.  We have some friends coming to spend the night tonight, so the weekend ahead looks promising.  So far, it’s been a great school year!