Weeks 23 and 24: 100 Day Party!

We did a number of things these past two weeks, but really this post is all about our 100 Day Celebration!

First, I used last year's idea and scattered the numbers 1-100, written on apple Post-Its, all over the walls of our main floor. The twist this year is that the numbers from 51-100 were written as math problems for Harry to solve, to make it a little more difficult. With the help of their (stuffed) friends Hedwig and Scabbers, Harry and Ron made it through with flying colors!

Then it was time for 100-shaped breakfast items: eggs, pancakes, and ham!

Ron and Harry counted out 100 popcorn kernels:

And the popcorn became a part of our 100 pieces of snacks, which everyone counted out on their own:

Then it was estimation time! The question the boys pondered was which one of the three containers of candy had 100 total pieces:

I gave them the technique of counting out 10 of each and using that as the basis for their estimation:

(And yes....they did get to sample some of the goodies after the counting was done!)

Next, a quick probability exercise: what happens when you flip a coin 100 times?

An art project: what can you create out of 100 dots of paint?

Harry walked 100 steps from home...

...then drew a picture of himself at age 100 while Ron built a ship out of 100 Lego pieces:

Lastly, our celebration cupcakes: 10 cupcakes each with 10 sprinkles on top!

And that was our 100 Day Celebration! Lastly, on an unrelated note, I read The Grouchy Ladybug with the Ron and Dobby, and they painted these cute rocks to commemorate the story:

Weren't they adorable? =) Hope you had a wonderful week! We start Spring Break next week, hooray!

Weeks 21-22: Ongoing Questions!

This week I'm going to post about some of my ongoing/current questions and concerns. Just to demonstrate that homeschooling is not always a flawless, trouble-free journey with smiles all around every day. Let's do this child by child...

Harry, 3rd Grade:

My biggest concerns with Harry is that we are just not getting enough done every day. We are a generally slow-moving family, and I always have the boys do their music practicing before schoolwork. This means that Harry is starting his actual school work between 9:30 and 10 a.m. He usually gets a couple of hours in before lunch, then he has an hour to read (a combination of assigned and free reading from books I give him), then he usually works another hour and a half after that until about 3:30 p.m. I suppose if you count the amount of time a typical public school student is in school, it's pretty similar. But still, I can't shake the feeling that we are not doing enough, but nor can I imagine doing any more time-wise! As he gets older and has more schoolwork, I will have to figure out ways to be more efficient to fit more in!


Academically, I think about the people who told me before we started homeschooling that he would jump way ahead in certain subjects, like math. This has not happened for us! We are in Singapore Math 2B, taking our time with the mental math in adding and subtracting multiple-digit numbers. I think he is pretty much right where most of his classmates would be in the 3rd grade. And I'm totally fine with it, so long as he is learning and retaining the concepts.

Lastly...we haven't done nearly as many science experiments as we are supposed to, it is the subject I let slide the most, but it's the subject that when we do, Harry enjoys. So I really need to be better at doing all those projects and be better prepared to make them happen!

Ron, Kindergarten:

Ron tries to keep his head still while practicing!

As for Ron, I have kept it SO simple for him this year. He starts out his day practicing his violin, then I'm happy if we do the three Rs--reading, writing, arithmetic--and if we fit anything else in, I consider it a bonus. We try to keep up with the Kindergarten curriculum with My Father's World, but there are many days we don't get to all of it. Ron also joins in with some of our geography activities, so he is learning on that front. But I will confess that Harry gets most of my attention and time, and Ron much less so. That's something I definitely struggle with, and I wonder how things will go next year when Ron is 1st grade-aged! I will have to balance things out much more.

But in terms of the "moving ahead" potential, Ron has just finished Singapore Earlybird, so we can start Singapore 1A this year! Harry had not even done 1A until after 1st grade, as we went back through the program from the beginning to solidify his basic math facts which were suspect after his start in public school. But Ron will have the benefit of being able to start the program earlier, which will be fun to see. I'm looking forward to it!

And he is successfully writing cursive, as he has been so motivated to follow Harry and learn how to write this way. I wonder, though, if I should be doing some print with him as well so that he can write that way, too. I also am thinking I need to start spelling with him soon. So much to do, so little time!

Dobby, 3 years old:

If I spend less time with Ron, then I spend even less with Dobby! Somehow, though, he has picked up all his letters and numbers. We do spend time each day on a variety of skills--cutting, pasting, printing, coloring. Nothing formal or structured, I just try to make sure he is continuing to have opportunities to practice these skills on a regular basis. I feel badly, though, that I don't read to him enough, although he does listen in whenever we are doing read-alouds at home. He is on the waiting list to go to preschool in the fall, which I think would be a good experience for him, and I'm hoping it will also give me a little more freedom to focus on the two older boys in the morning, especially Ron. Of course, having to transport Dobby on those school days will also complicate our lives as well! We'll see how it all goes. Mainly, he loves to just tag along with his brothers and do whatever they do!

30 degrees in Chicagoland? Not too cold for recess!

Me, 40-something!

For myself, I constantly struggle with feeling as though I need to be a much more encouraging, gracious teacher. I think the kids enjoy being at home sometimes too much, and I don't always think they take schoolwork as seriously as I would like them to. I'm always lecturing about doing their best work, with their best attitude. I feel like I'm being grouchy, grumpy mom way more than I am being positive, smiley mom. This is something I really want to work on, and praying for more wisdom and patience to make this happen. I'd appreciate your prayers on this front as well! There are times I wonder, "Lord, would it be better for a real teacher to teach them, given all my flaws???" Yet despite those flaws, my eldest will still tell me regularly, "Mom, you're the best teacher in the world." How forgiving and gracious our kids are with us! Sometimes I feel I don't deserve that kind of grace, and I need to offer WAY more of it in our homeschool experience.

Fun photos:

And to end the post with something random, here are some photos that Harry took of his most special toy companion, which he has had ever since birth. Actually, each of our boys has one of these, but they are all unique and special to each child. We have spent way more time than we care to admit looking for someone's "Mr. Bear" before nap times or bedtimes, but at the same time I can't imagine their childhoods without them. Anyway, here is Harry's little photo essay of a day in the life of his Mr. Bear . Enjoy!

"Boy, I need a drink!"

"Nice story, Harry!"

"Umm, Harry? Are you ever going to finish piano time???"

Thanks for stopping by! =)

Weeks 17-20: Castles, Oceans, Grasslands, and SNOW!!

I've been dying to update this blog, but life has just gotten in the way. I can't even comprehend that we are past the halfway point of the year. I feel like we just started school yesterday! Nevertheless, the weeks march on. Here is a quick summary of what we have been up to this past month...

Germany and Rivers....

We ended our time in Europe with a focus on Germany; did you know that there are tens of thousands of castles in that country? I've been trying to give Harry more experience with using the Internet to do research, so he investigated a number of websites and chose his favorite German castle, pictured here. We have added it to our "things to see one day if we ever make it to Europe" list!

Burg Eltz Castle: I think Harry chose this because it looks like Hogwarts!

Harry also did a unit on rivers and lakes, which included building a model of a river and learning about surface tension in science. See if you can get a paper clip to float in a glass of water!

It's harder than it looks to do! Hint: the little unbent paper clip on the left was a big help!

As for the river model, he used salt dough to make a nice replica of a river bank; we attempted to flow water onto it and freeze it overnight outside to create a frozen river (the boys were so excited to have their Lego minifigures "skate" on the ice!), but alas, that idea did not work. Oh well!

Meanwhile, Ron was doing his own project on a body of water, focusing on the ocean. He painted the background for a mural on ocean creatures, then all the brothers helped out with their own contributions to fill it up. Another fun addition to our wall exhibit of school projects!

I have to admit, art projects are not my forte. But the kids love it so much when the paints come out. So, I'm going to try to be better about giving them more chances for creative expression when I can. This semester in our weekly homeschool co-op, neither of the older boys are taking art, so I feel I need to make more effort on my end!

Africa!
Our continuing trip around the world has now taken us to the continent of Africa, in which we have focused on Kenya in particular, on the ecosystem of the grasslands, and on the related animal inhabitants. Speaking of wall art, the boys added to the previous ocean mural with a safari mural, again involving lots of paint and a group effort:

Harry and Ron also tried their hand at designing African face painting designs, which I tried my best to copy on their actual faces using a mixture of tempera paint and lotion as advised by the book Global Art which we have been using this year. How do you think I did?

I tried to get them to go to go to Costco with those faces but sadly, they declined. =(

Meanwhile, Ron is almost done with Singapore Earlybird math, and also nearly through the end of Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading, which has really helped him improve this skill this year. Now he volunteers to read to his younger brother, which I love to see. And he's even started teaching Dobby some basic karate moves!

As for Dobby, I mainly keep him occupied with a rotation of Kumon books in tracing and pasting, and a BrainQuest book for preschoolers. He can handle scissors finally, and is getting closer to writing his own name. Two out of five letters so far!

And of course in the midst of these weeks, we had our very fun Chicago blizzard to enjoy. And enjoy the boys (and their dad!) did!

Thanks for visiting this very belated update! Hopefully I will be able to return and post again before another month goes by! Next week we travel to Asia! Stay tuned...

Weeks 14-16: Doing What I Can...

The weeks fly by! I have been insanely busy since the new year trying to help promotional efforts on my new book (The Missional Mom), which was released on Jan. 1st, so my school blogging has gotten shortchanged! We've been in school two weeks, working around my somewhat erratic schedule, but it looks like the dust has settled somewhat and next week we will have a fairly normal school week! Hallelujah!

We continued in our tour of Europe, focusing on France primarily. Harry tried his hand at constructing a version of the Eiffel Tower using Wiki-Sticks; Ron just did some free art (a tent and a campfire, he says!) We also had fun taking a trip to IHOP and eating crepes and French toast! Not the most authentically French cuisine, I know, but the kids still had fun and enjoyed the food!

We had our first decent snowstorm of the new year, and so one afternoon I surprised the boys with an impromptu snow day, which they loved (as you can see!):

The boys continued making progress in math; Harry is finally almost through the end of Singapore Math 2A and Ron is learning how to count with coins.

Harry and Ron have also used their imaginations to create new superhero characters for themselves. Meet Lightning Man and Red Boy:

The boys were also great helps at my book launch party, greeting those who came in and directing their way.

And to demonstrate that we are just behind in several areas, we made "Christmas Cookies" in January. I should call them Epiphany Cookies or something like that!

Hopefully next week I'll have a more substantive summary to share; right now, we are still trying to just get our bearings straight as we start the new year! Thanks for visiting and hope your year is going well so far!

Happy Holidays/New Year!

Well, I never did get to post about our last week, and nor have I done our semester review. But we did get in a great deal of fun activities in our trip to California over Christmas! Just a few photos...

Wish we could have spent more time at SeaWorld, which was my favorite part of the trip. So many educational things we could have done and seen there! But now we're back home, I'm trying to dig out from a pile of post-travel and post-school rubble, and when I emerge we'll start back with school again. In the meantime, Happy New Year!

(P.S. I've linked this blog to today's Hip Homeschool Hop! Check it out for more links to fun homeschooling blogs!)

Weeks 12 and 13: Lots of Paint!

We are ALMOST done with school for 2010! But we have just a few more days to do next week...we lost a week after Thanksgiving because the teacher (aka, me!) was so sick she could barely function. So, we will do school next week right almost right up to Christmas Eve. As for the past two weeks, here is our update. Not so much detail because I am starting to run out of steam! Thank goodness for a break coming up...

Harry's highlights:

• Started learning the countries of Europe, with a focus on Norway. Did you know there are 450,000 lakes there?
• Finally nearing the end of Singapore Math 2A. He has been cruising through multiplication and has learned his 2x and 3x tables. We're hoping to finish up the book by the end of 2010.
• Has reached Chapter 9 in Latin for Children; he is starting to understand what all those declensions are all about but also finding Latin harder than last year. I miss that Harry is not learning any Latin prayers as he did in Prima Latina, so I may think about re-including elements of Latina Christiana since we are still using ecclesiastical pronunciation.
• Is on "Book 4" of his fantasy/sci-fi "Series of Acroban," 12,000 words total and counting!
• Celebrated with mom when her book arrived, as he was the only non-napping son awake to witness the box opening!

Ron's highlights:

• Getting to the end of Singapore Earlybird B, which means I better order Singapore 1A for him soon!
• Finished forming all his letters in cursive, and writes his name in a lovely script! As for other words...well, we have to keep working on connecting letters into words. A goal for 2011!
• Enjoyed the "turtle" theme in his MFW-K curriculum, which was tied with the idea that "I don't quit, I persevere." Ron made his own turtle to commemorate the unit, and of course his little brother had to follow suit!

• Ron also began attending AWANA and has been really enjoying his Sparks class. He has surprised me with how much he likes memorizing Bible verses so far...hope it continues! His enthusiasm has "sparked" interest in his older brother, who was more cautious and uncertain about the idea, but now Harry will also attend starting in January. Never having gone to or known about AWANA as a child, I think it's great that my kids have the opportunity to get so much exposure to God's Word at a young age. What could be better?

"How does it look?" =)

As for Dobby, I have been feeling a little guilty that I haven't been doing too much intentional "preschool" activities with him. My work with him is all pretty haphazard, yet somehow he seems to be absorbing material around him. For example...

• Using a 100 chart, he can count all the way through it, without having been specifically taught it!
• Can write a number of different letters, including many in his own name. I'm hoping he'll be able to write his actual name out within a few months.
• Enjoys using his Kumon workbooks to practicing skills such as cutting, pasting, and sticking!

Lastly, we ended our week with a fun painting project; Ron also studied the theme "God made us wonderful" this week, so we had everyone paint their own life-sized figure, which all three enjoyed. They've also been enjoying the very little bit of snow we've had here in Chicagoland, just a few inches at one point, but enough to build a snowman!

We'll have one last report of 2010 (I hope!) with our last partial week of school next week. Advent blessings to all!