Life in L'Italia

Picture Highlights from This Week

2012-02-11T16:57:00.000+01:00

Kadar drawing on the dry erase board.

Angry Birds addict #1

Alphabet letters

Angry Birds addict #2

Oil pastel artwork by Kalijah and me

Valentine's Day cards for the grandparents

The boys finally received their Cub Scout uniforms!!

Cub Scouts Gone Rogue

Blue and Gold Pancake Breakfast

The Fog is Clearing

2012-02-09T11:34:00.001+01:00

I'm feeling much less overwhelmed this morning. That may have something to do with the fact that I woke up at 5:00 this morning and spent two hours cleaning my house and doing laundry. An uncluttered house does wonders for my mind. Now I can tackle the rest of the day's events.

Today will be a light day of school. Kalijah will continue with her unit study on the United Kingdom, and then she'll be free to follow her own interests for the remainder of the day. That will probably involve drawing and reading. We're reading Our Island Story by H.E. Marshall, which is a history of England up to Queen Victoria's death. I may have her re-read some of her Horrible Histories books that are about England. I'll see.

Looking forward to the weekend...

Ponderings...Journal Style

2012-02-08T15:23:00.000+01:00

Disclaimer: This will be a rambling post of what's going on in my world lately:

My Reality

Kiah has been traveling quite a bit over the last few weeks. I believe he's been home for 4 out of the last 20 days. And it will continue like that for the next couple of months. He gets back tomorrow from his current trip and leaves again on Sunday for a week. The ebb and flow of this household keeps changing--I get used to him being gone, then I get used to him being here, and on and on it goes.
Kadar has been diagnosed with High Functioning Autism (formerly known as Asperger's). I am in the process of trying to get speech and language therapy for him at the elementary school on base. Lots of paperwork is involved.
My plate is full right now with homeschooling, reading about autism/asperger's, shuttling the kids back and forth to Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, and basketball events. I need a nap.
It's 37 degrees outside. I don't want to leave the apartment.

Things I Need to Do:

Get a haircut. It's been over a month now. Normally, Kiah cuts my hair, but with him traveling so much lately, I'm getting close to just shelling out the $8.50 for a barber to do it.
Plan a summer trip to England. This is our last year here in Italy, so we've been trying to come up with a list of places that we'd regret not seeing. England was on the top of that list. Kalijah is in the middle of Amanda Bennett's Passport to the United Kingdom unit study, and I'm getting excited just thinking about going. At the Top of Our To-Do-List - Big Ben, the London Eye, seeing The Lion King, Harrod's, and Westminster Abbey.
Decide whether to move to Norfolk, Virginia or San Diego, California in December.
Piles of laundry.

Places We've Been This Week:

Yesterday, the boys and I went to a free showing of Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy. We enjoyed it even though Kadar fell asleep halfway through it (I'm glad it was free). We just happen to be reading Andy and the Lion by James Daugherty this week (which is a Five in a Row story that involves a boy, a lion, and a traveling circus) so it all tied in together nicely.
The kids' babysitter (and fellow homeschooler), Alexandra, was accepted into a Division I university. She received an academic scholarship and will also be playing on the soccer team there. We went to the ceremony to watch her sign the papers.

Books I'm Reading (So Many Books, So Little Time):

Kalijah and I finished reading The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes as part of the Girls' Book Club that we're a part of.
We're almost finished reading and discussing The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg. I don't know why I've never read this book before. It's a great one.
Deconstructing Penguins: Parents, Kids, and the Bond of Reading - A very informative book about the hows and whys of not just reading a book with your kids but discussing the book afterward. It breaks down how to do that in a step-by-step, very user-friendly way. It's a MUST have!

Things that Concern Me:

Kalijah's handwriting
I have temporarily misplaced the kids' birth certificates. I don't know how. I have already scoured two rooms in this apartment looking for them. Now I have to go look in the attic.

Things that Remind Me That All Is Good in the World:

Homemade banana bread with mini chocolate chips thrown in
Watching The Good Wife and Parenthood

My break is over. Off to run more errands.

American Girl Time

2012-01-25T22:44:00.001+01:00

Our homeschool group here in Naples meet once a week at the park to allow the kids to play together and build friendships. It is also a time for the mothers to catch up with each other and get a break (albeit a 60 minute one). Last week at Park Day, some of the girls arranged to have some American Girl playtime. It was cute.

Highlights from our Homeschool This Week

2012-01-14T09:47:00.003+01:00

This week, we did an art project from one of our favorite websites.

We took an old CD and traced it in the center of a blank piece of paper.
We added lines to turn it into an eye with eyelashes.
We traced around the eye with a black Sharpie.
We drew an image inside the eye of something that we would like to look at.

Kadar chose to draw alphabet letters inside his eye.

Kanye drew a snowy day in the mountains.

Kalijah drew a picture of me with the caption that reads, "Mommy Rah Rules!"

Isn't she sweet?

The kids received a box of Zoobs as a late Christmas gift

and were anxious to experiment with the many variations.

I'm looking forward to the creations that they

will come up with.

Kalijah is on Chapter 5 of Sarah, Plain and Tall. We put 5lbs. of sugar, a handful rocks and twigs in a 13x9 baking dish in the bathtub and tried to create a "sand" dune with a blow dryer.

Kanye was reading this Henry and Mudge book to me and asked me if we could make one of the funny fruit in the picture.

So we did!!

It's been another full and busy week! I am grateful to be able to enjoy the weekend.

Fractals, Sierpinski's Triangle, and Tetrahedrons

2012-01-14T09:02:00.001+01:00

It all started when I watched this very cool video called Infinity Elephants. The girl on there does a pretty awesome job of drawing fractals of all shapes and sizes. Since I had never heard of a fractal, I did a little online research on fractals and Sierpinski's triangle and voila! - a fractal art and math project was born. First, I explained to the kids what a fractal was and allowed them to practice making some equilateral triangles with a ruler.

Next, I gave them some triangular grid paper,

and they practiced making 2, 4, and 8-length Sierpinski triangles.

Then, we experimented with shapes other than triangles.

Kanye was so inspired by the video that he watched it at least three times

and then began to draw his own.

Kalijah made a colorful one out of red hearts.

Keeping with the triangle theme for the day,

next, we moved on to three-dimensional tetrahedrons

(a triangular pyramid with four faces). I gave the kids

a bag of marshmallows and several boxes of toothpicks,

and they gladly went right to work.

I was the first one finished,

but Kanye wanted to outdo me by making one bigger than mine!

It took a couple of hours of work between the four of us, but we did manage to finish.

A great math lesson!

Angelo

2012-01-08T08:17:00.001+01:00

This week, the kids rowed Angelo from Volume IV
of Five in a Row. Since we had rowed it before,
we didn't do every lesson in the manual. We covered the days of the
week in Italian, Roman numerals, fractures, bird bones,
and musical terms.

Kanye was insistent upon building a "bed" for his Clifford dog

just like Angelo built for Sylvia. It was the highlight

of his week!

New Year's Eve Party--Rahming style!

2012-01-03T11:40:00.001+01:00

Watching Hoodwinked Too!

Playing the Wii

Playing UNO

Pulling the kids' mattresses into the living room

for a family sleepover

New journals and pens for the kids

Nachos

Silly/angry faces

A great night!!

Word of the Year

2012-01-01T13:43:00.000+01:00

My word for 2012 is...

Cub Scout "Go See It!"

2012-01-01T08:33:00.000+01:00

Kiah joined the boys and their Cub Scout troop on what is known as a "Go See It!"--AKA field trip--to the AFN (Armed Forces Network) office. AFN is both a television and radio station for military members stationed overseas. They were able to sit at the anchor desk and listen as the disc jockey introduced different songs on the radio.

I know it may be a little early for predictions, but I think I can say from these pictures that Kadar and Kanye won't be seeking a profession in radio or television. They're a bit too self-conscious for that. However, it was a learning experience for them, and that's what's important--exposure, exposure, exposure!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

2011-12-30T17:31:00.001+01:00

In my life this week…

Our pediatrician said that Kadar may be on the autism spectrum. He referred us to a child psychologist. Now that I've done a bit of google research on autism, some of his quirks are starting to make sense. Still thinking and processing that one.

In our homeschool this week…

Kalijah continued to enjoy a full two weeks off from schoolwork while the boys kept a steady pace of the 3R's. They are becoming more fluent readers, and Kanye is taking off with math. He regularly comes up with questions at odd times (like when I'm making dinner) such as "Is 41 plus 39 equal to 80?" and "Is 99 plus 45 equal to 144?" Yes, it is, Kanye.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

Dark chocolate (or any kind of chocolate) is the perfect remedy to a bad mood.

I am inspired by…

Malcolm X -- Kalijah and I are about to kick off our annual study on the Civils Rights movement, and I figured that it was high time we'd talk about Malcolm X. I have been reading several resources on his life and watching YouTube videos of his speeches. I am inspired by his transformation from the beginning to the end of his activist days. We will also be covering Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., Ruby Bridges, and Angela Davis.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We pretty much stayed in this week other than the doctor's appt. Tomorrow we'll be having a New Year's Eve party with pizza, games and a movie.

My favorite thing this week was…

Buying an IpodTouch for myself for Christmas! It's my new toy. Sadly, Kalijah is using it more than I am.

What’s working/not working for us…

Kanye needs a bit more of a challenge in language arts. I'm thinking of starting Writing With Ease Level I with him next month. Now if I can only find the time to add yet one more thing to his to-do-list. I don't want to stress the little 1st grader out!

Questions/thoughts I have…

How can I add more hours in the day?

Things I’m working on…

Adding more music and physical exercise for the boys.

I’m reading…

The Phantom Tollbooth (with Kalijah) by Norton Juster

The Out of Sync Child by Carol Stock Kranowitz

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Malcolm X biography by Walter Dean Myers

I’m cooking…

Sweet potato pies for New Year's Eve

I’m grateful for…

The opportunity to stay at home and raise and educate my children.

I’m praying for…

A friend whose mother died recently.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Psalm 8

2011-12-28T08:56:00.001+01:00

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T16:48:00.000+01:00

New Robes

Roller Blades

A New Marble Run set

Kaya - the newest addition to the doll family

downtime

motorized marble set with elevator

At the skate park testing out the new roller blades

Other Christmas gifts:

Kalijah

Hello Kitty slippers

American Girl doll clothes

Kadar

Sorry

Ticket to Ride

Crayola Guess My Picture game

Riddler car

Kanye

Jumbo checkers board

Legos

Uno

Joint gift

Wii Active Life Outdoor Challenge

Whirlwind Trip to Orlando--Legoland, SeaWorld, and The Holyland

2011-12-23T09:56:00.000+01:00

Poetry

2011-12-22T12:31:00.001+01:00

Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep.

Last Day of Soccer

2011-12-10T07:50:00.001+01:00

Skate Park

2011-12-10T07:38:00.001+01:00

Cecile - Newest Member of the Doll Family

2011-12-10T07:28:00.001+01:00

Autumn Artwork

2011-10-24T19:09:00.001+02:00

Take a look at some of the artwork we've been

doing from the Art Projects for Kids website.

Hispanic-American Heritage Month

2011-10-24T18:53:00.001+02:00

Kalijah's Girl Scout Troop celebrated

Hispanic-American Heritage Month last week in Gaeta, Italy.

They served tacos,

learned about different Spanish-speaking countries,

made Spanish crafts,

ate Spanish foods,

and learned different Spanish dances.

What an interesting time they had!

Matisse

2011-10-11T10:38:00.006+02:00

Today we spent some time learning about the French artist Henry Matisse. We also read Little Nino's Pizzeria since the art in that book seems to be similar to Matisse's. Then, the kids and I tried our hands at copying some of his work using a model from the Art Projects for Kids website.

In Matisse's later years, he was too old to stand up for long periods of time, so he cut different shapes out with scissors, painted them, and glued them onto his canvas. We tried a similar art project, and these are the results!!

This has been a fun unit!!

Double Digits!!

2011-10-08T15:56:00.000+02:00

Kalijah turned double digits on Saturday! Whooo hoo! 10 years old already! She celebrated by having 5 of her friends over for a sleepover. They had a dance party complete with a Soul Train line, played Michael Jackson Wii game, and watched movies. I fell asleep around 2am and they were still up. I think it's safe to say that they had a great time!

Happy Birthday Kalijah!!

Cub Scouts

2011-09-15T16:46:00.008+02:00

Introducing the newest members of Cub Scout Pack 007 and Den 9...

Kadar and Kanye went to their first pack meeting last night. At the end of the meeting, the Cubmaster surprised everyone by bringing the local firefighters by and letting all the scouts tour the fire engine.

Last weekend kicked off the beginning of a new year with a Scouts' sponsored camping trip with Kiah as their chaperone. This is the tent that he slept in.

The boys slept here.

Of course, they had to get new haircuts for their first camping trip w/ Dad. So they went to the resident barber and father and asked for special designs. Kadar chose some zigzag pattern.

Kanye chose the Superman design. Cool, huh?

The Random 5

2011-09-02T14:31:00.000+02:00

Welcome to the Random Pics post. I found 5 pictures on my camera that really didn't belong together. So here goes,

Happy Birthday Kiah!!

The boys enjoying yet another tv episode of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Kalijah on her first day of being "Not Back to School."

Kadar, Kanye and their friend, Anthony at the park

A picture where the boys resemble each other more than usual

No Screen Time - Days 27 and 28

2011-07-29T05:05:00.000+02:00

Here are some pictures from the soccer camp

that Kalijah has been attending this week. She's pretty excited about it and is looking forward to playing recreational soccer in the fall.

Today, she and her friends graduated to Level 4 swim class!

It's been a busy but fun week.

Days 24 through 26

2011-07-26T15:26:00.013+02:00

Getting their last days of swimming in...

Kalijah's hair is growing back! She wanted me to share that with you all.

July's Anti-Boredom Days 9-23

2011-07-24T12:07:00.000+02:00

Bike riding Building race tracks and marble runs

We have been going to the pool 4-5x a week for both swimming

lessons and free swim. The boys' confidence has gone way up!

Kalijah about to jump in!

The boys' class

Being emergent readers, Kadar and Kanye are participating in the library's summer reading program--A Midsummer Night's Read. So far, they've read 60 books each. They're sporting their latest prize--jester hats!

7 more days to go!

Little Sistahs

2011-07-23T23:34:00.019+02:00

This year, Kalijah has been involved in a girls' book club here on base. It has been a wonderful experience for her to engage in discussions with other girls who love reading as much as she does. There are typically 4-6 girls in attendance. We meet at my house every 3 weeks, and each girl is responsible for coming up with 2-3 discussion questions to keep the conversation going. The current facilitator is moving back to the U.S. next week, so I'll be taking over in August. Here are the books that we've read thus far:

Sienna's Scrapbook by Toni Trent Parker
True Friends by Stephanie Perry Moore

Wilma Rudolph by Jo Harper

F is for Freedom by Roni Schotter

All Mixed Up! by Kim Wayans

Just Jump! by Mabel Elizabeth Singletary

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

The kids feeding their faces after a meeting

The girls and their moms

The girls during the May meeting

In May, the girls had a pajama party at the movies.

They've had a great year so far and we hope to keep it going!

No Screen Time--Days 5 through 8

2011-07-21T07:48:00.006+02:00

No Screen Time - Days 2, 3 and 4

2011-07-04T20:15:00.001+02:00

I heard a lot of complaining on July 1st.

"Why can't we play the Wii?"

"Nobody else's mother makes them take a whole month off from electronics."

"There's nothing to do..."

I find it ironic that after being threatened with extra chores, they have mysteriously found ways to keep themselves busy:

Kadar and Kanye playing with their Toy Story soldiers

Reading, reading, reading!!
Kalijah making pancakes and bacon on the electric griddle

I'm loving July!!

July - The Month of No Screen Time

2011-07-01T15:38:00.005+02:00

It's summertime!

And the kids are bored already.

I've created a challenge for my kids to not use any screen time (computer games or television) for the entire month of July. There have already been groans and complaints, but I'm just ignoring them for now and offering suggestions of useful things to do. Everyday, I will try to post a picture or two of some things that my kids find to do to entertain themselves. Today, Kanye is in the spotlight:

During quiet time, Kanye created a "roller coaster" out of Jenga blocks.

Later he joined me in the kitchen to help me make some chili for dinner.
The Happy Chef!

Cruisin' 2011

2011-06-30T16:30:00.000+02:00

My parents joined us for a 7-day western Mediterranean cruise.

We spent a good deal of time in the arcade.

Golf!
Sicily, Italy was the first port of call.

The National Library in Ephesus, Turkey

The kids in Crete, Greece

Kanye wanted to be buried

Kiah swimming w/ Kalijah

It was a great time!!

Homeschool Mother's Journal

2011-04-29T07:14:00.008+02:00

In my life this week....

Kiah and I went on a date to...

the bowling alley!

I know, I know! Of all the places we could go in Naples...but restaurants here lack variety, and if you can believe it, we are both kind of tired of Italian food. There's only so much pasta, pizza, and fried dough you can eat in a given month. Plus, there wasn't anything that we wanted to see at the movie theater. So we made our own fun hanging out at the bowling alley.

In other news, we booked a family cruise for this summer! I'm so excited! Last year, we did the western Mediterranean--Spain, France, and northern Italy. This time, we're headed to Greece, Turkey, and southern Italy. The countdown begins!

In our homeschool this week....

We're deep in the midst of a unit study of the Revolutionary War. We're reading biographies left and right of Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, Crispus Attucks, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Phyllis Wheatley, and Samuel Adams. My kids have just discovered the Liberty Kids dvds and been watching them nonstop.

I've re-read Things I Wish I'd Known and Beyond Survival by Diana Waring to sort up prepare for the upcoming school year.

Places we're going and people we're seeing

Pajama party - The movie theater on base sponsored an all-girls' pajama party. They watched three movies and enjoyed quite a few trips to the concession stand.

Softball practice - Kalijah joined the Lady Cardinals' softball team.

Field trip to the vet to learn about pet care - Kalijah has been talking about becoming a veterinarian for the past year now so I organized a trip to the vet here on base for her and a friend of hers.

Catching Up

2011-04-19T20:55:00.011+02:00

These are pictures from when we rowed Arabella a couple of weeks ago. The kids all made cucumber boats and tested their buoyancy.

Lately, Kalijah and her friend have been involved in some serious Littlest Pet Shop trading.

Whenever they get a chance, Kadar and Kanye keep busy by creating. This week, they pulled out an old favorite--the marble run.

Homeschool Mother's Journal

2011-04-17T22:05:00.006+02:00

In my life this week...

We had to take a trip to the ER when Kanye bumped the side of his head on the steel frame of the bed. Ouch! He ended up having to get 2 staples put in. Lots of crying ensued during that process--mostly from Kadar though. You'd think that with all the technology available, people would have figured out a more humane way to close a wound other than using the same instrument used to staple pages together. The doctor said that they normally would have put stitches in, but they were short-staffed that day and wanted the wound to get closed up as quickly as possible. The good news is that Kanye was a trooper and is completely fine now. Actually, an hour after returning from the hospital, he was up and playing the Wii. The resiliency of boys is amazing.

While we're on the subject of Kanye....after trying bribery, positive and negative reinforcement, and a 100% GUARANTEED Thumb Buster, we took him to the dentist 3 weeks ago to have an anti-thumb-sucking appliance placed in his mouth. It took about 45 minutes to "install." The basic premise of the appliance is to serve as a gentle reminder not to suck his thumb by lightly pricking his thumb with a metal prong whenever he puts it into his mouth. Let me just say that if you have a child who is determined to suck his thumb, there is no appliance that will solve that problem. We're getting it removed on Tuesday. Nuff said.

In our homeschool this week...

We are learning about rainforests using these books:

"Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth

The Great Kapok Tree

Rainforests--Magic Treehouse Research Guide

R is for Rainforest

Kalijah started Institute for Excellence in Writing's Student Writing Intensive Course A. Both she and I are loving it so far. She pops the DVD in and follows right along.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Spring break was last week, so we enjoyed a time-out from our regular activities. I didn't realize how much I needed the break.

Monday - Homeschool P.E.

Tuesday - Dentist appt

Thursday - Zoology class, Jazz class, and Girl Scouts

My favorite thing we did this week was...

Clean and declutter my patio. I had so much of the kids' stuff stored out there--craft sticks, yarn, felt, Play-Doh, you name it, it was out there. I just had to come to terms with the fact that my kids are not crafty...at least not like that and toss most of it. I kept the things that they actually use--like Lincoln Logs, blocks, Legos, paints, etc.

What's working/not working for us...

Working...

Me focusing more on my relationships with the people that live in this house rather than filling their heads with information

Not rushing through the day

Storytime for Kalijah first thing in the morning--it's her favorite time of the day

Storytime for the boys at bedtime. I'm tired of trying to get them to play quietly while I read a chapter book. Even if they were able to multi-task, I honestly think they're physically incapable of playing quietly.

Science and Math via Itunes--Cyberchase and Bill Nye the Science Guy

Daily Jog before schooltime

Not working...

Me going to bed late and waking up early

Passing the Time w/ Keva Planks

2011-03-26T14:25:00.002+01:00

Working Together

2011-03-26T09:06:00.006+01:00

I combined the kids again for a group unit study on Jacqueline Briggs Martin's book Higgins Bend Song and Dance. We learned about tall tales, store keeping skills, and also learned what the morning star is.

After making this lemony dessert, I found out that

none of the kids like lemon desserts.

Artwork

Kanye and Kadar's Copywork

Kalijah wrote a tall tale of her own called How the Lion Got His Mane.

Abstract Creativity

2011-03-20T08:42:00.003+01:00

Kanye brought this piece of paper to me this morning and told me the story to go along with it:

One day, Race was running, and he saw a snail on the ground. The snail went to Race's house. When they got there, there was a cd player on the counter. It was tan. Then, Race saw another one of his friends and said, "Look, Snail, it's us!" They cleaned up with the vacuum. They were thirsty so they drank some water. They wanted to play with xylophone next, but Race's mother said, "Yarn time!" so they began to play with the yarn. Then, they went for a walk like a zigzag. They went all the way to Australia walking like a zigzag. They saw a bug and they waved their hands so it wouldn't bite them. His friend saw that Race's face was shaped like a circle. Then, they saw ducks quacking in the river and heard a noise, "EEEeeeee!" It was Ferb! They saw his sister, who was a girl. Ferb and the girl cleaned up the hay, and they found some ink inside the hay. They jumped far away and saw Kevin. Kevin said, "Come on guys. I'll show you how to get to the next level on the computer game." They jumped inside the hole and saw a man who had a square nose. Kevin said, "Oh boy!" The man said, "Come here and we can have snack time." They ate a pear. When it was night time, they put the quilt on and went to sleep.

March Reading

2011-03-20T07:30:00.003+01:00

After devotion, breakfast, and a morning walk/jog, I call the boys to the table and start the morning off with reading.

Abeka's reader on Aesop's Fables has been perfect for the boys. They usually ask me to read from this first. At the end of each story, there are a few reading comprehension questions and a Bible verse that solidifies the moral.
Gyo Fujikawa's A to Z Picture Book--Kadar and Kanye love alphabet books. Each page is well-illustrated and displays a different letter of the alphabet along with 10-12 words that start with that letter. So, each day the boys enjoy calling out the things that they see for their "letter-of-the-day." The page for "e" has a picture of an edelweiss on it, so they've been learning a few new vocabulary words along the way also.
Hungry, Hungry Sharks!--This is a Level 3 reader that Kanye picked out. He reads 4 or 5 pages to me each day.
Grasshopper on the Road--This is a Level 2 reader that Kadar picked out. He reads 8 or 9 pages a day.
Burgess Bird Book for Children--I read a chapter or two a day. The author gently blends information and entertainment about his book about birds in a way that keeps my wiggly boys interested.
Language Arts from Christopherus--This is a very gentle but effective curriculum that I've stumbled upon. I'm only using the Language Arts portion right now, but I've learned quite a bit about the"how" of teaching so far. I love how every lesson incorporates art in a way that seems natural and not forced.

6-Year-Old Bowling Party!

2011-03-20T07:06:00.007+01:00

A New Coat for Anna

2011-03-19T08:20:00.012+01:00

This story takes the reader through a year of Anna's life as her mother arranges to have a new coat made by bartering with her neighbors. She trades a gold watch for wool and then a lamp to have it spun. Anna and her mother pick lingonberres together, which they use to dye the wool red. The bartering continues as the yarn is woven and then tailored into a coat.

The story takes place during the time of World War II, so we spent a short bit of time learning about the countries involved in that war. I initially thought that it might be over their heads, but what was I thinking. They're BOYS! They love the whole idea of war--soldiers, fighting, enemies, etc. So I gave them maps of Europe, Asia, and North America and had them color the Axis powers green and the Allied powers brown. Then, they placed toy soldiers on their maps and staged a "reenactment" of sorts. Fun!

The title page of the book shows two pictures of Anna--one where she's wearing her old blue coat that is too small fr her and one where she's wearing her new red coat. So I gave each of the boys a handful of Duplo blocks, asked them to create something with them, and then had them draw what the blocks looked like before

and after

The wool used for Anna's coat came from a nearby sheep farm. They used Draw Write Now Book 1 to draw pictures of sheep.

One of the assignments that they had the most fun with was writing an informative piece. Kanye dictated to me on "How to Clean Your Room."

Kadar wrote on "How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich."

Good work, boys! I was hoping to buy a tie-dye kit before this unit was over (since lingonberries were used to dye Anna's coat red), but the store on base was out of them. We may make that a fun summer activity though!

Homer Price

2011-03-18T23:12:00.018+01:00

After attempting Cricket in Times Square and Boxcar Children in the past, we completed our first Beyond Five in a Row book this week. Apparently, the timing was just right this time around.

Here's a bit of what Kalijah has been working on for the past 6 weeks:

Looking at Road Markers and learning about Homer the poet

Looking at a map of Florida to spot the types of roads and creating a slogan for shampoo

Writing Vocabulary words and their definitions

Designing a monogram, creating a comic strip, and writing a postcard from Centerburg

Summarizing a biography of Clara Barton

Copywork

Summarizing one of the chapters

Creating a menu for an imaginary restaurant complete with "blue-plate specials"

Coming up with a list of things never to do with strangers

I got a good chuckle out of the 4th one.

Learning about the famous painting "Whistler's Mother" by James McNeill Whistler

Drawing a house before and after landscape architecture

Using vocabulary words to make sentences

Designing a checkerboard

Other topics that we covered with Homer Price:

slogans
road markers
early radio
pulleys
chromium
monograms
sandwich boards
labor saving devices
supply and demand
The Red Cross
how to make donuts
how to make a rubber band ball
Democrats and Republicans
Susan B. Anthony
Habitat for Humanity and HUD

We are sorry to be finished with Homer but are anxious to start the next unit study.

Twin 6-Year-Old Boys

2011-03-18T12:21:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday Kadar and Kanye!!

Ending our China Unit

2011-02-25T14:39:00.004+01:00

I had grand intentions with our China unit, but let's just say I didn't get around to doing everything that I planned. We did, however, manage to get outside today and fly kites. My kids had never flown kites before (sad, I know), so I figured that since China is credited with the invention of kites...well, it was a no-brainer.Kalijah prepared this meal with very little help from me. Her menu consisted of vegetable fried rice, chicken stir fry, and eggrolls (frozen). It was quite good.

Spending a Few Days in China

2011-02-17T14:21:00.009+01:00

Thanks to The Day of the Dragon King (Magic Treehouse #14), we are in the middle of a study of China. Kalijah is working through the Download n' Go Expedition China, and the boys are doing a ton of hands-on activities. This morning, the kids re-enacted the building of The Great Wall out of Duplo blocks and Toy Story soldiers,

practiced "calligraphy" with black paint,

and played two versions of dominoes (the original game and Chicken Foot).

This study will take us into next week. I have a few things lined up:

math activities using an abacus
salt dough map of China
visiting the international section of the grocery store
cooking a Chinese stir-fry
reading the biography of Hudson Taylor - a missionary who went to China
graphing the heights of Chinese animals

Hopefully, I'll remember to take pictures of all the festivities!

Magic Treehouse and The Arctic

2011-02-09T21:25:00.015+01:00

Last week, I read this book to the boys...

It peaked their interest in the Arctic, and I felt the need to dig a little deeper. So, I chose this book as our book for this week...

Over the weekend as I was gathering supplies, I came across this book on my shelf...

I glanced through the activities and found some that I thought the boys could handle.

They are both on a Draw Write Now kick right now, so this book came in handy... This is a picture of an Inuit man kayaking in the Arctic. Kanye copied a sentence underneath his picture for extra handwriting practice.

Kadar's Polar Bear picture w/ copywork underneath

Canada flags--(They love flags and are getting pretty good at recognizing the flags of different countries)

We'll be wrapping up this unit in a couple of days, but I'm pleased with their enthusiasm for learning. As we read through the rest of the Magic Treehouse books, I'll be looking for ways to incorporate them into our homeschool.

Girl Scouts - World Thinking Day

2011-02-08T11:34:00.012+01:00

Kalijah has been in Girl Scouts for a year now. This past weekend, the Naples troops participated in World Thinking Day. It is an annual event where the girls take the time to think about other Girl Scouts and Girl Guides all around the world. This year, each troop had to learn facts about a different country, prepare food from that country, and design that country's flag. Some of the countries chosen were New Zealand, Cyprus, the Congo, Greece, Scotland, and Argentina. After the flag ceremony, each troop was given 5-10 minutes to present the things that they learned about the country and particularly, the accomplishments and struggles of women in that country.

Flag Ceremony

Friendship Circle at the end of the event

Kalijah's troop was assigned the country of Cyprus,

and she was responsible for designing the flag.

Good work!

Pockets of Time

2011-02-05T11:00:00.005+01:00

This week, I planned to read Polar Bears Past Bedtime to Kadar and Kanye. While I am personally tired of the repetitive plot and simplistic writing style of Magic Tree House books, the boys love them. Oh well. Then I remembered something... Fortunately For You, Inc. makes a product called Pockets of Time to help with this. While I read, the boys color a square detailing a certain part of the story. After reading, they have to number the events in the correct sequence.

It was a win-win! They were able to hear one of their favorite stories being read, and I had active listeners who worked on reading comprehension and coloring at the same time (not their favorite pasttime).

Our Week with Snowflake Bentley

2011-02-05T07:57:00.005+01:00

Yesterday, we wrapped up our week with Snowflake Bentley. This Caldecott Medal winner is a story of a man 's passion for sharing pictures of snowflakes with the world. It is pretty fascinating to learn how far Willie Bentley a.k.a. Snowflake Bentley would go to accomplish this--even to the point of standing outside for hours in cold weather to take a few pictures of falling snow. That's dedication!

During this study, we learned a bit about:

Vermont, Ethan Allen, and the Green Mountain boys
some famous people who were homeschooled
the inventions of Thomas Edison and Elijah McCoy
photography - negative space, where light enters the camera, and three things needed to take a picture, and
snowflakes and crystals

Activities This Week:

Watching BrainPop videos on photography, cameras, and crystals.
The kids' favorite activity from the week was playing around with their EyeClops and looking for articles of clothing, stuffed animal fur, toys, pencil, hair, and just about ANYTHING to put under their "microscope"
Creating a small PowerPoint presentation on butterflies
Cutting out our own snowflakes with white paper and scissors

Interesting Books We Read:

Young Thomas Edison by Michael Dooling
The Real McCoy by Wendy Towle

Kalijah decided that she wanted to give Beyond Five in a Row another try, and next week, she's starting a 6-week study using the chapter book Homer Price. The boys are going to be rowing Very Last First Time from Volume 1 of Five in a Row. It'll be a busy week!

Butterfly SlideShow

2011-02-05T07:32:00.005+01:00

Butterflies

View more presentations from kcr529.

While rowing Snowflake Bentley, Kalijah learned about butterflies. To make things a bit more creative, I told her to find 10 pictures of butterflies online, learn 10 facts about them, and create a small PowerPoint presentation for it all. It was her first time using PowerPoint, and I think it turned out great!

Butterfly Life Cycle

2011-02-04T10:45:00.001+01:00

Kadar and Kanye joined Kalijah for a few Snowflake Bentley activities. They made a butterfly shapebook while reviewing the life cycle of a butterfly. I can't wait until March when we order the Butterfly Garden from Insect Lore so that they can actually watch the metamorphosis take place. Hopefully by then, I will have found a way to have the live caterpillars shipped overseas.

Mark Kistler Imagination Station

2011-02-04T09:58:00.000+01:00

My kids draw like crazy anyway, so I thought they'd enjoy a membership to the Imagination Station website. I was right! They find Mark Kistler hilarious. Lately, this is how they've been spending their afternoons.

Kanye's Balloons

Kanye's Billy's Big Boat - front and side view
Kanye's The Bucket Ride

Kanye's Burping Beatrice

Kalijah's Baby Space Hamster

Kalijah's Burping Beatrice

Kalijah's Cathy Fish

Kalijah's Cathy Fish After Losing Her Pencil

Kalijah's Cookie Cruncher

Kalijah's Darla Dog

Check out the website. He has a lot of free lessons over there if you just want to try it out!

Kicking Off Black History Month!

2011-02-01T06:16:00.002+01:00

Every morning, we will read a few pages from We Are The Ship by Kadir Nelson. It's a fascinating picture book (that reads more like a chapter book) about the Negro National League of baseball. Love, love, love Kadir Nelson's artwork! I will also show the kids the commemorative Black Heritage stamps from the post office.

Family Movie

2011-01-29T15:56:00.005+01:00

One thing that I wish I could teach my kids is how to go to a movie without getting snacks. Fortunately, the prices the movie theatre on base are not astronomical like in the U.S. Adults pay $3, kids ages 6-12 are $1.50, and kids under age 6 get in for free. Concession stands prices are just as low. Earlier this month, we went to see Yogi Bear, and Kadar automatically got in the concession stand line to get his small popcorn and small drink. Wow, I'm afraid I've created monsters! Maybe I'll just have them go cold turkey to break the habit.

New Year's Eve

2011-01-29T15:22:00.002+01:00

This past New Year's Eve was low-key compared to ones from the last several years, but we still had a great time. In fact, it was the first year that Kadar and Kanye stayed up until midnight. Some of the things that we did were:

made Goodbye 2010/Hello 2011 signs
played Uno, Hungry Hippos, Upwards, and the Wii
watched the movie Shiloh

She was really into this game.

New Haircuts

2011-01-28T17:43:00.005+01:00

It is conveniently wonderful to have a husband who knows how to cut hair well. Kanye posed so that I could take a picture of the two lines in his head.

Kadar's new edge-up

My three men
After 5-6 years, the locs are gone.

For the both of us
New haircuts are very liberating

Long Overdue Christmas Gift Pics

2011-01-28T15:24:00.007+01:00

Alphabet Stamps

Kalijah received a Kindle and a Skateboard
Train Set

Woody

Buzz Lightyear

Marvel SuperHeroes Wii Game

New Tool Kit

Update...

2011-01-28T14:34:00.000+01:00

In my life this week...

Kiah has been out of town most of this week, and I've been holding down the fort while dealing with a head cold and sore throat. The kids have mostly been on auto-pilot and have managed to watch the movie Remember the Titans four times since Tuesday. Kadar and Kanye, in particular, have taken a special liking to the characters in the movie. Who knew? It's pretty hilarious watching them "tackle" each other yelling, "Left Side!"and "Strong Side!" at each other. On a personal note, I started the Power 90 workout DVDs with Tony Horton. It definitely is a thorough exercise plan that builds you up to be able to handle the P90X once the first 90 days are up . So far, so good.

In our homeschool this week...

Kalijah has been working on the Download n Go unit study--Hoppin' Popcorn. She's learned about the corn plant, studied how Native Americans used popcorn, experimented with different flavors of popcorn, learned which country is credited with coming up with the idea of making popcorn, and many other fun facts. Kalijah could eat popcorn every single day of her life and never get tired of it, so this is, by far, her favorite DNG unit to date.

I started off the week rowing The Rag Coat with Kadar and Kanye, but I decided to postpone that story until they're a little older. Instead, I read Toys Go Out as a chapter read-aloud while they focused on the 3R's. They are solidifying their simple addition facts and getting better at adding coins. On Tuesday, I handed Kadar a handful of random coins and asked him how much money it was. He paused for a moment, and then asked, "If I get the right answer, can I have an M&M?" So our new money game was born! We've played it every day this week, and they are definitely more motivated. I mean, who wouldn't be? Kanye is not a fan of candy or gum, so he asked to keep the money itself. I couldn't really argue with that logic, but I don't know how long we'll be able to keep that game up.

Places We're Going and People We're Seeing...

Homeschool P.E. on Monday
Selling Girl Scout cookies - Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday

My Favorite Thing This Week...

Kadar and Kanye reading from their Bibles during worship time. Priceless.

What's Working/Not Working for Us...

By this time of year, I've pretty much weeded out what isn't working, so I don't have anything that isn't working for us.

What is working for us is Jeannie Fulbright's Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. Kalijah is reading this on her own and doing the experiments with another homeschooled friend. That is going extremely well while also allowing her to have something to look forward to mid-week.

Random Photos to Share...

Thanksgiving Day in Pictures

2010-12-12T11:57:00.007+01:00

Thanksgiving

2010-11-15T20:14:00.009+01:00

OK, so what started out as Kalijah's 4-week unit study on The First Thanksgiving morphed into a 2-week study. In other words, her interest in the subject kind of fizzled out toward the end. It happens. But that is the beauty of homeschooling. We move on. It was an independent learning experience for her, so we'll pick it back up next year. I've misplaced my digital camera's USB cord, so I can't show pictures of the pockets that she created using Evan Moor's Life in Plymouth Colony book. But, she had fun while it lasted.

She managed to do a lot of reading on the subject.

Book List:

Magic Treehouse Research Guide - Pilgrims by Mary Pope Osborne
Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin

Stories of the Pilgrims by Margaret Pumphrey

Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn by Edna Barth

Boys and Girls of Colonial Days by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgriesh

Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Robert Bulla

She's on an independent kick--which works for me--so she has since moved on to Amanda Bennett's Dogs study.

Funny Kid Questions of the Day

2010-10-31T00:15:00.002+02:00

(During storytime)
"Mom, are we in a book, and someone is reading us?"--Kanye

(After reading the Creation story in Genesis)
"What am I going to name my wife?"--Kadar

Owl Moon

2010-10-30T23:25:00.007+02:00

We rowed Owl Moon back in the August, but strangely, I'm just now getting around to posting about it. I was initially disappointed that it was such a light row for the boys. We read it 5 days in a row along with some books from the library, learned a few owl facts, and that's about it. Having already rowed this three times with Kalijah, I had this elaborate study of owls planned that included learning about the different kinds of owls and the phases of the moon and ending the week with the dissection of owl pellets, Clearly I hadn't considered the fact that Kadar and Kanye are only five. As the week went on, I realized that this was enough of an introduction for them, and when we re-row it a year or so from now, they will be ready to dig a little deeper. A year ago, they wouldn't have had the attention span to sit through one reading of this picture book, let alone five. They also wouldn't have cared to learn anything about owls other than the fact that they are awake at night and say "Whoo." So, progress is being made and I need to chill.

Go Alongs:

Stuart at the Library by E.B. White

Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel

Good Night Owl by Pat Hutchins

A Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na

The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson

Owly books by Andy Runton<=======a household favorite

Draw Write Now Book 2

I think that their owl drawings turned out pretty nicely

considering the fact that neither of them enjoys coloring.

The first one is Kanye's.

And here's Kadar's I have never met children other than my boys who look forward to doing handwriting exercises. Here's a few sentences that they traced from the Draw Write Now book.

No matter how shallow or in depth we go with our unit studies, Five in a Row books never disappoint.

More Five in a Row Fun

2010-10-29T17:12:00.013+02:00

Let me begin by saying that this Five in a Row selection is longer than the usual ones that I choose for the boys. I usually read the book-of-the-week before bedtime since that's the time when they seem to be more...tame. But this week, I knew that it was a struggle to read it every single night. We did manage to read it 3 times and they did enjoy the activities so that counts for something.

One of things that we did was make a list of needs and wants.
We looked at the poetry in the book and found the rhyming words.

Using the description from the book, they both drew what the inside of the log cabin looked like. This is Kanye's version.

Using Draw Write Now Book 5, they drew a log cabin. This is Kadar's.

Kadar's drawing of the inside of the log cabin

The outside of Kanye's log cabin

Just like I did with The Raft, I put the vocabulary words from the story into a PowerPoint slideshow and reviewed each day.

Some of the words are below:

planks

log cabin

fetch

cozy

Blue Ridge Mountains

Two highlights from this week:

Making a salt dough map of the United States that highlight the Appalachian Mountains They still haven't gotten around to painting it, but when they do, I will post pictures.
Playing store with their cash register and real money

Another fun week of learning with Five in a Row is complete!

Where Do Boys Get Energy From?

2010-10-27T15:35:00.005+02:00

Kiah and Kalijah have been in Florida for the past week visiting with family and friends and will be returning on Monday. YAY! I initially saw these 10 days as a time to fall clean. I had a detailed plan to declutter each room in the house, but little did I know that the boys had other plans. Each day, they've made a list of things that they wanted to do. Here is a combined version:

make an obstacle course--We haven't gotten around to that one yet. Still thinking of ideas to pull it off.
play Guess Who?--done--This is their new favorite game
bike riding--done
make an apple pie--done
watching Dumbo--done--I had never watched it so it was a first for me as well. I was such a deprived child.
watching Wall-E--done
racing their Hot Wheels up and down the hallway--done
Play-Doh--done
late night soccer--done--Since the sun sets earlier now, they've been missing their after dinner playtime. So, one night we went out to the soccer field behind our apartment building and played for an hour or so.
bowling--done
playing Clue Jr.--done--Their second favorite game
playdate with friend--done
math--done--I didn't realize how much they enjoyed math until this week.
poetry --done--Believe it or not, it's true. We are slowly working our way through Andrew Pudewa's Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization, and they really look forward to it each day.
go to the bookstore--done--They grab the Kumon workbooks and trace the alphabet, tracing and maze books with their fingers. These kids are so low maintenance.
make a paper airplane--done
make a paper boat--done
paint with watercolors--done

Lessons Learned This Week:

I need to play more with my kids.
It's probably not a good idea to watch my new favorite tv show, Parenthood, until 2:30am--no matter how funny Lauren Graham is.
Boys never run out of energy.
We need to get outdoors more as a family.
Cooking is highly overrated. The diet of 5-year-olds is really quite simple. They'd eat cereal at every meal if you'd let them.

I seriously need a vacation now.

Change is Sometimes a Good Thing

2010-10-19T18:33:00.004+02:00

I started out this school year using Beyond with Kalijah. After completing the first book, The Boxcar Children, I've decided that she isn't ready to do as much independent work as I had thought. So, I changed a few things. This is her current workload:

Unit Studies - Five in a Row - We'll be focusing on Volumes 2 and 4 this year and throw in the occasional Download n Go.

History - A Child's History of the World and Story of the World Vol. 2 as independent reads instead of read-alouds

Science - Exploring Creation with Astronomy - It's not a daily thing, but when we get to it, we really enjoy it.

Math - We're finishing up Math U See Delta, but we also use Teaching Textbooks 4 to break up the monotony and Calculadders for drill.

Language Arts - Wordsmith Apprentice - This approach is exactly what she has needed to gently develop her writing and grammar skills. I love it. She practices her cursive using Handwriting Without Tears Cursive Success.

Keep in mind that except for math and unit studies, we don't do all of that every single day. One of the main reasons for giving up Beyond this year was so that I could work with Kadar and Kanye on phonics, speech, and language, and uh...behavior. With them, I have consistently been using:

Unit Studies - Five in a Row
Phonics - Kanye just completed Lesson 102 in Reading Made Easy. He's also working his way through Explode the Code 2. Kadar is using the Reading Pathways Pyramid book and Abeka readers.

Speech - Super Star Speech

Math - Math U See Primer for Kanye and Alpha for Kadar

We just wrapped up with The Raft today. Most of Volume IV will be a re-row for her, but there is so much packed into that volume that honestly, it's not going to hurt to go over it again. Combining the three of them for unit studies is easier in some ways and harder in others, but I really enjoy the flexibility that I have to go as deep as I want into certain subjects.

Two New Things that We Did With This Book:

Mark Kistler's FREE drawing lessons online. The kids were cracking up the whole time that they did these. They even asked to do more in their free time!

Vocabulary words - I found pictures online for about 20 words from the story and put them into PowerPoint presentation. We watched them like a slide show, and I made up a game of asking them to come up with a word that named each picture. I didn't realize how many words the boys didn't know. They didn't know what a pitcher was. They knew what a jug was but not a pitcher. I will definitely be doing this with some of the rest of the FIAR books with the boys. Some of the other words that they learned were bobber, reeds, cattails, dock, hitchhiker, crayfish, inner tube, power plant, and river rat. I found it to be an effective way to find out which words they really knew and which ones they're ignoring while I read. It's almost as if they're hearing,

"Nicky went to Grandma's house....blah blah blah blah.... and he found a raft outside...blah blah blah...he started to draw on the raft....blah blah blah blah...Grandma and Nicky packed a picnic lunch and went swimming....blah blah blah...Nicky helped the deer get out of the mud...blah blah blah...Nicky went home."

Hopefully this will help their listening comprehension and inspire them to SPEAK UP if I mention a word that they don't know. All in all, it has been a great week, and I'm very excited to have them all working on the same study.

Good Reads

2010-10-19T18:22:00.001+02:00

Pet Peeves

2010-10-16T05:28:00.009+02:00

Every morning without fail, Kadar wakes up, staggers to wherever I am, and mumbles, "goodmorningimhungry." The first couple of times, I didn't understand what he was saying or know quite how to respond. Then I remembered. The first words out of his mouth in the mornings used to be to tell me that he was hungry until Kiah told him, "You have to say good morning first! You can't just come in making requests!"

Kanye's technique is a bit more subtle. Barely. He finds me, hugs me, snuggles next to me in the bed or sits on my lap if I'm on the computer. He silently hangs out with me for about 5 minutes, and then I hear,

"Mooooom." (I love that early morning groggy voice.)

"Yes."

"Did you hear that sound?"

"What sound?"

"I think I heard my stomach grumbling."

In both cases, they're technically not asking me for anything. They're just putting the information out there and then leaving the ball in my court to see if I'm going to do anything about it. Kadar is hungry, and Kanye's stomach is grumbling. Okay, good to know. Thanks for sharing. It would be like me telling Kiah three days before my birthday, "I saw a Coach purse that I liked in Macy's today." Sharing random information doesn't exactly call for a response on my part, right? So I don't. I just smile and nod. Then they get a look of frustration on their faces and say the magic words, "Can you please get me some breakfast?" To which I respond, "Sure," or better yet, "Ask your sister to pour you some cereal." Let me tell you, Kalijah absolutely loves when I tell them that.

Which brings me to Pet Peeve #1:

When a person does not specifically ask for what he or she wants

Kalijah used to have this issue. We would be in WalMart or Target or wherever and she'd say, "Wow! I really like these rollerblades" and I'd say, "Those are nice!" and walk away to another aisle. She'd follow me and keep repeating her adoration for these cool skates and go on and on about how fast she'd be able to skate if she had them-- without once just coming out and asking, "Mom, can I have these skates?" to which I could respond, "Not today, but maybe for your birthday or Christmas." We finally broke the news to her that if she doesn't ask for what she wants, the answer is automatically no. End of that story.

In other news, Kadar was eating a bag of Cheetos in the car the other day. When we get to the store, he gets out, walks over to me, and holds his arm out with the empty Cheeto bag in my direction. Umm...what? He doesn't say anything. He's not even looking at me. All I see is the outstretched arm. So, our conversation went a little something like this,

Me: "I'm not a garbage can."

Him: "I know."

Me: "Soooo...."

Him: "I know, I know."

Which brings me to Pet Peeve #2:

The words "I know."

In the interest of full disclosure, this is a current pet peeve and is most likely directed toward my boys at this particular phase in their lives. I'm not saying that if I tell Kiah that all of the Chilean miners have been rescued and he says, "I know," I'm going to go off on him. I'm saying that the words "I know" are like the "Stop touching me!" "I'm not touching you!" conversations that my three brothers and I used to have growing up.

Typical scenario: Sunday morning, Kalijah sees me in the kitchen making waffles. She excitedly runs into the boys' room to share the fabulous news,

"Kanye, Mommy's making waffles for breakfast!"

Though he's half asleep and hasn't even left his bedroom that morning, Kanye replies,

"I know!"

"No you didn't. "

"You don't know I know!"

"That's because you didn't know until I told you."

"Mooooom, Kalijah doesn't know I know!"

This was happening every single day with one insignificant thing after another until for the sake of our sanity, Kiah implemented some anti-arrogance training and officially banned those words from this house...forever.

I'll move on to Pet Peeve #3 and then stop. Because really, I could probably go on forever where my kids are concerned. And no one needs that.

Expecting others to do for you what you can do yourself

Before I continue, I want to ask a question. Aren't five-year-olds intrinsically supposed to be extremely independent? "No Mommy, don't zip up my jacket. I want to do it myself!" and that kind of stuff? Well, come to think of it, they do get inspired to be independent when anything dangerous is involved. "Can I turn on the stove?" "Mom, I know how to cut the celery with the BIG knife!" Really, you do?

Anyway, all kinds of pandomonium break loose whenever I mention the "w" word to my boys. Work. Just in case you're thinking I'm asking them to sort and wash and iron 15 loads of laundry, these are their morning tasks:

wash face
brush teeth
clean room
get dressed

That's it. Later in the day, they do have other jobs to do like clean the table, but that's not what I'm referring to. My boys don't like to get dressed...ever. Seriously. They would be perfectly content with me washing their faces, brushing their teeth and dressing them each and every morning. It's quite strange. They are independent thinkers but not independent doers. They know exactly what they want to do and how it should be done. but are very dependent when it comes to self-management. Suggestions?

Well, I'm glad that I was able to use this blog as a venue to vent. Thanks for listening. I'm sure you can guess what kind of a week I've had. Hmm, I just noticed something. All three pet peeves had to do with my 5-year-olds. Interesting. I probably need to do another post on my 9yo. Just so she won't feel left out.

Where Have I Been?--Part Two

2010-10-11T05:14:00.001+02:00

In a word...Tuscany. A friend invited my mother-in-law and I with her to a Tuscan day spa for two days, and we jumped at the opportunity. We were thoroughly pampered during our stay, and it was a desperately needed getaway complete with fine dining and hot stone massages.

The scenery made the six-hour drive completely worth it!
Snapshots of the grounds...

While there, we did a self-guided tour of a small town called Arezzo.

Proof that you really do need a small car in Europe.

Here are some pictures from Vatican City that didn't make it into the first blog post...

Kalijah and Kiah's mom

The centerpiece outside of the Vatican Museum

More impressive architecture from the Vatican's courtyard

This concludes the update on my recent absence from the blog-o-sphere. I'll now return you to your regularly programmed homeschool adventures.

Where Have I Been?--Part One

2010-10-11T03:00:00.000+02:00

This summer has been a whirlwind. It seems that every time I sat down to blog, something new popped up. Kiah's parents were here last month and we toured a bit of Naples, Rome, and Tuscany all in a span of 10 days. I believe that I have completely recovered from their pleasant visit and am now ready to blog about it.

ROME!! I love this place! Being born and raised in New York City, there was something refreshingly reminiscent of the city life, the public transportation, the excitement in the air, the feeling that if I stayed there for a complete year, I would not see all there is to see, the cobblestone streets, well, maybe not the cobblestone streets, but you get the point. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't want to live there, but it's neat to live only two hours away from such a big city. As a glaring testament to our dedication to American food, the Hard Rock Cafe was pretty high up on our To-Do List of places to see in Rome. Italy may have us spoiled, but I'll be the first to admit that it is possible to get tired of Italian food. Baked potato skins are a delicacy here.

There was so much to see in the short time we were in Rome, but we did manage to visit the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, and St. Peter's Basilica. Along the way, we snapped photos of

The art

The architecture

The traffic

The statues

And more architecture

In the picture below, we're at the Vatican about to go down the long flight of stairs and enter the Sistine Chapel. Naturally, no one was allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel, but suffice it to say, it was breath-taking. Michelangelo=Skillz.

Inside the Basilica

Eating outside at a Roman cafe

If I were to calculate the amount of walking we did, it would probably add up to 3-5 miles. It is a loooong walk inside the Vatican. So, the boys were happy whenever we were able to rest.

Piazza San Pietro (also known as St. Peter's Square)

Hopefully, in a couple of days, I'll be able to post about the rest of where I've been.

Another Year Older

2010-10-08T10:03:00.021+02:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet daughter! She was up at the crack of dawn (literally) ready and waiting to open up cards and gifts from her brothers and grandparents. (You can see Kiah still asleep in the background.)

Here she is sporting new clothes and playing her Nintendo DS. On her birthday only, she has unlimited DS time. And trust me when I say that she took complete advantage of the word "unlimited."

Each year, we give her the option of having a birthday party or getting a big ticket item from us. This year she chose a party at the bowling alley. Actually, she didn't want it at the bowling alley until I reminded her that it was the only place she could have it here on base.

12 kids in our small apartment=not a good idea.

So to the bowling alley we went...

Still enamored with letters, Kadar and Kanye brought along their electronic dictionary to combat any lulls during the party.

It was a fun time among friends.

Kanye needed a lot of room...

But thanks to the bumpers and his running start, S-T-R-I-K-E!!

Now it's the birthday girl's turn

A few snapshots of the partygoers

Everyone had a blast! It was the perfect party for the social daughter that I have.

Schoolwise, she had the week off except for math (of course) and spent some time working on Download n Go's Birthday Bonanza. She is slowly becoming a fan of the DNGs. Who knew?

Karate

2010-09-21T15:10:00.002+02:00

After trying soccer, ballet, basketball, and baseball, Kalijah is trying karate. So far, so good!

Field Trip to Emperor Nero's Wife's Villa

2010-09-21T14:53:00.009+02:00

ONE of Emperor Nero's wives anyway...I believe she was his second, but who's counting? Our tour guide, Aldo, showed us how after Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, the villa dropped 30 feet and is now being restored and preserved as a museum.

Walking in downtown Naples is never really exactly safe, but even Aldo, a native of Naples, cautioned us to stay together and put away our cameras. Surprisingly, the villa now lies in the heart of one of the many Naples ghettos. No one tells you about this part of Italy.

Snapshot of an Italian police car.

The 100+ room estate actually existed as her summer home. Must be nice. He showed us the Olympic-size swimming pool, the Greek slave quarters which were located in the kitchen (slaves had to keep the fire burning during the night), and some of the rooms tiled with semi-precious stones.

Kiah's parents were visiting from Key West and enjoyed learning right alongside us. Great history lesson!

Congratulations, Kalijah!!

2010-09-10T19:42:00.004+02:00

Mr. Grumpy

2010-08-26T14:27:00.011+02:00

We've gone over and over it, but Kanye insists on calling it Mr. Grumpy's Motor Car. So be it. At least he spelled it correctly when I brought out the stencils. He and Kadar stenciled, I cut them out, and then they pasted it into their notebook.

The boys are big fans of lettering, so they tried out a new font this time around.

This is Kadar's title page.

His drawing of a convertible from one of the Draw Write Now books. Number 5 I think.

His copywork using the same font.

"Mr. Gumpy was going for a ride in his car."

Kanye's title page. When he finished, he said, "My J rocks!"

I don't even know where he heard that expression from, but I concur.

His drawing of Grumpy's convertible. He chose not to do copywork.

We talked about a weather words (tornado, hail, hurricane). We reviewed the water cycle and watched the Magic School Bus episode "Wet All Over." They also pulled out their Crayola markers and learned a few new colors like battery charged blue and orange circuit.

We took a drive and looked for some convertibles but didn't see anyway. Note to self: summertime is probably not a good time to look for people driving in convertibles.

Way too hot to drive without A/C. So we did the next best thing and printed out some pictures of different vehicles (convertible, tow truck, jeep, pickup truck, station wagon, and taxi).

We did a neat little activity that I found in the FIAR archives that taught them about friction and road safety. I put some wax paper down in three places. The first piece had nothing on it, the second piece had water on it, and the third piece had cooking oil on it. I also had frozen some water in a large bowl. The boys experimented racing their cars across each surface. Boys and cars--you really can't go wrong with that combination. They loved how their cars came to an abrupt standstill in the oil--it really showed the point of being stuck in the mud. Tomorrow, we should finish up with Mr. Grumpy. Sadly, I don't quite know how we're going to end the week yet. I feel like they've had a full week, but tomorrow is Friday, and we've only read for 4 days. I should probably just let it go, but that is so unlike me. I'll think on it and keep you posted.

Sketches

2010-08-14T02:37:00.005+02:00

Kalijah's new hobby is cartooning. I'm loving watching her find something that she's passionate about. She enjoys sketching people and is currently working on perfecting her skill using just a pen. The sketches below were drawn with a black crayon, but a couple of fine point pens were given to her along with other Beginning-of-the-Year school supplies. We shall see how her new sketches turn out.

I recently bought this resource which should keep her busy for a little while.

She already has this book and uses it quite regulary.

Jenny's Surprise Summer and Shells

2010-08-14T01:48:00.010+02:00

After reading Jenny's Surprise Summer and What Lives in a Shell?, the boys did a mini-unit study on seashells using the ideas from this blog.

Growing Up

2010-08-14T00:08:00.003+02:00

Earlier today, I dropped my kids off at VBS and went to the bookstore. While I browsed, I overheard a conversation coming from next to the magazine rack. Four 8 or 9yo girls (two of whom I recognized from Kalijah's Girl Scout troop) were pouring over a recent copy of some tween/teen magazine with Justin Bieber's picture on the cover. Each comment that I heard made me feel both sad and scared at the same time.

"Oh, he's sooo gorgeous! His eyes are making me melt." (Seriously?)

"Justin is hot but not as hot as Nick Jonas! Have you seen Nick's 6-pack!" (How do you even know what that is?)

"No, he doesn't have a 6-pack. He has an 8-pack!" (Um...really?)

One girl was literally kissing his picture in the magazine. Maybe if I had been witnessing 12 or 13 yo girls, I wouldn't have been so disheartened. Or maybe I would have. Who knows? But there's nothing like seeing this kind of behavior in girls my daughter's age that makes my blood boil. I don't know if this is the normal trend of the young girls' conversations, but to me, it felt strange and out of place. To make things worse, the father of the two girls that I recognized was standing about 5 feet away from them. Let's hope he was distracted and didn't hear anything. Surely, if he'd heard, he would have been bothered, right?

In my opinion, kids these days are growing up way too fast. Wow, I sound really old.

High School Musical Dance Camp

2010-08-14T00:06:00.001+02:00

Kalijah participated in a High School Musical Dance Camp this week where she was introduced to ballet, jazz, and musical theatre dance moves. I have a neat, little video of the recital, but a certain person doesn't want me to post it on the blog, so I'm respecting her wishes. It's really cute though. They all did a great job!

2010-2011 Plans

2010-07-30T21:49:00.014+02:00

I don't know how it happened, but somehow time is slipping by. This year, I'm teaching 4th grade and Kindergarten! Here's a list of my curriculum choices:

Kalijah will continue with Math-U-See Delta and start Life of Fred: Fractions in January.

She'll also be developing her writing skills using a Spectrum Writing workbook as her spine. Yes, it's a workbook, but she really needs step-by-step instructions.

Having graduated from Five in a Row, she's moving on to Volume 1 of Beyond Five in a Row with the following books:

Boxcar Children
Homer Price
Betsy Ross: Designer of Our Flag
Thomas Edison: Young Inventor

Kadar and Kanye will be continuing with Math-U-See Alpha and starting with some math games and activities that I found in Carol Barnier's The Big What Now Book of Learning Styles. I'm still reading through it, but so far, I like what I've read. She has great ideas for making learning fun for different kids.

The boys will also be continuing their phonics and copywork with Reading Made Easy and then transitioning to easy readers sooner rather than later.

So, those are our core curriculum choices. We will, of course, be reading great literature in the mornings ranging from fiction to biographies to Let's-Read-and-Find-Out science books. I also like to sample the selections from Ambleside and Sonlight reading lists. It looks like it will be a fun year...at least on paper.

Red Cross Swimming Lessons

2010-07-30T21:29:00.004+02:00

Every summer, the Navy interviews and hires 10-12 college students from the states to teach swimming lessons to the military kids here on the Naples base. My kids have truly benefitted from these lessons, and we've found the lifeguards to be quite successful at inspiring our two reluctant swimmers. The boys went from not wanting to get their faces wet to jumping in and gliding a few strides w/out assistance. Kalijah is continuing to do beautifully in Level 3 perfecting her strokes. Only 8 lessons left!

My Batman Makes a Valentine

2010-07-21T17:20:00.000+02:00

Asia

2010-07-20T11:14:00.006+02:00

Continuing with our summer school continent study, we read three FIAR books centered on the continent of Asia.

The boys take pride in being able to identify the flags of each country.

In other news, Kadar and Kanye have been plugging away with Reading Made Easy.

They both ask more copywork each day. That's definitely a first around here.

Bizziness

2010-07-07T21:56:00.010+02:00

I woke up this morning at 4:30. That would be a.m. Why? Well, Kiah had to be to work early because of an impending strike by the Italians. Apparently, the Italians that work on the base where he works are not pleased with their wages. So, they announced a couple of days ago that on this day, Wednesday, July 7, 2010, from 6am til 6pm they would perform a peaceful demonstration (standing in front of the front gate of the base with picket signs to prevent anyone from getting on or off the base) to proclaim their disdain. What does any of that have to do with me? Good question. Kiah was one of the three essential personnel required to be at work today. In a nutshell, he had to get there before they blocked the gate and didn't allow him to get on base. I sent him off to work at 5:30 with a huge bag full of food for lunch, snacks, and dinner because 12 hours is a loooong time. June Cleaver would be proud.

Too awake to go back to sleep and too tired to do anything productive, I surfed the net (facebook, blogs, email) for what seemed like 30 minutes but was really 2 hours. Oops.

I finally managed to force my body out of its comfortable position on the sofa and started on laundry--one of the banes of my existence. In my head, I am a gerbil, laundry is my wheel, and I can't ever seem to get off! Dirty dishes is another wheel, but I'll save that talk for another day. I'm not saying I'd want to live in a world where no one wears clothes, but, in this house, I might consider it.

Kanye was the first to wake up. He showered and then ate his breakfast in silence for a few minutes before announcing, "Nobody's talking to me!" As if on cue, Kalijah entered the kitchen and joined him for breakfast. What are sisters for?
After breakfast, the three of us did some housecleaning while Kadar (always the late sleeper) snored away. My two early risers kept stealing wistful glances past his room in between cleaning bedrooms and bathrooms, sweeping floors, and putting laundry away. At one point, Kalijah asked if she was being punished. "Um, no dear. You must have forgotten that we do this Every.Single.Day. Your brother will have his fair share of housework when he gets up. Don't worry about how much work he has to do in comparison to you."

Right around the time they finished up, Kadar rolled out of bed (Kalijah swears that he timed it) with his first words being, "Where's my breakfast?" Such a darling child he is. I repeated my mantra in my head, "Children are a blessing, children are a blessing, children are a blessing" until I believed it.
Kalijah worked on her math page for Delta. She finished the page correctly except for one problem. "The Washington Monument is 555 feet high. How many feet would you travel if you went all the way to the top and back down again?" Her answer? 110. "Sorry, Kalijah, dear, that's impossible." Her reply? "Oh, was I supposed to multiply? Or divide? I know I don't need to subtract." Deep breath. Living Math, particularly a curriculum called Math on the Level, was looking really good right then.

Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays are swimming lesson days, so we hustled to get to the pool. While getting the kids in the car, I noticed a lady near our apartment outside with her twin 2yo boys. I introduced myself, we chatted briefly about the joys and struggles of twins boys, and I assured her that it does get better. Directly after swimming, the boys had gymnastics class followed by 2 hours of Kids' Camp for Kalijah. Somewhere in between all of that madness, I found them some lunch.
While Kalijah was at Kids' Camp learning about internet safety and MS Publisher, the boys and I headed home for some summer FIAR. We are reading the books that take place in Europe this week--Mirette on the High Wire, Madeline, Ferdinand, The Glorious Flight, Hanna's Cold Winter, Papa Piccolo, The Clown of God, and Wee Gillis. They colored their map and flag of Italy. They also did a page of MUS Alpha for math.

After picking up Kalijah, we started read-aloud time. With my Jim Trelease book in hand, I asked the kids to choose between My Father's Dragon, The Chalk Box Kid, and Chocolate Fever, but they each chose a different book. Sooo, I read 2 chapters of each book. Even though they were all short chapters, I wonder how long I'll be able to keep that up.
I can't exactly say what the kids did after that because I took a nap. You can congratulate me on my awesome parenting skills later. It was one of those I-have-to-get-in-the-bed-right-now-or-I'll-fall-on-the-floor type naps, and I don't make any apologies for it. My kids are pretty predictable so I didn't fear for their safety. I'm pretty sure the boys listened to their Frog and Toad audio CD for the millionth time and Kalijah performed her daily countdown until 4pm for when she's allowed to have her 60 minutes of screentime (tv, video games, etc.).

Remember the strike with protesters blocking the gate and all of that? Well, I guess they got tired because Kiah came home 2 hours early...to a not-so-tidy house, unsupervised children, a sleeping wife, and (gasp!) no dinner! Sorry, June.

I scrambled to get dinner on the table and threw the movie Cars in the DVD player for entertainment.
We took Kadar and Kanye bike riding at the skate park while Kalijah went off to play soccer with her friends. While outside, Kiah made a comment to her about her shoes being untied.

8:00pm. Everyone's back inside now and Kiah noticed that Kalijah's shoes are still untied. Hmm...what's that about? He made her sit and tie her shoes while he watched. Unlike certain people who had the opportunity to take a 60-minute power nap, my husband had been up and running for 16 hours straight. I wisely chose to not be offended by his direct line of questioning ending with "Why doesn't she know how to tie her shoes? There's no reason why an eight-and-a-half-year-old girl doesn't know how to tie her shoes!" (Sigh) To my credit, she did learn how to tie her shoes prompty at the age of five. But apparently, she has gotten into the habit of pulling her already tied shoes on and off w/out having to retie them each time, and her skills are a bit rusty. Okay. Problem solved. He made her practice the skill over and over until she could tie them with her eyes closed (literally).
Next up were baths, stories, and bedtime. I read Ferdinand while the boys poured over their atlas. They really enjoyed looking at the flags of each country.
Finally it was our bedtime. We watched a few episodes of The Office and 30Rock on Hulu and dozed off. The day is over.

Word Games

2010-07-04T16:19:00.000+02:00

Our latest lunchtime happenings involve a book I picked up from the bookstore called Bananagrams! For Kids. It is the paper and pencil version of the infamous Bananagrams game. I decided to take a temporary break from the normal read-aloud @ lunchtime deal because reading aloud when it's warm outside seems to leave my kids sedentary and never desiring to do anything productive afterwards. So I what I do now is pull out the big dry-erase board and markers and copy the word puzzles from the book. Naturally, Kalijah is answering most of them, but the boys have managed to squeeze out a few correct answers.

Australia

2010-06-28T22:25:00.012+02:00

During "summer school," we're spending a couple of weeks in the Land Down Under. Our main two books will be Katy-No-Pocket and The Pumpkin Runner, and we're using several sources including my trusty Five in a Row Volume IV manual, The Old Schoolhouse's Download n Go ExpeditionAustralia, and Homeschool Share for lesson plans.

France and Spain--Days 3, 4 and 5

2010-06-23T18:40:00.016+02:00

Waiting to catch the bus to the beach in Toulon, France

We ate lunch at a restaurant 5 yards from where I was standing.
The streets of Barcelona

Columbus Monument

Palma de Mallorca, Spain

It was too cold to get completely in the water, but the kids had fun anyway.

Day Two--The Birthplace of Christopher Columbus

2010-06-23T17:59:00.009+02:00

Genoa's architecture reminded me a lot of Naples.

One of the highlights of this port visit was touring a wooden pirate ship.
Complete with cannons

Look at Kiah in complete awe.

He marveled at the awesomeness of a wooden structure that had stood the test of time.

Until he found out that it was constructed in 1984.

Oh well. So much for that.

A Phenomenal Movie

2010-06-23T08:53:00.004+02:00

I took the kids to see The Karate Kid last Friday. Great feel-good movie that I'll be adding to my collection when it comes out on DVD. It's that good.

Mediterranean Cruise Day One

2010-06-23T08:37:00.003+02:00

On June 13th, we ventured out on our first family cruise. Destinations?

Genoa, Italy
Toulon, France
Barcelona, Spain
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Sardinia, Italy
Rome, Italy

The first thing we did when we got on board was eat. As if there wouldn't be plenty more opportunities to do that.

Kanye's evil grin as he enjoys his frozen yogurt

We walked up, down, and around the ship--all 14 decks!

A definite priority was checking out

the fitness center. We would spend a lot of time in here.

The pool deck

Kalijah's interesting poses
I think she wants to take up karate.
Or rapping.
Rock climbing wall
Checking out the ocean view.

Johnny Rockets! I have to admit that this restaurant is one of the main reasons why we chose Royal Caribbean over some the others. Love their milkshakes!

Full-size basketball court

Some of the other cool features on the ship:

ice-skating rink
in-line skating
Portofino Italian restaurant
Ben & Jerry's ice cream
9-hole miniature golf
day spa

So that was Day One. Eating. Walking around. Settling in. Unpacking. Eating again. Exercising. Relaxing.

How They Pass the Time

2010-06-23T07:47:00.004+02:00

Brick by Brick

2010-06-23T07:32:00.006+02:00

(I'm not really wordy these days so forgive my brevity.)

Last weekend, we worked on a family project for 3-4 hours.

The finished product!
Complete with a working garage! Now all it needs is a car.
Its "home" on top of our entertainment center.

Frog and Toad Together

2010-06-23T07:20:00.002+02:00

This week, the boys and I are reading a chapter of Frog and Toad Together a day. Kadar and Kanye are in a Frog and Toad phase right now so I decided to capitalize on that. They have memorized all of the books so I figured it was time to work on their comprehension of the events. I bought the Progeny Press study guide for additional discussion questions and activities . It has definitely been the highlight of their morning! I plan to use more of Progeny Press in the future.

Summer School

2010-06-19T00:11:00.010+02:00

Last week, the boys and I spent some time reading Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say and we were able to cover quite a bit:

They labeled all of the continents and oceans on a world map.
They labeled Japan and California on the map.
They learned about the different landscapes of deserts, mountains, cities, and farms.
They made a family tree.
They learned new vocabulary--astonish, bewilder, exchange, and enormous.
They made an origami craft.

Here's some of their work from the Fold n' Learn.

I gave them popsicle sticks and they spelled out the title of the book.

It was a fun and relaxing week! The next book is The Pumpkin Runner!

The Better to See You With, My Dear

2010-06-15T13:24:00.004+02:00

Kadar went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago because he had some brown spots in his eyes that I was concerned about. It turns out that those brown dots were just small pools of extra melanin that we don't have any control over. Actually, the only treatment is chemotherapy. And that's not happening. While we were there, the optometrist tested his vision and recognized that while he has 20/20 vision in his left eye, his right eye was closer to 20/40. Nothing major, but the doctor thinks that a couple of months in glasses will strengthen the right eye. Plain glass is inside the left side of the frame. We went over to 39DollarsGlasses.com and were glad to not have to invest a lot of money into what looks to be a short-lived pair of glasses.

At least now, people will be able to tell he and his brother apart.

The End of Third Grade

2010-06-04T16:32:00.003+02:00

Congratulations Kalijah!!

PacMan Google

2010-05-21T21:32:00.002+02:00

Just wanted to say that the Google page is hot fire today. That's all.

What Kind of Homeschool Do I Have?

2010-05-20T21:55:00.001+02:00

I have never fit anyone's mold. I suppose that it is why our homeschool is named Out of the Box Academy. So, 6 years ago, when I first started researching the different homeschooling methods (classical, traditional, Charlotte Mason, etc.), it didn't surprise me that none of them sounded "just right" for me and mine. Maybe I'm just a rebel. Or an indecisive scatterbrain. Who knows? I go through phases where I am all about unit studies and open-ended learning projects. Phases where I am all about gentle learning in small bits complete with nature walks and art appreciation. Phases where I am less structured and give my kids time to develop their natural talents and interests.

As I think about the next school year, I've written down the principles that I like the most from each of my favorite 3 methods and adapted them to our household.

Thomas Jefferson:

Inspire, Not Require - The key principle here is that not much learning will take place if the child isn't motivated. I can "assign" Kalijah five pages in a history book and get her to comply, but when I leave history books lying around, she will devour them on her own and retain the info without coersion. I'm sure that there is some psychological aspect at play here because when kids feel like they have some control of their learning, they tend to produce more. My focus has to be about them loving learning instead of how many facts can be crammed into their heads.

You, Not Them - Wow! This was a challenging one to accept. I have to model the behavior that I want my kids to emulate. I have to read, draw, and show discipline and work ethic in my everyday projects if I want them to do the same.

Unit Studies

Learning together through family projects means that everyone is involved.

Studying one topic often leads to learning about another topic in a very natural, unpressured way.

Charlotte Mason

Gentle learning through short lessons are more effective than long and drawn-out "drill and kill" sessions.

Focusing on nature teaches children to observe the beauty around them.

What all three methods have in common is they involved reading and digesting really great books. And I love great books. They also all the concept that children learn through play. Each day for the past several weeks, I have added a 60-minute time period into our day where they can learn about whatever they choose as long it doesn't involve video games or television. Kalijah has primarily bounced between drawing and reading The Wizard of Oz series on literature.org. The boys have chosen to listen to Frog and Toad audio cds extensively and tinker with their train and/or marble run sets.

In other news, Kalijah wanted to share these pictures. When I first brought these Pattern Play blocks home, she pretended to be too old for them, but after a few days, she changed her mind.

I think everyone loves blocks!

Book Discussion #1

2010-05-20T07:46:00.003+02:00

I'm great for starting things and not finishing them, but this is one that thing that I would love to continue. Since we are finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I thought that we'd have a little book discussion to wrap up. Kind of like a book club for two. Here are some of the questions that I threw out there:

How does Grandpa Joe differ from the other children's fathers?
Describe Willy Wonka's character. Do you think that he's a good and caring person or a selfish and aloof one?
Which of the obnoxious children did you dislike the most and why?
Do you think that the children were symbols of bad behavior? Which ones?

For the last question, Kalijah deduced that a symbol that described the four children was greed. Augustus Gloop - greedy for food, Veruca Salt - greedy for things, Violet Bureaugarde - greedy for gum, and Mike Teavee - greedy for television.

It was an interesting discussion!

TOS Download n Go Pizza Party

2010-05-20T01:40:00.002+02:00

Kalijah just finished up her first Download n Go unit study by The Old Schoolhouse. She loved that she could work independently. She learned how pizza is made, where it originated (here in Naples of course!), facts about some famous Italians (Michelangelo, DaVinci, Galileo, Marco Polo, and Vivaldi), and the location of four Italian cities (Pisa, Naples, Rome, and Venice). Here she is watching the internet links with her brothers who tried to tag along. Don't they look so enthused? ;)

To start and end the unit, we made homemade pizza. Turkey pepperoni and olives for Kadar and Kanye and pineapple for Kalijah.

All in all, she enjoyed the unit and has plans to do a few more this summer.

Was Today a Bust?

2010-05-19T17:24:00.006+02:00

After worship on most mornings, we start off with a read-aloud. It's usually my favorite part of the day. I read to the kids from a chapter book while they draw or play with blocks. Our book this morning was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and because we were near the end of the book, I read the last 4 chapters instead of my standard 1. Why oh why did I do that?

Before I continue, let me just say that my daughter loooves books. In her spare time, she is a-l-w-a-y-s reading. Reading at the breakfast table, reading while watching a movie, reading while listening to music...I don't know how she manages to multi-task like that, but she finds a way. She especially likes for me to read aloud. And she never wants me to stop. I don't yet know if it's because she is really wrapped up in the stories that I read or that she doesn't want to begin her math and handwriting assignments.

Sooo, suffice it to say that after storytime, she was not in the "mood" to do much division or cursive work. What started off as such a great, warm-fuzzy filled morning quickly turned, um...sour. I ended up sending her and her brothers outside to play so that I could regroup.

I think I may rethink the whole storytime first thing. Or see if she can do her math and language arts assignments while I read. That would be true multi-tasking. Adapt, improvise, and overcome! Thank goodness tomorrow is a new day!