A New Reader

Friday was a momentous day in our home! After practicing his phonics sounds, Luke asked me to quiz him on how to spell words like I do with Elijah. So we started out with CAT, HAD, PEN, SUN, BUS, etc. and with some help making each letter sound, Luke did a fabulous job! Once we were on a roll, Elijah joined in to help teach Luke by writing words on our white board and reviewing more phonics sounds. Then, Luke read his first book!!! We have the first set of BOB Books which are great phonetic readers. I can't describe how proud Luke was of his accomplishment. He read and re-read the first two books and now has them memorized. I am amazed at how much Luke picks up by participating with Elijah during our school day. It's wonderful to see the two of them helping and encouraging one another. Way to go, Luke!

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons

I came across these books by Amy Krouse Rosenthal in my local library. They are wonderful for teaching children the meaning of character traits in a way they can easily relate. These books are on my wish list for my boys. They'd make really great gifts for others as well.

The first book Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons teaches traits through the activity of making and eating cookies. Here are a few of my favorites:

"COOPERATE means, How about you add the chips while I stir?

PROUD means, My chin is high, and I sure do like the way my cookies turned out.

MODEST means you don't run around telling everyone you make the best cookies, even if
you know it to be true.

RESPECT means offering the very first cookie to your grandmother.

PESSIMISTIC means, How awful, how absolutely dreadful - I only have half my
cookie left.

OPTIMISTIC means, This is great - I still have half my cookie left.

REGRET means, I really wish I didn't eat so many cookies."


Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons just came into publication this fall and explains character traits in the same simple-to-understand style.

"DISAPPOINTED means, I tried to make it look like a star, but it didn't turn out at all the
way I expected.

APPRECIATIVE means, Thank you so so much for taking the time to bake with me.

CHARITABLE means setting a big batch aside to give to people who maybe don't have any
cookies at all.

MODERATION means at the party not having twenty cookies, and not having zero cookies,
but having just enough cookies.

FRUSTRATED means, I can't believe we burned them again!

PERSEVERANCE means, We tried and tried and tried, and we finally made the perfect
not-burned batch.

THOUGHTFUL means, Let's give some to our neighbor!"

Tchaikovsky

This month, I quickly switched gears for our composer study to learn about Tchaikovsky instead of Bach. Why??? FREE mini concert, that's why!!! Our local children's museum was hosting groups from the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and members of the Rochester City Ballet to celebrate the upcoming performances of The Nutcracker. We listened to the String Quartet and the Brass Quintet play selections from the ballet. The musicians spent time talking about their instruments and story behind the ballet that related to the music they were performing. I was impressed with the musician's interest in the children and their willingness to explain in simple words about the music. For only having two interactions with the RPO (both in the past two months) I am very impressed.

It was neat to see the boys bopping their heads and "tum-ta-ta-ta-tum-tuming" with the music. In the week prior to the concert, we read The Nutcracker story and listened the music, so they were familiar with it before attending. While listening the first time, during a lively section, the boys battled with their swords and guns. I was thankful they sat politely during the concert.


Of course, some time was spent enjoying other activities around the museum, too. Although, the boys told their dad that it wasn't much fun because there were too many people visiting on Veteran's Day. We usually visit the mostly empty museum in the afternoon while everyone else is still in school and the afternoon nappers have gone home - he, he!

Field Trip Adventures

We are members of two homeschool support groups in our area. One has over 120 families and has been around for many years. The other has just started this past year with only a handful of families. We've enjoyed two field trips with Armor LEAH this fall and look forward to many more. We're getting to know some great families that live very near to us.


Our first trip was to McPherson Orchards to learn about the process of apple cider making.

The apples get washed then wait to be taken up the elevator to be ground into mush.

Collecting the apple mush on trays lined with cloth. When the stack of trays gets high enough, they move the whole stack under a hydraulic arm to squeeze out the liquid. The juice then goes through a "sterilization" process and on to the holding tank.

Waiting outside for the apple mush to be thrown off the trays to clear them for the next batch of mush.

Flying apple mush! We giggled every time it came flying out of the barn.

Wishing they were throwing the apple mush!

The same day, we headed down the road to Coyle's Pumpkin Ranch to learn about pumpkins and enjoy some playtime.

The far building houses the animals - goats, turkeys, a rabbit and a cow. Luke loved feeding the goats. The building closest held many varieties of pumpkins, gourds and corn.

Jumping on the hay bales was a close favorite to running around the corn maze with the other kids. Fortunately there was only one main path, so getting lost was a near impossibility. The moms were able to chat outside the maze while the kids played.

Petting the soft bunny rabbit. Isaac especially loved the rabbit...but he loves anything super soft.

Asking Mrs. Coyle about the "popcorn" ears of corn. We haven't tried ours yet, but it's ready and waiting.

Last week on Elijah's birthday, we visited the Chili Fire Dept. to learn about fire safety and check out the trucks and equipment.

Little boys in their glory...Luke used to say that he wanted to be a "fire truck" when he grew up. He, he!

Watching a fireman putting on each piece of his gear. He stressed that even though he looked and sounded strange in all his gear that the children were not to be afraid if there was an emergency. I was impressed with his ability to speak at the children's level and make them feel comfortable.

Hanging out in a fire truck with a real fireman!

Spelled to Order

I'm always on the look out for new manipulatives to use with the boys and even though I have several letter type manipulatives, I couldn't pass up these inexpensive new "toys." I found them at the Dollar General for $1 per package. Each package contains 31 magnetic letters which includes an extra set of vowels. I appreciate that the vowels are distinguished by their red color making it easier for my 4 year old to find as he is learning short vowel sounds. I purchased 5 sets to have plenty of letters to share. My mancubs helped me punch out the letters from the sheets and immediately began playing.



After spelling his name, Luke ran over the the fridge and grabbed a few "foods" from our Vtech ABC Food Fun fridge magnet set. He set to work spelling some words.


Elijah, on the other hand, chose his words a little more carefully, being the hungry and growing boy that he is recently. After spelling his words, he asked me to come over and see what he wanted for breakfast. Easy enough to oblige!

These letters appear to be another inexpensive learning tool that will find many hours of enjoyment in our home.

School Day Sampler

Here's a glimpse at part of our school day and schedule minus lots of pictures. I would like to do a blog post on "A Day In The Life..." at some point, but this post is really just about schooling my mancubs.

8:15AM - 8:45AM: Breakfast and Bible time. We're reading through Exodus now - we recently started there because we are learning about Egypt (the ancient world) in our history class using The Story of the World materials. We are memorizing the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20. Yummm...made from scratch pancakes - I've got a great recipe if you need one - and NYS maple syrup! We finished the bottle and it's a sad day other than the fact that I don't have that massive bottle clogging up my fridge space. But back to school...

9:00AM: Everyone is dressed, fed and ready to begin. I give Elijah a run down of what we need to accomplish that day and he chooses the first subject. See my lesson planner (3 ring binder) leaning against the wall behind Eli's chair. That is it's permanent home. On this day, I choose Spelling first and Luke wanted to work on his handwriting.

9:15AM: Practicing those spelling words before the test tomorrow. I like to use manipulatives with the boys to break up the monotony of always writing or using flashcards, etc. Old metal cookie sheets serve as our magnetic boards.

9:30AM: Still playing with the letters. Eli works on spelling words, Luke spells his name, Isaac throws them.

9:45AM - 10:00AM: Break, do morning chores (gathering garbage and dirty laundry), play Legos while mama sorts and starts a load of laundry.

10:00AM - 10:30AM: Elijah's first choice almost 100% of the time - Math - we're learning calendar facts, weather graphing, doubles addition, writing number sentences, more and some more stories, getting tired of counting to 100...so we skip that most days!

10:30AM - 10:40AM: Practicing our other Bible memory verses for Christian Education at church. Elijah is so blessed to have his mama and daddy as school teachers and CE teachers...at least we can say for sure what he is learning!!! We're working on Romans 3:23-24.

10:40AM - 11:00AM: Break to be wild and crazy while mama does something...probably laundry...

11:00AM - 11:30AM: Phonics lesson using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, Grammar lesson using First Language Lessons.

11:30AM - 12:00AM: Mom disappears on account of the laundry monster while the mancubs ascend to the second floor to build forts in their bunk beds and pretend there is a fire everywhere but on their beds...yes, there is loud shrieking and screaming, cries for "HELP!" and warnings of "FIRE" that can be heard all the way down in the basement. I'm praying the neighbors don't hear us...

12:00PM: TV time...A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and The Mayflower Voyagers (another Charlie Brown story) have been the recent favorites.

12:45 - 1:15PM: Lunch consisting of yummy leftover pasta with basil pesto and veggies...for mama...while the mancubs plead for something "better." Okay, flour tortillas with peanut butter and raisins, peas, more raisins and milk. Sweet smiles asking to have a "picnic lunch" as we like to call it meaning that I lay a blanket on the living room floor so they can watch TV while they eat. I probably do it more than I should. More TV...A Charlie Brown Christmas. Can you tell we just bought two new movies?

1:15PM - 2:15PM: I can't remember...I'm amazed that I remember this much so far...definitely more playing and probably folding laundry now on my bed. I've found that if I fold it on my bed, it doesn't get "stuck" in laundry baskets lining the walls of my room to be picked through as needed. I can't go to sleep with piles of clothes on my bed forcing me to take care of them.

2:15PM - 4:45PM: Isaac goes for his nap

2:30PM - 3:30PM: Science, our last subject for the day loosely following Christian Kids Explore Biology. We're studying birds right now and on this day, owls. We read lots of non-fiction books borrowed from our awesome library system. The boys fill out an animal fact sheet for each animal we learn about and then draw a picture of that animal. Facts might include - Does it fly? Does it have a backbone? What does it eat? Is it endangered? These questions and idea for the fact sheet were pulled from a book I reference frequently, The Well Trained Mind. In addition to our animal study this day, we were able to include our "artist of the month" study as well. John James Audubon is well known for his life like animal drawings, especially of birds, so he was an obvious choice for this month's artist.

3:30PM: Done with school stuff for today until Daddy comes home...so the boys and I each do our own thing for a while...dinner prep, sitting around for a few minutes, checking emails, playing, etc.

7:00PM - 7:20PM: Elijah does his independent reading time with Daddy looking over his shoulder to help with harder words...and to make sure he is really reading and not just guessing the story line based on the pictures...

7:30PM: Family read aloud time...we're reading Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski. I like that I can make up a southern accent to read it, Luke just loves strawberries, Isaac pays attention when I show a picture and Elijah keeps asking why they talk that way...it's a little slow go with this one, but we press on.

11:00PM: Mama finally hits the sack knowing that tomorrow will be just as busy yet content and confident there isn't any other alternative as beneficial and rewarding for our family.

Pattern Blocks

Elijah is learning new shape names with wooden pattern blocks (trapezoid, parallelogram, hexagon). The boys love to play with these manipulatives using a pattern block activity book. The books contain everyday, well-known black and white pictures of items (toothbrush, dog, gift, candle, etc) with the outlines of each block to be used to complete the picture. Advanced pages allow you to figure out which pattern blocks to use without the outline clues.

Do you know your shapes???

Elijah creating a "free-form" design...this is really his favorite way to play.


Chaos ensues in the living room during Math on this day...and on most days!

Little Pilgrim's Progress

Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen L. Taylor

We just finished reading this children's version of the classic John Bunyan allegory, Pilgrim's Progress. Taylor has simplified some of the vocabulary and ideas behind the allegory but still maintains a richness of words and imagination. Little Christian is a boy who takes a journey from his burden [of sin] to ultimate peace and rest the Celestial City with the Prince [Jesus]. He meets a variety of characters along the way, Sloth, Obstinate, Ignorance, servants of the Wicked Prince [Satan] who entice him to leave the Way of the King for an easier journey. But Little Christian also meets other pilgrims along their journey as well, Evangelist, Faithful, Hopeful, Discretion who encourage him to stay on the Way of the King.

My boys LOVED this book - soldiers, danger, battles, armor and ultimate victory. There were mornings when the first request was for reading about Little Christian and begging for "just one more chapter...please!" at bedtime. It has been an awesome avenue for talking our relationships with Jesus or the need for one. Now we sometimes refer back to "...remember when Little Christian faced...?" I cried at the end when Little Christian sees his mother in the Celestial City for the first time. He had been asking exactly when he was going to see his mother throughout the entire story and that moment was so emotional for me! (I think especially about my Grandpa Givens...)

As a note of caution, there are situations in the story where characters are beaten, harassed and one even dies because of what he believes. I used these situations to talk about how Jesus died on the cross when he didn't deserve to. But He did it because He loved us so much, He was willing to die in our place to take our sins from us. The character in the story who dies loved the Prince [Jesus] so much that he was willing to give up his life for him.

I highly recommend this book! I usually would stick with the original, unabridged versions of books, but for my boys, aged 2-5, this was perfect! Even Isaac sat for most of reading time!!! As as added bonus, the story of Christiana, Little Christian's friend from the city of Destruction, is included as part two of this book. We haven't read that one yet, but plan to in the future.

Day by Day a Week Goes Round

Day by Day a Week Goes Round by Carol Diggory Shields

I found this sweet book through my library system and love the catchy, rhyming verses for learning the days of the week. The author also has another book called Month by Month a Year Goes Round following the same format.

At the beginning of each of these books there is a poem I thought would be fun for memorization. Elijah is working on it right now and has it almost perfected. We're calling it "Day by Day" because there is no official title so we used the book name as the poem name.

"The sun comes up, the moon goes down,

By tick and tock a day goes round.

The days go dancing, one by one,

When seven pass, a week is done.

The moon is counting in the sky,

As week by week a month goes by.

Month by month the seasons swing,

Summer, autumn, winter, spring.

The moon comes up, the sun goes down,

And month by month a year goes round."

Big Brother Reads

Elijah has gotten to a point where he can sit with his brothers and read stories to them. We attempt to have independent reading time for 20 minutes everyday as well as reading picture books, supplemental school reading (mostly for history and science), and family read alouds. But I think Isaac especially loves it when Elijah reads to him.

Elijah reading "This Train" to Isaac.

Franklin stories are some of Luke's favorites.

Cuneiform Tablets

We are using The Story of the World for our History studies this year. It presents a chronological study of history in four volumes. We are really enjoying this curriculum for it's interactive nature, the way it links to our studies of people in Bible times (currently reading through Exodus), the use of supplemental reading and the great activity suggestions for each chapter. I love that we read about a topic then Elijah narrates back to me about what he remembers. Of course, I help him by asking questions to discover what he's retained. Then we (I write for now) write a few sentences about the important facts of our study for that day. Elijah usually draws a picture depicting the narration we've just written. Currently, we are learning about the Egyptians and Sumerians and their discoveries of the first forms of writing, hieroglyphics and cuneiform. One of the suggested activities was to make our own cuneiform tablets.

Daddy helping Elijah in forming his name and initials on his clay tablet.

The top row spells "ELIJAH" and the bottom row spell "EMF."

Luke usually participates in all our history studies and was very excited to make his tablet...though I ended up creating his name and initials for him.

The top row spells "LUKE" and the bottom row spells "LDF."

In case you've ever wondered what Isaac does when I am teaching...he loves to join in at times and I highly encourage it! Often he plays with blocks, puzzles or cars on the floor nearby or colors pictures or scrounges in the cabinets for something to eat...Today though, he definitely wanted to join in on the fun. He loves playdough and daddy's screwdrivers.

It looks like a cookie...sort of!

RPO OrKidstra Concert

Elijah, Luke and I went to an OrKidstra concert performed by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra this past Sunday. This series of concerts is geared for ages 3-9. It was phenomenal!

Prior to the concert there was an activity time where we were able to participate in several workshops...creating our own composition then having the RPO pianist play it for us, violin and cello petting zoo where Eli got to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" with the help of a Hochstein music student and circle time playing with small percussion instruments, parachutes and scarves. Much to my boys dismay and at the same time pleasure that I didn't make them participate, there was also a ballet class...they peeked in the door and immediately asked to go to another activity. Too many tu-tus!

Once the concert started, the conductor was so adept at explaining the various styles of music, engaging the children in question and answers, and making it fun! It was an interactive, noisy, relaxed, superb concert. We arrived early enough to secure front row center balcony seats for the best view. I loved seeing Elijah and Luke leaning at the edge of the wall caught up in the music. The best part was Eli pretending to be and mimicing the conductor. Arms flailing with crisp, although late cut-offs.


The music selections were from Copeland, Pachelbel, Gershwin, Stravinsky, Piazolla and Bartok. My favorites were from Aaron Copeland, while the boys both loved the Stravinsky because "it was loud and sounded like a lion!"
We will definitely attend the remaining three concerts!

Van Gogh's Sunflowers

As I mentioned in a previous post, I purchased Discovering Great Artists to use this year with the boys. There are so many neat projects to choose from. Seeing this particular project completed by another homeschool family sold me on the book, so I chose to do it first.

Here are our paint color concoctions...tempera paint mixed with flour for a thicker consistency

It was such a gloriously sunny day, we moved class outside under the shade of our trees.

Elijah's interpretation

Luke strayed from the intended painting idea...but I did tell him that since he was the artist, he could do it any way he wanted.

"See mama moe pait...I do it, mama...see...I pait wed...moe wed...moe wed, mama..." He sat for atleast 1/2 hr. painting with us. Impressive!

Mama painted, too...I didn't want to miss out on the fun!

All in all, we spent over 2 hours outside painting over 20 pictures. The boys loved it! I had to make them stop in order to finish other school work for the day. Can't wait to tackle the next project!

Books! Books! Books!

I love buying books for my boys. I have a long list of books I'd like to purchase from a variety of subjects...but this shopping spree was an effort to help us with our study of Fine Arts.

For Art this year, I am using How to Teach Art to Children published by Evan-Moor. The first few lessons have been about Line - recognizing and drawing vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines in varying widths thick, thin and dotted. After each lesson, we've looked around our house to find the different lines and follow that up by looking at examples of artwork through our borrowed library books Museum ABC, Museum Shapes and Museum 123 (all published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art). I love these books because they are appropriate for ANY age - everyone in our family can look at these books and come away a little more knowledgeable. They were number one on my shopping list and I'm sure the other patrons of the library will be thankful that I'm not holding those copies hostage any longer.

Can You Find It? is a search and find book using art work. Elijah and Luke love these types of books, so that was a extra purchase. It's turn out to be a treasure as well.

I am planning to study a different artist each month. I found Discovering Great Artists many months back, but wasn't sure about it. Then I happened upon a blogging mom who is using it with her little ones and I loved the projects her children were doing. Check out this Van Gogh project that finally sold me. Maybe it's just because I love sunflowers...

The rest of the stack is for Music. Both Elijah and Luke will be taking piano lesson together with Miss June. They will focus on the piano as the main instrument, but will try a variety of rhythm instruments and music "play." I am hoping to teach them about the different sections of the orchestra and listen to a variety of classical musicians. Again, I've borrowed these Classical Kids CDs from our library and love them. We occasionally watch Little Einsteins on TV and the first time I put in one of the new CDs, Elijah said, "Hey, I like this music...it's from Little Einsteins!" He then proceeded to "fly" in his rocket around the house, joined within seconds by his brothers, humming along with the music.

This treasures below are a stack of well loved books I picked at my local library sale. My favorite of the bunch is Jamberry. I love the rollicking flow of the words about a little boy and a bear picking berries for jam...

"One berry

Two berry

Pick me a blueberry...

Trainberry

Trackberry

Clickety-clackberry...

Raspberry

Jazzberry

Razzamatazzberry

Berryband

Merryband

Jamming in Berryland..."

Of course, you can't beat classics like Madeline and Babar, too! My only problem now...my only problem always is...I NEED MORE BOOK SHELVES!