Half-baked Homeschool

I haven't posted in about three weeks, including wrap-ups. With dh home and looking for a job, my ability to pop onto the computer has been reduced, and I've fallen behind with enough other things that I just didn't manage it.

As it happens, I popped over to Carol's blog when I sat down here, and her post included a self-admonishing comment about neglecting her blog. It applies here, too. Except that her blog has us hanging on waiting for more Scriptural insights and applications, hints for good reads, and lots of witty commentary. Here, you might just be hanging on to see what we made out of a paper plate last week.

I'm not even sure I can successfully write a wrap-up for three weeks; it will require me to remember stuff or look at our pictures. Apparently, I didn't take any pictures, so I'll have to rely on my brain. Don't expect much.

Our BIBLE time has left much to be desired lately, and I think it comes from trying to do too much. Hence, I do nothing. I need to spend the vacation week that's coming up mulling this over.

HISTORY actually lends itself well to a 3-week summary right now, as we just finished two weeks on the American Revolution and one week on the U.S. Constitution. It was a great unit, and offers so many book options that I can't possibly list them all. Of course, we read Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride," and began listening to the audiobook, Johnny Tremain. In the "not-so-classic" category, I allowed the kids to spend time watching School House Rock and PBS's Liberty's Kids (Liberty's Kids is available for instant play through Netflix.) I learned the preamble from School House Rock, and I know I'm not the only one.

Bearclaw has finished his LITERATURE novel, The Sign of the Beaver, last week. This was followed by both boys spending several days making their own bows and arrows. Unfortunately, I could not provide the "bear fat" requested by Bearclaw to treat the wood; they were forced to settle for Crisco. Anyone have a bear fat source?

Shortbread and I have been enjoying reading some or our favorite winter books before the warm weather gets here. He still loves A Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, and I have a wonderfully illustrated version of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. We've also supplemented his phonics/handwriting by focusing on books that include words starting with B or R in the titles. The Runaway Bunny was the most perfect fit.

Third grade WRITING, as directed by our hybrid school, continues to impress me; Bearclaw can organize a 3-point paragraph with relative ease. The last assignment, though, was a descriptive paragraph; nine year-olds are really drawn to words like good and nice, so that one took a few, um, suggestions.

Both GRAMMAR programs that Bearclaw is using (the hybrid program we're in uses Shurley English AND Easy Grammar) are both focused on prepositions right now. He can even name/sing them all. I certainly can't. Of course, I don't really feel as if memorizing them is vital, but the grammar programs disagree. Shortbread has been singing the Shurley English jingles with us. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know all the prepositions yet, though, so he and I are in the same boat.

The boys' handwriting work is coming along. Shortbread is a lefty, but he is doing pretty well with avoiding the "left-handed hook" that his mama uses. Bearclaw's cursive is progressing, too, but his printing has been getting sloppier lately. I think he's rushing; maybe I'll post about this...

Bearclaw has just completed the last section in Singpore Math 2B. The unit covered geometry, which is apparently doesn't come naturally for him or me. Give us four triangles and ask us to make them into a variety of given shapes and watch us sit there. Next week we'll review the entire MATH book. I'm sort of dreading it, as I don't think I've been nearly diligent enough with math this year. Our hybrid school has pulled my focus entirely onto humanities, and I think it's showing.

On the other hand, Shortbread seems to be our natural math guy. We just switched to Singapore Math for him, and we've flown through the first four units. His biggest challenge is making his 2s and 3s go the right direction.

SCIENCE continues to be a favorite for everyone. We got together a couple of times with our friends to work on Real Science 4 Kids over these few weeks. The last chapter was on chemical reactions. It was messy, with lots of baking soda and vinegar, and the kids loved it.

We're plugging along in Spelling Workout C and Wordly Wise 3000/Book 3.

Other highlights included bonding with our new dog, Charlie and working on a new schedule (which I'll share at some point).

To check out some other, more regular wrap-ups, pop over to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

As images of quiet waiting drift through my head, frequently accompanied by flashes of silent snow falling, I realize (once again) that my image will not match my reality. The snow part should be my first clue - we're in Georgia. The boys apparently do not entertain thoughts of stillness, and neither do the coordinators of their various activities. So we will wait with somewhat noisy excitement instead.

Part of that excitement is fed by the presence of my husband's parents, who arrive every year on during the first week of December to spend Christmas with us. They live in upstate New York, so we only see them a couple of times a year - I don't blame the children for being excited about that. We just love having them here.

I finally broke down and bought a new advent wreath this year. In years past, I've thrown together a homemade version using a window wreath, a plate, and some candles. I am not crafty and the wreath was evidence. Mercifully, it caught on fire during last year's Christmas Eve party. I'll be using long-burning candles with the new one. The children love to eat by it's light each night while we read an advent book that I've seen on homeschool recommendation lists for years: Jotham's Journey.

The book offers a reading for each night of Advent, and then a Scripture reading and summary that tie the chapter into some greater spiritual truth. It's quite an exciting story and might even be too intense for some little ones, but the boys are loving it and begging for one more chapter each night. (But then we'd be off schedule, we explain...)

In between the visiting, Advent observing, decorating, baking, birthday partying, choir practicing, etc., we have had to make time for school. This may be a greater struggle for me than for the boys, but we're managing.

The past week's unit in Biblioplan covered Persia and the Ottoman Turks. Because we're studying the "early modern" period this year, which covers early American history, Biblioplan includes the study of important individuals in American history in the units focusing on the history of other countries. This week we talked about Daniel Boone, and Bearclaw is enjoying Daniel Boone, Boy Hunter.

He also completed the novel A Lion To Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla for his literature class. As a follow-up assignment, the student's were to make a time capsule representing one of the main characters in the book. Bearclaw chose Jemmy and turned in his project on Wednesday.

Speaking of reading, Shortbread read his first early-reader book!! He was so happy with himself, and I'm really looking forward to all of the wonderful books he's going to be able to enjoy reading soon.

In his kindergarten class, they focus mainly on language skills, and he's doing very well. If anything he's a little bored (or maybe I am), because some of the activities we're asked to do at home seem unessesary. Still, because he's picking up reading without any tears or arguments, I'm keeping an open mind about the effectiveness of some of the lessons.

Bearclaw's language skills are improving, and he's mastered quite a number of grammar concepts. His spelling grade is excellent, but I'm working to get him to be more careful when doing his work, so that the progress he's made in spelling will be reflected in his writing. As for vocabulary - he's doing well, but the jury is still out on Wordly Wise for me.

With all of the focus we're putting on humanities, in order to complete the assignments from our hybrid school, I've neglected math somewhat. Bearclaw is actually moving along in his Sinapore workbook (he's working on fractions), but he's forgotten some of his mutiplication tables, so I need to do a better job with daily drills. I'm hardly working on math at all with Shortbread. It's not him; it's me - I think I'm tired of the curriculum and how it's structured. It may be time to move from Shiller to Singapore for him.

Our two-family science co-op hasn't met lately, becasue of all of the holiday activities, but we plan to finish up the physics book from Real Science 4 Kids soon, and then after Christmas it's chemsitry! (All four boys in the group have images of explosions, I just know it...)

As I've been typing this over several days, we've gotten quite few snow flurries. Maybe my images of Advent were'nt so far-fetched after all...