Rhyming Couplets

In Grammar and Writing we have been learning about poetry and the different literary devices often used within a poem.  Today our focus of discussion was on alliteration, rhythms, and patterns.  Our assignment today was to write a poem with at least four rhyming couplets.  Writing rhyming couplets can be difficult, especially when sounds and words are still so new, but I'm happy to say that the kids are trying really hard and doing a good job.

Savannah's Poem today:

Thar's(there is) a squirrel

One that can turrel (twirl)

That lives in a tree

Far away in a sea

She has a bote (boat)

She can flote (float)

On the sea

What abot (about) me?

for a beginner, I think she did really well. :)

Asher had a slightly harder time...he thinks poetry is silly and doesn't make as much sense because it isn't in full sentences.  I corrected his spelling with him, so....it's already fixed here.

I wait and wait and wait to look

In a book.

I fly with my wings

And sing.

I drink pop

And hop.

I like it in the day

I said to Jay.

he was not impressed with his work, but I think he did pretty well. :)

Proud of my kiddos. They work so hard, every day. 

Reading for Details

Today we are reading My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza, a cute tale of a crafty piglet that goes visiting at Fox's house, creatively convincing Mr. Fox to bathe him, feed him, and even give him a massage.  It's a story the kids have heard before, but today we are reading for details!

After reading the story, the kids have several questions on the board they will need to take time to answer. I am curious to see how they answer some of the questions, which rely partly on the readers' perception of the characters and their motives. They will have to discuss the basic "Story Elements" (charcters, setting, events, problem, and solution), but they will also need to answer some more difficult questions, like "Who is the 'bad' guy in the story?" Depending on how the reader interprets the events, the piglet could actually be the antagonist in this lively tale.

We have been discussing story elements and the different choices characters make a lot this year in reading. Recently we also started talking about what we would do different if we were one of the characters in a story and how that might alter the events in the story. This is particularly interesting when reading a Magic Tree House book where Asher and Savannah can easily relate to the main characters, Jack and Annie.  Asher is remarkably like Jack, though even less prone to taking chances, and Savannah is a more cautious version of Annie. She says she would often do research about the places first.

At any rate, the kids are learning a lot from reading for details and every day I am seeing improvement.

USA in 4D

I mentioned that we've been working on a 4-D puzzle during our study of the fifty states. We completed our puzzle yesterday (almost two whole weeks early!).  The kids were enjoying themselves so much, they didn't want to stop working on it.

Trevor and I completed the first part of the puzzle, which shows the expansion of the United States with the various land purchases/wars and dates.  This part was fairly difficult, like 800 tiny pieces difficult, so the kids helped sort out the different colors and edges, but Trevor and I put it together.


The second part of the puzzle, the kids put together, showing the division of the states (in the order they ratified the constitution/gained statehood).  While I had planned for this portion to take an entire week, the kids completed it during one class period because they were so motivated. This part of the puzzle included raised foam pieces that are put together and then placed on top of the initial expansion puzzle.

The last part of the puzzle included the monuments.  This part was actually pretty intense and took a while to complete, but like last weeks' portion, the kids were so motivated we completed it in one extended class period.

Since I just got my camera back, I had to take all the "progress" pictures yesterday....but at least the different sections of the puzzle are visible.

Art & Creativity

One of the reasons we started homeschooling was because the public school system where we lived just didn't "work" for Asher.  The things he needed to learn, he wasn't, because the teachers weren't willing to put any effort towards pushing him to improve at all.  Asher is extremely creative, he loves to pretend play, make up stories, draw pictures, and do arts/crafts.  If his predisposition, his passion for play, isn't incorporated into his learning, he completely loses interest.  I don't know if you have stubborn children, but I certainly do.

I have a daughter that will argue and debate that the sky is blue if given an opportunity.  She's six! But she will adamantly disagree with sometimes the most random things.  She's imaginative in her arguments, too.  It's not just, "I don't like that!" though we hear that as well.  The way she thinks is simply amazing to me.  The rationalizations she comes up with for even the most mundane of occurrences are impressive.

It's nice that we are finally at a point in school where their imaginations and creativity can come more into play.  They are able to write their own stories now, instead of learning the alphabet.  They are able to communicate their thoughts and express ideas, feelings, and interpretations more easily.  It is amazing to see how much progress they have made in less than a year.  They surprise me daily. :)

So - my goal for the coming weeks is to allow their creativity to soar in as many aspects of our daily education as possible. To encourage them to think 'outside the box' and come up with new and unexpected solutions to life's' everyday problems and to have them start journaling.  Their handwriting, phonetic spelling, and competency is at a point where a daily/weekly journal would be well within their abilities and enjoyment now.  I can't wait to see what they come up with next. :)

P - E

So, now that the kids have almost completed their first session of Crossfit, we are looking at joining the local Y Center to add even more to the PE element of their education.  This year we are really trying to focus on a Healthy Lifestyle element, above and beyond our regular Science lessons.

In our Healthy Eating portion, the kids are learning to make healthier decisions about what they are eating and when.  They have been helping plan the menu by choosing recipes high in vitamins and minerals.  They are even starting to make 'healthier' choices for desserts, like peach or blueberry infused frozen yogurt over cake or brownies.  Crossfit has been a great motivator, encouraging them to eat more vegetables because the kids that eat the most vegetables on crossfit days are often chosen to be leaders.  The kids are discovering that a Healthy Lifestyle begins with Healthy Eating.

For our Healthy Body portion, the kids are learning the importance of physical well-being.  They are discovering muscles, more about exercise and activity, and the benefit of playing outside in the sunshine.  When it's too cold to go outside, they have been 'exercising' with a WiiFit Kids game. But we aren't only focusing on Gross Motor, we are practicing fine motor everday when we work on our ASL (fingerspelling is a great way to improve fine motor skills) and practice our penmanship.

Our Healthy Mind section includes our school work, but it goes above and beyond our typical school day activities.  The kids are playing mind games, board games, reading, and working through their own problems daily.  We don't watch a lot of television, but when we do, I often hear the kids discussing what the events in the stories mean, what they think will happen (often in the next episode), and what characters they like/dislike and why.

Our Healthy Spirit portion involves our Church and reading from a kids' devotional.  We also spend some time praying each day.  We normally do this before bed at night and at meal times.  It causes quite a few curious looks when we are eating out (we do have a weekly Pizza Night since that is something the kids LOVE).

Overall, I think the kids are really enjoying adding a Healthy Lifestyle element to our routine.  They especially enjoy Crossfit, PEAK open gym, and they are really excited about starting at the Y-Center in the next week or two, especially the once a week swimming day.  Their enthusiasm and progress amaze me daily.

Teaching Moments

In Social Studies we are studying the fifty states.  Today's state was Alabama and our fun fact today was about the Boll Weevil Beetle, which decimated Alabama's cotton crops.  Amazingly enough, Enterprise, Alabama created a monument to the Boll Weevil in the early 1900's because the loss of the cotton crops encouraged the state to find alternative crops.  Eventually they started planting peanuts, which was much more cost effective and productive than the cotton crops.  

One thing I LOVE about homeschooling? We were able to take a pause in our state study to learn more about the Boll Weevil, including hearing a cute song written in the 1980's, taking a virtual tour of the Enterprise monument, look at images of the boll weevil in different stages of development, and learn about it's habitat.  

Then we went back to our state study, completed the second stage of our 4D USA puzzle, glued it, and next we'll be adding the monument pieces (after the puzzle dries of course).  

Teaching Moments - sometimes I don't even realize how many we get in one day.

Awesome Absorption

It has been a busy week so far!

In Grammar and Writing this week we are working on alliteration and consonance, which the kids are recognizing fairly well.  We are also learning about how to write paragraphs, topic sentences, supporting sentences, and descriptions.  Some of these are pretty tough concepts to grasp, but the kids are doing a good job and working hard on 'mastering' these skills and concepts.  To help them further understand paragraphs, the kids will be doing 'Paragraph Scrambles' this week, where they will have to put together sentences from a paragraph that have been cut up in their own order. We are also writing another 'how to' paper, explaining how to complete a daily task.

Reading this week is focused on the oi/oy vowel sound heard in 'oink!'.  On Wednesday, the kids wrote their own "piggy" stories that were focused on the oi/oy sound.  We are also talking about problem solving and brainstorming different ways/methods to solve the problems in our favorite storybooks. Some of their solutions are pretty entertaining. :)

This week we have also been discussing the difference between synonyms and antonyms.  Since we often play a synonym/antonym game while we are out and about, waiting in a shopping line or in a restaurant, this is actually something the kids breezing through easily.

For Math this week, we are learning about Greater Than/Less Than.  We started our lesson with the story of "The Very Hungry Alligator" Our Alligator is not only hungry, but also VERY smart, and only eats the largest integers in the Number Pond where he lives....as you can imagine, this lesson was a blast to teach and the kids have really shown that this concept is cemented in their understanding.  Lessons like these are what make the kids really appreciate and enjoy our Math periods.

For Social Studies, we are still studying our states.  We study one state a day, discussing the State Bird, State Tree, State Flower, Capital, and fun fact.  The kids are also coloring maps of each individual state.  Trevor and I are working on a puzzle right now.  We are doing the base "historical USA" layer which has about 850 pieces.  The kids will be putting together the second layer of the puzzle, which is comprised of the 50 states in raised foam pieces.  The third layer has monuments and emblems for each state that the kids will be researching and placing.  The 4D USA puzzle is actually quite intense, and we are hoping that after it's completed, we'll be able to make a 'shadow' box of our project.  I am anxious to see how it will look in the next few weeks - the kids will have about three weeks to complete their portions of the puzzle.

Science this week is focused on birds, more specifically, birds of prey, bird songs, how birds fly, and gather materials for our research.  The kids are excited to make their own bird houses and bird feeders, but since it is still so cold outside, we are going to wait to start those activities until closer to the end of our bird studies section.  As a supplement to our book research, we are also watching a BBC series with a famous Ornithologist.  The kids find it very engaging and interesting, and are often disappointed they only get to watch one episode a week during our research.

I was jumping ahead in my lesson planning, trying to estimate the last day of school for the kids and determine what we want to do for next year.  It looks like they will be completing school at the end of May/beginning of June, depending on spring break.  If we only take one week off, then we'll be done with school in May, but if we opt to take an extra week off, then it will be June.  I'm not certain yet what we will decide, though truthfully, the weather may help us make the decision.

I apologize for the dearth of pictures in the last few posts.  During out last trip, my camera was accidentally left behind, so it may be a bit before I am able to add pictures, though I will try to get a few of our Social Studies Puzzle progress with Trev's camera. :)