Firstborn, 23 January

I started out my work today by completing a Latin translation word find. It was a great a challenge to do, but it was fun. Next I began Lesson 4 in my math book. In this lesson, I am working on converting fractions (2/3 = 4/6).

I made a map of Leif Ericsson's route from Greenland to North America, coloring the countries and labelling the route. In meteorlogical studies, we looked at the effect of light. I did an experiment shining a flashlight into a glass pitcher of milk and water. Looking in from opposite the light, the liquid ("sky') was bluish, but from the same side as the light, the liquid appeared yellow.

In the afternoon, I did an independent experiment where I boiled water and added sugar to dissolve. Later I put a thread in it and I am hoping delicious sugar crystals will form on the thread. We'll find out in about three days.

I also practiced my piano pieces, "Amarylis" and "Auld Lang Syne."

~submitted by Firstborn

Firstborn 22 January

It was a math test that started my study day today. I am reviewing Epsilon and had a test on adding fractions with same denominators.

After my test, I worked on a Latin word find. I had a list of English nouns and verbs that needed translation and then I found the Latin words in the word-find. I completed most of it.

I am studying meteorology now. Yesterday we learned about the layers of the atmosphere and I made and labelled an illustration of the atmosphere. The layers from the ground up are: Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Temposphere (where the temps reach 3500* F) and the Exosphere. Today we studied air compression. Compressed air is warmer than uncompressed.

I did a lengthy page of handwriting in which I had to copy a long list of "ology" words. Plus three "exaggerated" sentences (For example: "This book weighs a ton!" or "That handwriting assignment took me all day!")

Moving on to History, I copied my report about Eric the Red into my history book. He lived in the 10th century and explored Greenland.

This afternoon I will practice my piano assignment and hope to attempt an experiment in making sugar crystals. I will tell you about that later!

~submitted by Firstborn

Sunshine, 22 January

Today the first thing I did was work on my Communion album. I copied a prayer to be said before confession. First I copied it in pencil and then wrote over it in pen. Mommy read me a story from "First Communion Days" about Francoise.

I also did one page of math. I am working on rounding to the nearest 100. If the tens are above 50, I round up and if they are below, I round down. In Latin I translated my vocabulary words and wrote a deriviative next to each one. We also reviewed all of my vocabulary lists from the book.

In history we are reviewing the early American explorers. Firstborn and I are making a book about them. Today I dictated the story of Leif (the Lucky) Ericsson to Mom. Tomorrow I will copy it into the book.

Now I will go practice my piano lesson. I am working on two new songs: "Dinosaur Stomp" and "Alarm Clock."

~submitted by Sunshine
seven days from my 8th birthday

Firstborn 14 January 2008

Today I finished my lesson 1 math test and completed three pages of math in lesson 2. In lesson 2, I worked on identifying and building fractions. I wrote them out in number form and word form (i.e., 4/5 and four-fifths).

In Latin for Children, I began chapter 15 which discussed Sentence Patterns A and B. Sentence pattern A is SN-V (Vir intrat. The man enters.) Sentence pattern B is SN-LV-PrN (Julia est puella. Julia is a girl.) Pattern B always uses a linking verb whereas, Pattern A uses an actioncaverb. Predicate nominatives always follow a linking verb and rename the subject (Julia = girl).

I also worked on translation in my Latin reader. I translated two sentences about Hannibal and labelled the sentence patterns.

My sister, Sunshine, and I continued to work on our North American Explorers history book. Today we added Eric the Red. Sunshine labelled a map and I began a summary of his life.

Lastly, I worked on my typing program. I am working on capitals on the home row and e & u plus periods.

Thursday, 11 October

Thursday is a new experience for us. Little Queen is not with us on Thursday. This is strange and could not have predicted. We miss her. But, we get a lot done while she is off having a pretty good time (and missing us).

Firstborn and Sunshine worked on their memory work and are doing very nicely. (Psalm 42, in the sidebar). Firstborn corrected yesterday's math test. Silly mistakes show that he knows how to do the work just needs to take more time and care in the execution. He also completed another handwriting book today. I think we will start the next one while awaiting the arrival of the typing program he will be starting. We fininshed off Chapter 3 of our history text and made plans to put all of those conquistadors, early American saints and exploration routes into our own little book. Sunshine made progress on her embroidery while I read and continues to work steadily through her penmanship. Latin was completely neglected today. Darn! Both children are preparing diligently for their upcoming music theory tests.

Rosebud is counting by tens in her Primer math book now and is well past the half way mark in her penmanship book. Though she claims not to "like history" (then usually proceeds to ask what history is), she loves her Bible stories which we are reading chronologically, one tale daily. And, she was disappointed to learn that we had read about St. Rose of Lima yesterday in history without her. I will happily re-read it for her this weekend or next Monday. It is her reading that is really sailing along, though I don't think she realizes just how well. It is so gratifying to hear her read many of the words with just a quick sound out or none at all and of course the vocabulary grows daily as we add new sound combinations. She is finally lovin' it.

Firstborn Writes

Here is Firstborn's final submission to his first online writing class:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coach Kevin put me on the pitcher's mound for the first time. My knees shook with nervousness, but I focused on the cather's mitt. We were in the third of four innings and I had already struck out two batters. There was a runner on second when the next batter came to the plate.

For the first two throws, I slipped my fingers over the stitched seams. Now there were two strikes on the scoreboard and I wanted the next pitch to be the final one of the inning. I rotated the ball in my hand and planted my fingers across the seams. I shut out all of the sounds around me and my eyes were like laser beams on the catcher's mitt. I drew my armback and let the ball fly. SMACK! The ball hit the catcher's mitt and the umpire called it, "Strrrike three!"

That day I used two of my best pitches. The last pitch was one I made up. It flies as strait as a wooden dowel. I usually use it when the batter has two strikes and three balls. It works well also against left handed batters. To deliver this pitch, you hold your fingers across the seams.The other two pitches I throw are the two-seam fastball and the four-seam fastball. The two are practically the same, except the two seam fastball curves a little more than the four seam. To throw the two-seam fastball, hold your fingers with the seams. The pitch the four-seam fastball hold your fingers across the seams at the curvy part.

Professional pitchers use all kinds of grips dependent on the situation. A few are the curveball, the knuckleball, the screwball, and the change-up. I sometimes use the change-up, too. For the change-up, the pitcher holds the ball with three of four fingers and across one with the seams, depending on which kind of change up is thrown.

Alive and Learnin'

So, judging by my sitemeter, it seems people are actually checking in to this sorry, neglected little learning blog. Well, we are still here and still learning. The silence here perhaps reflects just how busy learning we have been. Well, maybe. Anyway, the Autumn started out a bit slow it seemed to me. Though the children were eager to resume their academic studies, we just didn't find our groove. And then, Little Queen and I went out of town for a few days which really threw everything off. Now we are back. And we are grooving.

Rosebud is absolutely loving her work right now. She asks me first thing each morning (sometimes when I am still in bed) if she may please go do some handwriting and math. Pretty please. Umm...sure. And then she does more later when we've all joined up for some concentrated work. On Saturday morning, on Sunday morning, on Columbus Day morning, Rosebud could be found pouring over another page of her Getty-Dubay Italics handwriting book or polishing off another lesson in her beloved Math-U-See Primer. With just a bit of encouragement, she is sounding off a new set of words or another tiny tale from our well worn copy of the Little Angel Reader. She treasures her daily Bible story whether it is read to her by myself, an older sibling, or even on occassion, The Prof. Kindergarten is a simple delight for this simply delightful little girl

Sunshine embraces the growing challenges of her second grade work. She also began work in the Getty-Dubay series this year and enjoys the words and sentences and the stylized writing. Math is not a love, but comes quite naturally even as she starts in on the Beta book. Beta throws subtraction and graphs into the mix. History is interesting and First Holy Communion preparation an absolute favorite activity. In addition to memorizing the Baltimore Catechism, she is preparing an album. Moreover, she is joining her brother in studying the Mass which so far includes learning about the vesting of the priest (an small but elaborate ceremony in and of itself), liturgical colors and memorizing Psalm 42 (as numbered in the Douy-Rheims) found at the opening of the (traditional Latin) Mass.

Firstborn just completed a 6-week long online writing class given by Jean Hall via Bravewriter. What a great education for both of us. We look forward to more writing and more classes in the future. Math continues to be the unfavored subject, though with careful attention to detail, it comes easily enough this boy's mind. He is working through Epsilon (from our dear Math-U-See) , doing battle, it seems, with the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of fractions. Fractions are presented in all of their fanciful and frightful forms here: from improper (oh my!) to mixed and everything in between. Our discovery of the past has finally brought us to US history. Coronado, Pizzaro, de Soto, St. Brendan, Columbus, Sts. Martin de Porres, Rose of Lima, and Juan Diego are the names whirling around in our minds, past our eyes and under our pencils these days. Thrilling tales of adventure, savagery and holiness, to be sure.

The two elders are both studying Latin; Rosebud in the old friend, Prima Latina and Firstborn leading the way through Latin for Children. Geography studies through the literary prowess of Holling C. Holling (what was his mother thinking? Holling?!) have captured my children's attention. And we are even trying our hands at a bit of letterboxing! (More to come on that venture soon)

The out and abouts include art class, ballet and...and, well, Firstborn really wanted to give fencing a try this year but it just didn't seem to fall into place. Maybe next year.

I am just relieved that we have finally found a rhythm, a constant to cling to as the weekends and evenings fill up in the flow leading to holidays.

digging in

We have been off to a pretty good start this Autumn. I am attempting to prepare a daily ordo for each child--a list to have ready for each child when they awaken in the morning. It includes the date, feast day, domicile contributions for the day, R & D assignments, listing of any out of home activities and a list of current and near future events of interest. For me, this is an advanced level of planning ahead and seems to be much appreciated by the children.

Here are some general ideas of the concentrations of study for the time being:

Rosebud (5yo, Kindergarten):

• Penmanship...she already had learned cursive letter shapes from the sandpaper letters last year. Now we are embarking on the Getty-Dubay italics print book along with alternative "writing" materials. For example, some days she "writes" and spells using the moveable alphabet and other days with rubber stamp letters. I am taking this nice and slow as a) I know how tiring writing is to the young arm and B) I certainly don't want to make anything about writing feel negative or overwhelming. The joy of writing is a difficult attitude to recover once trampled upon.
• Catechism...She is unintentionally learning the First Communion Baltimore catechism right along with her older sister and enjoys listening to the FHC stories I am reading Sunshine. In addition, she and I agreed to read stories together from her children's bible each week.
• Math...Again, I know better than to push this subject on any child who is young and not yet thirsting for it, but Rosebud was really thirsty. She did a grocery store pre-school math book this summer just for fun, but was begging for the real thing. So imagine her excitement when I agreed to purchase the Math-U-See primer for her. She loves it and is doing well.
• Reading...Tempered enthusiasm on this subject. She wants so very much to be a reader but considers the process to be hard work. So little snippets is our approach. One page or one story a day from the Little Angel Reader, Level A. But, she is showing progress even at that. Also encouraged when I show her a word in a book or on a sign that she can successfully sound out.
• Sewing...We will continue to work on this ever popular activity...more button sewing and then onto some large square gingham for little stuffed pillows and animals
• Music...to include piano study and concert attendance

Rosebud

• Penmanship...also has some mastery of cursive, but now we are switching to Getty-Dubay italics. I think she is enjoying this and does a page daily.
• Latin...Of course she already knows the prayers and phrases we use daily, but this is Rosebud's first formal study of Latin and we will use the time tested Prima Latina for her.
• Math...continuing on in Alpha...a topic not as beloved as it used to be, but not despised
• History...A semester long study of American history with her big brother and then it is back to Creation. We are trying out From Sea to Shining Sea this term.
• Catechism...Two-fold. Preparation for First Holy Communion, including memorization of the Baltimore Catechism, many read aloud books and an Album. Also, an in-depth study of the Mass to include DVDs, texts, and the creation of an Album.
• Science...nature walks and wherever they take us.
• Music...piano lessons, concert attendance
• Geography...Holling C. Holling books and study
• Home arts...embroidery...she is beginning a counted cross stitch sampler

Okay, it is getting late. I will write an overview of Firstborn's fifth grade course of study tomorrow evening. However, the goals listed above are limited primarily to the check list academics but not reflective of my real goals for the year. I am determined that we WILL cook more together, indulge in a museum membership and ballet subscription, seek out more concerts, learn water color painting, go on regular nature walks, and, of course, continue our constant read alouds.

and we're off...

It is funny, even though we don't take the entire summer away from academic learning and even though learning is an ongoing experience in this household, there continues to be a magic about starting fresh in the Autumn. New books are still arriving, new subjects are being explored and new routines attempted. But, after just a few short weeks of hiatus from the math, Latin, readers, history and penmanship the little scholars here at the Suburban Ranch were itchin' to get started again. Sunshine told me the days were so slow...she missed the routine and purpose that a morning spent huddled around books and writing implements brings, I suppose.

So, like all of our public school counterparts, we dove back in on Monday morning. It wasn't a typical start, though. No, I would never want our first day to resemble the first day of a brick and mortar school. That would defy part of our purpose in home education. Rather, we started a bit late (yours truly was up a bit too late the night before organizing the Study and the studies) in the morning. First task: the chef's apprentice (Firstborn in this case) prepared, with some assistance, Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins--spiked with some lemon zest and juice to give some kick.

We marched on thru our other planned topics with a few variations. Firstborn is starting the Bravewriter Kidswrite online writing course this term and there was a really fun pre-writing game that we played (even included Sunshine in on the fun-she couldn't resist). Also, I started Firstborn on reading the history lesson to us. And, above all, I didn't think Rosebud--officially a Kindergarten aged student now--was going to be able to contain her excitement at finally starting her first Math U See workbook. I think she wanted to try to complete the entire book in one sitting. I sure hope her enthusiasm continues for years to come.

It was a completely fun first day. A low-impact Monday enjoyed by all.

31 May 2007

Yesterday started out rainy and overcast. The children were absolutely itching to get outside and once the thunder & lightning had passed, they burst out through the doors. An hour passed while they collected worms in the street puddles to feed to our garden and our hens. On the long front porch, we timed each of the girls as they sprinted back and forth. We got out the jump ropes and practiced a new skill. Is it bad that none of them know how to jump rope yet? Yikes! Back inside, the elder three and I read the rest of a book about Shakespeare and then a picture book retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Firstborn spent time playing Babble and then completed a painting he had started last week. The afternoon was filled with friends and "socialization." And, at last, the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals on prime time ABC. During one of the commercial breaks, everyone went out side to enjoy the first popsicle of the season.

All in all, a perfect day of learning! Art, history, drama, physical activity, socializing, spelling, science and off to bed exhausted and content...