Wednesday, October 10, 2007
School keeps us busy!
Last week I was sick with a cold and Jager got another mysterious fever and didn't feel good for a couple days. Needless to say we didn't get as much done for school as I would have liked, but we did manage to get some learning in every day.
Eden's Algebra is going great! We are flying through her lessons. She's such a wiz. We get to do review problems from past lessons everyday. It's getting fun now because we are farther in the book and I will throw a problem in from a lesson we did in the first week of this block and Eden will say "Hey! We haven't done these in a while!" But she knows just how to do them. She's only gotten stuck in one area and it's mostly just because she needs to memorize measurement conversions to make it easier.
Joey has learned all about the sundial, calendar, we made a water clock last week which was fun because when we originally started we filled up an empty milk container whose top was cut off with water. Then we poked a hole in the bottom front to let the water drip out, but it didn't drip; it streamed! We would never be able to do the lesson like this because in the half an hour we'd need to wait to make the next time mark the water would have been gone! So we taped it up and made a smaller hole. Between that hole and the water we were losing thorugh the tape not sticking well it ended up being just right! It was so fun. Joey learned how to multiply with two digits, three, digits, four digits...He learned about time zones and that his Grandpa Bill lives in West Virginia which is a few thousand miles away from us here in California and that when it is 7pm here and we are just getting done with dinner they are already in bed.
Yesterday we decided to take school on the road and have it at the park. Every Tuesday is "Park Day" for our local homeschooling group, so we figured we'll just hang out there all day. It was a nice change of scenery for us, although the other kids at the park were a bit of a distraction. I wrote a huge multiplication number on the sidewalk in chalk and had Joey solve it. He did well, but needs some work lining up his numbers as he solves. We usually use graph paper for that. All in all our day turned out great and we did manage to have a full school day and a lot of fun! I'll post some pictures later when my camera battery is charged :-)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Math is fun and so are caterpillars!!
Eden and I worked mainly on review for Algebra going over fractions, area, obtuse and acute angles etc. I teach her the lesson and then she reviews it the next day by doing several of the problems on scratch paper and then transferring them neatly and decoratively into her main lesson book. She also writes any vocabulary words that come up in our lessons into her lesson book. We cover three algebra lessons a day in her book by teaching it in blocks this way and it really sticks. It never stops amazing me how much better their retention is by teaching this way. This week we have moved onto the total surface area of a right solid and I'm sure many other fun things to figure out. I'm loving the algebra. I was never good at it in school, but I really seem to understand it now and what I don't understand I've had a great time trying to figure it out. It probably helps that I'm not under a deadline to turn in my homework or cram for a test. :-)
Joey and I finished up his sundial last week during our study of time for our math block. We had school at night last Thursday and talked about how the Egyptians told time back when Moses was alive. We set up our sundial as best we could since we couldn't see the north star. We got up the next day to watch the sun rise. I made homemade hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream. It was chilly, but we had a lot of fun just hanging out in our pj's talking about what our day would be like and our upcoming weekend. Once the sun rose and we were able to get a shadow from the sundial we began marking off the time with a glass stone and I would write the time in chalk so we could look at it again another day and see if the time stayed the same. It didn't.
Eden and Joey sit on the little bench sharing a blanket while drinking their hot chocolate as we wait for the sun to rise.
When I got home from work last night I found that we had adopted a furry little critter. He doesn't have a name yet from what I understand so we'll just refer to him as the caterpillar. The kids found him outside while they were playing. At first he was in a plastic storage container with just some grass and one rose petal. I guess we woke him from his slumber when I got home and wanted to see him because while I was looking for ideas on what to feed him Jerod held him and then put him back into his box where he quickly began to munch through the rose petal. Hmmmm, I thought....."Go get some more rose branches and make sure they have flowers on them" I told Jerod "because he has to stay fed and alive until May before we'll see a cocoon out of him."
Here is some information I found about our new friend:
- Ecpantheria scriboni (His formal name) caterpillars, which are densely coated with coarse black setae (hairs) of equal lengths, curl up in a ball when disturbed, revealing bright red inter segmental rings. The small circles surrounding the spiracles are also red.
- Woolly bear or fuzzy bear caterpillars are often found in the fall after they have left their food plants in search of a dark and sheltered spot where they can hibernate as larvae for the winter. When spring brings its warm sunshine, the caterpillars again become active, feeding for a brief time and then fashioning cocoons out of silk and body hairs.
Tiger moths usually emerge from cocoons two to three weeks later. - The caterpillars feed on a variety of food plants including forest trees, shrubs and low growing plants. Hibernation is usually over in northern portions of scribonia's range in May. The caterpillars feed briefly, spin their cocoons and then emerge a few weeks later as adult moths.
Very interesting huh? Well I think that this is quite a bit to absorb for one blog and I think I've covered it all. Let's keep our fingers crossed that our furry friend makes it through the winter and we get to see him turn into a beautiful moth.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Many new things....
Last week we finished up our first block which was Hebrew Culture. We made it up to Abraham's birth. We'll probably cover that again since it didn't get full study. We also finished up our study of The Tower of Babel by drawing really neat pictures in our lesson books of the Tower after God decided to confound the languages. They came out great! I'll try to add pictures of them soon.
Friday evening my friend, Karen, and I headed to Sacramento for the fall Waldorf conference. It was my first time going and Karen's been many times before. It was a wonderful trip! The Waldorf School where the conference was held was so beautiful. It's tucked away along the American River and the grounds are so lush with trees, bushes, grass, flowers etc you feel like you are in a hideaway place instead of in a larger metropolis. I had the opportunity to meet so many neat people and heard so many experts speak about our brains and our children's brains I thought my brain was going to explode. I discovered so many new ways to nurture my children to help them learn and grow to be well rounded people and to help their brains develop in a way that is more natural for them. I love the Waldorf curriculum and it was so reassuring to hear one of the speakers state that on average studies have concluded that Waldorf educated students graduate from high school with more knowledge than public/state educated students simply because of the way Waldorf educates. I chose Waldorf for Joey because I knew it would help him dig deeper into subjects he might otherwise reject because he has fun learning it and the lessons are brought to life through the methods of teaching. I chose to block teach Eden the way Waldorf suggests so that each subject can really get into her head because we don't bounce from one thing to another. I feel it is setting up a great foundation for when she enters public high school next year. It really made me feel like I made great decisions for how I home school my kids.
This week we began our math blocks. Joey is studying time, linear measurement, volume etc. and Eden is beginning Algebra 1. It makes our days longer when they are studying separate lessons, but we are really enjoying math. Joey is currently working on making a calendar of the year. Eden and I do a lesson together on the board to learn it and the next day before our main lesson Eden works independently on assigned problems that she figures out on scrap paper and then copies very neatly into her main lesson book and then takes time to highlight each problem with art. It's so fun figuring out the answers to the problems together. I get to learn all over again!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Paintings
The Tower of Babel
Along with this lesson we each had to go into a separate space and draw a picture of something we wanted to build with the various blocks we have in Jade's toy box. I told them to make them fairly simple. Then we all had to work together to build each persons building without looking at the picture and each of us speaking in a different "language". Eden could only speak in "O" (oooo, owww, owe), Joey in "A" (aaaaa, awww, ay) and I in "E" (eeeee, ewe, eh). We had to try to convey to one another how to build each structure. I went first and I had the kids do a basic pyramid of blocks. At first I was trying to tell the kids to pull a certain type of block out of the basket and it took a while to get going. Then I started laying the blocks out and asking them in my language to lay them as I did. We eventually go the structure built, but it took much longer than it would have if I could have simply said "put the blocks like this".
Eden's was last. In this picture you see Joey trying to place a big block onto Eden's structure and clearly it didn't belong as you can see from Eden's reaction. Hand motions played a huge role in our communication.
Eden's structure was more complicated to build than Joey's or mine. Here is a picture of her structure completed along with her original "blueprint". Hers took us much longer to complete and we couldn't accomplish the steps on the side she had originally wanted. This was an interesting and fun activity and I think both kids really grasped the frustration the residents of Babel must have felt once they couldn't communicate well.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The Rainbow
We then read about Noah's sons and the curse that Noah placed upon Canaan because of what his father Ham had done to Noah while Noah was in a drunken state.
This is my rainbow picture. This was so fun blending the colors and watching them come together. Not only did we make a beautiful picture for our main lesson books, but we also got to experience a true sense of art by blending two colors to make one.
This is Eden's rainbow. Eden's orange came out so vivid. I really like how well she was able to blend the yellow and red together to produce that bright orange.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Eden's Reciting The Plowment
Eden reciting the poem The Plowmen. Joey recited one as well, but it seems to be too big to post. I'll keep trying, but in the mean time didn't want anyone to think he didn't do it as well.
Noah and The Ark
Today we read the Bible verses for the construction of the Ark. When we were done reading about it we went to the ball field and measured it out using the measurement the Bible called for. God told Noah to make the ark 300 cubits long, 50 cubits breadth and 30 cubits height. A cubit is about equal to 18in. So 150 yards is about how long the ark was. It looks huge when you are standing on one end and someone else is standing on another. But then you imagine it filled with the number of animals it had in it and suddenly it seems so small. It really made the ark seem real when we could see it's size.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Rosh Hashanah
We actually began a day late. It begins the night before at sun down. We began at sun down last night. I lit the Shabbot candles, which I found is traditionally done by the woman of the house. It is custom to bring certain foods to the table in celebration of the new year. I chose to make a chicken soup using leeks and Kosher noodles. Our meal was not Kosher, but the kids understood the importance of the food being just right for the celebration. We also had unleavened bread to serve as well as bread to represent the Challah bread traditionally served. Round Challah bread represents rounding out the year. We also dipped apples in honey in the hopes of having a "sweet year". It was a really fun celebration and the kids were excited about it too because we didn't have school at all in the morning. We cleaned up the house and had some free time. Our lesson was the celebration and Jerod got to be home with us for our school time. It was neat to all talk about the traditions etc. One tradition we didn't get to participate in was blowing the Shofar. A Shofar is a rams horn used in Jewish celebrations. It is blow 100 time over the course of Rosh Hashanah. We did show the kids a picture of several of them so they had an idea of what they were. We may still try to get one for our other celebrations this year.
All in all our first Jewish celebration went well. We are Christian, but it is so neat to take a peak into another culture and another religion. Studying Hebrew Culture is great too for us as Christians because we get to really dive into the Old Testament and pick up on some of the theology and legends behind it. We read stories from this Legends of The Bible Book when we are done reading the Bible and the stories are so beautiful and a really fun way to bring to life what actually happened. I have found that through the Legends book the kids really grasp the events that took place in the Bible even though the legends are simply, well, legends.
Our apples and honey...yum!
Bread
Soup made with leeks and German Kosher noodles. I made the stock homemade from chicken, leeks, onions, carrots and cabbage, sea salt and pepper. I strained it and then added the chicken I pulled off the bone, sliced carrots, leeks, cabbage and noodles.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Descendents of Cain
Then we moved on and read about Noah's birth. In the Legends book we read that when Noah was born he was so beautiful that his own father, Lamech fled from him back to his father, Methuselah claiming he had a strange son. Lamech said he resembles the children of the angels of heaven. Methuselah went to Enoch, his father to inquire about his grandson. Enoch explained to him that Noah was special. Enoch explained the destruction that would come into the world and that Noah and his children would be saved and the earth would be cleansed from all inpurity. The world changed when Noah arrived. When he was born all returned to its state preceding the fall of man meaning the earth began to produce as it should and the animals again began to obey man helping them till the earth. It was a fun story to read.
Today we will study Rosh Hashanah. I'll write all about it soon!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Cain and Abel
Today we did our review about Cain and Abel and their offerings to God. How God accepted Abel's and not Cain's and why. To bring it home I had the kids each pick something they love that they would be willing to offer to God knowing it would never be returned. At first I think they thought it would be easy, but it took them a while to decide. Joey eventually picked his favorite Oakland A's hat. Eden gave up her boom box that she loves to listen to the radio on. I gave up my ring my best friend Donna gave me. All of these things mean a great deal to us and we left them on our nature table for our school fairy to deliver to God for us as an offering of our love and thanksgiving.
Next we wrote a Bible verse about Cain and Abel and then did drawings that show the differences between them. Abel being a shepherd and Cain a harvester. Then we read stories about Enoch and Seth. Jager is still not feeling well, so we called it a day after that. We may do some handwork this afternoon.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Quick Post today
Joey's game went well even though they lost 5-1. Joey played defense the entire game and by the end he really seemed to get what he was doing. We talked about it in the car on the way home and it was cool to actually feel like I understood the sport and was able to give him some pointers. A real bonding moment!!!
So today Jager was sick, but we did school anyway. I thought we'd have to miss out on a lot, but really I only had to cut circle time down a bit. Today's lesson began with an apology letter written by Eve herself concerning the events that took place in the garden between her and the serpent those many years ago. She explained her side of things. It was neat to see the story brought to life for the kids on a scroll I made to look really old. Then we did a drawing that depicted Adam and Eve leaving the garden after being banished. A little sad, but it was a neat way to picture what they were leaving behind and walking into. The land outside the garden so barren and dry. The pictures turned out great.
We then moved on to discuss the first murder. I was certain this would be a hard subject for Joey. I knew Eden would get it, but as soon as I mentioned Cain and Able Joey was actually the one who said "Isn't Cain the one who killed his brother Abel?" I assumed he learned it at church, but come to find out he actually learned it himself while reading his Bible on his own, which he does often without prompting. We discussed quite a bit about why God accepted Abel's offering to God and not Cain's. Abel's offering came from his heart and from his hard work of raising his flock. Cain offered fruit which God gave freely in the garden. Cain's offering was really just Cain giving back to God what God had given him. Not really a sacrifice. Then we moved on to the murder and discussed why Cain murdered his brother. We discussed the idea that Cain may still have thought of things as they were in paradise. After all Abel was not only the first murder, but the first true death. Until then they couldn't understand fully what that meant. Cain's anger overtook him and he took his brother's life without realizing that he'd never come back. God punished Cain severely and Cain did not really speak to and know God after that. The kids and I agreed that no punishment is worse than not having that ability or want to speak to God.
That pretty much concluded our day because of Jager not feeling well we decided that would be enough. Tomorrow's lesson is going to be really neat. I'll post about it once we are done and hopefully Jag will feel better so I can get some pictures of our work. The kids have done some fantastic drawings and their handwriting gets better everyday.
I guess that wasn't a quick post after all :-)
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Soccer today
Good luck kiddos!!!!
Friday, September 7, 2007
Eden reciting the poem Naming the Animals
Joey reciting his poem Naming the Animals
Here is the video of Joey reciting his poem. He did really well considering we read it the first two days and only started to memorize it yesterday.
A Play About Eve
This week we finished the final days of creation and talked about the day God rested. It's been so interesting to talk with the kids about the first days of the world. Their ideas about what it may have been like are so beautiful.
After circle time we did a play I put together using the story from yesterday and part of the story from today about Adam and Eve. Eden played Eve. Joey played Adam and the serpent. I played narrator and God. It was a lot of fun acting out the parts. We goofed around a bit, but the story really seemed to hit home while we each did our parts.
Eve eats the fruit from the tree....
Then shares the fruit with Adam who also eats it
They cover themselves after eating the fruit
Early Morning Friday
After doing the lesson planning for the 7 days of Creation I had a block. I couldn't figure out what to do with the lesson plan in front of me. I have every lesson written down, but not the details. I hadn't gotten that far yet. Then my friend Karen inspired me to make the story from our lesson from yesterday into a play. I decided to use it as our review. Great! Now I have something to teach with! Then it needed to be typed out. I had to take the two stories we used in our lesson, combine them and make them into a play format. Wow, that was a lot of work. As I sat here typing away and thinking about what parts I'd give to who I was also thinking about all of the things NOT getting done in my house. I wasn't cleaning and I'll tell you after the last two weeks of school this house needs it. It really bothers me when the house gets messy. I don't like things undone. As I sat here letting it nag me in the back of my mind, I forced myself to remember that I have four kids who all need my attention. All four of those kids are with me all day long. Nobody leaves for school making a quiet home to simply do housework in. Three of those four kids are capable of destroying a room in 2.2 seconds, especially Jade.
I really enjoy homeschooling my kids. I love this so much. My children's education is of the highest importance to me which is why we chose to home school in the first place. When I was finished putting their school day together it was late and time for bed. I shared the play with Jerod to make sure it ran through smoothly and off to bed I went without accomplishing any housework. I laid there for a long time trying to sleep and was struggling to do so. My friend Karen's husband sent me some awesome coffee and it got here in the afternoon, but I had to try it, so naturally my brain was on overtime while I lay in bed from the extra caffeine boost. As I laid there I realized I had accomplished something far greater than a clean house. By the end of the day today my floors may still need mopping, but I will have accomplished teaching my kids a valuable lesson about Hebrew culture that intertwines with their Christian beliefs along with a little math, a neat poem and they'll get the experience of acting out parts in a play. Their brains will expand and let in all this information and I will have been their teacher.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Busy day today
Because we didn't paint today I took some pictures of the kids writing out their verses on their paintings from yesterday. We did our review of yesterday's lesson by writing out the Bible verse for the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Our lesson today was about the creation of Eve. We read the Bible verse for her creation and then we read a story from the Legends of the Bible book. Again I want to explain that the stories in this book are just stories. Today's story explains that God gave Adam a wife before Eve, named Lilith. She was said to have been created at the same time as Adam, but flew away never to come back to him. You can interpret this story, as with any other, in your own way. When we discussed the story after reading it we came to the conclusion that God may have created a wife for Adam the day he was created along with the other animals and that quite possibly she was a bird of some sort because of the way in which she exited from Adam's life. God saw that it would be better for Adam's wife to be created from him binding her to him. Also, if God created her while Adam was in a deep sleep he would not witness her creation and would love her more for not knowing what it was like. It's a very interesting story.
We also read the story about Eve and the serpent. After both Adam and Eve were told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the serpent decided to tempt Eve. She fell to the temptation and ate from the forbidden tree causing the certain death of all humanity. In the Bible it is said that Adam is with her in the garden while the serpent tempts her. I do feel that Eve carries a huge burden that should not all rest upon her shoulders. Adam was punished too and yet Eve is thought of to be the total cause of the first sin. If he was there then why didn't he stand for his wife against the serpent. God only know. :-) So this was our lesson today.
After our lesson we had lunch and headed out to my friend Karen's house to do a little handwork together. Today we made our knitting needles and the knobs that sit on the ends of them.
Joey working with clay to make the knobs for the ends of his knitting needles......Yes, boys can learn to knit.
More fun with clay.
Eden, our friend, Jack, Joey and me.
Eden working on her knobs for the ends of her knitting needles.
Joey is so goofy! We really had a lot of fun!
One of Eden's ends for her needles.
Another look...
Mine are lady bugs
Joey's are green and brown. They all came out so cool and really show our personalities!