Look who got reading glasses!  xo 

Labels: Evan, milestones, pics, pictures

   

Labels: beach, Evan, Patriotic, photography, pics, pictures, siblings, summer

 

What he does when I ask him to smile.

Lovely.  Thank you.

Labels: Charlie, Evan, Jack, Madalyn, photography, pics, pictures, Sam, weather, winter

Well, almost.

I've been wanting to write a homeschooling summary for memory's sake, but that is an endeavor that requires brain function; something I'm short on come this time of night.  Nonetheless, brain or no brain, here I go at last...

We have had a great experience this fall, surprise of all surprises.  I was a little worried school days would feel like summer days; loud and unruly.  I was pleased to discover that the structure of our day does wonders for the loud and unruly part. 

We begin with the pledge- first to the flag, then to the Bible:  I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God's Holy Word.  I will make it a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and hide His words in my heart so that I might not sin against God.  Then we fill out our calendar and talk about the weather and any plans we have for the week, then sing our days of the week song:  Sunday Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday Fri—day, Sa-tur-day, Sunday Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday Friday, Saturday (sung to the tune of 'Oh my darlin' Clementine.')  Lastly we'd sing our holiday songs which I'll list at the bottom of this blog post in case anyone could use them (I know I use stuff off blogs ALL the time so I'm all about sharing.)

We are 16 weeks in.  We've had a Charlotte's Web Party, a Halloween Party, and an Open House Performing night for daddy, during which we served him treats we made, sang our Halloween songs, read our stories, and put on a magnet trick show.   We also did a play about Squanto for the family over Thanksgiving and made place card Indian and Pilgrim hats and costumes for our play and Oreo turkey cookies.  We meant to make tepee treats and corn pins but will have to do that next year as we ran out of steam.  I wonder why, right?  Yeah.  I'm tired.

But it's been great fun; such a joy to experience it with them and catch all those little moments.  And I am learning SO much.  I really enjoyed learning more about the pilgrims than I ever knew... and that was just from library books.

So enough about the "extra" stuff, the fun stuff.  What about the education, you are wondering? 

Evan has read ELEVEN chapter books which is what was scheduled and he starts on cursive handwriting tomorrow! Madalyn breezed right through the Dr. Seuss books I had her in, so she's now on the second of Evan's chapter books and hoping to work her way through them by the end of the summer to be able to read the same books he reads next year.  We shall see how that goes, but she's determined.

I have read to them: Charlotte's Web, Home Price, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Mountain Born, and just this last week, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever... which I'm convinced is the best book ever.  E-VER.  There is so much humor in it that I missed as a kid... yet I loved it then and love it even more now.

We've studied telling time, counting money, fractions, word problems, multiplication, doubles, halves, measuring, quantities, and many other "math things."  We've learned about alliteration, onomatopoeia, antonyms, homonyms, spoonerisms, rhyming, similes, and many other "grammar things." 

We've read about different countries and other times; about culture and world religions.  We've spent weeks studying ancient Egypt and the early peoples.  (And for the record I am TOTALLY bored with ancient Egypt.  OVER it.  That is my only curriculum complaint thus far:  how many times do we have to read how to mummify someone?  I could do it in my sleep now, YAWN.) 

We've learned about the animals that live on the different continents, and thus learned our continents and geography in result.  We've also learned about science with magnets and are currently studying science with water. 

We've written stories and talked about how to make them more alive, more descriptive; how to paint with words. 

Here are some of them:

Madalyn, by dictation:

Once upon a time there was a girl with an ice cream cone and her name was Alice.  She was going to a carnival but her mom said, "no, no, we don't have any money."  So Alive went to her room and checked her piggy bank and she had enough money.  But a storm loudly blew in and a big boom drummed like a loud, loud drum.  The ice cream was melting in her cone.  So then she sang "storm, storm go away- I will see you next time."  So the storm went away and there was a rainbow.  So she went to the ice cream man and got a brand new ice cream.  It was chocolate and it was creamy.  With her ice cream she rode on the Ferris wheel.  She looked up in the sky and saw a jet.  Then the Ferris wheel stopped.  It was over.  So then she went to ride on the merry-go-round.  She had a great rest of the day.

Evan, by hand:

Mrs. Wig Blew Away

There was a boy who had a wig but then a snekee storm came.  The wig blew out of the wendoe and landed on a bus.  The boy got on the bus and the wig slid into the bus from the rain.  When the boy saw Mrs. Wig he put her on.  The End.

The Cow and Her Umbrella, by Madalyn (in her own pen with my spelling help)

Once upon a time there was a cow and she goes to the library.  When it opens the librarian says, "no cows allowed."  She was sad as a raincloud.  So she climbs the roof and squished down the chimney.  The fireplace had a fire.  The cow puff and puffed and blew it out.  The library lady sent her out.  There was a sparkly rainbow.  The end.

The Tocking (Talking) Carpet by Evan

Everwon was at a magic show.  The moodishin jnold (juggled) eggs.  An egg fell on the carpet.  The carpet was mad and floow out of the window.  It floow in a circle back and smackt the moodishin.  The moodishin kicked the carpet.  The carpet fell backon the egg.  The carpet sent the moodishin out.  The carpet aktavetit (activated) the firealarm.  The hose on the solid sellene (ceiling) sprade water and got everwon wet and they all ran out, and the carpet fell back to sleep ware there was no hose spraying watre.

(It almost makes me sad to type the one above because he's already come so far since writing it... he can spell a lot of those right now.  Shouldn't that make me happy, not sad?)  :)

The Three Little Bears, retold by Evan in his own pen

Theres this girl and she broke down my chair and ate my porge and slept in my bed.  She's so soopet (no he's not allowed to say soopet) I must get her.  I ate her.  "get me out of here!"  Yum yum yum.  "Oh baby bear, get that girl out said mama bear.  "No!"  And so I got a sapcenkin.  (spankin'.) 

Little Red, retold by Madalyn, dictated:

Little Red is always mean to my baby brother wolf.  She says "na, na, na-nanny-na- you have big teeth like little ghosts in your mouth!"  And my brother comes home crying.  I am so tired of her being mean to my brother.  I'm gonna take care of this once and for all.  And that grandmother of hers is mean, too.  So I'm going to grandma's house. 

When I get there, she says "oh it's another ugly wolf.  you things are so ugly."  So then I eat her.  But there is a knock at the door and I think it might be a policeman so I put on granny's clothes and get in bed.  But it is Little Red who comes in.  'Good," I think, I can take care of Little Red, too.  She looks at me and says "my what big teeth you have" and I say "tht's what you said to my little brother, too, but you'll never say it again because these big teeth are going to eat you just like they ate your granny."  The end.

So I think these stories break any sheltered, over-protected homeschool mold you might try to cast for us, lol.  Vengeance.  Gore.  Horror.  Did you know Wes Craven went to Wheaton?  Speaking of, let's go ahead on to those Halloween songs, shall we?

Halloween Songs

The Spider in the Web

There's a spider in the web, a spider in the web, spin, spin, oh watch him spin, the spider in the web.

The spider catches JACK!  The spider catches JACK!  (and so on, sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell")

Five Pumpkins

Five pumpkins fat and round, in a field outside of town, waiting for Halloween to come- uh huh!  Along came the farmer's son, he picked the biggest one, then there were four more pumpkins left... four pumpkins... (and so on, sung to the tune of the Green Speckled Frog song)

Pie Song

I'm a big orange pumpkin fat and roung, growin' in the cornfield on the ground. 

I will be a Jack-o-lantern with big eyes, or maybe... I'll be baked... in-to pump-kin- pies!

(We do motions I made up with these.)  This one is to the tune of I'm a Little Tea pot

Spider on the Floor

There's a spider on the floor, a spider on the floor, who could ask for anymore than a spider on the floor?

There's a spider on my leg, a spider on my leg- oh, oh it's really big, this spider on my leg!

There's a spider on my tummy, a spider on my tummy, I don't think he'd taste too yummy, the spider on my tummy.

There's a spider on my head, a spider on my head, I can't believe what I just said, a spider on my head...

and he jumped OFF....

There's a spider on the floor, a spider on the floor, who could ask for anymore than a spider on the floor?

(To the tune of Farmer in the Dell.. I made this up because the original, believe it or not, was even dumber.)

Also made this up because I didn't want to sing on and on about witches, but I really enjoyed the witches song when I was little, so I was trying to combine the best of both thought pools:

One little, two little, three black crows, flying over haystacks feelin' the wind blow, flyin' over moonbeams, castin their shadows, hey ho Halloween night.

One little, two little, three leaves of Autumn, fell on some barbed wire and bumped their bottoms, had to go home and get a bandage of cotton, hey ho Halloween night.

Halloween side note here:  Shaun and I have fond memories of trick-or-treating with family and friends, so we carry this tradition on- just like eating chili every Halloween night.  I like what this article had to say about celebrating Halloween as Christians.  But we are careful to avoid celebrating grotesque or evil things and follow our popular culture's spin on the holiday.  Rather, we celebrate a new fall season, we celebrate our imaginations, using them to play dress up, and we celebrate candy. :) 

Thanksgiving Songs

Scarecrow, Scarecrow

Scarecrow, scarecrow how scary can you be?  You scared- JACK!  But you didn't scare me!  (We surprise each other with this little poem.)

10 Little Indians

One little, two little, three little Indians, four little, five little, six little Indians, seven little, eight little, nine little Indians, 10 little Indian boys.

(We do this with Pilgrims, too, and girls- not just boys.)

Pumpkin Seed Poem

One day I found two pumpkin seeds, I planted one and pulled the weeds, it sprouted roots and a long green vine, a pumpkin grew- I called it mine.  My pumpkin was quite round and fat, I really am quite proud of that- but there is something I'll admit that has me worried just a bit:  I ate the other seed, you see, now will a pumpkin grow in ME?

Scarecrow, Turn Around (sung to twinkle, twinkle)

Scarecrow, scarecrow turn around, scarecrow, scarecrow, touch the ground.  Stand up tall and blink your eyes, raise your hands up to the sky.  Clap your hands then tap your knees, turn around and tap your feet.

Scarecrow, scarecrow touch your toes.  Scarecrow, scarecrow tap your nose.  Swing your arms so very slow- now real fast to scare the crows.  Touch your head, jump up and down, now sit down without a sound.

Hello Mr. Turkey

(Sing to if your happy and you know it)

Well hello Mr. Turkey how are you?  Hello, Mr. Turkey how are you?  With a gobble, gobble, gobble, and a wobble, wobble, wobble, well hello Mr. Turkey how are you?

Five Fat Turkeys 

Five Fat turkeys are we, we slept all night in a tree, when the cook came around we couldn't be found- that's why we're here you see! 

We also read lots of great fall books while I'm on the subject of holidays.  Here were some of our favorites:

	Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters
	Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl by Kate Waters
	Squanto And The Miracle Of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas
	Tapenum's Day : A Wampanoag Indian Boy In Pilgrim Times by Kate Waters

If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern

 Eating the Plates by Lucille Penner 

Nancy Carlstrom

 

If you had to read just three, I would read Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day at our House, and Eating the Plates.  That last one was something I stumbled upon in the library that was fascinating.  (That one is for 5 and older, I would say... it's just listening, no pictures.)

Okay, and I'm ending abruptly because it's 11:30 and I have a baby to feed, oops.  I'm sure I'll shake my head at this hodge podge assortment of information tomorrow, and my party pictures will have to wait till then, but for now, goodnight. xo

Labels: Evan, Madalyn, school, school work

That's what his soccer coaches call him because he sports blonde hair, Packer colors, and the number 4. 

Of course they probably started calling him that after these pictures were taken, after he had his haircut back in October.

A season or two ago he was referred to by another coach as a "fuzzball on legs."

But his hair is not the only thing changed since that season.  He's become quite aggressive with the ball and much prefers offense to defense.  Now that the boys (try) to play positions, I think the added logic and strategy has helped peak his interest in the game.  His last fall game was a few weeks ago and he had two assists.

He's not the fastest.  In fact, he's pretty much the slowest and runs like his feet are in pain.  Until he gets the ball.  Then all of the sudden he takes these uncharacteristically long strides down the field.  He is so aggressive on one of these sprints that he doesn't bother going around the opposition but looks more like a quarterback running a ball right through the line.  Oh, did I kick your shin along with the ball?  Too bad, sucka!  Watching him charge right through like that leaves me on pins and needles because every time I feel sure he'll lose the ball, but nearly everytime the ball pops right through and he follows...

So I guess the painful-to-watch, duck-footed, war veteran jaunt he has going is just a reflection of his boredom when he knows the ball isn't in his zone.  (Or maybe some podiatrist out there will read this and say it is borderline abusive to make fun of a such serious birth defect.)

His coaches were sitting by me at the party and noting this very occurrence: "You know Evan is really aggressive when he has the ball- but it's only when he has the ball.  It's very interesting."

"Yes, we've come a long way from his first season," I said, "when he was much more interested in looking for Who's on a dandelion growing in the field.  He's unique that way; he's actually very bright with numbers and math but very spacey."

"Oh yeah, that's right!"  he said, looking at the other coach, "remember when we gave them a really hard math problem and promised a reward knowing no one would get it?"

The other coach laughed, "yeah, and he yelled out the answer!"

"Yep, that's Evan," I said.  "But try to point something out in the sky or a crowded place and he is hopeless at locating it."

And then- I kid you not- about 2 minutes later the coaches stand up to hand out trophies and they call them up by jersey number:  "Player One... two... three.. four...  player four?  Who is player four?"

Duh.  Brett Favre.  Chop, chop, Brett, that's your number, dude!  But Evan is looking around like, who is number four?

 

And that was when the coach looked at me and said, "I thought you said he was good with numbers."

Labels: adventures in sports, boys will be boys, conversation, dumbhead parenting, Evan, math man, pics, pictures, soccer