Answered Prayers...

Last Saturday, my sister in law and I were at the Women of Faith event at Hope Lutheran Church here in Fargo. In-between sessions, I happened to mention to her that I was in need of a good daily Bible devotional/lesson for Isaac. I have bought a couple, but have not been impressed. I told her that what I really wanted was a daily devotional based on scripture only, with maybe a few application questions to go with it. It seems like what is out there for children is only daily devotionals that are stories, with maybe one Bible verse thrown in for good measure.
A few minutes passed, and it was time for door prizes. Keep in mind I NEVER win anything. I sat stunned as my name was drawn. I went up to the front to claim my prize, and it was this book:

It was EXACTLY what I had been looking for! The back of the book even says it is ideal for homeschoolers!
Each day, there is approximately one chapter of scripture to read, followed by five or so questions pertinent to the daily reading. And, these are not froo-froo questions. They have a little meat to them, which is how I like it. Also, there is a section under the scripture for further study of various words and their meanings, or other contextual things (just like an adult study Bible, except it is geared to children).
I LOVE it when our Heavenly Father answers prayers that quickly and that clearly. It doesn't usually happen that way, but when it does, it is such a good reminder that I am not in this alone.

More lapbooking fun: LEGOs and a Batman Preschool Pack

Sometimes when I blog about a project we have just done, I say "It was a lot of fun" and then I ask myself...was it fun for me or for the kids? Usually, the fun is a little less evident on their part. But, with the LEGO lapbook we just completed, I can honestly say Isaac had a lot of fun. (click on lapbook to see it bigger)

We learned about the history of Legos and about the company itself. We learned the process of making LEGOs and the Scientific ideas behind why they fit together.

Isaac got most excited when he did some graphing of how many LEGOS of various colors he had in a cup. I didn't know he would enjoy doing something like this, but he did!
He also had to do some adding and subtracting as he guessed how many LEGOS were in a cup, how many he actually had, and how much he was off on his guess.

Graham did a Batman Preschool Pack recently (click here to find out more), and had lots of fun with that. This child is a sponge, and soaks up every moment of "school" that he can get. He wakes up in the morning asking me if we can "do school." Hope that love for learning lasts!

Graham did a good job "catching the bad guys" and practicing his pre-writing skills.


I found a great website recently (I always say I couldn't homeschool without the internet, and that is totally true!) with all kinds of activites you can do with preschoolers. This is one of the ideas that came from childcareland
He had lots of fun sorting fake gemstones into a muffin tin by color. Kept him busy for probably 20 minutes, which is a record for Graham!



We are wraping up Isaac's study of China right now. As our final activity, he is headed to the library night for "Chinese New Year" night...how perfect is that? Great timing! He will be making a paper dragon and practicing his skills at using chopsticks.

Surprises...

Life is full of surprises. Just when you think you have your plans, something changes! I often think of the verse from Proverbs that says, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." That's why I am so thankful to have a loving heavenly Father that charts my course! (even if I think it is ME who is making the plans!)
One big surprise to me has been the discovery of how much I enjoy homeschooling my children. I know this has to be God working in my life. When I first considered the prospect of homeschooling several years ago, I knew it was something I should want to do, but I just wasn't sure I wanted to. Now, a few years later, I can honestly say that I look forward to those steps into my basement to start our homeschooling day each morning. Some days are not even close to fun. Some days feel incredibly unproductive. Some days are uneventful and routine. But, through it all, I feel like I am enjoying the process, and I know my children are learning and growing. I love my children, so it makes sense to me that I would love to spend time with them watching them learn and teaching them the things I want them to learn.
Other surprises to me have been the way Isaac's first grade year has morphed into something that works for us. For example:
(1) I don't use lesson plans anymore. I pretty much know what I want to accomplish in a day and in a week.
(2) I have stopped using workboxes for now, although I would like to get back to them sometime soon. We have spent lots of time on Isaac's core subjects, and I know by the time those subjects are done, his attention span has dwindled. In the future, I may use workboxes for afternoon work.
(3) I am spending more and more time in the mornings working with Graham. He has really come a long ways in the past few weeks and wakes up each morning and begs me to "do school" with him. Today he said, "Mom, you are the mom AND the teacher!" Yup! He gets it!
I have decided (I think) NOT to continue taking Graham to preschool next year. He has been more and more excited to work with me, has dreaded going to preschool every day, and we could use the extra money. Although I have loved having a mini-Graham vacation every Tuesday and Thursday, it just isn't worth it to me at this point to continue.
(4) we scrapped the four day school week almost right away last fall. I found I was getting more and more behind, and had more pressure to have school on the remaining four days (even if we were sick or had an appointment or something). Five days works just fine for us!

Progress

We are mid-way through Isaac's first grade year, and Graham's 3 year old preschool year! I have lots of things planned for the rest of the year, and I am trying to avoid the mid-year blahs by re-vamping some things and getting re-organized. I took some time this week to re-organize my homeschooling closet. I took out anything related to scrapbooking and am using the whole thing for homeschooling activities. I needed to make it so everything was easily accesible for me. I have found that is the key for me. Not to sound lazy here, but if it is not easy or accessible, I have found I don't bother to do it. My life is busy enough the way it is, I need to SIMPLIFY everything I do.

Graham used his do-a-dot set that I got him for Christmas for the first time today. He loved it! It is such a good activity for fine-motor skills and color identification. It was also good for Graham to use self control as he colored. He likes to just scribble when using markers or crayons. With the do-a-dot printables I found online, he had to identify which color to use first and fill in the correct circles.

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Isaac is improving in his reading, although sometimes it is hard to see the overall progress. I know he is reading longer books, reading brand new material much better, sounding words out on his own and identifying long and short vowels better. I have realized how complex the English language really is. There are really no "absolute" rules with English. I wish I could tell him that EVERY word that has two vowels is ALWAYS long, but that is not true. There are exceptions to everything.
We plan to continue are current curriculum for reading, phonics, spelling and math. I plan on trying to find something new for handwriting, possibly, "Handwriting without tears," but we will see. I also would like to find a better daily devotional to use with Isaac.
Next week we will be starting a LEGO lapbook, this should be really fun for both of us.
Other unit studies we plan to do are: space, pirates, pioneers (may concentrate on Lewis and Clark and follow with a field trip to Bismarck) and Butterflies (in the spring we will do another painted-lady butterfly cocoon study). I would also like to do another spring trip to the farm during calving season, but I don't know if we will do a lapbook/unit study for that yet or not.
I plan to try to make Graham's preschool time more structured and to do a better job of keeping him busy without television!

Graham was excited to decorate his gingerbread house for Advent this year.

Before...

Since big brother was feeling under the weather, it was pretty much a one man show. Which is EXACTLY how he wanted it.




I threw out the kit frosting and broke out a can of the good, spreadable kind. MUCH easier for letting little ones stick candy in here, there and everywhere at their leisure. And, it hardens pretty much the same way the kit frosting does, but it takes a bit longer.

The finished product...

I have a perfect spot for it in Graham's room. And, since his tree has a candy theme, it fits in perfectly! Too bad he wants to lick it every night before bed though...

more advent

Tonight we did my favorite advent activity so far, bubble baths! I told both Isaac and Graham that I had something special for them. I locked the door to the bathroom and filled a bathtub with bubbles for them, lit some candles and turned on some Christmas music. When I brought Graham in (he was first), his eyes got the size of quarters and he looked around in amazement. He couldn't believe it was just for him! It was the sweetest thing I have seen in a long time! Isaac loved the extra special attention too. It got me to thinking about servanthood, which you can read about here.

Double click to enlarge

I feel like this is the first time, maybe ever, that I have actually ENJOYED the Christmas season! From financial stress and strain, trying to get everything done, and managing major life transitions like having a baby or moving, The Reason for Christmas usually gets overshadowed with life's "stuff."
Our advent tree has really helped me (forced me) to stop and enjoy the little things throughout the days leading up to December 25th. I am the sort of person that needs a structure to follow, otherwise I tend to be undisciplined. Having the "structure" of an advent tree gives me a blueprint of sorts for taking time with my family. Here is a list of our advent activities: (I missed the first two days of December)
December 3: Make Christmas crafts with the REACH group
December 4: Go see Santa!
December 5: Family game night
December 6: Make paper snowflakes (I had no idea there were so many different ways to make them until I googled it!)
December 7: Make pipe cleaner candy canes
December 8: Make Sugar cookies (see photos above!)
December 9: Dress fancy for supper (Isaac will love this one!)
December 10: Watch Polar Express and stay in jammies all day
December 11: Go to a movie as a family
December 12: Make a snowman or go sledding
December 13: Candle lit bubble bath with Christmas music
December 14: Make a gingerbread house
December 15: Awana Christmas party
December 16: Go caroling with REACH group
December 17: Graham's Christmas concert
December 18: Celebrate Christmas at Aunty Mel and Uncle Doug's!!!!
December 19: Read a Christmas book
December 20: Make Jesus a birthday cake
December 21: Make a paper chain garland
December 23: Christmas with mom and dad!!!!
December 24: Christmas Eve...head to the Farm!
December 25: Merry Christmas!

Advent

I have always wanted to do something to celebrate Advent with my kids. Each year, the month of December slips by in a flash, and before I know it, Christmas is over and I feel like we didn't really "savor" the season and its meaning. My kids are usually just left with a huge pile of toys and some accompanying post-Christmas greed. This year, I want to at least try to enjoy the Christmas season for more than just the presents it brings. I recently put up an advent tree in our homeschool room. This is compliments of Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Each day in December, Isaac picks an ornament off the tree and we will do the corresponding activity on the back. Some activities are ideas that I got off of the Confessions blog, and others are my own. Here are a few of the activities: watch polar express and stay in your jammies all day, go Christmas caroling, dress fancy for supper, take a candle-lit bubble bath with Christmas music, make a snowman, make a paper chain, make a gingerbread house, help wrap presents, go to a movie, family game night, make a birthday cake for Jesus, etc.
I am really looking forward to it! Photos to follow...
Tonight I took inventory on our progress so far. According to my count, I need to pick up the pace if I want Isaac to be finished with his curriculum in mid-may! Starting in January, we will be doubling up on his writing lessons every day, as well as fitting in at least a couple of extra phonics lessons per day. I am not sure how we got "behind," but I do not like the idea! Also, I want some flexibility for illness or outings this spring.
Happy Advent everyone!

Progress: the first two months of the 2010-11 school year.

When you are homeschooling, sometimes the progress is almost invisible. It's sort of like when your kids grow. When you see someone you haven't seen in awhile, and they remark, "Wow, they have really gotten taller!" you are a little surprised because you didn't notice. It happened so slowly, that it was almost invisible. So it is with teaching your children and watching them learn. Sometimes, I want to pound my head against a wall because it seems to be so pointless. Other days, I swear they would be better off in school. But then, I get those glimpses of moments when I am absolutely amazed by the progress. I stop and consider where we were last week, last month, last year, and I am proud. Proud of my sons for learning and working so hard and proud of myself for having the diligence (through Christ) to keep going when the days are so long and seemingly fruitless. Isaac is really excelling in math this year, which is a complete surprise to me. He is almost done with a full level of Math, and is almost ready for the next. Reading has been a little slower, but I have been making myself remember where we were even at the start of school, and he has progressed substantially. He is reading brand new material with very little help, and his expression is improving. His reading comprehension has always been incredible. Even when he was poking around at every other word, he was understanding what he was reading (even when I had long since tuned out!). We are still working on accuracy. Isaac does better with sounding out words in the context of the sentence. Again, this could be the reading-comprehension thing. Right now, I am really trying to drill home long and short vowels. He has weeks where he is better with long vowels, and weeks where he is better with short. I suspect that eventually it will all come together for him. He has also expressed interest in reading alone, which is the first time he has done this. He asked me to purchase star wars early-readers for him (which I did) and he said he wanted them in his room where he could read them alone. Writing progress has been a bit slow. The A Beka curriculum starts out with cursive in first grade. Isaac was doing fine with cursive, but I noticed his printing was really lacking, so I decided to go back to printing until after Christmas, and then we will pick up cursive once again. We have done several unit studies. We have studied Ancient Egypt, Dinosaurs, Knights and Castles and we are currently doing a study of the human body. Some of Isaac's lapbooks (click to enlarge): I am also enjoying working with Graham on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. We do our work when Isaac needs a break. I have also been doing mini-unit studies and lapbooks with him. We did "Mrs. Wishy Washy" for a week, where we learned about clean and dirty, how to wash our hands, and what things belong in the city versus the country. We did a lapbook on "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" also for a week, where we did story sequencing, comparing sizes, and we did lots of other fun stuff (there are lots of learning possibilities with this book!). We also checked out tons of other Eric Carle books which we have been reading at night. Graham is currently doing the human body study with Isaac and I, and his lapbook components are obviously geared to a pre-school level. Some of Graham's lapbooks: Today, I traced each of their bodies on paper (I knew that old seamless paper from my photo sessions would come in handy someday!) and they got to decorate them any way they liked. Thank goodness Graham did not use primarily red, otherwise his would have looked like a crime scene. Isaac has been doing really well with scripture memorization for AWANA this year. He recently completed the 23rd Psalm:
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