Written Narration

Jayden has begun to do written narrations. I thought this was going to be difficult...I mean, this is the first guide to have them do written narrations, and she's only in the third week! Here is her narration from today's reading in "Life in the Great Ice Age"

Jabeth's family had success in killing the wooly mammoth, and they had a feast. On the third day of the feast, Gath and Soren were figuring out where to paint a picture of a wooly mammoth, and Jabeth and Baylock heard them talking. Jabeth spoke up and said, "I know the perfect place to paint the wooly mammoth!" and he took Soren and Gath to their secret part of the cave. Soren said, "This is a great place! The air is dry and the drawing won't get smudged from the smoke from the fire." Then Soren started painting the wooly mammoth.

I am pleasantly surprised at her ability to narrate now after such a rocky start with oral narrations. In Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory, the first Heart of Dakota guide we used with Jayden, it was a struggle to get her to say one sentence that had anything to do with the daily reading. And in the beginning of just two guides later, she writes the above paragraph. I'm impressed!

New Chores

Our old way of doing chores (Job Cards) had gotten old and monotonous (and boring!), and I had basically stopped doing them. I was just giving each girl a job or two or three to do throughout the day. Just random "clean up" times.

I realized that wasn't working for any of us. The kids were feeling random and out of place, and nothing was REALLY getting done.

So I decided to split up jobs according to ability, and have them only responsible for their jobs on their Kid of the Day. All other days, they still have to do random jobs (clean up 10 things, carry something for me, garbage, wipe spots, whatever), but I tie in the random things I ask them to do with their jobs. I also paired them up (Jayden/Julianna, Grace/Evie) so the older ones could help the younger ones.

I gave everyone, based on their abilities, something easy, something a little harder, and something they just learned.... except Evie. She has all middle ground chores, easy for Grace, a little hard for her. Along with these chores that are written down (and posted daily!) I'm also training the older three in something new, that isn't on their card.

Their chores:

Evie : clean the playroom, clean the girls' room, wipe spots off the floor

Julianna : Laundry (wash a load, which includes putting the clothes into the washing machine, putting soap in, and turning it on, and put away a load, which means empty the dryer into designated spots), dishes ( wash a load, put away a load), clean living room, and clean dining room. Her "new" thing she's being trained in is loading the dishwasher.

Grace: Laundry (wash, dry, put away a load), Dishes (wash and put away a load), clean playroom, clean girls' room. Her "new" thing is going to be sweeping downstairs, but I haven't started yet.

Jayden: Laundry (wash, dry, put away), dishes (wash and put away), clean living room, clean school room, sweep downstairs. Her "new" thing is cleaning bathrooms.

So you can see the pattern :) As one girl learns a new chore well, it goes on their card, and they will begin a new chore. I'm hoping that this teaches the girls more than just how to clean. I'm hoping that it teaches them that this is their home, and they need to take pride in it. I'm hoping they learn that their job one day as a mother means they are responsible for making sure the job is done, not necessarily that they have to do it all.

And I'm also hoping that it makes the transition from living at home to living in their own home much easier than the transition I had. I was never taught to do chores. I did chores when I wanted extra money. I was also an only child and we lived frugally in a very small house. I went to public school, and my mom was home each day at least an hour before I was. I rarely saw my mom cleaning, and I know she never intentionally taught me what to do.

Not to mention that with four other people intentionally helping throughout the week should make my life easier and more open to teach them more things!

Preparing Hearts

We just finished our first week with Preparing Hearts for His Glory. We did 2 days worth of work over four days, and then today we did a full day... so we got three days worth of work done this week...

History:

We read three chapters of Grandpa's Box and corresponding Bible passages (Ephesians 6:10-20, Genesis 3:1-24 and Genesis 4:1-15), related vocabulary (traitor, warfare, and memorial), reviewed a bit of geography, and researched Coat of Arms and she designed her own coat of arms and shield.

In her independent history study she worked through a bit of Draw and Write Through History. She drew and colored plants and trees and a dinosaur (a big accomplishment because she does not like to draw or color!) and did her first cursive copywork.

Poetry / Language Arts:

This year is focused on the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson. The first poem is "The Swing." She was able to practice her creative writing by "rewriting" the poem to fit what she would see while swinging in our yard. She also learned that RLS was a sickly child and longed to be able to go outside and play as he described in the poem. For Grammar we are working through Rod and Staff: Beginning Wisely, and she has completed the first four lessons.

Math:

Singapore 3A :) The beginning is a nice easy change of pace from the end of 2B... This week was focused on thousands place value and greater/less than. A breath of fresh air!

Bible Study:

Bible Study this year is working through Psalms. This week was Psalm 1:1-2. She memorized it, learned about moods/emotions, and had her first Quiet Time lesson :)

Science:

The first book she is studying through in science is One Small Square: Arctic Tundra. She completed a notebooking page on where the tundra is located and learned about the Arctic Hare and the Ptarmigan. She learned that a ptarmigan's foot acts as a snowshoe, and she learned what a snowshoe is ;)

All in all, it was a nice, successful week. We love the pacing and the content of this new guide.

Last Day

Today is Grace's last day of Little Hearts For His Glory. It's a K-1st program. I consider the next one to be more on par for 2nd grade, and in our minds, since we school year round anyway, Grace is starting 2nd grade work Monday. She'll be 7 in January.

She actually finished yesterday, but we are tying up loose ends today. Some leftover projects we didn't get around to this week. A few workbook pages we missed. A bit of reading to tie it all together.

This is very exciting for many reasons. First of all, Grace is very excited to be done with this book and starting on the next one! She feels very grown up with the prospect of using the next Teacher's Guide herself for some of the work (copywork, but she'll be looking at the GUIDE!)

Secondly, it means that Julianna can start K in a couple of weeks when we get her math and handwriting books. She has been very very consistent in wanting to "do school" every single day. She finished her preschool work about a month ago, but I've been holding her off on K until Grace finished that guide. I didn't want them overlapping... selfish, but in my mind necessary.

So, Monday Grace will start Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory. Whenever the workbooks come in for Julianna she will start Little Hearts For His Glory "half speed". Which means that it will take her two weeks to get through each unit. Julianna doesn't know about this yet :) She will be SO EXCITED!

Today though, we have projects. We have already made a TX flag out of bread. She will make a model of Mt Rushmore out of salt dough. She'll play with oobleck to talk about how before God made the earth it was formless. It's going to be a fun day :)

A Day of School....

Ok.. it's not everything.. we covered a lot, intentionally and unintentionally today :) But here are some pictures to give you an idea.

Evie -- painting and stacking

Julianna -- we read about Jesus' birth and talked about yellow and the letter Q (We'll focus on this all week.

Grace -- We read about the Boston Tea Party

Jayden -- Read about Abe Lincoln (tied in drawing and geometry), cursive, and grammar

Jayden also did math (adding and subtracting money), Biblical meaning of forgiveness, read out of "When We Were Very Young" by A.A. Milne, and started back our reading program with a Mystery book for her to read (Treasure of Pelican Cove)

Three year olds never change!

A friend of mine posted this in a message board. It's a poem written in the early 19th century by Thomas Hood. This goes to show that a three year old is a three year old is a three year old. :)

A Parental Ode to My Son, Aged 3 Years and 5 months

Thou happy, happy elf!
(But stop,—first let me kiss away that tear—)
Thou tiny image of myself!
(My love, he's poking peas into his ear!)
Thou merry, laughing sprite!
With spirits feather-light,
Untouched by sorrow, and unsoiled by sin;
(Good Heavens! the child is swallowing a pin!)

Thou little tricksy Puck!
With antic toys so funnily bestuck,
Light as the singing bird that wings the air;
(The door! the door! he'll tumble down the stair!)
Thou darling of thy sire!
(Why, Jane, he'll set his pinafore afire!)
Thou imp of mirth and joy!
In love's dear chain, so strong and bright a link,
Thou idol of thy parents; (Drat the boy!
There goes my ink!)

Thou cherub—but of earth;
Fit playfellow for Fays, by moonlight pale,
In harmless sport and myrth,
(That dog will bite him if he pulls its tail!)
Thou human hummingbee, extracting honey
From every blossom in the world that blows,
Singing in youth's elysium ever sunny,
(Another tumble!—that's his precious nose!)

Thy father's pride and hope!
(He'll break the mirror with that skipping-rope!)
With pure heart newly stamped from Nature's mint;
(Where did he learn that squint!)
Thou young domestic dove!
(He'll have that jug off with another shove!)
Dear nursling of the Hymeneal nest!
(Are those torn clothes his best?)
Little epitome of man!
(He'll climb upon the table, that's his plan!)
Touched with the beauteous tints of dawning life
(He's got a knife!)

Thou enviable being!
No storms, no clouds, in thy blue sky foreseeing,
Play on, play on,
My elfin John!
Toss the light ball—bestride the stick—
(I knew so many cakes would make him sick!)
With fancies, buoyant as the thistle-down,
Prompting the face grotesque, and antic brisk,
With many a lamb-like frisk,
(He's got the scissors, snipping at your gown!)

Thou pretty opening rose!
(Go to your mother, child, and wipe your nose!)
Balmy and breathing music like the South,
(He really brings my heart into my mouth!)
Fresh as the morn, and brilliant as its star,
(I wish that window had an iron bar!)
Bold as the hawk, yet gentle as the dove;
(I'll tell you what, my love,
I cannot write unless he's sent above!)

Beach Trip 2011

Last week we took our annual beach trip to Hunting Island, South Carolina. It is a beautiful state park. It's quiet and calm and perfect for families with small children.

We saw beautiful sunrises and sunsets....

Had fun in the ocean and on the beach....

Even with Hurricane Irene knocking at our door!

Saw awesome sand (mud actually) sculptures created on the driftwood...

The two who were tall enough went up into the lighthouse and saw the view....

And took a walk on the marsh boardwalk and saw millions of crabs...

We also rode around at night looking for all the animals that call Hunting Island home... A special species of white tail deer, raccoons, a fox, and many many cats. This was maybe everyone's favorite part of the day. We all had a lot of fun... it's amazing to look at the pictures year after year and see how everyone and everything has grown and changed!