The first week of school

The boys' teepee villages we made in history:

The first week of school has gone really well! So much better than last year! We now do our writing as part of science or history-- I have them write 4 sentences about what they learned or something like that. I'm pretty much only using the K12 language arts, and only a little bit. I take what they say to do for Alex and Nathan and mix it together and use it to create my own so they can still do it together. I'll use the K12 science for a general outline.

For science, I am using Apologia Flying Creatures, and science experiment books, and Discovery Channel Science series books and other books from the library. The only book I am using that wasn't at the library was the Apologia-- I love the Provo library! I will use the topics from K12 science for that grade. I will either read from the book (they are interesting books we get at the library, not like a textbook) or I read it and say it in my own words or make an activity or something out of it. Then we do a science "experiment" that has to do with what we learned about. On Wed. we read one page about states of matter in the Discovery Channel Science book "Matter" and then we did a couple of experiments I saw in the experiment books: we took matches and put different objects in the fire to see if they melted, burned or stayed the same-- of course the boys really enjoyed that. Then we put different things like oil, syrup, lotion, water, salt water, enchilada sauce into plastic cups and put them in the freezer to see which ones froze. We also put ice cubes in different places to see which ones melted first. The one on the black grill in the sun melted in about 10 seconds! The last thing we did was to put in a muffin tin with muffin liners: bread, salt, sugar, water, butter and put it in the oven on 400 degrees for about 20 min. and see what happened. They really loved science!

For history, I have the "History of US" series from the library that I read to myself and some other books on the subjects we are learning. Then I'll tell it in my own words to the boys, showing some pictures, and then we read books from the library on that subject, do projects (for Native Americans I got "More than Moccassins" book from the library) and go on field trips. Tues. I told them that the Native American Indians were here first in North America, and told them what the book "Trail of Tears" (Landmark Events in American History) said in my own words. Then we made teepees. I started reading for our read aloud book "The Sign of the Beaver" by Elizabeth George Speare. I got library books on different Indian tribes, and lots of picture books of Indian legends. So on Thurs. we read about the Cherokees, and read an Indian legend book, and went to the BYU museum of peoples and cultures (it had just closed, so we're going right now, as soon as Baby Katie wakes up from her nap).

Fridays are going to be the homeschool group get togethers, and PE at the public school.

One thing I had a hard time with was getting everything in. This last week has been a breeze. I think part of it is that we are not reading off the computer so I have the kids attention longer, and they are older. Another thing is that I start with math and language arts, have lunch, and then we do the fun things: art, history, music and science. But we do art and science on Mon. and Wed. and music and history on Tues. and Thurs. I make the 30 min. of reading to me "homework" and not part of the school day, and the read aloud is either in the car on CDs or at bedtime- CDs or me reading. I just need to add piano lessons and foreign language! Maybe next week.

2 book recommendations

We recently found two picture books at the library that we really love and recommend them to you highly!

books on cd

We haven't done school the past 2 weeks because we went to AR, and then spent a week putting things back together and having our "summer break" before our start of second grade. We went and got the boys new pants and we'll get them a new shirt and a lunchbox. Then we'll have a "first day of school" and go to the park or something and eat our lunch. Maybe I'll think of some other fun first day of school activities.

We started getting books on cd at the library. I like it because I'm horrible at reading aloud, so it's better when a professional is reading the book. On our long drive to AR we listened to Charlotte's Web and Henry Huggins on CD and we listened to Greek myths by Jim Weiss. They really liked the Greek myths so I looked up Jim Weiss and he has done a lot of other stories on CD so I think I will start a collection of his.

black holes

Nathan got a book at the library about space and has been interested in black holes because of it, so yesterday we went to the Planetarium and watched a show about black holes in the dome theater. It was very interesting. The show talked about Albert Einstein and Nathan said, "I like math and I'm learning about black holes, so maybe I could be like him (Albert Einstein)."

my thoughts on art and music appreciation

I was thinking about music and art appreciation and I realized that it is:
1. a way for a person to express feelings and creativity; to find music and art that speaks to your mood and helps you express what you are feeling-- either making it or appreciating it from others
2. help others
3. praise God
4. to enjoy -- to expose them to a wide variety of music and art so they can find what they like

I don't want to limit my kids' art and music appreciation to Mozart and Monet, because that is only part of the spectrum. I want to teach them about all sorts of genres of art and music so they can find what they like that is uplifting. I want to include contemporary music in music appreciation because there is a lot of uplifting music (and obviously not uplifting) that there is to choose from. I want to expose them to jazz, the Beatles and Elvis, classical, soundtracks, contemporary, and all sorts. I also want to use music to teach. I used to play "I am Not My Hair" by India Arie for the kids at Sage Creek. Here are some of the lyrics:

I am not my hair, I am not this skin, I am not your expectations, I am the soul that lives within. Does the way I wear my hair make me a better person? Does the way I wear my hair make me a better friend? Does the way I wear my hair determine my integrity? No- I'm expressing my creativity. It's not what's on your head it's what underneath.

I think I'll play the Superman song by Five for Fighting and have them listen to the words and see if they can figure out who they are talking about so they can learn to pay attention to lyrics. I'll play Apologize by One Republic and have them listen to the different instruments and melodies that play at the same time, and how he is expressive in his singing, and have them clap to the beat to learn to keep time. I'll play Permanent by David Cook and tell them that his brother died of cancer that week that he sang that and how he is expressing his feelings through the song. Those are some of the ways to use contemporary music to teach and find uplifting music among the smuck of contemporary music. I want to teach them how to select good music. I'd be stupid to think they'd only listen to classical music as teenagers.

While I was listening to Kris Allen's song, Falling slowly, and the lyrics "Take this sinking boat and point it home; Raise your hopeful voice; you have a choice; Sing your melody and I'll sing along" made me think of my kids and what I'm trying to teach them: I want to teach them that when they world is the sinking boat, to raise their hopeful voice and speak out for good and truth-- sing their melody (and I'll sing along).

Art doesn't have to just be Monet and Manet. Here is one my favorite artist: http://www.beckykellystudio.com/ . (I also love James Christiansen) We can start by studying good illustrations in books. We'll study the classics, too, but we won't limit ourselves to just that.