Totally Out There Post for New Year's Eve

I was looking at some other homeschooling blogs, and it suddenly dawned on me that I never blogged about the boys' theatre class.  At least I don't think I did. . .  I'm getting old, so my memory ain't what it used to be.

This fall, the boys took their third theatre class with Mr. Dustin at the Solon Center for the Arts.  Instead of putting on a regular play at the end of the session like they've done in the past, the kids wrote their own radio play and performed it before an audience.  It was recorded for posterity, too.  They had sound effects and everything.  I loved how they threw the script pages to the floor when they were finished reading them.  Mr. Dustin had told them all about Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio show and how radio used to be a popular form of entertainment before TV.

Holiday Week

Wow, it's been a while since I posted here.  We've been fairly busy.  This week, though, we are taking it easy, school-wise, and are having a Holiday Week.  Monday, the boys did a Chanukah crossword puzzle, a Christmas maze, and a worksheet called Mitten Math.  There were mittens with multiplication problems on them and mittens with answers on them and you were supposed to color the matching problem and answer mittens the same color.  This one kind of threw Andrew for a loop, but he finally figured it out.

After the worksheets, we read a picture book version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Eight Wild Nights: A Family Hanukkah Tale by Brian P. Cleary, and started two chapter books- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever ("What's a pageant, Mom?"- Andrew) by Barbara Robinson and Jason's Miracle: A Hanukkah Story by Beryl Lieff Benderly.

Tuesday, we did a Hanukkah word search, a math review sheet with addition problems in Christmas trees, read Heart of a Snowman by Mary Kuryla & Eugene Yelchin, and continued reading our two chapter books.  We also made a bûche de Noël, for which, the boys did most of the work.  It was pretty tasty and gluten-free, so Mom could eat it, too!

Wednesday, we did a narration of the Nativity story, about which Ed was having an attitude problem, so his is slightly hostile:

Then we did a subtraction review sheet, in which the problems were all in presents, and colored a couple of Hanukkah pictures.

Somehow, I printed off a regular menorah, and not a hannukiah, but whatever!  Then we read Nate the Great and the Crunchy Christmas by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Craig Sharmat and Hooray for Hannukah by Fran Manushkin.  We also read more in our holiday chapter books.

Thursday, they did a page of Christmas math word problems, and a page similar to the Mitten Math, but this time with Gingerbread Men.

Then, they did a page where they had to find the differences in a scene featuring an elf with toys, followed by a lesson in the ways different languages say Merry Christmas.  Then, we read Demain, c'est Noël by Claire Masurel,  Marvin's Best Christmas Present Ever by Katherine Paterson, and The Trees of the Dancing Goats by Patricia Polacco, along with the chapter books.  This was a beautiful story that had me in tears!

For Friday, we will read The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, as well as finish up the chapter books.

Recap of the past 4 weeks

Language Arts:

Grammar-  We've finished learning all the parts of speech and have moved on to learning the parts of a sentence.  We know what a subject and predicate is.  We will soon start labeling all the parts of speech and parts of the sentence in our Practice Book.

Poetry-  We've learned all about foot and meter- we can tell you the difference between an iamb and a trochee, a dactyl and and an anapest.  We learned maggie and millie and molly and may by e. e. cummings, and now we're working on Winter by William Shakespeare.

Spelling and Vocab- We've worked on different letter combinations that make the same sound like, oo, oul and u all making the same sound in words such as wood, could, and put.  We've also learned the Latin stems ex and spec and have had spelling words with those stems.

Reading- The boys have done some independent reading of nonfiction books from their library bins.  They also took turns reading The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck to me.  As a tie-in to our history lesson on China, we read a beautiful picture book called The Paper Dragon.  For read-alouds, we read Runaway Ralph and are in the middle of The Three Musketeers (children's version).  We are also listening to The Pepins and Their Problems in the car.  They've also done a couple pages in their Spectrum Reading Comprehension workbooks.

Handwriting-  We've moved on to the loopy letters- e, l, h, k, etc.

Math:    They've learned all the multiplication facts and are working on mastering them, by doing worksheets, flashcards and games.  They've done a couple Multiplication Mosaics pages, too.  They are reviewing addition on a new fun website called Clever Dragons.  Andrew thinks we will be able to move on to division soon, but I think we'll do some measurement and geometry first.

History:  We learned about the 30 Years War, and about Japan isolating itself from the outside world and driving out the Catholic missionaries.  We learned about the Manchus invading South China and driving out the Ming Dynasty.  We learned about the line of Moghul emperors in India and why Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal.  We learned about the unfortunate King Charles of England who took over from his father James I.  We learned about the Cavaliers and the Roundheads, how Charles was beheaded, and how Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England.

Have I mentioned how much I love Story of the World?  And how helpful it would have been if I'd known this stuff before I went off to college?  These kids don't know how lucky they are!

They also went to a class at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History about Plains Indians.  It was an interesting class- mostly about what resources they used to survive.  Here are a few photos from that day:

Andrew wore his headdress from Grandma, and received quite a few compliments on it.




Science:    Science has been exciting.  We've been discussing chemical reactions and and things such as catalysts that affect chemical reactions.  We looked up some really cool chemical reactions online.  You can see some of them here.   We made some chemical reactions of our own, too.  Below are photos of NaCl reacting with the CO2 of Coca Cola:

French:  We've worked on learning larger numbers, reviewing days of the week and beginning to learn the months.

Latin:  Phrases we learned- Facta, non verba, Dixi, Terra firma, Semper ubi sub ubi ubique, and Non est mea culpa.

Chess:  Watched the video about En Passant and continue to go to Chess Club.

Music:  Working on Jolly Old St. Nicholas on the recorder.  I was hoping to get them to do a duet in time for Christmas, but that's not looking too good at the moment.

Life Skills:  We made checklists for cleaning the living room and their bedroom and went over how exactly to do each item on the checklist.  We also practiced pouring drinks without spilling.

Health:  We covered hair and nail care, health care product advertising (how to read past the claims), following directions on prescription medicine,  and the difference between prescription and OTC drugs.

P.E.  Struggling with this one.  I posted about Swim & Gym, but we need to figure out something more. I do make them do random exercises, but my New Year's resolution is to get a better phys. ed. routine going.

I think I've covered just about everything.  I'm sure I forgot some stuff, but it's getting late, and I'm being beckoned to the second floor for bedtime routines.

Eddie broke my camera.

So, I've been using Nellie's camera, but this is really cramping my style.  I've been so used to having the camera out to take pictures of school stuff and delicious food.  Whatever will I do?  Maybe if I'm a really good girl, Santa will bring me a camera for Christmas.

Stolen from another homeschooler . . .

This is from an article ‘Home Is Where the School Is’ by Patricia Heidenry from the October 19, 1975 issue of The New York Times Magazine. " My desire to educate the children at home is based essentially on my belief that it is almost immoral for the children to spend a large portion of their youth in one building with more than a thousand other children and teachers in an environment that is lifeless and not life-giving. I use the word "immoral" to emphasize how strongly I feel about the time that is wasted by children in school. And I use it to indicate that this time wasted is something more important than children's I.Q.'s. Our children's lives – not their reading scores – should be our primary Concern. Children's lives are more than products that must he molded until they adapt well to society, or to another school, or to the work force. As it is now, a child's life is very much bound up with schools and schooling, and that animating force that gives life to each child is ignored in the rush to maintain reading levels, to excel academically, to make the honors class, to pass and to gain admittance to college. Children have no control at all over their lives in most schools. Their personalities and their individual talents are never the basis of the curriculum."

Craft Fair Goods

Well, my first show wasn't that great, but I think it was mainly because there weren't a whole lot of customers.  I'm holding out hope for the next show.  Thanks to Aunt Kaki for sitting with me the whole time and for pushing the purses and gift card holders!

As promised, I'm posting a picture of my setup.  This was the original setup, then with the help of Aunt Kaki, we rearranged some things.

Brussels Sprouts

Okay, I know most people equate brussels sprouts with torture, but come on, people, don't these look scrumptious?

I made them with a recipe for an orange juice glaze that I took out of one of my brother-in-law Jerry's cookbooks about 9 years ago.  I love this stuff!

Swim and Gym

So, the boys finally admitted to enjoying themselves at one of the CSU homeschool Swim and Gym sessions.  And, I finally remembered to bring my camera, although the pictures came out pretty blurry.

This month's session was swimming lessons and Flag Football.  There was a big age range of kids, but I was impressed at how well the older kids included the younger kids in the game.

Deliciousness

I haven't had much time, nor have I been too inspired to cook lately, so meals around here have been pretty boring lately- until last night.  Nellie had brought home a jar of sundried tomatoes that had been sitting on the counter, calling to me for several days.  Sitting outside in the chill night air, passing out candy to trick-or-treaters, made me very hungry, so I dreamed up this concoction, then came in to cook it while Nellie stayed out with the candy bucket:

I sauteed onions in olive oil over medium low heat to get them nice and sweet, then browned a pound of organic, grass fed ground beef in with the onions.  While it was cooking, I added garlic powder, dried oregano and basil, crushed red pepper flakes (for a little kick!) and some salt and pepper.    When the meat was done, I drained the fat, added the tomatoes until they were heated through, then poured the concoction over brown rice spaghetti noodles that I had been cooking while preparing the rest of the food.  In the meat pan, I added a couple tablespoons of water, and wilted a couple handfuls of baby spinach, which I stirred into the dinner.  

This was SO delicious.  I wish I had more.  But I used all the tomatoes, or I would make more right now!  Shopping on Friday, so guess what I'm having for dinner this weekend!

Wow! Week 8 is over already!

I can't believe we have finished our eighth week of school.  October has been very busy with Cub Scouts, Croptoberfest and various other activities, so I feel that my focus has shifted slightly away from school.  I'm  ready to set up my next 4 weeks of lesson plans, so I'm eager to get back on track with the schooling vibes.

Here's a brief rundown of what we've been doing:

In history, we've covered the first English settlers to North America and their relations with the native peoples.  We learned about how and why the slave trade developed and about the proliferation of tobacco.  We read books about the English settlers, books about the areas of Africa from whence came the slaves, and we've read some African folk tale books to go along with the unit.  Next, we moved on to what was happening during roughly this same time period in the middle east.  We learned that many different peoples conquered the area formerly known as Persia.  We learned that it is now called Iran and read a book about Iran.  We also learned about the Ottoman Turks who restored parts of the Ottoman Empire and captured Constantinople, renaming it Istanbul.  The Turks even conquered parts of Europe before their empire grew too big and fell apart like the Roman Empire had.

In science, we've been learning more about atoms and molecules and how everything in the universe is made up of these tiny particles.  We have begun exploring how atoms join together to form molecules and have touched on covalent bonds and electron shells.  We will be delving more into these matters (pun intended) as our study of chemistry continues.

In health, we watched videos about how to properly brush one's teeth and what happens to teeth when we don't take care of them.  I've already posted our pictures of the eggshell decay experiment.  Other topics we've covered in health have been saying no to drugs and alcohol, adrenaline and stress, having a good self image, and getting enough rest.

In life skills, I'm proud to report that both boys have finally learned to tie their shoes!!!!  It's fabulous.  We've also reviewed personal information like address, phone number, etc.  I also taught them my cell phone number, which I'm realizing may have been a mistake.  I've already received calls on my cell from Andrew, wanting to know where I hid the candy and whether or not he could watch a TV show.  We also talked about caring for personal property and had a unit on conversation skills.

Math is progressing.  We've covered multiplication by 0, 1, 2, 10, 5, 9, and 3 so far.  The boys have a pretty good handle on those factors.   Interspersed with learning multiplication, we have done review of addition and subtraction of numbers in the hundreds and column addition.  Programmed into their multiplication lessons are some lessons on measurement.  They've learned there are 2 pts. in a quart, 3 ft. in a yard, 3 tsp. in a tablespoon, etc.

Language Arts is great.  We've learned a couple of new poems- The Cow by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Wind by James Stephens.  We've also learned about linking verbs, adjectives and adverbs and we are identifying them in sentences.  Only 3 more parts of speech to go, baby!  We are also practicing using the parts of speech we know in sentences.  Spelling and vocabulary have been going well.  The boys like writing poems from lists of words that have the same roots.  Here are copies of their "de" poems:

For kids who detest writing, this MCT program really gets them motivated to write a little something.   The handwriting is still sketchy, but at least they are enthusiastic about writing, instead of throwing fits about it, like last year.


The boys have read several books and done a couple of book reports.  They have also read books for the homeschool book club, which they whine about, but I think they really like.  They are still reading Beast Quest and Star Wars books on their own time, so they like to read.  We finished Blood on the River about Jamestown, and are now reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle for our evening read-aloud.  We will take a pause to read a short Halloween novel next week, but then we will finish up the Ralph S. Mouse books before we move on to the sixth Harry Potter book.

Cursive handwriting is going fairly well.  They have now learned a, c, d, g, i, j, p, q, t, u and w.  Next week we'll cover r and s.  They are able to spell a few words in cursive now, and that is starting to excite them a little. Soon, we'll be able to do all our lessons in cursive.  Yippee!

Music is going slowly.  They've learned a new note -D- on their recorders and a new song. We are still practicing playing the notes for the proper count, and reading the music without writing the letters above the notes on the sheet music.

Art is still the bane of my existence.  They still seem to like the Artistic Pursuits lessons, but they're still drawing very simplistic, stick-like drawings.  The topic or medium doesn't seem to matter.  I'm may farm out the art next year.  Here are the landscapes they drew:
                          
                        Andrew                                                            Eddie



Chess is advancing rapidly.  The lessons on the DVD are getting more complex.  We may need to slow it down a bit.  My friend Susan started a chess club at her house, so we go and play with her son, and a couple of other boys.  I think this will really help all the kids improve their game.

We went to another Swim and Gym at CSU.  The sport was floor hockey, and from my observations through the gym window, the boys had a blast.  We've done random other things, like some calisthenics, walking around the block, stretching, etc., but I really need to get on the ball with daily exercise.  That has been the thing I've slacked off on most this year.  Last year, we did a great job of daily exercise.  This year- not so much.

I'm looking forward to catching up on some things that got left out in the rush of October, and to a couple of theme weeks that are fast approaching.  Homeschooling is so much fun!

ETA:  I almost forgot about French!  We've been reviewing numbers, colors and household vocabulary.
We've also kept up with our Latin words and phrases- we've done de die in diem, sanctum sanctorum (in honor of Yom Kippur), annus mirabilis, and fortis et liber, to name of few in the recent past weeks.

Brush your teeth!

This week's Life Skills/Health lesson is about proper dental hygiene.  We did an experiment that really made an impression on the boys.  I explained that eggshells are made up of elements that are similar to human teeth.  We talked about how teeth are coated in a natural enamel.  I explained that proper brushing and flossing helps to keep the enamel intact, so that it can protect our teeth from decay.  We looked at some pretty gross pictures online of tooth decay and gum disease. The boys were revolted by the pictures.  We broke an eggshell in half, washed it out and dried it.  Then, I sprayed one half with an enamel sealant and let it dry.  A few hours later, we set both eggshell halves into a dish of vinegar, which represented the acid that forms from plaque buildup on your teeth.

This morning, we looked at the eggshells, and even I was shocked at how much the vinegar had eaten away at the shell that was not protected.

veggies

Had to share this yummy dish I made to take to my scrapbooking weekend.

All kinds of summer squash, green beans, onions, tomato, kidney beans, peppers.  So good.  Served it over rice noodles.  And yes, mom, there are leftovers of this, too.

Lots of blogging to catch up on!

So, we finally got some mold to grow on some of our bread that we touched with dirty hands.  After about 6 days of sitting in a bowl with some water, this is all we got:

I just don't understand.  My house really isn't that clean.  Why won't the germs grow?  ; )

In other news of the weird, the boys came downstairs like this:

They were calling themselves the "Two Person Man" and kept saying, "We're bros!"  I don't know what that was all about.  I swear- I do take them out of the house to interact with other people!  They are not going crazy from being cooped up at home all day!

Today, after a trying morning of lots of whining and complaining (on my part, as well as their parts), I was in the kitchen doing dishes.  It was awfully quiet, so I came into the living room to see what was going on, and this is what I saw:

After hours of fighting with each other and aggravating me, they both crashed on the couch, reading books.  Gotta love it.

Oh, Edward!

Daddy had a really great idea to get Ed to be enthusiastic about his Cub Scout walk in the woods this evening:

                                                                  Mosquito Netting!