Chemicals, Animals Galore, Pizarro and the Incas, and Speech Therapy

Let's see...


I don't remember a lot of the things we've talked about since the last time I updated, and I really have not keep many notes in my daily planner over the last few weeks.  We've had some nice conversations, though, and we've read a lot of interesting things together.  Some highlights:

When William and I were preparing for breakfast one morning, I noticed I was out of muffin liners.  I would have to grease the pan and put the batter straight in.  Well, I didn't have my better of two pans.  There were rust spots in some of the cups, so I talked about it to William.  I explained what rust was, where it occurred, how it happens.  I started off asking him questions to get him to think.  Then I would explain.  Then I talked about elements and compounds.  I took a pen and jotted down different chemical compounds on a piece of paper on the kitchen counter.  I wrote down the chemical symbols for water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sodium chloride.  I talked about the differences between CO2 and CO and reviewed what he knew about the former and explained in what applications the latter was found and how dangerous it was, etc.  We talked about sea salt and refined salt, where salt is refined to sodium chloride.  I told him I'd get him a periodic table poster so that he could learn more about the elements and their symbols.  It's on our dining room wall, and we all like it.


We've been reading about sea otters, rattlesnakes, red squirrels and gray squirrels and how the latter are overtaking the former's habitat in Europe, how cell phones require mining for coltan which is toxic, and the mining poses many problems to gorillas in Africa for many reasons, and "dancing" animals such as "leaping lemurs" (sifakas) and sand-diving lizards.  We've read all this in the November Ranger Rick magazine.   We read all about owls and other things in Your Big Backyard.  Then in the Dec/Jan issues, we read about different kinds of bears, chameleons, penguin and how scientists study them (specifically Adelie penguins)--Will loves penguins, how different animals sleep, the conventionally-farmed sugar cane pesticide and synthetic fertilizer threat to the Everglades, and more.

I also have my December/January Birds & Blooms magazine, and William and I look forward to learning how to hand feed winter birds.  I really wonder whether we'll be able to master it!  We've decided to read and then try.  I'm sure it takes a lot of patience and a lot of time.  

Will has finished three or more Cul-de-Sac Kids books since my last update.  He tells me about them when he's finished.  He also finished reading about Pizarro and the Incas.  After he finished, he said, "Momma, I guess that El Dorado movie is true." That was an animated movie that someone (I think my sister) bought one of the boys.  Trusten wanted to watch that movie so many times!  Will got sick of it.  I think it's at my parents' now.  Anyway, briefly it's about two guys who get themselves in a lot of trouble, because they cause mischief stealing and such.  Well, they go from Spain to South America to the land of "El Dorado" where they allow the tribesmen there to believe they are gods so that they can get tip-top treatment and gifts of gold and other treasure.  It then shows what are assumed to be Spanish conquistadors arriving to conquer and seek gold.  So, I explained to him that the movie, of course, was untrue (and we had already talked before about the moral lessons in the movie), but it had parts based on true history.  At least I know that he's really reading the books and getting something out of them.  I think he has started on the book about Leonardo da Vinci.  He usually keeps a Cul-de-Sac Kids book out in the truck to read on the days we go to town.  He keeps one of the other books on his dresser in his bedroom.  I think he's about to read a book he has about Abraham Lincoln, because he asked about him, and I found a book that we have here about him.  I'd read it to him a couple years ago.

Trusten watches Meet the Letters or Meet the Numbers nearly every morning.  He's taking breaks as of late, though, because he's getting burned out.  I know they're helping, though, because now he shows me the magnetic letters on our refrigerator and names most of them that he picks up correctly.  Good videos for young children who like watching videos to learn the alphabet, numbers, and other things.  Preschool Prep has other videos, but Trusten has known his colors for a very long time, and he knows his shapes.  As for sight words, I may consider getting those videos in the future.  I've loved doing flashcards with William for such things, especially since we can sit and snuggle in the recliner together.  Trusten likes to sit with me, too, but not for long.  About the only way to get him to sit still for long is to let him watch a movie. 

Will is so excited about winter coming.  He was happy to see a little ice out there today from water freezing, so he asked whether he could go bust it.  :-) 

I want to get started back on Prepare & Pray, just going through and picking things that need to be taught to the boys for survival.  I'll do it how I decide. 

After William is finished with the Complete Curriculum Grade 2, I don't think I'm getting any of the others.  I have enough things around here to teach spelling skills, language arts, etc.  I have this great book called Basic Knowledge that I've had since a child.  My mother bought it for me.  Reading can be practiced with the Bible and history and science books, encyclopedias, magazines, etc. 

I believe children should have all their basic education finished by the age of 12 or 13...certainly it doesn't take until 18!  For crying out loud, it's clear to me that God created the human being to be going through adult training (boys with fathers and girls with mothers) during the adolescent years, and this has been my plan all along.  So, I'll continue on with it.  I just need a math curriculum.  I don't think I can teach math well enough without it.

I have been going through a speech curriculum, as Will needs help with speech (and Trusten with certain things such as wrong plurals, wrong pronouns, wrong past tenses).  It's called Straight Talk, and I've not finished reading through it all.  Of course, I skipped a great deal in the middle, as it did not apply.  It sounds as if I'm already doing mostly the right things to help Trusten, which is to correct what he says by repeating all of what he said back to him in a positive way, except with corrections.  I guess it just takes time.  As for William, he still stutters and has pronunciation problems, and so I'm working on that.  One of the things I've been in the process of doing for awhile is to slow down my own speech, because I think that has contributed to the problem.  I suppose at some point it has been ingrained within me to hurry up saying what I have to say, otherwise someone is not going to listen to me.  I've spent too much time in the past around impatient people who want me to listen to what they have to say but don't care what I have to say.  So, I've been slowing it down, at least around my sweet babies.  When I'm around people who don't care about anything I have to say, I've been learning to just not talk as much.  Why waste my breath or time?

When William goes fast, I remind him to SLOW down, that I'm listening to him and that it actually doesn't take as long to talk about what he wants to talk about if he slowly does it and gets everything out the right way the first time.  I still have a ways to go for my own self.  I had speech therapy for two years as a child, but my speech is still not the greatest.  I don't have the same problems as either of the boys (and they each have different problems, as I already explained), but I do have to speak very slowly in order to pronounce everything well and to get my thoughts out intelligibly.  I have so much in my mind, as I'm a deep thinker and a studious individual, that my mind works more quickly than I can talk, and I'm detail-oriented, too.  William takes after me in these things, so I am very sympathetic toward him.  I've decided, too, that I do not care if I am talking REALLY slowly to someone.  I believe that's simply the way I need to do it.  I need to organize my thoughts slowly as I go.

Will tried some sewing on his own, though I told him to wait on me.  I plan to do some together before the winter is over and to start learning to crochet.  The following are some pictures I've taken over the past month and a half.

Will sewing some paints

Will on a ladder.  He'd watched Nathan clean out the gutters

 One of Nathan's clients gave him an extra gingerbread kit they had, and so William put it all together.  I originally started helping in the beginning, but all we did together was put the house frame up.  After that, William did it all, with of course his letting Trusten help put some of the easy stuff on.  I think Will did a great job!  Inedible ingredients, in my opinion, but cute.

William's gingerbread house

Side view

Back view

We got the flannel board and some felt pieces of the human body out several days ago.  We'll continue doing this so that the boys can learn more about our bodies and the way that they work.

The boys and I watched a movie called Legend of the Guardians:  Owls of Gahoole.  That was a good animated movie, and it had a good moral lesson.  Another good movie we all watched was My Name is Khan, though it made me cry a lot.

Well, this sums it up until next time.