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| Trusten's |
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| Jaden's |
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| Olivia's |
Movies We've Watched...
Can't remember what all we've watched as a family, but they include:
*Life of Pi (movie teaching that there's basically two kinds of people--bad-hearted and good-hearted and that no matter how you tell a story, the character's hearts still show through the same way, either bad or good)
*The Impossible (based on a true story about a family that lived through the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami)
*The Letter Writer (very good movie that teaches everyone can make a difference in other people's lives, available for free
*Belle and Beast (another really good movie that teaches that YOU make be the person to turn a person's heart BACK to God and that you should LOVE others even when they do not love)
*Overcome (sometimes God allows bad things to happen in order to get your attention and get you to change your life, even if that bad thing nearly kills you)
Mystery of History Lessons We've Read...
*"Ninevah Destroyed"
*"Habbakuk and Huldah"
*"Nebachadnezzar II"
*"Daniel"
*"Aesop"
*"Ezekiel"
*"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego"
*"Buddha (Siddartha Gautama)"
*"Pythagorus and the Temple of Diana"
*"Confucious"
*"Belshazzar and Cyrus the Great"
Science Lessons We've Gone Over...
We've been reading more about the human body, most recently about the heart and circulatory system, as well as the different blood cells
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| Circulatory system of the human body, model of heart, normal red blood cells, and sickle cells |
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| Close-up of heart within human body and model showing blood flow and labeling of valves, vessels, etc.; white blood bells and red blood cells |
We've also talked about seeds and plants. We planted our garden, some sunflower seeds for a sunflower house, and the kids watched me spread wildflower seed. I'm hoping to soon get flowers for my pots on my front porch.
William has constantly been busy exploring and observing everything he can get his hands on, both inside and outside. He has been studying the bird's life cycle, and he marked two eggs (though he thinks one may not be fertilized) that his favorite chicken (Grace) laid, and she's been laying on them for going on two weeks. He had tried another round with that egg incubator unsuccessfully, and I told him to get rid of it. So he took it all apart so that we can recycle the styrofoam, etc., and he kept all the warming parts and said he wanted to use it for the heater in his car (okay, so he's collecting parts and drawing plans for a real small car and hoping to save up enough for a motor, etc.). It made for hilarious dinner conversation, as Nathan thought it sounded like a good way to burn down the car (to which William said it would be all metal, except for wooden seats) or that it could electrocute someone. Well, we'll see. He wants to go to a junk yard for his birthday trip this year.
When Jaden William is not exploring, inventing, building, drawing plans, doing science experiments, taking care of chickens, making clay pottery, or talking about all the stuff he's doing or wants to do, he's researching all about various minerals and chemicals, geography, animals, historical figures, and more or reading news pieces or the Expensive Journal (or something like that) and telling me what the latest ridiculous things people buy (like $1,000 cupcakes and $46,000 pacifiers made of white gold and silver and diamonds), or he's learning various languages (he's working on several, but he concentrates most of his time on learning Dutch vocabulary), including studying the different structures of the language, how it's written, etc. He spends a lot of his time telling us about languages. I have finally talked him into going through the language courses I have on dvd about the science and linguistics of language and the "story" of human language, both taught by Professor John McWhorter at the Manhattan Institute. Very good courses. I enjoyed them a few years back. I haven't started them for him, yet, though.
Trusten is ever-improving in his reading, and his handwriting is as good as Jaden's is and even better sometimes (translating to pretty neat and that Jaden's is sometimes a lot worse than for which he is capable). Trusten also seems to have a natural ability of understanding numbers. He can already add and subtract things, and I haven't really spent much time with him on math. What a blessing! With my disliking math, and with Jaden's struggles with it, it can become a nightmare.
Olivia is so girly (except when she's playing in the mud). Her favorite things are still dressing up (she dresses and undresses all day long in both her regular clothes and her dress-up clothes), playing with her sister, playing with dolls and other girly things, and imagining and talking about mothers and babies (people and animals). She is very big on dolphins right now, even though horses still rank very high on her list. She loves to play on her designated old iPhone still, playing all sorts of girly games, making ice cream cones and burritos, tracing letters, dressing up dolls, etc. She also has started to play on Funschool (as has Trusten), and her favorite game is a princess-themed memory match game. She has also pulled down a jigsaw puzzle from a shelf, so I think I'm going to teach her how to do them. We have a few, most of them put up in a closet. I think Trusten would do them now, too. When he was younger it was of no use trying to get him to sit and do one. It seems like forever since I used to sit with William when he would put together the puzzles.
Elizabeth has taken twelve steps at a time so far. That is the best I've counted. It won't be long, I know, before she's going everywhere. I need to get out our shoe suitcase and find her some shoes. I know there are some good shoes from when Olivia was that age, and Elizabeth will be ready to walk outside before too long. She's not saying anything additional at this time, but I'm not concerned at this time. She loves to put her hands in a pair of shoes (Liv's sandals are her favorite) and crawl around like that. I was telling my momma a couple days ago that it's so funny to me, because this is about the age all my others have started putting bigger people's shoes on their feet and walked around with them, but with Elizabeth it's her hands and crawling.
New Math Curriculum
I'm very excited about the new math curriculum we're going to start using. I got the first ten books—the "elementary" level—of The Life of Fred. I got a notice today that I have a package waiting at the post office, so I know that's it. I'll be able to start at the beginning with Trusten and have Jaden sit through it, too. I think it's a dream come true, but I'll keep you updated. From the website:
IMPORTANT NOTE: These books are designed to make your child THINK! and to learn on their own. It does not give step-by-step directions and answers to every question. They learn to apply to current questions the concepts previously taught. Upon completion they will understand how math works, why it works, and how to apply it. They will know the formulas and how to apply them in real-life situations, not just situations created for a textbook. This program relies heavily on reading comprehension and thinking, not rote spoon-fed learning that is quickly forgotten. Parents can learn these novel methods along with the student, but should not try to integrate the traditional rote/memorization methods.
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One of the testimonials:
Hi,
. . . From the time I was in 2nd grade, I cried my way through math. In high school, I wrote my best friend's term papers and she did all my algebra. . . . Now, here I am with your book. . . I've found myself sitting at the kitchen table, giggling over the story lines, working out problems and actually "getting it" for the first time in my life!!!! :) And that's a very good thing since I am now a homeschool mother of 5. . . .
Just so you know, even my 7 and 6 year olds are BEGGING me to read the story of Fred to them!!!! Enough so that they're grabbing paper and pencils attempting to answer the questions with their sibling so I'll read more!!! It seems too good to be true.
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Click link for a sample from the first book, Apples.
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Sounds like a dream come true for me. This is exactly the kind of learning that is up my alley. The whole sitting-at-a-desk and learning boring "rote spoon-fed" stuff is torment to not only me but also to William (and I think everyone in this house.) Sure, in small doses, that's all fine and dandy, but...
All right, well that's it for now. I'm sure I've forgotten something that I meant to include, because seldom do I write a post where I don't forget something. That's just the way it is.
Until next time...
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