Homeschool Weekly Wrap-Up Sept.2015

Our learning life is busy and focused, leaving little time for documentation, though I'm trying. I like to start my weekly wrap-ups with a gratitude journal, but I did that yesterday here.

Outings: About 3 different nature spots were visited late August and this month, giving the kids time to explore creeks and a river. They found salamanders, crayfish and other live treasures. We've been in a drought of sorts the last two months, so park visits have been more plentiful. Usually, summer storms get in the way of adventures. The farmers are praying for rain and we're praying with them. The local corn growers don't have much to sell, unfortunately.

Two months post eye-muscle surgery, Beth's brain is doing a good job forcing her eyes to work together. I rarely see them wander now, thank goodness. And she doesn't need glasses! Unless something changes, I don't foresee another eye muscle surgery.

This is a hive.

Beth, with her arthritis, was exhausted after this visit, what with all the climbing. The creek bed was quite a hike to get in and out of.

They were surprised to see a raccoon in plain site at the park.

Beth is playing homeschool here with her dolls and stuffies. She's teaching a Bible lesson and it warmed my heart to listen to her. My little one is wise beyond her years.

A hawk spotted on the neighbor's roof.

During the reading part of devotions the kids like to draw. Peter had been working on this undersea picture for several days.

Here Daddy is reading a Squanto book as part of the girls' Beautiful Feet Early American History curriculum. He has taken responsibility for the girls' history and science readings, alternating between them every other night, after dinner and before devotions. They are listening and drawing at a table, which works out just fine for read-alouds.

So far, they've listened to Leif the Lucky by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire , and Columbus, and Pocohontas by the same authors. Currently it's Squanto Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Bulla, which will be followed by Pilgrim Stories by Margaret Pumphrey.

I didn't buy the books from the company--only the guide. We've been ordering the books from Search Ohio, a library consortium encompassing all of Ohio's libraries. My local libraries don't have many of them, so I don't know what I'd do without Search Ohio this year, which saves us a lot of money, though I couldn't do it for the boys' curriculum. That would be too complicated since they school together and share all their books. It isn't convenient to keep track of due dates, and the charges are higher when you put books on hold from other townships/cities, unfortunately.

In All About Reading 3 we're studying vowel and consonant suffixes

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The kids get into stages where they knit and sew, and then drop it for a month or so. Mary forgot how to knit so Paul is giving another lesson, which apparently contained its share of humor because they were awfully giggly. The hardest thing about teaching knitting is getting in a position in which your student can see what your hands are doing. 

Our library recently got some new books, including these Playaway book backs, containing several books read aloud from a tiny player you attach headphones to. The packs come with the books too. My girls loved the six different packs they picked out, and Peter listened to Frindle this way.

Snacking on homemade bread while listening to a book.

The boys have been busy reading Sonlight Core H novels and books these last six weeks, featured below:

- How to Stay Christian in High School

Synopsis: High school is full of temptations. How can you stay focused on God? This book tells about teenagers in the Bible and how they handled hard issues. Their examples can help you remember your identity in Christ when life gets hard.

Escape Across the Wide Sea

Synopsis: On a crisp fall day in 1686, nine-year-old Daniel Bonnet's comfortable life is shattered when the king's soldiers destroy his family's weaving shop and threaten to murder his father. Now, because they are Huguenots, Protestants who refuse to convert to the king's religion, the Bonnets must flee France. In the ensuing violence, Daniel is left permanently maimed. Wounded and in severe pain, he embarks on an uncertain and courageous journey that will last more than two years and take him to Africa and the Caribbean on a slave ship, and finally to the colony of New York. In this stirring coming-of-age story about the founding of New Rochelle, New York, a boy must invent a new life for himself while confronting the challenges and moral complexities of slavery, inequality, and life with a disability.

- The Ravenmaster's Secret

Synopsis: Best-selling author Elvira Woodruff's thrilling novel set in 1700s London tells of a young boy who must make some painful choices as he attempts to save the life of a prisoner he's befriended.

11-year-old Forrest lives at the Tower of London prison, where his father tends the Tower ravens and guards inmates. Forrest's only friends are his pet raven, his father's prisoners (who all end up dead), and Ned, the young rat catcher. Soon Forrest's father gets a new prisoner: Maddie, the beautiful daughter of a Scottish spy. Immediately Forrest and Maddie become friends. But when she is slated for execution, Forrest must make some painful choices: Should he commit treason to help her escape, or obey the law and let his innocent friend be hung?

- In Search of Honor

Synopsis: Young Jacques Chenier, caught up in the anarchy and terror of the French Revolution, finds himself living a precarious existence as one calamity succeeds another. His biggest fight, however, is to free himself from the prison of his own bitterness.

- The Arrow Over the Door

Synopsis: For young Samuel Russell, the summer of 1777 is a time of fear. The British Army is approaching, and the Indians in the area seem ready to attack. To Stands Straight, a young Abenaki Indian scouting for King George, Americans are dangerous enemies who threaten his family and home. When Stands Straight's party enters the Quaker Meetinghouse where Samuel worships, the two boys share an encounter that neither will ever forget. Told in alternating viewpoints, The Arrow over the Door is based on a true story.

 

- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Don't ask me why this was put in with Sonlight Core H. It's usually a younger kids' read, but it's a good book with a more complex plot than first meets the eye, so many ages can glean something. It helps us see the beauty of the Christmas story with new eyes. I suppose Sonlight thought something lighter should be throw in there too.

Synopsis: The Herdmans are the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie, steal, smoke cigars, swear, and hit little kids. So no one is prepared when this outlaw family invades church one Sunday and decides to take over the annual Christmas pageant.

None of the Herdmans has ever heard the Christmas story before. Their interpretation of the tale -- the Wise Men are a bunch of dirty spies and Herod needs a good beating -- has a lot of people up in arms. But it will make this year's pageant the most unusual anyone has seen and, just possibly, the best one ever.

How was your week, friends? Thank you for reading here and have a blessed weekend!

Kris Bales from Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers is sharing her Compassion International experience here, and asks you to read about four children who need sponsors. She started supporting Compassion five years ago, after following Kristen Welsh's first Kenya trip as a Compassion Blogger, which is when we started our Compassion International relationship as well. Our Compassion kids' letters are the highlight of our months and I encourage you to check this organization out. I can't say enough good things about them. Writing to these kids is truly one of my greatest pleasures, and my children are learning so much from the whole experience. We only sponsor two, but we write to six total, four of them being correspondent children, whose own sponsors don't write to them.

You can read Compassion International's award-winning blog here.