Five Favorites (Back to School Edition)

Heather hosts Five Favorites now!  You know Heather, right?  Of course you do!  So do I... she's a friend in real life and in living color (and she sure is colorful, let me tell you!)  I'm linking up with said friend because I love her, and let's be honest - who can resist a good old Back to School anything?  Not me!  This is my time of year!  And, I mean, she mentioned me in her Five Favorites list thereby prompting me to panic about the "you scratch my back I'll scratch your back"  subtleties of blogging, only to realize one second later that Heather and I are friends and are way too cool and mature to fall prey to that sort of thing ;)  

So here are some of my favorite things to use in our little one room school house that are not books (because ohhhhhhhhh you know I love books and there's no need to write a whole other post about that right now...)

Five Favorites for Homeschool That Are Not Books or Curriculum

(1)

Scotch Thermal Laminator

I might have this laminator even if we didn't homeschool, but I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it's been for flashcards, and DIY dry erase worksheets, and just protecting stuff that I don't want ruined.  Besides making flashcards nearly indestructible, one of the best things I've used this for has been my chore board magnet system - the kids know what they need to do each morning, they move the magnet when it's done, and the magnet stays in tact because - hard melted plastic:

used to do this with lessons to, but have a different system underway this year...

(2)

Melissa & Doug Write-a-Mat place mat: 

United States Presidents

Last year the boys memorized all the American presidents (to the tune of Yankee Doodle).  They would sing or say the list and ask, "Mom, was that right?" and though I have a Master of Arts in American history, I was never quite able to say "yes" or "no" with certainty.  I bought the place mat for $2 at the grocery store and learned the song.   It's been up in our dining room ever since.    

(3)

Chalk Pastels

I've mentioned this before, but last year we discovered chalk pastels and really enjoyed learning how to use them.  This year we are going to get some more practice in using Tricia Hodges/Lucia Hames' book A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels.  

Here's a Monet copy-cat project the kids did with pastels last year:

(4)

Mason Jars

If you are not currently using mason jars for 50% of your homeschool storage needs, you may need an organizational makeover.  (The other 50% of your storage should be in the form of the best baskets in the world - click on THIS LINK and check out number 2 to see how I use the baskets for all the homeschool stuff that won't fit in a mason jar.

Mason jars are my go-to storage solution for science magnets, magnifying glasses, math counting stones, pencils, scissors, bits of chalk, glue sticks, and the cut flowers we sometimes have on the table.  And Mom's elixir of life - the afternoon iced coffee...

(5)

Like-minded Friends on the Same Crazy Ridiculous Awesome Journey

I don't think I could survive homeschooling in a vacuum.  An essential "favorite" for me and I think any homeschooling family is support - other families who are doing similar stuff, have a similar world view and similar desires for their kids.  I'm so grateful to have those friends here.  The past two Tuesdays, I've had the joy of spending the mornings with twelve amazing moms and 38+ fabulous kids at a local creek.  Splashing and socializing, conversation and crayfish.  A supportive community for myself, fun and edifying friends for my kids - definitely some of the most important tools for the start of a successful homeschool year :)

Don't forget to head over to Mama Knows, Honeychild to hear Heather dish on some of her back-to-school favorites :)

Crime and Pu...Nourishment (Stretching a Dostoyevsky Reference a Bit Too Far Just to Make Some Recommendations on Books Not by Dostoyevsky )

The other day someone asked me how Sweet Baby James was sleeping at night and how night-nursing was going.  "Oh, it's been mostly fine.  Nursing in the quiet of night gives me the opportunity to catch up on a little Chesterton."  The inquirer may have thought me very clever and academic-like, but she was none the wiser since I hadn't quite specified...  I'm just still trying to get through G. K.'s Father Brown mysteries :) I started them when Clare was born two years ago, but the complete set I had borrowed from the library was so dang big and heavy, it wasn't a very nursing-friendly tome.  There's only so much you can manage with a tiny human attached to you and one hand free.  But now I've got the complete mysteries on my phone (99 cents in the Kindle Store!)so I'm able to manage much better :)  

I can think back to when I was nursing each of my children as newborns and recall the books that I read during that time. Mysteries come up frequently, particularly the Jane Austen Mysteries by Stephanie Barron.  They are an easy read, but are thoroughly entertaining and often quite suspenseful. If you're a fan of Austen and mysteries, I can pretty safely guarantee you'll enjoy these books.  If you're a stuffy Jane Austen scholar, maybe not. But I'll let you sort that out for yourself.  

Barron's series of 11 (soon to be 12 !!!! books) are written as if they were the long lost journals of Jane Austen which were only recently "discovered" in a basement.  In them Jane willingly, but rather accidentally, serves as a detective for a variety of crimes, and ends up solving many a mystery while she moves about her ordinary life in turn-of-the-19th-century England. Readers are introduced to many of the players in Austen's real life - her sister Cassandra, her brothers, sister in law, nieces and nephews, etc... as well as several fictional characters including one with whom she develops a compelling, though restrained, romance.  I've enjoyed all of the stories in the series and am looking forward to the latest, Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas, purported to come out this fall.  (It is best to read the books in order if possible, as there are story lines which carry through and develop throughout.)  

There is a nice review of Barron's series here.  And a list of the books in the order that they were written is here.  

* * * * * *

Aaron has jumped on the bandwagon that is crime-solving while I nourish the baby.  He has been reading Mercy Watson Fights Crime by Kate DiCamillo to us (typically while I'm feeding James on the couch, which incidentally, is the exact same time that everyone else has to be on the couch.) I checked a few of the Mercy Watson books out of the library at Erin's (from Seven Little Australians and Counting) recommendation.  We've been thoroughly enjoying the quirky and funny adventures of the beloved household pig, Mercy.  The books are perfect for Aaron, who is able to read them independently.  Mercy Watson Fights Crime has been the favorite so far - it's hard not to enjoy a story about a bumbling thief who wants to be a cowboy and the toast-loving "porcine wonder" who foils him :)

that 's James and me in the bottom left corner :) 

So there you have it.  A series for you, based on one of the great literary geniuses and social commentators of Regency England.  And a series for your kiddos, based on... a pig. 

I think you'll enjoy both! 

A Spring Tradition Involving Dessert (Keep-It-Simple Science)

(I love living in an area of the world where we get all four seasons to the extreme, and I love finding ways to celebrate each one of them with my family!  Sounds cheesy?  I don't care!  Love it.)

Four years ago the boys found their first robin's egg while on a Spring walk.  Since then, we've had a tradition that when we find the first robin's egg of Spring, we make candy nests to celebrate.

This year, Aaron found the first robin's egg without us :(  He spotted it on a nature walk he took with the kids at the homeschool study center.  

I wasn't going to officially count it as the first egg for the family, but since then we haven't had much luck.  The neighbors are probably starting to wonder why we've taken to wandering the neighborhood at all hours with our heads drooping down, randomly circling trees.... "Oh, it's those people from down the block again...  Didn't we see them picking up a dead mouse from our yard last Spring?  Should we call someone about them???"

We've had no luck until yesterday, and even yesterday's finds weren't actual robin eggs. But we're combining the egg-found-outside-the-family-unit and the family-neighborhood-walk discoveries from yesterday and calling it a win.  (We are in league with the mailman who has promised to alert us to the next robin egg he sees, so we are hopeful this isn't the end.  Believe me, my kids won't let him forget his promise.) 

still have not identified this egg... will carefully sift through any and all suggestions offered by readers who happen to be bird enthusiasts

we used our bird guides to identify this as a robin's nest - messy outside,
neat grass inside, layer of mud in between

a nest Aaron found about two weeks ago... several friends have indicated it's
probably a finch's nest

We've got some fine material for our nature notebooks here. (Ohhh, the nature notebooks... we got them out today only to find that the last entries were from October, if that tells you anything...)  More on that soon.

So............. on to the chocolate nests.  We've never been able to find a pale blue Jelly Belly, so have had to settle for the dark blue ones... a bit overpowering and not robin's egg blue, yet they suffice.  This year we also bought some toasted marshmallow jelly beans to imitate the cream speckled egg we found.  One year we tried an elaborate recipe for the nests that involved Chinese noodles, pretzels, chocolate, marshmallow fluff (gag) and peanut butter - the nests were very 'moldable' and we were able to make very neat and tidy nest shapes.  Too much work though.  Now we just go with melted dark chocolate discs and Chinese noodles. (If you make these, do yourself a favor and add some peanut butter to the warm chocolate!)  They are not so moldable and are wacky and messy - true to robin nest form, I guess.  

I can't even begin to imagine how to get a carb count on one of these things... but other than that potential hiccup, we're all looking forward to dessert tonight!

You can see by my children's serious faces that making the nests each year is no laughing matter.  We take "fun" very seriously around here...

a proud mom moment

Confession:  Sometimes I forget that we (my husband and I) home school for the kids' sake.  Sometimes, I think it's all about me.  Isn't that terrible????  Even as I write it, I can't believe how crazy and disordered it is...  But I forget, sometimes.  And I start thinking that homeschooling is about me accomplishing things - all the lessons I've planned and how well I've executed them.  I think it's about the good books I've gotten and activities I've organized and... brace yourselves... sometimes I even attribute the success of my children to... me.  

Then, I fail miserably at something, or everything doesn't go according to plan (for like, a whole month.)  And  my eyes are opened, my heart is softened, and I remember... it's ok, because this is not all about me.  God is the Lord of our home education, and He's doing something with this despite my weaknesses and mistakes.  He forgives my pride and reminds me, "Do this for My glory and for their good.  Be happy and holy in your home school!"

Today, my oldest son, without dawdling or complaining, read an entire book before the kitchen timer went off (a necessity to keep his perfected art of wasting time in check).   He was beaming!  I was practically jumping up and down!  His little sister, who was listening at the doorway, said, "That was a nice story!"  And I thought, he did so well!    He has really worked so hard this past year.  He is getting it.  My  His hard work is paying off.  It's not all about me.

My five-year-old son shocked the heck out of me when he remembered (after the 10-day Christmas break) how to read three-digit numbers.  One high five wasn't even sufficient!  We went for 5 - 10 -15 - 20 - 25, etc... (my trick for teaching skip counting by fives since they were babies facing me in the shopping cart seats!)  And today he completed his third book in his reading program.  THIS from the kid who couldn't identify all 26 letters back in September.  He's trying so hard!  I've He's done an AMAZING job!!  He's a READER!!! 

I am so humbled by their efforts.  I don't think my children comprehend it, but their dedication and perseverance in their studies gives glory to God in our home.  (I don't think they get this because they look at my kind of cross-eyed and say, "huh?" when I try to talk about it...)  They are glorifying God in their phonics and handwriting and art and all of it!  I am so happy and humbled to be a part of it.  

I don't give my children enough credit.  Too often, I pat myself on the back for the good things I see in them.  Too often I congratulate myself when they accomplish something worthwhile - especially where their education is concerned.  Obviously, I direct their school lessons, correct their work, encourage, enthuse and excite.  And obviously, I occasionally have to insist they complete their work, complete it well and complete it, uh... completely.  But I must not forget that they earn their successes.  They have achieved because they have persevered.  They have put in as much effort as, or more than, I have in this home school thing.  They're doing AMAZING.  And I am so proud of them.  

I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach my children at home.  I'm so relieved that we wake every morning with the renewed hope and promise of a happy and holy school day and I truly pray that we will not neglect any opportunity to glorify God through our lessons.  God has shown me a glimpse of His goodness through the strengths and efforts of my children.  So today I decided to take and post a couple pictures of my kiddos to show off how great they are doing in school.  Because I am bursting with pride for them, and today, it's all about them.  

Aaron upon finishing "The Sunset Pond" in a single sitting (I highly recommend the
 Books to Remember series, by Laura Appleton-Smith!) and coloring a
Great Blue Heron (I also LOVE Dover Coloring Books)

Dominic finishing "Dad's Hat" and practicing three-digit numbers!

Ruth working on letters and "math."

Clare enjoys the classics.  She's very advanced.


A.M.D.G

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

My oldest, who studied Latin this past semester, is always asking me stuff like, "How do you say garbage truck and off highway truck in Latin?" or "How do you say 'Stop touching my Legos' in Latin?'" or "How do you say 'Let's watch YouTube videos of Lego garbage trucks' in Latin?"  So it got me thinking, How do you say those things?  I know that all of the official documents that come out of the Vatican are written in Latin, and that many of them are about life in the modern world and  things related to technology (media, Internet, etc...).  The ancient Romans weren't using those words, people. Someone must be making them up.  So, who?

I asked my mother, who is by all accounts the absolute smartest person I know (and I'm not just saying that because she's my mother.)  And *gasp* she didn't know.  But she did put her formidable skills to work (she is a former radio personality with an awesome voice and is kind of a tech geek) and she called up her favorite pod-casting Catholic priest, Father Roderick Vonhogen in the Netherlands, and recorded a message to his show.  He took our question!  And answered it at length.  

Check it out on The Break, where Fr. Roderick discusses topics from "the Simpsons to the Sacraments and technology to theology."  The question was answered on the December 12th show (BFR 862 - I don't really know what that means, but it seems like some sort of important reference thing...)  The intro leading up to our question starts around the 9 minute mark.  I think the question itself is close to 9:50.  And the response, informative and somewhat tangential, lasts until about the 25 minute mark.   Hope you get to listen to it!

The Break at SQPN, with Fr. Roderick

So, now we know.  And I'm happy to have gotten that out of the way because now I have some way bigger piscis to fry.  We just got some surprising news... My son and his peers at tutoring were such Latin stars, they finished the book in half the alotted time. So naturally, they. sent. him. home. with. a. GREEK. book.  Deus misereatur.  Uh, I mean, Kyrie eleison.  Whichever.  We're along for the ride either way....

ps - Want to impress your friends with your knowledge of modern-day Latin words???  Click here to learn how to say words like discotec, flirt, radio, rum, and zoosafari.... among others.  (And maybe by the end of the school year I'll be able to translate them into... Greek.  Ahhh!!!!)