A typical school day

Some of you have asked recently what our school day looks like.  I’ve struggled over the last few years to find a sustainable routine for our school days.  Whenever I’ve come up with something I think will work, I either find that I’ve been unrealistic about how much we can do or I’ve over-estimated their attention spans or interest or a “life event” happens (illness, pregnancy, newborn, etc.)
But praise God, we’ve been keeping to a consistent routine for the last couple of months.  If you are interested in knowing what a typical day at the Russell home looks like, keep reading.   (No pictures here, just text.) Otherwise, go do something more fun. :-)
6:30 – 8:00 Pre-breakfast chores.  Get up, dressed, make beds, do kitchen chores, fold clothes if needed.  One child regularly gets up at least by 6:30 (sometimes earlier) to see Daddy before he leaves.  Sometimes the others do, sometimes they don’t.  I try to get up by 6 or 6:30 and spend some time reading my Bible, praying, and getting ready for the day.  Then, I’m out of my room by 7 or 7:30 to change diapers, feed the baby, and supervise the aforementioned chores.  Depending on how much time there is, I might start some supper prep or bread baking as we are getting ready for breakfast.  The older ones tend to read or play during this time when they are not doing chores (and sometimes when they are supposed to be doing chores!)
8:00 – 9:00 Breakfast.  Everybody is supposed to be done and the table cleared by 9.  Lately, we’ve been practicing math at the table by counting how many things need to be cleared (not counting each person’s own dishes) and dividing by 4 to find out how many things each of the 4 older kids needs to clear and put away.
9:00 – 9:30 After Breakfast Chores. This includes wiping the table, sweeping the floor, brushing teeth, folding clothes if it wasn’t done before breakfast, and taking care of bathroom needs.  For me, this time is spent changing diapers, assisting with teeth brushing, beginning supper prep, and getting things out for school.
9:30 – 11:30 School Time.  If baby got up early, he’s usually fussy by this time, so I nurse him and put him down for a nap.  Then we can do school relatively uninterrupted for about one and half to two hours.  During this time we work on Bible memory, handwriting practice, preschool, math, and individual reading.
 Bible memory.  During the summer we worked on Psalm 1 and the first part of Matthew 5 (the Beatitudes) together.  We read the passage each day, then worked on learning one or two verses a week.  Now that Awana has started, the four older ones are all working on different verses, so we had to modify the routine a bit.  I try to work with each one either during the 9:00-9:30 time frame, during individual reading time, or any other time when we have a few minutes.
Handwriting Practice. I started making my own handwriting worksheets with cool fonts that have the guidelines built in. (See www.donnayoung.org) During the summer, I had the older 2 practice their handwriting with the Bible verse(s) for the week.  Now, they are both learning or practicing cursive (one or two letters a day) plus practicing their printing with words from the letter of the week (more about that later).  Sometimes they practice on paper with pen or pencil.  Other times we put the page in a plastic sheet protector (otherwise known as a “diaper”) and practice with fine-tip dry-erase markers.  The six year old is learning printing with the letter of the week (capital and lowercase) and short words starting with that letter.  He is also working through the “Developing the Early Learner” series of workbooks by Simone Bibeau which includes some pre-writing and coloring exercises as well as auditory and visual discrimination activities.
Preschool.  I hesitated to do anything formal or elaborate with preschool for the 4 year old.  I started out with some extra SchoolZone pre-K workbooks I had, trying to keep it low-key.  He liked those so much, he kept asking to do more than what I had planned for the day.  How could I say no?  He and the two-year old really want to be involved in our school time, so I’m combining pieces of several different “Letter of the Week” preschool programs I got free from the web or really cheap in an Ebook bundle sale last year.  These activities include pre-writing activities (tracing lines, shapes, etc.), coloring, recognizing the letters (capital and lowercase) and the sounds they make, counting, and related activities that work on their gross and fine motor skills. (The two year old knows at least 2 letters -- “E is for Elaine!” and “B buh Brian!”)
In case you are interested, the preschool curricula I am pulling from includes:

• ABC Jesus Loves Me
• Animal ABC
• Encompass Preschool
• Letter Of the Week by Erica

Math.
I’ve tried a number of different approaches to math… and still trying to find the thing that fits each child, to make it fun and interesting rather than frustrating, stressful, and the subject to be dreaded.  And it also has to be doable.  I really liked the idea behind some materials I bought last year…but since it is very much “hands on” (which is what I liked about it), that means it is also teacher-intensive.  And with 3 or 4 different levels … well, that’s just not realistic in this season of life.  Not if we are going to do anything besides math. :-)
So, I went looking for something that would enable a bit more independent learning.  We are trying out a new computer program this year called CTC math.  I like that for one price I can have an unlimited number of students signed up, and we have access to all grade levels for 18 months.  This seemed like the most cost-effective way to go in regards to computer-based math programs.  I have one child at least who really enjoys math and thrives with computer based math instruction. So, he’s doing that, supplemented by some workbooks I found used at a homeschool store and various games.  The other two haven’t found CTC math to be quite as much fun, so I have been trying to do some hands-on activities to practice the same concepts in a more active and fun way. 
Individual Reading.
Each of the three older children gets some time alone with Mommy to practice reading out loud.  The older 2 have been working their way through short to medium length chapter books. The 6 year old gets to pick his own book (usually a picture book or and easy-reader book) and we take turns, alternating pages or paragraphs.  I’ve been pleased at how they have all been willing to tackle books and words that are sometimes a bit challenging.
Sometimes this reading time happens during the morning school time.  Lately, we’ve run out of time before the baby wakes up from his nap, so I try to do it after my nap and before Daddy gets home.
I use this time while they are reading to me to work on whatever crochet or knitting project I have going.
111:30-12:30 Free time. Free time for the kids.  Mom tidies up any school stuff left out, maybe checks email,  maybe does supper prep if needed, and gets lunch ready.  Sometimes, I recruit helpers. :-)
12:30 – 1:30 Lunch. Sometimes we watch some educational videos, or we review our geography or talk about life or whatever questions come up.  Lunch is usually leftovers from supper the night before or sandwiches and fruit and yogurt.
1:30-2:30 Read Aloud Time. I read stories to the 2 and 4 year old before their naps.  When they are down for naps, I read a book to the older ones while getting baby ready for his nap.  Currently, we are reading The Wheel On The School by Meindert DeJong.  As soon as baby is asleep, it is officially “nap time.”
2:30-4:00 Nap Time. Mommy takes a nap and maybe does a little bit of computer work if she wakes up early enough.  If we haven’t done individual reading yet, we try to it between 3:30 and 4.  During nap time, the three older ones can read, play with Legos, or work on the computer.
4:00 – 5:15 Fun with Daddy.  We try to do a “10-minute pickup” game before Daddy gets home (picking up all the toys, books, etc.).  When he gets home, he gives kisses to each one.  Some try to escape and make Daddy chase them.  Sometimes they can give Daddy quite the workout till he catches them.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we try to do some kind of exercise.  Usually bike riding, or else trampoline in the backyard, or going down the the corner parks to swing, kick balls or throw frisbees.  When it is bike riding day, the 3 older ones ride their own bikes, the next 2 take turns on the back of Daddy’s bike, while I roller blade with 2 in the double stroller.  On these days, it’s especially important for me to have supper ready to cook in the oven while we go out riding.  That’s why I try to do supper prep in stages throughout the day.
5:15 – 6:15 Supper.
6:15 – 7:00 Baths.  Sometimes I make the older ones take their baths earlier to help save time after supper.  One bathes completely independently, one needs just a little help, 2 can bathe themselves but need supervision to prevent too much playing, and the last 2 always get baths after supper because  they can be a little messy at mealtimes. :-)
7:00 – 7:30 Story time.  Daddy reads stories (usually) .  Sometimes mommy will if Daddy just has to work on something else.
7:30 – 8:00 Bible Time. We read the Bible together and sing a hymn.  Currently we are reading through a Chronological Bible, maybe 10-15 verses at a time, discussing what we’ve read as we go.  We are working our way through one of the hymn books we have.  I think we are on the third book we’ve done.  After we finish this one, we plan to focus on one hymn a week and really try to learn it.  It will probably be a hymn that we will sing at church that next Sunday. Ronnie slips in some music education too…recognizing key signatures, time signatures, note values, and sometimes note names. He also slips in some math -- figuring out how long the composers and authors of the songs lived. I nurse the baby during this time and put him to bed, then use the remaining time to knit or crochet.  We finish with prayer time, which is the two-year old’s signal for “Mommy’s lap!”
8:00 – 8:30 Bedtime. Time for the potty train, hugs, kisses, etc. and finally lights out!
8:30 – 10:30 Mommy & Daddy time. Mommy and Daddy finish up chores, sometimes do a little on the computer, take shower, and finally go to bed.

There you have it.  Probably  more than  you ever wanted to know about a Russell day.  If you’ve read this far, you must really love us, or you are really curious. :-)

Geography Study: France

In April and May we attended a free French class taught once a week by a lady in our church.  This presented learning opportunities for all of us…and for more than just the French language. 

It was very hard at first because she spoke only in French.  The kids didn’t understand at all what was going on, even when she used pantomime to try to demonstrate the words she was trying to teach.  I understood a little, but after a while my brain was tired of working so hard trying to follow along and went into “shut down” mode.  Some of the kids had gone into shut-down mode long before I did.  I knew they were frustrated and I was frustrated because I couldn’t really help them.  Also, I instinctively felt that this was not really the way I wanted to teach/learn a foreign language with my kids. 

But we had recently been trying to teach the kids to keep trying and not give up even if something is hard at first.  So, after talking with Ronnie we decided we would keep going in order to model this lesson.  After all, it was only going to be for 6 weeks and it was free.

It got better after a while, and we did learn a little bit of French.  (We only made it to the first 4 lessons due to illness in late May.) 

I also (re)learned why I have not gotten involved in outside classes and activities yet in our homeschooling adventure.  It is just WAY too stressful at this point in our lives to get everybody ready to go somewhere, be out all morning, come back just in time for lunch, and have the little one fall asleep on the way home and mess up the nap schedule.

This experience did, however, provide direction for our next unit of geography after we finished with South America…France, of course.

The Language

We watched some French vocabulary videos on YouTube, French Lab, and a children’s site used by our French teacher.  Later I found FrenchPod101.com which I think would have been good too.  We watched these while we were eating breakfast and lunch.  As frustrated as the kids were in class, I was surprised that they enjoyed these and kept asking to watch them.

I also checked out some French learning language resources from the library.  I liked this one the best.

Learn French Together by Marie-Claire Antoine and Gretchen Patterson

It came with 3 books and CDs, learning a few words with each lesson.  Each lesson had some activities and games to go along with it.  We only listened to a little bit of it, but it did help me with some of the words our teacher was trying to teach us. (I am a visual learner more than an auditory learner, so it really helped me to be able to SEE the words in print.  Also, with my exposure to Spanish in high school and my English vocabulary, I was able to see the similarities in the words and guess at the meanings just by looking at them.) If we ever decide to go back and really try to learn French, I would check this out again.

The Country

We read through most of this book.

 

 

Getting to Know France and French by Miriam Chapman. It introduced some of the geography, history, and culture of the France.

 

 

 

 

We also watched a small part of a travel DVD called Rick Steve’s France. I learned a lot about the different regions of France while previewing it, but I could not show much of it to the kids because of the immodesty shown in the “classic art” in the museums and on tours of the the famous beaches.

 

The Food

 

We had fun watching some of Julia Child’s French Chef cooking shows on DVD from the library. We laughed at her bloopers and marveled at how much butter she used! We didn’t really try any of her recipes, except she did inspire me to experiment with crepes again… and at least some of us enjoyed the results. (You can read more about that experiment in my earlier post.)

 

 

And Travis and I looked through a French cookbook…The Cooking of France by Matthew Locricchio. It gave very detailed directions for young cooks, and even emphasized used natural rather than processed food.

 

Books Set in France

We read a number of books set in France (Paris mostly) during our read aloud times.  I found a good list of children's books set in Paris, complete with reviews.  I couldn’t find all of the books on the list  at the library, and a couple of them I didn’t like so well, so we didn’t read them together.

Here are the ones we did like.

 Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson

We had read this a year or two ago as part of our Sonlight curriculum.  This is a chapter book, suitable for my 9 and 7 year olds to read on their own. It is relatively short, but not one to be read in a single sitting.

It’s about an old hobo who likes being a hobo and does not want to be “tied down” with work or a family.  But he reluctantly becomes involved with a homeless family in Paris – a mom, 3 kids, and a dog.

We were even inspired to act out part of the story… pushing a cart with all a hobos belongings, building a fire, and cooking a meal in a can over that fire.

 

 

Dodsworth in Paris by Tim Egan

This was a BIG favorite.  An easy-reader chapter book (suitable for my 6 year old to read on his own).  There are actually 4 books in this series about Dodsworth’s adventures with a trouble-making duck in different cities (New York, Paris, London, and Rome). 

Here’s the review from StoriedCities.com which says it better than I could:

Tim Egan's Dodsworth easy reader series does a great job of introducing young readers to famous cities but without taking them on a boring walking tour. The delightfully quirky Dodsworth and his stowaway duck sidekick reminded me of a screwball comedy duo. Each humorous book follows the pair on their misadventures through each city. I liked the details Egan slips in, like how everyone on Fifth Avenue is smartly dressed, or how the duck inadvertently creates an impressionist painting in Paris by dancing on his artwork

La La Rose by Satomi Ichikawa

This picture book was a favorite, especially by the 2 year old.  It is quick to read, but you can also spend a long time looking at the beautiful artwork and the maps.

 

 

 

The review from Storied Cities:

Stuffed bunny La La Rose is "the inseparable friend of Clementine." But one day she falls out of Clementine's backpack during a visit to the Luxembourg Garden. Even though La La Rose must endure the trials of being tossed in the pond, losing her skirt, tumbling down a hill, being picked up by various strangers, she finally finds her way back to Clementine. In the process, we get a tour of one of the world's most famous and beautiful urban public spaces….
For kids who love maps (don't all of them?) the author has provided an illustrated map of the garden in the end pages.

 

Come Fly With Me by Satomi Ichikawa

Another picture book by the same author as La La Rose.  This one is about a toy plane and a stuffed dog who go on an adventurous trip through Paris.  We read it several times, but not as much as

La La Rose.

 

 

 The Cat Who Walked Across France by Kate Banks

I think I found this one while browsing through the library catalog online.  A cat’s owner dies and the cat is displaced to another home.  But it longs for its own home and walks across France back to its old house, only to find a new family living there.  Good ending – the new family adopts the cat and they all live happily ever after.

 

Anatole by Eve Titus

Another popular picture book among my crew, readers and non-readers alike.  I had to practice what I learned about French pronunciation in order to read this out loud.

I just noticed that there are more Anatole books…I’ll have to see if our library has any of them…

The review from Storied Cities:

Anatole, who regularly rides his bicycle into Paris to look for food scraps learns that humans do not like mice at all.Mon Dieu! Anatole, conscientious mouse that he is, decides that in return for a few morsels of cheese from a Parisian cheese factory he will leave his suggestions for improvement for each cheese variety. As you can imagine, the mouse's opinions are right on target, making the cheese factory incredibly successful. The factory owners make Anatole the VP in charge of Cheese Tasting, thus the little mouse is free to bring food home to his family, making Anatole the "happiest, most contented mouse in all France."

 

A Spree In Paree by Catherine Stock

A French farmer decides he wants to take a vacation to the city (like the city folks do at his farm in the country).  His animals decide to come along too to see the sights of Paris.  By the time they get home, the farmer has decided that vacation is a lot of work!  An amusing picture book.

 

 

Adele & Simon by Barbara McClintock

Adele and her little brother walk home from school, but little Simon loses all his things along the way. This picture book was BY FAR my favorite!  It is a great “find the hidden picture” book and the illustrations are excellent!  It’s also a good memory-exercising book as you try to remember all the things Simon started out with and try to figure out what has he lost now!  In the back of the book are maps and also descriptions of each of the locations in Paris that the children visit.  The illustrations are fantastic!  After we spent some time in this book, I was watching a French travel DVD.  When they showed a brief shot of one of the galleries in the Louvre, I instantly recognized it as one of the places Adele Simon visited!  I highly recommend this book!  It would be a nice one to own too.

 

Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully

Another oft-read picture book in this household.  A young girl helps the great Bellini overcome his fear and return to walking on the high wire above the streets of Paris.

 

Chasing Degas by Eva Montanari

I thought this picture book was a great, gentle introduction to some famous artists and their paintings.  I’m not sure the kids were too excited about it, but they did recognize one or more of the paintings when we went to Hobby Lobby and saw poster prints of them.

The review from Storied Cities:

In the painting The Dance Class, Degas captured for posterity a yellow-sashed dancer scratching her back. How embarrassing.  Eva Montanari makes this dancer the central character of her book Chasing Degas. After a rehearsal, the young dancer finds that Degas has left his bag of paints in the dance studio. She chases all over Paris after Degas, knowing that she must get back to the Opera House in time for that night's performance.
Along the way our dancer meets other artists: Renoir teaches the dancer about seeing color, Cassatt is busy painting her famous Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, Monet bemoans the changing light.
Several of the Paris scenes are cleverly inspired by famous Impressionist paintings (they are identified in the author's note).  Montanari's Impressionist-style illustrations are lovely.

Picasso and Minou by P. T. Maltbie

A picture book story about Pablo Picasso and his cat and how he moved from his unpopular “blue” period to the more popular “rose” period.  I thought it was interesting, but some of the pictures of his later weird artwork were disturbing to some of my kids, so we didn’t read it but once.  (The main complaint, I think, was that some of it looked like idols and the grotesque masks he had on his wall were kind of scary and reminiscent of things used in pagan worship.)

A couple of others that I read from the Storied Cities list but did not read to the kids were Oops! by Jean-Luc Fromental and

Oops!  shows how one simple accident (losing a bar of soap) leads to a long chain of events.  As I recall, it was a little hard to follow. It might have been OK, except it ended up with space aliens in a UFO coming to rescue the family and bring them to their vacation destination and I didn’t think we needed to waste our time on that.

Secret Letters from 0 to Susie Morgenstern is a story about a boy who lives with his grandmother and housekeeper.  His mother died when he was born and his father has been missing since he was one day old.  He leads a very quiet, protected life, not knowing much about the world outside his own apartment.  Then a new girl shows up at school and introduces him to her family of 13 brothers, the rest of the world.  Eventually he finds his father and they all live happily ever after.  I didn’t particularly care for the way the girl was pursuing the boy in a romantic way and dominating him. We could have dealt with that through a discussion of what is and isn’t appropriate and biblical in such a relationship.  But this book was no-go for me (at least at this time) because of several unnecessary and inappropriate comments/observations between the boy and girls in the story.

One last book…

Pasteur’s Fight Against Microbes by Beverly Birch and Christian Birmingham

Another title from our Sonlight curriculum from a couple of years ago, which we had not read yet.  It’s a picture book a little beyond the “easy reader” category.  I think it’s rated for 9 years/4th grade and up.  But my younger kids enjoyed listening to it and looking at the pictures.  A good story about how Louis Pasteur discovered the microbes that cause disease.

Well, that’s about all I can remember for now…we did all this back in May and June.  I’ve been wanting/trying/planning to write this post ever since then, but just have not had time.  My awesome husband took the kids (yes, ALL 6!) out to feed the ducks and play in the park this morning, then out to eat and explore this afternoon, giving me a much needed and longed for day off.  I was SO tempted to go with them this afternoon, but knew I really needed to have a break.  My soul has been refreshed by some worship music, my ears refreshed by quiet, and my mind refreshed by finally getting this blog post written!

Geography Study : South America

Earlier this year we learned about the continent of South America.  We learned the names of the 12 countries and 2 territories, their capitals, flags, language(s) spoken, and location on the map.  (I think the kids learned better and faster than I did!  I still get some of the flags and locations mixed up.)

 

 

 

We used the South America song from Kathy Troxel’s Geography Songs CD to learn the country names.

 

 

We checked out several books from the library to learn some about the people, climate, and landforms this continent.

 

South America  by Rebecca Hirsch

 

This is a simple, easy reader picture book geared towards the younger children.

 

 

 

 

 

South America by Libby Koponen

 

A book from a good series (“True Book” series) covering the basics for a slightly older audience than the previous book.

 

 

South America by Michael and Jane Pelusey

 

I like this series too.  It covers some of the same information that the previous one does, but it also has some details about some of the individual countries (like religions, languages, natural resources, crops, etc.).  It presents this information in a chart format, so it was perfect for practicing our skills at reading and interpreting charts.

 

Seven Natural Wonders of Central and South America by Michael Woods and Mary Woods

 

I was fascinate by this one, though we didn’t read much of it together.

 

 

 

In all of these books, we had to edit out and/or discuss the “millions of year” fairy tale.  It was fascinating to learn about the Amazon River/jungle/animals, the Atacama Desert, the Andes Mountains, the waterfalls and other amazing things God made on this continent!

As we learned about the various countries, I tried to make connections with people we know: we know some missionaries in Chile and Venezuela, my uncle was on a mission trip to Brazil, a friend flies planes to various countries in South America, the in-laws of a lady from church were moving to Columbia, etc.  I also briefly related the story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot who were missionaries in Ecuador. (I also knew a foreign exchange student in high school who was from Ecuador.)

It has been interesting to me to realize how many people I know of or in so many different countries of the world!

I would have liked to have read some stories, either fiction or non-fiction, from these countries, but we were still trying to work our way through a biography of Gladys Aylward in China and by the time we were done with that (or even before) I felt that we needed to move on to another continent. 

I have since found some good sites and ways of searching for books set in different countries, so maybe someday we will go back and find some of those for South America.

We are now working our way through Western Europe, but that’s for another post…

Quilt

My mom recently finished a quilt she’s been making for us.  She’s been working on it for over 2 years.  After she finished it, she entered it in a quilt show put on by her quilt guild.  And she won 3rd prize for its category (“Mixed Technique”).

It’s almost fun to make the bed with a quilt like this!

School Update: Agriculture

Sometime in the fall, we planted green beans and carrots.  They beans were growing well, and the carrots were growing oh so very slowly.  Then we had quite a bit of cold weather—and a premature baby – so I did absolutely nothing to protect the plants in any way from the freezing night temperatures.

I knew the carrots would be ok, but the remaining tomato and pepper plants were definitely goners!  The green beans looked pretty wilted too, so sometime in December I told the kids to go pull up everything except the carrots.  They did, but then discovered that the green bean plants were covered with ripe beans, undamaged by the many freezing nights!  They carefully picked them all and we had a couple of meals of yummy fresh garden green beans.

On a mild, spring-like January day, we enjoyed some fresh air and sunshine…and a bit of playing in the dirt.

Elaine had the freedom to dig as she pleased…

 

And Travis built an elaborate series of canals…

Two weeks later on February 6, we had snow and sleet and ice …

A week after that, we pulled up some of the carrots.  I was quite surprised at how big they were.  Some were as big around as a quarter at the top and 3-4 inches long.  Most of the carrots ended up in our stew and the tops made a friend’s guinea pig very happy.

 

Just a couple of weeks later we got some grape tomato transplants and some green bean seeds. We planted the same kind bush bean seeds that grew so well last year, and also decided to experiment with some pole beans (Kentucky wonder beans).   Another experiment was to plant some 1015 onion transplants and some red onion seeds.  About a week after planting, on March 11, 2014 here’s what it looked like…

About three weeks later, on April 4, 2014…

And two weeks after that, on April 19, 2014 (about 6 weeks of very mild, sometimes even cold, weather after planting), we had this…

 

I noticed that not very many of the bush beans sprouted.  I’m not sure why.  It was a brand new package of seeds.  Other the fence side of the tomatoes,  where I planted the bush beans I found seven or eight of these…

 

NOT beans, but SQUASH! Now, I know the difference between bean seeds and squash seeds. I definitely planted beans! I’m guessing these sprouted from the kitchen scraps I threw in the compost bin. I pulled them up because I didn’t really want them growing in that location and didn’t want them to steal nutrients from my tomatoes.

Since the pole beans were doing well, I planted some more on April 19.

On May 12, 2014, 2 months after planting, we picked our first few tomatoes and beans.  Well, actually, I think some birds got the very first tomatoes … we found several with big holes in them.  Maybe caterpillars, but I suspect birds.  So, we’ve been picking them when they start to turn orange and they ripen inside in just a day or two.

 

By May 22, 2014, we were picking 3-5 tomatoes a day…

 

… with LOTS and LOTS of green ones still in there!!

By May 24, we picked this whole pie plate full of them in one day!

The next day we got another pie plate full! 

This was our second bowl full of beans.   Some of these ended up in a pot for our supper on Saturday; the rest of them, plus all the ripe tomatoes from above went into a big batch of minestrone that I cooked for Sunday.

 

Our red onions never did sprout.  I thought maybe I picked a bad spot without enough sun after the tomato and green bean plants got too big.  So I planted some more in a more open spot in April.  But they still never did sprout.

Our 10-15 onions grew some.  One grew up tall and developed a flower on top.  I’ve left it just to see what happens.  We’ve picked several of the others when the tops started to turn brown.  They were quite small, but yummy!  And the green tops were nice on some baked potatoes we had last week!

I am very glad to not have to buy tomatoes at the store now for a while.  And I enjoy going out in the evenings sometimes after supper … alone… and getting a few minutes of quiet to refresh my spirit and my ears after a long noisy day with the kids.

School Update: Home Economics or “Life Skills”

Though not typically considered a “school” subject, I think housekeeping skills are a very important part of my children’s education.

Some time ago, out of pure necessity, I started requiring the kids to help out in the kitchen and do other chores around the house.  I simply can’t do it all myself.  And of course, they need to learn to take responsibility and learn to do these kinds of things.

Over the years, I have added jobs a little bit at a time.  As they get used to one or two jobs, then we add more.

Kitchen chores

A few months ago I created a chart to hang on the fridge with the schedule of kitchen chores for each day, divided evenly among the oldest 4 kids.  I rotate the jobs so no one gets stuck doing the same job all the time and so that they all learn to do all the jobs.

Their rotating kitchen jobs include empting the dishwasher (divided into top, bottom and silverware), pouring water cups, pouring milk cups, setting the table, wiping the table, and sweeping the floor.

They are all expected to clear their own dishes plus 2 or 3 other things, make their beds, fold their own clothes, and brush their teeth.  We are still working on doing these things without having to be told…

 

 

Jobs for Hire

I also recently started using an app on my tablet computer that lets me award stars for extra work (such as dusting, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, taking out the trash, helping with meal prep, changing laundry loads, etc.)  They can trade in the stars for prizes or money.  This can help them learn to manage their money and make cost/benefit decisions.

House cleaning

We started a game called “10-minute pickup”.  I set a timer for 10 minutes and we race around the house trying to get all the toys picked up and put away in their proper places before the timer beeps.  Sometimes the reward is dessert.  Sometimes it is extra stars.  It is really amazing how much we can do in just 10 minutes.  And often, they have finished in only 5 or 6 minutes!

Since that game went over well, I decided to try another called “1 hour house cleaning”.  I divided up the vacuuming, mopping, dusting, and bathroom jobs among the 5 of us.  We are still in training on some of the jobs, but so far I am pleased with the results. Two weeks in a row we have gotten the vacuuming, mopping, bathrooms, and some dusting done in just one hour.  I plan to keep the same job assignments for a month or two to allow them to develop some proficiency at each job before moving on to learning new jobs.

Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping

Several years ago, I tried a system of planning meals and shopping for a month at a time.  I didn’t keep up with the shopping part for very long, but I did continue to plan meals for 3-5 weeks at a time.  I bought this magnetic white board with a calendar grid already printed on it and hung it on the fridge.  Then I made magnet labels with all my routine main meals and side dishes.  That allowed me to plan the menus without having to write or erase or try to remember all the options in my poor old brain.

After a while, I slipped back into planning meals only a week in advance – just before my weekly grocery shopping trip.  But adding a new baby complicates the shopping schedule , so I decided to see what I could do to reduce the amount of time I spend at the store.

I reworked my monthly menu schedule (it’s actually a six week rotation).  I assigned each day of the week a category of food:

• Sunday – soup with bread and fruit
• Monday – chicken
• Tuesday – Beans
• Wednesday – Pizza
• Thursday – Beef/Ground Turkey
• Friday – Breakfast (a long standing tradition!)
• Saturday – Fish

Then I assigned a main dish in each category for each week.  This gives me a working plan – and I try to stick to it for the most part, but it also gives me flexibility to switch things around to different days according to the needs of our schedule.  For instance, if I am going to be out most of the day, I can make sure I have something really simple on the schedule for that night.

I do soup on Sundays so that I can mix it up in the crockpot on Saturday night and let it cook while we are at church.  Then it is ready immediately when we get home from church – very helpful when we have Awana on Sunday nights which makes Sunday afternoons very short.

As much as possible, I try to make double batches of recipes and freeze some for use on a busy night or to take to people who need a meal.

I also made up a cheat sheet for each week’s recipes.  I know how to make them all without instructions but I needed a  listing of the ingredients and amounts so I don’t have to look up recipes in various books.  I taped the cheat sheets inside one of my kitchen cabinets.

My goal is one big shopping once every 4-6 weeks, then just get perishable things like dairy and produce on the other weeks.  Theoretically that would make most of my trips fairly quick (i.e. in less time than it takes Curtis to miss me).  It also allows me to sometimes ask Ronnie to go shopping on his way home from work.

The first time I went shopping for this menu cycle, I WAY over estimated how much I needed of some things, so it lasted longer than I anticipated.  I also added into the mix shopping at Costco, so I’m still tweaking my shopping schedule to try to accomplish my goals.

Well, that may be more than you really wanted to know… but that’s a glimpse into our life! :-)

School update – part 1

Every time I get ready to blog about what we’ve been doing in school, it always amazes me how learning seems to happen – even when I don’t think we did much formal “school”.  I guess in the day-to-day and week-to-week busyness I tend to focus more on what I had planned to do and didn’t do rather than on what we actually have accomplished – even if it wasn’t planned.

While enduring the last miserable months of pregnancy and adjusting to a new baby (including two hospital stays and various other illnesses), the kids have stayed busy with various learning activities.

Geography & History & Social Studies

We have learned a little bit about China.  We read a couple of  books from the library to learn basic facts about the country and a couple of biographies about Marco Polo (one a graphic novel and one a chapter book).  Travis and Heather took turns with me reading out loud.  We also skimmed through a book about animals that Marco Polo might have seen on his j0urney.

  

 

We also read about the building of the great wall of China and a fun book about ancient China.

 

 

Then we read two biographies of Hudson Taylor.  Actually, we’re still slowly making our way through the longer one. I also read his autobiography.  It is fascinating and convicting to read how he totally trusted God to provide for his needs.

  

 

After we finish with Hudson Taylor, we will read about Gladys Aylward, another missionary to China.

  

 

Along the way, we have looked at maps of China, indentifying its many neighbors and tracing the routes Marco Polo and Hudson Taylor took to get to China.  We also colored maps of China and its neighbors, colored China flags, and learned a little bit about Chinese New Year.

I keep meaning to put up a timeline to show when each of these people lived.  We have talked a little about who came first, but I think we need a visual picture on a timeline.  But that seems to be something I just never get around to.  Or at least I haven’t yet.

And just for fun, we read the fictional tales of  Little Pear, The Story About Ping, and A Grain of Rice.

  

We also watched some videos on YouTube about how to use chopsticks and practiced at home a little bit with cotton balls and other toys.  We went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant and were hoping to try out chopsticks there, but they only gave us forks!

 

On one of the home school blogs that I read, I came across a recommendation for an app called “Stack the Countries”.  It is a really fun game that helps you learn the names, shapes, flags, neighbors, landmarks, etc. of all the countries in the world.  The kids have had a blast with it and have learned a lot from it while having fun.  Highly recommended!!  (And it was created by a man whose last name is Russell, so what’s not to like. :-)  He also has a “Stack the States” app that I plan to get when we start studying the United States.

 

Here they are playing on our two tablet computers…

Looking up countries and flags on the map and in the atlas…

 

Before we started on China, we did a little bit about Canada.  I checked out WAY too many books.  I read most of them myself, but we only did a few together.  We didn’t do nearly as much as I had hoped in learning about Canada, especially since I lived there when I was a child and I loved it. 

Two things we did do (that I remember):

 

We read/listened to one of my favorite novels when I was a child   The Incredible Journey. 

The ending always brings tears to my eyes as the animals finally make it home to their beloved family.  I was glad that I wasn’t reading when we got to that part – we were listening to an audio recording while we were driving.

 

We also read a book called Count Your Way Through Canada.  Each page tells how to pronounce the numbers 1 – 10 in French and has a short paragraph about things that are characteristic of or unique to Canada.  Shortly after we read this, I took the kids out to eat.  On their own, the kids started talking to the waitress and telling her that they knew how to count to 10 in French.  They then proceeded to demonstrate.  It turned out that she actually knew French!  Now that was back in October.  Fast forward to March – and keep in mind that we haven’t reviewed this, in fact I even forgot about it – last Sunday Jeffrey volunteered to someone that he could count in French and gave a demonstration.  There was a lady standing nearby who is a native French speaker and she said his accent was very good.  I was amazed!

 

Well, that’s about all I can remember on this subject.  I’ll report on other  subjects later…