Summer 2018

Summer 2018

Our summer has been filled with a little bit of academics, a lot of extra-curricular activities, fun times with family, some life-skills education, and LOTS of reading.

Academics

Because of other summer activities, and to give us all a bit of a breather during the summer, we have limited academic work to about three days a week.

Everybody is continuing working MATH.

·        T (13) is working on fractions in Math-U-See Epsilon level

·        H (11) began working on division in Math-U-See Delta level

·        J (10) began working on multiplication in Math-U-See Gamma level

·        B (8) is almost finished with learning addition and subtraction facts in Math-U-See Alpha level

·        E (6) moved from working on addition facts to subtraction facts in Math-U-See Alpha level

·        C (4) is working on number recognition -- counting and a bit of adding (very low-key, as in a few games, counting biscuits as we cut them, silverware and plates, etc., doing a few pages in some pre-school workbooks whenever he is interested)

I cannot say enough good things about Math-U-See!  For us, it has worked better than any other math program we have tried (and we have tried a LOT).  Though some of my children still do not like math, we no longer have pouting or tears about it.  They are learning, practicing, and mastering it, one small concept at a time.  If I could go back and start over, I would have started with Math-U-See at the very beginning.  It is well worth the expense!!  We do reduce expense and paper waste by putting the consumable workbook pages in a plastic sheet protector and letting them use a fine-tipped white board marker to write in their answers, or letting them use a separate notebook to work out longer problems.  And they all enjoy watching the short videos for each lesson, taught by Mr. Demme.

The older three have continued their GRAMMAR lessons.  We are using IEW’s (Institute for Excellence in Writing) Fix-it! Grammar program.  This program teaches grammar concepts through the process of editing a story.  Each week, a new concept is introduced (e.g. recognizing nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs; identifying prepositional phrases, differentiating homophones such as their/there/they’re, and to/two/too, and your/you’re, and its/it’s); punctuation, capitalization, and when to indent for a new paragraph.  Then they have four sentences from a story to edit and copy into a notebook (handwriting practice too!).  They also have a vocabulary word to look up for each sentence.  By the time we are done, they will have a complete story.  The story is engaging and keeps their interest… we have to keep going to find out what happens!  H tells people that grammar is her favorite subject in school.

The three older ones have also been working on various COMPUTER PROGRAMMING skills.

·        T is continuing on with his work in Visual Basic, through KidCoder Windows Programming course (though we are using the older paper textbook version rather than the online version).

·        H has been learning to program with Scratch, working through a book called Coding Projects in Scratch and another called Coding Games in Scratch.  It shows step-by-step instructions for various projects, teaching all the important programming constructs along the way (if-then statements, variables, loops, getting user input, etc.)  Scratch is a good language to begin with, since there is very little typing involved.  All the pieces of the code are contained in color-coded blocks that snap together like legos.  It teaches kids the logic and processes of programming without requiring them to memorize and type all of the commands and keywords.

·        J moved on from Scratch and wanted to try Python.  He’s been working through a book called Coding Projects in Python.  It’s a little more challenging than Scratch, because you do have to type – and a misspelled word or variable name will crash your program.  But, hey, that’s the life of programmer! 😊

·        And A has been trying to stay one step ahead of each of them, working through the lessons in the books too.

  

For fun, the three older ones have also been learning to do LOGIC GRID PUZZLES.  I purchased a set of grid puzzle books from Grids for Kids that teach the kids how to work these kinds of puzzles, step-by-step.  They start out with simple ones and gradually increase the level of difficulty.  They have tutorials for each set of puzzles, and then lots of practice puzzles.  The kids found them challenging and/or confusing at first, but now they seem to have gotten the hang of them.

In addition to math, my next younger two have also been working practicing their handwriting with workbooks from Handwriting Without Tears, working on Phonics with AlphaPhonics, and working on music theory and note identification with various notespeller workbooks. 

They have also been practicing their read-out-loud skills with a series of books I discovered about a pig named Mercy Watson  They are cute and funny stories, and most of the words are right at their reading level.  You can find a review of them at this site.

   

Extra-curricular

Besides our usual piano lessons, horse riding lessons, and nature center field trips, the kids each participated in some day camps this summer.  The girls went to horse camp at the same stables where we take lessons.  T attended two sports camps at a local community college.  J attended a robotics camp and a “treasure hunt” camp (learning how to use maps, compasses, etc.) at the same community college.  And B attended a Lego robotics camp at another location.   All in all, it meant that for 5 out of 6 weeks in June and July we were getting up and driving one or two kids somewhere every day.  We were glad to take a break when it was over, but I think it was fun and profitable for all who participated.

B and E took swim lessons at Houston Swim Club for 3 months.  It was really the boost that B needed to really take off and become confident, even learning to swim and dive in the deep end of our neighborhood pool.

 We participated in our church’s annual Vacation Bible School at the end of July.  The theme was “The Fruit of the Spirit”.  The kids helped decorate, while Amy managed the technology (videos and music on the computer and projector) and directed the daily skits.  The four older kids also participated in the skits, along with other members from their drama class earlier in the year.  They all did a great job memorizing their lines, creating props, acting with emotion and expression, working together as a team, critiquing their performances, and making improvements for the next day.

We took advantage of a “Kids Bowl Free” program at our local bowling alley.  We only managed to get there twice, due to our other activities, but everyone had lots of fun.  Next summer, maybe we can make it more of a priority and do it more often.

 

  

Family

Family fun included birthday celebrations for 3 of the kids (one of ours, and three of the cousins).

One of the cousins has birthday on July 4^th. We enjoyed spending time at their house, splashing in the blow-up pool, visiting, eating, popping firecrackers, and listening to a mariachi band.  Since most of the guests there speak Spanish, and our kids don’t, it was the perfect experience to motivate several them to tell me, “I wish I knew Spanish.”  Guess what is on our school schedule for this year?

Also in June, we celebrated my parent’s 50th anniversary.  We met at Olive Garden and  had a fabulous meal with an awesome waitress who just couldn’t get enough of the kids and kept giving them more chocolate mint candies.

August brought a special treat: visiting with Ronnie’s cousin from Holland. Ronnie was able to take the kids to Galveston and the Kemah boardwalk to spend an entire day visiting with his cousin and other relatives.

August, and summer, ended with our 4^th annual Cousin Camp.  It was a low-key week, just letting the kids enjoy playing with one another and the moms talk.   

Life-skills

This summer, we have also been working on “life skills.”  The oldest boys have been doing the mowing the grass and weed-eating the yard by themselves.  Everybody has had increased responsibilities in the kitchen (getting their own breakfasts, helping with cooking, and cleaning up after meals) and in the laundry room. 

In addition, we’ve added jobs to the house-cleaning rotation.  We divided the whole house into 5 areas and 5 teams to tackle the vacuuming, dusting, mopping and bathrooms.  Each section has a checklist of tasks to accomplish in order to get full payment for their work.  Mom has to inspect and make sure everything on the checklist was done – and with a good attitude – before paying up.  Each team rotates to a different section each week – so nobody gets stuck doing the same thing every week.  When everyone works diligently, we can get it done in about one and a half hours!  Another benefit is that the kids are earning more money and learning more money managing skills.

    

Reading

We’ve made a lot of trips to the library, and often have 60-70 books checked out at one time.  In addition, we have read or listened to the entire Little House on the Prairie Series and Justin Morgan Had a Horse.  We also began listening to the Rocky Ridge Years series (about Laura’s daughter Rose growing up in Missouri).  We’ve also been reading the Life of Fred series of math books and Pages of History: Ancient Times.

      

   

   

Amy has been plowing through stacks of books.  Some were adult books for her own benefit.

      

Some were pre-reading for the kids: Morgan Horse Series, Horse Diaries series, Dog Diaries series, as well as books by Patricia St. John and Jean Craighead George. 

                

  

          

Three Humorous Animal Stories

Angus and Sadie by Cynthia Voight.  A young couple run a small family farm with two cows, two barn cats, a house cat, and a small flock of sheep.  One winter they decide that they want to get a dog.  They do some research and decide a border collie would be a good fit for them.  The next spring, they go to the animal shelter to pick out a puppy.  As it happens, there is a litter of border collie mix pups there.  Mister chooses a big, bold, black-and-white male while Missus chooses a small, shy, red-and-white female.  They end up adopting both and name the male Angus and the female Sadie.  The story describes the puppies as the grow, learn about the farm, and go through training.  The puppies’ misunderstandings of the human world and words are delightfully entertaining, especially for anyone who has had a dog (or a child).  Not only is it a fun story, but there are some deep lessons to be learned as well: such as accepting others as they are and appreciating their differences, overcoming your fears, and celebrating the accomplishments of others.  The lessons are not spelled out explicitly in the story, but they are quite clear to the discerning reader. This is one of my favorite books; it can be a fun read-aloud for younger children and can be used to spark some deeper conversations with older children about how we should treat one another.

Young Fredle by Cynthia Voight.  This takes place on the same farm as Angus and Sadie, but this time it’s about a young house mouse who finds himself in the great big scary outside world.  Through a variety of adventures, he learns that there is a whole lot more to the world than what the house mice have always known.  Gentle Sadie shows up in this story and welcomes the mouse as a friend.  Again, like its predecessor Angus and Sadie, this story has some wonderful lessons about overcoming prejudices toward those who aren’t exactly like you and learning to appreciate their differences.  Another fun book to read-aloud to the kids and to let them enjoy reading on their own over and over again.  I found this book at the library, but thought it was worth having a copy of our own so that the kids can read it anytime they want.

Audrey: Cow by Dan Bar-el  One of my kids found this at the library and I read it after they were done with it.  It was inspired by the true story of a cow who escaped from a slaughterhouse and evaded capture for more than a week.  When she was finally caught, she was spared and sent to a sanctuary farm.  This story is told by the various animals on the farm and in the forest as if they are speaking to a reporter, each interjecting their own side of the story.  Audrey grows up loving her life on Bittersweet Farm, making friends with one of the dogs and the farmer’s little girl.  One day she finds out that there are different kinds of cows: some are dairy cows who stay at the farm their entire lives, others are NOT dairy cows and periodically disappear on a big red truck never to be seen again.  To her great dismay, Audrey finds out that she is NOT a dairy cow and is destined to one day take a ride on that fateful red truck. With encouragement from her mother, she begins to plot and plan a way to escape when that time comes.  The farm animals help, and after she makes good on her escape, the forest animals help her hid from her pursuers for more than a week.  It’s a humorous story as the author explores the world through the eyes of the farm animals.  I’d recommend this book for ages 10 and up, as some the concepts or jokes may be too difficult for younger ones to get.

Historical Fiction for Children

I think one of my favorite genres of literature is historical fiction.  The combination of a good story with true events and people make the history more fun and more memorable.

Here are 3 series of historical fiction books geared toward children (but fun for adults too) that we have been enjoying recently.



"Horse Diaries" by various authors.  There are currently 15 books in this series.  We've read 12 of them - 11 from our library, and one that I found used.  (When the last 3 get old enough to get on the used book market for a reasonable price, I'll try to snag them too.)  Each book tells a story of a different historical event or time period from the horse's point of view.  They are well written, informative, and just plain fun to read.  Especially for the horse lovers in my family.  Each book also contains an appendix with extra information about the historical event or time period and the breed of horse featured in the story.  These books make learning history fun and painless for kids!





"Dog Diaries" by Kate Klimo.  There are currently 12 books in this series, with #13 to be released in December this year.  We have read 9 of them, as that is all our library currently has.  Just like the Horse Diaries, each book tells the story of a different breed of dog, often a famous historical dog.  Again, well written, informative and fun to read.  At least of couple of them are written in present tense which kind of bugs me, but otherwise they are good reading.  Both series are clean -- no bad language or inappropriate content, no overly graphic descriptions of war, pain, or suffering (though those topics are dealt with, they are not too graphic or gross).  I also like the way they promote responsible pet ownership and understanding of various breeds of dogs.





"Imagination Station" by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (though some other names appear on some books, one of these two is always on it).  Two cousins get transported back in time through Mr. Whitaker's Imagination Station.  They have adventures in various historical periods and events, but never change history.  These are kind of like the Magic Treehouse books, but better (in my opinion).  I think they are better written, and they don't contain any of the hocus-pocus magic that is in some of the Magic Treehouse books.  We currently have 18 or 19 of the 21 books in this series and the kids devour them.  Warning: many of them end with cliff-hangers, and the story is continued in the next book in the series!  A number of the events are from Bible history, some are about Christian missionaries.  All are written from a Christian perspective and worldview.