January Books

I haven't set a goal for how many books I want to read this year, but I am trying an experiment to see just how many I actually do read.

I created a Reading Journal from a free download at ModernMrsDarcy.com.

My first step was to make a list of Books I Want to Read.  Well, that could take forever, but I'm often coming across recommendations from other people.  I already have a long queue of books on my shelf that I want to read now, so I don't want to add to that stack.  Neither do I want to forget about the books that intrigued me, that I do want to read sometime, just not right now.  So, these pages in the reading journal will help me not forget.  I organized the lists according to who recommended it or by genre.

I like that journal has two types of pages for recording books you've read.  One is a short form with the basic information and a short space to write notes.  Another offers more space for recording longer notes, quotes, comments, etc.

Just for grins, here are pictures of "his" and "hers" bedside books.

I counted 132 books on my side of the bed.  That's not counting the books on shelves in the rest of the house that I still want to read, nor the list of books in my reading journal.  So many books!  So little time!  (To be fair to my husband, most of my books are novels and children's books; he's reading heavier stuff that takes more time and mental energy to process!)

For January, the total was 25*.

* Yes, many of these books are short children's books that only took me 20-30 minutes to read.  But they did take up my "free reading time" (i.e. not reading to the kids during school), so they count. :-) I also counted the audio book we listened to as a family while driving.

Lad : A Dog

by Albert Payson Terhune

My oldest daughter and I have been sharing a love for Terhune's dog stories (mostly about collies).  I read a number of these when I was young (and the books were my dad's).  They were written in the 1920s and 1930s mostly.  They have big vocabularies and some diatribes about things that seem kind of odd now, almost 100 years later.  But they are good stories for dog lovers.  I have enjoyed sharing them with my daughter.

Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May?

by Jean Fritz

We have been learning about the beginnings of the American Revolution in school, so this month included a bunch of Jean Fritz books about various famous historical figures.  I won't go into detail about all of them, as the titles are pretty self-explanatory.  The books are interesting, the pictures are engaging, and my children enjoyed listening to them. (I include them on my reading list because I read myself first before reading them out loud to the kids.)

Will you sign here, John Hancock?

by Jean Fritz

I don't remember knowing much about John Hancock before, except that he signed his name really large on the Declaration of Independence, and that he was rich.  This book portrays him as generous, but vain -- seeking popularity above most anything else.

Why don't you get a horse, Sam Adams?

by Jean Fritz

We especially enjoyed the illustrations on this one.  The illustrator obviously knows horses and proper riding technique.  We observed that those who knew how to ride horses had their feet and hands in proper position (heels down, stirrup on the ball of the foot, hands low).  When Sam Adams got on a horse for the first time, his toes were pointed down, his foot was all the way through the stirrup, his hands were way up high and back, and the horse was showing her annoyance (head up, mouth open, giving him the "evil eye").

Shh!  We're Writing the Constitution

by Jean Fritz

What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?

by Jean Fritz

By interesting coincidence, I read this book on Franklin's birthday, January 17!  Typical Jean Fritz biography.

George Washington's Breakfast

by Jean Fritz

This was a cute story about a young boy named after George Washington.  He is a curious boy and wants to find out everything he can about his namesake.  One day he wonders what George Washington ate for breakfast and embarks on a research journey, involving his whole family, to find out.  I love that his parents eagerly help him in his search and provide opportunities for him to learn, rather than being too busy with their own lives and agendas to engage with him in his interests.  Oh, that I could learn to be that kind of parent!

The Double Life of Pocahontas

by Jean Fritz

This book had too much guessing in it for me.  Piecing together the small bits of historical information that we have, the author uses a lot of "she may have...", "she might have...", "she must have..." done this, thought that, felt this.  Too much speculation for my taste.

This book (along with others I've read about colonists and settlers, of various nationalities) does make me think.  It is a common practice in such books to fail to distinguish between the behavior of colonists and settlers who practiced an outward form of "Christianity" (but did not truly follow Christ's commands nor act like him) and those who were truly Christ-followers with a heart to proclaim the good news of salvation from sin (and fear of evil spirits) through faith in Jesus Christ.  It breaks my heart that so many so-called "Christians" attempted to convert the Native Americans -- not to Christ, but to their own culture.  For instance, in this book, Pocahontas is dressed up in English clothes so that she will "at least look like a Christian".  And the viewpoint of many in English seemed to be that their culture and civilization were superior to anyone else's.  They viewed the Indians as "savage", "barbarous", "uncivilized", and perhaps sub-human.

This is not the viewpoint of true Christianity, as described in the Bible.  Biblical Christianity seeks to make known the one and only true God (Yahweh), but not to promote one culture over another.  By all accounts, the men who settled Jamestown were lazy, unwilling to work, stealing from and cheating the Indians, willing to kill at the slightest provocation.  Not true Christ-followers.  No wonder the Indians wanted nothing to do with the Englishman's god.  How different things could have been if the people had come with a mind to live Christ-like lives (i.e. self-sacrificing, humble, peace-making) rather than to find riches, power, or fame!

Most books (including this one) imply that the settlers should have just left the Indians to their own religion and not tried to "convert" them or preach Christ to them.  They also seem to attribute any preaching of Christ and any conversions of Indians to false motives.  I agree that they should not have tried to force "conversions" or merely focus on culture.  And it may well be that many Indians "converted" out of convenience (or pressure).  But a true Christ-follower could never be content (or obedient to Christ) without "going into all nations, making disciples and teaching them to obey all that I commanded you."

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

by Jean Fritz

This book describes the history of the Roanoke colony and explores theories about what happened to them.  It is very nicely illustrated.  It does have more text on a page than the books about Revolution-area figures, so it is probably more appropriate for a slightly older age group.  I let my 10+ kids read it, but I may not read it out loud to my 8 and under group.

Why Not, Lafayette?

by Jean Fritz

I don't guess I have ever really known much about Lafayette, other than hearing the name.  I actually thought he was a pirate or explorer (maybe that was Jean Lafitte?).  So, this was an interesting read for me.  I learned about his involvement in both the American and French revolutions.  The book also pointed out how many towns, counties, schools, etc. are named after him (think Fayetteville, Lafayette, and other versions of the name).  One outstanding quote: "Liberty, he realized, could not be won once and for all.  It had to be fought for over and over."

Guns for General Washington

by Seymour Reit

Colonel Henry Knox and his 19 year old brother Will undertake the daunting task to move 183 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in the dead of winter.  The big guns were used to end a stalemate with the British and free the city of Boston in March 1776.  This was a fascinating story.

Squalls Before War: His Majesty's Schooner Sultana

by Ned Bustard

The story of sailors on a British schooner patrolling the waters of the American coast for smugglers who are seeking to evade taxes in the years leading up to the American Revolution.  It gives the perspective of the British regarding the colonists' protest against England. Although the conversations and thoughts of the characters are fiction, the events are based on the log books kept by the lieutenant and master of the ship during the five years they were at sea.  There is a lot of nautical jargon, which was a bit difficult for me to follow, but there is a glossary in the back explaining all the terms (if you're willing to keep flipping back and forth).  There are excerpts from the log entries interspersed with the text of the story.  They are written in a fancy script typical of the day, which made it a little difficult to decipher.  Younger readers would likely find it impossible.  But you can still follow the story quite easily without reading the log entries. 

Laugh out loud quote: The captain and lieutenant are having dinner with George Washington at his home.  Washington is quoted as saying, "If trade can be taxed, then everything we have can be taxed.  We could see a day when they taxed our property or food or clothing or anything!"  

Oh the irony!!

Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Road

by Catherine Chambers

I must have picked this up at the library book sale some time.  Like Lafayette, I had him placed in the wrong historical period.  I was thinking he was at the Alamo (no, that was Davy Crocket).  He was actually blazing the trail from North Carolina to Kentucky before the Declaration of Independence.  This was a good picture book (though older style) introduction to Daniel Boone.  I have a longer biography of him and I guess I'll be bumping it up on my priority list.  Both will go along well with our current study of this time period in school.

Patriots, Redcoats, and Spies

by Robert J. Skead and Robert A. Skead

This book was written by a father/son team who had ancestors in the Connecticut militia during the American Revolution.  We attended an event at Kleb Woods Nature Center where we learned about the Culper Spy Ring that served George Washington during the war.  That same day I took the kids to the library and while I was showing one of them how to use the library catalog, I typed in "spies" and found this book.  When I saw the description mentioned the Culper Spy Ring, I decided to grab it and try it out.  After their father is shot by British soldiers, twin boys John and Ambrose must complete their father's mission to deliver a secret message to General George Washington.  They encounter many adventures and overcome many obstacles before accomplishing their mission.  It was a good, clean book; fast-paced and interesting; some fighting and bleeding, but not gory.  I liked it and passed it on to the kids.  And there's a sequel...

Submarines, Secrets, & A Daring Rescue

by Robert J. Skead and Robert A. Skead

Now the Clark boys are 15 years old and are given a secret mission to deliver a large load of gunpowder to the Continental Army.  They are to use submarine called the "Turtle", towed behind their sailboat.  Their older brother leads a diversion group over land, carrying a smaller load of powder in a wagon convoy.  An unknown informant tips off a vengeful British officer who intercepts the wagons and captures the Clarks' older brother.  After the younger brothers successfully complete their mission, they take on another mission to use the "Turtle" to attach a gunpowder bomb to a British ship.  They narrowly succeed and then proceed to embark on a rescue mission to save their brother from execution in a British fort.  This book is a little more graphic in the battle scenes than the previous one, but not as gory as some others I've read.  It does not glorify war; in fact, the characters express sorrow and revulsion at having to kill or wound their enemies (even when they thought they would like nothing better than to kill and get revenge).  Many of the characters call on and credit "Providence" (rather than luck) for their help and success.

A Spy Called James: The True Story of James Lafayette

Revolutionary War Double Agent

by Anne Rockwell

Continuing with the spy theme, this is a beautiful picture book about a slave who works as a double agent -- pretending to be a British spy while actually spying on  the British for the French general Lafayette and the American Patriots.  He hoped to win his freedom by serving in the war, but that was only granted to soldiers, not spies. However, Lafayette himself wrote a letter to the Virginia government to petition for his freedom, which they finally granted.  Beautiful illustrations and excellent story.

Rebel with a Cause : 

The Daring Adventure of Dicey Langston, 

Girl Spy of the American Revolution

by Kathleen Kudlinski

This is a picture book about a 10 year old girl who secretly helps the Continental Army (including 2 of her older brothers) and warns them about a bloodthirsty Loyalist solider who is about to attack them.

 Secrets of American History - Revolutionary War

The Founding Fathers Were Spies

by Patricia Lakin

A great introduction for young readers to how George Washington won the war by out-spying the British.  Discusses the Culper Spy Ring and the various techniques they used to pass secret messages.

Johnny Tremain

by Esther Forbes

A famous classic about a young silversmith apprentice in pre-revolutionary Boston.  The proud Johnny encounters an accident that burns and disfigures his hand, causing him to be unable work as a silversmith any longer.  As he searches for another job, he gets caught up with the Sons of Liberty, meeting such characters as Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock. He is instrumental in spying on the British prior to the Battle of Lexington and Concord.  I remember being fascinated with this book in middle school, but had not read it since then.  Some could accuse it of being a bit too slow in places, as it focuses on Johnny's character development more than plot action.  We listened to this as a family while we drove throughout December and January.  We probably never would have gotten through it if I had read it out loud.  It is not gory, but it does have more language (d----- and h---) than I would normally allow my kids to read or hear.  The timing of listening to this was perfect, since it give a descriptive account of the "Shot Heard Round The World" just as my older kids were writing about it in their writing lessons.

The Cabin Faced West

by Jean Fritz

I've seen this one on many book lists and finally got around to reading it.  It is the story of a young girl dealing with loneliness as her family settles in the western frontier of Pennsylvania, some years after the American Revolution (1784).  She longs to go back to Gettysburg until she gets a surprise visit from George Washington and realizes she wants to be part of settling this new country.

The Story of Jeremy Cricket

The Story of Robin Redbreast

The Story of Charlotte the Caterpillar

The Story of Benjamin Bee

retold by Pat Wynnejones from Mrs. Gatty's Parables of Nature

Four short books in a series called "Hedgerow Tales".  The cricket story is a parable of longing for a home we don't yet have (i.e. a heavenly one).  The robin story is about trusting God to provide our needs, even in difficult times.  The caterpillar learns there is a difference between true faith and believing everything you are told.  The bee learns that everybody has an important, though different, job.

The Elements of Visual Style

by Robert W. Harris

I found this while searching the library for my oldest son who is interested in graphic design.  It talked about how to arrange type, space, and art to make documents attractive and useful.  It gave a lot of examples of what not to do.  It could have used a few more examples of what the "better" versions alongside the "bad" versions.  Overall, it was an interesting and useful little book.  I will probably be noticing the things he pointed out as I look at professionally (and otherwise) designed documents.

Fall 2018 Roundup

Tweaking the routine

This fall we tried something a little different with our schedule.  We have blocked out Monday through Thursday mornings for our academic work. Except for occasional daytime doctor appointments, I try really hard to keep our mornings reserved for be-at-home school work.  We are usually done with most things by lunch time, though the older kids may still have a bit of work left for after lunch.  Afternoons are for piano practice and free time (after any leftover school work is completed).

Fridays are reserved for horse riding lessons, grocery shopping, and house cleaning.  This has proved less stressful for me, rather than trying to cram in bits of school work before we leave for riding lessons on Friday morning or taking up part of Saturday cleaning (or not getting the house clean at all). 

Another tweak for this fall’s schedule is that I dedicate the morning hours to working with my three youngest students (8, 6, and 5) and don’t allow my older ones to interrupt me (except for pressing questions if they get really stuck).  My three youngest need my attention to guide them with their work and to keep them from getting distracted.  My three oldest have plenty of work they can do independently; I check their work later in the afternoon or evening so they can make corrections later. 

They have all settled into this routine nicely and it proved invaluable in December when I got sick with a bad chest cold and stayed in bed for 2 or 3 days.  My husband was home from work with a cough, working at home on his laptop in the living room.  The older ones continued on with the school work I had prepared for the week and I was able to spend a few minutes each day with the younger ones doing their math and handwriting.  What a blessing not to lose a week of school just because mom got sick! 😊

Scheduling

Early this year I learned about HomeschoolManager.com.  It allows me to create schedules and assignment pages for each child, (plus I create one for family activities).  I have quite a few assignments that are duplicated for multiple children.  I just have to type the assignment in once, then click on the names of the students who need to do that assignment.  You can copy or move assignments from one day to another or from one week to another.  After I created all the assignments for the week, I just printed out each student’s page and stuck it in their binder.  Then they have all their assignments for the week, and they can work at their own pace.  Sometimes they even do some of the next day’s assignments.  As long as it all gets done within in the week, I don’t complain!

Here’s a sample of what a completed schedule looks like:

It costs $39 a year, and it did save me a lot of time compared to my previous ways of doing it.  I do really like the one-page format with all the assignments listed out for the whole week.

Some downsides:   There was a bit of a learning curve, partly complicated by some bugs in the program (sometimes you enter things and then they disappear and you have to enter them again).  They do not have a feature to  duplicate a student’s entire week; you have to copy individual assignments.  And when you create a new school year (or term), you have to type in each subject for each student all over again.  You can’t just duplicate from one term to the next or from one student to another.

Because of these two issues, I have begun to try out another program (www.homeschooltracker.com)  which costs a little more but looks a WHOLE LOT more flexible and powerful.  It’s got a learning curve too, but so far it looks promising.  I’ll give an update after I’ve used it for a while.

Now, subject by subject (roughly), here’s what we’ve been doing this fall:

Bible

We’ve been reading through Who is God? which is the first book in Apologia’s worldview curriculum series.  Like their other curricula, they provide optional notebooking journals.  I opted not to do those this time, since my kids have plenty of writing to do in their other subjects and they are not crazy about notebooking activities anyway.  We’ve just been reading through the book a few pages at a time and discussing them.

We spent quite a few weeks working on memorizing Exodus 20:1-17, as well as parts of Psalm 25, and selected key verses from Matthew.  (Our pastor was teaching through Psalm 25 on Wednesday nights and began a new series in Matthew on Sunday mornings.)

 Poetry

We started working our way through the poems in IEW’s Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization.  At the end of the summer, they had an offer to get the student e-book free, so I decided we might as well try it. So far, we have made it through the first 5 poems.  I think the favorite, by far, was “Ooey Gooey”.  Even the 4 year old picked up on it very quickly and loves to recite it to anyone who will listen.

Since we’ve been learning about parts of speech in grammar, I chose another poem about all the different parts of speech to work on next.  That’s a longer one, so it’s been taking us a while.

Spanish

The three older kids have been learning Spanish through a free on-line program called Duolingo.  Two of the younger ones tried it a few times, but it proved too difficult for them (too much typing).  The older ones seem to be enjoying it, but we need to find way for them to practice speaking with real live people.

History and Geography

We have been learning about each of the states, beginning in the northeast, spending about a week on each one.  We have used a variety of resources to learn basic facts about each state such as location, abbreviation, motto, nickname, state flower, state bird, flag, etc.  We usually watch a couple of short videos from YouTube about each state and the older ones do some map work.  The older ones also skim through a couple of library books on each state (one focusing on interesting places and people and one focusing on the history of the state from its founding through the American Revolution).  I create fill-in-the blank worksheets to guide them through the books and make sure that their eyes at least land on most of the pages, even if they don’t thoroughly read them. 😊 I’ve been using a series of books by Ann Heinrichs for the geography part, and another series by Kevin Cunningham for the history part.  The geography study has dove-tailed nicely with our history studies, even though I didn’t necessarily plan it that way. 

For history, we have been studying United States History.  We’ve been listening to The Story of the 13 Colonies by H.A. Guerber (available at Librivox.com).  I also have the book, revised by Christine Miller, but it’s been easier for us to listen in the van while we drive here and there.

The three older kids have been working through IEW’s U.S History-Based Writing Lessons.  I’ve really pleased with this, as it covers two subjects at once : writing and history.  I’ve tried to time the readings from Guerber’s book with the writing assignments.  They (we) get to hear about the same events more than once, from slightly different perspectives.  This, along with the history we get from the geography books, is helping to cement the facts about American history, especially the beginnings of the war for independence.

Read-Alouds

To make some of the historical events more real, we’ve also read or listened to some historical fiction books.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.  This is the story of a young girl transplanted from Barbados to her Puritan relatives in Connecticut.  She has difficulty understanding and adjusting to their strict ways   They, in turn, are suspicious of her because she is so different from them.  This is set in a backdrop of growing resentment against the control of England’s king and the superstitions that led to the Salem witch trials hysteria.  There is no actual witch or witchcraft in the story, merely the accusation of such because some folks have different beliefs.  I was skeptical of the book at first, but after I actually read it I was impressed with the powerful story and writing.  We listened to the audio version as we drove to San Antonio in November.  Again, by a skilled narrator.  The kids picked up on some actual historical events alluded to in the story, as well as the description of the “dame school” and “hornbook” that they had read about in our geography studies.

And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz is a fairly short book describing the life of Paul Revere and his involvement in the American Revolution.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes.  A classic story of a young silversmith apprentice in Boston who becomes involved in the various historical events such as the Boston Tea Party and meets historical characters such as Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Sam Adams.  We started listening to the audio version during the Christmas holidays during several long drives to visit family.

Other books that we’ve read aloud this fall include:

 Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter.  Skip the movie (especially the Disney version) and read the book!!  It is just sooooo good!!!  Pollyanna has a bad rap for being overly and blindly optimistic.  But that is not the way the book portrays her.  Her father has taught her, through most difficult circumstances, to find something to be glad about in every situation.  He called this the “glad game” and based it on searching the Bible for all the texts that command us to “rejoice and be glad”.  We listened to a recording from LIbrivox.org.  The man who recorded it did such an awesome job of reading it and putting in the inflection and emotion and voice changes to make the characters really come alive.

Life of Fred : Cats  and Life of Fred: Dogs by Stanley Schmidt. This has been mainly for my 6 and 8 year olds, but the older kids like to listen to.  These books teach math through the story of this 5 year old boy who is a math professor at a university.  It is silly and unrealistic, but it’s a fun and relatively painless way to learn and practice math.

Little House on Rocky Ridge by Roger Lea MacBride.  This is a sequel to the Little House on the Prairie series, told from the viewpoint of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s daughter Rose.  It tells how they move from the Dakotas to Missouri because of drought and debt.

Science

We have been going through Apologia’s Zoology 2 : Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day.  We listen to the audio CD of the author reading the chapter (usually while driving somewhere).  Then, I create some worksheets or notebooking pages for the older kids to fill in as they read back through the chapter on their own.  Sometimes the younger kids are able to do the worksheets as well, or I give them some coloring pages.  I often also try to find some documentary to watch on the given topic, so we can put some pictures to the words and concepts we heard.  We do science about every other week.

We also watched a lot of Texas Parks and Wildlife videos which cover both science (nature and conservation) and history.  We often watch these during lunch and if we skip a few days, they kids are asking to watch them again.  The videos are well done and we’ve learned a lot.  Again, painless education!

Math

 We have continued to use and enjoy Math-U-See.  The kids work at mostly independently and with no tears or fussing.  The older ones have also continued to work through Grids for Kids (logic puzzles).

Grammar & Vocabulary

 The three older kids have continued to work through IEW’s FixIt Grammar series.  We finished the first book, “The Nose Tree”, and began working on the second book “Robin Hood.”  They learn grammar concepts through editing a story, marking things like subjects & verbs, clauses, etc.  And since they are getting a story one sentence at a time, it keeps them engaged as they come back each day to find out what happens next.  My oldest child likes to illustrate each sentence, and I usually get a smile or laugh when I see his drawings as I check his work.

This grammar series also includes a vocabulary word for each day.  The kids have to use a dictionary to look up the bold word in each sentence and write the definition in their notebook.  To reinforce these vocabulary words, I started using some on-line games at Spelling City.  I assign a couple of vocabulary games each day so they can practice the words they’ve learned so far.  I also use Spelling City to help them learn and practice vocabulary words from our science book.

Spelling

I continue to search for a spelling program that suits us.  I’ve tried using Words Their Way and All About Spelling with mixed results.  Kind of like math used to be, I get groans, rolling eyes, and dragging feet when it’s time to do spelling.  And we tend to put it off, so if we run out of time it gets dropped of the schedule.  I’m sure lack of consistency hasn’t helped.  But when I find that even I don’t look forward to it, maybe it’s time for a change.  So, this fall we started trying out Spell to Read and Write.  The jury’s still out on this one.  It’s not particularly exciting, and we have some disagreements with the author over some of the sounds certain phonograms make, but I have learned some things that make spelling certain words make sense.  To give the kids more practice in a more interesting way, I’ve been assigning spelling games from SpellingCity.com.  The younger kids look forward to this, and the older kids haven’t complained.

Programming

My oldest worked through the KidCoder Series Game Programming, gaining more experience in Visual Basic.  I worked through the lessons with him, staying just one step ahead of him.  He is now ready to go on to explore more of Visual Basic on his own, implementing programs of his own invention.  So I got him a VB programmer’s reference manual and he’s already been experimenting with his own programs.

My second oldest continued working through Coding Games in Scratch and my third oldest tried going through Coding Projects in Python.  He has found that a bit too challenging, so he took a break for a while and will go back to the Scratch games for a while.

Extra-curricular Activities

The oldest 5 have enthusiastically continued piano lessons with the most fun teacher ever.  They have all been learning some hymns in addition to their regular lesson songs.  Several have played for the offertory in the Sunday morning worship time and have accompanied our Sunday night group as well.  They all performed excellently at their recital in December.  The boys especially have enjoyed learning and playing various ragtime pieces.

We continue to take horse riding lessons weekly.  It is the highlight of the week for some of us.  Three of the boys entertain themselves quite nicely while the other four of us ride.  My oldest daughter is the most accomplished of us all and has gotten the opportunity to try out many different horses as our instructor tries to figure out which ones she wants to keep as lesson horses.  She also participated in a “play day” in December in which she competed in several events (racing around barrels in various patterns).

The three older kids have been feeding their love for drama through weekly, Monday-evening classes at Drama Kids International.  They have had a couple of years of “speech and theater” classes that emphasized speech more than theater.  Those classes definitely helped them, but they really wanted to get more involved in acting.  The Drama Kids classes seem to be fitting the bill.  

And it was the only thing I could find that wasn’t focused on big Disney/Broadway style productions and/or didn’t cost way too much or involve too much driving.  This one is close, affordable, and just what we were looking for.  The teachers have plenty of energy and enthusiasm.  I was a bit skeptical about whether the Monday evening schedule would work for us as a family, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well it has worked.  We have to eat supper early (4:30) in order to make it to the 5:30 class, but we’re home before 8 and in bed at the regular time.  It is also good motivation for the kids to get their school work done during the day so they don’t have to work on it while they are waiting for their sibling(s)’ class.  Usually I take them to class and read or work on school prep, but sometimes my husband will take them while I stay home with the younger ones.

We have enjoyed numerous events at Kleb Woods Nature Preserve.  They have programs for school-age children twice a month on Thursday mornings, as well as several Saturday festivals.  These count as both science and history.  This fall, we attended the Hummingbird Festival in September and the Digging Old Stuff history Festival in November. We learned about chimney swifts, dragon flies, Texas state symbols, osage orange trees, cotton gins, and Elmer Kleb (former owner of the land where the nature preserve is).  We missed a few events due to being sick or out of town.