Summer's Cool

Here's some recent pictures from our latest adventures. Govinda made a kite all on his own and had fun taking pictures. Navin is having fun being cute. :)

Australia Book List

*About marsupials : a guide for children by Sill, Cathryn P
AUSTRALIAN LEGENDARY TALES by Parker, K. Langloh
Australian wildlife by Parish, Steve
Big rain coming by Germein, Katrina
Bright star by Crew, Gary
The biggest frog in Australia by Roth, Susan L.
*Dingoes At Dinnertime by Mary Pope Osborne
Dreamtime : aboriginal stories by Noonuccal, Oodgeroo
Down under, down under : diving adventures on the Great Barrier Reef by McGovern, Ann.
Ernie dances to the didgeridoo : for the children of Gunbalanya by Lester, Alison
Flood fish by Eversole, Robyn Harbert.
*The flying emu and other Australian stories by Morgan, Sally
*Found you, Little Wombat! by McAllister, Angela
*Grumble-rumble! by Dodds, Siobhan
Into wild Australia by Corwin, Jeff
Katy no-pocket by Payne, Emmy
*Koala Lou by Fox, Mem
Marsupial Sue by Lithgow, John
Marsupial Sue presents the Runaway Pancake by Lithgow, John
*McGillycuddy could! by Edwards, Pamela Duncan
*The singing snake by Czernecki, Stefan
The very boastful kangaroo by Most, Bernard
What shall we do, blue kangaroo? by Chichester Clark, Emma.
Where are you, blue kangaroo? by Chichester Clark, Emma.
Kangaroos and koalas : what they have in common by Swan, Erin Pembrey.
Possum magic by Fox, Mem, 1946-
The pumpkin runner by Arnold, Marsha Diane.
*Swim, little wombat, swim! by Fuge, Charles.
The Wiggles. Lights, camera, action! by Bufalo, Nicholas.
*Wombat goes walkabout by Morpurgo, Michael.
Wombats by Kras, Sara Louise.
*The old woman who loved to read by Winch, John
Snap! by Vaughan, Marcia K
*Sun Mother wakes the world : an Australian creation story by Wolkstein, Diane
Where the forest meets the sea by Baker, Jeannie

DVDs:
The crocodile hunter. Wildest home videos ; Big croc diaries by Stainton, John.
Wonders of the deep. Vol. 2 by Paulson, Doug.
Jacques Cousteau Pacific explorations. 3, Australia, continent of dreams by Cousteau, Jacques
Kookaburra song on youtube

Last Week of Summer Break!

Language Arts: We'll start back up with academics next week. We finished our Alphabet Island poster and added more to make it bigger. The island is above the school table, which becomes part of the island. Govinda also drew a bulldozer on the chalkboard and we checked out a bunch of books about earth movers because he is sooooo interested in them.

Geography: We started reading about Australia and all of the animals there, especially marsupials. We colored the map and flag of Australia.

African Animals

We had fun adding African animals to the world map. We're finishing up all of our Africa projects and moving on to Australia soon!

Dozing The Ten Trees

There was a bulldozer clearing an empty lot on our road for a whole month. We watched some big trees fall, including mango and coconut trees. It made a big impression on the boys, and everything in the house has become a dozer...chairs, tables, wooden blocks, and when some friends gave us a bunch of legos, they became very intricate dozers. So, while all the toys were being dozed, I added in some educational trees...cuisenaire math rods. I made them all into 10 cm trees and the boys had fun dozing them and having them grow back again and again. Soon after, the smaller units became cones to block the roads near the dozing sites. This is the most that these math rods have been used so far! While they're playing, they're seeing different ways of adding up to ten.

All Aboard For Alphabet

All aboard for Alphabet Island
New sounds and places we'll expore
Letters come to life at Alphabet Island
Where we read and spell from shore to shore

We have all fallen in love with Alphabet Island. It's just too perfect since we live on an island. Each letter is a kid with characteristics that help remember how they make words (reading and spelling rules). The king and queen are Noble N and Lady L, which is Mom and Dad. Navin likes to be 'Veggie V', who is good friends with 'Farmhand F', and they love vegetables. Govinda has really bonded with Zany Z, a barefoot boy whose favorite number is zero, and likes to zone out on dozers.

We're making a big poster for the cards to play on and an Alphabet Island book with a page for each letter friend. Here's a picture of the cover and Zany Z before being all colored in:




























The best part is that he thinks all of the Alphabet Island stuff is just for fun, not school! Yet, just from listening to the cd and reading some of the stories, he now knows many phonics concepts that I haven't officially taught him, like 'ch', 'ph', 'wh', 'gh', and more. I can tell this is a great fit for us!

We have been blessed with a new camera, so now I can take more pictures to share.

Here's some pictures of a premature jabon that fell and became a great ball to play with. We have been really admiring nature and the greatness of summer and the fruits that are ripe. Our nature study has been fun, exploring the wonders of nature everyday. In this picture, Govinda is wearing his Zany Z shirt. Notice the double z's on the back...that's because he is afraid of being at the cliff at the ends of words, so he manifests another Zany Z to keep him company and feel safe. Alphabet Island really takes abstract symbols for sounds and makes them personal relationships that are easy to relate to and remember.

Africa

We continued our study of Africa, focusing on animals, ecosystems, folktales, and village and tribal life. Our new favorite story is Zella, Zack, and Zodiac. It is a great story about a zebra and ostrich that help each other when in need with a nice, rhyming rhythm that we all love. Govinda is having a new language arts bond with the letter Z, and it is tying in nicely with 'zebras grazing', and places like Zimbabwe, and the Zulu people. He's also learned a fun African song with lots of Z's in it (zimi zaya, zimi zaya, zay ya ya).

Here is a picture of an African hut drawn after reading a story showing it like this (Beatrice's Goat), drawn on the first completed homemade chalk board:

Botanical Garden Field Trip With Homeschool Group

We joined the homeschool group at the Botanical Gardens. The kids had a lot of fun. In this picture, the tour guide is in the birdhouse with four macaws that were on his shoulders for a while. We learned a lot about exotic plants and some Hawaiian history, too. We used to live nearby, so it was nice to revisit a familiar place.

African Animals

Geography: This week we read stories about the many amazing African animals and learned a lot about primates and the differences between apes and monkeys. Our favorite stories were Honey...Honey...Lion, Here Is The African Savanna, and How Giraffe Got Such A Long Neck...There are so many stories for Africa, I am working on compiling a list. We have lots of giraffe toys, so the boys acted out stories with the giraffes.


Language Arts: There's nothing like a beginning reader picking up a book for fun. Here's Govinda relaxing with Hop On Pop by Dr. Seuss:


Looking ahead to Egypt, I'm not sure how much mummy info the boys can handle at this age. I don't want the baby to get scared or any bad dreams, so we may keep our Africa focus on animals and tribal village life and come back to ancient Egypt for history later on.

We have introduced Alphabet Island and it is a big hit! The boys love the letters each being a character, it's like the alphabet just became their new best imaginary friends, and they like to read and spell! Woohoo!

Africa Book List

There's a lot of stories from Africa! *=favorites

*Honey--honey--lion! : a story from Africa by Brett, Jan, 1949-
*Africa calling : nighttime falling by Adlerman, Daniel
*Zella, Zack, and Zodiac by Peet, Bill.
*Here is the African savanna by Dunphy, Madeleine.
*Jungle Drums by Base, Graeme
*How Giraffe got such a long neck-- and why Rhino is so grumpy by Rosen, Michael, 1946-
African princess : the amazing lives of Africa's royal women by Hansen, Joyce.
Ali, child of the desert by London, Jonathan
Ashanti to Zulu : African traditions by Musgrove, Margaret.
Beatrice's goat by McBrier, Page.
Bill and Pete go down the Nile by DePaola, Tomie,
A country far away by Gray, Nigel.
Croco'nile by Gerrard, Roy.
For you are a Kenyan child by Cunnane, Kelly.
Hatshepsut : first female pharaoh by Pancella, Peggy.
I lost my tooth in Africa by Diakité, Penda.
A is for Africa by Onyefulu, Ifeoma
Mama Panya's pancakes : a village tale from Kenya by Chamberlin, Mary,
Ms. Frizzle's adventures : ancient Egypt by Cole, Joanna.
Mummies in the morning by Osborne, Mary Pope.
Mummies made in Egypt by Aliki.
The night has ears : African proverbs by Bryan, Ashley.
Pyramids! : 50 hands-on activities to experience ancient Egypt by Hart, Avery.
The Sahara desert : the biggest desert by Weintraub, Aileen, 1973-
Tut's mummy lost-- and found by Donnelly, Judy.
Tutankhamun by Green, Robert, 1969-
We all went on safari : a counting journey through Tanzania by Krebs, Laurie.
When Africa was home by Williams, Karen Lynn.
Where are you going Manyoni by Stock, Catherine
If I were a kid in ancient Egypt by Waryncia, Lou.
The lonely lioness and the Ostrich chicks : a Masai tale by Aardema, Verna.
Mandela : from the life of the South African statesman by Cooper, Floyd
Who's in Rabbit's house : Masai tale by Aardema, Verna.
Billie the hippo by Malane, Donna.
Biography of an ostrich by Hopf, Alice Lightner, 1904-
Bringing the rain to Kapiti Plain
Giraffe by Hoffman, Mary, 1945-
A giraffe grows up by Tourville, Amanda Doering,
Hidden hippo by Gannij, Joan.
How the ostrich got its long neck : a tale from the Akamba of Kenya by Aardema, Verna.
Mara, daughter of the Nile by McGraw, Eloise Jarvis.
Moja means one; Swahili counting book by Feelings, Muriel L. 1
My rows and piles of coins by Mollel, Tololwa M. (Tololwa Marti)
Owen & Mzee : best friends by Hatkoff, Isabella.
Rabbit makes a monkey of lion : a Swahili tale by Aardema, Verna.
When lion could fly : and other tales from Africa by Greaves, Nick.
A zebra's world by Arnold, Caroline.
Zomo the Rabbit : a trickster tale from West Africa by McDermott, Gerald.
African critters by Haas, Robert B.
African rhinos by Nelson, Kristin L.
Anansi the spider; a tale from the Ashanti by McDermott, Gerald.
Cheetah by Arnold, Caroline.
Count your way through Egypt by Haskins, James, 1941-
Egypt by Aykroyd, Clarissa.
Egypt in pictures by Zuehlke, Jeffrey, 1968-
Faraway home by Kurtz, Jane.
Guess who roars by Gordon, Sharon.
It takes a village by Cowen-Fletcher, Jane.
Jambo means hello; Swahili alphabet book by Feelings, Muriel L.
Jungle Jack Hanna's safari adventure by Hanna, Jack, 1947-
Lion by Arnold, Caroline.
On safari by Paul, Tessa.
Pepi and the secret names : with six secret names to solve (answers at the back of the book) by Paton Walsh, Jill, 1937-
A place in the sun by Rubalcaba, Jill.
Project hippopotamus by Ring, Susan.
Seeker of knowledge : the man who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs by Rumford, James, 1948-
A South African night by Isadora, Rachel.
Zebra by Arnold, Caroline.
Elizabeti's doll by Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie, 1965-
Mansa Musa : ruler of ancient Mali by Pancella, Peggy.
Wangari's trees of peace : a true story from Africa by Winter, Jeanette.
Ancient Egypt by JWM Productions.
Chidi only likes blue : an African book of colors by Onyefulu, Ifeoma.
Cleopatra by Hoobler, Dorothy.
The day Gogo went to vote : South Africa, April 1994 by Sisulu, Elinor.
The day of Ahmed's secret by Heide, Florence Parry
Egypt beyond the pyramids by DeVries, David.
Galimoto by Williams, Karen Lynn.
Gift of the sun : a tale from South Africa by Stewart, Dianne.
Jafta by Lewin, Hugh.
Jafta and the wedding by Lewin, Hugh.
Jafta's father by Lewin, Hugh.
Jafta's mother by Lewin, Hugh.
Jafta--the journey /by Lewin, Hugh.
Jafta--the town by Lewin, Hugh.
Koi and the kola nuts by Gleeson, Brian.
Masai and I by Kroll, Virginia L.
Mufaro's beautiful daughters : an African tale by Steptoe, John, 1950-
My painted house, my friendly chicken, and me by Angelou, Maya.
Off to the sweet shores of Africa and other talking drum rhymes by Unobagha, Uzoamaka Chinyelu.
Pretty Salma : a Little Red Riding Hood story from Africa by Daly, Niki.
The royal kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay : life in medieval Africa by McKissack, Pat, 1944-
A story, a story; an African tale by Haley, Gail E.
A visual introduction to monkeys and apes by Stonehouse, Bernard.

DVD: Swinging safari by Grupper, Jonathan.
DVD: Growing up wild. Vol. 1, Amazing baby animals by Wildvision (Firm)

Banyan Tree Climbing

We've been honoring this beautiful season by being outside more. Climbing banyan trees has become our breakthrough summer school activity. This tree was too challenging to climb last year, and now it has become a perfect jungle gym. Govinda has been wanting to climb a lot lately, and since the porch and doorways aren't the safest, we have been practicing on the 'Great Banyan Tree' in our backyard's enchanted forest every morning and afternoon. We have been so amazed by the beautiful trees lately that it may spin off into a native plant study. Summer is such a season of flourishing beauty!

Thank you to everyone who checks in to this blog and cares for us. We are always appreciating well wishes and wish the same for everyone. Take care and God Bless!

France and Goodbye to Europe

Geography: We read more stories from and about France and colored the map and flag. We were planning on going to Spain next and then Italy, but we've now decided to go straight to Africa. I really wanted to spend time on these countries, especially since I know some Spanish and both countries have a lot history. But Govinda really wants to go to Africa because there are more animals there, and then the interlibrary loan only had a few stories for Spain and Italy and tons of books for Africa. So, we're going with the flow and will learn more about the countries we missed later on. I plan to spend two months in Africa, starting with two weeks on animals, then Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. After Africa, we will sail to Australia, then stop at Antarctica on the way to South America, and ending with North America.

We are continuing our 'Summer Break' while the days are long and weather is hot to play outside a lot and have fun. Ever since my birthday, Govinda is really excited about his birthday in October. He has so many desires, so I followed the advice from a great book called How To Talk So Kids Will Listen And How To Listen So Kids Will Talk and asked him to make a wish list...write down or draw everything he wants. This helps them fell some satisfaction even if they never get it...just to be acknowledged is so important for young ones. So, he took off with this, drawing an elaborate picture of road construction gear with a hard hat and neon green shirt and orange cones. On another day, he asked me how to spell 'battery', and I asked why, and he said he wants a red train with a switch and a battery. He drew the train and I wrote out his wish on the board and he copied it. I'll have to take pictures, as it's quite amazing how capable children are of doing academics when they are truly interested.

In the meantime, we've been doing deep cleaning and cooking fun together lately. The boys love making bread and rolling out dough and using cookie cutters. I've been reading a lot lately on helping the boys grow up healthy and find solutions to their problems (usually about sharing). I have a new appreciation for psychology now that I've seen the difference in reactions I can cause in kids by saying things in different ways. I've also been going back more towards all the waldorf style of teaching (art and story based) that I originally set out to do before changing to a more living books classical style, and now I'm trying to find an eclectic balance between them before we move on. Thanks again to everyone who cares about us. We love you! Take care and God Bless!

France Book List

There's a lot of story books about Paris. Here are some of our favorites:

Babar loses his crown by Brunhoff, Laurent de
Belinda in Paris by Young, Amy.
Bon appetit, Bertie! by Knight, Joan.
Bonjour, Mr. Satie by DePaola, Tomie
*Dodsworth in Paris by Egan, Tim
*The giraffe that walked to Paris by Milton, Nancy
Harry and Lulu by Arthur Yorinks
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Wynne-Jones, Tim
Katie and the Mona Lisa by Mayhew, James
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully
Murphy meets Paris by Ziefert, Harriet
New Coat For Anna by Harriet Ziefert
Night of the new magicians by Mary Pope Osborne (we usually love Magic Tree House, but this one had an 'evil sorcerer', so I left out the word evil.)
Paddington Abroad by Michael Bond
Three sacks of truth : a story from France by Kimmel, Eric A.

DVD: Families of France by Arden Films

* = our most read favorites

France and Chalkboard Making

Finally, here's some pictures of the boys. I have been so busy lately, it's hard to remember to grab the camera. But these early childhood days go so fast, I love looking back at old pictures. I can't figure out how to center the pictures...they have reset themselves to be like this. My computer time these days is very short.

We're enjoying this summer break from academics. The weather is so hot, it's nice to go to the beaches, rivers, and tidepools as much as possible. Govinda picked up some Busy Town books to read on his own with a little help here and there with big words he hasn't learned yet.

The one thing I really wanted for my birthday was a chalkboard. When I looked into it, I could get 3 or 4 chalkboards for the price of one if we made it ourselves with chalkboard paint. So, it is a fun project for the whole family. The paint can turn any surface into a chalkboard. First, we cut the corners and sanded all the edges, then painted it. We have 2 more big ones and 3 small ones left to do as we have time.

Geography: We read a lot of stories about France. Dodsworth In Paris was great because it's a funny story, but also teaches a lot about France. Next week, we'll color the map and flag...I'm waiting for our new beeswax crayons that I got for my birthday to arrive.

I'm also waiting to get Alphabet Island to try out. It's a story based phonics program that personifies each letter with characteristics that help remember phonics and spelling rules. Clever C is afraid of falling off the edge of the words, so he brings his pet Kangaroo K. It's also got a lot of songs, and I hope they help my very auditory learner.

Thank you, everyone, for caring for us and being patient when I'm a lazy blogger. Take care and God Bless!

Germany and Gnomes and Gnumbers

I always planned on doing school year round, but life has showed me the greatness of taking a break for a time to let everything settle and process through play. We built a fortress with a sheet on chairs and brought in his easy readers to sit and read in the fort! Then he asked for me to read him a math story called Gnomes and Gnumbers, a great free online waldorf math story guide with activities. I think we will spend some time doing the activities with this story since we all like it, and hey, it's math learning that they both ask for! We have also been taking the free time to play games and focusing on drawing and painting, and I am doing more deep cleaning and rearranging the school room. We checked out a bunch of easy readers from the library for him to practice reading. He loves Dr. Seuss!

Geography: We read stories from the Germany book list, colored the map and flag, and stamped our passports after a train ride. Most of the stories are Grimm's fairy tales, some of which we didn't like because of the witches and sad endings, and then they weren't teaching much about Germany anyways. We decided to hop back on the train and head to France next week.

Science: We're using Otter Science for a story-based study of the human body. We read a good book called I Know How My Cells Make Me Grow, a fun story, not too dry. Next week I hope to draw some cells and maybe bring out the microscope.

I'm sorry to say that the camera doesn't seem to be working with my computer. I took a whole bunch of pics and they won't upload. The dvd player isn't working either. I'm hoping to fix this so I can share pictures again soon.

Thanks again to everyone reading this for your care and love and support, we appreciate it. I'm realizing that learning how to love each other and God is the most important thing to learn in this life. Jesus knew what he was talking about when He said the most important commandment is to "Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself."

Curriculum Choices

There sure are a lot of choices in homeschool curriculum. Here is a nice list I found while searching.

Complete Curriculum (all subjects included):
A Beka
BJU
Calvert
Christopherus (traditional Waldorf)
Rod and Staff
Alpha Omega (Horizons, Lifepac, SOS, Weaver)
Moving Beyond the Page
Oak Meadow
Lapbooks (this was listed but I don’t think this is actually a curriculum, per se)
Living Books
Christian Liberty
CLE
Timberdoodle had complete packages now
CLP
ACE
MBtP

Math:
Applied Math Series
BJU
Chalkdust
Classical Math
CLE
Fanstastic Frogs math
Horizons
Jacob's
Japanese Math
Key to…
Liberty Math
Life of Fred
Living Math * (free online)
Making Math Meaningful
Math Mammoth
Math U See
McRuffy Color Math
MEP * (free online)
Miquon
Quarter-Mile Math
Rightstart
Rod and Staff
Russian Math (Perpendicular Press)
Saxon
Singapore
Teaching Textbooks
Video Text Interactive

Grammar
Abeka
Analytical Grammar/Junior Analytical Grammar
Applications of Grammar
BJU
Daily Grams
Easy Grammar
English for the Thoughtful Child
First Language Lessons
Grammar with a Giggle
Growing with Grammar
Intermediate language lessons
Jensen's Grammar
Jolly Grammar
LLATL
MCT
Primary language lessons
Queen's Language Lessons
Rod and Staff
Ruth Heller's Grammar Picture Books
Simply Grammar
Winston

Composition
writing program from Analytical Grammar
Ancient History Based Writing
Bravewriter/The Writer's Jungle
Charlotte Mason Style Writing Instruction
Classical Writing
Easy Writing
IEW
Ignite Your Writing
Intro to Composition Power Basics
Jensen's Format
Jump in Writing
Just Write
Meaningful Composition
Meaningful Writing
Rod and Staff
Lost Tools of Writing
Write Shop
Writing Strands
Writing Tales
WWE
Wordsmith
Writers Inc

Spelling
A Reason for Spelling
All About Spelling
Apples & Pears
ASCI Spelling
Building Spelling Skills
Calvert Spelling
How to Teach Spelling
McGuffey's Speller (combined spelling and phonics)
Megawords
Natural Speller
Phonetic Zoo
Phonics Road to Spelling
Pollard's Series (combined spelling and phonics)
Sequential Spelling
Soaring with Spelling & Vocabulary
Spell to Write and Read
Spellbound
Spelling Power
Spelling Plus, can add in companion Spelling Dictation
Spelling Workout
Spellography, Primary Spelling by Pattern, Spelling Workout
Spellwell
The Spell of Words
Tricks of the Trade spelling notebook
Webster's Speller (combined spelling and phonics)
Words by M.K. Henry
www.spellingcity.com (not really a curriculum but this is how ds learns his words)

Phonics
ABeCeDarian
Adventures In Phonics
Alpha-Phonics
Alphabet Island
Blend Phonics
Dancing Bears
Explode the Code
Happy Phonics
Investigating Phonics
Itchy’s Alphabet
Jolly Phonics,
McGuffey's Speller (combined spelling and phonics)
McRuffys Phonics
OPGTR
Phonics Museum
Phonics Pathways
Phonics Road to Spelling
Plaid Phonics
Pollard's Series (combined spelling and phonics)
Progressive Phonics
Reading Made Easy
Right Track Reading
Rocket Phonics
Saxon Phonics
Sing, Spell, Read, write
Spell to Write and Read
Starfall (www.starfall.com) * (free online)
Tanglewood Education * (free online)
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
The Reading Lesson
The Writing Road to Reading and Spelling
Veritas Phonics
Webster's Speller (combined spelling and phonics)
Word Mastery

Germany Book List

ABOUT WISE MEN AND SIMPLETONS TWELVE TALES FROM GRIMM/ TRANSLATED BY ELIZABETH SHUB. ETCHINGS BY NONNY HOGROGIAN. WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH W.K. GRIMM. TRANSLATED FROM KINDER UND HAUSMARCHEN by Grimm, Jacob

Bach's big adventure by Ketcham, Sallie

Beethoven : great composer by Carew-Miller, Anna

The Bourbon Street musicians by Price, Kathy (Kathy Z.)

The Bremen town musicians by Bremer Stadtmusikanten

Doctor All-Knowing : a folk tale from the Brothers Grimm by Orgel, Doris.

The duchess bakes a cake by Kahl, Virginia.

The falling stars by Grimm, Wilhelm, 1786-1859.

The fox and the cat : Kevin Crossley-Holland's Animal tales from Grimm ; illustrated by Susan Varley.

Germany by Reynolds, Jeff,

The gift by Brodmann-Menkes, Aliana

The golden goose by Hillert, Margaret.

Hansel and Gretel by Grimm, Jacob

Leopold, the liar of Leipzig by Prose, Francine

A new coat for Anna by Ziefert, Harriet.

The pied piper by Blair, Eric.

Popular folk tales by Grimm, Jacob

The Rhine by Allan, Tony

The seven ravens by Grimm, Jacob

The Shoemaker and the elves by Wichtelmanner.

Some friends to feed : the story of Stone Soup by Seeger, Pete

The elves and the shoemaker by Grimm, Jacob

The six swans : a fairy tale by Grimm, Jacob

The brave little tailor : a retelling of the Grimms' fairy tale by Blair, Eric

The cat and mouse who shared a house by Hurlimann, Ruth

DVD: Europe to the max. Fairy tale Europe Germany and Austria by Maxa, Rudy.

A mighty fortress : a new history of the German people by Ozment, Steven E.

The moon was the best by Zolotow, Charlotte

Netherlands, and Happy Birthday Teacher!

This week we took a break from academics as the baby is still cutting a molar and it was also my birthday. We enjoyed some quality family together time and made a homemade pizza with Dad's special sauce. Geography with literature continued as always.

Geography: We read more stories from the Netherlands/Holland book list, and we also made a windmill. We also drew a windmill and tulips to add to the world map. It's funny, G called it 'the tulip place'.

I've decided to drop CLE math, it's getting too hard and is forcing him to memorize instead of thoroughly understand the why's of math. I started feeling like I was filling a bucket instead of lighting a fire, so out it goes. Now, I'm searching for another math program.

Netherlands, Long A spelled 'ai', Human Body Intro

We will be taking it easy with the academic aspects of school for a bit since the baby is getting molars and needs me to be with him more. We skipped math this week and read lots of stories instead.

Geography: We colored the map and flag of the Netherlands and read many stories from the book list. Our favorites are Boxes For Katje, Father May I Come, The Hole In The Dike, and The First Tulips In Holland.

Science: We're starting off our human body study with a brief overview with The Magic School Bus Inside The Human Body and also Why I Sneeze, Shiver, Hiccup, & Yawn (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2), which came early to the library and fit perfectly in with our phonics reader in which a snail that kept sneezing. I hope to get this science study going with lots of living books sprinkled with projects and experiments for fun, all for free, thanks to the library.

Language Arts: We did lessons 31-35. The focus was on the 'long a' sound spelled 'ai'. The reader was Snuff The Snail, another action packed funny story. Homophones were introduced (same sounding words with different spellings and meanings), which went along with the 'ai' spelling words, waist and waste, male and mail, tale and tail, pale and pail.

Netherlands/Holland Book List

Boxes for Katje by Fleming, Candace
Father, may I come by Spier, Peter
The great tulip trade by Brust, Beth Wagner
The hole in the dike by Green, Norma B
Hana in the time of the tulips by Noyes, Deborah
The cow who fell in the canal by Krasilovsky, Phyllis
A tale of tulips, a tale of onions by Birchman, David Francis
The first tulips in Holland by Krasilovsky, Phyllis
Journey from Peppermint Street by De Jong, Meindert
A new coat for Anna by Ziefert, Harriet
The Netherlands by Dahl, Michael S.

Van Gogh and his world by Measham, Terry
I am a stranger on the earth : the story of Vincent Van Gogh by Dobrin, Arnold

Korea Book List

Here's a few story books for Korea:

The Firekeeper's Son by Linda Sue Park
Good-bye, 382 Shin Dang Dong by Frances Park and Ginger Park
Peach heaven by Yangsook Choi
The royal bee by Frances Park and Ginger Park
Sori's harvest moon day : a story of Korea by Lee Uk-Bae
The trip back home by Janet S. Wong
Where on earth is my bagel? by Frances Park and Ginger Park
Yunmi and Halmoni's trip by Sook Nyul Choi
The zoo by Suzy Lee
The Green Frogs: A Korean Folktale By Yumi Heo

Japan Book List

Here's our Japan book list revisited for future reference:

Turtle Bay by Saviour Pirotta
The Two Foolish Cats by Yoshiko Uchida
This Place Is Crowded! by Vicki Cobb
Journey To Japan (nice pop-up book) by Joan Knight
Night of the Ninjas (Magic Tree House) by Mary Pope Osborne
Dragon of the Red Dawn (Magic Tree House) by Mary Pope Osborne
The Paper Crane by Molly Bang
The Bicycle Man by Allen Say
Taro and the Tofu by Masako Matsuno
A Carp For Kimiko by VIrginia Kroll
How My Parents Learned To Eat by Ina Friedman
The Butterfly's Dream by Ippo Keido
Japanese Children's Favorite Stories by FLorence Sakade
Old Man who Made the Trees Bloom by Jijii
Magic Fan by Baker
Crane Girl by Charles
Painter and the Wild Swans by Clement
Ten Oni Drummers by Gollub
Girl from the Snow Country by Hidaka
Kenji and the Magic Geese by Johnson
Yoshi’s Feast by Kajikawa
Carp for Kimiko by Kroll
Seven Gods of Luck by Kudler
Yoshiko and the Foreigner by Little
Moshi, Moshi by London
Dragon Kite by Luenn
Pair of Red Clogs by Matsuno
Cherry Tree by MacCaughrean
Emperor’s Plum Tree by Nikly
Tea with Milk by Say
Long Silk Strand by Williams

China Book List

Here's some of our favorite books about China, which we studied before I started compiling book lists. So here it is for future reference:

Miss Frizzle's Adventures in Imperial China by Joanna Cole
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett
Day of the Dragon King (Magic Tree House) by Mary Pope Osborne
Ruby’s Wish, Bridges
Story of Kites, Compestine
Moon Festival, Russell
Panda & Gander Stories by Joyce Dunbar (funny stories with a silly panda bear):
Panda's New Toy
Gander's Pond
The Bowl Of Fruit

Great Britain, DInosaurs, 'Sp' and 'Sn' blends, Subtraction

Geography/Literature/Science: This was our second week on Great Britain, with an extra sidetrack on dinosaurs to compliment St. George and the Dragon (dragons and dinosaurs stole the show away from England's sheep). We checked out a few books on dinosaurs:

Dinosaurs by Gail Gibbons
The Magic School Bus In The Time Of The Dinosaurs by Joanna Cole
Dinosaurs Before Dark (The Magic Tree House) by Mary Pope Osborne
Did Dinosaurs Have Feathers? by Kathleen Zoehfeld

This last book explained how paleontologists found fossils of dinosaurs with feathers and wings, and some of them looked just like the typical dragon. We discussed how '-saur' means 'lizard', and 'asura' means 'demon' in Sanskrit. We discussed how the Srimad Bhagavatam tells of huge snakes during Krishna's time 5,000 years ago, and how the Bible describes a huge beast with a tail like a tree in the Book Of Job, and how this is different than the scientific theory of dinosaurs living millions of years before people and never together, as well as a comet killing the dinosaurs. Both the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Bible describe a worldwide flood in which 8 people and the animals survived in a boat. The Srimad Bhagavatam says that this flood happened 120.532 million years ago, which happens to be what scientists call the mid-Cretaceous period, which is said to have ended with dinosaur extinction. If the Srimad Bhagavatam is accurate, than the scientists are 55 million years off on their 'mysterious mass extinction' theory. The boys love dinosaurs, and I love researching this stuff, so we had a lot of fun with it.

Back to Great Britain, we reflected on how Gandhi helped India become free from Britain with nonviolent resistance, and how that approach was much more successful than the drawn out fighting of the 100 Years War between England and France. We also built a castle out of blocks and read more library books about and from Great Britain. We sang and played 'London Bridge Is Falling Down', which I remember loving as a kid.

Language Arts: We did lessons 26-30. The focus was on worlds with 'sp' and 'sn' blends. G finds consonant blends pretty easy, but the review and practice with long and short vowels is always helpful. The reader was Spice And Mice, a funny story about a mouse who outsmarts a snake, which gave some good review of when the 'c' makes the 's' sound. We also practiced more with suffixes, adding 'ed' and 'ing' to short and long vowel words, and also reviewed 'apostrophe s'. Handwriting has improved so much, I am so thankful. He writes like a pro now!

Math: We did lessons 26-30. Subtraction was taken to further levels with subtracting 1 and subtracting a number that is 1 less always equals 1. Adding and subtracting 0 is always his favorite. He did great with choosing addition or subtraction for a story problem, and he loves the speed drills (that's one of those surprises I didn't expect).

I've decided to start adding more science to our school, and luckily found a free curriculum made by a generous homeschool mom based on library books called Little Otter's Science. I plan to start it soon when the requested library books arrive. We're warming up for this 7 month study of the human body with a favorite book, The Magic School Bus Inside The Human Body. I think the boys will like this journey, and it will balance out all of the time we've spent on animals.

Take care and God Bless! Happy Mother's Day to all of the mother's out there.

United Kingdom, Sheep, Knights, Castles, Long Vowels, and Subtraction

Geography/Literature: This week was fun as we left Russia and sailed the Baltic Sea on over to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (that is the full name which includes England, Whales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland). We stamped the passports and colored the map and flag of the UK. Knights and castles pretend play was a lot of fun for the boys with a cardboard sword, shield, and helmet we made. I'm glad that the swords broke quickly, since I don't like fighting even for play. St. George and the dragon made a big impression on them as they joined forces to fight the big (green tree) dragon. Discussions on dragons lead to a side study of dinosaurs, dragons, and what scriptures say compared to what scientists say. We'll go into it more next week with some dinosaur books from the library. We read two Magic Tree House stories, one about knights and castles and one about Shakespeare. We love these books, even the 2 year old begs to hear them again and again. We also read about sheep, since there are lots of sheep in the UK. The stories Smudge The Little Lost Lamb and Ten Sleepy Sheep were the most read of all the story books this week, since they are so sweet.

Language Arts: We did lessons 21-25. The theme was 'long e', 'long i', and 'long u'. This was all review, but it was still a lot after having a week each for 'long a' and 'long o'. The reader was Beep, a very funny story about a sheep that beeps and bothers everyone until its beep saves the day. Many new sight words were introduced; put, that, this, and with, on top of reviewing previous sight words; all and said. It was definitely a harder reader compared to the ones before, but the humor of the story and pictures keeps it fun and encouraging. Handwriting is improving greatly, and most letters are perfected! (Thank God). The ten weekly spelling words are becoming normal now. This week I put them on the wall so he could see them often throughout the week. We reviewed 'apostrophe s' to show how something belongs to someone. We reviewed adding the suffixes 'ed' and 'ing' to long and short vowel words ending in vowels and consonants, and then introduced the suffix 'ly', which is easier because it doesn't start with a vowel, so no changes to think about (like dropping the 'silent e' or doubling the last consonant for 'ed' and 'ing').

Math: This week we started Light Unit 102, which introduced subtraction. We did lessons 21-25. We learned about subtraction and understanding subtraction story problems, counting by 5's, identifying a triangle, understanding expanded numbers (like 10+10+2=22), and counting coins with the greatest value first with dimes. Each lesson ends with a speed drill, and he loves these and wants to do them right away! He can answer all 15 math facts in one minute now, and got them all correct one day, and one wrong on the other four days (2+3=5 is now called 'the hard one'). He's so funny, he does all the +0 ones first and then goes back to do the +1 and +2 ones. Subtraction required much more thinking than last week's adding zero, which was a no brainer. We had to keep it very visual with legos and fingers, since it seems that subtraction is much more abstract to him than addition. I am curious to see how this progresses over the next month. If it gets too hard, we will spread lessons out over two days, since CLE is advanced and the end of 1st grade math is equivalent to 2nd grade math, plus he's only 5 and is starting 1st grade 6 months early. We'll see how subtraction goes next week.

We love homeschool! I'm looking into adding in some more science experiments and spanish soon! Thank you everyone for your love and support!

United Kingdom/Great Britain and Sheep Book List

UNITED KINGDOM/GREAT BRITAIN/CASTLES/KNIGHTS/FAMOUS PEOPLE:

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Medieval Castle by Joanna Cole
100 things you should know about knights & castles by Walker, Jane
A family in England by St. John, Jetty
Anno's Britain by Anno, Mitsumasa
Castles by Steele, Philip
Charles Dickens : the man who had great expectations by Stanley, Diane
England by Augustin, Byron
England-- in pictures by Lerner Publications Company. Geography Dept.
The glorious flight : across the Channel with Louis Bleriot, July 25, 1909 by Provensen, Alice.
Good Queen Bess : the story of Elizabeth I of England by Stanley, Diane
The hatmaker's sign : a story by Benjamin Franklin by Fleming, Candace.
Hallelujah Handel by Cowling, Douglas
Katie Morag and the two grandmothers by Hedderwick, Mairi.
**The knight at dawn by Osborne, Mary Pope
Knights & castles by Hindley, Judy
Knights & castles : 50 hands-on activities to experience the Middle Ages by Hart, Avery
Knights and castles by Osborne, Will
Knights in shining armor by Gibbons, Gail
Madeline in London by Bemelmans, Ludwig, 1898-1962
Mr. Gumpy's motor car by Burningham, John.
Mr. Gumpy's outing by Burningham, John.
A picture book of Florence Nightingale by Adler, David A.
Saint George and the dragon : a golden legend by Hodges, Margaret,
**Stage fright on a summer night by Osborne, Mary Pope
The story of a castle by Goodall, John S.
The story of an English village by Goodall, John S.
The sword in the tree by Bulla, Clyde Robert
Take a trip to England by Fairclough, Chris.
Tale of Peter Rabbit by Potter, Beatrix
They were strong and good by Lawson, Robert
The Tower of London by Fisher, Leonard Everett.
United Kingdom by Bean, Rachel.
The Usborne book of London by Butterfield, Moira,
Windsor Castle : England's royal fortress by Ball, Jacqueline A.
The young person's guide to Shakespeare : with performances on CD by the Royal Shakespeare Company by Ganeri, Anita,
DVD: Rick Steves' Europe. Great Britain by Steves, Rick


SHEEP

Sheep by Miller, Sara Swan.
**Smudge, the little lost lamb by Herriot, James
**Ten sleepy sheep by Root, Phyllis.


**= favorites

Russia, Grizzly Bears,' Long O', Adding Zero

Art: Here's G's beautiful grizzly bear. There's also an owl in the conifers (pine trees). He did the bear all on his own without my help (he usually asks for help), so this was a breakthrough with drawing animals!

Literature/Geography/Science: We read more stories from and about Russia and grizzly bears.

Language Arts: We did McRuffy 1 lessons 16-20. The focus was on the 'long o' sound spelled with 'silent e' and 'oa'. The reader was called No Toast, and this one was quite funny. I even laughed out loud to my self while pre-reading it. It had a lot of things that G loves...a fire engine, putting out a fire, a bulldozer, mud, oats, and more. What an adventure Ruff and Violet go on to get some toast! He is reading so well and fluently now, I am impressed! The ten spelling words were hard because memorization is the only way of knowing if a 'long o' word is spelled with a 'silent e' or 'oa'. After writing it wrong, he realized it and changed it, on three of the words on the spelling test. He's doing great with McRuffy 1 so far.

Math: We did CLE 1 lessons 16-20. We introduced identifying a point, practiced greater than and less than, and G's favorite...adding zero. We did the first speed drills, where he has 2 minutes to answer as many math facts as possible out of 15. (We started with 1 minute, but we decided 2 minutes is better for now.) On the first one, he got 9 out of 15 correct, and 10 out of 15 correct on the second one. The timing aspect kind of threw him off, but this will become a daily practice that will get easier with time, I think. He went back afterwards to correct the wrong ones and finish the ones he didn't get to, and he does much better when not timed. I might do it differently later where we time how long it takes to do them all, and then he tries to beat his own best time. We'll see how it goes. We also finished the first light unit (magazine-like workbooks that last one month, or 20 lessons), and finished with a light unit test, and he got all but one right. He really likes this math program and I'm glad we got it. Next week, we start light unit 102, which goes into subtraction!

Earth Day Fair

We joined our local homeschool group to go to the Earth Day Fair at the University of Hawaii. There were lots of kid activities and we had a lot of fun. Their favorite was coloring a sea turtle and having it made into a big badge/button. They woke up the next day ready to pick up all the trash and save all the sea turtles. We also got some really nice posters for the school/play room. Their favorite is the Marine Mammals of Hawaii, with pictures of whales, dolphins, and seals. Govinda drew a whale from looking at the poster. Happy Earth Day!

Russia, Long A, Adding With 0

Our magic carpet ride continued to Russia this week.

Geography: We colored the map and flag of Russia and checked out books about this biggest country in the world.

Literature: We read several Russian and Ukrainian folk tales and stories. I was surprised how much they liked The Nutcracker. The Mitten is a great story that we own that was revisited. Rechenka's Eggs and Clever Katya were some other favorites. More stories just came in for next week, too.

Language Arts: This week we did McRuffy LA lessons 11-15. The focus was reviewing the 'long a' sound, spelled with 'silent e' and 'ay'. The reader, Ruff and The Ape, was fun and amusing as usual. The ten spelling words made him have to think about whether to use a silent e or y, but he got them all down by the end of the week. Handwriting has greatly improved since our extra time focused on it, and he forms all of his letters correctly now. Everyday he is writing a sentence that reinforces the phonics lessons. The sight word 'are' was introduced and then some grammar practice followed, reinforcing 'is' for singular and 'are' for plural. Each story ends with five questions to read and answer about the reader and then a sentence hunt to fill in the missing word and find the page number it is on. After five times now, he's got the research abilities to do the sentence hunts without my help.

Math: We did CLE 1 lessons 10-15. All of the new facts were adding with 0, and 0 is very popular here because it is such a funny number because it 'adds nothing!' We practiced counting by 10s and with dimes, acknowledged the differences between circles and squares, and found the numbers before and after a number. We started doing place value with tens and ones and also acknowledged 'twin' math facts that have the same numbers in different order. The Just For Fun activities at the end of the lessons were connect the dots, and he really liked it. The flash cards are working well and he's memorizing his math facts well. These lessons will have up to 20 addition problems reviewing the math facts, and he's not having any problems with it being too much, which is a relief for me because it looks like a lot, but it's the same simple facts again and again.

Russia Book List

A Piece of Home, Levitin
Another celebrated dancing bear by Scheffrin-Falk, Gladys
Apple Pie and Onions, Caseley
Babushka Baba Yaga by Polacco, Patricia
Clever Katya : a fairy tale from old Russia by Hoffman, Mary
Dream Jar, Pryor
FAVORITE FAIRY TALES TOLD IN RUSSIA, RETOLD FROM RUSSIAN STORYTELLERS ILLUSTRATED BY HERBERT DANSKA. 1ST ED. by Haviland, Virginia
The fool of the world and the flying ship; a Russian tale, by Ransome, Arthur
The gossipy wife : adapted from a Russian folk tale by Hall, Amanda
How much land does a man need? by Tolstoy, Leo
Little Kim's doll by Yaroshevskaya, Kim
The littlest matryoshka by Demas, Corinne
The magic babushka : an original Russian tale by Tildes, Phyllis Limbacher
The Mitten by Brett, Jan
MY MOTHER IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD A RUSSIAN FOLKTALE RETOLD BY BECKY REYHER; PICTURES BY RUTH GANNETT. by REYHER, REBECCA.
Nikolai, the only bear by Joosse, Barbara M.
The Nutcracker doll by DePalma, Mary Newell
The nutcracker. by Chappell, Warren
The nutcracker by Dumas, Alexandre
Peter the Great by Stanley, Diane
Philipok, Tolstoy
Rechenka's eggs by Polacco, Patricia.
Russia by Murrell, Kathleen Berton
Russia by Russell, Henry
The Thanksgiving door by Atwell, Debby
Trees of the Dancing Goats, Polacco
Twenty-two Russian Tales for Young Children, Tolstoy
The Tzar's bird by Tompert, Ann
Uncle Vova's Tree, Polacco

DVD: Families of Russia by Finnegan, Jordan
DVD: Russia by Wright, Ian.

Grizzly bear : habitats, life cycles, food chains, threats by Leach, Michael.
Grizzly bears by Gibbons, Gail
Grizzly bear by Freschet, Berniece
Searching for grizzlies by Hirschi, Ron
Adventures of Little Bear by Minarik, Else Holmelund
Little Bear by Minarik, Else Holmelund.
Look to the north : a wolf pup diary by George, Jean Craighead, 1919-
Wolves by Gibbons, Gail.
The Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson

Palestine, Middle East and Asia Review

Geography: This week we colored the map and flag of Palestine. I was disappointed that my pack of passport flag stickers didn't have Palestine, our encyclopedia had only one sentence about it on the Israel page, and it was hard to even find a children's printable map. The only information I could find was not kid friendly, so we sent prayers for the people in Gaza and the West Bank, and now we are taking a carpet ride out of the middle east to the mountains in the north. Russia is in both Asia and Europe, and will be our transition into a new continent!

Literature: We read our favorite books from the list over and over again...Seasons of the Sandstorms, Little Humpty, Mrs. Katz and Tush, Twist and Ernest, and Ernest and the Big Itch.

Language Arts: We did lessons 9-12, splitting each lesson into two days as we were transitioning from a very busy weekend with family visiting. The reader was The Bug Bus, a cute story about bugs building a bus out of a jug. The focus was on the 'short u' sound. The Bug Bus Game was a big hit. Words with the 'ed' suffix were practiced more with this reader. I was surprised how quickly he caught on. The ten spelling words were pretty easy, many three letter words, so that so many words isn't too much. We started the next lessons on the 'long a' sound spelled with 'silent e' and 'ay', but we will wait to start the reader, Ruff and Ape, next week. We introduced nouns and verbs, and practiced finding them in simple sentences.

Math: We are really liking CLE 1. We did lessons 6-10. He has ten math facts memorized now! The flashcards are actually fun for his mathy mind, and the workbook pages are fun because they change concepts often. The topics this week were writing numbers, practicing math facts, ordinal numbers, longer and shorter, over and under, more and less, counting pennies, understanding zero, and place value with counting tens and ones. This new program is working well, and I am so pleased that he has memorized all of the simple addition problems like 1+1=2, up to a sum of 5.

Israel, Easter, and Jesus

We have family visiting, so we took it easy in school this week to make gifts for them. Here is a picture of our world map with pictures of animals that we have added as we learned about each place. From left to right, it's a camel, tiger, panda, duck, and an funny looking snow monkey.



Geography/Literature: We read more Bible stories and Israel stories this week, focusing on Jesus rising again. We listened to a few Christian songs about it, one favorite is 'Might To Save', which sings about Jesus conquering the grave. The grand finale was celebrating Easter with family.

Language Arts: We did lessons 5-8. We reread The Green Fig and answered questions about it and got all of the spelling words right on the test. We played the game that goes with The Green Fig, and it was a big hit because it's about a pig, and a wild pig has been visiting us lately and the kids love to watch him eat our compost. Then we read Jed and Bess, a cute story about a hen who rescues someone, then answered questions about the story and did the sentence hunt, to fill in the blank for sentences in the reader. These readers are always so action packed, funny, and entertaining. We love them!

Math: We started CLE Math 1, lessons 1-5. We really like it so far, and my concern about too many pages per lesson was no problem at all since they are spaced out, fun and entertaining, and they keep changing to keep attention. We started flashcards to drill the new facts learned everyday, this week it was 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+1=3, and 1+3=4, and he quickly memorized them after seeing it with legos. We learned about adding one more is the next number, ordinal numbers, and practiced drawing circles. We like this new math program and I think it is going to be a great fit for this year.

Israel, Palestine, Judaism, and Donkey Book List

Israel and Judaism:
42 Bible stories for little ones : from creation to Pentecost by Box, Su.
A historical atlas of Israel by Romano, Amy
All about Jewish holidays and customs by Epstein, Morris
Annushka's voyage by Tarbescu, Edith.
Asher and the capmakers : a Hanukkah story by Kimmel, Eric A
Behold the trees by Alexander, Sue
Brothers : a Hebrew legend by Freedman, Florence B.
Dance, sing, remember : a celebration of Jewish holidays by Kimmelman, Leslie
Hanukkah by Schaefer, Lola M.
Israel by Boraas, Tracey
Israel stories from the Holy Lands by Mortimer, Sandy
The Israelites by Odijk, Pamela
The Jesus storybook Bible : every story whispers his name by Lloyd-Jones, Sally
Jewish stories by Ganeri, Anita
The matzo ball boy by Shulman, Lisa
Matzah ball soup by Rothenberg, Joan
Matzo ball moon by Newman, Lesléa
The matzah man : a Passover story by Howland, Naomi
The matzah that Papa brought home by Manushkin, Fran
Mrs. Katz and Tush by Polacco, Patricia
The never-ending greenness : we made Israel bloom by Waldman, Neil
Old Noah's elephants : an Israeli folktale by Ludwig, Warren
On Sukkot and Simchat Torah by Fishman, Cathy Goldberg
One city, two brothers by Smith, Chris
Rosh Hashanah by Heinrichs, Ann
Take a trip to Israel by Rutland, Jonathan
Tomie dePaola's book of Bible stories : New International version by Bible

DVD: What is Judaism? by Schlessinger, Andrew
DVD: Families of Israel by Arden Films

The Holy Land (YouTube video showing cities and ruins in Israel with traditional music.)

Palestine:
Voices from the past by Mazar, Amihay
Palestine : a photographic journey by Azar, George Baramki

Donkeys:
Donkeys by Potter, Tessa.
Ernest and the big itch by Barnes, Laura T.
Teeny tiny Ernest by Barnes, Laura T
Twist and Ernest by Barnes, Laura T
Little Donkey learns to help by Jensen, Patricia
Coconut comes to school by Doherty, Berlie

Weekly Update: Israel and Donkeys

Geography/Literature: We colored the map and flag of Israel and read several Jewish stories and Torah/Old Testament stories. We will be celebrating Passover with our own homemade matzoh bread starting Sunday night. We just got a wheat grinder to make it fresh from wheat berries, so it will be an extra fun cooking experience. We talked with our neighbor who was born in Jerusalem and grew up in Nazareth before Israel was a state. He said that he was born in Palestine, not Israel. If American was invaded, we would not say we were born in another country, so that is why he said it that way. So, this reminded me to spend an extra week on Palestine next.

Language Arts: We started McRuffy 1st grade this week. Although it was the same format and style, it was definitely harder, requiring more thinking and handwriting. To make it a gentle transition, we split one long lesson into two days, so we did lessons 1-4 this week. The weekly spelling tests now have ten words instead of five, so that is a lot more writing. The reader was The Ham Dash, and we simply replaced the word 'ham' with 'coconut', since that's the only kind of meat we eat! He did well with it. Each story comes with a picture to color and write a short sentence at the bottom, and I was surprised how much he enjoyed this. We plan to keep them all to make a book. Looking ahead, I am very excited about this curriculum and by the end he will be reading so much. I will have to edit one character 'Super Pork' into 'Super Pig', but I don't mind.

Math: We finished McRuffy K Math this week. It's always a great feeling reaching the last page of a big workbook. It was mostly just reviewing and practicing adding and subtracting, plus a little review of coin values and greater than/less than. I was surprised that he chose to do all 15 math problems when I only required him to do 10. He really likes math and was kind of sad that we were done! We've been using legos for the math manipulative, which has made it even more fun.

Weekly Update: Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Islam, and Deserts

This week we continued the magic carpet ride from Iran to Iraq, with a quick stop at Mecca in Saudi Arabia. I want to spend more time on each country, but our world tour will take many years if I don't keep on moving!

Geography/Science/Literature: We colored the map and flag of Iraq. We read the chapter book, Seasons of the Sandstorms was really great, a fun and entertaining way to learn about the golden age of Baghdad. Some of the Gilgamesh stories were a little intense, but not too scary. We sent some prayers for the suffering people of Iraq and pray for peace to come to their country. I wasn't planning on going to Saudi Arabia, but it was briefly included as we learned about Islam, Mohammed, and Mecca. We read many books about deserts, camels, and also natural resources and how we get oil from the Middle East.

Reading: Govinda picked out a favorite McRuffy Kindergarten reader to read for review each day this week. The top picks were The Mule Ride, Greg's Grape Ride, Mop, Mop, Mop, Quack and Quill, and Goat and Toad.

Handwriting: We finished Handwriting Help For Kids this week. We will reference back to it when needed. Our favorite was the 'ice cream scoops family', the letter 'u' was 'take a big scoop of ice cream, then put down your spoon', the letter 'v' and 'w' were making ice cream cones. It will be very memorable and fun. I think this short program really helped differentiate between letters that start on the left, middle, and right side, which was our goal (because an 's' will end up sideways if you start it on the left).

Math: We did lessons 148-155. We practiced more adding and subtracting, skip counting, greater than/less than, pattern blocks, tangrams, number words, story problems, and measuring centimeters with a ruler. The week ended with a new game, The Half Of It Game. It was another fun one that we will play again. We have one more week left of McRuffy K math! It has been a fun introduction to math with lots of hands on play.

We are ready to start McRuffy 1st Grade Phonics/Reading/Language Arts next week! I was going to wait another week or two to review more, but he is eager to learn more, since easy reader library books have shown him that there is still much to learn in phonics. I'm so thankful that he is so eager to learn more and advance in his reading. This is such a reward for a homeschooling family!

Iraq Book List

Iraq Book List:

Season of the sandstorms by Osborne, Mary Pope
Gilgamesh the king by Zeman, Ludmila
Lugalbanda : the boy who got caught up in a war by Henderson, Kathy
The revenge of Ishtar by Zeman, Ludmila
DVD: Ancient Mesopotamia by JWM Productions
DVD: All about natural resources by Schlessinger Media

Islam/Saudi Arabia Book List:

Muhammad by Demi
DVD: What Is Islam?

Reading An Easy Reader From The Library

Pointing to words while reading is showing results here since many words in this book have not yet been taught.

Weekly Update: Iran and Camels

Art: Here's the Bactrian camel Govinda drew. Cappy The Camel was a well loved story about an orphaned, 2 humped Bactrian camel who helps out the 1 humped Dromedary/Arabian camels. So, he wanted to draw Cappy.

Reading: We're reviewing McRuffy K readers. He picked out Fuzz The Yak to read this week, one of his favorites. It was good to review the old days when all vowels were short and easy.

Handwriting: We're putting some extra time into practicing writing letters in more detail with a fun workbook called Handwriting Help For Kids. Although he knows how to write all the letters, he still makes some mistakes mixing up straight and angled lines. This book has a fun story for each letter how to write it. The letters are grouped by similarities, so we call them by their families. This week we practiced capital letters. We started with the 'Down and Bump' Family, which is D, B, P, and R. The R story was the favorite; 'draw down, hop to the top, small bump, kick out your leg!'. This book is helping make it easy and fun to remember how to write letters properly. I plan on starting with this book next time! We also tried out wide rule lined paper instead of kindergarten paper, and that seems to be much easier for him to write letters smaller.

Math: We did lessons 141-148. Since reading was just review this week, we did more than one math lesson per day. We practiced vertical addition and subtraction, representing numbers with shapes, skip counting, similarities and differences in attributes, and reviewed reading and writing time to the hour and the commutative property of addition with shapes ( 1+2=*+1, *=2). We learned about dividing in half in two equal parts.

We'll be starting 1st grade reading and math in April. I'm previewing everything right now and it looks like a very fun and action packed year of learning. Most kids his age would be starting 1st grade this fall or next fall depending on readiness, since he has a late birthday. So we are going ahead of the game! Thank you to everyone who is supporting us!

Iran Book List

Here's the list of books for Iran. I plan on doing this for each country we study so that I can easily request these books again when we re-gallop the globe in a few years.

Camels by Winner, Cherie.
Count your way through Iran /by Haskins, James, 1941-
Deserts /by Gray, Susan Heinrichs.
Forty fortunes : a tale of Iran /by Shepard, Aaron.
A gift for the king : a Persian tale /by Manson, Christopher.
Goha the wise fool /by Johnson-Davies, Denys.
The golden sandal : a Middle Eastern Cinderella story /by Hickox, Rebecca.
How the camel got his hump /by Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936
Iran by Rajendra, Vijeya, 1
Iran by Milivojevic, JoAnn.
Iran by Walsh, Kieran.
Iran : a question and answer book /by Bauer, Brandy.
The king and the three thieves : a Persian tale /by Balouch, Kristen.
The last straw /by Thury, Fredrick.
The legend of the Persian carpet /by DePaola, Tomie, 1934-
The magic apple : a Middle Eastern folktale /by Cleveland, Rob, 1955-
The magic grove : a Persian folktale /by Palecek, Libuse.
The magic school bus gets all dried up : a book about deserts /by Weyn, Suzanne.
The Persian Cinderella /by Climo, Shirley.
The rich man and the parrot /by Nadimi, Suzan.
Cappy The Lonely Camel by Rubinetti, Donald
The stone : a Persian legend of the Magi by Hofmeyr, Dianne.