Argentina and Chile

Geography: We read the stories from Argentina and Chile. The Magic Bean Tree was the favorite. It's about a carob tree, so we got carob treats to snack on all week. The boys like carob a lot! Here's picture of them coloring maps and flags!

Watercolor Wednesday

I'm hoping the W will keep me motivated to do watercolor painting every Wednesday. Here's the boys using the new jumbo paint brushes with primary colored cups of watercolor paints. I've noticed that painting has a calming effect on them. The jar in the background is another caterpillar found on a morning walk, munching away at leaves, waiting to become a butterfly.

King Equals

We're starting our math block introducing the four math processes with the math gnomes from Numeria Island (across the sea from Alphabet Island). I made up a story about some Alphabet Island characters making a voyage to Numeria to get some jewels to help someone heal. I'll write it out if I have time. King Equals is the king there, and I made up his queen to be Queen Balance. We got to know them and found that they are great devotees of the Lord, and see everyone equally. I made up this verse:

King Equals is always fair. He sees the same everywhere!"

This tied in with the Bhagavad Gita quote:

"The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana (priest), a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater."

South America Book List

South America:
Explore South America by Aloian, Molly
Myths of pre-Columbian America by Dalal, Anita.
South America by Pelusey, Michael.
South America, surprise! by Sayre, April Pulley.

Argentina and Pampas:
Argentina by Shields, Charles
*The magic bean tree : a legend from Argentina by Van Laan, Nancy
On the pampas by Brusca, María Cristina.
Chucaro : wild pony of the Pampa by Kalnay, Francis

Chile:
Mariana and the merchild : a folk tale from Chile by Pitcher, Caroline
Tierra del Fuego : a journey to the end of the Earth by Lourie, Peter
The dreamer by Ryan, Pam Muñoz
Folktales of Chile by Pino Saavedra, Yolando
To go singing through the world : the childhood of Pablo Neruda by Ray, Deborah Kogan

Brazil and Rain Forest:
*This place is wet by Cobb, Vicki.
*Rain, rain, rain forest by Guiberson, Brenda Z.
Brazil by Fontes, Justine
Count your way through Brazil by Haskins, James
The dancing turtle : a folktale from Brazil by DeSpain, Pleasant
How night came from the sea : a story from Brazil by Gerson, Mary-Joan
*The great kapok tree : a tale of the Amazon rain forest by Cherry, Lynne
A home in the rain forest by Taylor-Butler, Christine
*The rainforest grew all around by Mitchell, Susan K.
The Rainforest Indians by Thomson, Ruth
*So say the little monkeys by Van Laan, Nancy.
The tropical rainforest by Cheshire, Gerard
*Up a rainforest tree by Telford, Carole
Capoeira 100 : an illustrated guide to the essential movements and techniques by Taylor, Gerard
Crafts for kids who are wild about rainforests / by Kathy Ross
Animals of the Rain Forest, Amazing Rain Forest, Vanishing Rain Forest, Plants of the Rain Forest by Ted O'Hare
Anteaters, sloths, and armadillos by Squire, Ann
Capyboppy by Peet, Bill
Rain forest animals by Leber, Nancy.
How Monkeys Make Chocolate by Adrian Forsyth
One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest by Jean Craighead George
Amazon Alphabet by Martin and Tanis Jordan
Living in a Rain Forest (Rookie Read-About Geography) by Allan Fowler
Jungle Safari by Carol Wawrychuk
Rain Forests: Tropical Treasures - from Ranger Rick's NatureScope

Peru and Inca:
The grandchildren of the Incas by Pitkanen, Matti A
Machu Picchu : city in the clouds by Somervill, Barbara A.
Miro in the kingdom of the sun by Kurtz, Jane
*Munay and the magic lake : based on an Inca tale by Sepehri, Sandy.
Peru by Thoennes Keller, Kristin.
Peru under the Incas by Burland, C. A. (Cottie Arthur)
*The stolen smell by Hamilton, Martha.
The thunder god's son : a Peruvian folktale by Dewey, Ariane
THE GOOD LLAMA WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY ANNE ROCKWELL. AN INCA LEGEND DESCRIBING HOW PEOPLE AND ANIMALS SURVIVED THE GREAT FLOOD THAT FORCED THE SUN TO SHARE THE SKY WITH THE MOON.
by Rockwell, Anne F.
*Zorro and Quwi : tales of a trickster guinea pig by Hickox, Rebecca
Moon rope : a Peruvian folktale = Un lazo a la luna : una leyenda peruana by Ehlert, Lois
Tales of the plumed serpent : Aztec, Inca and Mayan myths by Ferguson, Diana
Trail of feathers : in search of the birdmen of Peru by Shah, Tahir
The Girl from the Sky By Skivington
*Lost City, the Discovery of Machu Picchu By Lewin, Ted

DVDs:
*Totally Tropical Rainforest (National Geographic's Really Wild Animal series)
World's last great places. Rain forests by Jampel, Barbara.
Andes. Machu Picchu by Polizu, Cristina
Brazil travel and experience the world by Wright, Ian
Capoeira by Panther Productions
Globe trekker. South America by Cross, Ian
Peru by Gibson, Neil
Planet Earth. The complete series by Attenborough, David

Antarctica

We've been very busy lately with birthdays. I also just received some editing work, so my blogging time has been minimized.

Geography: We had a fun 3 weeks learning about Antarctica. The many stories about Tacky the Penguin were the favorites all the while. We colored the map and designed our own flag with two penguins. We discussed what 'austerity' means, since the penguins are so austere. We discussed how the penguins teach us to love our family and to endure through hard times to make it through to a better time. We also made little penguins with dates filled with cream cheese. They really liked this. We're looking forward to South America next!

Yours Truly Y Standing In For Innocent I

Language Arts: We read the Alphabet Island story about Yours Truly Y, who stands in for Everloving E and Innocent I at the ends of words. Since she can't stand in for both of them all of the time, she stands in for I in short words and E in longer words. We did all 8 pages of lesson 1 in Explode the Code 3. The theme was short words like so, go, no, he, she, me, we, by, my, fly, fry, try, cry, dry and sky. This was all review, but the handwriting practice was needed after summer break. This is probably how we will go about language arts for now, since it is working well. We use the Alphabet Island story and the ETC workbook for repetitive practice.

Antarctica Book List

Penguin chick by Tatham, Betty
*A penguin pup for Pinkerton by Kellogg, Steven
Plenty of penguins by Black, Sonia
*Tacky the penguin by Lester, Helen
Tacky and the Emperor by Lester, Helen
Tacky and the Winter Games by Lester, Helen
Tacky in trouble by Lester, Helen
Please play safe! : Penguin's guide to playground safety by Cuyler, Margery
Seven weeks on an iceberg : starring King and Queen Penguin by Potter, Keith R.
Busy penguins by Schindel, John
The little penguin by Wood, A. J.
Mr. Popper's penguins by Atwater, Richard
Penguin's adventure in Alphabet Town by Alden, Laura
Penguins A-B-C by Schafer, Kevin
Please say please! : Penguin's guide to manners by Cuyler, Margery
Antarctica by Billings, Henry
The emperor's egg by Jenkins, Martin
*Eve of the Emperor penguin by Osborne, Mary Pope
Penguins and Antarctica : a nonfiction companion to Eve of the emperor penguin by Osborne, Mary Pope
*Nanu, penguin chick by Radcliffe, Theresa

DVDs:
March of the Penguins
Planet Earth: Ice Worlds

Literature Club

We went to our homeschool group's weekly literature club. I had a grateful moment as Govinda read a book to the group. He did great! It was not even an easy reader. It was a 'grown up' book about Bulldozers. I'm so thankful he is learning so much. :)

Aboriginal Paperbark Art

We have paperbark trees here in Hawaii that were brought from Australia. So, we visited a big one on our morning walk and collected some bark to try out Aboriginal style artwork. We planned on using sticks dipped in paint, but we only had watercolor paints. As I looked through the craft box, we found some dot stickers that the boys were excited to use. So, we had fun making art with dots on paperbark. Govinda made a flatbed truck and Navin made dots everywhere. I asked them what Australian animal I should try to make, and they said camel, lol, not a native animal, but still one that this lives there. We discussed how the paperbark trees are in the melaleuca family (with tea tree oil) and were brought here to help dry out swampy land. Traditional Aboriginal uses were for sleeping, bandages, building shelters, wrapping food, raincoats, and fixing holes in canoes.



Of course, a helpful bulldozer cleaned up the mess when we were done. ;)

Dozing Pattern Blocks

Our new bulldozers sure love math toys! Here they are moving them around to help build a barbed wire fence. (The acre lot on our road that was cleared by the bulldozer that we watched for a month recently had a fence with barbed wire built around it. Here, the boys have reenacted the whole thing through play!)

New Zealand Book List

Just a few stories for New Zealand:

17 Kings and 42 Elephants by Margaret Mahy
A Summery Saturday Morning by Margaret Mahy
The Rattlebang Picnic by Margaret Mahy
The Great White Man-Eating Shark by Margaret Mahy
The Maoris of New Zealand by Graham Wiremu
New Zealand by Mary Virginia Fox

Jewel Counters

We're making the manipulatives to start Gnomes and Gnumbers soon (although we call in Numeria Island, which is not too far across the sea from Alphabet Island). They are glass gems to use as counters, and here is a square showing the size of 100 jewels. Dump trucks and flatbeds moved them around and brought them to the 100 square. Next, we will be making the rods of 10s. We all like the glass jewels a lot. We have them from our Mancala game, which I'm happy to say Govinda is old enough to play now. I have always liked this game. We discussed it's ancient roots from Africa and Asia and how it used to be played with holes in the ground and stones.

Bulldozer Book List

Surrendering to the children's great interest in bulldozers, here's a book list for the little engineers!



B is for bulldozer : a construction ABC by Sobel, June
Bulldozer by Funfax.
Bulldozers by Butterfield, Moira
Bulldozers by Williams, Linda D.
Bulldozers, loaders, and spreaders; a book about roadbuilding machines by Green Vale School. Ninth Grade English Class
Construction by Chantier
Construction giants by Olney, Ross Robert
Construction zone by Hoban, Tana.
Earthmovers by Stephen, R. J.
Earth moving machines by Stone, William
Giant bulldozers by Mezzanotte, Jim.
How roads are made by Williams, Owen
If I could drive a bulldozer! by Teitelbaum, Michael
I drive a bulldozer by Bridges, Sarah.
The roadbuilders by Kelly, James E

Australian Legends

Geography: This week we focused on Australian Legends. We read many stories from The Flying Emu by Sally Morgan. They are like animal fables with moral lessons. We all liked this book very much. Other stories we reread were Dreamtime: Aboriginal Stories, The Singing Snake, and Sun Mother wakes the world : an Australian creation story.

Noble N Endings

Devotional: We focused on the story of Sudama, a poor brahmana priest who gave a sincere and humble offering to Krishna, the king of Dvaraka, and was rewarded with great wealth. This went with the week's theme about the king and queen changing others.

Language Arts: This week we focused on ending blends with N. Noble N is the king of Alphabet Island and Lady L is the queen. The vowels often make different sounds around them in awe and reverence. This is why Innocent I says the long E sound in 'ing' and 'ink'. These were the word families that we practiced reading and writing this week. We tried our Explode the Code 4 workbook for extra practice, doing 4 pages of lesson 8. After a two month summer break, proper letter writing that was once mastered needs major review, so we'll slow down and go back to Handwriting Help For Kids next week.

Friends At The Ends and Australian Animals

Here's our completed Alphabet Island poster and card holder. I taped clear plastic pockets to hold the letter cards in alphabetical order for easy finding. Then on the other side is where they line up to make words. It has made reading and spelling more fun and even Navin is practicing making words with different combinations and groups of our letter friends.

I've made some changes with our Soul Adventure School. We've started reading something spiritual/transcendental every morning to start the kids with some good things to think about. I'm going to find ways to tie it in with whatever else we are learning about. I'm also starting to do month long blocks alternating language arts and math to really focus on them individually. The world geography study will continue until we have been to all of the continents and then go into only one subject at a time for 2-4 weeks, hopefully adding more science and nature studies in. Art (drawing and painting) will now be part of free time and not part of school to keep it fun and freed up for imagination. I think these new changes will work better for the boys to really immerse into learning.

Devotional: This week we focused on Bhagavad Gita verse 9.18, where Krishna says "I am the goal, the sustainer, the master, the witness, the abode, the refuge, and the most dear friend". We discussed how God is our most dear friend that we can always turn to when we're scared.



Language Arts: The first few weeks of Alphabet Island will be review, so we're moving fast with it. This week we read a story about how the letters on alphabet island get together to make words, and the last letter is always at the edge of a cliff. Some of the letters are scared and have a friend stand with them or take their place. They are Clever C and his pet Kangaroo K, Lady L, Farmhand F, Sloppy S, and Zany Z. Later we will learn more about the vowels, Veggie V (who always is with Everloving E, and she is also scared so she is speechless and silent), and Jolly J, who juggles and doesn't ever go near the cliffs and asks Goofy G to take his place. Govinda did a few of the workbook pages that go with it. Next, we practiced Clever C's and Goofy G's two sounds, which we will go into more next week. I'm finding much success with writing words on the white board for him to read and taking it easy on handwriting.

Reading: I'm so happy to say that Govinda read a Level 2 Step Into Reading Book from the library called Toad On The Road. Now that he's advancing with reading, he says that he likes library books better than the McRuffy readers (I think because they seem more like 'real books'). I'm just so happy that he read a level 2 book! Woohoo!



Geography: We read more stories about Australia and focused on the platypus and echidna, which are the only two marsupial mammals that lay eggs. Australia's animals are quite amazing. We also discussed how in Sanskrit, 'astra' means 'weapon' or 'powerful bomb' and 'alia/alaya' means 'land of', so Australia means 'land of the powerful bomb', which may explain the extreme desert. We discussed the astra used in the Mahabharata that was used to try to attack a child in the womb, which Sri Krishna stopped. Maybe it went to Astralaya and that is why there are so many marsupials whose babies leave the womb very early on for the safety of the pouch. I also read that some versions of the Ramayana say that Sri Rama sent an astra into the sea, which brought up the island of Australia, which makes sense because there is so much salt and shell fossils there. One dvd we saw said that when they brought in irrigation for farming, the salt in the ground rose and the water became more salty than the ocean!

Thank you to all of our supporters and well wishers. Take care and God Bless!

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!