Cycle 1 Week 4

Week 4 seemed to blow by.  I didn't feel well, Nicole didn't feel well, Nicole got her cast off and by the time everyone seemed better, it was Thursday!

We did accomplish one really nice project.  During naps on Thursday, Nicole and I made a 7 Wonders of the Ancient World brochure.  We had been reading about the wonders all week long.  I showed Nicole some different brochures and let her take it from there. 

She decided how she wanted it folded.  She also knew she wanted a map in it and suggested tracing it out of one of our books.  So, while she traced and colored the map, I worked on putting together little statements about each of the wonders. 

Then we got on the computer and googled images.  I let her pick out the images she wanted to use and decide how everything would be put together.  She wanted each wonder to be printed with a different color ink. 

I love the finished product.  I can honestly say that Nicole learned a lot about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  Woohoo!!!  Go Nicole!  (and I learned even more than she did!)

A close up of her map.

We also took the whole week off of spelling and math, which I think was a really great decision.  Next week's lessons went great!

Nicole and Hannah wrote cards to three children who are in the hospital with cancer.  My aunt is involved with a neat organization called C.O.L.E.S.  Foundation. They have a neat organization called Kids Unite to Fight where the foundation sends cards for children to fill out and send to another child.  A note of encouragement or prayer.  It's pretty cool. We even got the child's website so we could see what they were currently struggling with.

We also made it to our first softball game up here.  The kids had a blast watching their daddy play softball...we miss it!

Finally, just a sweet nap time pictures of Nate and Hannah.  Look....they're holding hands! Everyone together...."Awe".

American Hertiage Girls

Nicole has joined a really neat organization called American Heritage Girls.  It's an organization that focuses on teaching young girls from ages 5-18 character qualities through scripture and history. 

My little American Heritage Girl!

AHG's mission is  “Build women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country”.  The girls work on badges in a number of different categories.  So far, Nicole has earned her "Home Decorating" within the Family Living Frontier and is working on her "Dawn of Our Country" badge within the Heritage Frontier. 

For her Home Decorating badge, she had to do 4 different home decor type activities. The first thing she did was decorate her AHG handbook that is taken to each meeting.

Then she was asked to decorate something in her home.  She needed a trashcan in her bedroom, so we bought a $2 trash can and she decorated it all over. 

She drew tents on the trashcan and it says "Yay! I love this"

She wrote Nicole and Hannah with bubble letters.

She was also asked to make a table decoration.  So (with a little bit of Hannah's helps), she  made a centerpiece for our table.  We used a vase that I already had and she picked out the pinecones, acorns and flowers to go in it and then decided how to layer it all.  It's perfect for autumn.

The last thing she needs to do is display something.  We had the perfect idea.  A friend of ours who is a missionary in Nigeria sent the girls some beautiful wall hanging.  So, we put it on a rod we found at Goodwill and proudly displayed it in their room.

I am really happy we found this organization.  Nicole is making friends with girls we would have never met otherwise.  She is learning about integrity, hard work and service.  We will get to do events like family camping, service projects and more. 

The cast comes off!

After 4 weeks of being in a full arm cast, Nicole finally got her cast off (almost 2 weeks ago with this writing...I'm so behind! :(

I could not wait for that crazy cast to come off.  The afternoon before her appointment, Nicole started running a fever.  I really high, almost 104 degree fever!!!!  When she runs fevers, they tend to always be very high, and she was fairly active, so I wasn't to concerned.  But, by that evening when I couldn't get the fever down, I began to worry about the next day.  As I woke up with her throughout the night to give her tylenol and motrin to cut the fever, I wondered if we would make it to the cast removal appointment at 11 that morning.

Thankfully, her fever broke around 8am...and disappeared completely.  So we stuck with the appointment. 

Here is her last photo with her full arm cast in place.

We were in and out of several exam rooms as they removed the cast, looked at the pins, did x rays, pulled the pins and wrapped a new temporary cast. 

I have never had a cast on, so I wasn't sure how they would remove it.  The basically take a dull blade that shakes back and forth to cut the cast and then pry it off.  Nicole was very brave.  She wasn't scared at all (especially compared to the other little girl who screamed the whole time :)

Then we went off for X-rays.  Check out those pins!

Finally, the doctor pulled the pins out.  It was rough.  I had a grip on her, and felt him yanking her out of my arms (by her elbow, ugh!).  About 15 seconds of pretty bad pain, and then it was gone.  I guess that's not to bad.  She bled a lot where the pins were pulled out.  I wasn't quite expecting that either.

They also made a new removable cast for her.  They basically re wrapped her arm in casting material and then pried it off again to cut out the holes.

She has been doing great.  She doesn't wear the removable splint much because she's very careful with her arm.  So careful in fact, that she still hasn't bent her arm back out to straight position.  We can't get her to stretch it out :(  I'm hoping she won't have to go to Physical Therapy.  She's just scared to do it.  Her arm is not broken anymore....but her mind is having a hard time around that.

The first day or two after the cast came off were a bit dramatic. She was really freaked out by her skin "falling off".  Her skin was shedding a lot.  AND....she had a terrible rash all over her arm.  The guys at the casting room asked if she was outside playing a lot.  The answer was no...she never was outside because she couldn't handle the itch.  However, I think that hot fever she ran the night before produced enough heat for a long enough period of time she her poor little arm broke out. 

But, almost two weeks later, it's mostly better.  So now...we just need to get that arm moving!

Cycle 1 Week 3

The next two weeks of CC our history focus will be Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.  This week we really tried to dive into some of the aspects of living in Ancient Greece.  We talked about some of the main gods (our history sentence this week...which was preceded by the 10 commandments and reminder that we worship no other Gods but the One True God and that we do not bow down to idols.  So, in perspective, it's important to learn about what other cultures believed.  Especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome because their culture and beliefs still are a part of our society, even in modern America...it's interesting).  We talked about daily life in Ancient Greece and the different between Athens and Sparta.  We used the lap book from ajourneythroughlearning.com.  It's ok...I'm still trying to figure out if lapbooks are for us or not.

In all honesty, on Friday when I was reviewing the week I asked, "What Ancient Civilization have we been learning about this week?"  The answer I received. "I don't know".  "I forget".  I about blew my cap....I was very frustrated that after 4 days of study, we still couldn't remember "Greece!"  So....back to the drawing boards.

Friday we read a short version of the Legend of the battle of Troy and the Trojan horse and introduced Homer and his works The Iliad and The Odyssey.  Then, we took some time to draw the Trojan Horse. 

This is my Trojan Horse...pretty great, huh?

Nicole coloring her horse

Nicole's finished work.  Her proportions were a bit off (notice the tiny legs ;)  but, I think she did pretty well)

We kept practicing our Ancient Middle East Map (see story here)

This version has all of our geography from weeks 1-3 labeled on it.

We practiced our Timeline over and over again.  I think they have the first 5 week down pretty well. We even mixed up all the cards and put them back up in order.  They loved it!

We spent Thursday learning more about animal cells.  We made animal cell cupcakes

Animal Cell cupcakes - this was the idea of a tutor in our group. Chewy Lifesaver- Nucleus, blue icing- golgi bodies, 1/2 gummy worm- mitochondria, Raising - Vacuole, Icing- Cytoplasm, cupcake wrapper- cell membrane

and animal cell pizza for dinner.

Animal Cell pizza: Crust- cell membrane, sauce/cheese- Cytoplasm, Canadian Bacon- Nucleus, Onion- Golgi bodies, Pepperoni- vacuole, Green peppers- Mitochondria

Nate kept busy one day sorting colored pom poms....then he walked around the room and hit every single one of them "baseball style" with a wooden spoon ;)

Color sorting for the little man.

The kids had fun hanging out together most of the week.

Best Buds!

And the girls were proud of how beautiful they made their bed.

We planted flowers in the back lanai

She has learned to do a lot with one arm ;)

I think I am revamping our school day.  Nicole gets her cast off on Wednesday (Praise the Lord!).  I think we are going to start going for a jog every morning.  Starting off by running down the street and back which will be about .2 of a mile.  Then, we are going to work outside for about 30 minutes.  We'll be doing things like pulling weeds, washing windows, repainting the swing set.  You know...just some hard labor type work.  I have been frustrated by the laziness I see.  After our outside chores, we will come inside and clean up our rooms.  School in the morning used to be an interactive activity that related directly to something in our memory work.  But....I'm not sure if this is working.  Maybe it's to advanced.  I would think after four days of studying something that I can get more from the question 'What have we learned' than "I don't know".  So....we are going to spend 30 minutes drilling our memory work.  Sometimes with games, sometimes just the way we do in class.  Then, the rest of the morning will be working on a preschool project to involve Hannah and Nathan a little more.  I think Nicole can learn from this as well, since our basic reading skills are fairly low.  And, maybe she can even teach them, which will help her learn more.

Then, after lunch Nicole and I will sit down for our more intensive school work of math and reading/spelling. She really needs it to be quieter so she can focus, and afternoons works best since Nathan is still taking naps. 

I have worked hard this week to cut TV out of the equation, which always gives ME more work :(  I need my kids to play...and right now, they are still just laying around doing nothing...even during play time.  Again, that laziness factor is making me insane.

I am looking for volunteer and service work opportunities to introduce to them.  We may do some small chores around the house for a family in our church, or a family down the street.  We are going to write cards for C.O.L.E.S. foundation that sends cards to sick children who basically live in hospitals, we are going to make cards and visit a nursing home on a regular basis.  I'm looking into making "homeless shelter" kits of toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair brush and a snack or something to donate to a shelter for them to give to the homeless.  Any other ideas out there?   A lot of organizations won't allow small children to participate in service work...so, I have to be creative here ;)

Well, CC week 3 is wrapped.  We are all sick.  Time for a low key Saturday. 

Nicole doing her presentation last week at CC.

Cycle 1 Weeks 1-3 Geography Drawing

We are in the middle of week three in Classical Conversations Cycle 1.  Our geography has focused on the Fertile Crescent, Assyrian Empire and the Hebrew Empire. Earlier this summer, we were going through My Father's World- Grade 1 curriculum.  On Day 31, we learned a fun and easy way to draw the water features of this area of the world.  All of the water features have now been identified in CC.  I wanted to share the story which My Father's World adapted from The Old Testament Express by Terry Hall with my children and the students in my CC classroom.  I thought it may help you and your children as well.

As you tell the story, draw the map, using the photo below as a guide.  Do not put the numbers on your map or mention them as you tell the story.  They are just to help you draw in the correct sequence.

"A man went fishing one day.  This is the front of his boat (1).  His fishing lines are hanging down from the boat and they got all tangled up (2).  The man looked over the side of his boat and fell into the water!  These are his two fingers under the front of the boat (3).  He sent up a distress signal to call for help -- a balloon with a string, and a mitten tied on the end of it (4, 5,6)!  In this corner (point) there is the head of a huge water bug (7), with two long feelers coming out of its head (8,9)."

 

***Key to map***
1. Mediterranean Sea
2. Nile River
3. Red Sea
4. Sea of Galilee
5. Jordan River
6. Dead Sea
7. Persian Gulf
8. Tigris River
9. Euphrates River

Tell this story to your CC class, or your own children as you draw it on the board and they draw it as well.  (With the younger ones, you could have them trace one you've already drawn if you want).  Then, they can go home and use this little story as a way to remember where the water features are and review more details such as Judah, Israel, Sumer, etc.  Once my children become more comfortable drawing the map, I will ask them to include more geographical points on it.

With ours, we labeled our map with letters and abbreviations.  Today as the first day I told the story and this was the work my four year old and six year old.

This was my Four Year old!

And, my 6 year old...we'll have to work on placement a little more tomorrow ;)

Tomorrow I will tell the story again while they draw it...and hopefully by the end of the week, they will be able to draw the water features and label them correctly and we can begin adding more details.

Week 2 or 3 of school

The timing of Nicole's accident worked out well with CC.  Our group got canceled the Monday after she broke it because of a Tropical Storm in the area.  And then we had the next Monday off for Labor day.  So...it was a needed break for her.  I have no idea what week of school we are on, hahaha...but there were certainly sick days in there.

We have been learning about Ancient Egypt.  I found this great book called The Ancient Egyptians: Dress, Eat, Write and Play just like the Egyptians.  We couldn't do a lot of the activities in the book with only one arm, but we certainly were able to do some. 

Our Mummy Dogs, eh...kinda lame ;)

Egyptian Collar- Nicole's, Hannah's and Nate's (from the book above)

The girls showing off their collar

Egyptian Name Plaque - Nicole wrote Cleopatra

Hannah wrote Wosent


 We also talked about the first form of writing, Cuneiform, in Mesopotamia.  This lesson plan helped us make Cuneiform tablets. The girls first wrote their name on paper in Cuneiform, then they pressed it into the dough tablet. 

Nicole writing her name in Cuneiform

The picture is sideways, but this says "Nicole" in Cuneiform ;)

We wanted to mummify a barbie doll, but we'll have to come back to that in a few months when Nicole has two functioning arms. 

We tried doing a lapbook on Ancient Egypt.  I don't know if it was her not feeling well, or just that lap books aren't her thing, but I couldn't get her "into it".

In fact, I really couldn't get her "into" anything.  Now, the first week after her break, we did almost nothing except watch TV...but the following two weeks, I've been trying to get back to the school routine.  I am really struggling with her right now.  I feel like she just doesn't care.  I think (well...let's be honest, I KNOW) I have discouraged her in some areas, and I'm trying to change that.  There is just no motivation there, and I can't get to the root of it.  She tries to think of every possible excuse to get out doing work. 

I sort of think it's because she's not reading well.  I have voiced (not negatively...just in casual conversations) about her lack of reading, and I think that was a mistake.  Maybe she's embarrassed?  Maybe she thinks she can't do it?  Maybe she's really truly struggling and is tired of trying.  I don't know.  I really don't.  I feel so ill-equipped in this area.  Obviously, reading has been the biggest issue.  We are using Spell to Read and Write.  I really like the concept, and I am determined to hang in there...but it's tough for her.  It has to be.  I want it to be!  I want to teach my children to think, because if they can think, then they can learn anything.  Unfortunately, she doesn't want to think...or maybe it's just to hard. 

I have been hearing "I forgot" a lot lately...and it's driving me bonkers!  Tonight, after her American Heritage Girls meeting I asked what she learned about.  "I don't remember".  What????  We just walked out.  She finally remembered that they watched a movie about the Pilgrims.  So, I asked...why did you watch that movie?  What did they want you to learn?  "I don't know".  There is NO THOUGHT in that answer, or in that moment.  I want her to THINK.  Just think...that's all.  I want her to sit and listen wherever she's at...church, school, civil group, gymnastics...wherever and think about what is being said.  Think about it and determine what the message is.  I'm feeling lost in this goal right now though. 

So...it's been a rough few weeks.  I'm trying to stay motivated and positive.  I'm trying to pick up my sweet girl and encourage her and let her know that she is smart and that she is capable of "remembering" these things she forgets. 

I feel like I need a prayer team.  You know...a group of people who rally around you and support you and pray for you.  This homeschooling business is not easy.  It's hard...but exciting and rewarding.  I am glad I get to do it...but I need Jesus.  I need Jesus to help me love my children through schooling, and to show himself to them and help them understand that they CAN bring glory to Him through their work.  Pray for me ;)