An Apple a Day

Things are moving along well here at Arrow Academy.  Believe it or not, even with the addition of Tacy Mae, we are right on schedule with school.

Here’s a sample of what Ty’s been studying in school:

Math – Fractions, fractions, fractions!  Adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers, making equivalent fractions, and reducing fractions.  So far so good.  Thankfully, Ty seems to have no trouble understanding the ins and outs of fractions.

Language – Parts of Speech.  We’ve been hitting subjects, verbs, and nouns for quite some time now.  In fact, both student and teacher are beginning to get bored with them.  This week Ty started diagramming sentences. (Now there’s a skill no adult can live without, right??)  Up next are pronouns and adjectives.

Spelling – Spelling, spelling, spelling.  What can I say?  He ain’t got it.  As an excellent speller myself, I am perplexed as to how to help him.  We trudge through the weekly lists, but I feel like it’s a waste of time.  Alas! There’s got to be a better way out there.

Reading – Ty received Si Robertson’s book Si-chology 101  for Christmas, so we’ve been using that instead of the aBeka textbooks for our reading material. (The aBeka books tend to be pretty lame and outdated.)  Switching books has Ty more excited about reading time.  He actually requests to do reading first every morning.

History – I’m excited about this one. This week Ty began a study of Louisiana.  We are learning about our state’s history, culture, land, and government.  I’m planning to work in some fun activities like making Mardi Gras masks and cooking gumbo. We are also going to do an art lesson based on the Blue Dog paintings by Louisiana native George Rodrigue.  To wrap things up, I plan to have Ty create a display board featuring some of the things he’s learned about Louisiana.  And I really, really would like to take a weekend fieldtrip down to Baton Rouge or New Orleans, but that would have to wait until after basketball season.

Science – Hands down, science is Ty’s favorite subject.  Currently Ty is studying geology.  One lesson last week discussed the difference between the earth’s diameter and circumference.  To help make this concept a little more clear, we did a demonstration in the kitchen with an apple.  Here are a couple of pictures I took of our little experiment.

First, measuring the circumference…

What you don’t see in these picture is that before we could get started, Ty took a giant bite out of one side of the apple.  This boy and his fruit!  I’ve never seen a human being who could ingest as much fruit as Ty.  He’ll eat an entire pint of strawberries in under a minute if you don’t ration them out to him.  And the more sour the fruit the better.  He actually prefers under-ripe strawberries, green apples, and green grapes.

Anyway, once he measured around the apple, he cut the string and set it aside.

Then the fun part.

Yes, I let him use a big knife to cut the apple in half.  Yes, grandmothers, I gave him a lesson on how to properly and safely use the knife.  Notice his fingers are clearly out of the way of the blade…

Hi-Ya!

After measuring across and cutting the string, Ty compared the lengths of the circumference and the diameter.

But not before sneaking another bite…

Lindsey

To the Moon!

Judging from my blog posts over the last 3 months, one might get the impression that I only have one kid.  So I figured it was about time for me to write a little about the older monkeys.

Ty and Lucy had a great Christmas this year, and by “great” I mean they received more gifts than they know what to do with.  One thing that Ty got this year was a Mythbusters science experiment kit.  Included in this kit was a rocket powered by baking soda and vinegar.  So a few days after Christmas we headed outside for a lunar launch.

It was bitterly cold and windy this day.  You’ll notice Lucy and the Tool Man are wearing nice warm coats, but Ty is not.  I suppose that makes me a bad mother, right?

Lucy was right up in the middle of all the action.  Thankfully, this day Ty was willing to let her help.  These two usually aren’t so benevolent when it comes to sharing their toys.

Time to fuel her up.  The next time I’m baking a cake and can’t find my baking soda, will y’all remind me what happened to it?

After a good shake, it was time to set the rocket down and run like the wind.  Ty blew his mini duck call necklace to signal the launch.

In 5-4-3-2…

To the moon!!!

OK.  So we didn’t make it to the moon, but judging by the look on Ty’s face I’d say he had fun with his new rocket.

And don’t tell him, but there may have been a little science mixed up in all this fun.  Aren’t I a sneaky, homeschool mom?

Lindsey

Tacy Mae – 3 Months

 

Guess who just had a birthday!  That’s right.  Tacy Mae turned 3 months old on the first day of the new year.  I kind of like that she was born on the first day of the month.  Sort of makes it easier for me to keep up with her age.

 

As you can see, this little girl is turning out to be quite a porker.  As Lucy put it, Tacy is getting “fluffy!”  Even her kneecaps are squishy.  (By the way, I would like to know at exactly what age do dimply thighs and fat rolls change from cute to not-so-cute.)

Tacy’s hair is still a bit unruly, but it is beginning to lay down somewhat.

Thankfully, Tacy is still a wonderful sleeper.  Very seldom does she wake up in the middle of the night.  She usually goes to bed each night around 10:00 PM and is down until about 6:00 in the morning.  After a little breakfast and some playtime, Tacy takes a mid-morning nap.  (That’s when we try to sneak in most of our schoolwork.)  Then she’s up and at ‘em from about 10 AM ‘til late afternoon when she takes another nap.

Over the past month I’ve noticed a lot of changes in Tacy’s mental development.  She’s really becoming aware of all the craziness going on around her.  When she’s nursing I can see that she’s listening to the shenanigans of her brother and sister, sometimes even turning her head to see what’s happening behind her.

And just last week Tacy started paying more attention to TV.  Not that I intend to exploit that fact, but it is nice to be able to put her down long enough to fold a load of laundry or prepare a meal.

Of course, no photo shoot would be complete without a photo bomb by Lucy.

These pictures crack me up because, at only 3 months, Tacy is over half the size of petit Miss Lucy.  I mean, look at that picture!  I’m pretty sure Tacy will be passing her up one day soon.

Feeling left out, Ty wanted to have his picture made with Tacy while holding his new light saber.  That crazy boy!  He wore his Snuggie as a make-shift Luke Skywalker robe.  Ha ha.

Well, that’s all for now.  Hope y’all had a great Christmas.  As much as I love Christmas, I’m glad it’s all over.  I’m beat!

Lindsey