School Days–Week 2

Hello there!  Just wanted to share a few words today about our second week of school.  Things are moving along quite nicely.  The monkeys really seem to be enjoying the new school year, and they’ve already learned lots of new things.

In our history lessons last week we studied Noah’s flood, the Ice Age, dinosaurs.  I decided to tailor Lucy’s learning activities for the week around an ocean theme to go along with our discussion of Noah.

I whipped up a batch of glittery, moon sand for some sensory play.  (Who knew you could make your own moon sand with only flour and baby oil??)  Both Ty and Lucy had fun sculpting sand castles and digging in the sand for hidden seashells.  I incorporated a little Brave Writer fun into this activity, by having the monkeys do a keen observation of their shells, then use interesting words to give detailed descriptions.  This exercise gave us a chance to discuss using comparisons, such as metaphors and similes, to describe objects.  Ty came up with a great simile for one of his shells.  He said it was holey like Swiss cheese.

Here Ty was trying to sculpt the leaning Tower of Pisa.  His tower leaned a little too far.

At poetry teatime last week we were fortunate enough to have a princess stop by to read us a story.  Then we read to each other poems by Shel Silverstein.  I just love his ridiculous rhymes.

In addition to poems, I’ve also been reading to the kids from Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.  These stories are a lot of fun and lend themselves well to discussions about literary elements like alliteration, repetition, imagery, and made up words.  What’s surprising to me is how the stories have alluded to the same topics we’ve been studying in history – creation, Noah’s ark, cuneiform… it’s neat the way things have been working out across all subjects!

For a fun, inane activity during our Ice Age lesson, I had Ty see how long he could keep a cube of ice on his belly. 

The answer?  Not very long.

He toughed it out for one minute (mostly because I was taunting him), but he didn’t like it.  That ice was cold!  I tried to get Lucy to give it a try, but she was way too smart for that.

I also froze some tiny trinkets in a big block of ice and had the monkeys try their hands at “excavating fossils” – a good activity for a hot, summer day.

Lucy is most excited this year about getting to learn cursive writing.  Last week she began by learning lowercase i, u, and e.  She has really impressed me with her strokes, and she is quite proud of her progress.

 

One other ocean themed activity I put together for Lucy was Sizzling Shells.  Basically I formed “seashells” from a mixture of baking soda and water.  Once the shells were dry I mixed up a bottle of vinegar with a few drops of blue food coloring and let Lucy squirt the shells.  The shells fizzed and sputtered to reveal pearls (buttons) I had hidden inside them.

Lucy enjoyed the activity and once all the shells were dissolved, I added some water to the plastic tub and just let her play with the glass beads and rocks.  It doesn’t take much to keep a five-year-old entertained.

I thought I’d better include a little something about Tacy Mae.  She kept an eye on all the sizzling seashell activity from the safety of her walker.  The girl can really get around in that thing.

I almost forgot about the ocean inspired lunch we had last week.  Some folks call them Octopus Dogs, but I like to think of them as Redneck Caviar.  Yes, I agree they do look disgusting.

Well, that about wraps up week 2 here at Arrow Academy.  Hope you’ll check back again soon for another update.

Lindsey

Grossology 101

Warning!  The following post is not for those with weak stomachs.

Just kidding.  Well, kinda.

A couple of weekends ago the Tool Man and I took the monkeys over to Jackson to visit the Mississippi Museum of Natural History.  We’d driven by it a few times recently and talked about taking the kids for a field trip.  When the Tool Man discovered the museum was hosting a special presentation by children’s book author Sylvia Branzei, we decided it would be a good time to make the trip.

Until this visit, I’d never heard of Sylvia Branzei, but apparently she is the self-proclaimed Queen of Grossness.  She has authored a series of children’s books entitled Grossology that teach science by way of all things disgusting.

We made it to the museum just in time to grab second row seats to the Grossology demonstration.  Guess who was selected as the first volunteer.

Ty!! 

aka “Dr. Barf”

Yep, Ty’s job was to make fake, edible barf.  (I don’t know about you, but I don’t think those three words should be used in the same sentence.)  Here he is getting his instructions from the Queen of Grossness.

Ty stirred and simmered a crazy concoction of jello, cereal, fruit gummies and such.  Then he showed his creation to the audience.

After the Grossology presentation (during which we learned about more disgusting things like blood and poop), we toured the rest of the museum.

The monkeys got to try their hands at sculpting scat.  Yuck!

Lucy found a lovely surprise when she lifted the lid on this exhibit.

We had a great time on our little educational outing.  It’s nice for the kids to get to do some hands-on learning once in a while.  After the museum visit, we ate lunch at Olive Garden.  We’ve been craving O.G. since our local one was destroyed by fire.  Then we made a quick shopping stop (you gotta hit at least one store while you’re in Jackson) before heading back across the river.

Lucky us!  Ty got to bring home his edible barf.  How do you like that just-tossed-my-cookies face he’s making?

I told y’all it wasn’t going to be a pretty post today.  Can’t say I didn’t warn you.

Lindsey

School Days, School Days…

I know what you’re thinking.

Mean Mama.  Mean, mean mama.

Surely she didn’t make those poor monkeys start back to school in July.

Well, I did.

Now before you report me to the meanness police, just remember that homeschooling is hard on the mama too.  There’s a ton of work involved in planning a school year for two kiddos in different grades.  There’s curriculum to select, supplies to purchase, materials to organize, and lessons to plan.  And I have to figure out a way to simultaneously be a serious, school marm and a fun, loving mom. Quite a challenge!

I figure the best way to achieve a good mix of education and fun is to get my kids excited about learning.  I need to pique their curiosity, engage their little minds, sprinkle in surprises, and trick them into learning.

That’s a tall order!

So this year I’m shakings things up a bit.  Translation:  I’m ditching my go-to curriculum (for the most part) and trying new things.

Since 2010 I’ve been using Abeka curriculum for all subjects.  It’s very good material, but lately, both Ty and I have found it to be, well, boring.  Time for a change.

After talking with some homeschooling friends, I decided to branch out and try new textbooks for science, history, and language arts.

This year for science we are using Apologia: Human Anatomy and Physiology.  The great thing about Apologia is that you can use the same material for multiple ages.  Exactly what I need – a way to kill two birds with one stone.  I teach one science lesson, and Ty and Lucy each work in their own, age-appropriate notebooks.  Yes, the content is rather advanced.  For example, we are learning about things like myofibrils and anaerobic respiration in our study of the muscular system.  But it sure beats boring, shallow discussions like, “Muscles help us move.”  I figure that my kids will pick up the basics, and if they retain some of the more challenging material, well hey, that’s just icing on the cake.

Apologia also includes great activities and experiments that help my monkeys really understand what we are reading.  Since beginning the book we’ve made an edible cell, rubberized a chicken bone, mummified a turtle, and built a model of the tendons in a human hand.  Currently we are conducting an experiment trying to build muscles in Ty’s hand.

For a new approach to history this year, I am trying out The Mystery of History.  We are in our second week of the course, and both the kids and I love it!  What I really love about the Mystery of History (MOH) is it’s focus on Jesus.  He’s the “Mystery” that ties all of human history together.  Volume I of MOH begins with the true story of creation (the Biblical account, of course) and proceeds from there to the resurrection of Christ.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’ll probably be learning just as much my kids throughout this study.  The book covers many eras and cultures that I never studied in all my years of schooling.  We’ll be learning about everything from the ancient Chinese dynasties, to the Israelites and the Exodus, to the mound-building tribes of North America.

I’ve spent quite a lot of time planning activities to go along with our history lessons.  A few things I have lined up are:  writing cuneiform on clay tablets, constructing a miniature replica of Stonehenge, building a ziggurat out of sugar cubes, and reading the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh.  It’s going to be fun!

The MOH involves a year-long timeline project to help us keep everything in perspective as we travel through history.  Here’s the beginning of our timeline.

We will add a figure or two to represent each lesson in the book.  The timeline should be a wonderful sight to behold once we make it through all 108 lessons!

For Lesson 1, Creation,  I challenged the kids to make their own unique creatures using play-dough.  Ty’s creature cracked me up.  He called it a Nosy Eye Worm.

The kids also decorated these Creation Cubes.  Once we colored and assembled the cubes, we took turns rolling them to help us review the six days of creation.

The last major curriculum change I made this year was in the area of language and writing.  I am now using Brave Writer, which was recommended by my sister-in-law.  Brave Writer focuses less on the technical aspects of grammar and more on the creative process of writing.  In other words, we won’t be sitting down diagramming sentences and memorizing punctuation rules.  Instead we’ll be doing daily exercises and working on monthly projects that will help the kids learn how to put their thoughts down on paper.  A few of the weekly activities we’ll be doing include oral reading, copy work, dictation, free writing, observation exercises, and…

Poetry Teatime.

When I first read about Poetry Teatime, I thought (in my best sarcastic, inner voice), “Really?  Sit around a fancy table once a week, sipping tea, and reading poems?  Yeah, Ty ought to love this.”

But I decided I would try teatime at least once.  I knew it would be a hit with Lucy.  So I threw a lacy tablecloth onto our school table, plopped some silk flowers into a crystal vase, lit a candle (because all kids love fire), and served up some refreshments.

Before I go on, I should be clear about something.  This was a redneck tea party, not to be confused with an English tea party.  We drank sweet, iced tea, not Earl Grey.  Instead of scones and crumpets, we nibbled on animal crackers, fruit, and muffins leftover from breakfast.

We all three took turns reading from poetry anthologies.  Well, two of us “read.”   Lucy narrated a book to us by looking at the pictures.  I think it’s wonderful that she is so excited about getting to “read” aloud.  I hope it’s a sign of good things to come.

Much to my surprise, Ty actually liked teatime – once he got over the initial embarrassment.  At first he couldn’t even make eye contact with me.  The lace and crystal almost put him over the edge.  But after a while he relaxed a bit.  I think I won him over with the fruit and fire.  Here he is getting all fancy wiping the corners of his mouth.

Just as I predicted, teatime was a hit with Lucy.  Lace and crystal are right up Miss Fancy-Pants’ alley.  She’s asked to have teatime every day since then.

There’s one last thing I haven’t mentioned about school this year, and that’s Miss Tacy Mae.  She really hasn’t been as much trouble as I had anticipated.  In the mornings she will sit in her highchair munching on Cheerios while we have a lesson.  She also likes to crawl around under our table and chairs, perfectly content to play by herself.  Her favorite pastime, though, is getting into this cabinet and pulling out all the books on the bottom shelf.  While this drives Lucy nuts, I’m ok with it.  It keeps Tacy occupied, and she’s not in any danger.

Most afternoons Tacy takes a 3 hour nap, so whatever school work we don’t finish before lunch, we wrap up during her nap time.

Whew!  That was quite a lengthy post, but we are all so excited about the new school year that I just had to share.  I hope to keep y’all updated (somewhat regularly) on our studies, so check back again soon to see what’s going on.

Lindsey

Tacy Mae–10 Months

So much to say about Miss Tacy Mae this month!  Tacy’s 10th month was full of new activities and accomplishments, so let’s jump right in.

First I’ll go ahead and get the unpleasant out of the way.  Tacy had her second illness this month.  Perhaps illness is a strong word.  It was really just a cold.  No fever.  No infection.  No doctor visits.  But still a yucky, snotty mess.  Hey, at least she was a good sport about it –she was more than willing to share her cold with the rest of us.  Ugh!

Moving on to the fun stuff…

Tacy is beginning to discover the wonderful world of language!  Yes, she uttered that much anticipated first word on July 11.  Any guesses of what it was?

“Coco.”

As in Coco our Chihuahua.

Of course it is entirely likely that Tacy has already said Dada and Mama, but she babbles so much it’s sometimes difficult to tell if she’s saying something on purpose or just by accident.  I am for sure that she said Coco, though, because she repeated it after I called the dog.

Since uttering that first word, Tacy has added a few more to her vocabulary:  Mama, Dada, Yay, Nigh’-Nigh’, Uh-oh, and Bye Bye.

Last month I talked about Tacy’s mobility and her mastery of the army crawl.  Since then she has only continued to get better at moving around.  Although her preferred method of transportation is still slithering around on her belly, she does get up on all fours to crawl from time to time.  She even does the three-point crawl on occasion.  You know, the half sitting, half crawling crawl.  (I sometimes wonder if she crawls like this due to her hip.  Although the ultrasound showed nothing abnormal about the joint, I can still feel Tacy’s hip popping in and out sometimes.)

(As you can see Tacy was none too happy about having to lie down for her monthly picture.)

Now that Tacy’s an expert crawler, she moves with a purpose.  I don’t just mean that she crawls to the nearest toy on the floor.  I mean she thinks about where she wants to go, plans a route, and gets there.  She follows me into the bathroom…every time!  She likes to crawl to her room and play in her basket of books.  She really enjoys going into our school/breakfast room and pulling the pocket charts off the wall and the books out of the cabinet.  She loves to sneak into the utility room and eat play in the dog’s food and water.  And her favorite place in the whole house is in the pantry playing with water and juice bottles.  Just recently Tacy has discovered the stairs.  She knows Ty and Lucy go up them, and I’ve caught her trying to get a leg up onto that first step.  I’m going to have to dig out that baby gate soon!

People ask me all the time if Tacy’s close to walking yet.  I don’t think so.  At least I don’t think it will be within the next month.  She still can’t stand on her own, and she’s got a lot of work to do on her balance.  But she does get plenty of practice walking ‘round and ‘round our living room coffee table.

It’s been three months since Tacy got her first two teeth, but just last week I noticed 4 more chompers peeking through her gums.  Thankfully, Tacy is not one of those babies who is miserable when teething, but she does drool like crazy.  It’s quite a challenge to keep her shirt dry.

I’m kind of excited Tacy’s getting more teeth.  She’ll finally be able to chew!  Let’s face it.  There’s only so much one can eat with no teeth.  Tacy’s made her way through all the soft fruits and vegetables and such.  I’m hoping a few new teeth will open up new menu possibilities for her.

The cutest news that I have to share about Tacy this month involves a new trick she’s learned…

Giving sugar.  (That’s southern for kissing.)

She leans in toward your face with her mouth wide open.  Warm, clear drool dripping off her bottom lip.  Tongue slightly protruding if she’s feeling extra affectionate.  Sometimes there’s even sound effects.  Tacy will make low, guttural “awe” sound as she slops your cheek with sugar.  It’s the greatest thing ever!

Tacy’s kissing is not limited to her two-legged family.  She’s been known to lay one on Coco a time or two.  She loves that dog!

One last funny picture to share with y’all today.  It’s just another example of what big brothers are good for – sticking things to your head without your knowing it.

Lindsey

Lucy’s Baptism

A couple of weeks ago we had the wonderful privilege of seeing our little Lucy baptized.

You know me.  I was the crazy mom standing nearby snapping pictures left and right.  Because Lucy is so young, I wanted to be sure that she has something that will remind her of this special day in the years to come.

Our children’s minister, Abe, baptized Lucy, but the Tool Man had the opportunity to stand with them and help pull Lucy up out of the water.

Buried with Christ…

Raised to walk in new life.

Now, here’s the funny part of this story.

About a half second before Lucy was dunked, she looked up at her daddy with a worried expression.

“We forgot my earplugs!”

Yep.  For days before this, Lucy had been reminding us not to forget to bring her earplugs to her baptism.  Because she has tubes in her ears, Lucy isn’t supposed to get any water in them.

Sunday morning, the plugs were the first things I packed in her bag.  But somehow in the excitement, we forgot to pop them in her ears before she stepped down into the water.

Lucy remembered them seconds before she went under, but it was too late.  I guess the Tool Man could have stuck his fingers in her ears. Instead he just said, “We’ll do it quick.”

And quick they did!  In fact, Lucy’s hair wasn’t even completely wet when it was all over.

But that’s ok.  We know it wasn’t the baptism that saved and sealed Lucy.  It was the grace of Jesus.  Her baptism was just an act of obedience.  An outward sign of an inward reality.

Now comes the test of endurance.  A lifetime of growing and learning, of loving and living for Jesus.  It will be challenging, but oh, so worth it.  Jesus promised a full, abundant life for all who believe, and He doesn’t break His promises!

Lindsey

Lucy’s Cupcake Party

This year Lucy had no problem deciding what theme she wanted for her birthday party.

Cupcakes!

I guess she got the idea after she received her very own mini cupcake maker for Christmas last year.

After we installed our swimming pool this summer, Lucy’s birthday plans expanded into a cupcake/swimming party.  That’s a lot of activity for only a couple of hours, but, hey, there’s no easier way to entertain a bunch of kids than to throw them into a pool!

There’s one thing I’ve learned from planning birthday parties over the past 10 years.  You can’t possibly schedule a party at a time when everyone can attend.  This party was no exception.  Many of Lucy’s friends and family were out of town, so this party turned out to be an intimate event.  But that was totally OK.  It turned out to be a fun day (although it was 97 degrees out), and the kids had fun splashing in the pool and pigging out on pizza.

Maybe I’m getting old.  Maybe I’m getting lazy.  Maybe it’s the fact that I have three kids sucking the energy out of me (literally), but I feel I really dropped the ball with this party.  I had such high aspirations for food and décor.  I’ve been pinning party ideas on Pinterest for months.  But when it came down to it, I cut so many corners it’s a wonder I even got a tablecloth on the table.  Ugh!  I hate it when I do that.

How about I show you what I did manage to eek out?

Let’s start with the birthday cake.  Lucy wanted a giant cupcake.  Sounded good to me!  I don’t think I could have handled an elaborately sculpted princess or sugar tiara this year.  I used three 6” round cakes to carve out this colossal cupcake.  It was easy-peasy to decorate, and I think it is absolutely adorable.  (Not to mention yummy!)

This next treat was a Pinterest find – strawberry wafer cookies, dipped in white chocolate, and sprinkled with…sprinkles!  I got the monkeys to help me out with these.  Even though the cookies were easy to assemble, they certainly did make a big, visual impact.

In keeping with the sprinkle theme, I mixed up a creamy, vanilla dip, topped it with more sprinkles, and served it with pretzels, butter cookies, and apple slices.  (There was certainly no shortage of sugar on this party buffet.)  I also set out a couple of bowls of pink and white iced animal crackers.  You know, the ones covered with sprinkles?

Like I said, other than the food table, I didn’t manage to get much decorating done.  I only threw up a couple of garlands.

I made these with scrapbooking paper, cupcake liners, and twinkle lights…

And this simple swag of twisted tissue paper dressed the back door.

We let the kids go swimming first.  Like I said, it was hot!

And humid.

Don’t forget humid.  Gotta love Louisiana!

Our little family of geese observed from a safe distance.

Once we coaxed the kiddos out of the pool, we got down to the business of cutting cake and opening presents.  Everyone wanted a picture with the birthday girl.

How about that birthday hat?  Lucy remembered I made her a hat for her third birthday, and she asked me to make her another one this year.  So one afternoon Lucy and I pulled out the poster board, hot glue gun, fabric scraps, and ribbons, and we designed this cute party topper.

Lucy got all kinds of fun gifts for her birthday.  My Little Ponies, a Rapunzel doll, various coloring books, Leapfrog DVD’s, a tea set, rubber stamps and markers, manicure supplies, and this super cool, girly long bow.  It’s the perfect weapon for shooting that annoying, big brother!

Truth be told, considering this was supposed to be a “cupcake” party, not a lot of time was actually spent on cupcakes.  But Lucy and her friend Cassie did have fun decorating a few.  I never knew how much candy and sprinkles would fit on a mini cupcake until I saw Cassie decorate one.  She could really pile them on!

I don’t think the boys ever slowed down long enough to decorate a cupcake, but I did see them sneaking candy every time they made a pass by the table.

Ordinarily, my birthday party duties would be over for the year, but no more!  Miss Tacy Mae will be celebrating her big one in only a couple of months.  I already have her theme picked out (my little secret for now), and I’m making party plans in my head.  Maybe if I start working today I will have everything ready for her party.

Maybe…

Lindsey