Category Archives: Homeschool

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The 1904 World’s Fair

Last week, we went to the Missouri History Museum to see the traveling Mammoths and Mastodons exhibit as part of their homeschool days. While we were there, however, we also looked at another exhibit: The 1904 World’s Fair: Looking Back at Looking Forward. As much as I love mammoths, I think this gallery was even more interesting, and very relevant.

I thought it was really cool seeing ground-breaking supplies from the Fair’s preparation:

The comparison between the different World’s Fairs was also fascinating:

The main part of the gallery was divided into four areas:

There were many items from around the world, (and the United States, too!):

There were many cool souvenirs from the Fair, as well:

I especially liked seeing what fashion would have been like at the Fair:

As well as an example of transportation:

There were also other cools things in and around the museum, some of which had to do with the time of the Louisiana Purchase, and some which reflected the Fair itself:

It was a really fun place to go, and I’m already looking forward to going back, and exploring more of Missouri’s history!

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Third Grade: Week Twenty-One Wrap-Up

I’ll be honest…my energy for and interest in school is waning as my due date approaches. We still have two more weeks of work that I’m determined to get through before Chickadee’s arrival, though, if only because I don’t want to look at schooling all summer long. We’re still doing all of the “important stuff,” but some of our electives are a little on the overlooked side right now. On the other hand, the local public school is going to be spending the next two weeks on standardized testing, and anything we do at home will be better than that major waste of time!

I continue to be astounded by what Turkey and Bunny are learning in math. They’re doing measurements of area and volume, adding and reducing fractions, and working on simple equations. When I was in third grade, I remember the big thing being division tables, but that’s old hat around here. Turkey and Bunny are working on division with remainders, though, and they’re both doing really well with it, for which I’m very thankful. I dread the day long division enters this household…as far as I’m concerned, that’s what calculators are for!

Adventures in My Father’s World is still our favorite thing about any school day. This week, we learned about Robert Fulton and his inventions, (more than “just” the steamboat), as well as another couple of states, and continued to study the “Star-Spangled Banner.” I say study, instead of memorize, because Turkey and Bunny already know the first verse, (thank you Cardinals baseball games), and I don’t think they need to know any more than that by heart. We did use the first and fourth verses for our dictation this week, however, which led me to realize that Bunny has also memorized at least the fourth the verse, if not two and three, as well. It’s strange what children pick up on, and she seemed quite amused at my surprise when she was saying the dictation before I could!

In addition to our regular schoolwork, we’ve been getting a lot of P.E. time this week. The weather has been unusually nice for February/March, so we’ve been walking, (some of us slower than others!), kicking around the soccer ball, practicing swinging a whiffle ball bat, and riding bikes, (although I haven’t been doing that last one). Physical education is still important, even in homeschools, but it can be hard to remember to schedule it in. I try to make sure we get outside on nice days like we’ve been having, because fresh air and exercise are so important, both to health, and to performance in other school subjects. We’ve even been known to do our schoolwork outside on particularly nice days, to really benefit from the fresh air!

The real fun this week came from celebrating our first Leap Day since we’ve been homeschooling. It’s funny that this is our fourth year of homeschool, and it’s just now come up, but we didn’t start school until Summer 2008, so we just missed it the last time. Four years is a long time, anyway, so I’m guessing Turkey and Bunny wouldn’t really have remembered anything we might have done back then, and Ladybug wasn’t even one yet, so I know this is all new to her! I’m looking forward to other special days coming up before Chickadee arrives, including St. Patrick’s Day and the First Day of Spring–I just hope I still have the energy for the activities I have planned!

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Leap Day!

Somewhat surprisingly, (to me, at least), this is our first Leap Day since we started homeschooling back in 2008. I guess it just seems like we’ve doing this so long, I had a hard time believing at first that we’ve never had school on this “holiday” before. I knew I wanted to do something fun and special, but I wasn’t really sure what–there aren’t too many dedicated Leap Day crafts/activities out there, at least not that I could find.

I decided that since I couldn’t find Leap Day specific activities, we’d go with a frog theme…after all, frogs are known for leaping, right?

At first, I thought we’d make those origami frogs that actually hop. But paper-folding is not one of my strengths, so instead, we made paper plate frog puppets. Paper plate crafts I can handle!

 

We also read a favorite story, “The Determined Frog,” from one of our favorite story books: The Lion Storyteller Bedtime Book. It’s a cute, funny, story, with a good message about not giving up.

Of course, we couldn’t celebrate Leap Day without playing a game of leapfrog. And we even got to play outside, because it’s unbelievably nice outside for February!

Leap Day was a huge hit here…too bad we have to wait four more years to enjoy it again!

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Third Grade: Week Twenty Wrap-Up

Another busy week in third grade! We’ve continued to work on fractions and division, (with remainders!), learned about the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and “The Star Spangled Banner” in U.S. History, and wrapped up our study of subjects and predicates in grammar. We also continued our Latin review from last week, which was an eye-opening exercise. I always figured that foreign languages would be Bunny’s “thing,” because she’s always had such a good grasp of language in general. And she does fine at it, although, she hasn’t yet memorized all the declensions we’ve worked on. Turkey, on the other hand, I assumed would struggle a bit with learning another language, because he’s more of a math/engineering guy. What I didn’t take into account, however, is that Latin is a very logical language, which really appeals to his brain, and so he’s been able to memorize everything, from vocabulary to conjugations to declensions, with amazing speed. It’s really quite impressive to listen to him rattle off a declension!

We started a new religion program for Lent this week as well. I’m using this in the same way as I did our Jesse Tree during Advent–instead of our regular Scripture readings, and readings from our Bible Handbook, we’re using the Scripture readings from the Jesus Tree, but this time, we’re doing it twice a day, once from the ESV, and once from a children’s Bible. We are continuing our regular study of the catechism, and making sure we do a lot of review, especially as we prepare for Confirmation on Palm Sunday. We’re also reading through Amon’s Adventure this Lent, which isn’t directly related to our religion lessons, but is complementary.

We also managed to find time for a really cool field trip this week. While the mastodons and mammoths didn’t really have anything to do with what we’re currently learning about, (I just really wanted to see the exhibit while it was in town!), the History Museum itself has a lot to do with the Louisiana Purchase, especially the 1904 World’s Fair exhibit, and that tied in nicely with our history lessons, even though I hadn’t planned that timing in the least. We had another circumstance of unintentional good timing this week, too, as we learned about the state of Louisiana in general, and Mardi Gras in particular–quite timely. I love when things like that work out with no effort at all on my part!

We’ve only got about three more weeks of school left, before we take a break due to Chickadee’s arrival. Hopefully, in that time, we’ll be able to plow through a lot more of our material, so we don’t have to keep working all summer long!

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Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age

Today, we had the chance to go to one of the few museums in the St. Louis area that we’ve never visited–the Missouri History Museum.

The reason for our trip? To see a special traveling exhibit, on loan from the Field Museum in Chicago–Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age.

For some inexplicable reason, I have always loved wooly mammoths. Maybe it’s because they found a skeleton of one near where I grew up, so I heard a lot about them. Or maybe it’s because they’re just so darn cute. But when I heard that this was going to be a featured exhibit at the museum, I knew I really wanted to go, even if it didn’t directly tie in to anything we’re learning about this year. The only problem? While admission to the museum is free, admission to the exhibit is most definitely not. And let’s face it…when you have a family of six, (soon to be seven), admission costs are a big obstacle to going to this kind of thing.

But then I learned about “Homeschool Days” at the Missouri History Museum. They run one such day every month from September to May, featuring a variety of topics and exhibits. The best part? Free admission when you pre-register. I’ve been planning this field trip for months, and praying that I wouldn’t have any pregnancy complications that would prevent us from attending. Thankfully, we were able to go, and we had a great time. I, especially, was impressed with the activities that they had scheduled to go along with the gallery visit.

I was also very impressed with how they handled registration/distribution of materials. One week before the scheduled event, they open up registrations online. And, as I’m always up at four a.m. these days anyway, I’m guessing I was one of the first to register, which was actually a good thing, as space is limited, and it was very crowded, even early in the day. When you get to the museum, you’re directed to a specific room to pick up your (free!) tickets, as well as a packet of information, including a map showing all of the scheduled activities for the day, and additional activities to do at home, including some fun mammoth role-playing games.

We chose to go to the main exhibit hall right away, and I’m thankful we did, because by the time we were done looking at everything, there was a 40 minute wait due to the exhibit being filled to capacity. The only drawback to the exhibit was that there was no photography of any kind allowed…I would love to share some pictures of the cool things we saw and did, but descriptions will just have to suffice.

I was most impressed with all of the hands-on activities. While there were plenty of “do not touch” signs, as you would expect, there were also plenty of places with signs that said “please touch me,” which the children loved. They got to feel a replica mammoth tooth and fur, for example. There were also lots of interactive activities, such as a mechanical tusk which the children got to operate, (with a joystick), to pick up “dinner” and “feed” themselves. There was also a lifting station, to see if you could pick up one of the many bales of hay worth of food a mammoth would have eaten in a day–we needed Daddy’s help for that one! Another cool display demonstrated the difference between the sound of elephants, (and mammoths), trumpeting, and the feeling of the vibrations from their “rumbling,” which is another way they communicate with each other, but humans can’t hear. We were also very interested in all of the size comparisons between the different kinds of mammoths, (from the seriously giant Columbian mammoth to the relatively small pygmy mammoth), mastodons, and modern-day elephants. There was so much to see and do in the gallery, it was a great way to spend a morning!

After looking at another of the museum’s permanent exhibits, we went in search of one of the activities the museum was presenting. We decided on making mammoth masks and/or puppets. And, for the record, I joined in myself, and made a puppet. No big surprise there…like I was going to come home without having made a mammoth craft!

By that time, we were ready for lunch, so we cut our losses and left. But there were plenty of other activities in which we could have participated had we so desired, and they all sounded really cool! They had a math workshop, split up by ages, dealing with the big numbers that are encountered when talking about big animals. I thought this activity, in particular, really sounded worthwhile, but unfortunately, it was scheduled right at lunchtime. They also had a play in their theater, as well as a story time for smaller children. There was even an opportunity for children to talk with one of the museum curators.

There are four more cities scheduled to host this exhibit, and two additional blocks of time scheduled for potential other cities. If it’s coming to an area near you, I highly recommend you take some time and visit–it’s a great, interactive learning experience, appropriate for all ages!

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Third Grade: Week Nineteen Wrap-Up

This was a kind of screwy week, with a doctor’s appointment for me one morning, and a dentist visit for the children another. We still managed to get our work done, however–we just had to be a little creative in when we did things. For example, one morning, we started a good hour, if not hour and a half, earlier than usual, to get things done before one appointment. We’ve also been saving a lot of our reading for the evenings, which isn’t even weird, just different for us. But we’re flexible, and as long as we get our work done, I’m not too particular as to when.

The one subject that I really had to tweak this week was Latin. We’re at a review lesson in Latin Christiana I, and I wanted to make sure we didn’t gloss over it too much, so I decided we’d just take two weeks for this lesson, and make sure we, (and I mean we, because my Latin is coming along more slowly than Turkey and Bunny’s!), really know it. I think this is a good thing, regardless of doctor’s appointments, and feeling crunched for time, because extra review, particularly of vocabulary, is never a bad thing. I think we also need to work a bit more on our noun declensions and verb conjugations, before we add any new words and/or concepts. Fortunately, there are more weeks in our school year than there are lessons in the Latin book, so we’ll still be done with the full curriculum before the end of the school year!

Another thing that messed with our schedule a bit this week was Valentine’s Day, but that was a welcome distraction. We needed extra time for crafts on Tuesday, so that was another day when we didn’t stick to our regular schedule. We had a great time making woven hearts and sparkle critters, and handing out Valentines, though–I like anything that breaks up the monotony of winter. Even though February is the shortest month of the year, it’s also the month where it’s the hardest to really buckle down and work, (for us, anyway), so we really welcome a holiday, and an excuse to make fun crafts and read extra stories, of any kind!

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Third Grade: Week Eighteen Wrap-Up

This week, we learned about Eli Whitney and his cotton gin. Not surprisingly, Turkey loved learning about this invention. Show him a picture of a machine, and he’ll pour over it, looking at all the details and trying to figure out exactly how it works. When he finishes his observations, he then moves on to drawing his own picture of the machine, and this pattern certainly held true for this week’s lessons. After we read and learned about Mr. Whitney, Turkey and Bunny were given the task of writing a notebook page to go along with what they had learned, including adding their own picture to illustrate their paragraph. Bunny focused on Eli Whitney’s whole life in her writing, and drew a picture of him wearing cotton clothes. Turkey, on the other hand, focused his writing on the cotton gin, and how it worked, and then drew a picture of it. I love observing their different learning styles, as well as how they filter information and choose what is important to them!

We’re really moving along with fractions in math. I’ve been teaching them how to reduce fractions, as well as how to write a mixed number and improper fraction. This is a little hard for me, because improper fractions only make sense to me if I put them in the framework of money. I don’t know why I have that mental block–you’d think I’d be able to take the technique from working with money and apply it to any improper fraction. And I’m working on it. In the meantime, though, I’m just hoping Turkey and Bunny don’t ask me any questions that I can’t answer!

I will confess to having taken a “teacher in-service day” on Monday. I really am trying to get as much school in as possible before Chickadee’s arrival, but I had so many errands I needed to do on Monday, and I was so worn out, that something had to give. As “something” usually isn’t school, I figured that was OK for once. And I did get a lot accomplished, even if most of it had nothing to do with school. And I certainly didn’t feel rested after I finished everything I needed to do, but I did have a great sense of accomplishment, so I’m counting it as a successful day!

The coming weeks are going to get more complicated, as I have even more doctor’s appointments and other pre-natal visits coming up. I’m grateful that there is a lot of workbook work and reading that Turkey and Bunny can get done when I’m out, and that the appointments generally don’t take up too much of my day, so I have time for the one-on-one work that some subjects, (especially Latin and History), require, as well as time for our read-aloud, (still working on Farmer Boy, but it’s almost time to move on to On the Banks of Plum Creek), even if that often gets shifted to the evening. I do love the flexibility of homeschooling, though–I’m finding it easier to schedule appointments around our school schedule than it is to schedule around Moose’s public school schedule!

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Third Grade: Week Seventeen Wrap-Up

We’re still chugging along with our school work. Have I mentioned how much we’re loving Adventures in My Father’s World? Turkey and Bunny really look forward to the daily activities, way more than they did with Sonlight. I think they really need worksheets and activities to round out their school experience!

We’re working really hard on grammar right now. In addition to using Primary Language Lessons, as recommended by My Father’s World, I also bought a workbook–English Grade 3. This gives us an opportunity to really practice what we’re learning, and helps me make sure we’re not missing anything. I made some flashcards to go along with the lessons, particularly for the parts of speech. Ever since prepositions were introduced in Latin last year, Turkey and Bunny have had some kind of mental block as what they actually are. So we review that almost daily, and I think it’s just about drilled into their heads. We’ve just started working on subject/predicate, which is a big part of the back half of the book, and so far, that’s been going well.

In this week’s post, I want to focus a bit on supplementing. I know many homeschoolers, like myself, use a “boxed curriculum,” so that they have everything they need, and don’t need to worry about having gaps in their materials. But even with a boxed curriculum, supplementing, either to the subject, or the child’s particular interest, can be very beneficial.

This week, I’ve supplemented in two ways, (three, if you count adding some of my own selections to the My Father’s World book basket). First of all, I was able to use ideas from the children’s worship folder my children received in church last Sunday to supplement our religious instruction. This year, our daily religion usually consists of reading through at least one part of Luther’s Small Catechism, reading from the Treasury of Daily Prayer, (if not the Bible readings, at least the biographies for any commemorations/feasts/festivals that may be taking place), and reading through Concordia’s Complete Bible Handbook for Students, (with which Turkey and Bunny are completely fascinated!). So, no workbooks this year, and also not many crafts. So, when Turkey pointed out a project making a shield with the Word and Sacraments on it that was meant to be completed over several days, I figured it would be a great addition to our religion lessons for the week. It was fun to do, didn’t take too much time, and fit in nicely with the things we’re already doing.

Another thing I’ve been using to supplement this year, in light of the focus on the 50 states in Adventures in My Father’s World, is the Which Way USA club offered by Highlights magazine. Every six weeks or so, we receive two different state puzzle books, along with state maps. These books have all kinds of puzzles–word searches, crosswords, hidden pictures, math puzzles, etc. And in solving each puzzle, the child learns some interesting facts about whatever state the book is about, and completes part of the final puzzles in the book. Is this a necessary supplement? Of course not! It’s mostly for fun. But, I think the wide variety of puzzles are good for Turkey and Bunny’s brains, and helping them think in different ways, and they’re also learning weird facts while they’re having fun. I think this is one of the best “extras” I’ve bought for our homeschool, and the price is reasonable, especially given how much use we’re getting out of it. I’m thinking we may try Top Secret Adventures when we’re done with all 50 states!

There are lots of different ways to supplement your regular homeschool materials. It can be as simple as adding some different, extra books for quiet reading time, finding craft projects, going on extra field trips, or getting a subscription to something, whether a magazine or puzzle club. Supplementing doesn’t have to be expensive, either–there are plenty of free ideas available online. But, however you get it, extra enrichment is always a good thing, so look into adding something extra to your school, even if it’s something you only do one day a week!

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Third Grade: Week Sixteen Wrap-Up

Running late with this wrap-up…it’s been a very busy, tiring few days!

This was a very busy week, as I had two doctor’s appointments and a parent/teacher conference to go to during our regularly scheduled school time. Fortunately, we only had one (relatively easy) new concept introduced in math this week, so Turkey and Bunny could work on that, and their other workbooks, (spelling, grammar, and handwriting), while I was otherwise occupied. I know some homeschoolers are really opposed to workbooks, but I like them for several reasons. First of all, while I’m not a fan of busy work, I do like work, and workbooks are a concise, already assembled way of assigning on-topic work. They also provide students a chance to work independently, with only occasional guidance from the teacher. Workbooks and worksheets are also good for demonstrating progress, as well as showing skills that have been learned.

We continued with our state sheets this week, but they’re slowing down a bit, for now at least, as we’re also learning about some famous Americans. This week, we learned about Daniel Boone. Turkey and Bunny really liked his story, especially the part where he named his gun, (however, I was disappointed that he didn’t call her Vera!). It was also interesting to point out that while Daniel Boone was exploring, the American Revolution was really just beginning. It’s easy to assume that any westward expansion must have occurred after America declared her independence, but this simply isn’t true!

Bunny and Ladybug got an extra school lesson when they helped me make chili for our church’s chili cook-off on Friday. This is another one of those things about homeschooling that I love. If they weren’t learning at home, they wouldn’t have even been here when I started making it, much less able to help. Bunny worked on alphabetizing, (there were many spices necessary for my recipe), measuring, and general cooking, while Ladybug worked on counting and grouping and regrouping. They had a great time, and didn’t even notice that I was throwing school work their way, and I got some extra help in the kitchen. Talk about a win-win situation!

Speaking of Ladybug, I may have to come up with another title for this weekly wrap-up. She’s starting to transition from pre-school activities to full-fledged kindergarten work. She’s working on the Explode the Code primers now, (if there ever was a “workbook kid,” it’s Ladybug!), which gives her practice on letter sounds and handwriting. She’s also doing some general kindergarten activities in other workbooks, at her discretion–she found them on the shelf and wanted to do them, and as long as she’s interested, who am I to argue? She’s showing some interest in learning to read, but I haven’t decided if I want to get started with that before Chickadee is born, because there will be a big disruption to our school schedule for at least a month there. She’s also doing counting activities and pattern blocks, and continues to listen in to all of our third grade read-alouds. So, for a four-year-old, she actually doing a lot of work, but it’s all pretty self-motivated.

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Third Grade: Week Fifteen Wrap-up

This week, (today, actually), we celebrated our 100th day of school! The children are very excited, because I made them each a bag with 100 m&ms, which they are allowed to eat at their discretion. Plus, we completed our countdown “doodlebug,” which everyone looks forward to every year, although at this point, it’s more for Ladybug’s benefit than anything else.

It was a fun, busy week. It felt like we had more schoolwork to do than normal, but I don’t think that was actually the case. We’ve just had so many good conversations in regards to what we’ve been learning that school has been taking a bit longer, which is not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination!

One of our favorite things about returning to our regular Adventures in My Father’s World studies has been our daily read-aloud. Actually, all of the read-aloud books have been excellent so far, but I have to admit to having a certain bias toward our current book–Farmer Boy. I really loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child…except for Farmer Boy. I’m not really sure I ever actually read it, or if I just skipped over it every time I read through the series, (which was often!). I guess I assumed that because the main character was a boy, it would be boring to me, and therefore not worth my time.

Then, I finally picked up the book as an adult. And I loved it! It’s fascinating to see the differences between Almanzo’s childhood and Laura’s. Almanzo’s family was obviously better off, financially, and it shows. They ate massive amounts of food, their house was huge, they had tons of livestock. When you contrast that with Laura’s very modest upbringing, it really makes their relationship all the more complex. The children have loved listening to this book, as well…like me, they really like the descriptions of the food. They’ve also been astounded at how often Almanzo eats donuts, (and apple pie!), for breakfast.

Reading aloud is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling. Yes, I’m sure I’d still be reading to them even if they were in public school, but I’ve been introduced to many new, wonderful books I otherwise never would have known about. There’s something very fun about sharing a book that even I’ve never read before, (like The Hundred Dresses),  with the children. And it’s even more fun to share my old favorites with them, and see their reactions to the story!