Digging Deep ... Starting Fresh, pt 1

My Heart of Dakota second grade box arrived while we were visiting family a little over a week ago. I was desperately excited to tear open that box when I walked in the door that first night home. At first glance I was over-the-moon about my choice. Through the course of last week, while I again battled a terrible cold/flu (thank you airplane, aka petri dish of disease), I carefully read through the TG and thumbed through the books. Hmm. While I can see the method and I appreciate the open-and-go format, and I even want to be the hs'ing mom who  thrives on that ease, I have realized, I am not.

I think that is why this year, first grade, has been SO good academically and spiritually, but not good for keeping my mind and heart settled. There are always materials I want to try, books I want Sugar to experience, rabbit trails I'd love to follow, but I feel too confined within our daily curriculum, as good as it is. There is such a vast amount of amazing, rich, beautiful curricula to choose from that boxing myself into one program may not be best avenue for me ... must be the innate teacher in me.

I began designing my own curriculum ... pulling together materials that I believe to be fantastic and true to the needs of my children, and that still adhere to the expectations of my state. After a few sleepless nights, I am quite happy with the result.

Sparkler and St Jude would, of course, learn with MFW K, and Bugsy will tag along with Before Five in a Row and lots of hands-on and outdoor playtime.

I have not convinced myself to step out in faith and actually put into practice my own curriculum, but this is a good start for my heart.

Because of Him.

MFW Kindergarten Organization

I am such a fool for organization, especially when it comes to school. Here is a glimpse into how I've organized our MFW Kindergarten materials for next year (for Sparkler and St Jude).

Book Basket

 

Each week has its own pocket and space for lesson materials.

Teacher's Guide

Phonics Materials in a gusseted pocket

Literature Pack Activity Book

Numbers

I wish I could say that I was clever enough to inspire this on my own, but a fellow homeschool mom at My Blue Daisy started the trend. Thank you!

Now, is it August yet ... oh, wait, we need sweet St Jude home first ... sigh.

Because of Him.

MFW Box Day!!!

Hooray! I ordered the MFW K Literature Pack, which was such a luxurious treat. We already own MFW K so my husband felt it reasonable to order the Lit Pack this year to add to an already amazing Kindergarten curriculum.

I truly cannot say enough about MFW K ... I do not think that anything quite compares to its breadth, gentleness, joyfulness, and simplicity. It is a beautiful program and this Lit Pack will bless me with more time, more good and relevant books at my fingertips, and a bigger home library.

Because of Him.

Fearless Friday

We made it. It is 2:20pm and we are completely caught up with our lessons (we will begin Day 98 after our holiday) after weeks and weeks of sickness and this and that. We went into today fearless that we would accomplish the last of our school work--cheerfully and intentionally--so that our weekend can be a flurry of house cleaning and packing in preparation for our first trip home in two long years.

We always begin each day with a little prayer thanking Jesus for the gift of home schooling, for daddy's job that blesses us, for our minds to be like sponges, for our hearts to be soft, and for our sweet St Jude preparing to have supper while we prepare our morning lessons. 

Sugar is highly organized and structured in all of her ways. As such, our day runs best when she organizes it for us. I detail what tasks lie ahead for the day and she decides in what order we work. Sparkler is happy with whatever comes her way, as long as she gets to "do school" to her heart's content (which is really ten-minute bursts and then she's off to playing with Bugsy).

Sugar always, always chooses math first. I thought today was going to be a rocky one ... she just seemed a little off ... but she found her way and the twaddling was to a minimum (even with our carpenter working in the kitchen and our dear friend stopping over for a visit). We are continuing with Singapore 1A, which is a review in the functions of addition and subtraction from Miquon, but not in their presentation or execution.

In phonics we learned how 'ch' sometimes sounds like /k/ as in school. 

I have to reiterate that I have been very pleased with MFW phonics, but I will be teaching phonics beginning on Day 125 this year and through second grade, with Rod & Staff. We will only continue with the Bible Nurture Readers and phonics workbooks, not the reading workbooks or penmanship practice. As we are nearing the end of MFW1 phonics, I am rethinking how I will teach reading to my other children. We will absolutely use MFWK for early phonics, but after that, I am going to look at The Reading Lesson aside from R&S. 

Sparkler's second most favorite part of the day is her Ready Writer book. This book has been an incredible gift to me as I learn how to teach Sparkler how to write as a dsygraphic (mirror image) child. I love this simple, effective book. So does she.

In Bible today, Sugar learned about The Twelve Spies who spent 40 days in Canaan peeking around for Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites to learn more about the new land. We had fig newtons for a snack since Joshua and Caleb discovered grapes, pomegranates, and figs, along with plentiful milk and honey (not coincidentally, we had milk and bread with honey at breakfast). We also read about Moses' death, Israel's new leader, Joshua, and Jericho.

In honesty, I have begun pre-reading the Bible selection from the TG and then I find it in The Child's Story Bible by Vos and we read that version aloud. Vos's writing is true to the Word yet written to engage children (and adults) ... the language flows and the illustrations are kept to a thoughtful minimum, which encourages imagination. We read the stories that are not part of the MFW lessons at dinnertime.

Sparkler learned about John 17:17 ... the importance and specialness of the Bible. She colors a picture of the Bible story as I read it. Sugar listens in. Bugsy naps (on our best days).


Just for a little peek into our school life ... where Sparkler is, Gus is sure to be as well.

Because of Him.

Dear Ol' Pagoo

This is Charlie (or Charlotte ... depending). Sugar loves this crab. I wish I understood why, but, it's not my crusty, beady-eyed pet. It was my bright idea to get two hermit crabs; however, when we began our nature study on Pagoo by Holling C Holling. Who knew these buggers would require so much $ for the crabitat and so much energy to keep them happy and alive!!!

Despite my motherly woes, Charlie (and Sam/Samantha ... Sparkler's crab) have provided endless hours of curious enjoyment. They really have enriched our study of Pagoo and the "salty sea-soup" he calls home.

We've been reading and narrating each chapter of Pagoo, which is quite elaborate and layered in it's writing. It takes me up to an hour to read three pages and then discuss. This is an excellent choice for narration since it is so full of description and vocabulary that we can talk for quite some time. I've decided to go back and revisit each chapter and illustrate the story in a beautiful notebook I found at A Toy Garden. 

Today we used Beeswax block crayons, soy crayon rocks, and good ol' Crayola colored pencils. The paper in these notebooks is just right for illustrating with all sorts of media. Gorgeous. (And, the pages are divided by a sweet vellum ... even more gorgeous.)

I also thought it might be fun to incorporate our drawing lessons into our Pagoo nature notebook. We are studying with Draw Write Now Book 6 on Animal Habitats in Ponds, Rivers, and Seas. Daddy taught two lessons today ... one on sponges and the other on starfish.

I am so pleased with how our nature study is coming full circle. We began last summer with exploring tide pools, we've read many library books about the ebb and flow of the tides, we did a FIAR study on Night of the Moonjellies, we adopted Charlie and Sam and tend their crabitat, we love learning alongside Pagoo, and now the girls' knowledge is making it's way from their minds to paper in beautiful form.

Because of Him.

I love little boys

Bugsy: "Mama, pocket."

Mama: "What's in your pocket, Bugs?"

Bugsy: "Mama, pocket."

Mama: "Should I empty your pocket baby?"

Bugsy: "mmm hmm."

I love little boys. At least it's not a frog. Yet.

A wee bit of catch-up

With the five of us being sick then well then sick then well ... school at times falls behind. I try to keep up on the 3Rs, but when either I am too sick or Bugsy is too sick, well, or Sugar is too sick, then we shelve it all until we recoup.

So far this week we've been extraordinarily productive, and I'm sure it has something to do with our upcoming trip West next week. I want to get on that plane completely caught up with school, with taxes done, and with a new storytime read aloud in hand. Nothing but stories, games, and field trips on our visit. I digress ...

I am so proud of Sugar's memory work ... she has learned all of the books of the Old Testament and we are now on Luke of the Gospels. She is really stretching herself as she recites them daily and I love to see those wheels turning.

Our first Bible story this week was about the Manna that God provided to the people of Israel who were in the desert with Moses. Sugar adores tissue paper. Seriously loves it. The itty bitty light colored pieces of tissue is the manna coming from the heavens (blue) to the desert sand (gold).

This is part of our dictation study ... first I read the Bible story from the TG, then Sugar reads a simplified version from her Bible reader, then she (with my help) summarizes the story into one or two sentences. At this point I dictate her summary and she writes it in her best hand paying attention to her spelling and punctuation.

For her Bible notebook I prefer to discuss her errors, but I have her leave her writing as is so that she and I can see her progress through the year. Here she misspelled "ground" but properly used an apostrophe and spelled "gathered" correctly. I hope that I am encouraging her to be attentive to her grammar while not allowing her to become so focused on it right now that she loses sight of the story and her creative illustrations (or she drums up sentence summaries that are too simple for the sake of being easy).


In phonics we began working on the past tense and adding "(e)d" to the end of words. We discussed how sometimes "ed" sounds like /ed/, sometimes like /t/, and sometimes like /d/. We also focused a good chunk of the morning to working on the pesky changer "e" and why/when he can change the vowel sounds and when he can't ... like in hop to hopped. MFW had a truly clever lesson on this.

Time for recess ... hey, when it doesn't break 30 degrees in March, we have to be creative. Spinning in capes is always a sure hit.

We had an amazing time today experimenting with watercolor pencils. They are such fun, but at the same time they offer tremendous room for growth and learning. Sugar was giddy to try them in her Bible notebook while Sparkler made a little picture of St Jude's orphanage and also tinkered with color blending on a little grid. 

Tomorrow Daddy is home and we are devoting the day to SCIENCE. We have four water activities to explore and ponder. Sam and Charlie need their crabitat cleaned, too (definitely a daddy job), and so a little reading and narrating of Pagoo is in order, as well. 

Because of Him.