Our Very Own Little Woman

One of the highlights of Aubree's school year is Night of the Notables, where all the students in her program choose a notable person from history and spend 6+ weeks researching, and ultimately "becoming" that person.  Last year Aubree chose Cleopatra. This year she chose Louisa May Alcott, best known as the author of Little Women.  After all those weeks of study and preparation, Aubree is quite the Louisa May Alcott expert!

On the night of the presentations, each student dresses up and pretends to be their notable.  Finding a victorian-era costume is not an easy task; thank heavens for Goodwill and lots of safety pins!

Hedy Lamarr and Louisa Alcott

Oh, and YouTube hair styling tutorials, too!

 It's so impressive to talk to all the kids and learn about the people they've chosen to research.  The night culminates with each student presenting a bioriddle poem giving clues about who they are.  Last year Aubree was very nervous, but this year she was only excited.  

Even the boys were fascinated enough with the (very short) presentations that they were perfectly still and well behaved.  Except when Graham didn't want me to take his picture...

 Though he was more than willing to be in a picture if Aubree were there too.  

 And just like last year, Aubree's already trying to decide who she'll choose next year.  She thinks she wants to do someone whose last name begins with an "A."  Any suggestions?

Well done, Louisa Aubree! 

Everything's FAIR

Mark's parents left their home in Pennsylvania in mid-August.  After traveling for 5 weeks (down the east coast, across the southern states, and up through Utah) visiting their other children, they made it to our home just in time to join us for a day at the Puyallup Fair.  We let Aubree play hooky from school, and left in time to get to the Fair just after opening.  

We always have a great time at the Fair.  I assumed everyone else does as well, but just prior to our excursion, I spoke with a few different families who stated they didn't like attending.  The common denominator?  Those families spent most of their time at the carnival. 

Our kids had never even walked through the carnival section, but this time I'd gotten a package deal that included (essentially free) 6 carnival rides.  I began to question whether that was a good choice or not.  

However, with only 6 rides, that meant everyone got to choose just one ride.  After circling the options, Bryce insisted he ride the train.  I thought he might be disappointed when it was over, but he was just as giddy at the end as at the beginning.  This boy loves trains!

Thane, our adventurous child, decided he wanted to ride on the roller coaster.  With our limited tickets, that meant he had to ride alone.  As we watched his face during the ride, we thought, "uh oh!  I don't think he's liking this," but he hopped off exclaiming, "I loved it!"

While Aubree was still making up her mind, a kind stranger offered us 6 MORE free rides.  The adults forfeited their rides, leaving each kid the chance for 3 rides a piece.  While that was super fun for the kids, I began to see why the other parents disliked the Fair.  Staying in the carnival section, trying to decide which rides to choose, got old quickly.  

Having Grandma and Grandpa with us meant that the kids got doubly spoiled.  Grandma asked if it would be okay if she got the kids pony rides.  Parents were allowed to walk around the circle with the littlest kids, but when they put Graham on the pony, he was so calm and content that we decided to let him try it on his own.  He may look serious in the picture below, but he really enjoyed riding!  The other three enjoyed it as well. 

Once we escaped from the carnival, we were free to explore our favorite parts of the Fair.  We caught a comedy juggling act, checked out the FFA and 4H animals, and practiced our pioneering skills.  

No visit to the Fair would be complete without our traditional stop at the creamery for ice-cream cones.  

We happened to choose a beautiful, warm September day for our trip, so the ice creams were especially  refreshing.  

We stayed all day, and still didn't manage to see all we wanted.  We quickly toured an exhibit hall, watched a session of mutton bustin' (Thane toyed with the idea of participating), shared a funnel cake with grandpa, and the kids all got their faces painted (for free - the best kind!).  

Graham was extremely pleased with the train on his arm.  

Ever since last year's Fair, Bryce has been planning to buy himself a bubble gun.  He could talk of little else all day long, and was ecstatic when he finally got to buy the long desired toy.

Of course, with the excitement of the day, Graham didn't nap at all, but he still managed to conduct himself happily.  Suffice it to say, however, he wasn't the only one to fall into bed thoroughly exhausted when we finally made it home after a wonderful day.  

Thane's Preschool

Last March, one of the moms who was doing Thane's 3-year old preschool with us asked, "So, can we do preschool next year too?"  

The other preschool moms chimed in, "Yeah?  Can we?!"

Honestly, I was a little surprised.  We're usually on our own for 4-year old preschool, because it seems like almost everyone puts their kids in "real" preschool at that point.  Once I got over my surprise that all the kids would be coming back, I became super excited.  You know there's nothing I like better than planning, right?!

I talked to the other moms, researched, and thought a lot about how a 4-year old co-op might look.  We decided to meet two days a week, but I was hesitant to commit to having both those days being structured, academically focused settings; In my opinion, it's more important that 4-year olds have time to play, explore new ideas, and learn skills.  

I think we came up with a great compromise.  Tuesdays are our "academic" classes.  Each mom teaches 3 consecutive weeks in the fall, and 2-3 consecutive weeks in the spring (34 total weeks, divided by 6 moms).  Instead of doing letters of the week (as we did last year), this time around we're doing themes.  Each mom chose two themes to teach, one for the fall and one for the spring.  Each theme also has a semi-corresponding nursery rhyme (not that we spend a significant amount of time on those, though).  

Theme	Nursery Rhyme
All About Me	Jack & Jill
Bodies	Where is Thumbkin?
Aesop’s Fables	Jack Be Nimble
Farm/Harvest	Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater
Arctic/Antarctic	Pease Porridge Hot
Ocean	3 Men in a Tub
Food	Humpty Dumpty
Music	Old King Cole
Community Helpers	Wee Willie Winkie
Insects/Gardening	Mary, Mary Quite Contrary
Birds	Sing a Song of Sixpence
Space	Grand Old Duke of York

What's great about this model is that it allows teachers to carry concepts and projects across multiple weeks.  For example, I taught the first three weeks with the theme of "All About Me."  I did plan mini themes for different week ("I am unique," "Names," and "Feelings/Emotions"), but we were able to work every week on All About Me books, self portraits, and dramatic play.  

Bryce (left) and Thane (right)

dramatic play

The kids are also really loving it, because each week they build on their previous learning and have time to ask and answer tons of questions.  And what 4-year old doesn't have a million questions!?

Of course he painted in black!

Our preschool girls

Our preschool boys

In the interest of over sharing, here's a rough outline of our Tuesday classes (we try to keep opening circle fairly consistent, but the order/inclusion of the other elements are up the the individual teacher):

Opening Circle: 

     - Opening prayer

    - Welcome song or songs ("Here we are together," "Thane's wearing a red shirt...," "Run Around the Circle," etc.)

     - Pledge of Allegiance

     - Calendar ("Days of the Week" song and "Months of the Year" song)

     - Weather chart & graph

     - Shape Monster

     - Nursery Rhyme practice/activity

     - Theme introduction

Crafts

Games

Gross Motor Activities

Snack

Story Time

Dramatic Play ("plan and play," because the kids "plan" ahead of time what they'll do while playing by drawing a picture of their plan and dictating a sentence to the teacher or assistant).

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On our second preschool day (Thursdays), we scheduled all our parties (7 over the course of the year), field trips (8 over the course of the year), and our "Activity" classes.  Activity classes are just that - fun things for our kids to do together.  Again, each mom chose a topic/skill of special interest, and is in charge of teaching just 3 activity classes over the whole year (7 kids/moms on Thursdays).  Here are the chosen activities: soccer, theater, games, science, art, crafts, and cooking.  

We started off the year with soccer.  I love it!  Thane gets a chance to play and learn, and I don't have to pay to sign him up for an official team.  It's just the right amount for his young self.  

Would you believe that Thane's surprisingly athletic?  

Perhaps his determined, competitive self will find an outlet in sports.

A few more details... Thursday activity classes also start with opening circle that looks very similar to the Tuesday academic classes.  We also bought boomwhackers for our preschool to be used if/when there is extra time on Thursdays.  

Each mom is in charge of hosting/planning one party (Back to School, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and End of the School Year).  Each mom is also in charge of planning one field trip.  

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Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention what we're doing on our own for preschool.  The simplest thing is probably my favorite... I put 26 sheets of blank paper in a folder and, in highlighter, wrote a letter on each page.  We spend a day or two on each letter.  We talk about what sound the letter makes, then Thane draws pictures of those things.  Sometimes I do talk him through how certain things might look (for example, on his goat, we talked about first drawing a head, then ears, etc.).  I love this because it works on his fine motor skills TONS, as well as reinforces letter sounds.  

I also picked up a generic preschool workbook (I think at Goodwill, even!) and he does a few pages in that every day.  Hmmm... I just checked and he's on page 197, so I suppose he does more than a few pages, eh?  Honestly, Thane is such a joy to do school with right now.  He's always eager to do his work and never fusses or complains.  

Finally, we just started back up with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  We got to lesson 20 over the summer, but he wasn't quite ready to move past that, and since we're in no hurry, I wasn't going to push it!  Now I think he's more than ready to start again.  In the last couple days he's been independently reading and building simple three letter words.  I was shocked!

When Thane finishes his school work, he gets 30 minutes of screen time playing on Reading Eggs.  Bryce also gets 30 minutes of computer time playing Reading Eggspress when he finishes his school work.  

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I think that's everything, but I'm including this video just because Thane is hi-larious! Sorry the beginning is lame, Blogger won't let me post the shortened version for some frustrating reason.

Back to School

Yes, we've been back in school for over a month now.  Yes, I realize that only a handful of people care about the curriculum choices I make (and by handful, I mean maybe 2).  However, I've found when I get ready to plan for upcoming school years, I often go back to old blog posts to see what I've done before.  So I'll go ahead and post our school year plans, late and uninteresting though they may be.  

Aubree is in 4th grade now.  Which is completely nuts, I know!  Very little changed for her this year.  She will still be attending her accelerated public school program.  Since it's a 3rd/4th combo class, she still has the same teacher and most of the same friends she did last year.  She's also thoroughly familiar with the classroom routines and expectations, which has made for a super smooth transition.  

Graham is not happy she's gone all day

Bryce is a big first grader.  While my main goals for Kindergarten involve having lots of fun and time to play, gaining a love of literacy, and learning to read, first grade takes a decidedly more structured, academic turn.  Here's what Bryce will be doing this year, in summary:

Math: The last few chapters of Math U See, Alpha, and all of Math U See, Beta.  

Reading: All About Reading level 2, and a long list of read-alouds

Spelling: All About Spelling, level 2

History: Story of the World, Ancient

Grammar: First Language Lessons 

Science: R.E.A.L Science Odyssey, Level 1: Life

Writing: Starfall Writing Journal, Level II and Handwriting Without Tears grade 1 workbook 

Music: A friend of mine is also homeschooling her children (the same ages as my 3 youngest) and she invited us to join her for a weekly music class.  She's a trained music teacher, which makes it extra great.  

Scripture Study: We will be reading through the Book of Mormon Stories book.  For each chapter we read, I will read the corresponding verses from the actual Book of Mormon aloud, while Bryce illustrates a scene from the chapter in his scripture journal.  Then he will narrate a summary of what I read and I will write it under his picture.  Finally, he will copy one of the written sentences.  As his writing ability improves, he may take over some of the narration writing responsibilities.  

He will also be taking a few classes once a week at the local homeschool school, including Theater, PE, and Story of the World.  

I was really excited about the Story of the World class (a 3 hour block), because I just adore that curriculum.  I was hopeful doing it in a classroom setting would allow for more adventurous exploration of the many possible hands-on suggested activities.  So far, though, I have been thoroughly unimpressed.  In fact, I've started doing the curriculum on our own at home.  Which, of course, leaves me wondering why leave him in the class at all?  I'm seriously considering pulling him out.  I'll make a final decision in the next couple weeks.  

Bryce modeling his replica of the white crown/red crown of ancient Egypt

I must take a moment and talk about All About Reading and All About Spelling.  I love them.  I mean, I LOVE them!  At the end of Kindergarten, Bryce had his reading assessed and he came out right on par (1.3 grade level).  He could sound out most words and read easy books.  

At the recommendation of a good friend, I'd decided to try All About Reading and All About Spelling with him for first grade.  However, in order to start him on level 2 of both programs, that meant we needed to complete both level 1's over the summer.  I added them to his Summer Chore Challenge list and we busted through them (often doing 2 reading lessons and 1 spelling lesson a day).  

Holy Smokes, friends! I was blown away by the quality of the program.  What's more, I was floored with the dramatic improvement in Bryce's reading ability.  By the end of the summer, he could read anything.  Reading picture books to his little brothers?  Every day!  Chapter books?  No problem!  This boy can READ!

Let's talk for a minute about spelling.  When Aubree was in first grade, I followed the public school's model of spelling; I gave her a spelling list at the beginning of the week, had her practice whichever ones she missed, and gave a "final" test at the end of the week.  As a result of her voracious reading, she rarely misspelled any words and I dubbed her a "natural speller."  

Fast forward a few years.  Aubree is now in 4th grade, and the writing demands have increased dramatically.  When I see her writing, I'm often appalled at how many words she gets wrong.  Why?  Simply because she hasn't memorized how to spell them all and even when she has, she has to remember each word individually, which is challenging when you're trying to write quickly.

Using All About Spelling with Bryce has really opened my eyes to how important it is to really break words down and learn the rules.  I recognize that may sounds boring, but it's really quite fascinating and wonderful.  I've learned so much myself, and I consider myself a reasonably good speller.  Bryce may not be quite as good a speller right now as Aubree was in first grade, but I can guarantee that by 4th grade he will be much better than Aubree is currently, because he will have a solid foundation.  I feel bad for not teaching Aubree the same way!

I'm also really loving our new science curriculum.  Each week has at least 2 labs/experiments.  Usually one is pretty simple and the second is more involved, so we've set up a mini-co-op; I take turns teaching the complicated lab with my good friend, Ashley.  Bryce is always more than happy to spend a little extra time with Charlotte.

In case it's not abundantly clear from my curriculum choices, I gravitate strongly towards a classical education model.  

I was going to talk about Thane's preschool, but this post is already long enough and I need to get to bed.  I'll write a separate entry about the great things he's got going on.  

The Post In Which...

This is the post in which I try to convince all my non-local friends and family to move to the Seattle area (or at least have a summer home here)!

I make no secret of the fact that I love it here.  Sure, we have a few dreary winter months, and more cloudy, gray days than I prefer, but our summers?  Oh! The summers!  

Sometimes, on perfect summer days, I think to myself, "how many bleak days is this one perfect day worth?"  So far, the perfect days are firmly in the lead.  

In addition to lovely summers, the scenery here is gorgeous.  I know some prefer the rugged beauty of the desert, but I'll take trees and green every single time.  I've blogged before about hiking at Mt. Rainier, but this is my view driving down the street in our small city (never ceases to amaze me):

This summer we did our best to take advantage of the beauty around us.  We hiked...

...sometimes even in the pouring rain.  

We went to beaches and parks and discovered a fabulous spot on the river just a couple miles from our home.  After finding this particular area, I returned at least once a week for the remainder of the summer.

It provides the perfect combination of shallow, slow-moving water, dirt, rocks, and mud.  Also known as "little kid heaven."

Did I mention the water is cold.  Brrrr!  Graham thought Finley was completely hilarious.  

Should you choose to move here, hopefully you will be blessed to find friends who are generous enough to invite you to spend a couple days with them at their parent's vacation home on a nearby island.  If you are, you'll see much more of the natural beauty this area has to offer.  Parks and lakes abound (and are especially helpful for passing the time if by chance you read the ferry schedule incorrectly and cause your friends to miss the ferry by 2 minutes, forcing them to wait another 2 hours - oops!).

We had an amazing two days playing on the island.  Once our friends joined us, we spent the afternoon at the "swimming hole."  Two moms, eight kids, and lots of fun.

Aubree and Bethelle swam out to the further docks and enjoyed being little fish.  

The younger kids enjoyed the shallows, the water slide, and the sand.  

At one point, Bryce came over to me, slightly upset and claiming that a bee had stung him on the bottom of his foot.  Bryce tends to be a little on the theatrical side when he gets hurt, yet this time he was remarkably calm.  So calm, that at first I didn't believe him!  

He recovered quickly, and soon was trying to swim in the deeper water.  

While swimming and playing in the sand is always fun, the same cannot be said for the cleanup process.  It seemed like we would get one kid cleaned off and start on the second, only to have kid one head back into the dirt forcing us to start all over!  Finally, we required all cleaned children to stay sitting on a blanket and gave them snacks to encourage compliance.  

It was a special treat to spend the night at the cabin with our friends.  These eight kids get along fantastically well.  Certainly there are moments of quarreling, but for the most part they are always deep in complicated imaginative scenarios and enjoying every moment they're together.  

The next morning we were up and out the door determined to pick blackberries.  We'd seen a great berry picking spot behind an old one-room schoolhouse that is now used as a fitness center.  Besides lots of berry bushes, this location also boasted a playground, which made it a double winner.  

Elke and I spent an hour and a half picking berries while the kids played nearby.  Occasionally, one or another of them would wander over to "help," but once their bellies were satisfied, they'd head back over to play.  

Towards the end of our berry picking adventure, a lady came out from the fitness center.  "Excuse me," she called to Elke and me, "are these your children?"

"Uh oh," I thought, "are we not supposed to have them here?  Were they being too loud?..."

"I just had to tell you," she continued, "that we are so impressed with your kids!  We've been having an exercise class for the last hour and we were watching them. We can't believe how well they play together and watch out for one another.  You're doing a good job, Momma's!"

I do believe I can live off of that compliment for a month!

After we finished berry picking, we set off on a short hike.  On this hike, we discovered huckleberry bushes.  The kids were hooked.  At the end of the hike we went back to the cabin for lunch and while the two little boys napped, the big kids hunted around the property for their own huckleberry stashes.

What a great crew!

When Graham and his buddy woke up, they went out to the sun room to watch the big kids in the backyard.  When they got bored of that, they made their own fun.  It's a true friend who will lick a window with you.

We had just enough time before we had to catch the ferry to head home to visit one last park and go swimming in another lake.  Glorious, right?

As you can see, summers here are practically perfect in every way.  The only thing that could make them even better is if YOU were here.  Yes, You.  So, start saving for that summer home now!