Jacob's Blog Entry

Jacob's Writing/Grammar assignment for today.

Dislike : I don't like school because it is boring when I have to wait for Mommy. I don't like science because my microscope doesn't even work!

I also dislike writing. It takes up too much time.

Like : I do like a few things about school. I like reading and math. I really like lunch! I like about everything not mentioned in the Dislike section. I like computer time also. I can play something educational on the computer, but the best thing of all is definitely FINISHING!!!

Microscopes and Barbarians

Today started with science for Jacob. Let's just say my microscope-using-skills could use a little brushing up. It took a few different tries, but we were finally able to see a few skin cells. Unlike high school, I did manage to not break any slides or slide covers! With a little more practice, I think I'll be confident enough to be able to assist him. And yes, that's Liberty peeking over the table at me. Such a cutie!

And here she is again munching on some cheerios.

 

Last year after Halloween, I bought costumes for this year on clearance. Well it just so happens that the ones I found for the boys were a knight and barbarian. Perfect for our study on the fall of Rome at the hands of the barbarians! The boys dressed up today and did a little role-play fight while Leanna looked on.

Sir Joshua the Brave

Jacob the Barbarian

Sword fighting

Jacob is triumphant!

And So It Begins....

It's been a long time since I've blogged about our school adventures! The last two years have been crazy with different life issues so blogging took a back burner. We still schooled, but very non-traditionally with a lot of unschooling. This year will be different.

Yes, this year we'll be buckling down and keeping a tighter schedule. Yesterday was our first day and things went extremely well. We now have a 5th grader, 3rd grader, 1st grader and a very mobile 16 month old tottering around. We're starting our school day at 9am with a short Bible devotion. The next 5.5 hours are scheduled out in thirty minute increments for each subject, including lunch and a 15 minute snack break. After today though I'm thinking about trimming the times down. The kids work very fast and we've been able to cover the needed material with time left over. My goal has always been to finish by lunch time so maybe we'll get to that.


We're using a few new things for curriculum this year. Tim picked out LIFEPAC for science for both Jacob and Joshua. It's a little bit more "textbook" than I like, but it can be self-guided which is a big help since Jacob can mostly work on his own.


For grammar, I found Mastering the Mechanics for all three levels. I ordered them online so we're still waiting to get them in. I'm very excited about starting and keeping the same format with each child. 


Today we started reading The Story of the World: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance. History is one of my favorites because of the classical approach we're using. If I could have learned this way, I think I would have enjoyed it so much more! I'm looking forward to finding some supplemental activities to bring history alive. 


Math and spelling are staying the same, progressing at our own speed. At Tim's request, we'll also be doing US Geography. And then there's the usual extra activities. The kids are excited that they each have 30 minutes of "educational" computer time on the schedule. We also got MOSI passes again this year with the IMAX so we can go see movies any time we want. 


All in all, we're all pretty excited about starting the new year. It's going to be a great one!

Working hard on handwriting

Individual reading time. Not sure how MY bed was chosen as the spot.

An Egyptian Experiment

The shaduf consists of an upright frame on which is suspended a long pole or branch, at a distance of about one-fifth of its length from one end. At the long end of this pole hangs a bucket, skin bag, or bitumen-coated reed basket, while the short end carries a weight (clay, stone, or similar) which serves as the counterpoise of a lever. When correctly balanced, the counterweight will support a half-filled bucket, so some effort is used to pull an empty bucket down to the water, but only the same effort is needed to lift a full bucket.

With an almost effortless swinging and lifting motion, the waterproof vessel is used to scoop up and carry water from one body of water (typically, a river or pond) to another. At the end of each movement, the water is emptied out into runnels that convey the water along irrigation ditches in the required direction.

We decided to build our shaduf out of k'nex using the design for making a lever. It worked really well except for swiveling from left to right. But it gave the kids a good idea of how the Egyptians got water from the Nile River to irrigate their crops. Jacob wasn't interested in helping at first, but once we get the water out, he joined in.

Tying the "bucket" onto the shaduf

Seeing how it works. You can see Jacob is getting interested.

Scooping up the water

Scooping more water. Jacob decided it was pretty cool after all.

March Update

Time for an update on our schooling adventures! We've been pretty busy these past few weeks, making up for the time we lost last fall. The plan now is to finish a few subjects before Baby #4 makes her appearance and continue a few subjects into the summer.

Joshua is doing very well with reading. I keep reminding myself, it doesn't matter how many workbook pages he gets done, the goal of phonics is for him to read. His phonics curriculum is one thing we'll be continuing through the summer in order to finish. He hasn't yet developed a love for reading, probably due to the struggles that he has with it. But we keep trudging along and I know he'll get it.

Jacob is tackling the parts of speech in grammar. He can identify nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. He's having fun incorporating some of these new words into his creative writing. I always love to read the things he comes up with.

Leanna can read the phonics alphabet chart without any help now - which means she knows all the letter sounds and clue words. We've worked a tiny bit on blending letters, but she doesn't seem completely ready.

Math is going very well for both boys. We'll definitely finish up by June. Joshua is telling time to the minute and Jacob is having fun drawing shapes on coordinate planes. Leanna is practicing counting and adding.

Science and history continue to be the favorite subjects. We are into animals now in science and are learning the characteristics of each classification. The kids are adding things to their Creation notebooks all the time. This week we learned about fish and next week we're onto birds. We'll finish up with a trip to the zoo to see all the different animals we learned about!

We're almost done with Tirzah for history. The kids are enjoying the story and so am I. Our next project is to make an shaduf (pronounced shay-doof), which the Egyptians used to get water from the Nile River to their crops. I also have a few other things planned, I just need to find the energy!

Jacob is also studying Florida history and putting together a State scrapbook. I'm hoping to end the study with a trip to the http://www.tampabayhistorycenter.org/index.html which has several exhibits on Florida history as well as history of our specific area.

All in all, we've had a great time the last few weeks. We've gotten a lot accomplished and the kids are really enjoying learning. There have been a few rough days, but many more days that remind me why I love homeschooling.

Fish Collages for their Creation notebook

My Budding Artists

For science this week, each of the kids drew the life cycle of a frog for their Creation notebooks. They had a sample to look at and I think all of them did a fantastic job!

Jacob

Joshua

Leanna

Wordless Wednesday

Jacob's favorite Olympic Sport (if you click the picture, it will enlarge so you can read it)