Making Memories: Homemade Whoknew?

Cranium has a great game (one of their manys) called Whoonu. But, truth to be told, we prefer our homebrewed version of the game. Here's how it works.

Materials needed:

• creativity
• index cards
• pencils
• scrap paper for score keeping

First, you need to cut a bunch of 3x5 index cards into halves or fourths or something. Basically you need several small cards for each person to write on. (Say 8-15 cards per person depending on how many players you have and how many rounds you want to play).

Second, you distribute an equal number of cards to each person. Each person also needs a pencil.

Third, each person writes one specific thing that people might like on each card. (If your index cards are lined on one side, write on the lined side). The more specific the better, so as to avoid duplicates. So, "Graeter's double chocolate chip ice cream" is a better bet than "ice cream". These can be nouns, activities, whatever. Players need to complete this step without discussing or comparing what they write on their cards. Print neatly so that others can read your card easily.

Fourth, all the cards are placed face down on the table and shuffled. (Given the nature of the card quality, just put them in a pile and mix them up a bit. Think back to your "Go Fish" days when your five year old hands were too clumsy to shuffle cards correctly.) After they are shuffled, the cards can be neatly stacked.

Fifth, each player is dealt four cards. It's perfectly all right to get some of the cards you wrote. That won't matter during game play.

Now....actual game play progresses as follows.

One player is chosen to go first. You can go with the youngest or the oldest or the player whose birthday is next or roll a dice or whatever. That player is the first "judge".

All other players pick ONE card from their hands that they think the judge will really like. They lay their cards face down in front of the judge. The judge mixes up the cards and then turns them face up and reads them all aloud.

The judge then puts them in order from the card they like best to the card they like least. This can be a difficult process and the judge is encouraged to think it through out loud. Other players can contribute suggestions and try to sway the judge's opinions as long as they do not reveal which card they laid down.

Once the judge has ranked the cards, the cards are scored. For a game with 6 players you score 10 points for the favorite, 7 for the second favorite, 5 for the next one, 3 points, and then 1 point for the least favorite. (You can adjust the scale for more or fewer players as needed. Make the favorite worth 12 points or take off the 1 point score or whatever. But each player should be able to get a score each round.)

Once the cards have been scored, the players claim the cards they laid down, and their scores are recorded on the score sheet. REMEMBER, the players get the scores of the cards they played, regardless of who the author of the card was!

All players draw another card to have four cards in their hands. The player to the judge's left becomes the new judge.

Play continues until all the cards are gone or until the majority of the players vote the game over. We've never run into that as a problem. In fact, we sometimes play till all the cards are gone....then go cut up another bunch of index cards.

Sweetling and Toa of Boy played the homebrewed Whoknew? with their cousins the day after Thanksgiving. I found the stack of cards they made and have to share them.

• Being the all powerful super sugary epic insanity merican of taco incorperations EVERYWHERE
• DoctorWho
• Slippery Ducks
• ALPACAA
• Nyan Cat
• The M.r fluffy friend.
• Minecraft PVP
• Pecawn PIEE
• orange
• Jumpropes
• Hobbits
• Hungers Deens
• Girfar Jiggle Stand
• DerpDerp Day
• being a ninja
• Phineas and Ferb
• one direction
• freddy
• Charades
• dry ice & soap
• Gravity Falls
• bubble gum
• Cookie Clicker
• hump day
• Smokey the Bear
• singing
• children
• otters
• Pokemon
• creepers
• Beagles
• PoP music

Cincinnati Dayscapes: Arcade Legacy

Looking for a fun, reasonably priced, indoor activity for the family to enjoy?

Let me recommend Arcade Legacy in Cincinnati Mills mall.

Arcade Legacy is packed full of lots of old and new arcade games, a row of pinball machines, three tables of console games, two 'big screen' projections (one with a console game and one with guitar hero...i think...), plus a ddr machine, a ping pong table, and likely a few other things that I'm forgetting. ALL the games are unlimited play included with the price of admission.

Friday nights are family nights. The whole family (everyone living in the same house) gets in for $20. You can also add in a few friends for $5 each.

How long can you stay? As long as you want. Can you leave and get something to eat and then come back. Absolutely. You get a wristband when you pay that's good for the whole day. (I even saw one family bring in Little Ceasar's pizzas and eat at a big table that looked like it was set up to be a snack/food table....but I would recommend calling them and verifying that outside food is ok before you plan on it.)

We went tonight and met our Florida cousins who were in town for Thanksgiving and friends and cousins of cousins. Toa of Boy got to hang out with his Minecraft posse.

We stayed for three hours and had a great time. Absolutely a win of a place!

Week in Review: Achoo!

Of all the great weeks with the great projects that I didn't take the time to write about, it's the week where a cold kicked our butts that I'm blogging about.

We limped through this week.

On the plus side, Sweetling has a new weekly schedule that seems to be working really well for her.

Last week she got everything done, including the first art lesson from her Artistic Pursuits curriculum, something that hasn't happened yet this school year.

(This week, not so much, but I'm counting the new schedule as a win.)

For Toa of Boy, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Minecraft is the best thing that has happened to Toa of Boy's education. Usually, he flies through his schoolwork so that he can get on Skype with his Minecraft buddies. Again, this week, not as much. This week both Toa and I struggled to function through sinus congestion. We skipped fractions altogether. We spent extra time just reading.

But, since it's been a while since I've blogged, let me take this chance to do a quick update on one change we made to Toa's curriculum that I really like.

A few weeks ago, we started using the book Spelling Power.

It promises spelling in just 15 minutes a day (which was my selling point to get Toa of Boy on board). It doesn't lie.

We start with a quick pre-test of spelling words. We set a timer for 5 minutes. I read the word from the awesomely organized word lists. Toa repeats it (so I can check his pronunciation. If he doesn't pronounce it correctly, he won't have much of a chance of spelling it correctly.) Then he writes it, and we check his spelling. If he can spell it correctly, we move on to the next word. If he can't, we immediately spell it correctly in the 'words to learn' column. We get through a good amount of words in just five minutes. When the timer goes off, we are done with that section.

Generally, Toa only has a couple of words in his "words to learn" column, so we don't do the 10-step study sheet every day. (That's not how the program is designed, but Toa feels rewarded by not having to do the middle section every day.) So, when Toa has accumulated at least five words in his "words to learn" column, we take 5 minutes and do the 10-step study sheet. It's fast; it's simple; and it's effective.

Lastly, I write his 'words to learn' on small cards that accumulate in a little plastic box. (I take 3x5 index cards and cut them in quarters.) He picks an activity card (lots of different hands on activities) and spends five minutes practicing a few of his word cards. Each time he practices a word card, I mark it with a little penciled x. When he has practiced a word card three different times I clip it in a 'completed' stack. When he has about 15 or so 'completed' cards, we retest those words during the first 5 minute spelling block. If he spells them correctly on that second go round, I throw the card in the garbage. (Again, this is a little different than how the program prescribes. The program suggests retesting the words to learn the very next day. I find that delaying a few days really helps to guarantee that Toa has mastered the word.)

Toa likes using a timer. He likes knowing that each section of spelling only takes five minutes. He likes that he is only spending time studying and practicing words that he needs to learn. This is by far the most successful spelling program we have tried. It has been so successful, that Toa of Boy (whose most hated subject for years was spelling) has come to me and requested words to be added to his spelling list because he wants to learn how to spell them. That, my dear friends, is a successful spelling program.

Despite limping through the school work, this week ended on a spectacular note. Every year, the Jedi spends some of his unused vacation days (those that won't roll into the next year). He manages to take every Friday off in December, and many Fridays off in November. This week was the first of those....so from here until 2014....we have three day weekends!

To kick off our holidays, we packed today with fun activities. We went to an 11 o'clock showing of Thor: The Dark World in 3d! That was awesome!

After the movie, we came home for 'specialty' sandwiches. I make a habit of grabbing yummy loaves of flavored bakery bread off the discounted day-old bread rack at the stores. We slice them and load them with ham and turkey and cheese (and veggies for those who want it). Then I slather them with butter and grill them and serve them with a side of fresh fruit. It's like a gourmet deli sandwich.

The Jedi got a little yard work done and I got some co-op emails done. We had time for a nap. Then we had spaghetti for dinner and went to see Despicable Me 2 at Danbarry dollar saver theater.

We capped off the night with dessert at BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. (Delicious pizookies and strawberry beignets.) Back at home, everyone wound down by spending time on their own computer activities. (Toa played Minecraft; Sweetling is probably on some forums chatting about Thor; the Jedi is leveling up a rp character; and I blogged.)

Perfect, perfect start to the holiday season!

Boy Sleepover

Toa of Boy had three good friends spend the night. I love posting quotes and snippets about their time together. I'm that sort of mom.

Dinner was pork chops and baked potatoes, because Toa of Boy wanted a Minecraft dinner. During dinner one of the guests shared a list of bugs he had eaten, including three live flies whom, he said, he was certain he could feel crawling around in his belly. After dinner he gave me his tried and true recipe for roasting crickets. You catch the crickets and put them in the freezer to put them in a coma. Meanwhile, line a baking tray with aluminum foil. Remove crickets from freezer and pull their legs and wings off. Place them on the baking tray and bake....though he wasn't sure the exact times and temperatures but assured me that I could find the directions online. (Because you all know that roasted crickets is just moving right to the top of my menu plan. Not.)

Then, while the Jedi set up a Minecraft lan party in the basement, the boys played bull fighting up and down the hallway. They took turns being the bull and the matador. Casualties befell both man and beast. Minecraft was played until bedtime, with two breaks for grapes and popcorn and later for cake and ice cream.

Breakfast this morning was bacon omelets and cinnamon rolls. My house now smells like bacon and boy sweat.

Currently they are playing "divorce mode" on one of the Wii Mario Bros games. I can't keep track of all the titles. I'm super impressed with the fact that there is virtually no arguing going on while they are playing.

Here are my favorite quotes from the morning and evening--


"No one fall into the creeper pit. Its full of zombies, so now it's a death pit."

"Yeah but, I had to hit you."

"I shot you through the skull, so you are dead."

"Superman is wimpy."

"Let's play a game. The first person to talk looses." Followed quickly by, "I hate that game."

"That was delicious. Too bad it's gone now."

"I'm hungry."

"Can we have chocolate cake for dinner and pork chops for dessert?"

Minecraft Fever

This post could also be titled...

Why our family just spent a four day weekend playing Minecraft for hours on end.

or....

Why my sink is full of dirty dishes.

or....

Why even the ten year old got to stay up past 2 am two nights in a row.

Some background.

We are continually looking for fun family activities, especially games that we can play together. Over the years we've played MarioParty on the Wii and MarioKart on the Wii. We've played Munchkin, and own several versions and expansion packs of the Munchkin game. We've played Fluxx in the original and in variations. We've tried a family Pathfinder game, but that wasn't a favorite of the kids.

Within the past couple of months, Toa of Boy has developed a real interest in Minecraft. So, when he came to me and said, "You know, some families play Minecraft together," I knew we should look into it.

My impression of Minecraft, prior to playing it was that you dug around under a mountain to find certain blocks that you carried to the surface and put together to make other things with. Not really my idea of a good time.

But, we have a rule in our family that it isn't always about you. We have to take turns in choosing activities, movies, vacation destinations, field trips, etc. Even if the activity wasn't the one you wanted, we all try it and we all try to enjoy it...and in this way we support each others interests.

So, the Jedi found a tutorial video for him and I to watch, and we each played through the free demo version.

From that I learned that my initial understanding of Minecraft was way over-simplified.

In Minecraft, you start out in a wilderness setting with no tools and no supplies. You have a certain amount of daylight (10 minutes real time) to gather some basic supplies, find shelter, find coal for a fire, and hole up for the night. Because at night, unless you are playing on 'peaceful' mode, monsters come out. The first few days are all about simply surviving. You have both a health meter and a hunger meter. You need to stay safe, find food, and work towards improving your circumstance. Its a tricky process at first.

The Jedi and I watched the tutorials and played the demo version on Wednesday, July 3rd. Sweetling was away all week on a youth mission trip/service project, so it seemed that this was the perfect time to participate in an activity that Toa wanted us to try.

On the morning of the 4th I woke up and the Jedi was carrying a large case through the bedroom into the "server room". I asked what it was and he said it was going to be a new server for a family Minecraft world. (Just so the reader knows, one does NOT need a separate computer or a dedicated server to play the game. We are just, um, crazy in some ways.)

The Jedi found and loaded up this amazing, immense world.

Mostly to humor me, we agreed to set the world to 'peaceful', until we had a decent shelter built and had a steady food source.

We were far to busy to take 'before' screenshots of the little valley we found to start our camp in. We were so busy, in fact, that we were playing from around ten in the morning till 2:30 a.m.

Friday we woke up, walked the dog, got breakfast, and got busy. We turned off the 'peaceful' setting that day.

I can't tell you how cool this game is. From a homeschooling mom standpoint...the game promotes teamwork and co-operation, strategy and planning, creativity and perseverance. But most importantly, its just out and out great fun.

From nothing, and in the face of adversity, here's what we've built....

The front of our stronghold. Toa of Boy found the materials and figured out how to make a moat of fire. Inside there is a staircase that leads to the top crenelation so that you can stand there and look around. The front door is now an iron door that has a button to push to open it from the outside, and presser plate that you step on inside to automatically open it. Again, Toa of Boy made them.

This is from the rooftop looking down at the monster who is so sad that he can't reach me. Tee hee.

Here are some of the inside shots of our house. Currently, we have three levels, plus a basement, and mining tunnels underneath, AND two different rooftop levels. Most of the interior was designed and built by Toa.

Living area...

Restaurant (behind the counter is a chest with stored food supplies and a crafting table for making recipes)...

Disco floor, because every home needs a disco floor...

Indoor floor garden, which Toa made just for me :)

There are several others, but those are my favorites.

Meanwhile, my major undertaking was a wheat farm. Each square of wheat yields one bundle of wheat. Three bundles of wheat yield one loaf of bread. At first, I just planted the wheat next to a nearby pond and dug some irrigation trenches to keep it well watered. But harvesting and replanting the wheat one square at a time was taking up all my daylight, just to keep us fed. I told the Jedi that this wasn't a game, this was a job! I thought there had to be a better way to do this. So I searched online, and I found some youtube videos on automatic wheat harvesters. One in particular had a nice step by step guide on how to build one.

I got to work, and I built three.

I built the fence around them to keep the cows and pigs from wandering in and trampling the wheat. It also helps to keep monsters out at night. (Also, the base of each harvester is a trench filled with water. The soil that the wheat is planted in is immediately above the water filled trench, so the water underneath keeps the wheat irrigated so that it will grow.)

At the top of each terraced row of wheat is a water reservoir. When it's time to harvest the wheat Toa of Boy goes up and breaks the dirt block which act like a plug for the water. The water flows down and sweeps the ripe wheat and the wheat seeds into a trench at the bottom of the row. I stand there and collect the wheat and seeds. Then its a quick mater to replant.

Pretty sweet, right?

The Jedi devoted a great deal of his time to mining and crafting tools, weapons, and armor for us each. When he had us equipped with the best armor and weapons possible, he turned his attention to exploring the world. (He and Toa of Boy walked to the seacoast, built boats, and sailed down the coast to see what else they could find. When they came back home, they came back stocked with all sorts of rare and valuable minerals and supplies.)

The also built a set of stairs up the mountain behind our stronghold.

The stairs are connected to the top level of our roof and lead to a watchtower which the Jedi built on the top of the mountain.

Check out the view from the mountain stairs.

There are some materials you can only get from killing monsters. String (to make bows) can only be gotten from killing a spider. Carrots and potatoes are dropped by zombies (don't ask me why). Once you get one carrot or one potato, you can plant it and grow seeds to make more. Anyway, at night sometimes Toa and the Jedi go out monster hunting for certain supplies. I watch from the castle roof and yell helpful things like, "Behind you!"

During the daylight hours I'm working on making a giant waterslide down the face of the mountain. When it's finished, I'll post screenshots of that. I know you all can't wait for that.

For those of you who had read my recent Facebook updates and wondered what in the world I was talking about, I hope this answers some of your questions.

Now, if we can just talk Sweetling into joining us in this insanity constructive bonding time.

Unschooling Morning

Our dear neighbors lost a grandson over the weekend. Having just gone through a death in our family this winter, both the Jedi and myself wanted to attend the service this morning.

I left the children home with Mama. They each had a list of schoolwork. I told them that they could do their school work, or work on any creative project of their choosing. They both opted for the creative project.

Sweetling put in a few more hours on her plush TakoLuka. She's creating it from scratch, no pattern or directions. Just the Japanese youtube videos she likes as a guide.

Toa of Boy is creating a coin operated Lego arcade. So far he has two vending machines which accept Lego "money" and then *actually function* to dispense little cylindrical Lego soda cans. He also has a photo booth (non-functional) and a claw machine complete with prizes, a dangling claw, and two joystick controls. He is a little disappointed that he can't make the claw machine operational, but I told him not to worry about it. You can't get prizes out of the real claw machines either.

If I were cooler, I'd be able to take pictures and get hem from my phone or my camera to my computer and then to my blog. Alas, I am only a dork..not a techno geek.

Geek:  You understand, create and fix Really Cool Stuff

Nerd:   You understand and collect Really Cool Stuff

Dork:  You are confused by Really Cool Stuff

On the agenda for the afternoon, making white chicken chili and Texas sheet cake to take to another co-op family. And probably more unschooling.

Quotes from a Boy Play Date

This was some of the equipment brought into my house for a boy playdate:
1 two-foot T-Rex; 1 two-foot dragon, and two huge transformers.

All three of us females are spending the day hiding in our rooms. Within minutes of boys arrival, I hear the cry, "Get the troll!" Woe unto you, O troll. Your doom is at hand.

I'm just jotting down some of the things I've heard through the day. Of course, at good half of the, um, dialogue, involves war cries, sound effects, and battle noises. Those don't translate into the written word well.

"Oh! My weiner!"

"I got hit where no one should ever get hit."

"We were trapped in a pretzel because the boy on top had part of him trapped on the bottom."

"Was that you who licked my feet?"

"We need some protein."

"We had silly putty and it got stuck on our couch for a long time, but then our dog finally got it off."

"Peace, love, and zombies." 

"Remember Burp Friday?"

"I'm protecting you! I'm protecting you!"

"Where's his head?"

"Here's the leader."

"No, the dinosaurs can't attack yet."

"But he has no head." 

"Dude, I know how to make cannons out of Lincoln Logs."

"This could be the town's protector."

"Don't destroy the town 'till your mom gets a picture of it."

"Ah! He's undefeated!"

"I'm alive! I'm alive! No! I'm a ghost!"

"Next comes the spinning wheel of death."

"Fight like a man!"

"Whoever loses, the winner gets to give him a wedgie."

"C'mon! Just one of you guys say 'uncle'."

"This is a dungeon....a level one dungeon."

A Glimpse into Toa's World

Yesterday's quote:

"This game makes me happy because it's monkeys defending our Earth from balloons."

This morning's question:

"Mommy, how do you draw a shuriken?"

The labels on a page full of little pencil drawings drawn during the sermon and then stuck in his Bible:

"Ninga Monkey; Dart monkey; ice monkey; barnoclel ? monkey; baby monkey; apprentice monkey; boomawing monkey; Balloon Guy; Rupper; Zomg Zomg; sun god; (and in speech bubbles: 'OHOH OHOH' and 'ya')"

 This afternoon's quote:

"Mommy, I'm really smart because I can play my game and clean my room at the same time!"

Weekly Wrap-up: We Love Spelling!

See this?

It's a handful of homemade cards each written in crayon on half an index card, a paper bag, and a cheap timer from the dollar store.

Know what it is?

Would you guess an awesome spelling game that Toa of Boy asked to play twice?

The game, called Rotten Egg, came from this book...

Which is a part of this Logic of English curriculum...

which is a combined spelling/grammar/handwriting program. Which we are loving!

(The nerf guns didn't come with the curriculum. We had to purchase those separately....but we are using them with the curriculum!)

If you're curious, the book is divided into 40 lessons, each with three parts. We generally do one lesson part a day. (Or at least that's the goal.)

The first part of each lesson introduces three new phonemes with all their sounds. Did you know "ea" is used to spell three sounds? There are some nice speech and sound exploration exercises. We spend a bit more time than other families might on the speech component, since there are still come sounds Toa struggles to produce clearly. The teacher guide has really neat tips on being aware of tongue placement in the mouth and what exactly the mouth is doing to form the different sounds. I know many parents might not need this info, but it's been gold for us!

Also included in the first section is the introduction of at least spelling rule....which I swear is NOT the same useless, more exceptions than regular spellings, type rules I remember from school! First, their is a section in the workbook of words that follow the rule. The student reads the words and tries to deduce what they might have in common. There are some teacher prompts to guide them through this process. THEN, after they have pretty much figured out the rule for themselves, then they are given the rule. The rule for the lesson we are currently working on says, "We often double F, L, and S after a single vowel at the end of a base word. Occasionally other letters are also doubled."

Now, at first, that seems not so useful. It doesn't have a catchy little rhyme for one thing. But, after having been LIED to all my life with 'rules' such as, "When two vowels go a-walking, the first one does the talking, and it says its name," I'll take honesty over inane jingles any day.

The second part of the lesson is the introduction of the 15 word spelling list. It's pretty sweet and straightforward. We like short and sweet. Each spelling word has a brief list of related vocabulary words which we read aloud, discuss, and sometimes act out. (Cliff, with cliffs and cliffhanger, was part of this lesson's list. You know those had to be acted out. It was practically a boy mandate.)


The third part of the lesson has grammar, dictation, and a brief composition exercise.

And of course, fun, fast past game options and other review options are included in each portion of each lesson.

That's it! No useless, repetitive worksheets. No mindless busy work.

Last week, we did a review and assessment over the first four lessons. That's 60 words. Want to know how many Toa marked for review? Four. And, get this, he *voluntarily* marked those four words for review. We didn't sit down and give him a 60 word spelling test. He might have ran away and joined the circus if I tried that. We just did a brief dictation exercise of 15 short two or three word phrases that very cleverly and sneakily happened to use almost every spelling word once. He had NO problems with the dictation exercise. The few misspellings he made as he was writing, he noticed on his own and self corrected. (Ok, with the exception of that sneaky 'ea' in 'clean'. That one needed pointed out to him.)

But, when presented with a list of the sixty spelling words, he was able to read the list and self-identify the words he had trouble with. How many 9 year olds are given the opportunity to do that?

Oh, and we practiced those 4 words the next day by laying side by side on our backs on the living room floor, crossing one leg over one knee so that one foot was suspended in the air and then sky-writing the word with our toes. 

Source: http://www.sxc.hu/

Check out what others are doing this week on Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!

Toa of Boy's Portfolio 2012-2013

Language:

Toa of Boy aquired an astonishing understanding of the grammar of the English language this year. I'm so proud of him. Last year, his crowning achievement was to overcome his awkwardness about lingering speech differences and to become comfortable verbally expressing his thoughts in complete sentences, especially in settings outside the family. He achieved that goal, and this year, I thought we might do some remedial work in basic sentence structure. He blew past what I thought was a good goal for him and went on to master grammar to a level many 6th grade students would do well to achieve. Not only did he learn the eight parts of speech, he became an expert at doing four level sentence analysis--first identifying the part of speech of each word of the sentence; second identifying the subject, the verb (linking or action), the subject compliment, direct object, or indirect object; third identifying prepositional phrases; and lastly identifying clauses. Beyond just a academic exercise, we engaged in many discussions about how this knowledge was applied in how we spoke, in the texts of books we read, and in other contexts as it became relevant.

I include typical examples of his written book work, though I feel it was the intangible ongoing discussions that provided the most evidence of his incorporation of his new knowledge. (Click on any image to display a larger version.)

This is a page of simple pronoun identification at the beginning of his Michael Clay Thompson grammar book---

And this is the post test at the end of his grammar book--

A sample of a very basic sentence analysis when he was first learning the skill--

And a more complex sentence (parts of speech identified on the first line, use in the sentence on the second, prepositional phrases on the third line, and clauses on the fourth)--

Bible: 

At church, Toa of Boy moved on the the next level of the Awana program this year and completed the first book of the Truth and Training Series. This involved memorization and recitation of longer Scripture passages as well as a few additional assignments, such as making a poster or writing a letter to a missionary. At the end of the year, he received a ribbon for the successful completion of the Truth and Training Level One. 

At home, Toa worked on a study of the first half of the Old Testament. We read a section of the Bible together daily, and then Toa completed an exercise in a workbook originally marketed for sixth grade.

A typical lesson in Genesis--

And a typical lesson from 2 Kings--

Vocabulary and Spelling:

This year, we continued to work through the Sequential Spelling program. I include two samples of his work, one from the beginning of the year and one from the end of the year. But again, I feel like his biggest accomplishment was not as easily quantifiable. First it was outside of the spelling lesson, in his own initiative to seek help in spelling a word as he was writing for fun. At the beginning of the year, we would work through the process of spelling an unfamiliar word together. Towards the end of the year, he would ask how to spell a word. I would, in turn, ask him how he thought the word might be spelled. More often than not he could puzzle it out on his own, with minimal direction or assistance. I find that to be a more satisfactory benchmark than the two sample pages included here.

For vocabulary, we studied Michael Clay Thompson's Building Language, which introduced basic Latin roots and some common words which stem from those roots.

Writing:

This year, Toa of Boy really wanted to pursue independent creative writing. I let him run with that goal, and he produced page after page of his own 'chapters' in a story. While his writing still needs proof-reading and editing, for us, the achievement of this year was for writing to move from a school subject I was mandating, to something Toa was excited to engage in. Despite the errors in spelling and grammar, his stories had a clear framework with a sequential plot, a conflict, a protagonist, an antagonist, and a clear resolution at the end.

Reading:

Toa of Boy continued to develop as an independent reader this year. Not only did he check out and read many library books on his own, but we took time daily for a shared reading time. During this time we read more challenging chapter books together, taking turns reading sections aloud and discussing the story and characters as we read. Titles that we read in this manner included The Monster in the Third Dresser Drawer, James and the Giant Peach, How to Eat Fried Worms, and The Mouse and the Motorcycle.

Each week, he recorded the book he had been reading and a few sentences about his book in a literature journal.

This is his first journal entry of the year--

and one from later in the year--

Math:

We skipped third grade math and moved immediately into a fourth grade math textbook this year. It was a decision that worked really well for us. Toa of Boy does not do well with the 'spiraling' approach of some curriculum. While he, like everyone, needs some review from time to time, lessons that begin each day with nothing but review immediately lose his interest. However, when he is immediately given something new and challenging, he is excited and motivated and applies himself to master it. This year, we worked most of the way through a 4th grade math text. We took extra time in the middle of the year to learn and practice multiplication facts which were new to him. To do this, we suspended our regular lessons for a few weeks and spent extra time with manipulatives, flashcards, and games. From there we moved on to multiplication of two digit numbers by a single digit and then multiplication of two two-digit numbers. We covered short division and long division, both new concepts for Toa, and did some geometry, including finding area and perimeter. We ended the year with an introduction to fractions.

Chapter 2 Review--

Adding unlike fractions--

History:

This year was Toa of Boy's first exposure to a formal study of American History. At co-op, he took a class titled "Native Americans and Pioneers". The class completed lessons and hands on projects on the different Native American people groups, the exploration and colonial period, and the Westward Expansion. At home, we covered from the late 1800s through to the beginning of WW2. We used the PBS series America: The Story of US and the Time Traveler series from Homeschool in the Woods to provide the frame for our study. We supplemented these resources with many library books, hands on-projects, and field trips.

One of our favorite units for the year was a study about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. We read You Wouldn't Want to Work on the Brooklyn Bridge and we did projects and activities out of Bridges: Amazing Structures to Design, Build, and Test. We took a field trip down to the Purple People Bridge and viewed the Roebling Suspension Bridge. Finally, Toa built his own popsicle stick trestle bridge. 

Throughout the year, Toa completed an extensive timeline of the major people and events we were studying.

At the end of each shorter unit, he put together a small project for inclusion in a large lap book.

Science:

Although we started out the year with Education Exploration, it quickly became evident that the Elementary level (billed for K-3) was too basic for him. So we ditched that curriculum and moved on to Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy. This was a perfect match. We liked reading the text itself together, but Toa especially loved the hands-on learning projects--

from using a magnifying glass to study the heat and strength of the sun's rays--

to dropping rocks to make craters in a pan of flour dusted over with cocoa.

It was a great way to learn about our solar system.

Music:

This year, Toa of Boy participated in two children's musicals through our church. He formed part of the choir for the Christmas musical and during the spring musical, he had a minor speaking part. That was a huge step forward in confidence and speaking clarity for him!

Art:

Toa continued to hone his skills as a budding young artist. We used many wonderful art lessons from Deep Space Sparkle to guide our home art curriculum.

Two of my favorites were a Statue of Liberty drawing and watercolor---

and a winter cardinal project (which first involved taking a walk around the neighborhood together to take turns photographing bare tree branches silhouetted against the sky)

and then painting our own cardinals against a background of sky and branches.

Physical Education:

Toa continued in his physical education class at co-op and also in his twice weekly Tae Kwon Do lessons. This year, Toa tested for and advanced two belt levels and is currently a high blue belt, a step more than halfway between a beginner and a black belt.

Weekly Wrap-Up: Nerf Guns and Apple Mummies

Last week was our first week of school.

(This week was spent battling a stomach bug. I'm not writing about it. Sue me.)

Monday and Tuesday was spent almost exclusively with Sweetling. Toa of Boy joined us for Bible in the morning, and then was free. He spent two days almost exclusively on Lego Designer....which is a fun, free, Lego CAD program.

Sweetling has a very ambitious first year of high school. Her courses this year include--

• Matthew-Acts
• The Rise and Fall of Rome
• Foundations in Romans
• Algebra 2 and Trigonometry
• The One Year Adventure Novel
• American History to 1865
• American Literature
• German 1
• Spanish 3
• ASL 1
• Basic Japanese
• Formal Logic
• Vocabulary from Classical Roots
• General Science
• Drawing 1
• Shakespeare

Two days to work exclusively with her and to get her rolling on her courses was absolutely needed.  I really like the balance in her school this year. She has several subjects she's doing with me, a few with her father, a few at co-op, and a few that are independent. (For a more complete breakdown of courses and resources for both children, check out our curriculum page.)

On Wednesday, I brought Toa of Boy into the mix.

My goal in choosing curriculum for Toa of Boy this year was to find resources and programs which let him learn in the mode God created him to operate....hands-on, creative, and active!

On Wednesday alone,

we made modeling clay tablets to simulate the wax writing tablets of ancient Rome;

we began are review of multiplication and introduced factors by creating rectangular arrays with glass craft pebbles on a wipe-off mat;

we shot a nerf gun at phonogram cards (no action shot of this--I stood safely around a corner and held up the card to be shot);

and we created a mummification mixture for an innocent apple. (The yummy apple on the left is the control apple after 10 days. The mummified apple is in its baking soda/salt dessication mixture.)

Yes, there was still reading and writing and workbook pages to complete...but they were the side dish that rounded out our plate of learning, not the entree!

Check out what others did this week on Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.