Birds, Love & Beethoven

This week has been a fun, full week.  Kristin learned about the chipping sparrow, its chirps, how the nest is made of light, thin roots and horse hair from the mane or tail.  The eggs are blue with black spots on one end.  She had fun playing with a basket full of eggs we have in a rooster basket pretending she was the mother bird.

John-Mark finished the study of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.  This story has many character lessons.  The most important of them is that you never get what you want by lying, being deceit, or murdering.  Not to take passion to the extreme.  He liked the sword fighting in it mostly but thought that these families that held on to this grudge with one another wasn't worth losing their children over.  And sadly they didn't learn the lesson until it was to late.   

Our composer this term is still Beethoven.  The kids have their MP3's downloaded with selected songs studies.  And our artist study is Albrecht Durer.  Here is one of his painting you most likely recognize.

In history we are in the middle ages.  Just got through the Vikings and learning how poor and uneducated people were in these times.  Kings were prideful and greedy and lots of war.  So much blood shed for the freedom we have today.  Thank you Jesus for your blood that was shed and the freedom we now have from the chains that bound us.

Daniel is doing well.  He is learning math, reading, and writing.  He studies music and art and oh yes, I almost forgot our nature walks on Fridays.  We are studying "trees" this term.  It has been so interesting.  We have learned alot about evergreens and deciduous trees, pines, and oak.  The best part for the kids is jumping in the creek and getting wet and muddy.

So thats it for now.  I hope to post every week if time allows.

Blessings.

Karate Class

Homeschool Karate: Wednesdays

A brother & sister team, with one of their friends all have black-belts.  Ms. Free, Mr. Free and Mr G., needed jobs.  So they decided to start a homeschool karate class at our church.  They have a two classes and alot of students.  We all now have T-shirts (like these blacks ones in the photo) that say Homeschool Karate with a dragon on it.  They are called the "Dragons".  The kids LOVE going!  They have a great time.  This class is teaching them self protection, and respect for others in authority.  They look forward to being with the friends they have and making new ones.  

Ants, Ladybugs and Wild Sunflowers

The children love Fridays. This is nature study hour and they want to do it all the time. They just love learning about all things God has created. In this study we observed and ant hole.

Kristin's portrayal
Next: Wild Sunflowers

Kristin's portrayal

A ladybug in Daniel's hair.

Heeeelp!

The Reading Mother

THE READING MOTHER

Strickland Gillilan

I had a Mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,
"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath

I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Celert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings-
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such.

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be --
I had a Mother who read to me.

How To Make An Apple Pie And See The World

Kristin & Daniel have a different curriculum than John-Mark due to their age. One of our studies is to read a book from a list of selected ones for five days in a row. Each day we read, we will discover from the book either geography, social studies, math, foreign language, art, architecture, humor, science, etc. So in this book, here is what they learned. You have to travel the world to get the finest ingredients to make the best tasting apple pie.

Geography:

To Italy-Collect the semolina wheat (to turn into flour for the crust) (Art-they drew an Italian city street where the owners homes are on top of the stores they run.)

To France-Collect the Chicken and bring him home and coax him into having an egg.

To Sri Lanka-Cinnamon From the bark of the Kurundu Tree. (They learned that this is the pear shaped island in the Indian Ocean. )

To England-Bring the cow (to milk it, then churn to butter) (Talk about the importance of good manners) the cows from England have good manners you know!

To Jamaica-Collect Saltwater (science- a cup of salt water out in the sun to evaporate and get the salt) Let kids taste saltwater and talk about how our water is fresh not salt. They cut down the sugar cane for the sugar. Bananas grow here in this land-hence the banana boat.

Vermont Pick apples. Math. We picked apples for the pie, one for the cow and one for ourselves.

At Home Make the Pie. Drama-acting out actions of pie making by grinding the Kurundu bark to cinnamon. Persuade the chicken to lay egg. Milk the cow. Churn the milk to butter. Slice apples. Bake the Pie. Getting ready to eat the pie, invite friends and all sit at the table awaiting your pie. Help serve.




Eat the Pie! Well here is the photo after we ate the pie. It was soooo yummy!

The Wind

The above portrait is Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife. Painted by John Singer Sargent our current term artist for study.

For the last term our poet study was Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child's Garden of Verses. This was one of John-Mark's favorites poems.

The Wind

I saw you toss the kites on high
And blow the birds about the sky;
And all around I heard you pass,
Like ladies' skirts across the grass—
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!
I saw the different things you did,
But always you yourself you hid.
I felt you push, I heard you call,
I could not see yourself at all—
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!
O you that are so strong and cold,
O blower, are you young or old?
Are you a beast of field and tree,
Or just a stronger child than me?
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!

You can listen to one of the readings of this poem http://librivox.org/the-wind-by-robert-louis-stevenson/
Librivox is a library of books that are read online by volunteers.

Butterfly Friend

On another of our Nature Study Observation walks. This black/white butterfly wanted John-Mark to think his stick was like the staff of Moses! All he did was put the stick out and the butterfly flew up to observe us. It looked at each one of the children's faces and then she/he decided that they were safe and just rested there for a minute (long enough for Erin to get her camera out) then, fly away. It was one of those moment where we all looked at each other thinking quietly "did you just see that?". Wow! We were all in awe of those precious few moments of observing nature and human interaction. It was a blessed time



Here is the butterfly flying away......



When John-Mark saw this lizard, he said "Look Mom its camouflaging".




This was the view of the road we were on. Once again in Limekiln Canyon.




The gang once again. They were watching a short movie being filmed in the canyon for a church. The film was about good and evil. The bad guys looked really scary. The good ones were Roman soldiers with swords. (Go figure, they were women.)