A New Book That I Really Like...

I've been looking for a book like this for Cassia for a long time—a book that gives instruction in a clear way, while engaging her, and allowing for free writing.

Well, I think I have found it!

This book is intended for year 4 over there, as you can see from the cover, but with her dyslexia, The Girl is a bit behind. I actually think, in looking through this book, that we will get through book two in half a year, and then we can tackle book three, so she'll be "catching up". 

We got it in the mail from the UK yesterday, and she was eager to give it a try. I read the introduction out loud, and she laughed, which is a good sign, right? I then moved on to lesson one, in which we read the beginning of Snow White, and then she was to answer comprehension questions (which you can see here if you click on Sample Pages). She did very well with that, though we did the work verbally rather than writing answers. She was thrown for a bit of a loop though, when the book asked what she thought the story would be like if the beginning was set in summer! We thought perhaps the queen would have had to have asked for a daughter with hair as gold as sunshine, eyes as blue as the summer sky, and skin as white as rose petals.

The final task for the day was to use a dictionary to look up several words. I have a children's dictionary, but we decided to use our regular, though rather elderly, one. The Girl hasn't used a dictionary before—I know, I know, but we were focused on reading—but she very quickly got the hang of it, and found all the words needed, reading the definitions aloud.

Today we'll be learning some interesting facts about snow, and then next week she gets to launch into some creative writing. They have four writing prompts, out of which I have selected three, which will keep her writing all week: continuing the story either in the traditional fashion, or coming up with her own story line; writing a short description of a beautiful place; and writing an acrostic poem using the word "snowflake". She loves poetry, so I think the last especially will be a big hit.

Upcoming exercises in Lesson 1 include a lesson on nouns, spelling, sentence ordering, more creative writing, copywork, and so forth. It seems to be (as I looked through the whole book last night) varied enough to really keep her interested!

I'll be updating my review later in the year, as we get a chance to go through more of it, but so far, so good!  

Work Sample - Book Reports

We had our first experience this week with book reports. A local bookstore is highlighting book reviews written by homeschoolers, so of course we had to give it a go! I had them narrate the reviews to me while I typed, and then we went over them a couple of times before either child was quite satisfied.

So, without further ado, here is their work....

A Review of

Ballet Shoes

by The Girl .......

          Recently I read “Ballet Shoes” by Noel Streatfield. It is the story of three girls whose names are Pauline, Petrova, and Posy Fossil. They live in England, during the early 1900's. They are all adopted by Great Uncle Matthew, but he gets shipwrecked and goes missing for a long, long time. So the babies are left with Sylvia, who is their guardian, and their Nana. They become very poor, even though they sell their Great Uncle's fossils to museums and collectors. So they take in boarders, and even with the boarders, they still didn't have enough money. During all of that, the girls have to go off to school, but they can't afford it either. Sylvia tries to teach them at home, but she's not good at arithmetic. Two of the boarders are doctors of education, and they offer to teach the girls for free. Another boarder is a dance instructor, and she decides to train the girls in dancing so they can make money.

          Pauline is the oldest out of the three girls, and she's really talented at acting. Petrova is the middle girl, and she is not happy about being in ballet or acting, because she is not good at it. Instead she loves working on cars and flying airplanes. Posy is the youngest out of the three girls, and she loves ballet, because she is wonderful at it. The story follows their adventures in dancing and acting.

          I like the book a lot. Posy is my favorite character, but I like the other girls too. I think it is an exciting book because they get to be on the stage. I think that you should read this book so you can find out the ending!

 A Review of

 The Mark of Athena

by The Boy .......

          The “Mark of Athena” was written by Rick Riordan. It is the third book in the Heroes of Olympus series, which follows the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. It is told from the viewpoints of four different characters: Annabeth, Percy, Leo, and Piper. Annabeth is on a quest from her mother, Athena, to find a statue, which no other daughter of Athena has ever succeeded in finding. Locating the statue may help end an ongoing feud between the Greek and Roman training camps. Annabeth has to brave Arachna's underground lair to look for the statue.

          The others—Percy, Leo, Piper, and their friends Frank, Hazel, and Jason—are trying meanwhile to rescue a demigod who is trapped in a bronze jar after trying to close the doors of death. First however, they must defeat two giants who are trying to destroy Rome and reawaken Gaea to reclaim the world for herself, which will destroy the world as we know it. Spirits, called eidolons, take over machinery and people, trying to capture both a boy and a girl demigod to help Gaea awaken fully, which creates danger for the kids on the quest, who need to maintain a magical number of participants to complete their quest.

          I enjoyed this book because it is both humorous and extremely exciting. I had a hard time putting it down—every chapter ends in suspense since the viewpoints change frequently, and there is a lot of action all going on at once. I recommend this book to anyone who has read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Not bad for their first book review attempt! Well, at least I think they're pretty good!

Ahhh... a fresh, and sunny start to the week...

And I have today, and tomorrow, off from work. Short shifts Wednesday through Friday, which still allows me plenty of time to be with the kids, and the husband, and enjoy summer. Possible plans for the week include a beach trip with friends; a homeschool association meeting, which I'll talk more about momentarily; park day of course; gardening; housecleaning; Spiral Scout projects to start working on; and so forth.

Some time ago, I was a board member for the local homeschool association to which I belong. I held a couple of positions... field trip coordinator (so much fun!), Webmaster... but then it got hard. Our insurance didn't cover what we thought it did, one member of the group caused so much trouble we had to refund her membership and ask her to look elsewhere, no one except the board ever showed up to the open meetings, a splinter group formed, and life got in the way for some of the board. We, by consensus, dissolved the board. Looking back on it, I am not so sure that we made the right decision, although it felt right at the time.

Now, we have a group of determined volunteers who have stepped up to the plate, done the research and all the work, and are helping our little group get nonprofit status, which makes it much better for the insurance part. Tomorrow's meeting is the adoption and ratification of the new bylaws, the formation of committees, the birthday of our new group! (I am really hoping there is a field trip committee that I can help with) I am excited about this. Most of the women heading this are friends of mine, and the ones that aren't I just don't really know yet, although I am sure I have met them. This to me is definitely a fresh start, and a strong one!

We had our first Spiral Scouts meeting last week, and came away from it feeling like we have found our home in scouting. We made our Circle, discussed individual and group projects, selected some to work on before the meeting next month (and for some time after that since they are pretty complex) There are several levels of awards to work on... awards, badges, and spirals/stars. I had Cassia and Cyrus choose one from each category. Cyrus chose projects primarily related to art, and Cassia was excited to see that cooking is a badge project! When we got home after park day in the evening, I went over all the paper work with M, who really liked what he saw as well. Each project has requirements that have to be met, and then several other options to choose from. For an example, check out the sample of the gardening badge work here. My kids are both at the Spiral Scout level, so you can see this isn't just easy work! We signed all the paperwork, which has been sent off, paid our dues, and are now eagerly awaiting our activity books.

What I like, in addition to the actual level of learning that will take place with these projects, is that there are so many to choose from, and a lot that align with our interests. For example, several have multicultural aspects, which interests Cassia, and there is even a mythology award for Cyrus to work on maybe in the fall!

And now for a couple of book reviews. First, for Cindie, is Waldorf Education: A Family Guide. This is a series of essays, by teachers, parents, etc. It is a good introduction to Waldorf education for those thinking of adapting it in their homeschool lives, or those thinking of placing their children in a Waldorf school. I especially liked the essays on different temperaments, and colors, daily rhythms, and the lovely birthday story from one parent. However, while the book is a good introduction, it is just that, and introduction. I enjoyed reading it, but it left me wanting more. How do I know which temperament my child has? How could I apply color in their daily lives that reflects where they are in their life journey? It did do a good job of covering the general ideas, and giving the background of Waldorf education, and I enjoyed reading it, so I would recommend it.

And then Pocketful of Pinecones, a book I have seen recommended over and over again in regards to Charlotte Mason and nature study. While my spiritual leanings differ from the author and the main character she created, and the book does reference those leanings a lot, I could not put this book down! The characters were realistic and appealing, as was the fact that the main character, the mother, had both a boy and a girl, like I do. However, I think she was a good deal more patient than I tend to be! I have read some of Charlotte Mason's original writings, and while they are extremely informative, and should be read by anyone wanting to follow her methods, they can also be a little tough going. This book, written as a diary, was easy to read, and full of Mason's ideals. Practical and applicable. There are nature study recommendations, thoughtful questions at the end of each chapter, and a plethora of books for nature studies recommended in the appendix. And there are cross references to Mason's original works. I felt really inspired by this book, and can't wait to read Lessons at Blackberry Inn. My children will absolutely be keeping nature journals this year!

In other news, we've been re-watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Harry Potter movies, getting ourselves ready for the final HP installment in July. Watching LoTR has made me want to read The Hobbit to the kids at some point over the next year. Oh, and we want to finish listening to Jim Dale's marvelous reading of the HP books. M and I were discussing Shakespeare the other night (we both love Much Ado About Nothing), and the kids were intrigued, so I am researching children's versions of Shakespeare's stories... Nesbit, Lamb, Garfield, other? Recommendations? Until now, I have tried to tie our read alouds to other studies, but I really think we can enjoy books without always doing that.