Aka: “Way too Many Pictures” or “Mostly Just for Gramma”
Brady turned 5 a couple of weeks ago and since it was sort of a milestone birthday and we really hadn’t been out of town since we went camping last Summer we decided to take him on a quick little trip up to Portland.
We left the morning before his birthday after having doughnuts while Brady watched his birthday video from Santa (do you guys check that box on PNP, too? I’ve always forgotten about it by the time I get the email but Brady is always THRILLED)
And then there was lots and lots of driving, and a little bit of opening the surprise bags (snack, juice, dollar store toy) I always pack him for these kind of trips
And then we arrived at the Children’s Museum
And played in the Water Works (in the middle of the day there was a lunch break and a change of shirt and I think these pictures will tell you why)
And pretended to be a vet
And a director
And a construction worker
A customer and a cashier
And finally got to give “Wiccapen” a hug
“Dear Mouse, Rest well. Love, Brady”
And send some letters up the coconut tree
And checked out their cool garden maze
Then we were off to check into our hotel and then a quick trip to the Lego store before his birthday dinner with friends
This blew his little mind
And then off to dinner at John’s Incredible Pizza Co. (if you have one near you you should go, like Chuck E. Cheese, but cooler)
My camera died right after we got there so this is the only picture I have of the pizza party.
Then back to the hotel for a special birthday bedtime story and sleep
Friday was Brady’s actual birthday so he woke up and opened his presents from us
Had breakfast at the hotel
Went swimming (since we hadn’t had time on Thursday)
And headed to the mall for lunch
Sonic twice in as many days, boy after my own heart
Some birthday cake Dippin’ Dots
And Build a Bear (which Brady has been wanting to do FOREVER)
Then it was off to the zoo
Then off to spend his giftcards (that he had gotten from some very generous friends the night before) at Toys R Us
And Barnes and Noble
I cannot even be mad about the germs, I want to do the same thing in that store
And then we headed home while Brady read his new book about anatomy (thanks, John!)
And insisted on playing his new Angry Birds Star Wars game (thanks, Misha and Katie!)
And reading the other book he got with his giftcard before going to bed
The next day he was up bright and early to go to the kid’s fishing derby with Papa
And then out for a family birthday dinner with Gramma and Papa and home for cake and presents
And a round of his new Sorry Sliders game (thanks, Gramma and Papa!)
And some time with his new telescope
And the 3 days of birthday shenanigans were done. It ended up being a kind of jam-packed 3 days of craziness, but he had a lot of fun (as did we, really, watching him) and although we don’t usually go nearly so all-out for birthdays 5 is kind of a big deal and I’m glad we were able to make him feel really special on his big day
We spent more of our school time outside of the house than we usually do this week, and had a lot of fun in the process. Here’s what we were up to.
Language Arts:
Shared reading: We started reading Heidi this week, I’m excited to share one of my childhood favorites with Brady
Grammar: We worked on identifying the subject of a sentence
Spelling: words that end in ‘ing’ or ‘er’
Reading comprehension: completing sentences based on a picture, sequencing pictures
Math
Arithmetic: Brady has been practicing his addition skills by asking me to make him simple worksheets like this one
Money math: Introduction of the dollar
Science
We did an experiment to see if air takes up space
And we did this little crystal tree experiment from Brady’s Easter basket
Music
We talked about reading and writing rhythms and learned about quarter and half notes
Art
We made a surimono greeting in the style of Hokusai complete with homemade signature stamp (carved out of an eraser)
Geography
Nicaragua (although we worked on our US and Canada puzzles as well)
Outings
On Tuesday we went to the Aquarium with some relatives that were in town, unfortunately I didn’t take my camera or phone so no pictures, but we had a lot of fun and even got to see the sharks have their lunch.
Saturday, however, was Marine Science day at the Hatfield Center and I got lots of pictures of Brady doing things like
Attempting to build a wall that would stop erosion on his pretend beach
Trying to build a lego structure that would survive a lego-sized tsunami
Petting an octopus named unicorn
And various other sea creatures
Checking out a submarine
Learning about how they grow coral in the lab
Listening to underwater sounds
And just being his usual, goofy self
Brady has also been spending a lot more time outside now that the weather has been (somewhat) nice(-ish) and has enjoyed helping daddy work on the yard
That’s how old my baby will be a week from today. I’m finding it hard to believe, but I managed to pull myself together long enough to make a little slide show. Watch him go from zero to 5 just a *little* faster than it happened in real life. We’re taking him on a little trip next week for his birthday and I’ll have lots of pictures to share then, but oh I just love this sweet, smart, goofy, handsome boy of mine. In almost 5 years he has taught me more about loving and giving, about generosity of spirit, about joy and struggle, about his strength and my own than I learned in nearly 25 years with him and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store.
Happy, happy birthday baby you are the light of our lives and the heart of our hearts and my favorite boy in the whole wide world.
This is, tentatively, what we’re planning for next year. It’s early yet, I know, but I like to plan ahead so I can buy things a little at a time and I thought some of this might be useful to other homeschoolers. Brady will be almost 5 1/2 when we start our new school year in early September.
I won’t be purchasing a reading curriculum because Brady reads at (depending on the assessment) a high 4th to low 5th grade level and he loves it and reads CONSTANTLY and I do not want to detract from that with reading assignments.
Reading Comprehension/Vocabulary:Kumon Reading Grades 3and 4 We used Hooked on Phonics Reading Comprehension books for grades 1 and 2 this year and really enjoyed them, but I could not find them for the higher grades. I hope Kumon will live up to HOP’s colorful and engaging style.
Grammar: 2nd Grade Writing Practice (and possibly 3rd as well) We’ve been working through the 1st grade version of this book and it is colorful enough to be interesting and repetitive enough to insure understanding.
Creative Writing: Brady has been doing a lot of writing on his own lately, but this “Rip the Page” book seems like it will be a fun addition
Math:
I have gone back and forth on a Math curriculum, but have finally decided on Saxon Math (Brady tested into level 1). He is a very haptic learner and I believe the manipulatives will work well for him as he really enjoys our work with Unifix cubes.
The one thing Brady told me he wanted to learn more about next year was Thomas Jefferson so, instead of continuing our world history curriculum, we are circling back to US History. We will first begin with a study of Native American cultures for which this National Geographic “Indian Nations of North America” book should come in handy (I will link other resources as I find them). For US history after the Mayflower we will be using these American History Comic Books and Liberty’s Kids videos as well as reading the Little House on the Prarie books and working our way through this neat “Quilt Block History of Pioneer Days” book that I happened upon at a library sale. (again, more resources as I find them)
Geography:
In keeping with our American theme we will be revisiting “The Little Man in the Map” and working on capitals since Brady already knows most of his states.
Brady will continue swimming lessons and has shown some interest in taking a gymnastics class if I can find him one (easier said than done in our little town, but I will certainly try).
Brady did a ton of painting this week, both with watercolors and our homemade paint (1C flour, 1C water, 1C salt, food coloring), I particularly love his roses.
He also asked me to make him a sketch book and then proceeded to design several album covers “for when I’m a rock star”
Brady has also really been enjoying watching videos on BrainPop lately and over the course of this week he watched videos on:
*going to the doctor
*safety signs
*bullies
*internet safety
*being a good friend
*hand washing
*colds and flu
*urinary system
*broken bones
*states of matter
*Dr. Seuss
*Thomas Jefferson
Such an awesome educational resource.
Other favorite activities this week:
*hide and seek
*Easter egg hunt reenactments with chalk eggs from his Easter basket
*playing outside in the few minutes of sunshine he could find
*Chutes and Ladders
*Uno Moo
*Trivial pursuit (on the Wii)
*Cut The Rope/Angry Birds/Fruit Ninja on daddy’s Kindle
*Rebuilding his Lego Wipeout course
And last night we said goodbye to Brady’s car bed and, thanks to an early birthday present from Gramma and Papa, moved on to a big boy bunk
Which very quickly became a fort
And that was our week. How are things in your homeschool?
Still working to get back in the habit of writing here and I know this week is almost over, but here is what we were up to last week:
Language Arts
Reading: everything
Grammar: capitalization and punctuation for declarative sentences, deciphering/rewriting jumbled sentences
Spelling: s/es plurals
Reading comp: sequencing
We’ve also been reading “Magic Tree House: Summer of the Sea Serpent”
Math
Arithmetic: We’ve been playing this “Get a Clue” game that I bought at a garage sale quite a bit lately. Last week we played games about adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions as well as money math
Money math: started talking about half dollars
Science
We did a fun scavenger hunt (I made him this sheet months and months ago and it is my favorite go-to nature activity, he always finds more things than are listed but it gets him to look more closely than he would otherwise)
We also saved some seeds from a few different types of squash and started them in an egg carton
Tried floating an egg in regular and salt water
And watched our little kitchen window herb garden begin to sprout
Music
Brief introduction to world music
Art
Hand colored prints in the style of William Blake
And, of course, Easter eggs
Geography
Still working our way through Central and Latin America, last week we talked about Mexico
Brady’s been really enjoying watching various Brain Pop videos lately and has spent some time playing a JumpStart 1st Grade cd rom game that I bought him at a garage sale awhile back. We’ve been playing a lot of games together lately, everything from hide-and-seek to Trivial Pursuit to some of his daddy’s easier RPGs. Paul and I love board games and Brady seems to be following in our footsteps, that’s why I wasn’t surprised when he woke up on Saturday (International Tabletop Day ) and requested a game of Angry Birds before he’d even had breakfast
We had a lovely Easter (although it started much too early when Brady woke up at 5ish and went through his basket while his daddy was getting ready for work)
Brady leaves carrots for the Easter bunny. The bunny, in turn, leaves powdered sugar paw prints all over the table.
Thankfully he went back to sleep and woke up a few hours later to look for eggs
And blow some bubbles
And, after lunch, we tried to go to a local egg hunt but I got bad directions twice and we ended up going to the park instead (we had our own special egg hunt the next day, complete with mini lego kit prize for finding the egg with star stickers on it :-p)
Then we had dinner with Gramma and Papa and came home to put a overwrought little boy to bed.
Look, I keep coming here and trying to write a huge catch up, but the truth is we are having A YEAR over here, you guys. Illness, injury, personal tragedy, changes with my husband’s job, the hits just kind of keep coming and blogging is something I don’t really have the energy for. I’ve changed the way we do school, mostly in that I have stopped writing lesson plans. I get out all of our books at the beginning of the week and B picks a couple a day and I put them back once we get to a good stopping point. This way I make sure that we’re working on all of our subjects and Brady gets to shape his days in a way that makes school much more pleasant for both of us.
So here is a quick picture catch-up.
Language arts looks like this:
ever his father’s son
the writing is coming along
And he reads everywhere
no, really
seriously
all.the.time
(have I mentioned he likes to read?)
And math looks like this:
still working through the money math
although we’ve finally finished the time portion of our book
and sometimes we do schoolwork in silly positions
And we’ve gotten a lot of use out of this adding machine from The Imagination Tree (click for link)
And, of course, there’s science
Making cleaning supplies
water clock
hot and cold sensory experiment
does air take up space? experiment
We continue to work our way through Central and South American geography
And we do lots of art
And get outside when we can
We surprised Brady and drove 2 hours each way to take him to Chuck E Cheese
Brady still likes the occasional “special bath” (although he mostly takes showers)
he called this one, with its glowsticks and bubbles, a “northern lights” bath
And we’ve celebrated Valentine’s
And Dr. Seuss’ birthday
green eggs and hashbrowns (since we don’t eat ham)
And St. Patrick’s Day
Since I last wrote here.
Brady continues to have his very own goofy sense of style
And to be both adorable
And an evil genius
I told him he needed to take 5 more drinks. He went and got 5 straws.
We’ve backed off the Latin for now, as it seemed to be boring him and we’ve been enjoying both Salsa and our Play and Learn Spanish book instead. And I think that about catches you up on what our school days have looked like.
The funny thing is that in spite of it everything that’s happened we’re all doing ok. I would actually describe our days as happy in the midst of all this. We’ve made some really positive changes to our diet, Paul and I are taking some Coursera courses about things we find interesting, I’m now a volunteer tutor with our local community college, and we’re just enjoying spending time together. I’ve done some rough planning of next year’s curriculum and I’ll be sharing that soon and now that I’ve given you a quick catch up maybe writing here won’t seem so daunting. I make no promises until this year decides to work with me at least a little.
There won’t be a weekly school work wrap-up this week, because we haven’t really done any schoolwork. Poor Brady came down with pinkeye Saturday afternoon and by the time I could get him into the Dr Tuesday he also had an ear infection and possibly strep throat (he does not do anything halfway) so our week has included lots of cartoons, antibiotics, and trying to get my normally ravenous child to just eat something, anything, please, FOR THE LOVE. So, in lieu of the normal wrap-up I thought I would write a bit about the lifestyle changes we have been trying to make lately. We’ve been moving toward a more whole foods, more chemical-free lifestyle for years now as I’ve learned to make more of our foods and cleaning supplies from scratch. This year we’ve decided to choose a couple things a month to change and here’s our rough game plan:
February: * switch out our usual breakfast of cereal or toast for green smoothies
* begin making our soap (an easy change because I already have all the supplies)
March: * Get the grains, sugar, and dairy out of our lunches (we’re eventually shooting for a modified paleo-type diet)
*begin making our cleaning supplies (I already make our laundry soap and mopping solution, but want to start
making our bathroom cleaners and whatever else I can find recipes for)
April: *Paleo dinners
*homemade personal care supplies (deodorant, shaving cream, lotion)
May: *Paleo snacks
*Begin oil pulling again
*switch to a natural toothpaste or make our own
June: *By this point our diet should be where we would like it to be and we will have eliminated the vast majority of
chemicals from our home so we will switch our focus to movement.
I know these changes seem small and slow, but I’ve done crash diets and sweeping changes before and they don’t stick. I figure if we keep it to a couple things a month it won’t be overwhelming and hopefully February’s changes will feel like 2nd nature by March and so on. We’ve already done the green smoothies and I feel like I have a bit more energy and I’ve lost a couple pounds just by cutting out that morning dose of carbs. I’m hoping that by June our diets will look very different and that by cutting out the wheat/dairy/sugar/processed food slowly we can do without a lot of the withdrawl symptoms. Also, these are goals for when I would like to complete these changes, but I’m already working on making our other meals/snacks look more paleo and we are making a point to exercise (and paying ourselves 50¢/half hour into a communal jar that will be used for a fun family outing), but won’t be setting any specific goals until June because after a few months of healthier eating I anticipate our energy levels being better.
And that’s how I’m planning to slowly change our diet in the next few months. Anyone else switching to paleo/paleo-esque (which is where we’ll be, since we’re vegetarians and I’m unwilling to give up beans as a protein source)/clean eating? Did you ease in or do it all at once? How are you feeling?
Ok, so this post is mostly so I can remember how to make this again, but also because it is awesome and you should try it. A week or so ago my friend posted a link to this Sengalese Mafe recipe on Facebook and here’s how I made it last night with Ariel’s suggestions/substitutions.
Ingredients:
2 cups boiling water
1 tsp vegetable “Better than Bullion”
1/2 C peanut butter
2 Tbsp oil
1 large yam (cubed)
1 large green bell pepper (chopped)
2 medium sized carrots (chopped)
1 medium white onion (diced)
4 garlic cloves (grated)
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes (w/liquid)
1 can chickpeas (drained, rinsed)
2 Tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
salt and pepper to taste (I’m going to guess I used about 1 tsp of each, but I didn’t measure)
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1) Mix “Better than Bullion” into boiling water, whisk in peanut butter, set aside
2) Heat oil on medium-high, add chopped vegetables, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper and sauté until spices are absorbed and onions are translucent
3) Add broth/peanut butter mixture, chickpeas, tomatoes, bay leaf, and thyme to pan and heat to boiling
4) Reduce heat and simmer (stirring frequently) until vegetables are tender (the original recipe said 1 hr, I believe mine took 35-40 minutes)
5) Serve over rice
The results are this awesome, sweet/spicy, super flavorful vegetarian stew that even my carnivorous husband enjoyed.
p
