Books, Boys and New Friends

Tuesday. Another day to be grateful. Today I'm grateful for books, boys, and new friends for me.

Last week we went to the library to check out some books on Thanksgiving and The Mayflower. While we were there, we found this book:



As soon as we got home, the activity started. The 3 boys took the book and started making all kinds of contraptions. (One was the tent I showed you last week). Here's a page from the book:



Here's the product from this page:



It really sails! They sailed it in the bathtub, but that wasn't exciting enough. So they all ran down to the creek and sailed it in there. One boat's not enough, so they made this:



My husband went to take a shower that night, and walked out with it in his hand. He had a very puzzled look on his face and asked what in the world was this contraption in the tub. Well, can't you tell, it's a floating-boat-can-contraption-thingie?

They also found in the book how to make kites:

Michael

Peter at the park

Up, up and away!

Poor George

I'm also grateful to get to know new friends from Brenda's Gratitude Challenge.

And I've just discovered Branch of Wisdom's A Month of Thanksgiving, met a few friends there, and look forward to visiting more!

You ladies have enriched my days in the past weeks...Thank you. I am truly blessed.

Michael's Invention

I think I would call it a Balloon Rocket? Michael was very patient with me. I kept walking into the kitchen and accidently knocking down the "invisible" thread. But he tried and tried again... (Click on the triangle to see video). What a smarty-patarty.

Our Tinker-er

Our friend, Marcus, came over one day and he and the boys found an ancient tiller hidden in the rubble in our old, broken down barn. They dragged it out, and, low and behold, Marcus worked on the engine and brought it back to life. (Marcus was 12 years old at the time). Now Michael, above, loves to tinker with it. He walks around looking for other things to tinker with. The boy is just a born tinker-er.

What a handsome tinker-er.
George: a tinker-er in training.
Two tinker-ers are better than one.

(Photos by Jimi Ann)

Our School Room

Our schoolroom. Above Pauline's head is our condensed timeline, from Adam and Eve to the present day in just one long line.
(Timeline available from Rod & Staff Publishers, 606-522-4348; they are not online).
We used to have the school room in the basement by a fireplace, but not enough light gets in down there, and, it's just cozier upstairs. Upstairs we can smell the good smells coming from the kitchen, hear the dryer buzzer, and answer the door if someone comes knocking. (Don't want to miss that UPS delivery -- big excitement for us homeschoolers!)
We purchased four old-fashioned school desks very cheaply from our old Mennonite school. They said to just give a donation -- I think it was about $10 a desk, maybe $15.

Above the picture starts our "countdown line" Pauline and I made of our days in school, starting at Day 1 and ending with graduation on Day 180. (We got this idea from the old Mennonite school the children were enrolled in one year -- it was like one of those one-room Amish schools -- very sweet). You can see we've had 10 days of school so far. We take down a sticker for each school day completed. We have books for September and autumn leaves for October.
Here it continues with pumpkins for November. The countdown helps us to stay on track in our homeschool, and doesn't let us get too far behind. Also helps us to visualize the goal, and how much work we've already done.
Here begin the gingerbread men for December and into January with snowmen (Drew snuck in a Stormtrooper in disguise amongst the snowmen that you can notice only if you look closely - he was a Star Wars geek when he was little, and, well, he always has a little science-fictioney thing going on in his grown-up head).
In the corner begins the tulips and daffodils for February (they come up early here in the south), kites for March, crosses for April (Easter, you know), with raindrops for May.
And lastly, butterflies for June, and then, Day 180 -- graduation (that's a diploma). They actually argue over who's going to be the lucky one to take the number for the day. What fun.
Here's our serious timeline. :) I designed this one to show 1,000 years a strip, ending with modern times at the top, so we could grasp the bigger scheme of history. What a sobering thought to think how small our little bit of time is compared to the great scheme of things! Not to mention eternity -- reminds me of these words to a hymn, a prayer to God taken from Psalm 90, that touch my heart deeply every time I hear, read, or pray them:


"Teach me, O Lord, to number my days,
That I may apply unto wisdom my heart;
I am but a man, my years are but a day:
Short will be my stand, and brief will be my stay,
And I will not again, e'er pass along this way.

Teach me, O Lord, to number my days,
And let me be wholly devoted to Thee,
To daily increase Thy praise.
Life is like the sand, soon trickled through the glass:
Flowers we appear, to perish as the grass;
A thousand years with Thee, as yesterday is past.

Teach me, O Lord, to number my days,
And satisfy early my deep yearning heart,
That I may rejoice always.
Three-score years and ten are all our lives may hold:
Fleeting years we spend, a tale so quickly told;
And judgment meets us then our Maker we behold."

Teach us, O Lord, to number our days.

****************

Whenever we study a person or historical event, we put them or it up on the timeline. We have a lot that we've studied already but haven't put up on the timeline yet -- hopefully we'll get to that in the next few weeks.
Close-up of timeline (that's Ghandi there wearing blue, sitting beside India).

Another close-up. (Great Wall of China and Eratosthenes calculating the earth's circumference).

And that's the Path of Life schoolroom, complete with bug collections. Of course, our learning extends much farther than just our little schoolroom -- with maps and a globe in the living room, little libraries throughout the house, ongoing experiments and projects extending to the outdoors, and -- a lifetime of learning and adventure waiting to be discovered throughout God's whole earth! Education knows no bounds. Thanks for visiting! I'd love to hear your comments, and see what ideas you have for organizing school!

Embracing Change

Well, the time has come to begin our new school year. Each year is different. This is the first year that we have all children doing full days of school. George, above with his beloved friend Jon, is now officially in first grade. (Where'd my baby go??) On the other end of the spectrum there's Peter, who's now officially in high school. Another baby mysteriously replaced by a handsome young man. Pauline is now in junior high (or do they call that middle school now? I'm showing my age!). And then sweet Michael William full-speed ahead into third grade with his smart self.

Each year IS different. Gone are the days of finger-painting, baking, and reading stories all day by the fire, although we still love to occasionally indulge in these favorite pastimes. Now come the days of sweating over Algebra, immersing deeply in Literature studies, Biology, Bookkeeping, and meticulously recording hours and grades for credits. And Mommy doesn't seem to have quite the energy she used to have. To quote an old folksinger, "Times, they are a'changin". May we embrace the change.

School Outside!

We had such wonderful weather last Thursday, that we decided to have school outside and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. Here's George starting his work, and Michael not starting his work.


Pondering that math equation...hmmmmm.........

It got a little too sunny for George so he retreated to under the trampoline. Pauline soon joined him.

Heart Training

"Teaching subject matter is the easy part of homeschooling. Addressing issues of the heart is much more difficult -- and more important in the long run than anything else we do as parents and homeschoolers. If my children grow up to be rocket scientists but have no love for the Lord in their hearts, if they refuse to obey Him, then I will have failed them." (A quote from Christine Field)

(Photo by Jimi Ann; heart by Pauline)

Reading is Contagious!

Peter

Pauline

Michael and George

I love walking into a room and finding people engrossed in books! Even if they're in strange places. :)

Geography

We use markable maps for some of our geography studies. Here they outlined Vasco de Gama's route from Portugal to India (then they get carried away as usual and try to label as many things as they can from memory)! This is a great tool. (Pauline received an important call from Mimi in the middle of her mapwork). :)

Science Project

Michael and George are going to build a weather vane. Here's the materials they'll use.
Busily working and figuring it out together.
Sissy supervises and guides them when needed. (Teacher training!)
Let's see if it works!
Setting it up outside. It really does work! :) Good job, boys.

Spanish Classes for Pauline

Pauline loves her new foreign language course. She's using Rosetta Stone Spanish.
This is Pauline's most comfortable way to sit. She always sits this way. Even at the supper table.

Learning more about Ancient (and not-so-Ancient) China

Our favorites, so far, from some of the books we've used in our study. We were really impacted by Hudson Taylor's life ("God's Adventurer"), who founded the China Inland Mission. Great book!
Learning how to play Chinese Chess (Peter and Pauline)
Ancient China map -- George and Michael learned about artifacts and historical sites as they placed the correlating stickers on their map.