Books We Are Using This Year
  • The Story of the World: Ancient Times (Vol. 1)
    The Story of the World: Ancient Times (Vol. 1)
    by Jeff West,S. Wise Bauer,Jeff (ILT) West, Susan Wise Bauer
  • Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding: A Science Curriculum for K-2
    Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding: A Science Curriculum for K-2
    by Bernard J Nebel PhD
  • Math-U-See Epsilon Student Kit (Complete Kit)
    Math-U-See Epsilon Student Kit (Complete Kit)
    by Steven P. Demme
  • First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 4 Instructor Guide (First Language Lessons) By Jessie Wise, Sara Buffington
    First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 4 Instructor Guide (First Language Lessons) By Jessie Wise, Sara Buffington
    by -Author-
  • SPELLING WORKOUT LEVEL E PUPIL EDITION
    SPELLING WORKOUT LEVEL E PUPIL EDITION
    by MODERN CURRICULUM PRESS
  • Drawing With Children: A Creative Method for Adult Beginners, Too
    Drawing With Children: A Creative Method for Adult Beginners, Too
    by Mona Brookes
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Friday
Aug132010

Bear's New Friend, by Karma Wilson (our review)

Karma Wilson's bear books numbered among our favorites when Calvin was little. The rhyming is simple and pleasing, the characters sweet, and the stories easy to enjoy. There's nothing deep about these books, they're just a real light and enjoyable read. He's pretty much outgrown them now but we bring them out once in a while just for fun. Here's what Calvin has to say:

"It's about a bear and an owl and their friends. The Owl is too shy to coe out of his hole, but he did and then they went to the swimming hole to sim. He was happy he came out."

"[My favorite part is] when they go swimming all together."

And he says "yes" he would recommend this book to others.

Thursday
Aug052010

Gardening

One of the main homeschooling tenets is that learning occurs any time, any place. The idea that learning is intended to occur in a classroom, surrounded by a plethera of kids of approximately your age and knowledge, between the hours of 9 and 3, monday through friday, during only certain months of the year, is disconcerting to us, to say the least. Sure it's true that going to school does not limit the learning opportunities to be found elsewhere or when you are not in the classroom, but after a number of years of counting down the hours until you no longer have to sit at that uncomfortable desk next to that kid with the snotty nose who likes to kick your chair when he's bored, you just might forget that learning (since learning and school and the desk and the snotty kid are all synonymous to your child mind) is also outside in the trees, in the museums, or in a book read for pleasure.

We always maintained that, if we found homeschooling to be undesirable in any way, we could change our minds and take advantage of the well respected local school system. I don't think, however, that we'll be taking that option. With every new experience that we share I find myself awed by the many things to be learned, and even more so by our son's strong desire to learn them. Everything—and I mean everything—is a learning experience simply because he sees the world that way, and he sees it that way with intense joy.

We gardened last week. We gardened a lot last week: five cubic yards of dirt and one and a half tons of boulders is a lot of gardening. We worked pretty much for three days straight, with Calvin and I getting started on Friday and the three of us, with help from my parents, continuing work right up through dinner time on Sunday. We were pretty darn busy with a lot of adult oriented activities. I expected boredom, I expected acting out, I expected discontent. What I didn't expect, but should have if past experience was any indication, was the determined four year old assistant we had all weeked. There were very few times that Calvin was not involved. He could not, for instance, move 18 inch boulders, but he did use the wheel barrow to transfer dirt from the driveway, two shovels at a time, to the back yard; he did help lay out the black tarping and shovel dirt over it; he did help relocate smaller rocks to more appropiate locations; he did work up a sweat. When we finished the majority job on Sunday just before dinner, we celebrated by getting out the hose with the intention of cleaning off the driveway (where the five cubic yards of dirt had once been), and I think we actually used some of the water for that job after all.

There isn't a logical thread to follow in this post. I'm not actually going to list all the wonderful things Calvin was learning while carting dirt from the front yard to the back, or moving rocks, or planting plants. I'm not going to list those wonderful things he learned because I'm not even sure what they were, but I trust, in fact I know, that he was learnng. Over the next few weeks in the course of our conversation and daily activities he will clue me into what those things were by talking about them. He may not remember how many 18 inch boulders add up to one and a half tons, or how many square feet of garden five cubic yards of dirt can create, but there's plenty to learn about that cache of bugs he found under a large rock, or the funny look of the root ball on one of the plants we put in. Then, once he's clued me in to the things he found interesting, I can follow those threads and take him even further down those roads. See, he actually does most of the work for me.

Friday
Jul302010

Franklin Has A Sleepover, by Paulette Bourgeois (our review)

I'm not a big fond of branding, and that's really what I think character attachment amounts to. I shudder a little inside every time I pass the Diego branded sandwich bags or Dora crayons. What's wrong with Crayola? What's wrong with having your own personal identity? Eek. Ever since we broke out the Old School Sesame Street DVDs we've had to curb a little of this, but since it's not an everyday ocurrence in our house he's been pretty uninterested in the Elmo crap, and is mostly interested in pointed out Bert and Ernie or Big Bird for identifying purposes, not for purchasing.

So what, you might ask, are we doing with a Franklin book? I'm not sure how we ended up with the first Franklin book in our collection, but Calvin really enjoyed the story (I'm not even entirely sure at this point which one it was) and I actually had no qualms about it either—most of those books do more towards teaching kids how not to behave than serving as material for role models (I'm pointing at you, Berentstain Bears!), but most (not all) of the Franklin books seem to skip the old recipe of "show bad behavior first, followed sometimes by consequences and then by corrections" and instead model teaching behavior simply by modeling it, not by showing wrong first. This is definitely not true of all the Franklin books (the New Friend book, for instance, or the one where he fights with his sister before learning to get along with her), but whenever I am looking for books the first thing I do is check for the "bad behavior first" formula, and if I find it the book goes right back on the shelf. (Read Nurture Shock, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman for more about that). Another definite plus to Franklin is that he isn't everywhere you look. I think he has or had a TV show at one time, and most of the cruddy books are from that later era, but he's still a relatively unknown and unsold character. I have no real argument with Franklin.

It's a good thing, too, because Calvin really likes those books. I think he likes that they are all animals. In any case, the book he chose to review this week is Franklin Has a Sleepover, which, by the way, is the story of Franklin inviting his friend bear over for their very first sleepover, and you know what? There's no hitch; nobody sneaks out late, nobody stays up late, nobody is mean, nobody fights. Bear comes over, they have a great time, at one point he is feeling a little homesick and Franklin makes him more comfortable, but this is just one page of many and has no real bearing on the story. Ha, I said bearing and it's about a bear.

Here's what Calvin had to say"

"[The book] is about Franklin and Bear. Franklin cleans up his room and Bear packs his stuff. They set up their tent in the living room and Bear packs games and a sleeping bag. They go to sleep, but bear doesn't feel well. He misses his room so they go tot Franklin's room and sleep there. They have a special breakfast."

"[My favorite part is] where they sit around the fire and have drinsk and roast marshmallows adn hot dogs around the fire."

[Would you recommend this book to others?] "Yes but I would not want them to take ours, but they can get one from the store or the library."

Friday
Jul232010

Making cherry bread

Cooking is still one of my favorite learning activities, and not just for Calvin, but for me as well. With cherry season upon us (almost over, really) I've had a strong desire to try a recipe for cherry bread that I've had on hand for a while now. I actually did try making this bread two years ago but it didn't go particularly well (too dry) and after spending an hour pitting all those beautiful fresh cherries by hand with a knife I was less than excited about giving it a second try. This year, however, Whole Foods had a row of neat little cherry stoners for sale right along next to the bags of fresh, organic, Michigan cherries. Someone was sending me a message.

Calvin helped stone the cherries, measure all the ingredients, crush the fennel with the mortar and psetle, stir the roasting nuts, and mix the batter. When we were done the kitchen might have looked like we'd murdered someone and cleaned up in the sink, but it smelled like heaven.

Friday
Jul162010

Capyboppy, by Bill Peet (our review)

Jon loves Capybaras. Calvin knows this very well thanks to all of our zoo visits, so he decided to get Jon a copy of Capyboppy, by Bill Peet, for Christmas (this being, of course, a lot like Homer Simpson buying a bowling ball as a present for Marge). We actually ordered the book before reading it, but knowing that it was by Bill Peet I was pretty sure it would be a hit. Turns out I was right. I love Peet's very easy and real voice in his stories, and his illustrations are always delightful. And the best thing about Capyboppy is that it is actually a true story from Peet's parenting days. Here's what Calvin says:

"It's about a woman and a man and a boy and they get a capybara. And they chase the little guy until they get him because it's bedtime for him. He runs away out of the fence because someone left the gate open. He squeals because he wants to be let in. And a boy comes over and the capy bites him and his shirt is dripped with blood but the doctor gives him stitches and the boy comes back to give him (the Capy) water and food. It ends in a happy way because they take him to the zoo and he's happy there. He sits in the food box and eats cabbage and carrots."

"I like the writing and I like it because it's a long book."

His favorite part is "when they leave the gate wide open because they find him again on the porch."

The only thing I have to add about this one is that it truly is a long book with less "excitement" in it than most. It is almost more a memoir than a story following a very direct arching path throughout. Calvin loves long books and has a great attention span for them, but I know that not all four year olds do. That being said, it is one of our favorites.