Life of Fred

I have posted before how much Em hates math. In her eyes math is an evil beast whose only purpose is to make her school life miserable. This has been a challenge for me because I am a math person, love it. For the most part, my boys tended to handle math with very little drama at the arithmetic stages. They learned the lessons, did the problems and moved on. This is what a typical day of math with Em looks like...

We did have one year when I tried doing math with out an actual curriculum. It was a great year. I used Kathryn Stouts's book Maximum Math which is a guide that tells you (and shows you how to teach) the math skills for each grade level. That year we "played" math and kept a math notebook. Em loved it and math was tearless. Sadly we went back to the old way of doing math (not sure why) the next two years and back to tears. However, I have gotten wiser as the years have gone by and decided to go back to the 'playing " math after she finishes the BJU Math 4 book. BUT I have been on a hunt to find something to add to our curriculum to make math a little bit more enjoyable and I think I found it, Life of Fred, the elementary books.

A friend of mine is using this with her daughter and mentioned several times how much they love it. I decided to look into it and see what the elementary series was like. First let me mention that these are not your normal math books. They are written in a story like fashion where a boy named Fred(who is a math genius and teaches math at a college and he is only 5 yrs old) lives his life encountering math along the way. Also the author strongly suggests you start with the first elementary book Apples even if you are in 4th level math, even if you zip through it. Each book is about 18 lessons if you do a chapter a day. This is the book we tried.

At first I was thinking this book was way too simple. I did not grasp how these books teach. As we did the readings little math was introduced and it was introduced very subtle. Each chapter ended with a Your Turn to Play section with 2-10 questions. The book Apples focused on telling time to the hour, members in a set, days of the week, ordinal numbers, and the addition/subtraction facts for the number 7. Does not sound like much but by the end of the book (it took Em two weeks to do the book) Em knew, with out hesitation, the facts for 7...no more counting in her head. I looked ahead at the 2nd book Butterflies and it seems to be focusing on the number 9 facts. I think each of the 9 elementary books will focus on a number to help cement the facts for it in the childs mind.

Since I have only used one of the 9 elementary books some may wonder why I am writing this blog post on Life of Fred. Obviously I do not know what the whole series is about and how the teaching methods will work long term. BUT what I do know is my math hater is asking to do Life of Fred math at 7:30pm on a Sunday night because she did not do any during the day and she "neeeds to have her Fred". Maybe she is enjoying them because right now they are easy for her, maybe it is because we sit together and I read the story to her, maybe it is the story, or maybe it is the few math problems she needs to work at the end of each chapter......whatever the reason, she is loving it. She has a positive math outlook when it comes to math and that is important.

UPDATE on Fred seen here

Map Skills

This week Emma began her study of the 50 states. The plan is to do a state a week with an introductory week for each region plus one week on Map Skills. She will construct an "Interactive Notebook" (this is just a typical homeschoolers notebooking notebook but public schools have just discovered the benefits of this learning tool and have come up with a fancy name, so I figured I would use the new label for it). Another part of the plan is to use whatever I have on hand and can find free on the computer. This week was our fist week and we started off with Map Skills.

We are using a graph notebook, but any type can be used or a binder and plain paper. The only rules I gave were:
1 Title Page for Each section
2 number the pages
3 no skipped pages except for the back of the title page, this is reserved for #4
4 create a contents page for each section

In the notebooks we draw, write, and add any work we do (work pages). Projects will be photographed and a picture with a description will be added.
Here is the title page for Map Skills:

We used an old map and cut out letters. Emma decided it needed her name and age...probably because she just turned 9 and everything she is writing has her name and new age on it. On the back we wrote the contents page to map skills.

We studied map skills for 5 days:
Day 1:
1) look at globe and name the continents and oceans
2) talk about longitude and latitude, equator, and prime meridian, and hemisphere
3) make a "You Will Find Me Here" page...draw the earth, US, Iowa, house with address, and you

4) use Features on a Map notebook page
5) draw longitude and latitude lines across the USA and label, title the page Where to Find the USA (I copied a picture of the US and cut it out, any outline drawing of the US will do)

6) do work page on latitude and longitude, trim, and glue in book (i had a work page from The Teacher's Helper magazine)
7) number your pages and record them on the contents page

Day 2:
1) play with a compass
2) find N, S, E, and W while standing in your house, know what way you are looking when looking out a window.
3) draw a compass rose and add the 4 directions, then add NW, SW, NE, SE
4) look at samples of compass roses on the computer, find 3 and print, glue in book

5) do work pages on state directions and city map (I had these on hand)
6) number pages and add to contents

Day 3:
1) discuss map making and using symbols
2) Draw a detailed map using symbols, be sure to add a key, and add color (Emma decided the night before to draw a map using symbols of a made up place, so I did not make her draw our street, we just glued the one she did in her notebook)

3) add page number and add to contents page
This week we had a Discovery Day at the homeschool assistance program, and the study was Map Skills! Sometimes things just have a way of working together.

Day 4:
1) discuss map scales
2) use a road atlas to practice using a map scale. 
3) do work page with map of Iowa (a work page I found in The Mailbox Magazine)
4) number page and add to contents

Day 5:
1)look at different types of maps and discuss
2) look at different maps of Iowa from atlas and encyclopedia
3) draw 2 maps of Iowa other then a road map
4) number and add to contents page
5) if the weekend weather is nice we will go on a mail boxing adventure to practice map reading and compass reading. If we do, you need to add a picture and write about the map skills used.

So far the new direction of study has gone great. Emma would ask to do map skills first and wanted more to do besides what I gave her. I had a feeling E would enjoy making a notebook like this...it is just the next step up from lapbooking in a way.  Next week we will start the actual study of the states. I am breaking them down into regions so New England Region will be the subject of next weeks work followed by a week on Maine and so on. Hoepfully I can keep this up. I am really, really, trying to use just what is on hand or I can find free....and then carry this idea over to all subjects next year. We will see.

The Art Shirt

"Here mom, I want this on a shirt." said hastily by Emma as she hands me her art picture and runs ahead of me on our way home from art class. I am left looking at her art picture...they learned to draw owls...and try and figure out the best possible way to transfer a picture to a shirt we do not have in the least 'work for me' way.

Owl Art

Luckily I knew just what to do....print the picture on fabric printer paper and iron on a shirt (we will need to get a white sweat shirt). No problem.......yeah right. First problem: a plain white sweat shirt could not be found in any of the gazillion stores we looked in at the mall. Emma decided this was good because she said it would look better on a sweater like the one we got from Old Navy only in a different color. Just so happens this sweater is her favorite and she has been asking for another one. However the idea wasn't too bad, the sweater is cute and cheap. We find one in a mulberry/white stripe that will go great with the colors in the drawing.

Second problem: After transferring the picture to the fabric I realized the printer ink is water soluble...in other words I will not be able to wash the shirt. A very active, loves to play outdoors, girl who will be wearing this shirt. No way can this work. Guess I can outline the shirt in embroidery thread. Took all weekend but I got it outlined. The colored in areas were a different problem. I can outline with a embroidery stitch but fill an area and my stitching shows it's flaws. Sharpies are great for this....why I did not think to use the Sharpies to outline the picture with I do not know, but it would have saved me 2 days of work and countless sticks to my fingers...and we happen to have the exact colors needed. I figured after washing, if the Sharpie colors start to fade she can just color them in again.

Third problem: The picture has areas where Emma used crayon to give it a setting sun look. Coloring this in with Sharpie would take away the crayon look. What to use? Time for a trip to Blick art store. Do you know they have fabric dyes in crayon form? Super neat and easy to use. The results looked exactly like the original art work. Best of all the dye gets set with a hot iron...just color and iron...permanent color.

With the picture now transferred to the shirt I encountered the last problem, it looked sort of plain and just stuck on the shirt. Guess I need to add a border. I found some large rick rack at Michaels and some cute Owl ribbon. I am happy to say the result turned out better then I planned.

Completed Shirt

Closer look

Even closer look

Here are the supplies I used for the "simple" art to shirt project.

Supplies minus the embroidery thread

Em loves the shirt (so all the hard work was worth it) and she has plans to wear it to her next art class. Hopefully that class will not produce another project for me to do.

Unsocialized...in a sense

This week I decided to unsocialize myself. I quit facebook and the forum I have visited for years. No deep philosophical reasons for it, just got tired of the same old stuff. The forum was a homeschool forum and while homeschool was discussed so were many hot buttons. I think my rose colored glassed just got too cracked for my taste. Seeing how people really think, the hate in them, the "me" mentality, the "everyone is an idiot if your view is different" people. Then there are those who can shove tolerance down your throats but have no idea what it really means. I think the thread that got me started on feeling the need to get away from these people was on a thread that discussed breaking laws. Apparently it is okay to break rules and laws if you think they are stupid or don't apply to you and your special family. Boggles the mind...how does one pick and choose what laws and rules to follow and which ones do not apply to you. Change the law don't break it. Don't like a rule of an establishment, then don't go there. Why do you get to decide what is right/wrong/or not needing to pertain to you.

Anyway, I will move on..........
Since I now have eliminated half the purpose of going online for me, I now have more time. Time to focus on the house, on homeschooling, and even on myself. Since Monday I have cleaned the entire house, organized my closet, finished knitting mittens for my hubby (this deserves a blog post of its own), taught school to Em (all subjects)and be finished by 11:30am, read a book, made yarn balls from skeins of yarn, and made gauge swatches for the 3 projects I plan to knit for myself. I have found new enjoyment in the home. I even made a cake and found myself bored for a short time on Wednesday. Even have time to blog again.

The thing is, I never really spent hours and hours on these sites, just while I drank coffee and then an occasional peek to see if anything needs a response. I think the time sucked from my day was the emotional gunk these things placed on me. It slowed me down. Got me irritated and at times in a funk. It was all that gunk I took away from my time online that slowed me down. It was enough of a "gunk takeaway' that not having it anymore was visible...an acquaintance saw me yesterday and commented how happy I looked. I realized I really felt happy. I mean not just surface happy, but deep down. I did not have all that gunk build up anymore.

So there will be no facebook or twitter for me...no following forums. I will be , in the worlds eyes, unsocialized. I will get my rosy glasses fixed. I will be happy.

Settlement in a New Land

The Mayflower has landed and we embarked on a study of life in Plymouth this week. Kate Water's books played a large part in our study...her books are excellent giving a "first person" view of life during this time.

It is funny how you can read and discuss history but then something clicks and the child actually gets it was real (even if they are told). This happened with Emma this week. We read several books on the Pilgrims and the first settlers but it was not until we were reading The Thanksgiving Story when she heard about the baby born on the Mayflower, Oceanus, for the 3rd time that it clicked...this was a real event. She got all excited and has played Mayflower and Pilgrims since complete with a baby named Oceanus.

Emma and Baby Oceanus on the deck of the Mayflower.

In addition to Pilgrims we studied the 13 colonies. Emma traced a map to make a picture of the colonies and then we used the state sheets from My Father's World Adventures (we did a year ago) to find out why they were formed and how they got their names. She then labeled her map.

Sign of the Beaver was finished this week. We both really enjoyed this and got a better look at the Native American way of life. it has actually inspired both Emma and I to look at homesteading/survival books to see how to make things from nature. And with all emotionally charged books I choked up on the last line on the book making it hard to read properly. Sigh...I am getting too emotional these days.

We started A Tree in the Trail and I am enjoying it. Emma listens but I am not sure she is getting what I want out of it. Next week we finish this book and start Witch of Blackbird Pond as well as our Colonist study beginning with Welcome to Felicity's World. We will be staying on colonists for a while as we do the Time Traveler's cd. Emma is reading through the Felicity books and also started on the mystery series for Felicity. I love this time period and so I have no problem staying here for a while.

Pilgrims and a Missing Miss Nelson

We were back to school this past week and it was almost a full week of school, July 4th gave us a holiday. First I mentioned in the last blog post about using the Mailbox Magazine for English and I think it was a great decision based on the enthusiasm Emma gave. We spent the week working on the book Miss Nelson is Missing . Emma had fun with each exercise and said she hopes we use this for English forever. I am sure it was the newness and the use of the book Miss Nelson this week but who am I to squash her excitemnet for English work.

For history we started our Colonial Times with a week on Pilgrims and an Archeological Dig. The dig was an idea from the Time Traveler Colonial Life we are using as our spine. It talked about items discovered during a dig at Ferry Farm and had a notebooking page to make showing the things found and what they were for. Emma then did her own dig using a 2 liter bottle as her dig site. The day before I went to the Crowded Closet (a place to find used items of everything and anything) and hunted for small objects that might be found during colonial times and then mixed them in the mud and poured it into the "dig site". Before digging Emma had to mark the side of the bottle with 1 inch marks indicating the layers. As she dug she had to note what layers items were found in as well as describing the item, drawing it and speculating how it was used in an Archeological Journal we made.

Emma uncovered a crystal prism, metal thimble, metal/wooden medallion, and a choker.

We read several books about the pilgrims, mayflower, and the Strangers and why they were traveling to the New World. One book we both enjoyed was Three Young Pilgrims. It was based on 3 real children who were on the Mayflower. At the end of the book it gave some background to the Saints and Strangers plus the names of the people on board the Mayflower. Emma thought some of the names were weird...like Remember...but we discussed why they had those names and even though she still said she would hate to be called Remember she could understand why they did that.

We did not do science this week because I thought we would take a break from Apologia and because the books for Elemental Science Chemistry did not come in. AND I still need to order BJU Science 3, but I am waiting till I have enough in my paypal account to buy that curriculum. Good news is I sort of do...I sold enough on ebay to cover the cost of the curriculum except I need to wait for the transaction to clear which will be about 4 days after the buyers receive their things. I did download the ebook for Chemistry and it looks great...excited to start this.

Next week Daniel starts 11th grade (my baby boy is growing up...sniff, sniff) so I spent free time getting his things ready. I am going to try and blog about his High School stiff but you know teens and their reluctance for parents to discuss them, so we will see. Anyway...I got all his things organized.

We went over how each subject will be done and what is expected for work as well as how grades would be generated. I will discuss the curriculum he is using and how we are using it next week. To help with organizing I put all the weeks needed things on his desk...

...which brings me to his actual desk. Friday he tells me his desk fell apart and he needed duct tape to hold it together (he uses Duct tape for everything). Emma and I had just got back from a bike ride where we saw a nice computer desk being thrown away....guess who got the street side desk...Daniel! God supplies all our needs!

A more productive week

I am happy to announce this week there was more work and less loafing around. I still played Zelda but not as often or as long. Instead I used this week to clean up the library, finish organizing last years school work from Daniel, and rethink a few things for Emma.

My poor library has too many books and not enough space so I keep shuffling books around. Another problem is I bought the useless  5 shelf book cases from Target. There is just too much space between shelves...lots of wasted space, and the shelf in the middle is fixed so you are stuck with a nice huge gap at the top. Right now I have boxes stored on the top shelf but it looks messy and I would rather more books. I just did not want to spend lots on bookcases since we are renting and who knows what will be needed for the house we buy. So now I am always rearranging these dumb things and getting more frustrated by the wasted space.

I have 2 of these useless things. I also have 2 sturdy metal racks I bought for bookcases but once I put them together i realized my mistake. There are no sides to the books fall through. I ran two rows of wire down the sides to keep the books in. These actually are not bad, they hold lots of books and there is no bending of the shelves. The top shelf needs bookends but it is usable....more so then the target ones.

So with 2 crappy bookcases and more books then book case space I am always rearranging and pulling books from storage to swap with what is out. I do not think I can express in words how much I miss my custom made built in book cases our old home had...floor to ceiling, wall to wall...sigh.

Besides cleaning and reorganizing,  I spent time trying to figure out some things I was not happy with for Emma English wise. We tried (for the millionth time) the SL Language that came with core D but after 1 week I just could not use it. I honestly do not want to spend money or much time with English this year because Emma has had quite a lot of Language since she started school (FLL 1-3, BJU Language/Phonics K-3, Abeka Language/Phonics pre K-3). I really wanted to work on some skills with out them being to schoolish or forced. While working on the bookcases I was once again faced with a bunch of old Mailbox Magazines and Books I have collected over the many years. I have dwindled the pile down by half since we no longer need the pre K-2nd grade items, but it is still a nice amount of space they take up.

Almost a foot of book case space

The problem is every time I decide to get rid of them I open them up and see all the really great ideas. There are tons in there that I can use for homeschool. There was even a time I had plans to use just these books for ideas on all subjects for the year...no curriculum, just these...and you know, I believe it would have been a great year (I still do). After spending hours going through the magazines and theme/month books I decided we will use these for Language Arts...but a trial first. I have one Mailbox magazine and one Teacher Helper left that is for 2nd and 3rd grade and I will use this for July (it's the Aug-Sept 2004 issues but It will be fine).

I will avoid the busy work ideas/pages because Emma has gotten over her love of workbook pages. Instead I am focusing on writing and reading ideas with some grammar work thrown in. In the magazine pictured they have a great go along ideas to use with the Miss Nelson is Missing book that we will do next week: compare/contrast chart, make a missing person poster, finding the clues to the identity of Miss Swamp and writing to the detective to help him....along the way we will explore story theme, recalling details, analyzing characters and making inferences. The Following week we will work with the story Lon Po Po. In addition to those we will cover antonyms and synonyms, developing writing ideas, and cover some phonics for review. I believe that is quite a lot for the month. If we both enjoyed this month of Language Arts I will continue with the plan. The rest of the mailbox books and Magazines are for Intermediate levels 4th-6th grade which will allow me to pick and choose lending itself to more then one year of use.I figured if I am going to keep them I better use them....and after using them if I find they are not working, then chuck um, almost a foot of prime bookcase space is too priceless to keep items with no real value to me on.

Oh and one quick thing, can you tell me what I need with catalogs from 2004? I went through my stack of homeschool catalogs and found a few with old dates....with the exception of the SL catalogs that date prior to 2011, one does not need old catalogs, especially ones I have never ordered from. It is madness the things I keep finding...plain madness.

Our week off

This past week was our off week which was much needed. I would love to post all the adventures and activities we did during that time off, but the reality of it was just relaxing for the week. The bugs (mostly annoying gnats) and humid weather made outdoors uninviting so no hiking, nature seeking, letterboxing took place. Mostly we just read and played video games with knitting and drawing thrown in. Daniel and I embarked on a challenge...to beat Zelda Skyward Sword in 7 days....we did not make the deadline but had great fun playing it. I am extremely embarrassed to say I have clocked over 40hrs playing that thing and only reached about 3/4th of the way through. I tend to panic when the 4 arm skeleton or the other baddies come at me. Also I am not very graceful with the Wii remote....spasmodically waving the thing and sitting on the edge of my seat, sometimes standing up to help with the play...at least I get  some exercise while playing. Daniel on the other hand is calm and makes just slight moves with the controller, almost no energy exerted...

Emma decided her room needed a new look. She is always moving her things around and rearranging what she can but she wanted her bed moved this time. She drew up plans so we had a picture of what she wanted. She made sure we understood by adding labels and arrows.

Saturday was the big move and it turned out to be more complicated then just moving a bed and things. Where the bed was going has a dresser in the spot and where the dresser was going has a bed in that spot, plus a desk, book case, toy organizer and other "things" are all over the room. Add to that the toys that were in and on these things. Lots of shuffling and reshuffling took place. Some of her plans had to change once we started moving things. Her dask would not work where she planned and the bookcase was best left where it was. However...once completed it was worth the trouble: 1) got the areas unreachable dusted and vacuumed, 2) organized her things, and 3) trashed the junk, boxed up old but keep-able toys, purged things not wanted anymore.

Since the room is all clean and fresh, Emma has been in there playing for days. I went upstairs to do some work and found her just laying in her bed. When asked if she was alright I was told "just enjoying my room"

At night she makes sure everything is picked up. Wish I knew letting her rearrange her room would have such a positive outcome...all those years trying to get her to play in there AND keep it clean. I am sure there is some psychology going on about taking ownership and all but I am just glad she is loving her room.

During the week off I was suppose to be getting things ready for the next few weeks of school, making copies, acquiring supplies...lets just say it is a good thing Emma talked me into another week off. I did print off a few lessons from Time Travelers but I haven't made the lapbook yet. I also wanted to evaluate what we have done, how we are doing it, and if it needs some tweaking. For the most part I am satisfied and will continue doing the same, however next year I will drop the science lapbook and do more Charlotte Mason type notebooking. If we do the Elemental Science Chemistry during this year I might implement it then we will see.

Kaya, American Girl: a review

This year for American History I am using the non fiction American Girl books Welcome to (insert AG name here) and their fictional counterparts. The first one we used was Welcome to Kaya's World and feel a review is in order.

First off let me point out that this particular Welcome book is different then all the other ones because it focuses on one group of Indians and their way of life and how they were affected by the white man. Some things can be said were similar to other Indian Tribes but not all, the housing, food source, travel, and whether peaceful or war like were different. From what I can tell the others in this series deal with historical time frames and not a particular set of people...well maybe Addy does, it will be focusing on the African American people mostly but does include life for the different classes (for lack of a different word). I found the focus on one Tribe to be a little troublesome since our study was on American Indians and not on just the Nez Perce people. Because of this I had to look elsewhere for information on other tribes. I used the library and a few books I had on hand to give a look into several different tribes based on where they lived. SL also had 2 general books on American Indians that we used.

Another thing different with Kaya's World was there were no accompanying food book or craft book like you find with Felicity and the others. I would have loved to make some crafts as well as typical American Indian dished even if it was all based on the Nez Perce.

Despite the limitations this particular Welcome book had I was quite impressed with the information it provided. We learned everything from their idea of how they were created to wedding rituals and what child hood was like to different ceremonies for the seasons (they had more then 4). This book also gave a glimpse into the awful treatment of the Nez Perce (and you can figure they were not the only Native American Indians (NAI) people treated this way) by the government. At the end of the book it talked about how the Nez Perce live today which Emma found very interesting.

Alongside the Welcome book we read 2 of the 6 fictional books about Kaya. These added a great deal to the study of NAI as many historical fiction tend to do with the history being studied. Emma got a feel for life in a tribe and as an Indian during that time. One thing Emma really understood by the time we finished our NAI study was how Indians were able to use nature for all their needs...even down to the poop of an animal. Waste was not thought of, everything had a use as well as being able to be recycled.

Overall I feel like we accomplished our goal...learning about NAI. I think the Welcome Books will continue to do what I want and look forward to the next in the series Welcome to Felicity's World.

Weekly review #7 or is it #8?

This week turned out to be bittersweet. Emma is growing up, which is wonderful, a little girl moving from being dependent on mom for much to a young lady willing to go at it on her own. I saw signs of the breaking away from dependency at the beginning of the 3rd grade year. She insisted she have her own schedule for school, so each week there are two schedules, one for her independent work and one her dependent work. Slowly over the 8 weeks I would see her doing things fro my portion of the schedule. Little things like doing the history readings aloud to me instead of me to her, grabbing the Discover 4 Yourself  Bible workbook without me knowing and completing the work then bringing it to me to check. Thursday she rearranged her room, and had her brother move the desk upstairs (it normally sits next to my desk). Friday she took both schedules and did all the work alone, with the exception of the read aloud. She did throw me a few bones though...I was allowed  to discuss the history and Apologia science with her after she read it to me. So it is official, my baby has grown up.

Emma Ruth   3months  2005

Emma Ruth   8yrs   2013

 A few months ago I joined (for Emma) a post card exchange offered on the Sonlight Core D Forums and have steadily  been receiving postcards from all over the United States and a few from Canada. As of today we have 18 cards. This has been a great addition to the United States study and I am so glad we have been a part of this. I do feel sort of guilty though, most of the cards we have received have had facts about the state it came from but on the cards Emma sent out I had her write something about herself (we were using it as writing exercises for English). Our cards did not reflect the interesting facts about Iowa, instead they let the recipient know what was happening in an 8yr old's life at the time....likes playing with dolls, learned to ride a bike, went swimming, tornado warnings and being scared of storms. This is how we are keeping track of the cards we receive:

One more week of Indians and then a week off. I am looking forward to both. Next week I will give a review of using the American Girl books on Kaya. I will just say that so far I am happy with what is happening with our school and plan on staying with my plan....using the AG books and the TT studies with SL core D as a go along.

Just wanted to add this picture of Emma, this is a typical scene during one of the school breaks. She listens to a cd while reading on the Nook.

Web of Life, a crochet adventure with rocks

I am a rock hound. I have always been. Some of my fondest memories are sitting in the early morning light and going through each rock in my family's garden (they used small rocks instead of mulch). I would look at each rock, hoping to find a fossil or a rock worthy of my collection. I still have that collection plus many more. My neighbor is the same and I envy her. She has used rocks as decor. They are all over her house in neat little nooks and on the windowsill and in pretty jars. Mine are in boxes and drawers but some have been slowly making their way into the light.

Recently I have been getting crochet pattern books from the library, usually I get knitting books, and found this absolutely adorable pattern for a web to cover a rock. So Pretty Crochet took an ordinary river rock and made it look delicate in a pattern called Web of Life.

Two of my 3 greatest passions, rocks and yarn (the third is books) coming together...It was a must do project. For weeks I looked for the perfect rock even renewing the book so I can get this project done. The ones in the book were perfect ovals or egg shaped. Mine were more Lima bean shaped or had an irregular edge. The biggest problem was size. Mine were all 1" to 2" and the pattern called for 3-4". Out of desperation I posted a Rock Wanted sign on a forum I frequent. Sigh....how was I to get this wonderful creating accomplished? Then, while sitting at a stop light, I happen to look around and found myself in front of a garden shop, one that sells paving stones and landscape rocks. and right in front, in a wire bin were RIVER ROCKS (cue heavenly light and angelic singing).

Once home with my 3 River rocks ( I could go into how I had to sort through the big pile and find just the right ones and how the thought of leaving any rock behind made me nauseous, but I will spare you) I washed them and made them ready for the Web of Life design. I will admit to playing with them some...stack them, admired how they looked in that corner or another corner...you get the idea.....but then on to the project and the next snag in the web. No yarn.

I just inventoried my yarn stash and have 68 full balls and 30 partial balls of yarn of various size and colors. None are white and none are the size needed. Okay...not panicking I decided to use a light lavender that is thicker then called for, but that is fine, my rocks are twice as big as the pattern calls for....should work.

With yarn in hand and my just-dug-from-the-bottom-of-my-craft-bin crochet hook I was ready, but how to start. All my crochet skills vanished. How to start a chain? How to do a single crochet? What is a "tr" and how do you make one? So out comes the crochet book. I now need to relearn crochet. After figuring out the basics I begin.

After 4 tries, froggings, and retries, I had my base chain circle. Emma and I admired that 10 chain beauty. Modeling it on our finger like a priceless ring. I will have to say, the men in my house are oblivious to the turmoils and triumphs my new adventure is creating but Emma is right there, cheering me on every step of the way. Back on the project...I was told to make a triple crochet and join it to the circle...huh? More frogging, more tries and I think I have it. So for 3 hours I toiled at this endeavor and make a web. It drapes nicely over my rock and once again the admiration takes place with Emma "oohing" and "ahhing" at all the right places. Now to finish it.Again I am stumped by the directions but I venture on. The end project is a too thick web draped over a rock with a huge tangle underneath, But the underneath will not be seen and no one but me really knows the web is too thick.

I now call the men folk over to view my newest creation...the Web of Life....a mistake I should have foreseen (troglodytes the two of them), the young male looks at it and says "you dressed a rock? Really?" the older male just grunts "ah-humm" not really knowing what he is suppose to be looking at. So I try to educate them and explain it is a web on a rock, the Web of Life. Youngest just repeats the same just in reverse order and the older adds a "nice' to his confused look. Emma, of course knows just what to say and has declared all rocks need this and she will learn crochet so she too can partake in the beautifying of the world...(actually this is what I heard in her "Mom, it is beautiful" reply).

Not being discouraged by the nay-sayers and scoffers, I give it a second try, This time I decide on a smaller yarn and one a more nature-like color. I know just the thing. A yarn I have had for years, one with no label, but too pretty to donate. It varies from extra fine to unspun looking in areas and it is mossy green...perfect. this time I understand the pattern better and produce a very-close-to-the-pattern look.

I am pleased with the results but still the web is not giving me that feeling of satisfaction. The pattern rock had a white web, maybe that is the problem. I need white yarn. With one river rock left I am determined to make my Web of Life work. Yesterday I was able to get the white yarn....had to sneak it in while shopping for a birthday present for Emma's friend. Today I will attempt the 3rd web. In the mean time, someone contacted me about my Rock Wanted post, she is going to send me a 3" river rock, maybe two and I heard there is a store that sells river rocks for the garden, small 2"-4" size in a large bag for $5....might be worth checking out....I mean a large bag of rocks for $5, my heart it racing.

Time Travelers New World Explorers, a review

We have spent the last 7 weeks using New World Explorers as one of our spines for American History and I feel a review is in order. This is my personal view on the product and how it worked with my specific 3rd grader. Also we only used the lesson pages and the lapbook work with a few other projects thrown in. We did not do any notebooking work so this review will not cover any of those assignments. With that said, where to begin...
The product itself is just a cd and you will need to either read everything online or print it off. I usually do not like this format but I was familiar with this product from past use and knew what to expect of myself (pre-printing before the day needed) and printed what was needed for the week on the weekend as I made schedules. This way I only printed off what I absolutely needed. For us, this was the lesson page, the project pages that only contained lapbook work and the actual lap book work. We did not need the notebooking pages. The cd has a detailed section on how to set up the lapbook...very detailed with step by step pictures on the actual making of the lapbook as well as where everything goes. Pictures of our finished lapbook are at the end of this post.

The lessons themselves were about 2 pages long. These were very detailed but written in a matter of fact way so the delivery of the info was boring. They info on the explorers were dry facts with no drawing in power to the reader or listener. I usually just highlighted the main things needed for each explorer and picked one or two facts of interest if any or used the sheets as a guide on who we were studying for the day. Here is where library books came in handy. The books offered the info in a more interesting way. Even if my child was older the lesson pages would not have drawn her in...I read them and yawned. It could have been the subject to...so many explorers and  trying to get the info on 2 pages might have meant leave out the glitz. We will see how the other lessons are written in the other TT curricula, but since I am using them as guides I am fine with this.

The amount of offerings each day and/or week kept things interesting and always something could be found that interests the child. From elaborate projects such as building a large cardboard ship to play in (we did not do this) to making spice cookies (yummy). The activities also drew on different skills from creative writing to hands on experiments and allowed you (or your child) to do as little or as much as wanted. I felt we always had options on activities and not once was left with no project for the week. Each week ended with 2 recipes from a country where the explorers were sent from. Several games could be made, these looked very nice (not hokey) and even though we did not do them I feel they were excellently created and looked fun for the whole family. Suggestions for an end of the curriculum party complete with decorations are also given. Be sure to take pictures of the projects because on the lapbook there is a section specifically for pictures of the projects.

The lapbook is put together in an orderly fashion and when closed is a tidy single file folder size. We did a lapbook last year that was like a road map when trying to fold it up, a complete headache each time we added to it. This one is neat, as in not messy. We made ours as suggested including the making of the ropes, but you could just glue the picture on the front and that would be good enough. They suggest you put your lapbook pieces in a bag and assemble it at the end, but we added as we went so no lost pieces (which I am sure would have happened even if I placed them in a zip lock and hid them in a lock box). The lapbook display pieces were not elaborate (with the exception of the equipment wheel) and easy for my 3rd grader to figure out on her own, but not boring. Some could be made as detailed or as plain as the creator wanted them to be so no feeling locked into a certain design method. All the pieces are placed in a pleasing manner so when opened you do not feel overwhelmed but in an inviting come-see-what-I-learned manner. Note: the lapbook had acetate mini maps you could create for the different explorer routes but we did not do those.

Overall I feel the Time Traveler Explorers cd was well worth the money and did exactly what I wanted. It provided me with a guide on explorers to teach to Emma, fun activities, and a neat lapbook, plus it went well with the SL curriculum weeks 1-4. I will most certainly be continuing with my plan to use the Time Traveler cds with SL.

Explorers are done (weekly review)

We have finished the 24 explorers from the Time Traveler cd....whew!, what an information overload. There were some I knew and some I never heard of. For Emma I just read the highlights of each explorer and the main thing they were noted for. The information TT gave was just too much for her. But with that said, I think it was a great way of getting her to understand how Spain, Portugal, and England had a big hand in the exploration of the newly found half of the world and what some of the impact of their exploring did...both good and bad. Next week we move onto Pirates and then we will be done the first Time Traveler cd. I will post a picture of the finished lapbook next week. I think it is coming out quite nice.

Another thing we finished up this week was the book Walk the Worlds Rim. It has been an enjoyable read but glad it is over. I was getting tired of the internal battle Chakoh was having with slaves, his idea of them versus what he was seeing with Esteban. Oh and the constant eating of food or thinking of food, always made me hungry. Emma was very sad how it ended but not enough that it was a problem. She will be watching National Treasure 2 just for fun as a reward for us finishing this book. We also started the next Sonlight book, The Sign of the Beaver. Emma was very disapproving of the dad leaving a 12yr old home alone in the wilderness, mumbling her disapproval several times, even after I tried to explain a 12yr old boy back then was more mature then now...she still things it was wrong.

The Native American study is going strong and will continue for a few more weeks. I am only reading 4 pages from the Welcome to Kaya's World a day so it will take a while to finish the book. This week we read about children and what they did for fun. One of the things we read was how the children made a hoop and would shoot arrows through it as it rolled around. We modified the game some and used a tire swing and sticks. Just as we started to play, the neighborhood kids came over and after hearing about the game they all took turns. I left them to play but heard plans on making different levels they had to try...swinging the tire slowly, spinning it, standing at different spots....each time you made it you moved up a level. I heard them laughing and squealing for a while. Later at dinner Emma was telling me how much fun they had and how they were making up new rules. Apparently you could go up to 20 levels. No one made it past level 6....standing with your back against the tree and throwing the stick with your left hand white the tire swung fast past you.

The library did not have a good selection of Native American craft books but I did find one we were able to get the directions for making a Dream Catcher. I knew they were believed to catch bad dreams (Thanks to one of the Twilight movies) but not the actual legend. The book told about how the Lakota Indians and the Iktome (spider) who was tricked into revealing how to spin a web. The Lakota use Willow branches to make their dream catchers but we did not have a willow tree near by, instead I found a supple branch that was straight...good enough for us. I showed Emma how to carefully bend the branch, slowly so it does not crease, and form a circle. We used tape to hold it in circle form while she took yarn and wound it over the tape.

The next day she took yarn and wove the web. She added beads and a feather from our stash of feathers. As she worked on the dream catcher I read to her from Meet Kaya.

Finished and hanging over her bed.

In science this week we started Chapter 2 in Apologia's Flying Creatures. I have been debating starting chapter 2 or skipping ahead to ch 9, insects. I want to be sure to hit this chapter when the bugs are still out and not when it gets too cold. I also want to get the bird study in when we have more birds at our feeder. I figured to go ahead with the order of the book but if it looks like we will not read the insect chapters in time I will just skip ahead then and come back to birds. So...chapter 2. One of the things I wanted for her notebook was a feather she finds. Sadly the birds are not dropping them yet. But, on one morning when I sent her out to look she came running back in all excited, I was to drop everything and come at once. there under the bushes was a baby bird, dead. We moved to to the deck to get a better look at it. Poor thing must have been attacked (hole in it's side and no nest above where it was found). We were able to look at it real good, seeing the different parts, and the tiny wings with pin feathers just forming. Very interesting and the pictures will be a great addition to her notebook when we get to baby birds.

Afterward  we put it back where we found it. At first Emma did not want it under the bushes. But I explained the alternative was either throwing it away or burying it (which might get dug up). This way we let nature take care of it. She has peeked on it several times and found the ants have taken care of it quite well.
For the feather, we just pulled one from our stash, which is getting low now that we have used 2 this week.

For art Emma worked on her mushroom house picture. It is finally finished and I promised her we would frame. Hopefully we will be able to speed up the art some. Doing 1 lesson over 2 weeks is longer then I figured. Maybe once we move from summer mode(3 days a week school) to school mode (5 days a week) she will be more willing to speed up. She does not want to do anything school related on Tuesdays and Thursdays...and who can blame her.