Mexico Week

This week we began our look at other countries and cultures. We took a look at the wonderful country of Mexico. I knew this would be a fun mini-unit study but I never expected Jordan to be as excited as he was about it. He LOVED it! He didn't want to stop coloring. And enjoyed our crafts.

I do have to say, I had planned many more crafts than actually got accomplished. Jordan's seventh birthday was in the middle of the week and we took the day off to enjoy it with him. I hadn't planned to do that. My hubby is very spontaneous and wanted to give him the day off, so what's a mom to say??

However, we had a great week starting the day out with Mexico. Listed below are some of the coloring sheets I used for Jordan (first grade) to make a Mexico booklet. This one has a coloring page of a Mexico blanket, sombrero that my little guys had a blast coloring.

My coloring worksheets from Enchanted Learning were fabulous. We incorporated the Map of Mexico, Flag of Mexico, and animals commonly found in Mexico such as the Kangaroo Rat, Chihuahua Dog, and Roadrunner from their site. Enchanted Learning not only gives you a "coloring page" to color, it is also chock full of great info. I should mention that I am a member of Enchanted Learning. Membership is $20/yr and is a great resource. I cannot recommend it enough.

Spanish dictionary from Enchanted Learning to color and fun to run through the words for the kids to hear a different language! The boys learned spanish words such as siesta, fiesta, Feliz Cumpleanos (Jordan's birthday was last week), sombrero and we reviewed Spanish colors and numbers.

I also hit on a great place to look at some sites around Mexico that gives you a virtual tour . Jordan and I checked out the Chiapas virtual tour and then we got to see the ruins at Palenque along with Agua Azul. Breathtaking waterfalls. This site is loaded with lots of stuff--just be sure to check it before you involve your child. You know how websites can change overnight. I believe there is also a map of volcanoes around Mexico. It would add a little more science/geography to the unit study.

For Mexico crafts and recipes, my favorite website is DLTK-KIDS . We made a newspaper sombrero and painted it. Very cool! My boys love to play dress-up. We also made a colorful blanket they could wear by painting stripes on newspaper and then tying string to the edges which were hole-punched. I cut a hole in the middle for their heads to fit through. Cute! For maracas, I did the easy-peasy paper-plate maracas located on dltk.com's website. All you need is beans or rice, two paper plates, stapler and markers or paint and crepe streamers or tissue paper cut into ribbons.

Dltk-kids also has a cute Spanish song that we have learned to sing to the tune of "Are You Sleeping" that my little guys and I sing all the time now.

For general information on Mexico as country I used Wikipedia as my resource. I also used this site to find out about the sports they like to play such as soccer, baseball, bullfighting, charreria, etc.

To wrap up the week the boys dressed up and put on a show for Daddy. They sang their song and told about all the things they had learned about Mexico. We played "Blind Chicken" after eating some yummy tacos and tostadas and mexican bunuelos. YUM!!

We have had soo much fun learning about Mexico that Jordan is ready to pack his bags and go there to visit:)

OOOh-Lala . . . Free Rosetta Stone

Wow, if there's one thing I REALLY would love for my boys to study it's foreign languages. I would be right there with them, too!! My Father's World curriculum sings the praises of Rosetta Stone's successful approach to teaching languages but alas, it's expensive and doesn't fit into our meager budget. But the cool thing is I came across a CONTEST for a FREE Rosetta Stone Latin program. Check it out below and be sure to go to http://jeneralities.com/?p=541986 to ENTER THE CONTEST.

Rosetta Stone is the fastest way to learn a language and has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while — and you can WIN the *all new* version 3 Rosetta Stone Homeschool LATIN program… FOR FREE! This is the first year you can get Latin in the brand new Version III update.This is a $259 program (and believe me it’s worth every penny!).This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever! Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress- I love that!), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.To win this most excellent Latin program copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR link to the contest from your facebook page and/OR email the information to your homeschool support group – Then go to the original page http://Jeneralities.com and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post. And good luck!****

Countries and Cultures

I am so excited!! We are going to wrap up our geography with trips to other countries! Well, not literally. I'm currently writing lesson plans and finding some great websites to enrich our learning of the countries. According to my KONOS Curriculum Volume 1, the author states that to write a lesson plan on other countries and cultures you need to research the following: geography, literature, costrumes, food (the best part!), dances, songs, music, festivals, sports, games, art, religion, and flag. I'm also including native animals and Christian missionary stories as well as climate.

Here is a list of countries that we are going to explore in depth:

Mexico
Peru
England
France
Italy
Israel
Egypt
India
China
Australia
and a few we're just going to graze the surface of Germany,
Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Bahamas, Puerto
Rico and the Virgin Islands.

I wish we had time to explore all of the in depth but I plan on accomplishing that during our third grade year with My Father's World: Exploring Countries and Cultures. I can't wait.

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

As a homeschool family, we are in our house 24/7, 365. My boys are very creative. Their creativity in my eyes is spelled M-E-S-S!!!!! It seems one mess is picked up and another one is "invented." This week my sons have invented a motorcycle rider complete with a real motorcycle hemelt and a "body" made of books and toys. It drives me crazy because it is in the middle of Jordan's room and we all have to step around it to get out the back door to the yard. As if that wasn't enough, today it grew arms--hangers, my hangers. We have floor check nightly and the boys get paid $1 a week for keeping their floors picked up. However, "creations" are not mess and all around the "creation" is clean. What's a mother to do???

Now keep in mind that's just one mess. Yesterday, Jordan became interested in an old mill that was operated by an enormous waterwheel. So interested was he that he built one in my living room--with his father's permission---and also built a bakery to go with it. . . in the corner of my living room. Since Wednesday is my "stress" day due to AWANA, I came close to a meltdown. . . well, let's admit it, I had a meltdown. I demanded it picked up by bedtime, then changed my mind and demanded it be picked up before we left for church. And, it was picked up. . .Jordan is a tremendouse picker-up. He gets all the credit. He's fast and thorough.

But, after church, my children received another brainy idea. While watching "MythBusters" for only ten minutes, my kids decided to pile up the covers and pillows on our loveseat and "pretend" to dive into "syrup." Yeah. . .

Today, the focus for Jordan has been creating a rocket ship out of 50 tiny, little cups. For Landon, the focus has been creating a submarine out of about 24 tiny, little cups with toy propellers on the back and tape---lots of tape. The child is tape-crazy is you ask me.

Trying to take all this in stride, I am reminded of the missionary Nate Saint. His mother never discouraged any of her seven kids from their "inventiveness." In fact, she often helped them to make their inventions. If you've ever read about Nate you know that he grew up to become a very inventive and resourceful bush pilot in Ecuador. His resourcefulness most assuredly had been fostered by a mother who took a deep breath and dived right into the madness of messes. In other words, she didn't sweat the small stuff.

Messes will come and go. As a mom of two "inventors", I need to foster the "stuff" that will make my boys problem solvers. I never know what the Master has in store for my little dudes. It could one day help to reach others with the gospel of Christ.

First Grade Schedule Evolution

I'm still going through first grade goodies and posting them for future reference. I was recently asked if I had a "strict" schedule that I follow each day in order to homeschool. The answer is: Yes, I have a schedule. But NOT a strict schedule.

What I mean by that is my family is somewhat flexible. The first mistake I made in homeschooling this year was to set a time for certain activities to happen. This is great for many families, just not mine.

At the beginning of the year, Landon, my then 3 year old was at the YMCA for four hours a day. During this time, Jordan and I completed school in 4 1/2 hours and made sure to get it done BEFORE Landon got home. Landon was a distraction to me and Jordan because he likes to pester his brother. I felt that teaching my older son to read and do some of the "heavier" first grade math lessons (figuring out greatest and least of a number, etc.) needed to be done with less stress. Also, I really needed to get some confidence under my belt--Jordan and I were both learning and adjusting. We also had no break. I was very strict and we had no art or music during school time which I hated. Those subjects are SO important.

Our first schedule went something like this:

7:45 Drop Landon off at the YMCA
8:00 Bible and prayer, Bible coloring sheet
8:45 Calendar, Sight Words, Spanish Words, Address, Phone Number, Emergency Number
8:45 Reading/Phonics/Language lesson
9:15 Math
10:00 Science/Computer
11:00 Handwriting
12:00 Worksheets-phonics and math

I hated this schedule. Jordan hated this schedule. Handwriting was a nightmare because I expected my six year old to sit down and just do the work. I didn't know I had to teach him to stay on task to complete schoolwork. I thought he had learned that in kindergarten in public school. I was wrong. He needed some hand holding and has since learned to stay on task and now handwriting gets down within 15 minutes. And I have hair left in my head!!

When I discovered Jordan couldn't complete handwriting by himself, I devised a system to help him complete his worksheets as well. I would simply explain the worksheet a couple times one section at a time. On my dry erase board, I would then draw lines or numbers, whatever was on the worksheet. I would work the examples out on the board and then let him answer on his own worksheet. Afterward I would write the answer. This did many things for Jordan not the least of which taught him to focus and he learned worksheets are a breeze when you concentrate. He saw just how fast we could get done and he didn't dread worksheet time.

The second change to our schedule came in November. We decided not to send Landon to the Y. It was becoming financially difficult to pay for the YMCA among other things. At first, I was tense. Landon is playful and a pest. A lovable pest. If Jordan is counting to ten Landon is throwing in all kinds of numbers and letters--you know the type?? I thought I could school them together. But it caused too much frustration. Jordan wanted to do the simple, fun things Landon was doing and vice verse. I think at this point in the year we had no schedule. That's terrible but true. Some days I didn't know if I was coming or going with Landon. He was unruly during school time. If I schooled them together it didn't work. If I schooled Landon before Jordan, then Jordan would get mad. If I schooled Jordan first, Landon wanted and needed attention. If I let them play first and then do school. . . . you get the picture. It was a MESS. Thankfully, between Landon's birthday and having new toys, having Thanksgiving and Christmas, we made it through.

In January, I was adamant that we were not going to have ten cows just to get school done. I tried spending time with Landon first and it seemed to help. . . for a week. I tried having different boxes of toys or crafts for him to do. Nothing was working. My husband worked nights at the time and when he would get up he would keep Landon busy with him. Which was great. But I couldn't wait for him to get up every morning. Our school days were LOOONG. 8:00-3:30. Sometimes 8:00-4:00. It was stressful and had strained me till I was mad every waking hour. And I still was not schooling Landon.

Finally, my husband was put on a different work shift. Jordan and I began getting up at 6 a.m. to do school. By the time Landon woke up we were well on our way to being more than halfway done. Somewhere in February, my prayers were answered. Landon settled down. He stopped contradicting me--well, enough for me to do school with him. Also, the weather warmed up enough for Landon and I to do school on the trampoline after I'm done with Jordan. Jordan and I are able to get through with school in 4 1/2 hours. Since February our schedule has calmed down. We don't wake up at 6 a.m. anymore but we are done by 2:00 at the latest. I just had to take a chill pill. I don't freak out if we haven't started by 8:00 or 8:30. I just go with the flow. I just make sure we do things in a certain order regardless of the time of day. So, after pulling my hair out and having thousands of cows and coniptions. Here is our beloved first grade schedule. My it has evolved hasn't it.

Bible/Prayers/Coloring sheet
Art
Handwriting/Spelling
Poetry
Math/Math Worksheet
Break--30 minutes for Mama's sanity- and snack time for Jordan
Reading--A Beka reader
AWANA verses
Karate words
Handbook for Reading
Art Appreciation (Come Look with Me series for Children)
Science/Experiment or History
Health
Spelling Words
Phonics lesson/Phonics worksheets
Free from school!