My Big Boy

I just found this post from March 2013 in my unfinished drafts.  I’m just posting it unfinished, as a small update on Alex @ 5 is better than no update at all!

We have a few fun things that I’d like to finish up for my MFW K – Zebra week post.  We’ve finished all the school work, but because of a little St. Patrick’s Day fun, we did not do the “fun stuff” that goes along with our Zebra unit.   I’ll post it by Monday afternoon – although I doubt that anyone is waiting on pins and needles for it!  ;)

I just wanted to share a little randomness about Alex at age 5.

Lately, he’s very into printing cards from the Disney website and putting them in envelopes for family and friends.  He’s VERY good at using the computer independently now.  Our old desktop computer is solely for the kids use now.  Alex can turn it on, get to Internet Explorer, type D (for Disney) or F (for Fireman Sam) into the address bar so that the complete address will pop up, and then navigate the website.  He also knows how to use the printer without help.

He loves to “address” the envelope for the recipient.  On this one, he messed up “from” on the bottom row, so he started again on the top row.  Because he carefully sounded it out, and because I knew it would frustrate him, I didn’t dare tell him that he incorrectly spelled “from” on the top row.  For a young 5 year old, I think he did pretty well!

Alex loves to dress in costumes right now.  I never know whether I’ll have a police officer, a firefighter, a monkey, a cow, a tiger…it’s always something different!  A few days ago, he did a Mix and Match look…

…and that’s where the post ended.  I’ll have to work at getting an update on both boys and their unique personalities this summer!

Happy Fathers Day…

…to an amazing man who takes time to PLAY and have FUN with his kiddos. 
They couldn’t ask for a better daddy, and I couldn’t ask for a better husband. 

We love you, Daddy!

(picture taken 6/15…when Max asked to try riding his bike without training wheels)

Alex tried, too, on Max’s bike…

We spent a fun evening playing outside together.
The boys went muddin’ in a deep & giant puddle, and boy, were they filthy and soaked!

Jensyn picked pretty yellow flowers near the ditch.

We played in the water table.

Max begged, “Swing me HIGHER, Daddy!”

Daddy made Max spin & spin!

What a beautiful night to spend some quality time with Daddy!

What’s Next? (Homeschool Update)

(If this looks familiar to you, you’ve probably clicked on the Heart of Dakota tab at the top of my blog.  This post is almost identical; there are only a few minor changes.)

We’re coming to the end of a terrific year with My Father’s World Kindergarten, so I thought I would share our plans for what comes next in our house.

With a great deal of thought, discussion, and prayer, we have decided to continue schooling Alex at home for his official kindergarten school year (2013 – 2014).  This is not a decision that was made lightly, and it is a decision that we will reconsider each school year.  For now, though, I’m excited to say that our boy will continue learning at home!

Since Alex is on the young side, I’d prefer to consider him a kindergartener for the coming school year.   I’ve spent several months searching and praying about what the best curriculum choice would be.  I wanted Bible-based, hands-on, FUN, Charlotte-Mason style learning.  (There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a textbook-based approach, but it’s not what I want for my kiddos while they are young!)

I really feel like God led me to Heart of Dakota’s Little Hearts For His Glory program.  It’s not grade specific; rather it is designed for any child in the 5 – 7 year old age range.  You can tailor it to fit your child’s learning level in every category!  Though they offer excellent suggestions, they also let YOU make the final decision on phonics, handwriting, and math programs.  I love the structured framework that still allows me to make personal choices!

The teacher’s guide has a 2-page spread for each school day.  The left side of the page covers history, science, Bible, music, and art.  The right side covers phonics, handwriting, math, and thinking skills.  I *love* the idea of having the whole day’s work laid out for me on one page.  There’s absolutely no planning involved, other than a few minutes to grab any supplies we might need for a science or art project.

If you use the recommended math program (Singapore) , the guide contains fun (often edible) activities to reinforce math topics and make them memorable!  Please note that if you buy a USED Little Hearts guide, the math activities will not correspond with Essential Math.  This is being updated in their newest version.  (I have an older manual, but I have made a spreadsheet to match up the Little Hearts activities with Essential Math.   This is merely a MATCHUP; it does not contain any of the activity suggestions, as that would break copyright laws!)

 

The author, Carrie Austin, allows you the freedom to choose whatever phonics program suits your family.  We are opting to stick with All About Reading, as we’ve grown to adore this program!

 

For handwriting, we are going to try Happy Handwriting.   I seriously thought about just making my own, as their format is quite similar to what I’ve already made on my own, but I liked their little rhymes for each letter…and I think Alex will enjoy those, too!  The rhymes remind children how to form the letters, and you can also use them to do a letter hunt for the letter you’re working on.

 

For thinking skills, we’re going to use Rod & Staff’s Finding The Answers book and Master Skills’ Thinking Skills Grade 1 book, waiting to start the Thinking Skills book until Alex is 6.  The Thinking Skills book is getting hard to find, as it recently went out of print, and Heart of Dakota has chosen to replace it with additional Rod & Staff books.

For science, history, and Bible, we will be using Heart of Dakota’s kindergarten recommendations.  I just felt that, when reading the manual, it flowed best when using the K resources.

I plan to continue blogging our homeschool journey, and I'll try my best to give a good overview of our weekly experiences.  It's helpful to me to have a record of Alex's work, and I know that it's helpful to many of you to get an idea of what the program is all about!

We will likely be doing LHFHG four days per week, as we plan to participate in a homeschool co-op each Monday.  It will take us a little over one school year to complete LHFHG this way, but we can work ahead in math/phonics to make sure Alex has completed kdg math by the end of the school year.

If any of you have used LHFHG and have helpful suggestions or care to share your experience - good or bad - I'd love to hear from you!

Goodbye, Google Reader! Hello, bloglovin’!

Most of us have known for a while that Google Reader {the website/app that makes it easy to follow your favorite blogs and see when there are new posts} is going to be discontinued in July.

I looked into several options for similar blog readers, but nothing was quite right.  Feedly came close, but it just didn’t really appeal to me.  The Old Reader was another option that looked interesting, but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted either.  There were a few others that I looked into, but they just weren’t “IT”.

I asked on Facebook, and one of my Little Monkey followers (thanks, Amy!) recommended trying bloglovin’.  That ended up being a TERRIFIC suggestion, and I am totally in love with bloglovin’ as my Google Reader replacement.

It works quite similarly to Google Reader, but it will also automatically link you directly to the blog, making it very easy to leave a comment on a blog post.  THAT is convenient, and I know blog owners always appreciate when readers leave a kind or helpful comment! :)

If you haven’t found a replacement yet, you’ll want to do that in the next 2 weeks so that, when Google Reader disappears, you don’t lose the list of blogs that you follow.  It is VERY easy to transfer your Google Reader RSS feed to any of the sites that I listed above.

Here’s a site that give you a quick run-through of how to transfer your Google Reader RSS feed to bloglovin’ if that’s the route you choose to go.

http://heartifb.com/2013/03/15/how-to-move-your-google-reader-rss-feed-to-bloglovin/

By the way, I haven’t tried out the bloglovin’ app yet, as I have a Kindle Fire – and that app is not yet in the Amazon Apps.  There is a bloglovin’ app in both Google Play and iTunes, and if you try it, I’d love to hear some feedback on how that’s working for you! :)

Butterflies!

What fun it was to keep an eye on the butterflies as we waited for them to emerge.  It’s an amazing process!  What a wonderful reminder, too, that the way a butterfly changes is a good example of how God changes us!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV 84

Shortly before bed a few weeks ago, I noticed that two of the chrysalides had changed from tan to a dark transparent color.   I looked at them one last time around 11 PM, and there was no change.  I woke up around 6 AM, and two of the butterflies had recently emerged.

The kids were SO excited to see butterflies, and we enjoyed watching as they learned to spread their wings and fly.  (I woke the boys a little early so they could see!)

If you’ve never done this before with Painted Lady butterflies, you should probably know that it’s a bit of a messy process.  Butterfly meconium is bright red like blood, and it leaves quite a few stains throughout the butterfly habitat.  It didn’t phase my boys, but I could see some children being bothered by this if they didn’t know what it was.

Throughout the next few days, three more butterflies emerged.  Two came during the night on the next night, and though I watched like a hawk for the final butterfly to emerge, it happened while I walked away for 5 minutes. 

We fed the butterflies orange slices, and we were able to see how a butterfly ‘unrolls’ its proboscis to take a drink.  Alex was fascinated by this, and he has pretended to have a proboscis several times lately!

In the two pictures below, you can see some drips down the mesh in the top left corner of the photo.  That’s some of the red meconium staining.

We were able to observe the symmetry in the butterflies’ wings.

We also observed butterfly mating, and we were able to see the teeny-tiny aqua-blue eggs.  They laid their eggs on the orange slices!  (We placed those in the bushes in front of our house so that they might have a slight chance of finding leaves to eat after they hatch.)

Finally, the time came to release the butterflies.  We invited our neighbor kids over to enjoy the release with us!

The butterflies were hesitant to go at first, but slowly began to find their way out of their ‘house’.  Two flew up high, over the house, and disappeared.  The rest landed on nearby bushes or grass, and the kids were able to catch and hold the butterflies for a few minutes.  One even came back for a visit later in the week.

No matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t get a picture of Max with the butterflies.  They kept flying away before I snapped the picture…so we have a picture of a smiling Max with an empty hand!  Oops!

One butterfly was injured (notice the missing antenna?), and he didn’t survive.  The kids enjoyed the opportunity to hold the butterfly and examine it closely. 

This was SUCH an amazing experience.  We not only learned many lessons about caterpillars and butterflies, but we also learned about our Amazing Creator. 

God has a marvelous imagination, an amazing ability to create beauty and wonder, and He gives us important spiritual lessons to be found in the little things all around us!  Just like the caterpillar goes through a process to become a beautiful butterfly, as believers in Jesus, we go through an amazing transformation!  What a wonderful way to teach our children about the miracle of transformation, not only for butterflies but also for those who trust in Him!