Apr 24 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 22

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Sparta and Athens took our breath away. Greek paper dolls, our first conversation about democracy, the importance of educated voters, the Spartan boy who let himself be bitten by the fox while being interrogated… Wait, what? Yes, we had to deal with some tough subjects again. At the end of the reading, my son said, “I can’t believe that boy would let that fox eat his stomach…” We talked about it for a minute, to stress how different those cultures were from ours, and we moved on. If I don’t make a big deal out if it, they will not, either.

They were happy to work on their map. They colored the Greek dolls. I copied them onto regular paper. They glued their clothes with stick glue.

I did not think they were going to play with these dolls again, so I did not use card stock or balsam wood. When we were finished, I put their dolls inside plastic pouches in their history binders. I like to keep clutter under control. We already have too many toys and craft projects lying around, waiting to be played with.

They colored, cut and pasted for a long time, until it clearly became busy work. When they start asking mommy to cut up their people and accessories, you know it’s time to file them away.

Apr 23 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 17 – Test Results

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We received our son’s Terra Nova 3 test scores and we were very pleased. His scores were excellent, way above the national average and showing that he does work beyond his grade level. We are very proud of him indeed. We will continue doing what we have been doing.

Thoughtful Thursday - Test Results

We learned several things from his test scores. Even though he did not score low in any one objective, he scored lower in some objectives and higher in others. Looking back at our school year, some of the scores surprised me and others confirmed what I already knew about him; all the more reason to keep testing every year.

We are not in this situation, but we know that if a child tests lower than expected, we should all consider several reasons. It could be that the child has never learned the subject matter presented on the test. Or, perhaps, the child never really understood what was taught to him. Last but not least, the child may know the subject, but he may very well just be so nervous about the test, that he freezes and forgets the answers.

All this to say that tests are good tools to assess where your child is, where you are, where you need to grow.

Apr 23 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 21

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The Medes and the Persians brought a sigh of relief over all of us. With Cyrus, we finally could say, “Here is a great king, who loved and respected his people!” We talked about how the Bible mentions Cyrus as the Anointed of the Lord. My son exclaimed how nice a king Cyrus was.

Six brown paper bags

Six bags for six puppets

The first story, of course, was a bit tricky. A grandfather who plans to kill his grandchild? Rather cruel and unusual. But we soldiered through. I noticed that if I don’t make a big deal out of it, they just move on.

Girl with paper bag puppet

Showing off Cyrus, the paper bag puppet version

I prepared six brown bags for puppets to act out the story. They decorated one and decided they would decorate five more for the next five days. Well, I don’t like projects that stretch for days. Besides, I cannot imagine myself directing a puppet show with lines like, “Take my grandson and kill him!” or “Shepherd, the king sent me to kill this baby out here, but I will not. I will let you do it. And if you don’t, you will be punished…” Last but not least, I asked myself at what point a craft project becomes busy work. One brown paper bag puppet is a great craft. Two may be stretching it. But six? Even if each child made three each, it would be busy work in my book.

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Apr 22 2015

Free English-Russian Picture Book

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Today and tomorrow, Kitten in the Storm, my bilingual picture book, will be available for FREE on Kindle, in the English-Russian edition. This is the first volume in a series of children’s picture books which aims to teach vocabulary through a story. For this first volume, I used greetings and introductions.

Kitten in the Storm Kindle Book

Kitten in the Storm Kindle Book, English-Russian

Kitten in the Storm English-Russian was translated by a good friend of mine, Svetlana Rakova Striguniene. She and I had a lot of fun putting this together. I received good suggestions from her for the English text. As a German and English teacher by education, Svetlana knows a thing or two about languages and literature.

If you know anybody who is trying to learn Russian, please pass this along. This book, of course, can also be used by Russians trying to learn English. Reading is the key to learning and practicing vocabulary in any language.

Thanks for checking Kitten in the Storm English-Russian out!

Apr 17 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 20

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Greece Gets Civilized Again or Chapter 20 presented the challenge of Odysseus and the Cyclops. To show or not to show them the coloring page, that was the question. To read, or not to read them the passage of Homer about the Cyclops eating men two at a time, that was the question. I chose to read it. I chose to give them the page. It’s a fine line. I don’t know if I get it right all the time.

Homemade hummus and bread from Panera

Homemade hummus and Panera bread

I have already chosen not to read to them the story of Romulus and Remus or any of the Romany myths that were recommended for a previous chapter. Even Sinbad the Sailor came home from the library, but never got shown to the kids. I previewed it and decided it really was not for kids under 10. At the very least, they should be nine, just like Amazon suggests, before they read about Sinbad’s killing of a man and fighting a horrible monster, described with such details that even I shuddered as I read about it.  Continue reading »

Apr 17 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 19

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We listened to The Early Greeks or Chapter 19 in the car, on the way to soccer practice. I brought along their clipboards, crayons, and worksheets. Alas, sweet five-year-old daughter refused to color. But my son did his work.

My husband assures me it is only a matter of time before our daughter will get with the program and obey more. After all, her behavior reminds us of our son when he was five. I hope my husband is right.

Since she is only in PreKindergarten, I did not lay the law down. I just let her look out the window instead of coloring, knowing she was listening to the story simply by being in the car with us. But, in all honesty, I don’t think I will invest in the CDs for volume 2. As useful as they can be, I think it makes more sense for me to read to them the stories while they color. Based on my experience this year, we have only listened to five, maybe six lessons in the car. The rest, I have read them at home.

The following day, I read the story to them again to give her a chance to work on her coloring and map. The whole process was a bit convoluted, as she wants to sit in my lap while coloring and I must juggle book, wiggly five-year-old in lap, and reaching for the tissue box (spring allergies are in full swing at our house).

The crafts seemed a bit too much for our energy level at this time of the year. I was delighted they decorated their Greek vase coloring sheet very nicely and we moved on to the next chapter. We are trying to catch up and finish this textbook by the end of the school year, which is about 40 days away.

Apr 16 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 16 – Censorship

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Our history curriculum stretches my mind in terms of what I feel comfortable sharing with my children at their young ages. Susan Wise Bauer makes it a point in the Introduction to her Story of the World Volume 1, to warn parents about the inevitable violence of the ancient world. I think the world we are living in is very violent, too. I don’t want to recount the ways Christians become martyrs in 2015 or the way women and children are victimized in our so-called “civilized age.”

Thoughtful Thursday 16 - Censorship

How many of the titles Bauer suggests for additional literature or history reading do I read to my children? Some. Many. Not all. We have reached the point where violence shows up as a fact of history and I have a hard time with it. My son is in the first grade and he could probably handle it better than my daughter, who is five, and still very much a young child. To protect their innocence, I have delayed some of the stories for later. They can always read these in the next history cycle, about three years from now.

Having grown up in a country where the government censored mass media and print media, I have a strange relationship with censorship. I don’t like it because it reminds me of Communism, but I understand it plays a role up to a point in certain situations, e.g. a small child and tough, adult subjects.

I will give you another example. The Betty Lukens Through the Bible in Felts curriculum seemed like the perfect little Bible curriculum for small children. Felts provided the tactile and visual stimulation needed by children ages 1-6. We used it for our Bible and devotional times this year. Then, we got into the stories about David. You know, the shepherd boy who grew up. The shepherd boy who became a man of war. And he killed. And he killed. And he killed. Yes, David won many battles for the Lord.

My son, age six at the time, looked at me with these sad and tired little eyes and said, “If I hear of another person dying in this Bible story, I don’t want us to read any more stories from this book.” So why would Betty Lukens put in all these violent stories in a felt set for small children? Why didn’t I think it through, after one, two, three or more stories involving death and killing? Why didn’t it dawn on me that I should just skip a few stories and move on to happier places in the Bible curriculum?

That’s my blind spot. I want to follow curriculum page by page and finish it and know that it is “done.” I am learning. My children are teaching me every day. So take heart, you are not the only one who is not a perfect home educator.

Apr 13 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 18

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Life in Early Crete finally brings us closer and closer to Greece and Rome – my favorite part of Ancient History. We lead Theseus through the maze to fight the Minotaur and then we build a LEGO maze.

LEGO Maze and Minotaur

LEGO Maze and Minotaur, the first version

We forgot all about Ariadne’s yarn. Oh well. The kids got really fancy and built an even bigger maze. Then they replaced the rhino with a leopard and brought in a small toy person to represent Theseus. They came up with all sorts of stories. By now, I was not there anymore. This story got them playing and I went on with my day.

LEGO Maze, Theseus, and Minotaur

LEGO Maze, Theseus, and Minotaur

A few months ago, we made an erupting volcano; here’s the YouTube video. When we read about Thera, I reminded the kids of the experiment. Of course they wanted to make another one. I said, “Maybe another time.” I remembered how they kept pouring vinegar and baking soda onto the poor “mountain” and how they did not know when to stop.

LEGO Maze, Revised

LEGO Maze, Revised

We ordered some of the recommended books from the library. Atlantis fascinates my son very much, especially after watching a 28-minute LEGO movie about it, LEGO Atlantis. They found it on YouTube one day and have gone back to see it a few times since.

The Minoan Ship seemed too involved for a craft. Sculpture has never been my gift, so I stayed away from it.

With the coloring page of bull jumpers, we had this long conversation about boys and girls. The three figures look like men, but they have long hair. My daughter was confused. I pointed out their chests were bare and – um – they looked like men in that area. She still wanted to pretend that at least one of them is a girl. We gave her permission to pretend that way.

Narration efforts are still feeble, but we press on.

Apr 12 2015

Story of the World, Vol. 1, Chapter 17

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Babylon Takes Over Again! or chapter 17 helped us remember some of the Bible stories about King Nebuchadnezzar. The kids knew the story of his golden statue, but not the story about his madness. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were also a new concept. The children drew them out of their own imagination. My daughter requested help, so I drew a ziggurat for her and let her decorate it with trees. My son drew an aerial view and then a side view of a mountain with all sorts of vegetation on it.

We did this chapter at bedtime, instead of our regular reading. They enjoyed it and I did too. We got it done.

They answered the narration questions well and I started to see the beginning of narration. I still have to teach them how to narrate, by giving them the beginning of the sentences in the activity book and allowing them to finish the thought. Most of the time they do it well. And by “they” I mean mostly my son, as he is the first grader and I direct my questions to him.

The coloring page with Marduk and Tiamat was deemed appropriate by a committee made up of teacher (moi) and principal (daddy). Our daughter thought Tiamat was actually an alligator at first. I asked them if the picture bothered them. They said no.

We opted out of the science project. I really don’t want more dirt and grass seed around. Am I getting lazy? A veteran homeschooling mom told me how a teacher gets transformed from August to April. In August, all the supplies are ready, there is a smile on the teacher’s face, and her energy level is through the roof. By April, smiling can seem difficult at times, the supplies are half used and nobody cares anymore where they are anyway, and the energy level has dwindled down significantly.

Um, I’m feeling it.

Apr 9 2015

Thoughtful Thursday Week 15 – Preparing for Two

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It is April, almost the middle of April, to be exact, and that means only one thing: we are planning for next year. The biggest change for us is that we will have two students now officially homeschooling and registered as such. Our daughter starts homeschool kindergarten in the fall. The sounds of that sentence cling and clang against the furniture in my room as I type this and say it out loud. It’s a cascade of feelings. Our daughter is our second and youngest. We don’t expect we will have any more children. So… there will be no more preschooler running around the house while older brother does school with mommy. Now our son will have to do something by himself while I tackle Phonics with the kindergartner.

Thoughtful Thursday - Preparing for TwoHow is that going to work? What will he do while I do school with her? How many subjects can we do together? Do I keep the curriculum I used with him in kindergarten? Do I add anything else based on her strengths and weaknesses? What is her learning style?

I have a lot of questions to answer. The above are only the first that come to mind. Like dominoes falling over more dominoes, the questions keep triggering more and more questions.  Continue reading »