Sound and Language Unit Wrap up: Weaver Volume One, Unit Two

So we've been living and tweaking this homeschooling lifestyle for several more weeks now. It is hard, and time consuming, and sometimes messy. And yet, I have zero regrets of pulling my children out of the public system. Homeschooling has been incredibly rewarding, and our unity as a family has soared. I am more patient- not perfect - but God in His grace has equipped me to work this life for our family. There are times I forget, and freeze in a panic over the sheer responsibility of it all- but when I go to Him in prayer and ask for His peace, He always delivers. 

In my last homeschooling post, we had just completed our first week in Unit Two of Weaver's Volume One. For the remainder of our Sound and Language unit, one of the science topics I taught was the anatomy and physiology of the ear. Considering my former career as a Physician Assistant, I was tucked inside my cozy element. My five year old can recite to you the anatomy of the outer, middle, and inner ear, and my heart just melts in joy. My kids are in for a blast when we get to the human body unit! I'm a tiny bit nerd obsessed with all things medical.

We also covered how sound works, and took a crazy fun field trip to the Clay Center in Charleston, WV. Their children's museum has an entire exhibit on light and sound, and we were able to expand so much of our unit in just a couple hours. The pictures would have been amazing from that trip. However- I left my camera at home, and my phone with all my pictures was killed in coffee. Still in mourning, as you can tell.

We took another field trip during this unit to the Pittsburgh Zoo. It was perfect weather with no crowds at all. We had learned about animals with ultrasonic and infrasonic hearing, so I was able to tie it all in during the trip.

I can't remember what animal Lydia was so excited about. Three year olds inside zoos are the most fun ever.

She was telling me how small, cute, and tiny those baby lions were. Yes, those grown, male African lions over there. Every giant, ferocious animal we saw was so tiny and cute to her.

Madeline hugging the statue boy, pretending he was her prince. 

Lydia finally braved the big slide this time. "I did it!"

 Our verse of the week was from James- "Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!" James 3:5 Our Bible lessons also covered how our words are to bring praise to God, and we are to let our lights shine for Him in the darkness. We learned how feelings can be communicated without any words, and played a game to illustrate. 

 Isaac demonstrating anger. Can't you tell?

Brooke demonstrating happy. I was really trying to hold it together during this game. 

And this is Madeline communicating anger. 

Lydia was just happy to be there.

Isaac yelling out his guesses of the crystal clear emotions written on his sisters' faces. 

Lydia loves doing her schoolwork now. Her material is Horizons Preschool for Threes Workbook. It's completely voluntary on her part. I encourage her when she wants to participate, and I put it away when she doesn't want to.  

I sold Discovery Toys several years ago, and this is a math game I bought back then.They love playing it.

Bill's recent birthday celebration. Love this man.

I have so many friends and family tell me what an awesome thing it is we are doing, but they could never do it- usually saying they lack the needed patience. If only they could peek inside my imperfect, often fear-stricken brain! If God's calling your family to homeschooling, and you say to yourself that you can't do it, just look at who God called in His Word. He didn't call those who had all the answers and a plan from the beginning. He raised up a scrawny shepherd kid to become King of Israel, a scared man with a speech impediment to lead His children out of captivity, a young girl of no significance by world's standards to mother the Son of God. He equips those He calls. I'm telling you- when God calls you, it is so safe to follow where He leads. Steps of faith bring huge reward. Whatever He is calling you to do, say yes to Him! 

                                                                                    

Biltmore Estate Field Trip!

I have wanted to visit Biltmore Estate ever since I was in grade school and first heard that there was a real live castle in America. I was a kid obsessed with all things royal, and even though a real king or queen was never part of our country's history, this home came in at a close second. While lesson planning over the summer, I saw that we'd be covering the history of architecture- including castles and cathedrals- during Chapter Two of Weaver's Volume One. I had the fantastic opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Although jetting across the Atlantic to see castles in Europe would have been amazing (and maybe completely unrealistic) I realized it was my chance to finally tour Biltmore. It could even count as an educational experience for homeschool. I mean, what could be better?! I brought up my plan to Bill, and he went for it. I could finally live out my fantasy of living the Downton Abbey life for a couple days! Sign me up for some of that. This is the girl that jumps on room service and valet parking at any given opportunity. I don't care who makes fun of me for it (Amy).

The trip was amazing. On day one we took the general two hour tour and walked around Antler Hill Village. We ate lunch inside the old stable, with tables inside former horse stalls. On day two we took a special architecture tour, and a whirlwind walk through the gorgeous gardens. Asthma and allergies kept us from staying too long in the gardens. I loved every single moment. (Except maybe during the general tour on day one when Lydia started yelling, "I haveta poop! I haveta poop!" over and over again on the grand staircase. No public restrooms inside the house itself, so there was lots of fast walking to the exit. Fun memories.) There's no photography allowed inside the house, so I only have pictures from the outside.

 The architecture tour included the tippity top roof. I was trying very hard not to have a panic attack. Not joking.

 Lydia was loving the house. While holding hands with her daddy walking down the grand staircase, she declared, "I am a princess, and this is my castle." She kept asking us over and over if we liked her castle. That's my girl. 

 She was able to eat food cooked by the chef in Antler Village's restaurant! This is rarely ever possible with all of her allergies. She was super excited.

 Children's maze.

I know the history of this house inside and out, including the Vanderbilt's family history, but I am resisting the urge to spill everything I know in this blog post. I've been getting polite blank stares when I talk about it, so I'm guessing not everyone is as fascinated as me. Though Madeline was just as excited in the history, and is not shy to tell you all about it either. It was a really great learning experience, and I can't wait to visit again one day! 

Labor Day Fun- Days 6 &7 (Vol 1, Unit 1, Chapter 1 Weaver)

Labor Day weekend was a time for catch up and review, but (hopefully) disguised as play. I've been describing myself as a brand new mother with this homeschooling gig. I want to do everything right- as in "don't let the baby fall asleep anywhere but the crib" kind of thing. In homeschooling, I'm still obsessing over the crib so to speak. I don't want any chance of getting behind; cutting out activities sounds, well, like neglecting my newborn baby. Logically I know that I'll eventually work through this thinking, but it'll take some time and experience.

We spent Saturday at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. We started in the geology section.

The kids had one worksheet to complete inside the museum. They were to find a rock, draw it, and use a list of descriptive words to write about their findings. 

We then walked through the dinosaur exhibit. I had given each child a clipboard with paper in case they wanted to draw anything interesting or write down any questions to look up later. Brooke chose to draw this little cutie.

Lydia recording her findings.

She wanted to climb the wall and touch that dinosaur.

This week's material acquaints the child to their own city. We spent last week learning about ancient Mesopotamia, and this week they will learn that their city has its own past. On Monday, we walked along Main Street of our small town and looked at the original buildings from our city's earliest beginnings. Last month I bought a book with historic photos and facts. Here we stood in front of the city's bank built in 1909. The original photos pictured dirt roads and horses.

Standing in front of what was once the high school, built in 1909.

We're also learning about electricity this week, so after reading Where Does Electricity Come From? by Susan Mayes, we drove to the gates of our local power plant to see how coal keeps our lights on. 

That's a lot of coal!

We've been covering map skills since day one of last week. I wish I'd taken of picture of Bill teaching more map skills last night. He used a road map to show where distant relatives live, and had the kids show him a driving route, and determine the distance from our house to theirs. 

This morning we were back to a regular schedule, combining days 6 and 7 of Weaver's Chapter 1 Day by Day plan. Our Bible story covered Noah's Flood. We then switched topics and discussed electricity in more detail. Tomorrow we'll make a homemade circuit, and read biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison. The girls have been writing daily in their creative writing journals- they are such good story tellers. Math is going well- I absolutely love our Singapore Math curriculum. Madeline is speeding through her workbook, and will already be moving on to the next book next week. I'm guessing she'll slow down as it gets progressively harder. Brooke is moving along at a more steady pace- math isn't her favorite, but she's learning without frustration. Isaac is moving along in his math workbook and activity book as well. He's gaining confidence in his reading lessons. We used this method to teach Brooke and Madeline and had great success. It's helping Isaac with his speech as well. He hasn't qualified for speech therapy in over a year, but still struggles with several sounds. I love that Weaver also incorporates speech therapy with Kindergarten Wisdom Words. 

Brooke started flute lessons last week and is loving it already. Isaac is still active in karate, and earned his first new belt a couple weeks ago. Ballet starts up next week for Brooke and Madeline. I'd like to find an art class soon for all four of them. Slow and steady has been my motto the past couple days. It's not been free of occasional frustration and stress, but really- what in life is? So thankful we are doing this!