Welcome Fall!
One month down, 8 to go! Actually, we aren't counting down the months, instead I am wishing we could slow things down! September was such a busy month we never got to our fiber arts study, which I had hoped would be the hub of our studies this year, tying together history, math, and arts. Instead, our nature studies has seemed to take precedent over other studies, fitting right in with the seasons as we studied fall leaves as per Exploring Nature With Children dictated. It was a nice segue from our study of seeds the last two weeks. We added our own emphasis, studying leaf anatomy and the science of photosynthesis. The boys pounded chlorophyll out of leaves and wrote the photosynthesis process in their nature journals. To conclude our seed study, and to use up the plethora of apples we gathered at an orchard as last weeks field trip, we also made several pies! The boys helped cook down one of our pumpkins we grew and we made a pie from that as well.
Story of the World took us to ancient Islamic culture and taught us a lot about Muslim faith. We read many books from the library learning about past and present culture as well as journeys of refugees. Yo Soy Muslim was my favorite, a really beautiful book divulging into several rich cultural themes and enlightening as to struggles a mixed minority family may face. The boys loved Lost and Found Cat, a story of refugees who smuggled their cat on their long journey to safety, only to lose him on the way. They are happily reunited in the end and the boys were awed to discover the book was a true story, complete with pictures of the family and cats journeys in the back of the book.
They have been dying to do our first Lego lesson with our new WeDo 2.0 kit, but I hadn't had the time to sit down and figure it out. So, yesterday as they had their screen time I download the app and was pleasantly surprised to find all the lessons are set up step-by-step in the app, and easy enough the boys could follow it themselves if need be. We went through two lessons, learning to turn on the light and run a fan with commands. Michael and Emmet both took a programming class last spring and already knew several of the command buttons as they are the same in Lego as in the program they used in class called Scratch.
Muzzy has been a little disappointing for us, without set lessons and very open ended, it is hard to plan what and how much we will cover each week, or even be able to build on concepts outside of the videos they offer. Avery's attention is captured with it, however the older two might benefit from finding another program for Spanish. I am also thinking of looking for a tutor or another way to immerse them in more language learning. Despite it all, Michael sat and listened to me speak Spanish for about twenty minutes on Wednesday in lieu of having to watch a Muzzy video.
Wednesday we also went to our classes at Village Home. All three boys take an engineering class where they made and explored the concept of dams. Michael collected bean seeds in his Garden Club to store and plant in the spring in his own garden at home. The garden he planted in September as part of our science this year is sprouting nicely. Emmet and Avery have Taekwondo, which they are enthusiastic about but are not engaging well, so I plan to sit in on class next week and participate with them.
The boys have fallen in love with Dog Man books, Michael even read half of one to himself in the car the other day, something that hasn't happened before. One of my absolute favorite things about homeschooling is to watch first hand when they make those little leaps. It is like holding your breath for eight years, holding onto hope, and then, finally, you can release a huge sigh of relief as they do really learn when they are ready. Trust is an important quality in a homeschool mom, but one of the hardest to maintain!
Finally we will conclude our week tomorrow with All About Spelling and a second lesson of All About Pre-reading for Avery. The boys enjoyed the first level of All About Reading last year, and made such great progress in their reading, that we are continuing level two this year in addition to spelling. They all look forward to the lessons, which is heaven sent for me as reading lessons beforehand were so painful. We also start our crochet study as we move into October. Though honestly September we had planned on learning about weaving and it never happened. So it may be inter-mixed this month along with field trips to local Alpaca farms. I am super bummed we missed the Flock and Fiber Festival, but happy we spent Sunday resting as a family instead. It was most needed. And look what we found at the library, a steel drum! It has been lots of fun!
Cheer to a great weekend for all!
The Dillman's
Story of the World took us to ancient Islamic culture and taught us a lot about Muslim faith. We read many books from the library learning about past and present culture as well as journeys of refugees. Yo Soy Muslim was my favorite, a really beautiful book divulging into several rich cultural themes and enlightening as to struggles a mixed minority family may face. The boys loved Lost and Found Cat, a story of refugees who smuggled their cat on their long journey to safety, only to lose him on the way. They are happily reunited in the end and the boys were awed to discover the book was a true story, complete with pictures of the family and cats journeys in the back of the book.
They have been dying to do our first Lego lesson with our new WeDo 2.0 kit, but I hadn't had the time to sit down and figure it out. So, yesterday as they had their screen time I download the app and was pleasantly surprised to find all the lessons are set up step-by-step in the app, and easy enough the boys could follow it themselves if need be. We went through two lessons, learning to turn on the light and run a fan with commands. Michael and Emmet both took a programming class last spring and already knew several of the command buttons as they are the same in Lego as in the program they used in class called Scratch.
Muzzy has been a little disappointing for us, without set lessons and very open ended, it is hard to plan what and how much we will cover each week, or even be able to build on concepts outside of the videos they offer. Avery's attention is captured with it, however the older two might benefit from finding another program for Spanish. I am also thinking of looking for a tutor or another way to immerse them in more language learning. Despite it all, Michael sat and listened to me speak Spanish for about twenty minutes on Wednesday in lieu of having to watch a Muzzy video.
Wednesday we also went to our classes at Village Home. All three boys take an engineering class where they made and explored the concept of dams. Michael collected bean seeds in his Garden Club to store and plant in the spring in his own garden at home. The garden he planted in September as part of our science this year is sprouting nicely. Emmet and Avery have Taekwondo, which they are enthusiastic about but are not engaging well, so I plan to sit in on class next week and participate with them.
The boys have fallen in love with Dog Man books, Michael even read half of one to himself in the car the other day, something that hasn't happened before. One of my absolute favorite things about homeschooling is to watch first hand when they make those little leaps. It is like holding your breath for eight years, holding onto hope, and then, finally, you can release a huge sigh of relief as they do really learn when they are ready. Trust is an important quality in a homeschool mom, but one of the hardest to maintain!
Finally we will conclude our week tomorrow with All About Spelling and a second lesson of All About Pre-reading for Avery. The boys enjoyed the first level of All About Reading last year, and made such great progress in their reading, that we are continuing level two this year in addition to spelling. They all look forward to the lessons, which is heaven sent for me as reading lessons beforehand were so painful. We also start our crochet study as we move into October. Though honestly September we had planned on learning about weaving and it never happened. So it may be inter-mixed this month along with field trips to local Alpaca farms. I am super bummed we missed the Flock and Fiber Festival, but happy we spent Sunday resting as a family instead. It was most needed. And look what we found at the library, a steel drum! It has been lots of fun!
Cheer to a great weekend for all!
The Dillman's
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