Cornerstone Schoolhouse

Books: Week 2: September 8-12, 2008

2008-09-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki. A thorough introduction to the Ancient Egyptian beliefs on the afterlife and the art of embalming, or mummifying.

Who Built the Pyramids? by Jane Struan and Chisholm Reid. Written in typical Usborne fashion, each page of this book presents an abundance of information on the pyramids and daily life in Ancient Egypt. My ongoing complaint with these books is that there is so much on one page, I find them distracting and difficult to read.

The Butterfly Alphabet Book by Brian Cassie & Jerry Pallotta. A colorful trip through the alphabet; each letter highlights another butterfly beautifully illustrated in realistic art work.

Ryan's Book Adventures:

Pig on the Titanic by Gary Crew. A true story, told from the perspective of a "lucky" musical pig who was mistaken for a baby and tossed into a lifeboat as the Titanic was going down. This book manages to circumvent the actual sinking of the Titanic by focusing on the pig and containing no illustrations of the ship going down, perhaps a less emotional introduction to the tragedy of the Titanic for younger children.

Cam Jansen and the Ice Skate Mystery* by David Adler. Cam Jansen has a photographic memory which comes in handy as she sets out to solve the mystery of the missing skate locker key. Written on the second grade level, Ryan enjoys these shorter, less-intimidating chapter books that can be read in one setting.

*This book is not part of the bookadventure program,
although some other Cam Jansen mysteries are.

Too Many Frogs by Sandy Asher. A surprisingly cute story with charming illustrations.

And a few of Connor's favorites for the week:

The Napping House by Audrey Wood. We were first introduced to this book a little over two years ago. The story is fun, the repetitive text charming, but tit is he illustrations that keep us reading again and again. There is so much going on in each painting, we are still finding details we hadn't noticed with previous readings.

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon. A family favorite from our home library! The boys choose this one again and again, and I for one, don't mind at all.

Will Moses Mother Goose by Will Moses, the great-grandson of Grandma Moses. Connor loves the traditional Mother Goose rhymes, so this book was sure to be a hit on that alone. Will Moses' artistic talent and the high level of interest in the paintings of this book, (each painting highlights favorite nursery rhyme characters within the folk paintings) make it a special presentation of the traditional rhymes.

Made in Egypt: Mummies

2008-09-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today we explored the ancient Egyptian art of mummifying. We started our study with a reading of Aliki's Mummies Made in Egypt, a thorough introduction to the process of embalming a body and the Ancient Egyptian beliefs on the afterlife, and then, we made our own mummies.

**WARNING**
The following images may be disturbing
to Disney Princess fanatics

We prepared our princesses for embalming, following the steps concisely presented in one of Ryan's favorite books, Mummies and Pyramids, a Magic Tree House Research Guide. First, all of the organs except the heart were removed from the body. (See the remaining hearts in the photo below). The Egyptians believed that the gods weighed a person's heart when he or she tried to enter the Next Life.

Our Egyptian Princesses: Tinkerbell & Belle
(purchased for $1.00 @ at a local thrift shop)

Next, we washed the bodies with wine (white wine vinegar diluted with water) and rubbed them with oils and spices (olive oil and cinnamon). Then we covered the bodies with natron (sea salt), a type of salt the Egyptian priests used to dry the bodies before wrapping them with muslin.

Washing the body with wine & Rubbing it with oil & spices.

After this, the bodies would have been left to dry for about 40 days, we waited closer to 40 minutes. While we waited, the boys created amulets to be wrapped within the mummies' linen strips to bring good luck and protection to them in the Next Life. Ryan worked diligently to copy the amulets pictured in Aliki's book and was determined to wrap every amulet he created within the folds of his mummy's muslin.

Amulets or magic charms wrapped in the linen strips.

At last it was time to begin wrapping the bodies. (We did wash our dolls before wrapping, although the Egyptians would not have). We used a yard of muslin torn into 1-inch wide strips dipped into a mixture of 1 part flour, three parts water to wrap our two mummies. The Egyptians would have coated the muslin wrappings with resin.

NOTE: I would recommend having approximately 3/4 of a yard to a yard of material per mummy; Connor's mummy could have used a bit more wrapping. As she is, she retains a bit of her voluptuous figure.

Princess Tinkerbell & Princess Belle - mummified.

The boys are quite pleased with their finished mummies - now drying on a cooling rack in the kitchen. And this evening, Connor excitedly reported to Grandma, "Gamma, we made mommies today!" to which Ryan added, "Yes, we made mommies out of Bobbies!"

Talking to God

2008-09-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

We have been saying grace before meals and prayers at bedtime since Ryan and Connor were infants. They have memorized several children's prayers and have made up a few of their own, but when I came across a picture book entitled Am I Praying? by Jeannie St. John Taylor on the shelves of our church bookstore, I started to wonder if the boys really understood what it meant to pray. Did they truly believed they could talk to God about the little things that made them happy, sad, angry or scared, every day, anywhere, and at any time? In the book Am I Praying, little Erik is having a rotten day, but through everything that goes wrong, he learns that he can talk with God at any time, in any situation. I wanted our boys to learn this, too.

The boys know a number of Bible stories, they can recite several Bible verses, they are "reading" their Bibles on a regular basis, and they are truly growing in faith and spirit, and yet I began to wonder if there were simple truths of our faith that they were missing, and so I decided to do something a bit different during our devotional time this year. Instead of continuing with our regular devotions which focused largely on Bible stories and developing Godly character, this year, we are going to explore prayer, the Lord's prayer, the Ten Commandments, and other specifics of our Christian faith outlined in the Children's Catechism.

Our first unit: prayer, is developing into a fascinating exploration of spontaneous prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and petition. We are using a variety of picture books, beginning of course, with Taylor's Am I Praying? and another cute discussion of prayer, I Can Talk with God by Debby Anderson. We will be learning the ACTS approach to prayer: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Another homeschooling mom sent me a fascinating file with a fill-in-the-blank form letter for each of the types of prayer in the PRAYS model: praise, repentance, adoration, yielding, and supplication. I will be using a modified version of these letters to familiarize the boys with each part of the ACTS prayer and to help them develop their own style of prayer. Watch for more about these letters in future posts.

Of course, no unit on prayer is complete without learning the prayer Jesus taught the disciples when they implored, "Lord, teach us how to pray" (Luke 11:1). The boys are working to memorize the Lord's Prayer. As the Lord's Prayer contains a number of large, unfamiliar words, we are reading children's books written to explain the Lord's Prayer to young Christians. The sparkling pages of Baby Blessings' The Lord's Prayer for Children are a favorite with Connor. My Very Own Book of the Lord's Prayer by Rosalie Turner is another good read for children; this book is currently out of print, but is available used at amazon.com. Cheri Fuller's When Children Pray, an excellent read for parents wanting to make prayer meaningful for their children, contains an easy-to-follow model for using the Lord's Prayer to teach children to pray as well.

For a bit of fun in the midst of our unit, the boys and I are going to decorate prayer journals and bake soft pretzels. The first pretzels were made by monks who gave them as rewards to children who had learned their prayers. The word pretzel means reward; the twisted shape resembles the folded arms of a child praying. And finally, to pull our unit together, we'll compile a lapbook to document our studies and provide a reminder of the ACTS approach, some of the Hebrew names of God and their meanings (which are used in the PRAYS letters), a mini book of the Lord's Prayer, and a mini first prayer journal. Be sure to watch for updates as we progress further with our study of prayer.

Made in Egypt: Pryamids

2008-09-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

Our future engineer - or maybe, architect - hard at work

In one day we managed to accomplish something that took thousands of Ancient Egyptians twenty years to do: we built a pyramid... actually two! Of course, our pyramids were not 200-foot tall structures built with 4,000 pound stone bricks, but six-inch high sugar cube creations.

Each pyramid used 95 sugar cubes, plus the one each of the boys was permitted to eat upon completion of their building project. Ryan measured out the area of the 6 x 6 base, outlined it with pencil and carefully filled in the space with glue; each level was precisely set on top of the last. Connor was a bit less meticulous in his building efforts, but the result was equally as impressive.

Connor's Egyptian Step-Pyramid

What a fun introduction to this incredible aspect of Ancient Egyptian architecture!

Books: Week 1: September 1-5, 2008

2008-09-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

Even with having our week shortened by Ryan's accident, we were able to complete most of our planned history and science reading thanks, in part, to the boys' frequent requests to read at the table during lunch and dinner.

Egyptians by Stephanie Turnbull. A nice introduction to all aspects of the Ancient Egyptians: the people, the clothes, the games, the kings, the mummies, the pyramids and tombs, and more.

The Nile River by Allan Fowler. Ryan loved this book, a simply-written introduction to the geography of Egypt and the River Nile.

Tut's Mummy Lost... and Found by Judy Donnelly. A Step Into Reading book chronicling the search for King Tut's tomb.

Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile by Tomie de Paola. A silly story with fun illustrations; typical Tomie de Paola.

Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert. This book is a must-read for the bright, fun illustrations alone. The fact that it has great text as well makes it one we're sure to read more than once.

Becoming Butterflies by Anne Rockwell. A well-done introduction to the life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly. This book presents the facts without bogging down the story.

Monarch Butterfly of Aster Way by Elizabeth Ring. Another wonderful book from the Smithsonian's Backyard series. The boys received a number of these books last year for Christmas, and we love them all!

Where does the Butterfly Go When it Rains by May Garelick. This book doesn't ever answer the question presented in its title, but the prose is fun and well-written and this book was a great impetus for a bit of on-line research as to where butterflies actually do go when it rains: under rocks and leaves.

I Wish I Were a Butterfly by James Howe. A fun tale of a cricket who wishes he were a butterfly with a beautiful message of how each one of us is special in our our own way. Ryan broke into a huge grin at the end when he caught the little twist in the tale.

Am I Praying? by Jeannie St. John Taylor. This is the book that was the impetus for our still evolving unit study on prayer. Little Erik is having a rotten day, but through everything that goes wrong, he learns what it means to ask God for help. Hillarious illustrations and a fun story that set off a great conversation on how we talk to God.

The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack. We love this story about a little duck on the Yangtze River!

The First Day of School

2008-09-02T22:34:00.000-07:00

Today marked the first official day of our 2008-2009 homeschool year: Ryan's first day of second grade and Connor's first day of a modified PK/kindergarten curriculum.

Our day went well. Ryan was ready to resume his Singapore Math lessons and after our field trip yesterday, was interested to read and learn more about butterflies during science. He wasn't quite as thrilled with his grammar and handwriting work, but he did complete both with minimal complaining.

Ryan completes his math work, with some help from Samuel kitten.

Connor enthusiastically completed math, handwriting, and his favorite, learning games. Each day I will set up several learning stations for Connor to complete on his own or with minimal assistance while I work with Ryan on his math. Today Connor counted and sorted dinosaurs by shape (type of dinosaur), completed lacing cards, and worked to complete pattern pictures (using a game called Playful Patterns). He was extremely proud of his work!

Connor's favorite part of the day: learning games.
(Completed with some help from Leya).
I love his focus, the concentration
evident in these photos!

Together we began our first Tapestry of Grace unit, a study of the Ancient Egyptians and Moses. We are all excited about using Tapestry of Grace this year. This curriculum combines great books and hands-on-activities to teach history from a Biblical worldview. The boys were fascinated by the books we started reading this afternoon, and asked for additional reading time during lunch, snack, and dinner tonight. What an exciting start to the new school year!

Connor & Ryan: still smiling at the end of the day!
(Notice Connor's self- awarded "Good Work" sticker)

Celebrating A New Year

2008-09-01T22:33:00.000-07:00

A new school year that is. Today we celebrated the start of the new homeschool year with a trip to the Butterfly Pavilion at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Our science curriculum for this year begins with a unit on butterflies. As we have yet to see any butterflies, aside from Cabbage Whites, in our butterfly garden, we decided a trip to this new exhibit would be a special way to kick-off the school year. We toured the Pavilion and the accompanying exhibit on the co-evolution of plants and butterflies, as well as the Insect Zoo exhibit.

Connor studies a butterfly up close.

The Pavilion houses close to 500 butterflies of over 30 varieties from around the world. The butterflies fly free as you walk through, landing on the plants, on shoulders, and on heads; both Connor and I had butterflies land on our heads. The boys were able to watch as the butterflies uncurled their probiscises to drink the nectar from pieces of orange, grapefruit, watermelon, and rotten bananas and to see a Monarch butterfly emerge from its chrysalis and uncurl its wings.

Two Owl Butterflies drinking the nectar from a slice of watermelon.

The boys completed a color-as-you-go scavenger hunt as we toured the exhibits, coloring in spaces as they spotted 2 flying Morphos, 3 Owl butterflies, rotten bananas, a red flower, a yellow flower, and many more. Although this scavenger hunt was not designed specifically for the Butterfly Pavilion at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Ryan and Connor were able to fill in most of the spaces as we walked through the Pavilion and the Insect Zoo.

Taking a moment to complete the color-as-you-go scavenger hunt.

A New Semester Begins

2008-01-02T18:45:00.000-08:00

Today our holiday break ends and a new semester begins. After three months of home schooling, we are still working to perfect our learning schedule. Toward the end of the first semester, daily commitments and responsibilities seemed to interfere with, rather than support, our schooling far more than I care to admit. Even so, we did manage to complete the first book of our math program; to explore the countries, customs, and people of Mexico and Greece; to build Ryan's sight-word vocabulary and oral reading skills; and to participate in several community service projects. Still, there was so much more I had intended to cover, especially in the areas of history, science, and art. Our primary goal for the next few weeks then is to develop a learning schedule that enables us to more completely cover the subjects we intend, while still permitting flexibility in our learning activities. This will undoubtedly take some creativity on my part, but I feel refreshed and up to the challenge... and perhaps blogging about our learning adventures this semester will help to maintain that motivation and accountability.

Encouraging a Reader

2007-12-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

Ryan has always loved books. He treasures books, carries books around in his backpack at all times, and has even been known to take a stack of books to bed with him. Since infancy, he has loved to sit and listen to a story, and at age six, this has not changed. He loves to be read to, he loves to listen to books on tape... but, he does not love to read on his own. In fact, he will do whatever it takes to avoid reading aloud.

Ryan mastered his letters and letter sounds at an early age, and yet putting these sounds together to sound out words does not come easily for him. It's as if when the letters are put together in a sequence to form a word, an unfamiliar word, their meaning becomes confused, h-a-t becomes h-g-l. To compensate, Ryan reads by drawing upon his phenomenal sight word vocabulary and the context in which a word appears. (I have been reading about visual-spatial learners and this is a common struggle and adaptation of children, like Ryan, who learn in this manner).

After unsuccessfully attempting to force phonics to work for him, and watching Ryan become more and more frustrated with reading, we set the phonics lessons aside and moved on to simply reading books, to increasing Ryan's sight word vocabulary, to proving to him that reading on his own is indeed worth struggling for. But, although he has continued to improve his word reading and can now easily read any number of books, he still exhibits little joy in reading on his own, and continually whines and complains about having to read.

And then one afternoon a couple of weeks ago, I happened to mention to Ryan that he was reading one of the books his good friend in Texas had read and really enjoyed. (I had used this friend's mother's blog to get some ideas of books for Ryan to read). Ryan paused for a moment and then started with the barrage of questions: How many books has his friend read? What books has he read? Who has read more books? I began to sense a bit of competitiveness. (Not really all that surprising as Ryan can be ultra-competitive; those who know me well will now be laughing - I guess he's not entirely his father's son.) Aha, I had unwittingly stumbled upon a way to use Ryan's competitive drive for a bit of good, a little dose of motivation, a bit of encouragement. Beginning this week, Ryan and his friend will exchange reading lists as well as their thoughts on the various titles they have read during the week. Its' so simple and yet Ryan has been reading, still not joyously, but with a bit less moaning and groaning. After all, he can't let his friend read more books than he read this week! Sometimes you just have to do whatever works!

Who's teaching whom?

2007-11-24T21:37:00.000-08:00

After years of post-graduate education and experience in education, one might think I have all of the necessary skills to successfully navigate the planning and delivery of our home-school lessons and assignments, and yet I find myself at a loss almost daily on how to best present new material, to skillfully coax cooperation, to gently encourage perseverance, and above-all, to retain patience with two little boys who would much rather run, climb, jump, build, or play than read or calculate. As a result, the homeschool experience has been just as much a learning experience for me as it has for the boys. Sure, Ryan is learning to read and to calculate using addition and subtraction, and Connor is learning his ABCs and numbers, but I am learning that I always plan more than we are able to accomplish in a day; that plans are meant to be altered; that the boys and I do not learn in the same manner; and that beautiful Fall days were intended for outdoor play, not indoor study! Maybe Winter will bring more indoor study-time, days spent next to the fire with books and eager students, a real Norman Rockwell scene... or maybe I still have a lot to learn!

Why Homeschool?

2007-11-24T21:09:00.000-08:00

I am the daughter of a public-school teacher; I attended public schools and graduated from state universities; I have a PhD in school psychology; I worked in the public schools for 7 years; and yes, I believe the majority of public schools do an adequate job of educating our children. So, why, I am frequently asked, would I decide to homeschool? The answer is simple, although the decision to do so was nothing of the sort! In my heart, in that little place where mothers know their children better than anyone else ever will, I know that although my boys would likely do just fine in the public-school system, they would not flourish. Each day of working with them one on one, I discover another little learning-style quirk, a behavioral difference, or a blossoming passion that, in my mind, confirms they require the flexibility and time homeschooling provides to fully explore their interests and to nurture their love of learning, each in their own learning-style!