123-125

Monday: read The New Americans by Betsy Maestro, E did math, we looked at the results of an experiment left over the weekend (celery stalk sliced vertically and left soaking in red and blue colored water).
Tuesday: read Roanoke: The Lost Colony by Jane Yolen and Harry Houdini: Escape Artist by Patricia Lakin. Learned about clerihews in Paul Janezcko's A Kick in the Head, and E did a worksheet on this one:

Edgar Allan Poe
Was passionately fond of roe.
He always liked to chew some
When writing anything gruesome.

E. C. Bentley

The only word she needed to look up was roe. I gave her The Houdini Box by Brian Selznick to read on her own. She did math.
Wednesday: (today) E went with her Daddy to see an iron pour at an old iron foundry. She and her dad got to make little sand molds which had iron poured into them and became plaques. Very cool. T and I played several games, including Max the Cat and Harvest Time and he also played with the legos.

45

Read 2 x 2 = Boo! by Loreen Leedy, and The Warlord's Beads by Virginia Walton Pilegard--I'm trying to read her fun math books since she told me math is boring... Then All Kinds of Feet by Ron and Nancy Goor, which was more informative and interesting than I thought it would be. E narrated another labor of Heracles from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children: the Augean Stables--the best one yet. And I read from the same book about Odysseus and the Trojan Horse, the Cyclops, and the bag of winds. In the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths we read about the centaurs, and Chiron, and his best pupil, Asclepius, then an introduction to the nine muses and the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. E answered some questions about the moon that I wrote in her notebook, and did her math while T watched Peep. During lunch I read "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" from Lang's Blue Fairy Book.

44

Today we tried a workshop at the Botanical Gardens, studying the life cycle of the mealworm and other insects. It was a bit of a bust for 3 reasons: 1) it was bloody cold out there, and of course E, convinced that she is always too hot (though she hasn't an ounce of body fat anywhere) dressed inappropriately; 2) she wasn't all that interested in the life cycle of the meal worm (can you imagine?) and 3) it was kind of worksheety. But it was free so at least it had that going for it.

When we got home we watched a fascinating Discovery channel program called If We Had No Moon. Apparently, without the moon, Earth would be pretty much uninhabitable, by our kind of creature, anyhow. Also, the program featured several kick-a** women scientists, so I give it several thumbs up! Then when Alan came home, they built a set of panpipes (instructions here), though Alan's the only one who can really play them well, and we listened to some ancient Greek music at this cool site.

40

I was all freaked out about the Greek thing--how are we going to get it all done and so forth. I mean, don't get me wrong, we're not on a strict schedule or anything, and I have some extra padding built in to what schedule we do have, but I want to get to Rome before the Pompeii exhibit comes to town and there are just SO MANY Greeks with SO MANY achievements. Then it hit me this morning, like a stack of bricks. She's in first grade. She really doesn't have to know Empedocles from Erastothenes ('cuz you know I do, uh huh...)--she's going to be studying Greece in more depth later anyway. I mean really, she doesn't have to learn anything about Greece at all--though we're having fun doing it. DUH!! So I stopped flipping out and relaxed this morning. We're learning the Greek Myths--that's important since so much of Western Culture is built on them. We're getting an introduction to their way of life and an understanding that they more or less invented or improved on important stuff like democracy and scientific reasoning and mathematics. And we're hearing some of the great stories from the Trojan, Peloponesian, and Persian wars. And that's more than plenty.

So we had narration today on the first of Heracles' tasks--defeating the lion (from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children) and we read about Hermes and (again) Demeter and Persephone in the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I read An Octopus is Amazing by Patricia Lauber, and we read around in Technology in the Time of Ancient Greece by Judith Crosher. She did math (division!) while T watched Peep and they both watched Peep together while I made lunch. While they were eating I read the story of "Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess" from Lang's Blue Fairy Book, and then we read The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole. We went online and looked at National Geographic's virtual solar system, and watched an animation that demonstrates the immense distance between the planets. We made a model of the solar system on the wall in our hallway: Last night I took this coloring page, and blew up (or reduced, as necessary) the planets to be in a rough scale with one another, using this site to figure out how big each should be. Then today I made a part of a big sun with some large paper Alan brought home from work, and T and I colored the sun (it has some very unusual sunspots) while E colored the planets. She cut them out while T and I put the sun up on my bedroom door, and then we used the measurements from the "Planetary Distance Activity" in the back of The Planets in Our Solar System by Franklyn M. Branley to place the planets along the wall. So they are in rough scale with each other, and in rough scale for distance, but the distance and the size are not correspondent. I would either have to have had Mercury smaller than a pinhead (hard to color!) or a hallway bigger than a football field (I wish). Then E made labels for the planets and put them up too, using the True Books planets series from the library for spelling (she used the pictures on the covers as models for her coloring, too). Unfortunately for her, I didn't get an earth book and I refused to tell her how to spell it. Oh my, what a tantrum we had! For someone who's so bright, she certainly does have her stupid moments. Finally I had to point out to her that we had read TWO books on the solar system today, and they were at my feet, and I was sure that the word EARTH had to be in there SOMEWHERE. I wish she weren't so obsessed with spelling. I've told her again and again that I couldn't care less if she spells things right or not, as long as she writes, to no avail.

They're really pleased with the model, and E wants to add all the moons and asteroids and comets, and...oh my. Well, I told her we could add moons as we study each individual planet, but we're done with school for today so shoo! I have cleaning to do--and then some.

36

Today went a lot better than it should have, given that I stayed up till 2 with a book (Emma Bull's Territory) and then had allergy issues the rest of the night. And I did wake up cranky and tired. However, chocolate pancakes with fruit syrup cheered everyone up, myself included. And the kids were so enthusiastic about their new chore rotations (hey, I don't get it either...) that it was hard to stay grumpy. E, in her new guise as "Laundry Helper" gathered all the sheets and towels for me and put the new towels out. T, as "Dog Feeder" was so proud to show me how he could go up and down the stairs carrying Sheila's dish. I'm enjoying the bliss now, because of course by Wednesday these chores will have lost their glow, I'm sure. We started about a half hour late, but we pretty much made up for lost time. We started out reading Maisy's Morning on the Farm by Lucy Cousins at T's request. Then I read Ducks Don't Get Wet by Augusta Goldin because it was one of the free science books we got yesterday and Quack the Duck is T's favorite character on Peep. Narration was the story of Demeter and Persephone from Amery's _Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children, which was really neat because we just recently read Gail Gibbons' _The Reasons for Seasons_ (I didn't plan it, I swear--just dumb luck). Then I read some more chapters from _D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths for Children_, about Aphrodite, and Ares, and Athena (including the story of Arachne, which tied in nicely with the spiders we've been observing and reading about--luck luck luck). Then we talked about how the Ancient Greeks were some of the first people to really scientifically study the world around them, and I read How We Learned the Earth is Round by Patricia Lauber, and then some pertinent sections from Laurie Carlson's Classical Kids. We looked at the Greek alphabet, and triangular numbers, and magic squares (which she's already encountered in Singapore math) and then we tried the Sieve of Eratosthenes (all this is from _Classical Kids_) and then we took a break, during which they got out the play doh and (I am not making this up) rolled it out and started inscribing the Greek alphabet on it as though it were a clay tablet (which I guess actually it is). This was so great for me--at last, my kids did one of those brainy things homeschooled kids do! I'm in the club! I'm in the club! All right, just kidding, though I was really pleased. After break we started making paper models of the 5 Platonic bodies from patterns in Carlson's book (and T just cut and pasted his little heart out). She got through the pyramid and the cube. We'll do more tomorrow, because then it was time for lunch. She worked on her math review after lunch until it was time for Dance and Tumbling, and then finished the math when we got home. A busy but satisfying day, especially since I thought when I woke up it was going to be a total wash.

26--party!

Today we had our Ancient Egyptian party. We set up a table with all of E and T's projects and also her math review and Draw Write Now notebook. We made Barley bread (from Avery Hart's Pyramids!) and put together plates of cucumber sticks with yogurt and pita bread with hummus. She dressed up in the Egyptian dress and wig from last Halloween's costume and wore her "faience" necklace. T wore a "loincloth" (diaper) and his bead necklace. While waiting for Grandma and Grandpa, I read Germs Make Me Sick! by Melvin Berger, and the rest of Dewey's _Antarctic Journal_. Grandma and Grandpa loved the feast and the exhibits, and I was really proud of how she was able to answer them when they quizzed her, even though I don't really support the whole concept of quizzing. She played the piano piece she's memorizing, and they took us out to lunch. Dad took tons of pics and said he meant to make himself a false pharaoh's beard to wear but didn't get to it. He promises a toga for Greece, which should be a sight to see. I'll bet good money we won't get Mom in a toga this lifetime.

20

We started reading Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boynton, jumping around and doing everything it says in the book, which was fun. Then E narrated "It Could Always Be Worse" from the Hirsch book, and I read some more sections from Platt's _Egyptian Diary_,which they both enjoy a lot. Then I read Hear Your Heart and A Drop of Blood both by Paul Showers. E did her math while T watched Peep and then I gave them each a picture of a heart to color while I fixed lunch. After lunch we went to Pump It Up in Trussville and they had a good time bouncing and sliding. E made a new friend, Jill. I had E read Gail Gibbons' Spiders aloud to T on the way there.

19

This morning E had her piano lesson first thing, then we went to the library, and I checked out several books about spiders, since we have the two big spiders performing their web shows for us every day now. Once home, E had to do some math, while T watched Peep and the Great Big World, a science show for preschoolers. Then to the zoo, for E's first Habitats class. I think she was disappointed because she expected it to be like R said Zoofari zoo camp was, and of course it's more like a class (no play time, no snacks). So hard to say if it was worth the money just yet. Now she has to finish her math, then she can read or whatever.

18

This morning E and T were playing so nicely together, I just couldn't break them up. So they got out all their winter gear and went outside to play winter (it was about 75 degrees out there, but what the heck...). I got some cooking and laundry done, and if E didn't learn much, T did. A big sister is the best preschool teacher around, if you ask me, and he just loves to learn everything she wants to share with him.

Then finally it was time to come in and dress more appropriately to the weather, and I read some more of Platt's _Egyptian Diary_, then we put together a mummy case (I got the pattern from The Egyptians by Rachel Wright). E is going to decorate it with markers and hieroglyphic stamps (from the Ancient Egypt Treasure Chest) and then we'll "mummify" a doll I got at the dollar store and stick her in. During lunch I read the last chapter of Lacey's _What's the Difference?_ (turtles and tortoises) and a few more sections of Dewey's _Antarctic Journal_. E finally finished her math, (with help from her cuisenaire rods) and then she baked cookies, doing all the recipe reading and figuring herself.

I let T watch Peep and the Big Wide World on the computer (E watched too) Now she is downstairs hopefully finishing the Draw Write Now page from eons ago. Finishing not a big priority with this girl.

17

This morning E was busily reading Osbourne's _Mummies and Pyramids_ before school even started! She also read I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert by Eve Bunting. So we started with a narration of "The Knee-High Man" from the Hirsch book--I broke the reading into two parts and had her narrate each part. Then I read Tut's Mummy: Lost...And Found by Judy Donnelly, and we did her music note flashcards (with much bellyaching). Then I read Aliki's Mummies Made in Egypt, informative but a touch on the long side, and had her label a map of Antarctica (with only 3 things--not much in Antarctica, really). Then recess, which ended with her and G in great disgrace and grounded from recess this week. After we got through all that, she did her math (more bellyaching, but she seems to be getting the concept) and then lunch, during which I read a chapter from Lacey's _What's the Difference?_ about the pinnepeds: seals, sea lions, and walrus'. She was still eating so I read several chapters from Antarctic Journal by Jennifer Owings Dewey and then we all settled on the couch for more of Platt's _Egyptian Diary_ which is so excellent, in its coverage of various aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture and its interesting storyline and its gorgeous illustrations--really a great book. Now she is (hopefully) finishing the Draw Write Now page from Friday, and then we'll go to Dance/Tumbling. After which she must finish her math. What a day. Tomorrow should be more fun--maybe we'll start on our sarcophagus.

15

Today started out s...l...o...w... E was is full dawdle mode and didn't get her room ready (in fact it still isn't ready) till 10:30... So we skipped narration, because sullen, just-yelled-at kids very rarely have much in the way of concentration, I've found. Instead I read Petersen's Antarctica, and then I read the first three sections of Egyptian Diary: The Journal of Nakht by Richard Platt. After that I read Your Skin and Mine by Paul Showers, and we did some of the activities in the book ie looking at our skin and fingerprints with a magnifying glass. E sat down to do her math (from yesterday) and went back into dawdle mode, occasionally asking me such questions as "Mommy, what's 25 + 1?" Now, I don't mind helping, but she knows darn well how to add 1 to something, so she got some chewing out and I sat on her till she finished, then told her no reading today, since she wasted so much time NOT doing her math. While she finished lunch, I read the next chapter of Lacey's _What's the Difference?_ about Octopuses and Squids and other cephalopods. The kids really like this book and ask for it often--too bad it's OOP. I'll have to see if I can find it at a library sale or used book store sometime. After she had lunch, we watched the first episode of A&E's "The Greatest Pharaohs". Dad taped it for me from the Cable in the Classroom version. E's verdict: better than the classification video, but still boring--not as good as the Great Pyramid video. Not helped by very poor sound quality on the tape Dad made for me. But she wanted to watch it through. She wants to see Tutankhamen, her favorite. I told her he'd come later. I want to see Hatshepsut. Hopefully the show will perk up a little, though it doesn't seem likely. After that I forced them outside to play ( AM a mean Mommy today) and when they came back in I gave E a new Draw Write Now book that dealt with the Polar Regions, since we read about Antarctica today. She's working on it now, then I will probably have mercy on her and tell her she can call G to play or read or make the paper model pyramid with me if she wants to.

T played with Legos and Play Doh, and requested a reading of _Your Insides_ by Cole.

14

Well, a better day today! This morning we started right after breakfast with a little fun compass activity I got here. I made up a "treasure" in a shoe box with some toys, stickers, and chocolate coins, and hid it under the rose bush. Alan drew a skull on a big rock in our back yard to make "Skull Rock" and I typed up the directions with some free pirate fonts I downloaded here. Then I printed them out onto some parchment-like paper, and Alan burned around the edges to make it look like a real treasure map. This morning when I came in with the paper, I dropped the document on the table, saying, "Look what I found in the yard!" They had fun using the compass and finding the treasure, though I think E is just barely not too old for this, so I'm glad we did it now.

Then after we were all ready for the day, we still had about a half hour before her piano lesson, so E sewed on her toy dinosaur project and I read a chapter from _What's the Difference?_ by Lacey about the difference between hares and rabbits, and the book The Indian Ocean by Ylvisaker. Then when we got back from piano, I read "The Boy at the Dike" in the Hirsch book, and E narrated. Then You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pyramid Builder! by Jacqueline Morley, which covered again the stuff we saw in the movie yesterday, and we took a little online tour inside Khufu's pyramid, provided by NOVA. I had E start working on her math, but she didn't get far and she and T were hungry so we broke for lunch. I told Jen she could send G over after lunch while she runs some errands, so instead of going back to math, I just read The Magic Schoolbus Inside the Human Body and Your Insides both by Joanna Cole. _Your Insides_ has some neat transparency pages at the end to show the different systems. After G goes home I'll have E finish her math, then maybe we'll build the paper model of Khufu's pyramid that I got at the Canon website, or maybe I'll send her out to play with Hayden and Dawson, as this may be their last day here.

Yesterday I read Green Eggs and Ham to T at his request. Later in the day, he asked me to read it again. I got as far as the first "I do not like green eggs and ham" when he interrupted and said "But Mommy, he tried them already and liked them!"

11

Today E woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at her usual time of 7:30! Imagine how much difference it makes when you don't spend all night reading...

We started with a narration of "The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs" from the Hirsch book, probably the last of our Aesop narrations--on Monday I'll see how she does with a short tale. Then I read the Egypt pages from Millard's _First Civilizations_. We noticed the sun was shining, so we ran outside to the driveway to draw our shadows and label them W (an activity from Branley's _North, South, East and West_ that we couldn't do yesterday because it was overcast. We went out again at noon and labeled the new outlines N and we'll repeat in the afternoon and then check them against compass readings. Over the weekend I will put together some fun "treasure" and a "treasure map" and do a little compass/orienteering activity on Monday. Then I think we'll be done with the cardinal directions for the time being.

When we came back in, I read I Wonder Why Pyramids Were Built by Philip Steele. The text is a bit sketchy, but the illustrations are great and very realistic-seeming; they give you a real feel for what Ancient Egypt might have looked like. Then we went out back and made a model of the Nile, an activity I got from Avery Hart's Pyramids! We made some sculpey pyramids to go on the west bank, and planted grass seed along the fertile border of the "Nile" which will hopefully sprout as the river "floods".

As they were dawdling a bit at lunch, I sat down and read the next chapter of _What's the Difference?_ about camels. Then Many Luscious Lollipops by Ruth Heller, more than you wanted to know about adjectives. Now E is doing her math, and then she must do a Draw Write Now page before she can see if Georgia can play.

9,10

Well, yesterday was a bit weird. We went to E's piano lesson, then to the VH library and the HW library, and when we got home there wasn't enough time to do much, so I let her read her new Magic Treehouse book until lunch. After lunch we drove out to Trussville for the Escape School presentation, which was excellent. Then home again, and she finished both the MTH book she'd just started and the next one by dinner. Last night we discovered the reasons behind her recent requests for a night light (after sleeping without one for months) and her being so tired in the mornings: when I went in about 9:30 to check on her, she was reading _Pippi Longstocking_ by the (very dim) light of her nightlight! What an uproar! I explained to her that no one could understand how much she loves to read like I can, but she still needs to take care of her body as well as her mind and that means getting enough sleep! So, no more books in the bedroom! (She got back to reading Pippi this morning before school, by the way!)

Last night I sang "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" with T, after which he asked, "Mommy, who took her body away?"

This morning we started with narration of "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" from the Hirsch. She was fantastic on the story part, completely couldn't remember the morals--my girl loves narrative, that's all. Then I read The Antarctic Ocean by Ylvisaker, and wrote a few things she remembered in her notebook--not sure that's much use, but we did it for the others, so I guess we'll finish out. Then I read the next chapter of _What's the Difference_ by Lacey, about the difference between bison and buffaloes. The book mentioned how a strong buffalo could fight off a lion, so we went to the computer and watched this video about the buffalo calf being rescued by its herd after being pulled in a tug-of-war between a pride of lions and a crocodile. I mentioned that the croc and the lions weren't bad guys, just carnivores who have to eat meat to live, but it was pretty obvious where the sympathies lay around here. Back to the couch, where I read North, South, East, and West by Franklyn M. Branley, and we messed around a bit with compasses--unfortunately it was too overcast to go outside and draw our shadows, but maybe we can do that tomorrow. Then E read to T: North, South, East and West this time by Allan Fowler. I had E do a simple map worksheet I got here. Then she cut out and labeled the African animals and we taped them into her notebook. Then we all went to Georgia's for recess--Tuck was thrilled that he could go too, but I had to go along because Jennifer was nervous about having 4 kids.

After we got back we had lunch, then E did her math--working on the tens column and the ones column. And then I got out the Perler beads and she made a present for Daddy's birthday while T annoyed her intensely by just messing around with the beads. Now she's making a new bead thing and he's doing play-doh, which he's been asking for all day.

8

First I should say that last Friday we still had some time so we sorted out the animal classification cards, first into Backbone/No Backbone, then the Backbones into Mammal, Reptile, Amphibian, Fish and Bird. The kids both seemed to enjoy the activity, and we may do the Invertebrates sometime this week if they want to. I want to finish up with Taxonomy this week and start the human body next week.

Today we started with narration: Aesop's fable of The Maid and the Milk Jug, from the Hirsch book. I didn't know this was the source of "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched"! I think I'm learning more than she is some days. It's been 3 days since she did a narration and you could tell: she was pretty rusty. But not too bad.

Next I read Africa by Petersen, since we're starting Egypt today, and we wrote some things about Africa in her notebook. Then I read the Introduction and first chapter of What's the Difference: a Guide to Some Familiar Animal Look-Alikes by Elizabeth A. Lacey. The first chapter deals with the crocodilians, and we listed some of the differences between crocodiles, alligators, and gharials in her notebook. Then we called Georgia and she came over for recess.

A terrible thing happened during recess. The kids were playing up at the top of the yard with (I thought) the play hoe. Turns out they had Alan's big rusty shovel, which he had left up there when he built the cave. I should have checked. But I was hanging up the laundry and I didn't. Georgia hit her foot really hard with the shovel, and now her parents have taken her to the doctor because she's losing the toenail. I don't know if they'll ever forgive us. And what will this do to her swimming and soccer? I feel so miserable. What a stupid thing to let happen. If things were reversed I would be livid at the irresponsibility of the other parent. Anyway, still waiting to hear from them after the doctor trip. Had it been an accident with the play tools, I would feel bad about it, but these things happen. But that Alan left the shovel out, and that I didn't check to see what they were doing, was unconscionable.

Well, after that we did go back to school, after a prayer for Georgia's health. Emma did a math lesson, and I read Rotten Ralph Helps Out by Jack Gantos and Nicole Rubel, which is a silly little story that kind of introduces some of the things the Ancient Egyptians invented, like pancakes (!)
Then after lunch I read Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Ancient Egypt by Joanna Cole. There's alot in the illustrations to this book that I passed over but I expect E will be going over it again with her fine toothed comb this afternoon. Now she is labeling a blank outline map of Africa I printed up from this site, and then she can play play doh with her brother.

He sat through all the readings today, though he was playing with the loop loom when we started and I half hoped he might just do that for a while. But he was a good boy and listened well. Last night we were talking about school and he said "E has school tomorrow?" and I said "Yes and you do too" and you should just have seen his little face light up like a million Christmas trees: " I have school TOO?" It was so precious.

4

Another pretty good day! Narration: "The Ant and the Grasshopper"--she did great, even quoting some lines from the book! Then Geography: we read about Europe (by David Petersen). I decided based on our conversation last night, to ease back on the math work, so we did about half of what I would have done, following the lesson plans that came with the books. She was very happy and did very well. Then I read Wild and Woolly Mammoths by Aliki and If You Lived in the Days of the Wild Mammoth Hunters by Mary Elting and Franklin Folsom, interrupted by a half hour "recess" with Georgia (they showed off their cave that Daddy made this weekend). Then I read Benny's Animals and How He Put Them in Order a really excellent introduction to Animal Classification by Millicent Selsam. Tomorrow we'll play with the cards I printed out from this site, and maybe view this video--it's geared toward 5th graders but is simple enough I think she'll get some use out of it.

T was happy as long as I stopped to listen to his comments, and in between Aesop's Fables and _Europe_ I read _Treats from a Tree_ to him. Then while E was doing math, I got out the play-doh which was a big hit (I think E did her math more quickly so she could have a little break to play with it too!)