Rowing Week 9: If I Ran for President Part 1

After a long search of the internet I could not find one election unit study that was right for my five year old. After a leisurely afternoon in Barnes and Nobles I came across this wonderful book by Catherine Stier and illustrated by Lynne Avril.

An Amazon.com reviewer sums up why I love this title:
"This book takes a very complex subject about our election process (which itself is confusing, even to adults) in the United States and breaks it down in to easily understood concepts that run from the beginning stages of announcing your candidacy through actually winning the election and being sworn in to office. Kids learn about the two party system, the electoral college, primaries, campaigning, and campaign promises. I loved that the author chose not to dumb down the information, but instead used words that kids understand to explain how elections work. It is an excellent factual book, and the story is engaging enough for children that it will keep their attention while they learn about serious, important subject matter. FIVE BIG STARS to Catherine Stier for tackling a complex, complicated subject and making it enjoyable for children to learn."

Science
In the book the potential candidate travels around the country participating in various activities to drum up support for their campaign, which leaves them tired and in need of a nap. Our science discussion will be about the importance of sleep.

Read-Along:Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science Books: Sleep is for Everyone.

Experiment: Chart daily emotions and sleep duration for one week.

• Where you cranky with less sleep?
  
• How was school with more sleep?

Math

Election Unit Study Math (HSS)

How old do I have to be to vote?

What year will I be able to vote? (Subtraction)

What year will I vote for president for the first time? (Skip counting by 4's)

Tie in To Math General Math

• What president's are on what coin?
  

Social Studies-Geography

Where does the president live?

• Make a story Disc and place on Washington DC.
  
• Learned about the White House from Target's Places Around the World Cards.
  
• A map of Washington D.C. with famous sites from Enchanted Learning
  

In the book the author does an excellent job describing the election process from the decision to run, through the primaries, conventions and elections. It also describes the political parties.

Define the two major political parties and match the candidates to the party.

Language Arts

After reading the book complete the Vocabulary Flap Book with Cover from (HSS).

Music/Art

Watch party conventions and candidate elections videos at NickJr.com. These videos are each less than 4 minutes and give a kids summary of the conventions as well as the major points about the candidates.

Discuss the colors used in the book on posters, buttons and banners.

• What are the main colors in the book?
  
• Why do they use those colors?
  
• What do those colors make you feel? Discuss how color help convey feelings and emotions.
  
• Define patriotic
  
• Make your own campaign poster on Scholastic.com
  
• Why did you choose the colors, theme and symbols for your poster?
  

Bible/Character

Continue Discussion on Fruits of the Spirit: Self-Control

Fieldtrip

TS accompanied us to our local polling location to participate in early voting process.

Fine Motor Activity

We shall attempt to build the White House with Lego's.

Social Skills Activity

The candidates are required to shake lots of hands on the campaign trail. How did this tradition start? What's the proper way to shake hands?

Lapbook Resources

Homeschool Share

Enchanted Learning

Wordless Wednesday-All Sorted

Nine Week Evaluation

In order to work with TS's interest I did change the order of our Rowing. The green blocks are units completed with lapbooks. Papa Piccolo was a big hit and went on for two weeks.

Our math dilemma has been solved using Houghton Mifflin Math online for K and 1^st grade.

Unfortunately the economic down turn affected the number of homeschool classes offered in our area. So currently we only have gymnastics, weekly playgroup, monthly fieldtrips, library story and craft time.

I have been encouraged and motivated to start a Kindy Co-Op using lapbooks. I will start with one a month focusing on holidays in November.

Sandbox Academy Fall 2008 FIAR

August

Mike Mulligan

Lentil

September

Madeline

A Pair of Red Clogs

Papa Piccolo

Papa Piccolo

October

The Glorious Flight

How to Make an Apple Pie

If I Ran For President

Pumpkin Free

November

Space Shuttle

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Cranberry Thanksgiving (Holiday Vacation)

December

Make Way For Ducklings

Digital FIAR-Christmas

New Year Around The World

(Holiday Vacation)

January

(Holiday Vacation)

Kathy and the Big Snow

Night of the Moonjellies

Review

We ran out of butter…so we made some

• Carton Heavy Whipping Cream
• A pinch of salt
  
• 1 super air tight container
  
• 1 energetic five year old
  
• Imagination Movers CD
  
• Silly Dance for 15 minutes

And It's Butter Baby

Rowing Week 3: Madeline

Science

Leaning about Self Care (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 22

Read-Along:
Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science Books: Germs Make Me Sick

1. Used magnifying glass to see small objects.
   
2. Reviewed hand washing and self care routines.
   

What is an appendix?

We used our Scholastic Dictionary and Enchanted Learning to identify the appendix.

Math

Madeline: 12 Little Girls Math (HSS)

FIAR discussion on sizes (HSS).

• Completed experiment on sizes.
  
• Did worksheets on sizes and sorting of objects.
  

Discussed Day and Night

• How many hours in a day?
  
• Did worksheets on time of day.
  
• Introduced time tracking.
  

Social Studies

Where is France?

• Map Disc (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 18
  
• France worksheet from Target's Places Around the World
  
• Learned about the Eifel Tower from Target's Places Around the World Cards.
  
• Welcome to France (Welcome to the World)
  
• Chick-fil-A
  foreign language French CD
  

Language Arts

We discussed the difference between fiction and nonfiction.

TS was not thrilled about reading Madeline. In his words there was not enough action and too many girls. He did like Ms. Clavel. So to make things a little more interesting we also read Madeline to the Rescue. He really loved this version of Madeline because in his words..." it has action."

Music/Art

Listen to the always classic Frère Jacques.

TS drew his favorite scene from Madeline which was the Eifel Tower.

Bible/Character

FIAR Character and Bible Study : Compassion

Fieldtrip

We attended playgroup and library storytime.

Fine Motor Activity

We built French buildings with Legos.

Lapbook Resources

Homeschool Share

The Homeschool Mom (THM)

Enchanted Learning

Wordless Wednesday: Fall Has Arrived

When I opened the door this morning I found cooler weather and this beautiful fall leaf finally welcoming Fall to our neck of the woods.

Newflash: Homeschooler SAVES more than $700 on books

How? We simply use the local library for the majority of homeschool books and resources. About six weeks ago our nearest Library, which is less than 2 miles from our house, closed for updating so we had to drive a whole 8 miles to use other township’s library. Boooooo!

Considering the price of gas I was a little testy but thankfully the new library had a bigger selection of books. Yeahhhhhhh!

The other great thing is because of Texas’ library share program we do not have to pay an out-of-district charge (savings $45.00 a year). Super Yeah!

In addition, we have found some awesome homeschool families who attend story time so we are not the only 5+ at arts and craft time. Hooray!

Did I mention craft time? Free art with friends once a week and they even do fieldtrips where you met the librarian at offsite locations. Whoopie!

Online book request allows me to pick most of our FIAR titles in the comfort of home so they are waiting for us. Plus they have an email and phone system that calls you 3 days before things are due to help avoid fines. Tears of JOY!

The coolest thing is at the bottom of your receipt they print out how much you have saved on books at the library.

Get OUT!

This is what I proudly displayed for hubby Saturday.

That’s right Dude $728 dollars in just books in six weeks!

So doing that math….you know I have to because I am an engineer….

Savings on books	$728
Free Art Class	$85 monthly
Out of District Fee	$45
Extra Gas (4 trips a month)	-$16.00
DVD movies rental for whole family	$10 monthly
Total Savings To Date	$852.00

So I can have the Mocha with a little less guilt.

Peace and Blessings

Menu Planning October 6-12

Inspired by Kysha @ Love’s School and in an effort to become more organized, I am joining the good ladies over at "I'm An Organizing Junkie” for the weekly Menu Plan Monday. I am a firm believer in menu planning and have been doing it “offline” so to speak for three years. However, since we have gone gluten-free I have been slacking on actually writing down my plans and contributing my cost over runs to the new diet. Bad mommy.

Monday-
breakfast: GF Pancakes and turkey bacon and Simply Apple Juice
lunch:
dinner: Gluten Free Oven Fried Chicken, baked sweet potato and broccoli

Tuesday-
breakfast: GF Gorilla Munch, Clementine oranges and soy milk
lunch: lunch: Hormel’s Natural Turkey, grape tomatoes, GF pretzels
dinner: Crockpot Chicken and Brown Rice Casserole

Wednesday-
breakfast: GF Gorilla Munch, apples, turkey bacon and soymilk
lunch: Hormel’s Natural Turkey, baby carrots, tortilla chips, organic Lemonade
dinner: Super Easy Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce With Gluten-Free Rice Noodles and Salad

Thursday-
breakfast: GF Brown Rice cold cereal, grapes and milk
lunch: grilled chicken strips, Organic Applesauce and tator tots
dinner: Steak, salad, brown rice

Friday-
breakfast: boiled eggs, smoothies
lunch: leftovers
dinner: Crockpot Chicken Stew with mixed veggies and GF corn bread

Saturday-
breakfast: Van’s GT Waffles, turkey bacon, Simply Apple Juice, Watermelon
lunch: Homemade Pizza
dinner: Turkey Meatballs, string beans, brown rice

Sunday-
breakfast: bananas smoothies, Gorilla Munch
lunch: Cuban chicken and salad
dinner: Van’s GT Waffles, turkey bacon, Simply Apple Juice, Watermelon

Peace and Blessings,

Rowing Week 2: Lentil

Science
Leaning about acoustics (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 22

Read-Along: Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science Books Sounds all Around

1. Experiment from Read-Along using water glasses to test different sounds.
2. Making telephone from paper cups to see how sound travels.
3. Making a guitar from tissue box and rubber bands.

Leaning about taste buds (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 22

Read-Along: Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science Books My Five Senses

Math
Lentil Math and Music Patterns (HSS)

Social Studies
Where is Ohio? What is a State? Map Disc (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 18

Studying human relations and appreciating being unique.

Read-Alongs:
What I Like About Me
I 'm Gonna Like Me: Letting off a little self-esteem

What I Do Best

Language Arts
TS became fascinated with a new word found in Lentil. Whittling. Yahoo Kids’ Dictionary defines it as: To cut small bits or pare shavings from (a piece of wood). To fashion or shape in this way: whittle a toy boat.

He still didn’t get it. So Mom whipped out a bar of soap, a butter knife and marker. We sat on the front porch swing and attempted to whittle a fish out of a bar of soap. HE GOT IT! The look on his face was priceless. I almost saw the light go on. HE LOVED IT! We now have a fish-ish, car-ish and a stegosaurs-ish out of soap.

Music/Art
Playing the Harmonic and practicing simple songs on the harmonica (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 21

Bible/Character
FIAR Character and Bible Study Section 7

Introduction to what is the purpose of a prayer.

Fieldtrip
We attended playgroup and library storytime.

Fine Motor Activity
TS cut lemons for taste bud experiment. He also cut and pasted all of his lapbook himself.

Lapbook Resources
Homeschool Share

The Homeschool Mom (THM)

Key Learnings
TS really go into the science experiments. We spent a whole day doing just science.

I love music. I play music in the morning and during quiet time. It was refreshing to have him play his harmonica most of the week.

My son loves to whittle.

Wordless Wednesday

Hi There!

Wordless Wednesday-Texas Size

Five In A Row (FIAR) Rowing Week 1: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Science
Leaning and labeling the parts of a steam shovel (HSS) and FIAR Science Section 47

Math
Mike Mulligan Math Homeschool Share (HSS)
Building Numbers (Hardcover)

Art
Introduction to Lapbooking and Notebooking

Social Studies
FIAR Social Section pg 43

Language Arts
FIAR pg 45

Music
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, for narrator & symphony orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra

Bible/Character
FIAR-BS pg 14

Read Alouds

• Digger (MACHINES AT WORK
• Road Builders (Paperback)
• I Stink! (Paperback)
• Trashy Town (Hardcover) by Andrea Zimmerman

Fieldtrip or Outings
There is so much construction in our area we were able to visit several construction sights and take pictures of the machines doing there jobs. We are go back to three sites once a week to take pictures of their progress. So we get to see a building built from ground clearing to completion.

Fine Motor Activity
Using sand toys to dig a square “neat and clean” as Mike and Mary Anne. Drawing shapes in the sand with fingers and scooping with spoons.

Lapbook Resources

• Homeschool Share (HSS)
• The Homeschool Mom (THM)

Key Learnings (forgive the phrase it is a throw back from work)

• The music CD gave the experience a new dimension and prevented bored since we just read this book earlier in the year.
• The music CD was educational because it taught us about the parts of an orchestra.
  
• The theme song has become a household favorite.
  
• We also learned why the composer chose the certain instruments to convey specific feelings.
• Explored the concept of stewardship.
• TS found that he loved lapbooking and chose one to present at our Orators club.

Wordless Wednesday

Hurricanes and Humbleness

Last week central Texas was hot and the usually stoic Texans were very anxious because of Hurricane Ike. We knew he was out there but did not know where God would place him because it was changing by the minute. By Thursday public school were schedule for early release, University of Texas cancelled its big football game, co-op activities were cancelled and people were scrambling for safe harbor. Our lives would change, but to what degree and when was unknown.

We waited and prayed for those in the path of this storm.

Earlier in the week, I was so caught up in lesson plans not going as plan, financial issues and providing social outlets for TS. It all seem so daunting until you look into the sky and see the awesome power of nature.

Our city was spared but as a nation and state, we will be feeling the effects of Ike for a long time.

Science with Sid: Reversible Change

This week our friend Sid the Science Kid discussed Reversible Change or in kindergarten speak: “Why does my popsicle melt?” TS was transfixed the entire 30 minutes and then wanted to do the experiment ASAP. Do I have time for learning? You bet!

So off to the dining room table or as Sid calls his area The Super Fab Lab. Setting up and conducting the first half of the experiment took less than 10 minutes. The instructions for this experiment can be found by clicking here Sid’s Frozen Fruit Experiment. The hardest part of the entire experiment was the kindergartener running to frig, opening the door and asking constantly: “Is it ready yet?”

The frozen fruit

The melting fruit aka “Great Snack”

TS had a great time, rave about the cool snack he made and he voluntarily wrote it in his journal. THANK YOU SID!

New Words Defined

Compare

Contrast

Temperature

Reversible Change

New Method: Observations
When you used your eyes, nose, hands and taste (if Mommy says it okay) to get information or learn about a thing.

(Now if I can just get the little “Looking for My Friend” tune out of my head.)

Row, row, row books

Okay we are officially Rowing….Five In a Row (FIAR) that is. So far so good for both student and teacher. I thought going in that reading the same story five days in a row would be rough, but good classics seem to hold a special appeal. The additional resource books help shore up his interest in the main book. We are a month into the program and nothing but good things so far. In addition, I have been incorporating music and Lego building based on the book we are reading. This provides us with an opportunity to move and use our hands while rowing. We are learning a lot.

At the beginning of each book I give him the option of notebooking, journaling or lapbooking our quest. So far, lapbooking has won out every time. TS has become addicted to lapbooks, because he says he can find everything he learned in one place. I am surprised how much he has taken to the method. He is even cutting and gluing without a fuss.

Here are the books we are rowing this Fall:

August	September	October
Mike Mulligan	Madeline	Papa Piccolo
Lentil	Harold and the Purple Crayon	Pumpkin Free
	A Pair of Red Clogs	Grandfather's Journey
	The Glorious Flight	If I Ran For President
November	December
Space Shuttle	Make Way For Ducklings
How To Make An Apple Pie	Digital FIAR-Christmas
Cranberry Thanksgiving	Digital FIAR-Birthday
November	(Holiday Vacation)

Not all of these titles are FIAR, but I now have enough time to develop at least a couple of unit studies to address specific issues and fieldtrips this fall.

Wordless Wednesday: Turtles Tanning

Maybe they are suffering a little post nacho heartburn?

Homeschool The Very Social Only Child

Today was a great day. I actually stayed at home. Normally we do work in the mornings, have lunch and are out the door from 1pm until about 4pm. This leads to rushed dinner preparations, piles of unwashed dishes, undone chores and inconsistent quiet times. Logic would dictate that I stay home, but I am praying through Super Social Singleton guilt. I felt like I had to get him in the presence other children everyday.

Some may ask “So why not send him to public school?” Because he is not a public school kid, he has been blessed with a curiosity, energy and intellect that does not thrive in a public school environment. He is his best in a homeschool environment, after much prayer, we know that to be the truth.

I was not an only child, far from it in fact. I grew up with a sibling, a younger cousin who lived with us most of the summers and enough first cousins within walking distance to put the Duggers to shame. I use to hide in my bedroom closet on the phone just to have a private conversation. I do not really understand the only child life style. TS is so social that he wants to see kids other kids every hour or every day. We do not have many kids his age in the immediate neighborhood and most of his other Singleton friends are school kids or recently got new siblings. (That is has brought on a major case of sibling desires.)

However, I cannot successful homeschool in a chaotic household. Therefore, after much prayer I have instituted “Home Days”. These are the days we bless our house (dust, sweep, fold), do the experiments and just enjoy each other.

After three weeks, I feel less rushed and so does he. We are making progress on learning; schoolwork, self care skills, discipline and enjoying each other. It makes the other 3-4 days that we go out a lot less hectic and more relaxed because we have things done at home. Plus the weekends are jammed with birthday parties, kid concerts, church and friends.

Today we took an hour walk together, just observing (TS’s new word for Sid The Science Kid).

We saw ducks, turtle, geese, tadpoles, leaves, funny rocks and cranes. It is great to slow down and enjoy homeschooling my only child.

WE LOVE SID THE SCIENCE KID

We got a flyer from the library about a new show on PBS called Sid the Science Kid. TS though it looked cool and wanted to check it out. Since TV is limited at our house I knew he was serious we he traded his 30 minute block of TV normally reserved for Super Why or FETCH!

So, we catch the first show and are blown away. TS was impressed that:

1. This kid asks as many questions as he does.
2. This kid has the coolest songs. (Such as “My Mom is Cool” rap or the “Science Kid is in the House.”)
3. Sid’s class only has FOUR kids in the class that are in TS “Are special, different and not trying to be like each other.”
4. The coolest teacher on the planet Ms. Susie.
5. Sid’s friend Gerald is very much like TS. They describe him as “The perfect run-on sentence to describe Gerald would be: "Total instant gratification - boundless boy energy - raises his hand on every question even if he doesn't know the answer - gotta do it right now!"”

Today we learned for Sid about observing using our hands, eyes, ears and nose. TS spent the day writing observation in his journal.

That is right folks TS voluntarily wrote in his daily journal and drew pictures! Before Sid, this was a fight that I had given up on and just let him dictate his entries. Today he picked up his journal by himself and drew and wrote his “observations.” Then he asked if he could decorate his journal with his picture and some of Sid and team. You have never seen a mom run for the printer and glue so fast.

I am writing a big “Thank You” to PBS and The Jim Henson Company tonight.