We had so many happenings in May that were homeschool-related that there really were too many to mention! Here are just some of the fun moments we experienced in May.
All of these kids love the Wild Kratts. So, we decided to visit the Austin Zoo one morning to see lots of animals in person that they had learned about through watching the Wild Kratts.
And, we even fed some of the animals while we were there.
Luke's end of year art project for his art class at his homeschool enrichment academy. The students had to select an artist that they learned about during the year, and create a work of art inspired by that particular artist. They also were required to provide a short biography on the artist.
This was Frank Stella's piece, Shoubeegi, from 1978, which was Luke's inspiration for his project.
Luke and Abbey also participate in a book club. All of the kids read the same book and then participate in a deep, group discussion about the book. The kids received tickets for answering questions and then used those to buy prizes. The kids love book club!
Luke's homeschool enrichment academy had an end of the year "share day" and a field day. It was a lot of fun to visit each class (he has music, character building, art, spanish, communications and P.E./health there) as a family and see what Luke has accomplished over the year.
Some of Luke's best buddies from the homeschool enrichment academy
Here is Luke sharing his Spanish family tree with all the parents at the end of the year "share day" for his homeschool enrichment academy.
Siblings got to attend field day too. Here is Abbey and her friend, Lauren.
The fire department was there and demonstrated their equipment, while also talking about fire safety.
Tug of war is a must on field day!
And, of course, the old fashioned sack race. Luke's second attempt was much better than his first.
(oops, he was a little eager to start. But, he almost caught up even after the fall!)
We also visited the Zilker Botanical Garden's woodland Faerie exhibit. Folks can sign up for a plot and create a little faerie home that is put on display for a certain period of time at the Garden. It was so much fun to see how creative they were.
There are lots of other things to explore there too!
This past year we have seen quite a bit of a progression in both Luke's and Abbey's reading skills. Abbey has had a great love for reading since she was a tiny baby. She decided early on that she wanted to read independently. So, at 3 years old, she began reading. Now, at just over 4 years old, she is reading really well. We are checking out Kindergarten and First grade level books at the library for her to read and she reads them with ease. Do I think Abbey is super smart for reading at a young age? Not necessarily. Abbey was just very interested in it and really wanted to learn, so I followed her lead and supplied her with books and some tools to learn. She pretty much learned all by herself though. Believe me--I am no expert reading teacher. I never spent time with her using flashcards, or drilling her on the sounds each letter makes. We have plenty of games and tools at home that she can use at her will with just a bit of guidance so she can learn on her own. We read together and I teach her "rules" of the English language as we go. Had she not been interested in learning, she would not be reading at the level she is currently, and I believe that is perfectly alright.
I firmly believe in child-led learning. For those who aren't familiar with "child-led learning" here is some information that explains the premise (from wisegeek.com):
This style hones in on the child’s interests and preferences in
selecting subjects to learn and methods for learning. In such learning
environments, children are not forced or coerced into learning.
Instead, parents work to follow the lead of their children, providing
support, resources, and instruction, in keeping with their children’s
wishes. The premise is that children learn best and rise to their full
potential when they are allowed to lead the way and explore subjects
when they feel ready. Proponents often state that traditional education
may actually dull a child’s interest in the world around him,
encouraging him to learn simply to pass tests. Once testing is over,
they assert, children forget much of what they learned because they were
not interested in the first place.
Of course, we also provide structure. And, I believe reading and math and many other subjects are very important, but we follow the kids' lead on when they are ready and interested and how they desire to learn. So far, this method of learning has been very successful for us.
When Luke was Abbey's age, he was not as passionate about reading. He was building very complicated lego sets. His attention span was so large, that he could sit for literally hours building things. He also loved puzzles and enjoyed piecing together puzzle after puzzle. He loved technology, robots and electronics. Because this is what he enjoyed, we provided him games and toys that were geared towards technology and building. His skill level in this area continued to grow and grow as he was given lots of time to "play" with these types of toys. Luke learned to read when he was her age, but he stayed at a very basic level of reading until he turned 5 and a half. He really didn't have a big interest in reading at all. And, that was alright. Then, when he realized that by reading he could look up lego sets on Amazon, he suddenly took up an interest in reading. So, at that point, we began a formal reading curriculum. We found a curriculum that he loved. He progressed rapidly this past year through our reading curriculum, Explode the Code. He is currently reading at a 3rd/4th grade level now and is enjoying checking out books at the library with characters and story lines that he enjoys and are at 3rd grade level and above. We are encouraging him to read more challenging books (using the five finger rule) so that he continues to progress. He is our perfectionist, and doesn't like to miss a word. When he was first learning to read, if he missed one word then he would think the book must just be too difficult for him. But, now, he realizes that when he reads more challenging books, his brain grows.
I love having both of the kids read to me now. It really is one of my most favorite parts of the day. We snuggle up on the couch. They read books they have selected and giggle as the funny stories unfold. The kids get to pick out books that THEY want to read and are within their reading level. We go to the library each week and select new ones. It is exciting to them to get to pick any book they want. (How awesome is the library?) So, to know that they are enjoying this special time as much as I am and it is not just a "school task" that I am requiring them to do makes me super happy. In homeschooling, one of my main goals is to provide an environment that encourages the kids to become passionate about learning, and be able to do so independently. So, to see them excited about their recent reading progression is really exciting to me!
Abbey loves reading so much, that she even reads to her stuffed animals.
They love to take turns reading books to each other. Here they are early one morning, bed head and all.
Just so I have documentation of Abbey reading, here is a video I took of her reading a book a month ago or so:
Abbey had her first Dance Recital on May 14! She loved every bit of it!! But, she will tell you her favorite part of the day was getting to wear makeup, Mimi and Papa watching her and getting the special post-recital gift from Mimi and Papa.
With Mimi and Papa waiting for the recital to begin.
And on the Monday following her dance recital, Abbey had her last dance class for the dance-season. During this class, they had group and individual photos and they got to play fun games.
Abbey loved dance and definitely wants to enroll again in the fall!
May was an extremely busy month for us. We had the culmination of many events, tons of activities scheduled and lots of projects due. AWANAs was just one of the many things that came to an end for the "school year". We love AWANA at our house. The kids look forward to each club night on Sundays from September to May. The kids memorized so many verses this past year, and I firmly believe these have been hidden in their hearts.
This past year, Luke was in the Kinder-2nd grade Sparks class, and Abbey was in the Cubbies class for 3-4 year olds. This was the first year for Luke in Sparks, and it was quite a big leap in the amount of memorization each week versus Cubbies. For example, one of the verses Luke memorized was John 3: 14-16:
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
It was tough, but he memorized every single set of verses in the book. He even had to recite all the books in the New testament one week.
Cubbies was one of the highlights of Abbey's week each week. In fact, she loved it so much that the recurring theme for her pretend play in her bedroom each day with all of her stuffed animals was re-enacting Cubbies club. Abbey was the Cubbies teacher and all of her students were the stuffed animals. It was adorable and heart-melting to hear her teach those stuffed animals about Jesus and help them recite their verses each week.
At the end of each AWANAs club semester, the kids got to go to the AWANA store and use their AWANA bucks to buy whatever prize they wanted. It was fun to see what the kids would select with those hard-earned bucks. This semester, Abbey selected some minion chapsticks in various colors. She told me that she selected those because she wanted to have lipstick just like me. She put that "lipstick" on every day "just like I do." After a few days of putting that "lipstick" on ALL day long, I told her I would let her have some "real" lipstick that has good ingredients in it in exchange for those minion chapsticks, She loved that idea and now she has her very own lipstick that she keeps in one of grandma's old purses (that is now hers).
On the last day of AWANA, the kids had an award ceremony. Each of them received certificates for completing everything in their books. They also sang a couple of songs and Abbey even recited a verse on stage.
It's been a while since I shared what our family has been up to. So, I decided it was time to do so! Here's what we have been up to lately.
Luke has been enjoying soccer. I feel like by moving up to the next age group, the games became much more competitive (and really fun to watch).
Abbey got her first "big girl bed." She has been in her converted crib-toddle bed for far too long and that thing just wasn't very comfortable. I have known for a long time that I want Abbey to have an antique iron bed. So, I had been looking through craigslist every day for quite a while searching for the perfect bed. I finally found it, and negotiated a good price for it. But, it sat in our garage for a while as I needed time to paint it. Over two weekends, I worked on painted it. Once I was finished painting it, we went to ikea to pick up a mattress, and went to home depot to cut some slats. We also found an adorable bed spread at Target for 50% off--score. Now, Abbey has a new, comfy bed and she loves it!
We received a package in the mail a couple of weeks ago that was pretty exciting. My aunt and uncle bought a very thoughtful gift for the kids for Christmas this year. Do you remember the butterfly release we did after my mom passed away at the Clare House?
The Clare house had a butterfly habitat inside their facility. It was fun to watch the butterflies emerge from their chrysalises, while we visited mom. When your loved one passes away there, you can release a butterfly in their honor. My aunt and uncle loved that idea and came up with a fun idea to buy each family of mom and dad's grandkids a kit so that we all could experience the entire metamorphosis process at home. Our kit with 8 painted lady caterpillars arrived in the mail a week and a half ago or so. The larvae were tiny and it was so hard to imagine they would become huge caterpillars in such a short period of time. But, they did. And they ate way more food than I thought they would to become that large. Currently, 7 of our caterpillars are in the chrysalis stage and one is hanging from the top of our cup trying to get there. I am completely amazed at how the whole process happens:
The kit above is similar to the one we received.
The caterpillar finds a safe place to rest. With a silk thread that
comes out of a hole just below its mouth (spinneret), the caterpillar
spins a silk pad to attach to. The caterpillar hangs from this pad.
Soon, the caterpillars’ skin splits open, from head to abdomen,
revealing a dull, brownish case underneath—the chrysalis or pupa. What is happening in the chrysalis? Inside the chrysalis, the
caterpillar is becoming completely liquid and reforming itself into a
butterfly. The butterfly pushes from inside until the case splits open,
and it slowly struggles out.
Soon, we get to transfer our chrysalises so that we can watch the butterflies emerge.
We are still enjoying the wildflowers. One day, after dropping Luke off at his one day enrichment academy, Abbey agreed to let me take some photos of her playing in a beautiful field of Indian Paintbrush near our home.
We hosted lego club at our home last week. Look at all of these kiddos in focused on building masterpieces.
Presentation time
Here, Abbey is telling everyone about her spaceship.
On Thursday, we attended a play in Austin of "Where the Wild Things Are." The kids have always really enjoyed reading this book, so it was extra special to be able to see the book come alive. The play was very interactive and the audience participated the entire time. In fact, we were the "Wild Things."
Me and my friend, Sarah, as "wild things" at the play.
After the play, we enjoyed a yummy meal together with some of our homeschool friends and then Sarah and I let our kids play in the creek near our home. (I haven't mentioned this, but they are our new neighbors!! This deserves a separate blog post which will come soon, because I think it is totally awesome how God has orchestrated this).
The kids had a BLAST! They started out taking just their shirts off, so we would know at least one article of clothing would be dry for the travel back home.
But soon, pants came off. Which was fine, as we were the only ones in this secluded area.
The kids had so much fun exploring and pretending.
They were pretending this large piece of algae was a mermaid. They were rescuing her (as she had washed ashore) and throwing her back in the water.
I love letting the kids explore and be wild and free. I think this is extremely important for kids. In fact, I believe it is a vital part of their development. I know that when the kids look back at their childhood, they will remember moments like this. They were giggling the entire time while playing in that creek. There were so many sensory experiences there. The great outdoors holds so many treasures for kids and parents. The fresh
air and playing in the dirt and fresh creek water isn’t just good for your body, but it’s great for your mind and spirit
too. I believe some of our best memories are made outside. I guarantee few will look back at their childhood and say "wow, that day I spent playing super mario cart was
amazing!” Later in life, I believe the kids would not be able to tell you their highest score while playing that video game, but I know they will have countless outdoor experiences to tell you all about. I am sure someday they will tell you about the highest trees they have climbed, or days like on Thursday, when they played in the creek in their underwear.
And I am sure Luke will have lots of tree-climbing in his childhood.
Capturing and observing butterflies.
What else is going on? We are really enjoying attending Music on Main each Wednesday evening in our little downtown. They have brought some really good bands in. Last week's band sounded a lot like Mumford and Sons yet was still very original.
And Abbey is always the first one out on the dance floor!
Speaking of dancing, Abbey is getting ready for her first recital--it's coming up on May 14. She is so excited to be able to perform on stage.
Also, we are getting our pool ready to open for the season. the kids are extremely excited about this!!
And lastly, the kids and I are working on some big projects--some for school and some for fun. One that is coming up is our participation in Austin's Maker Faire on May 7-8. We are creating costumes that light up for a fashion show. It has been fun to "create" together and brainstorm how we can light up their costumes. Luke is going to be "Toothless" from "How to Train Your Dragon" and Abbey is going to be "Tinkerbell."
