Piano lessons

 The girls begged to learn piano and we waited and waited. Then in August we took the plunge, not knowing at all how it would fit in our schedule. So far it has, loosely.
They were so excited the first few weeks, then it got a little hard. But they are doing great. Progress is slow because they really only practice about 15 minutes a day, and I am no help. David has had a very busy few weeks so it has been tough. But they are getting it.
We will up their practice time this week, and though they sometimes bemoan it, they love it when they do master a hard part.

Teacher Wang is great. He is funny, light-hearted and helps them understand concepts with really good analogies. He sets them at ease and this is the kind of teacher I wanted, not a drill sergeant that expects perfection.
Keep it up girls!

River Play

 Some close friends of ours took us on a river adventure outing. This family also has four kids almost our kiddos' ages. This fam will be moving back to Holland in December and we are already mourning their leaving. But until then we continue to hang out and enjoy our families playing together.

They are quite adventurous and have been showing us all their great finds in regards to river play spots, great valley bike rides, etc.

 Most of these pics are blurry but I hope you get the gist.
This may look like it could be a stressful place for kids to play but it was not.

 We took our 'coffee break' (very Dutch) out here and each kid played on their own level.

 Bigger kids went through the river to the big rocks.

 Gabrielle was content with sand play.

 Sophia and Levi recruited the others to dam up a section and make a little pool.

 The beach part under the bridge provided plenty of non wet places to play and reprieve from the sun (though the water was COLD)

 The scenery in this place!

 David really got into Dam building. Arina (their mom, my dear friend) and I sat atop a big rock and watched it all unfold. She spurs me on to really enjoy my kids.

 they made this pool for Gabrielle, who didn't quite appreciate it.

 They hauled a lot of rocks.

And were proud in the end. Coming off of our village visit, Sophia again said she definitely wants to move out here, near a river. David agreed.

Love this man. He is on a trip now, miss him already.

Home School Subject Focus: Sci Lab

(I am going up from the bottom of my subject list, in case you were wondering.)

We have done science projects throughout our past few home school years but these are new and planned in advance.  I even ordered owl pellets and got them sent from the U.S. (made it through customs, surprisingly). This year I also expect them to be more involved in all of the processes.

That means we added Science Notebooking this year. Usually during our CC science memory work I have a good 20 minutes to talk about it, explore encyclopedias, and have them draw something. For example, they drew and labeled a plant cell, they drew invertebrates and vertebrates, they love it, it is science disguised as art. This is actually NOT their science lab, just their science notebooking  from their CC time. This sometimes enhances the SCI Lab. They do bring their notebooks to SCI Lab as well and we sometimes use them.

For our egg experiment I had them draw the egg before soaking in vinegar and then draw it again 3 days later as we discussed why it had changed.

Today was our grossest experiment by far (Sophia was grossed out last year as we tried out a chicken's tendons in their ankle). Earlier in the day as we reviewed the groups of vertebrates FARMB, Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Mammals and Birds, they drew one of each. Then we dissected owl pellets (aka puke!), and had lots of discussions about mammals as we tried to figure out which mammal remains we were finding in the pellet.

The only poisonous mammal is a short tailed shrew. Who knew?

SCI LAB is every Weds  starting when we finish core, either 4 or 4:30 p.m.
Pics from todays Lab:
First I showed them a clip from discovery channels 'dirty jobs' all about the guy who collects Owl Pellets (vomit).
Then I read to them some fun facts about owls. Next we gloved up and dug in!

I had an owl pellet dissection sheet and two really good sheets that showed the type of bones we would probably find and which animal they belonged to. We are fairly certain that Sophia had a vole and Bella a shrew of some sort, though it was a bit hard to tell. We could even see the teeth on the jaw bone of these tiny animals. It was cool and disgusting all at the same time.

 Of course the pellet is mainly rodent hair! We had to dig through this to get to the bones

 Bella, who has been fighting a cold and fever was actually more reluctant with this.

we had our magnifying glasses handy.

 Sophia said: 'we are like real scientists!'

Look at all of those teeny bones:

This experiment should definitely be done again when they are older. I am so keen on science even at an early age because it ignites the explorer in us all and the realization that the world God created is amazingly complex while still displaying simple beauty.

We don't have  a pure science curriculum yet. We stick with it for 24 weeks, following the CC subjects/memory work and guidelines in the Foundations Guide.
It has been a wonderful 'elective' for us and they look forward to it every Wednesday.

Home School Subject Focus: GeoMap

I named this subject GeoMap because it is geography and map drawing mixed.

We try to do this every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:30 p.m, some weeks we only do it once.

I made lesson plans almost exactly verbatim from Leigh Bortins' book The Core and her chapter on Geography. I wasn't sure how this would go over, but our girls love it. It is hard, and for a perfectionist like Bella, or one who likes to work fast like Sophia, it can be frustrating. But they really do like it, and once they get over initial frustrations, as the map takes shape they appreciate the work it took to get there. We are not very far along yet.

We started out just drawing and redrawing the major circles of Latitude (CC has a song for this). And just like she recommends in her book, I put on some classical music every class and we draw, draw, draw. Then we started our continent focus on Africa. We are about between Lessons 7 and 8 (see chart below).

I decided to change this by focusing on Africa first (she recommends South America) and trying to add in the Geography we are learning this cycle which happens to be a lot in Africa. So far they have done nothing from memory, we are always looking at maps and practicing. We are moving towards doing this from memory but the main goal right now is replicating proportionally and then knowing where features go. It is a slow process overall, but when we get going our whole class time is about 20 minutes or less unless they keep going. On days they are easily frustrated I cut it short and let them draw boats in their oceans or anything else.

We are also using bigger paper than 8 1/2 x 11. Once we got the latitude lines down I took a sheet with those lines on it and got a bunch of copies.

I don't know if they (we!) will ever be able to do this without looking at a map and don't care that much, but we are having lots of fun trying!

Here is my One Note file of my lessons:

From the Core.

Resources	(the core), Rand McNally, DK first, barefoot books, CC trivium tables, blob maps, DWN #8 p 24
Remember	DK atlas p 4-5: RM to draw world lines, older kids label all, younger label with abbreviations
Lesson	Activity
Lesson 1	Make own latitude line paper 8 1/2 x 11 Do this two times, sing CC song for major circles of Lat (Remember: Ladder tude).
Lesson 2	Repeat week one from scratch, if memorized then add prime meridian and IDL PM: through England/west africa IDL: Alaska russia Pac Ocean Put americas in West for ease
Lesson 3	Repeat lesson 1 and 2
Lesson 4	Map copying of any kind…DWN or any atlas fun with music
Lesson 5	B: repeat 1 and 2 add africa blob or outline: Look at how long outline of AF is Does it start above or below Trop of Cancer? Does it go past Tropic of capricorn? Does it extend farther east than Europe? Farther west than europe?does it run into australia? Does It share space with PM? Now draw blob that about shows this NO PERFECTION
Lesson 6	Repeat lesson 5 Keep redrawing blob over previous one, draw on reverse of paper. Throw away
Lesson 7	Clean sheet, draw grid of circles Draw africa 'blob' Now draw blobs of other continents Just practice size compared to others and where they sit on great circles Skill: how to look carefully and replicate proportionally
Lesson 8	Repeat lesson 7, label all continents, and the four oceans
Lesson 9	Practice blob mapping until they cross circles accurately, until you are satisfied
Lesson 10	Draw as neatly as possible all grids, all blobs without looking at original map, then look and correct. Repeat .
Lesson 11	Individual continent, same process Africa: draw lines See: DWN: #8 p 24, see printed map also Read facts, Just practice shaping and placing, color in See: barefoot book and DK
Lesson 12	Repeat lesson 11
Lesson 13	Re draw: add Egypt shape, Nile, river crete
Lesson 14	Africa: redraw: add Egypt empire features Get out atlas add Western africa features
Lesson 15	Repeat 13/14
Lesson 16	Repeat, add Ancient Africa features, see CC trivium
Lesson 17	Repeat add all
Lesson 18	Repeat, add Africa waters
Lesson 19	Repeat, add southern africa wk 17
Lesson 19	Repeat add all by looking
Lesson 20	Repeat final Africa with features not looking

Homeschool Subject Focus: Classical Conversations

Yes, I know CC is 7 subjects and much more! But I am clumping it all into one here for sake of discussion.

To layout our subjects it would go something like this:

[Chinese]
Language Arts:
     spelling
     handwriting
     reading
     grammar
     pre-Latin
Math
Bible
Read aloud (usually goes along with history but gets a chunk of time so it gets its own slot)
History
Fine Arts (guided by CC but with my own tweaks)
Sci Lab
GeoMap (drawing our world)
CC: (1:00-1:30 p.m. daily)
     Latin memory work
     Geography Memory work + class enhancement sometimes
     Science memory work + class enhancement
     History memory work + class enhancement
     English Grammar memory work
     Timeline memory work + class enhancement
     Math memory work

Our weekly schedule for introducing new CC subjects is as follows:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Rev  ALL subjects	Review C2-3	Rev C1	Review C2-3	Rev C1 All
Accent: History Sentence	C1 Accent TimeLine	Accent: Science fact and focus	C1 Accent Latin	Fine Arts intro/ project
Accent: English	Accent: Math	Sci notebook	Accent Geography
Video clips to accent any subject	4:30 GeoMap	4:30  Science Lab	4:30 GeoMap	piano

Monday: We review for about 10 minutes, trying to get as much from Cycle 1 previous weeks in in this ten minutes. We are only in week 6 so this is doable. I intro English first because it is shorter and easier. Right now we are relearning the preposition dance, they LOVE it. This takes 5 minutes. Then we do the history sentence. Since we have a separate history curriculum I don't accent a whole lot here. We may get out an encyclopedia or if I have a corresponding activity we may do it. Sometimes I may have a short video clip (watched at the end of the homeschool day on Monday) that goes along with it.

Tuesday: we spend almost 15 minutes reviewing cycle 2 and 3, and the cycle 1 stuff learned the day before. We then intro math and chant, chant, chant. The last 10-20 minutes (sometimes Tuesday's CC is longer than 30 minutes) is going through the 7 new timeline motions and cards. New this year is that I have Sophia read aloud a 'Timeline Tidbit' for each card instead of reading the whole card.

Wednesday: We review cycle 1 10 minutes then spend 20 minutes discussing the science fact/memory work, opening up science encyclopedias, and drawing in our science notebooks or I may show a clip having to do with the science fact. They also use these notebooks later in the day for Science Lab. This is science day and they love it, I do too! Tobin is with us during the memory work time where we try to better understand what we are memorizing, but he is okay to draw whatever he wants and just keep listening to the jingles we sing. The science lab often goes along with the memory work, but not always.

Thursday: Review cycle 2 and 3 10-15 minutes. Latin chants memory work, noun declensions. This year I am trying to get them to look at the letters as they sing the declension songs. I may try to get them to be able to fill this in by the end of the cycle (at least Sophia).  Now that they are both great readers and basically know the Chinese Romanization sounds represented by English letters, I thought it wouldn't mess them up to put the Latin sounds with letters now as well. (that is three different sound systems using the same letters going on in their brains!). We only spend about 5 minutes doing this. Then we do our geography: skittle maps. They know these songs but now we spend more time reviewing this and using blank maps to name locations.

Friday: Fine Arts Friday. We review the week's new stuff and dig into our art project. Every six weeks the focus changes. First 6 weeks have been basic art technique. They have loved each new project to accent basic shapes, abstract art, perspective, etc. The next six weeks is supposed to be Tin Whistle, which we are dropping this year (they take piano). We will go into Orchestra and Composers which will lead us into Christmas studying Handel. The third six weeks we will do the Great Artists which does have corresponding art projects, and the last six weeks I may return to composers, I haven't decided yet. We will do art with composers in some way, since they love to draw and use their big sketch books, draw as we listen probably!

Daily Life Schedule: School + School

Monday-Friday:

7:00 a.m.	kids wake up, I start breakfast (granola, or oatmeal, or toast/eggs) often do Bible Memory  over breakfast
7:30 a.m. :	Sophia and Bella leave for school
8:00 a.m.:	I start 'school' with Tobin: 10 min: Memory work: CC and Bible verses                  15 min: He reads to me                   15 min: I read to him, fairy tales, currently                   5-10 min: handwriting, K4 notebook or now just name practice, nothing formal here
9: or 9:15a.m	G and T may go to the market with our helper, or just G goes. This gives me a 30    minute window to workout (Kettlebells on MWF). My particular workout has me able to keep an eye on Tobin and check on him every 8 minutes (total 24 minutes), this works great if he is outside or something. I run on Tues/Thurs, but I try to do that before waking hours. If I do it here I try to limit it to 30-40 minutes. I take a quick shower, or if doing something real active with kids, I just go play with them.
9:45-10:30	get anything ready for the rest of the day, meal prep, etc. has to happen here and then I  play with Tobin and Gabrielle
10:40 a.m.	Pick up Bella from school (this will change to 11:30 next semester)
11:05 a.m.	after a snack and short break I teach Bella her Language Arts and whatever else we can get done in about 30 minutes. We usually complete LA and then I intro her math for her to do then or later.
11:30 a.m.	if it is my turn I go get Sophia from school, otherwise I help get lunch ready and we try to eat at 11:45 a.m.
11:45 a.m.	During lunch is Bible class, catechism and Bible book cards from: Bible Study Guide for all Ages, we only use the Bible book summary cards not their full curriculum and we love them.(David leads this on M, R, F, but on other days usually just makes it home for family devos)
12:15 p.m.	family devotions: singing, Bible reading, prayer
12:35 p.m:	Read aloud time with all kiddos.
1:00 p.m.:	CC time: Each day a different focus (expounded on later in a CC only post), Tues/Thurs we review Cycle 2 and 3 along with current week of Cycle 1, depending on the subject focus this could be almost like a science or geography class, Friday is Fine Arts, not just mem work. (G is napping at this time)
1:30:	history class: Story of the World Vol. 3
2:00 p.m.	snack, get Tobin ready for school, girls snack and break a little or finish up history, then  they go into read alone time: Sophia: Bible, Chinese chapter, English chapter. Bella: Bible, Lit study book, and other  English book. (at this time Sophia may start on some of her math)
2: 20 p.m	take Tobin and neighbors to school
2: 45 p.m.:	return and regroup, sometimes start right away.
3:00 p.m.	Start core with Sophia (or finish math with Bella then start with Sophia): The Phonics Road Level 3: Spelling, Latin base words/prefix/suffix, and Grammar study via literature book, total about an hour. (Bella does piano practice and plays with Gabrielle, or may finish up math we didn't finish)
4:00 p.m.	teach math and finish up (Fri: piano lessons)
4:30: p.m.	depends on the day, Monday: any extra fun history clips I may have or Sophia does piano, Tue/Thur: GeoMap (cartography, really!) Weds: Sci experiment and notebooking, Fri: Piano lesson
5:00 p.m.	work on dinner. Tobin gets home around 5:25 or so.

MWF: 6:15-7:15 Chinese tutor comes to help with Chinese homework. 

Culturally Appropriate

The other day our family went to KFC. This is a bit of a treat, the only real western food available here except what I cook.

As we were leaving, we spotted someone that looked like a foreigner in line. By the time we got outside our kids were talking about it non-stop. A minute later, through the big glass window, I saw Tobin and Bella back in KFC four feet from the woman and pointing at her.
Yes, she noticed.
They were probably saying: 'look at the foreigner'. I contemplated acting like I didn't know them. Instead I gracefully (ahem) ran inside and got them, smiling apologetically at the lady, who smiled back.

On the way out Tobin picked up a french fry off the ground (outside) and in all earnestness was about to eat it. I do not have to worry about him ever going hungry.

I was so entertained by these kids that I forgot they were mine for a moment, don't my kids know better than to do the things just mentioned? David was a few feet away and I belly laughed as I told him everything and how our kids are in much need of some (re)training.

So in the car we started the conversation of 'cultural appropriateness'. Sophia was completely tracking with us, and the others were still amazed that there was a foreigner in town.

We are explaining that some things are not good or bad things, they are not moral issues, simply cultural norms in one culture that may shock someone from another. We gave examples that we have all experienced.

A night later we had a local family over that we have known our entire time living here. The wife asked Tobin if he was full, and he stuck out his belly. She then went on to point out her husband's belly and laugh and say how fat he was and how he didn't like to exercise. He agreed by his smile and we all laughed as she continued. This is such a common conversation here that we are used to it. She was in no way belittling him, he wasn't made to feel small, she loves her husband and was sharing facts in a way that added to our conversation.

After our guests left we light-heartedly brought this up with our kids. They have experienced the whole: 'your fat' 'your skinny', 'your so white', 'your sister is prettier than you', 'your Chinese is better than hers/his', and on and on the honesty goes. I do address some of these things right as we experience them (especially the comparisons), but most of the time I let it go.

 They all understood that the dinner conversation was completely appropriate, just not at a dinner table in America. But here? Enjoy the conversation, agree if you would like, and laugh on.

.... and even though you experience the 'hey look at that foreigner!' daily, let's not stare and point when you see one.