On Saturday, we went to the St. Louis Art Museum (or S.L.A.M., if you will) for the first time ever to check out the reproduction of Degas’ Little Dancer of Fourteen Years that was the basis for the story Degas and the Little Dancer that we read in school last week.

I thought this was a particularly interesting outing because of Turkey’s and Bunny’s reactions to seeing the sculpture in person. They were both surprised at how small it was. I guess they were expecting it to be life-sized, instead of Ladybug-sized. Frankly, I was expecting it to be larger as well, although I don’t know why. I guess that’s just the difference between reading about art and actually seeing it!

While we were there, we also got to look around the Impressionist gallery, which included, as a bonus for us, a painting by Degas. After talking about Impressionism last week, as well as some of the artists, it was nice to compare a few of the paintings, and see what makes them different from the paintings in the other galleries nearby.

I had originally planned this week to be ballet-themed. I wasn’t going to make Turkey and Bunny dance, but I thought it would be good for them to learn about the history of dance, hear the stories behind some of the most famous ballets, listen to some of the music, etc. I found it to be especially timely approaching Christmas–we could spend at least a full day on just the Nutcracker, maybe even stretch it into a day and a half.

As I was planning, however, it quickly morphed into more of a study of fine arts than just ballet. Yes, that was still the primary focus, but we also be studied art and artists (specifically Degas, who did many paintings of ballerinas), music and composers (especially Tchaikovsy, without whom the modern shape of ballet would be very different!), and even a little cooking (not really a “fine” art I suppose, but how can you learn about ballet without taking the opportunity to make a Pavlova?).

I found lots of great resources, so I thought I’d share, in case you’re looking for some good reading, watching, or listening related to fine arts!

Full of information on the history of ballet, basic steps, stories of the ballet, everything. The accompanying CD has excerpts of some of the more memorable parts of many ballets, along with explanations of the music, and hints for what to listen for (the sound of cats meowing in The Sleeping Beauty, for example).

This book had wonderful summaries of some of the most famous ballet stories–we read both The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, and, if we hadn’t already had a storybook of it, would have read the Nutcracker, too. Like A Child’s Introduction to Ballet, it also comes with a CD.

This is part of a great series called “Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists.” While these books are very factual, and full of pictures of paintings, they also have humorous illustrations, and are written in a very conversational style. There seems to be a book for every major artist, too!

I found this book, especially the ending, to be quite moving. In fact, the first time I read through it, I teared up a little.

Similar to the above Degas book, this is part of the companion “Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers” series. I unintentionally chose only ballets by Tchaikovsky to read and listen to, so I thought we should learn about the composer himself. Turkey and Bunny especially liked learning about Tchaikovsky’s fear that his head would fall off while conducting in front of an audience, thereby forcing him to hold onto his beard the entire time. We’re looking forward to reading the Bach installment next year!

My favorite version of the Nutcracker ballet, ever. Helgi Tomasson did an awesome job of choreographing the ballet in a fresh new way, while holding true to the original story. There are also educator materials available on the San Francisco Ballet Company’s website, which are great resources for teaching about this ballet.

After spending a full week week learning about Native Americans, including an awesome field trip, we had a very relaxed three-day school-week, where we learned about Pilgrims, the first Thanksgiving, and the origin of some of our other Thanksgiving traditions.

Most of the books we read we also used last year. Some of those Turkey and Bunny remembered from last time, and looked forward to, and others they’d completely forgotten, so they were like new. And I had one new book to read, too–a good mix, I think!

Monday we learned about the life of a fictional Pilgrim boy in Samuel Eaton’s Day. We also read Thanksgiving: A Harvest Celebration, which is a nice summary of the first Thanksgiving (also from a fictional perspective). We put together a “thankful tree”–it was very interesting to see what things Turkey and Bunny are particularly thankful for. I discovered that Bunny focused more on the people in her life, while Turkey focused more on things.

Tuesday we continued our series about life at the time of the first Thanksgiving with Sarah Morton’s Day. It’s a nice companion to Samuel Eaton’s Day (as well as Tapenum’s Day from last week), and Turkey and Bunny both enjoyed learning about what a day in the life of a Pilgrim child was like, from the clothes that they wore and the chores that they had, to the food they ate and the games they played.

We read our new book on Tuesday as well–An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by the same author who wrote one of my favorite books from childhood (Little Women)–Louisa May Alcott. This was a charming book about children attempting to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for their parents in the 1800s. We had a fun time identifying the parts of the meal that were the same as ours (Turkey, of course!), and what was different (apple slump, for one). When we were finished, we made the same hand and foot-print turkeys that we made last year. Fun to see how they’ve grown, and fun to see how they assemble them differently every year!

Wednesday we read a somewhat fictionalized account of the first Macy’s Parade–Milly and the Macy’s Parade–and a fun little book called The Night Before Thanksgiving, written in the same style as the classic Night Before Christmas. Turkey and Bunny were especially looking forward to this one, because it’s so silly and humorous, but it also touches on many Thanksgiving traditions, such as football, family gatherings, and leftovers on Friday!

We also began making pretty glittered turkey puppets–the assembly of those had to wait until Thanksgiving Day after the glue had dried, but we made a great mess with the glitter on Wednesday!

For the last week, we’ve been learning all about Native Americans. I think that this has been one the most fun (and informative!) special units we’ve done so far!

We kept up with our regular L.A. program, and we also kept using our Horizons math worksheets, but everything else, from history and geography to read-alouds was all part of a unit that I put together to help us learn more about the people who lived in America first, before we learn about the pilgrims next week.

I found a really cool book called More Than Moccasins, which is full of crafts, games, projects and recipes, to help children learn more about Native American life in a really fun way. We used something from this book every day this week, and we were able to learn about their homes, games, food, and clothing in doing so.

On Monday, we began our week by reading North American Indians. This was a good overview, to help us get familiar with the different Indian tribes that used to inhabit our country, what their homes were like, and whether they depended more on hunting or farming. We also played a game of chance called Hubbub, which has some similarities to Pass the Pigs, and some to Yahtzee, and was used in different variations by many Indian tribes.

On Tuesday, we continued learning about the different types of houses Native Americans built and lived in with Native Homes. This book did a great job of explaining why the different types of houses were built (either because of geography or lifestyle), and what similarities and differences there were in housing. We made a small tee-pee village, complete with door flaps and “people” inside!

On Wednesday, we grew more specific in our quest to learn about Native American life when we read If You Lived With the Iroquois. I love the Scholastic If You… series, and this was a fun book to read to get an idea of what it would be like to be part of a particular Indian group. We also learned a lot about the Iroquois Nation, which was new even for me. I would have liked to have picked a book about Indians more local to the St. Louis area, but since the If You… series doesn’t make one, I settled for the Great Lakes region, which isn’t too far away, and was where Ryan and I grew up.

We also tried to make Wampum out of dyed macaroni, but this was our one project that completely failed–the macaroni were too bendy to get the string through, so we just played with them for a little while, but never got to make any beaded chains out of them.

On Thursday, we learned about two specific Indians–Squanto and Pocahontas. I found Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving to be an especially interesting and touching book–I particularly enjoyed the way the pilgrims viewed him as their “Joseph.”) Turkey and Bunny practiced their reading skills by taking turns reading The True Story of Pocahontas, and they both did really well–Powhatan was really the only word that tripped them up! To cap off Thursday, Turkey and Bunny helped me make Indian fry bread (don’t worry, I did all the actual frying!), which was enjoyed by everyone in the family, and made a nice addition to the soup we had for dinner. We agreed that it would be much more difficult to cook it over a fire, though!

On Friday, we read a fictional story about what it would have been like to have been a Wampanoag Indian boy. Tapenum’s Day is the third in a series of books about what it was like to be a child at the time Europeans began living in America. We read the first two books last year, and really enjoyed them, so we added this one as well, and we’ll be reading the first two again next week.

We also made Indian “vests” out of paper bags. Turkey and Bunny loved this craft, because they got to color, and because they can “wear” them. Definitely a fun way to end the school week!

Today, to finish off our Native American experience, we took a field trip to Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. It was quite impressive. When you look at the mounds there (especially the 100 foot tall Monk’s Mound), and realize that thousands of people spent 300 years carrying 50 pound baskets of dirt around to construct them, it’s rather mind-boggling. We made the climb to the top of Monk’s Mound (even Ladybug, with her short little toddler legs, and me, with my fear of heights!), and the view from the top was quite impressive.

It was a great week of school!

Here’s what a typical school day looks like for us, for those who are interested.

9:00 a.m. We start our school day with our memory verse for the week, calendar and weather.

9:05 a.m. Bible and catechism (on Mondays, we also learn about the different parts of the Divine service, so our morning schedule on Mondays is pushed back 10 minutes).

9:20 a.m. Math

9:50 a.m. Language Arts, including reading, copywork and creative expression.

10:10 a.m. Spelling

10:20 a.m. Handwriting

10:35 a.m. Read-aloud time from our current Little House: The Rose Years book.

We’re usually done for the morning by about 10:50, and we take a break then, which includes lunchtime (and naptime for Bunny and the little ones)–that’s the beauty of homeschooling–the only schedule we have to follow is our own!

2:00 p.m. We start up again for the afternoon with History, Geography, poetry, and our Sonlight read-aloud for the week.

2:30 p.m. Science (on Thursdays, we have science experiment day).

On Wednesday afternoons, we look at a page-spread in First Thousand Words in German, on Fridays we have electives (either art or music appreciation).

P.E. is fit in in a variety of ways, including as part of spelling (you’ll have to trust me on that one), or in our down time after we’re done for the morning. It’s amazing the stuff kids are willing to do, without having any idea that it’s part of their education!

Fridays are also usually half-days for us, as we are only doing math and spelling four days a week at this point, and science is light on Fridays. That will change half-way through our school year, though, and then we’ll probably have the same schedule all five days.

On an average day, we’re done with school around 3:00 p.m. So, we have about three solid hours in the classroom every day (except Friday), which is at least twice as much time as Kindergarten took us. I hope we don’t see that kind of time doubling every year!

We’re on our second year of A Reason for Handwriting ( we started with Book K last year, and have moved on to the now-alphabetically-sequenced Book A), and our first year of A Reason for Spelling (also Book A). Even though it’s early in the school year, I have a pretty good feeling for both programs.

I was very impressed with the way Handwriting introduced proper letter formation in Book K, using a tree-house as a guide. My children thought it was a fun way to learn, and even though Bunny still has some work to do on writing well (which is all about her rushing, and not about her understanding of what she’s *supposed* to be doing!), Turkey has excellent printing already, and they both know how letters are supposed to be written.

We’re still working on reviewing what we learned last year now that we’ve started Book A, but looking ahead, I love that we’ll be using Scripture to practice handwriting (even if the translation used isn’t my first, or even second, choice!), and I also love the fancy border sheets, which reinforce the idea that handwriting is a public way of communication, and should look nice.

So far in Spelling, we’ve worked on phonics review, and it’s been very much like the Explode the Code series. The activities have been fun, and the bonus activities suggested in the teacher’s guide are geared toward every kind of learner, even kinesthetic. What I like most, though, is the way the lessons line up with the lessons in the Handwriting book. Of course, this only works if you’re using the same level of handwriting and spelling at the same time (which we are), but I think it’s a great way to reinforce the Bible passages used, and to bring in needed repetition in spelling and writing well. And why wouldn’t you link the two? It seems like a very natural way to learn, which is one of the things I love about our main curriculum, Sonlight.

I’m definitely looking forward to learning cursive and spelling harder words in the years to come with the A Reason For… books!

Homeschooling families can appreciate what an exciting day this was for us–the day we opened our new boxes of Sonlight materials for the coming year.

We’ve had the two boxes since last month, but I wanted to wait until Turkey and Bunny were officially done with Kindergarten before we looked at our new stuff. I don’t who was more excited about it–me or them. Turkey found the math stuff right away, and started digging through the manipulatives. He was also very interested in the science books. Bunny just wanted to look at every single book she found–House at Pooh Corner seemed to top out as her favorite, because she kept coming back to it.

Even though *I* went through the boxes when they arrived, to double-check the order, I was still amazed today at just how many books we’re going to be reading. It’s a daunting, exciting, wonderful task.

Now I just have to put together my instructor’s guides and get everything organized. And I think I need to get another bookshelf…

Please let me take a moment to brag on Turkey and Bunny.

Today was their last day of Kindergarten!

It has been an interesting journey over the last year–it was almost exactly a year ago that we made the shocking decision to homeschool.  Frankly, there are times when I am still surprised that we are doing this.  I had no idea what to expect when we started this adventure–would Turkey and Bunny learn well? Listen to me? Be able to accomplish all the things they needed to do? Would they like homeschooling? Would I? There were so many unknowns stretching out in front of me on that day last September when they had their first day of school, and yet here we are, at the end of our school year.

Let me just say that they both far exceeded my expectations.  From how quickly they both picked up reading, to Bunny’s almost frightening abilities with geography, to Turkey’s precise printing that puts my own to shame, they both excelled in their first year of school. I got to observe many interesting things about them, some of which were no surprise (Turkey is a very precise color-er, from crayon selection to staying in the lines, while Bunny doesn’t take even a moment to contemplate color choice before scribbling across a picture–nothing new there!), and some which shocked me (their abilities in the areas of memory work and learning the Six Chief Parts of the Catechism blew even me away!).

I also discovered that they are almost completely different people when we enter our schoolroom–more respectful to me, far more polite to one another. They also listen better and follow directions with less trouble when we’re in school. I know that for children who go away to school, whether public or private, they often display far different behavior from what they exhibit in the home, but I didn’t expect to see that dichotomy within my own home, as we transitioned from playroom to schoolroom.

So, I count this year as a success.  I still consider myself to be doing this on a year-by-year basis–if things ever really turn south, for whatever reason, including me not doing an adequate job of teaching them, or them losing respect for me as teacher, I will consider enrolling them in the public school. For now, though, I think it’s safe to say that this is working out just fine, and we’ll be staring First Grade in our little schoolroom come August.

My only real goal in homeschooling this first year was teaching Turkey and Bunny to read. Yes, there were lots of other things I was hoping they would learn, but first and foremost, I needed them to be able to read at the end of kindergarten. I even told Ryan that if I didn’t accomplish that one task, that I really thought we should send them to the public school next year. It’s such and important building block, and I thought that my success (or failure) at teaching such a basic skill would set the tone for future successes (or failures) in our homeschooling adventure.

Well, I’ve know for awhile that they had caught on OK–well enough that I considered my goal accomplished, and didn’t need to worry about whether or not to continue homeschooling next year.  But it struck me the other day–they’re *really* reading. Not just three letter, consonant-vowel-consonant words, but longer, harder words. Sure, they still stumble, and make mistakes, and need my help, but they have way surpassed what my expectations for learning to read were.

Back when we had a laptop, in addition to a desktop computer, Ryan would try to convince me that “when we had the money” we should get a second laptop, so we could each have one.  And every time he said it, I would scoff.  Why in the world would I need my own laptop?  One should be enough for both of us, right?

Well, as I’m looking at stuff we’re going to be doing in school this year, and even looking down the road a few years, I’m realizing how helpful it would be for me to have my own laptop.  Not my own, really, a “school” laptop. Something that we could use during school, to look stuff up, to use all the wonderful Internet-linked materials Usborne provides in many of their books, to have a place to type up all my plans for special units, long-term ideas, etc.

It wouldn’t really even *have* to be a laptop, but that would be easiest since the school room is already a bit crowded, what with it’s second purpose as a guest bedroom.  I’m not sure where I could squeeze a desktop computer in there.  And it definitely wouldn’t have to be fancy, because I don’t care about bells and whistles like Ryan does.  I have come to accept that it *will* have to be an Apple computer of some sort, as I’m pretty sure Ryan won’t let anything else into the house these days.

I have to admit, I would enjoy the added benefit of being able to check my e-mail, make blog posts, and put up tweets while Turkey and Abby are doing independent work, without having to run downstairs.  But that’s just me looking for a bonus convenience feature.

If they were in a public school, they’d have a computer in their classroom, right?  It seems only fair, and actually pretty necessary–don’t even get me started on future things like typing lessons and Rosetta Stone foreign language programs. Eventually, a school computer *will* become a necessity, even if right now it’s just something that would make our lives easier, and allow us to look stuff up without interrupting school to go downstairs.

I never thought I would come to the point where I wanted “my own” computer. But, until we replace the laptop that went to that big electronics graveyard in the sky over the winter, I guess it’s really a moot point.  Hard to get a second laptop when you don’t even have a first!