Egypt: Pyramids and Mummies

Here are two super-easy projects we tackled last week as we read about Ancient Egypt from Susan Bauer's The Story of the World.  If you are looking for something to focus on for a few days in your homeschooling, go check out some books at the library about Egypt, and then try out the following two super-simple projects.

Sugar Cube Pyramid.  Use paintbrushes with white glue to make a pryamid out of sugar cubes.  Start with a base of five cubes across and five cubes wide.  The next layer will be a four-cube square and so on.  You can sprinkle sand from the sandbox on the outside and on the cardboard to give it a realistic look.  Also, as the kids are working, remind them that each of the cubes in ancient Egypt weighed the same as an elephant and that the Pharoahs built the pyramids as their own tombs. 

Making Mummies.  Dramatically act out the mummification process.  Choose one pharaoh to "die".  Scoop out his insides and pretend to put them in a jar (Priest Kelty dramatically demonstrating to dead-pharaoh-Cade above). 

Sprinkle salt on the pharaoh's "heart" (we used a plastic one) (obviously) to place back into the pharaoh later (This was to preserve the organ, since the Egyptians believed that in the afterworld the heart was weighed, and if it was light enough--good enough--that they would live happily in the next life.) 

Have everyone in the family go "mourn" for the pharaoh (they would mourn for 30 days while the organs/body got ready for mummification).  We enjoyed this part because we got to wail obnoxiously while the dead pharaoh had to try not to giggle.

Wrap the mummy with toliet paper (they used linen cloths--not sure if Charmin was around back then).

Place a mask carved as the shape of the pharaoh on the mummy (a.k.a. a paper plate with  picture of the child stuck on it).  This was so that the gods could identify who the mummy was when he arrived in the afterworld.

Carry the mummy to a pyramid (room, bed, couch) and surround him (in this case Kelty) with all of the king's finest things (stuffed horses, pink accessories), since they believed a person could take whatever was with them in their burial chamber to the afterlife.

There it is.  Simple and fun and memorable. 

Wish all my homeschooling days were like that. 

Tree of Thanks

A Lesson for Me.  I am finding personally that there is nothing that will pull me out of a self-pitying mood more than remembering, writing, speaking, claiming, and praying the multitude of things I have to be thankful for.  When I can see that the list of blessings is far longer than the list of desires, the grumbling starts to leave, and a bit more joy is ushered in.

A Practice for All of Us.  And so, to welcome this season of gratitude, a tree graces our living room this month.  A brown construction paper creation with scotch tape peeking from behind edges.  Beside our tree of thanks, we have a little box holding fall-colored leaves, markers, and tape.  The idea is to fill up our tree by Thanksgiving with things that we are grateful for.  The kids and the grown-ups talk about and write and draw pictures of the gifts we've been given, and whenever we notice someone being in a grouchy mood, one of their "disciplines" is to go pick a leaf and claim thankfulness (surprisingly, they like it better than a time-out).

And, yes, the tree is a bit ghetto.  I didn't have any cute patterns to follow or a laminated tree to post the leaves on--just jaggedy ovals and lots of tape on a window.  But one thing I have learned as a mom, if you wait until everything is cute and perfect, the project will never get done (at least not in my world). 

So, go ahead and embrace a little ghetto--and a little gratitude-- this month.

Happy weekend to each of you.    

From Books to Life

I am finding this to be true in our homeschooling-- if the mom is not enjoying teaching, the child will not be enjoying the learning.  When the first grader starts crying and stating emphatically, "I hate school" everytime the workbooks come to the table (a.k.a. our house two weeks ago), it should be a tip that something is amiss.  I'm afraid lately that I have slipped into drill-sergeant-paperwork-mode and have avoided the fun stuff--the science projects that are messy or the artwork that takes too much time.  Thankfully, the Parker household has self-corrected a bit last week.  We are diving back into good books, because I have learned about myself that I sincerely love literature.  I love discussing it, I love mornings cuddled on the couch reading it, and I love learning projects that stem from it.  And when I can get excited about teaching something, the entire atmosphere of our school day shifts from drudgery to anticipation.

With that in mind, here are a few glimpses into our book-learning of the past few days.  Feel free to steal any ideas that might work for your kids, too . . .  :)

Some inspirational homeschooling friends told me about Susan Bauer's The Story of the World history books.  There are several volumes that tell the history of the world in story form in Classical Educational style.  We are loving it!  We read a little bit nearly-daily in our storytime, and then we try to do a few of the activities that are listed in the activities book.  This week before Matt left we marked off the sandbox and did an archeology dig.  I buried items from the house that would give clues to how we live life.  I sprayed down the sand so that it would get hard, then armed the kids with paintbrushes and tools to dig. They kept track of where they found their items, we made a list of their discoveries, and we talked about all the things we could learn about a group of people based on the things they might leave behind. 

We found out over 25 facts about "The People of the Sandbox" from items such as a fork, coin money, a pen, a toy car, a plastic ring, and a bottle of lotion.  This was a super-fun, easy history project, and even Ava could participate--a little. 

One of my all-time favorite books is Annika's Secret Wish, by Beverly Lewis.  The pictures are beautiful and the message is powerful.  The story is based on Swedish tradition of hunting for an almond in a bowl of rice pudding on Christmas Eve.  The child who finds the almond gets a special wish.  Annika, the sister in the story, chooses to give the almond to her crippled brother Davey in hopes of bringing him joy. 

Here's our ghetto version of "an almond in homemade rice pudding": a half a walnut in some instant chocolate pudding.

I love to check out nonfiction books at the library weekly to look at during our storytime.  This week we were looking at a book on grasshoppers.  On our walk that afternoon, we just happened to catch a grasshopper, which Cade bravely and gently put into a water bottle.  We took the little guy home to our bug cage, broke out the magnifying glass and the book we had read that morning, and spent quite a bit of time observing him on the front porch.  Who knew an adult grasshopper only lives 30 days or that the one we caught was a short-horned one?  We freed him to finish out his month of life in the front yard. 

So, homeschooling moms, here's my tidbit for the week: Enjoy what you are doing. If you're not having fun, then change something. Throw out a curriculum that breeds boredom or change your daily schedule around. True, learning is not all fun and games, neither is life. Phonics needs to be practiced and math has to be drilled, but don't forget that you are instilling in them a love or a dread of learning. And maybe that should just trump the spelling lesson sometimes.  

Cade Rocks the Recorder

We have been working hard the last several weeks on a musical emphasis.  Cade has picked up an interest in the recorder, a manageable instrument for a little person.   We have gotten him lessons, and he has put in a quite a bit of time to master most of the notes.  Watch his finger work as you check out this latest piece he's been working on:



. . . Just kidding about the lessons. The recorder was about the only thing his allowance (one whole dollar)  could afford to buy at Walmart.

The Daily

The homeschooling daily schedule is always a challenge to arrange each year and seems to change with the ages and stages of these kids we call our own.  This being only my second year educating my little people, I by no means claim expertise.  I also know that homeschooling is a fit for evey family like saying that all women should wear a size 4 (yeah, right).  However, I  know that since I have gained such valuable encouragement from other homeschooling moms sharing how they manage their normal days, I wanted to do the same in this post.  Hope this peek into our less-than-perfect routine is encouraging, or at least informational, for you.  :)

An Average Day

7    Kids usually wake; Mom has coffee with lots of cream and sugar. :)

7-8:30ish   Breakfast (I try to do a short spiritual devotional /prayer here), daily chores, get ready for the day, play

8:30ish   Kelty starts her Little Lincoln online
         I play intentionally with the two younger ones (blocks, cars, etc)

9:30ish   I send the two younger ones to watch the end of Sesame Street/Elmo for a 1/2 hour or so
              I work one-on-one with Kelty and her workbook--phonics, math, etc.

10ish   Storytime! (pictured above)
We have to make this an "event" to keep the two younger ones interested.  I get snacks and drinks and lots of book choices.  Right now, we are loving having this time on the front porch outside.  I generally use this time to read a chapter or two of a chapter book and also do our Bible story/Missionary story here.  We go to the library once a week and load up on tons of picture books and nonfiction books to read and learn from.  While Ava plays around us--and spills water and throws sand and disrupts often--we read for about 45 minutes.  This is a cornerstone of our home education.

  

11ish  The two younger ones play, while Kelty finishes up school work.  We do nature journaling or art or finish up workbook work. (Above is our Family Flag project we did today.)  On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we cut ths time short to get ready to go to Cottage School at our local pulic school.  (This is a state program where she goes for two afternoons a week to do art, science, music, etc. from 12 -4 pm.) On Thursdays, we try to go to the library.

Lunch

1-3ish  Roomtime:  Ava naps while the two older ones have time in their rooms.  Kelty usually does her handwriting work here or does a journal entry during this time (if she is not at school).  They listen to an Adventure in Odyssey, sometimes watch a short movie, or quietly play together.

Afternoons are for playing ouside, riding bikes, jumping on the trampoline, going to the gym, getting dinner ready, running errands, etc.

Bedtimes are around 7:30-8ish.  We try to read for at least a half hour as a family then, too.  We love Junie B. books (so funny) and missionary/hero stories here. 

I must admit that there are moments and sometimes entire days when I question my choice to homeschool--the house stays messier, it is more to manage, it is costly in many areas, and it is definitely not the best for many families.  Yet, in the same breath I have to say that I do truly enjoy it.  I love the freedom, flexibility, and relationships it brings.  I naturally love teaching and learning and reading--and I love getting the chance to do that on a regular, intentional basis with my  kids.  I can't say that we will homeschool throughout their entire school years, but for right now, its a gift I am trying to treasure.

Nature Journaling

On Mondays, my goal in homeschooling is to have the kids and I do nature journaling together.  The concept is a Charlotte Mason idea, and you can read lots about it in Karen Andreola's book entitled The Charlotte Mason Companion.  The idea is that you send kids into nature with art supplies and fresh drawing paper.  You encourage them to observe something in nature--an animal, a plant, a rock, etc.  They draw the object with as much attention to detail and artistry as they can.  They bring the finished drawing back to the parent, and she and the child try to find out a few facts about the nature they observed.  We are using Anna Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study, a fantastic (though wordy) science resource, but you could use any children's science reference book to help.  We write the few facts on the paper, date it, and then save it to compile with the other nature journal entries.  We were graced by a mother deer and her two babies this morning in our neighor's yard, so Kelty quickly dropped everything and crouched close to them to with her box of crayons and sketch paper to draw.  She also drew some purple wildflowers and a pine tree.  I am excited about intentionally getting outside more and observing the complex, creative natural world around us.      

 

Another Year Begins

Kelty's first day of school was this week.  We now officially have a first-grader in the house.  She is going two afternoons a week to the public school to take classes like art and music and hands-on science labs with other homeschooled children.  We love the program, and we love that it is free.  We are also trying out a Colorado state-funded curriculum this year called Little Lincoln.  The curriculum is totally online and came with a whole bucketfull of hands-on supplies.  Kelty will be watching a Sesame-Street type learning video on the computer for about 15 minutes a day, then have workbook pages and hands-on activities to do related to the lessons taught online.  I am excited to have something a little more structured this year, and, again, the free-factor is big for us right now.  In fact, the state even gives you a voucher for a new computer and a check towards your monthly internet bill.  Gotta love Colorado right now!

In addition to the Lincoln curriculum, we will also be adding our own study with Bible in reading the books Leading Little Ones to God (theology for children), Missionary Stories with the Millers (real-life stories of people in other countries sharing their faith), and The Message version of the Bible. (Interested in why/how we communicate our faith to our kids?  Read HERE my thoughts on the topic. ) We hope to do some nature journaling, Charlotte-Mason-Style, in our glorious outside while using Anna Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study (a fantastic science resource), once a week, as well . . . hopefully. 

Check out all that came to do schooling this year through Little Lincoln!  Paints, art and science supplies, colorful workbooks, a magnetic calendar, lots of math manipulatives, and even a fossil kit.

The homeschooling puzzle is just that--a puzzle--that is constantly changing for us and to which I have pieces unique to my family, my kids, my situation. I have no idea how long we will stick with it, but thankfully the puzzle is starting to take some positive shape--at least for now. :)

A Mother who Read to Me

"You may have tangible wealth untold: caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be. I had a mother who read to me."

-Strickland Gillilan

I am thankful for summertime afternoons reading library books on the back porch.

I am thankful for my friend Amanda who inspires me with literature and who shared this quote in the first place.

And, most of all, I am thankful for hours listening to my own mother invite me into the worlds of The Chronicles of Narnia, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Anne of Green Gables, the Bible, and others. In my elementary years I may have had to wear hand-me-downs and generic name-brand shoes, but my childhood was truly rich by another definition.
So, Moms, keep reading to your little people.

"Peaceness"

This was the state of our kitchen table one morning last week. Like the organized and responsible mother I am (ah-hem), I waited until Thursday morning to put together Mother's Day Cards for the mothers in our lives. It went, like most things, far from perfectly. Ava found a box of staples and pulled them all out and then started throwing paint, while Cade couldn't find the right stickers and got much too enthusiastic with the glitter (red to make matters worse). Kelty was perfectionistically creating her cards with every single art supply we owned because it was "really important, Mom." All the while, I am on and off the phone trying to make a hair appointment and set up a birthday party. Holy Moly. My mothering capacity finally hit its limit when Kelty started crying because I hadn't written down what she wanted to say to Nana fast enough. I lost it, I'm afraid--raised my voice and spoke much too harshly. After my tirade, I declared that I "needed a minute" and headed out to the front porch where I demanded that everyone leave me alone for a while. In frustration, I plopped down in a chair outside with my head in my hands.

About two and a half seconds later, I hear the glass door squeak open. I start to raise my head, about to lay into whichever little person dared not to heed my warning, when I felt a small hand on my back. It was kickin- the-preacher Cade (see previous post), who leaned down into my face and said quietly, "Can we pray for you, Mom?" (What do you say to that?) He immediately closed his little eyes and prayed, "Dear Lawd, help Mom to have peaceness in her hart." Kelty was there, too, and she then said a flowery prayer with hands folded including a request that I would know that I was "the best woman in the whole world."

Wow. They didn't leave me out there to pout or to stew. They didn't wait for me to come inside and apologize to them for exploding emotionally because of a situation that was a result of my own poor planning. They didn't head out to the porch to point out the damage my words and anger had done to them. Instead, my preschooler and my Kindergartner gave me grace when I didn't deserve it and encouragement when I wasn't expecting it.

Oh to be more like my children--in the porch praying, that is, not in the trashing of the kitchen table.

Building Up

Over the last few weeks we have been working our way through one of my favorite family devotionals. It's written by Clay and Sally Clarkson and is called Our 24 Family Ways. The book is broken down into 24 main standards for family life, such as "We serve one another with a humble attitude" or "We are grateful for the things we have, whether it is a little or a lot." Each "Way" has a picture, a story example, lots of discussion questions, prayer points, Bible verses, and definitions to go with it. Much of the detailed information is too heavy for my kids, but I pick and choose from the material given. I love it because it sparks a definite character or heart issue that I can focus on weekly at home. Last week our topic was "Being a servant" and each time I caught the kids helping one another, they got to put marbles in a jar. When the jar was full (it took about 5 days), they will get a fun family outing (I think we will head to the pool this weekend). It was such a fun game to play all week was such an easy reinforcer for our devotionals.

This week we are talking about how: "We only speak words that will build up and encourage those around us." With that in mind, I made a "finish line" on a kitchen cabinet. I got out the building blocks and every time a word that "built up" was spoken, that person would get to add a block to the tower. We wanted to see if by the end of the day, we could reach the finish line, which we were able to do. I won't do a prize for this one (there's only so much money in the ol' family wallet), but it was a lighthearted competition that we can have again tomorrow.

Anyway, I share these character-building ideas just because I know how desperately I am in need of fresh ideas that work from other moms, so, by all means, pass your good ideas over this direction. I know I need all the help I can get. :)

LOVE

The Lesson for My Kids. As often happens in "teaching" my kids, I seem to learn more than I impart. This week we are looking at what love is and are studying the Love Chapter in the Bible, found in the book of 1 Corinthians. Each morning we have been talking about one or two love characteristics--patience, forgiveness, kindness, etc. We talked about funny examples of the quality for the day, drew pictures of it and sometimes acted out scenarios showing or not showing the characteristic of love. Then throughout the day, if we "caught" each other showing love, we would draw pictures of that on our chart. It's been a super simple way to teach God's word while also trying to reinforce character. Even for the person that doesn't agree with the validity of the Bible, the positive qualities listed here are indisputably valuable for our kids . . . and for us. Case in point. . .

The Lesson for Me. All three of my children are in more difficult stages of late. One is demanding and destructive, one is terribly excitable and immature around people, and the other one has taken to screaming in a high-pitched voice more often than my patience can endure cheerfully. It's horrible to admit, but each of them has frustrated me immensely or embarrassed me greatly at some point in the last few days. And as I was sitting in church today, trying to claw my way up out of the pit of discouragement, I reread the passage I had been so diligently teaching my kids (ah-hem) this week.

"Love is patient and kind. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love bears all things (embarrassment, bad attitudes, screams, messes), believes all things (my children are gifts, each of them is precious and amazing, they are catalysts for my own growth and character), hopes all things (God has a plan and purpose for each of my kids, these "stages" will pass, they will grow into individuals who love well), endures all things (interrupted sleep and conversations, discipline that doesn't seem to be working, chaos). Love never fails."

And, the reality that I was not loving my own kids well hit me with an indisputable force right there in the middle of the church announcements and the praise choruses. What a hypocrite I had been this week--talking about selflessly loving others, while selfishly loving only when my children please me or are "easy." Because real love, according to the Bible, looks different than the kind I have been handing out lately. Real love doesn't get annoyed in the morning and stay that way all day. Real love doesn't care more for what embarrasses me socially than what embarrasses my kids (correcting them too often in front of others). Real love doesn't speak in sarcastic tones, and it doesn't feel the need to call everyone on the carpet about every little mistake they might make. It serves joyfully and forgives completely. Real love holds to the hope of what my kids can become, it sees their goodness and potential regardless of their "stage" right now, and it remains patient while they grow up.

The Apology. So, tonight, I apologized as I was putting them to bed. I kept it simple and asked their forgiveness for not loving them well, especially by not being patient with them. Kelty, in her insight and honesty, immediately piped up, "Well, mom, you were impatient, but also, it was mostly the unkindness. And the unforgiveness. And that has just been making us feel really bad lately." Ouch. The truth spoken out of the mouths of babes, eh? Even so, when she said that, I felt my old tendency to deny and defend and explain and excuse away my behavior rise up and beg for a voice. Thankfully, I think the Holy Spirit held my tongue. A true apology doesn't try to wiggle its way out of being in the hot seat, after all. So, I swallowed the truth, and I asked their forgiveness for the "unkindness and unforgiveness," too. Which they, of course, gave quickly, and then moved on, discussing who was going to get their song first and why Ava had to spill the crackers on the bed again.

And they did move on and are peacefully asleep in their beds right now, but, once again, I am the one left marked and challenged and humbled and changed.

And once again I find that I am learning priceless lessons from the kids in my life.


"Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud; it is not rude; it is not selfish; it is not easily angered. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
- 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

Our "love chart" is taped to the window of our kitchen, right next to the dining table. We haven't finished it yet; I reckon we are about halfway through the qualities so far. I wonder how I will be convicted of failure next week? ( ;0 )

Since love is not boastful or proud, I will refrain now from bragging about my artwork as evidenced by my stickfigures on the above chart. (Yes, those are my drawings, not the kids.)



Most of these examples are drawn by the kids. :) Funny how similiar they look to mine. Hmmm.

Magnetism, Creek Style

I am loving looking through my book Everything Your Kindergartener Needs to Know (Core Knowledge Series) to get fresh ideas for homeschooling. This last week for science we talked about magnetism. Matt actually got to do an experiment with Kelty at home (going around the house and seeing if a fridge magnet would attract various items), and when he asked her, "Where does iron, which is in the objects that get attracted by the magnet, come from?" And she answered quickly, "The store," he knew we needed a bit more learning on the subject. Since it was a gorgeous spring-like day (though it's supposed to snow on Monday!), he grabbed our magnet-nail collector-tool-thing, and we headed to a nearby creek. It was amazing how many iron filings the nail-magnet picked up from the creek bed. We collected them in a bag, and took them home.

These are the iron filings that the kids got from the creek bed.

When we got home, Matt dried the iron filings for a bit on a piece of paper, and then the kids played with them with magnets. At the end of the day, Kelty finally got that iron comes first from the earth, not the store.

Here's Kelty moving the filings around by holding the magnet underneath the paper.

And what was Ava doing while all this learning was taking place? She insisted on playing in the freezing-cold mountain creek water--shoes and clothes and all. Our creek adventure actually ended when she face-planted into the water. Brrrr.

I'm not sure if all creeks have the amount of iron filings that these in CO do, but I thought I would post this idea if you need a fun hand-on science lesson for your kids. :)

Portraits

In our homeschooling group today we focused on painting portraits (Thanks, Anna, for the inspiration a while back on your blog!). We showed the kids several pictures of different famous portraits and talked about the features of the art pieces, including The Mona Lisa, of course. The kids got in partners and tried to paint the person across the table. We talked about painting backgrounds, mixing colors to create a flesh color for the skin, and which brushes worked best for different aspects of their paintings. It was lots of fun (as was all the playing outside afterwards!), and it was a simple art project that I am sure we will repeat at some point in the future.

The Studio: aka, the kitchen table



Kelty and Grace displaying their portraits of each other.


This was Cade's portrait of Ethan. I drew the outline, and he painted it. Ethan was wearing an orange shirt. I must say, though, that painting held his interest for all of about 2 1/2 minutes.


Kelty's painting of her sweet friend Gracie.

Best Advice

Best Advice I have yet to receive on homeschooling young children:
Some days, your only goal should be to do two things: read for an hour to them and have some type of devotional.
--Sally Clarkson, at a conference Amanda and I attended in Colorado last year

Best Advice I have yet to receive on parenting young children:
By the age of five, your children only need to know two things--
1. That they are loved unconditionally.
2. That they are not in control.
--Chad Frye, missionary to Turkey, spoken in casual conversation (which I overheard) at a restaurant in North Carolina

Homeschooling Can Be Dangerous. . .

. . . with the mass quantities of library books . . .

. . . and that glue that might rise up and cause you to slam your head against the concrete. Ya gotta be prepared.