our self-made unit study, lizzy bright & the buckminster boy... led us into something very personal. death. how to react if ever faced with a terminal illness. this, i'm certain.... no school could cover. i've recently learned, that my favorite motivational speaker, dr. wayne dyer has cancer. so did my dad. both men embraced their uncertain futures as a blessing. deep, i know... but it's conversations like this that are priceless with my son. how not to be a burden to others. how staying positive is more effective then the "why me?" approach. and lastly, life is not fair... no one said it would or should be.

our lesson, also led us into a good discussion and science experiment about the different blood types: which blood type is compatible with which.

we also had the pleasure of hearing two honking (loud!) sandhill cranes... flying overhead and landing in our backyard. both were cinnamon colored-- young birds. both started a flapping fight with a canada goose. we watched it all! live-- in our yard.

these days are rolling by, way to fast!

looking back over the past week, here's a glimpse of what we call education at home:

-continued with the newberry winner book, turner buckminster & lizzie bright:

-discussed racial discrimination

- discussion on capital and investments: what type of businesses would attract tourists on the east coast in the early 1900's? decided a movie theatre for silent films would be a hit.

-discussed charlie chaplin who left u.s.a. for switzerland-and never came back, do to back taxes. discussed the importance of paying taxes on time: penalties, biblical truths & why so many flee to switzerland when in trouble.

-discussed mary pickford. i have a picture in my kitchen of her with a stamped signature.

doesn't it seem like we do a lot of discussion? it's the give and take of oral learning that opens up a flood of questions. my son didn't have a clue what capital meant or back taxes.

-typed two short papers on the california condor and pekin duck

-went to youtube school and we both enjoyed:

silent films

condors in the redwood forest

-another highlight? i had tommie make a big pot of chicken broth to freeze. you know now, if he were in traditional school.. they would call this culinary arts. here at our school we say....

how about making us some chicken broth to freeze?

-now that spring is in full-swing... tommie's been working a few days a week at our neighbors farm. he's enjoying his $$ and is learning "to do what the boss says!"

other subjects: math, spelling, silent reading, on-line spanish.

-i know this post seems like everything is a walk through the daisy's. it is not. i am dealing with a pre-teen, who dislikes reading and writing. and who is breaking out of his shell to become his own opinionated person. we have a lot of eye-rolling happening here and breathing hard. but, we just keep moving ahead.

this week and the forthcoming weeks, we will be pulling lessons-five in a row style from this double- award winner, lizzie bright and the buckminster boy, by gary schmidt... who happens to live here in michigan! i'll be documenting what we did right here....each day. you are more then welcome to use any of the learning activities i'm telling you about....

here's what we did so far this week:

-3/4 page of dictation page 2 last paragraph. commas and hyphen review.

-review hyperbole

-looked up and wrote a short paper on the newberry award and michael prinze award.

-applied math- orally

-a writing/reading/drawing project on the 5 different parts of the atmosphere

vocabulary word look up and writing: reprobate, parsonage.

fieldtrip: drove past several parsonages

-a writing & hand's on project about tides, including spring and neap tides

-watched a very interesting youtube video (on my level) click here!

-discussed "peer pressure"... i can't ever discuss this enough!!

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now, of course we do our regular core subjects: math, spelling and silent reading. tommie's choice for his silent reading is, the last of the mohican's.

time to teach tommie spanish!

i found a couple of good websites to help me! -- and yes, they're free!

here! and here!

explaining watergate, understanding watergate and the fall of president nixon, was easy.... when i used lego men to reenact the scene. truth is... i'm sort of a watergate illiterate...so, i needed to brush up on the facts, with a book i had on my shelf. now, we by no means know all of the nitty-gritty details of this political-era and scandal... but, we both know "just enough," for this point in our lives.

oh my gosh... i'm so excited to share a little unit study/lesson plan links, that my good friend lisa put together for her children! it worked for early ed through middle school! lisa is a former educator and has her act together!

THE LIGHTNING THIEF by RICK ROIRDAN

click here and it will take you right to her free plans!

so... now i found myself in the unfamiliar world of homeschooling. i knew of no one who did this. no mentors. no resources. no girlfriends teaching at home. i vividly remember sitting down one sunday afternoon at the computer... and googled everything on homeschooling. i was swept up in a whirlwind of excitement, unrealistic ideas and also fear.

i came upon using the five in a row curriculum. starting at the preschool level and using it right through fifth grade. five in a row was what held our homeschool together. without it... i would of gave up homeschooling.... it enriched our lives beyond anything i can compare to. it gave our homeschooling and ME "depth." it gave me a different perspective of teaching-- using wonderful literature and seeing deeper into the story. it made dinner conversations interesting. it made learning fun. a mountain of information and subjects are in each unit study... which catapulted my child into a bigger world. a world that i would of never thought about going to. sri lanka. china, japan, paris and the list goes on.

my son is by far not a prodigy. however, this curriculum gave him profound information at a very young age.... launching him ahead of anything a public school could offer. i fondly remember a unit study on, "climbing kansas mountains,".... in which we went to our local grain company and had an impromptu tour of the grain distribution: corn being put on trains, which were being shipped to china and elsewhere.... and other behind the scenes stuff! this deeper learning became a very natural fit for us.

i also loved the charlotte mason method. and studied it faithfully. charlotte mason planted the love of nature study into our lives and the the importance of living books... which is all we use, even to this day.

so, after seven years of five in a row and charlotte mason... i have no choice but to look at learning a different way. it's all i know. it's all my son ever had. that's not to say, i didn't try using workbooks... or rod and staff/drill and kill or 100 ez reading lessons... we tried, with negative results on many levels.... we always found our way back to the comforts of five in a row.

i must retrack here about workbooks... we've used horizon's math from third grade on. and, i do use winston grammar, as per suggested on the five in a row boards.


i cannot salute five in a row and the lamberts enough! this is a rock solid curriculum, which covers a smorgasbord of subjects in one sitting--when you use it faithfully. some think using a unit study is not an effective choice for an only child. i am proof, that it can be done. done quite well, indeed.

(please, if you do decided to use any five in a row products... order them directly from the five in a row site and not a distributor.)