The Sacred Sprouts Schoolhouse

Our first two days of school have been wonderful.

My plan to begin with Core K and then add Core 4 next week is going beautifully, because I can see exactly where to slide in the Core 4 components. All except the read-alouds. I am still putting some thought into those.

The Core 4 history will happen right after Zander’s Core K history. I have the kids do math, and then when Zander is done with his math, we work on his history together. It’s only after we’re done with history that Abigail is done with her math, so right there is the perfect spot to add another layer of history.

But I haven’t figured out the read-alouds yet. I would like to end our days with the Core 4 read-alouds. Right now we’re ending with the Core K poetry and read-aloud. What I am keeping an eye out for is the perfect place to insert the Core K read-aloud and poetry so that the read-alouds are separate from each other. The K read-alouds are short and sweet. The 4 read-alouds are much longer. So maybe we’ll do them after handwriting, but before math? Or after map skills and before they do their reading.

Hmm. Don’t know yet, but I do know this. Our first two days have gone beautifully. We have flowed from subject to subject very smoothly, and the kids just seem eager- they are ready to learn after a long summer off.

And it just feels right.  As summer went on and on, I just was feeling like there was something missing from my day.  Not this week.  A return to schooling has added a wonderful layer of normalcy back into our days.  I am so glad to be back at it, and now that we are back in the saddle, I’m starting to wonder about summer vacation for next year.  I do think a nice long break is good for the kids, but I also am starting to think that maybe after a period of time- say six weeks- it wouldn’t be worth it to do some half-days of school and get a jump on the school year.  It’s something to think about, and a way to be able to go on some of the bunny trails that we’d like to hop on down.

It feels great to be back.

It’s finally arrived.  The Sacred Sprouts Schoolhouse goes back to school Monday morning.  Two days before the rest of the city around us, actually, but when I figured out our calendar, and explained to the kids that we wanted to be able to take a full three weeks (maybe four) off for Christmas, they agreed with the idea of starting a little early.

Our first few weeks are going to be a bit of an adjustment period, but I’m at least happy with the direction our first week should be taking.   The biggest thing I’ve been trying to figure out is exactly how to work the two different Cores together so that our day runs smoothly.  Well, for the first week, I’ve decided to not use one of our cores.

I know how Core 4 will run for Abigail.  It’s a smooth continuation from last year, and we’re all looking forward to it.  What I don’t know, is how our Core K material will flow for Zander.  So our first week will be Zander’s core only, with all the other go-withs added in.  We’ll get those first five days to adjust, and I’m hoping that as the week progresses, I will figure out the natural places to integrate Core 4 the following week.  Technically, then, Abigail will be behind by a week as far as the core work goes, but we had no problems last year condensing about six weeks total, so we’ll get back on schedule in no time.

Here is my plan for that first week.  Hopefully by actually getting my thoughts down here, it will make more sense to me- and I’ll see any errors before we get there.

We’ll start out our day with Bible and the Pledge of Allegiance together.   Following that, both kids will move to the table to work on Handwriting, which only takes a few minutes.  After that, we move on to Math.  Abigail should be able to work independently for the most part, allowing me to concentrate on working with Zander.  Although these first few weeks are going to be a piece of cake for him- I expect math class will take about 10 minutes or so.

After math, we move on to History and Geography.  This week it will just be Zander’s materials, and since Abigail’s math will take her much longer, I’m thinking that Zander and I will go over his materials together, just the two of us, and Abigail can join in when she is finished with math.   After that, twice a week we’ll also be working on map skills and geography- the kids will have fun with that one.  Monday will not be one of those days.

Next, we’ll do reading.  Abigail will zip off to read her book for the week, while Zander will read out loud to me.  Abigail’s reading will obviously take much longer, so while she continues reading, Zander and I will work on his Spelling and Language Arts together.  If all goes according to plan, we should finish that up about the time that Abigail is done, and then her and I will do her Spelling and Language Arts together.   Once that is all done, we will read any Poetry readings all together for the day, followed by our Read Aloud.

That sounds like a perfect week and line-up to me.    Wish me luck as I try to figure out where to work in a second Read-Aloud and a second batch of History and Geography readings the following week.  Science we’ll be adding in later on as it’s taking me longer to gather materials than I expected.    All in good time.  That really just makes it easier to adjust to back-to-school mode and get a good routine of sorts going on.

Look what showed up on my front stoop today!

There’s no turning back now!  It’s the most important part of starting our new school year, our Instructor’s Guides from Sonlight.

Abigail will continue ahead with the second half of US History while Zander gets a look at world cultures.  They’re both going to love school this year.

I’ve decided that our first day of school will be August 30th.  Which means I have until then to assemble all the bits and pieces we need to get school rolling.  The binders are assembled and on the shelf, and now I need to acquire all the books and tools we’ll need yet.  Zander is very excited to get his own Book of Time this year where he’ll start his timeline.

And of course, since I last posted, what, a few days ago, I’ve already changed my mind again about something.  Figures.  I really, really like the look of the science materials for Real Science 4 Kids.  And I really want to do them.  The thing is though, I will have to buy books and teachers guides for both kids, and THEN I will have to go hunt down all the individual components for doing the experiments and activities.  Just thinking about doing that every week makes me want to break out in hives!

So I’ve already changed my mind and decided that we will, after all, go with Sonlight for our science needs as well.  We get the best of both worlds then, because Sonlight does use some of the Real Science books in their program.  But even better? I won’t have to run all around creation hunting and gathering what is needed for the experiments.  Sonlight does that for me!  When I order the complete Science programs, they come with all the tools and items needed for the experiments and activities.  I love that.   For certain I will be doing Science K with Zander, and I’m deciding between a few sciences for Abigail.

I wonder what else I’ll change my mind on yet in the next four weeks…

That can be a scary thing in the life of a homeschooler!  Because when you click purchase, you’re really, really saying a prayer that what you are about to purchase is going to work for your child.   I’m slowly making purchases and decisions about the coming school year, and it’s time to really assemble and start working out how our year will go- and it’s time to pick a start date- that I haven’t committed to yet.

And don’t ask me yet how I’m going to intertwine two cores together.  I know we’ll figure it out, but our school days are definitely going to be longer.

Right now, for Zander, his day will look something like this:

Bible: Sonlight Core K

Math: Horizons 1, Singapore 2A

History/Geography: Sonlight Core K

Reading: Sonlight Readers 2

Language Arts: A Beka Language 1, Spelling and Poetry

Handwriting: A Reason For Handwriting “A”

Science: Real Science 4 Kids Pre-level 1

For him for math, I’ve decided that while the Singapore method is working brilliantly with him, I also want him to learn to do math more traditionally, so we’re going to combine the two math programs.  He’s so incredibly fast at math anyways, hopefully by using the two programs together, I can make them stretch to last the whole school year.  For language arts, I had a heck of a time finding 1st grade LA that did not include phonics.  I was very happy to find the A Beka workbooks, and when he saw them come in the mail he was very excited about them. His handwriting will only last for the first half of the year, and then I’ll need to make a decision about where to go for him.   I’m also adding in for both kids a map unit this year, because they really enjoy studying maps.

Abigail’s day is shaping up to look like this:

Bible: Sonlight Core K with Core 4 personal devotions

Math: Teaching Textbooks 6

History/Geography: Sonlight Core 4

Reading: Sonlight 4

Language Arts: BJU Press Grade 5

Spelling: Sequential Spelling

Handwriting: A Reason For Handwriting “E”

Science: Real Science 4 Kids, Level 1

I feel like I’m missing something there, on both lists, but I’m drawing a blank as to what it is.   The Real Science 4 Kids I’m excited about, because I think that by using the two levels, I can still teach them together the same subjects, just Abigail’s will go more in-depth.  I’m hopeful that’s how they will work anyway- it may take a little tweaking on my part.  I still have to order those, as those are some of the more pricey pieces of our curriculum.  They may be arriving dead last just before school starts this fall.

A piece at a time.  Can it be we’re already in the home stretch of summer vacation?  That back to school is coming soon?  Crazy, just crazy.

Summer vacation has not been as much of a break as one would think.

Oh, we’ve set the actual schoolbooks aside and are taking a break from mathematical concepts and sentence diagramming, but the learning continues.

We’ve had more physical education in the last month than we’ve had in a year!  The kids have taken an interest in tennis, so we’ve spent a bit of time at our tennis courts, trying to get a volley or two together hitting the balls over the net.  That’s actually been pretty fun.

We’ve also tackled swimming lessons.  We’re so excited to have a nice pool here that we can do that at.  The lessons are broken up into two week sessions, and we did the very first one of the year- lessons are every day during the week.   After the first session, Abigail was promoted to level 2, while Zander was kept in his level to hone his skills further.  So we signed up for another session.  Abigail has improved amazingly- she went from sorta knowing how to swim, to yesterday, she jumped off the diving board into the deep end of the pool.  I’m so excited, because both kids are really grasping swimming well.  We’re going to sign up for one more session when this one is over.  I suspect Abigail may move up to level 3 yet this summer, but Zander may well be in level 1 again.  That’s okay- but then again, he may surprise me by really digging in and perfecting that front crawl.

In addition to tennis and swimming, dance has been back in full force.  Zander has decided to try dance and is having a blast so far.  Abigail is up to four classes now, with the addition of tumbling to her regular dance like-up.  Her goal is to reach the splits and her back walk-over this summer.  We’ll see…

We’ve also been learning a lot of earth science this summer.  The kids each planted their own gardens and have been watching firsthand as the seeds sprout and grow into mature vegetables.  We’ve also been watching the animals in our yard very closely- we love seeing the birds with their mates- both the cardinals and the mourning doves come and go as a couple.  We have three kinds of squirrels and of course rabbits that come and go.  We all love just sitting outside listening to the cacophony of sounds they make from day to day- it’s just like camping, without having to go camping.

Reading has also exploded.  Both kids signed up for the summer reading program at the library, and are having a great time meeting their goals.  Abigail’s selections to read have been getting harder and harder as time goes on, and they both really enjoy those times where they are both curled up on furniture- absorbed in a great book.   They’ve been getting some really cool prizes for their efforts, and while I normally don’t encourage rewarding their reading- for the summer it adds a little something and helps them broaden their reading selections as well.  In addition to measuring the time read, they also have extra challenges to meet- like reading a book about the sea, reading a non-fiction book, reading a graphic novel, listening to an audio book and reading a magazine.

We’ve also been reading aloud every day as well.  What a difference a year makes!  It was last year at this time that we pulled out a chapter book to read aloud together, and they both were disappointed with it.  This year- well, I can’t read fast enough.  We started with Little House In The Big Woods, and I had intended to read that one in the series, and maybe the second one- and then they could read further if they wanted.  Well we read the Big Woods in just two weeks, and then picked up Little House On The Prairie and read that one in just over two weeks- sometimes reading four chapters a day!  Well, we got to the end of that one the other day, and Abigail was just beside herself that the Ingalls family was moving yet again and leaving all their hard work behind.  So both kids begged me to move on in the series.  We skipped Farmer Boy, since that’s about Almanzo (and may come back to that), and have moved right into On The Banks Of Plum Creek.  Both kids are just LOVING the series, and for me it’s a trip down memory lane- I read these books so often growing up, it’s been really fun reading them with my kids- who are hearing them for the first time.   Although I really had hoped to make a dent in the Narnia series this summer… We’ll see how far we take the Little House books.  As long as they are literally begging me to keep going- how could I not?

Anyway, just wanted to share a bit of our summer.  I hope everyone is enjoying summer as much as we are!

Today was our last day of school.   I think we’re all looking forward to a bit of a break, but when I asked the kids today if we should do this again next year, it was a resounding yes that they gave me.   They were very proud of themselves and all they accomplished this year, and so I was also the proud momma who got to turn to Abigail and pronounce her a Fifth Grader.  And then I got to turn to Zander and pronounce him an official First Grader.  It was cool.

I had asked them what their favorite books were of the year.  Abigail’s favorites that she read were two books by Ken Thomasma, Om-Kas-Toe and Naya Nuki.  Her favorite read-aloud surprised me, as she chose Calico Bush by Rachel Field.  It was a delightful story, but I didn’t think she enjoyed it that much!  Her second favorite was The Journeyman by Elizabeth Yates.  When I asked about history books, it took just a moment of hesitation before she grabbed both Imprisoned In The Golden City by Dave & Neta Jackson as well as The Story of Eli Whitney by Jean Lee Latham.  They were all wonderful books, and we enjoyed the moment that we were standing at the bookshelves remembering those stories we read not that long ago.

Abigail logged a total of 971.90 school hours, and a total of 197 days.

Zander’s favorite book that he read this year was The Golly Sisters Go West by Betsy Byars, followed closely by Thomas Jefferson’s Feast by Frank Murphy and Lewis & Clark: A Prairie Dog For The President by Shirley Raye Redmond.  His favorite read-aloud of the year was Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, following in a very close second was The Sign Of The Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare.  When I asked him about history, he instantly pulled out North American Indians by Marie and Douglas Gorsline and then after a moments thought he added The Lewis & Clark Expedition by Richard L Neuberger.

Zander wrapped up his kindergarten year with a total of 568.50 hours and 180 days exactly.

Someone asked me the other day how I gave Zander a grade designation.  This was his kindergarten year of school, and yet he was doing first grade math and second to third grade reading.  Could I have called it his first grade year?  Sure, I could have.  But I think that socially, it is important that I keep him in the same grade level as his peers his age.  Everywhere he ever participates in a program- like church, park & rec, library programs, sports, etc. They will always ask what grade he is in, and then put him with the similar aged children.  So next year it will be his first grade year.  He’ll be doing second grade math and fifth grade reading, but it will be in the realm of first grade.   He-heh, my kid already has the stigma of being “the homeschool boy” I don’t need to make that worse by adding “smart kid who skipped a grade”.

I’m already looking forward to next year.  I’m slowly making my lists, and a plan seems to be coming together.  I think I have all our different components of curriculum picked out, it will just be a matter of starting to order it all and get it in- and then I have to go through and figure out exactly how I’m going to mesh two school days together to be one.   I’m rather excited to figure that all out.

In the meantime, we have some summer reading to do.  We have some fun read-alouds to tackle, and a world to explore.  Summer dance, tumbling, and swimming lessons will fill our days in no time.  And we’ll be learning the whole while- because we’ve learned that learning is truly fun.

As we are winding down our first-ever homeschooled school year, I think it’s only natural for me to look back and see how it all began.   Once upon a time (and not that long ago), Andy and I were staunch supporters of sending our kids to public school.  As Christians, we really felt that it was important that our kids be “out there” in the real world, being a light for Jesus as much as possible.   We had dear friends who had been homeschooling their daughter, and while it was obviously going wonderfully for them, I just couldn’t see myself taking on the responsibility of teaching my children myself.  I mean, what if I screwed it up?

Sending Abigail to school was really a no-brainer at the time.  She needed it.  When people would ask if I was sending her to school, my answer was oh, yeah.  She was my strong-willed girl.  She didn’t like mommy teaching her how to write her letters at all.  She really needed another adult to look up to and learn from.   Sure enough, just two weeks into kindergarten, my non-reading daughter was reading, and all the sudden my little princess was in all the advanced classes- advanced reading, advanced math- in kindergarten, no less.   But when she brought home that math, and I couldn’t help her do it, because I didn’t understand the kindergarten math assignment, I should have seen that red flag right there.

Abigail enjoyed school, she really did, but as the years went by, I just became more and more flabbergasted at the things she wasn’t learning.  She was learning a lot, and her teachers really worked hard to keep her engaged with the advanced classes, but it was the little things.  They did a unit on fractions for several weeks, but she didn’t learn that the top number was the numerator and the bottom the denominator.  She could play math games like there was no tomorrow, but there was no mastery at all of the basic math facts- addition, subtraction and multiplication.  And don’t get me started on the spelling atrocities caused by years of phonics.

But then, during Christmas break, in 2008, the kids and I were playing the game of LIFE and having a rip-roaring time.   It was a particularly fun round of game playing, and Abigail said as much.  I looked at her and (don’t ask me where it came from) said, “You know, if we homeschooled like your cousin, playing games could be part of our day.”  Both kids looked at me like I just gave them the key to a candy store.  “Really?”  And then they both declared right then and there, that they’d really like to stay home with mommy and do school.  Zander more than Abigail, really, but the more she thought about it, the more she got excited about it as well.

And just like that, my mind was reeling.  Really?  Did I really just offer to homeschool my kids?  Why on earth would I do that?

And so I entered the world of homeschool curriculum.  I ordered every catalog I could find, tracked down online message boards and spent a ton of time in the aisles of our local school supply stores.   I learned our state requirements, and started formulating a plan.   I chose a curriculum to try out, which is a whole story in itself, because it was the last one I thought I would consider.  But  the whole time I worried about the change in our family dynamics.  Mommy as teacher?  I just didn’t see it going very well.   Would Abigail, my strong-willed, independent little girl take kindly to Mommy telling her what to do…All…Day…Long?

Before we were to the point of no return, I decided a trial run was in order, and we tackled a period of summer school.   I wanted a trial period of time where we could learn to adjust to this new idea of Mommy as schoolteacher.  And as it turned out, the rest is history.  Literally.  They took to homeschooling like a bird to the open skies, and I really don’t see us ever going back.

The thing is, as a mom, I was already their chief teacher in life.  It really wasn’t that difficult to add some reading, writing and arithmetic to the mix.  I did have to adjust to a few things and adjust my expectations.  I learned that Zander does not sit still.  Ever.  So when he reads aloud to me, I have learned to be patient with his squirming and hopping around.  He still reads, and he reads very, very well.   I had to be ever so patient with him regarding writing and cutting, and things of that nature.  But boy, has that patience paid off.  This second half of the year, his fine motor skills have taken off, and he’s already looking forward to next year’s writing, and working on writing more whole sentences.  With Abigail, I had to learn to ease up on her.  When she knows her material, she knows it, I don’t need to continue to go over it with her and be redundant.  She has become even more independent, and I have marveled at how she takes every effort to learn something correctly the first time.

This whole process  has been nothing short of amazing.  I was once that mom who said I would never homeschool my children, and now I can’t ever see an alternative.  Well, high school may be an entirely different ball of wax, I suppose.   Ironically, it also made our recent moving process that much easier, because the location of schools and which school district didn’t matter a lick.   What mattered was that we moved and were able to get right back into our schooling.

We officially now have seven-and-a-half days of school left.  Abigail has met and surpassed every goal I had for her this year, and Zander.  Well, let’s just say that saying met and surpassed is a huge understatement.  Watching him grow up before my eyes this year was such a treasure in itself.  Because had I sent him off to school, I wouldn’t have been the one to get those moments.  I would not have gotten the cheering and happy dance when he finishes his math in just a few minutes.  I would not have gotten the swelling of pride when he confidently spelled our last name.  I would not have gotten to watch his face light up at the conclusion of every single book we read aloud this year.  I would not have been the one to walk in on him last week and discover him silently reading a chapter book to himself.  And finishing it just one day later and looking for more.  Every learning moment and achievement this year was mine to savor, and I have this crazy homeschooling journey to thank for it.

As parents, we truly are the best teachers our children can have, and where I was the last before, I will be the first person to encourage anyone to explore the options of teaching their own children.

We’ve had a great week of school here this week.  It’s hard to believe that we’re winding down our school year already! I swear we only just started this journey, but yet, I feel like an old pro now, and we’re ready to take on any new challenge that comes our way.

Last weekend I sat down with my curriculum and really looked at what we had left to learn this school year.  We had six weeks of history and geography yet, but our reading were really sparse and short for each day.  We had six weeks of read-alouds scheduled, and only five weeks of reading, due to reading ahead a few weeks back.  So I tweaked and re-figured, and condensed those six weeks down into just four- and actually the load per day seems much better to me.  I like it when we can really sink our teeth in, instead of reading a bit one day, and reading more the next.

As far as math goes, Zander has one more week left, and then he’ll be completed with his first grade math.   This week he was subtracting double digits like it was no trouble at all.  I thought for sure that he would have at least a hiccup with it.  Nope, not a bit. He just sails through his work in no time at all and is so proud when he finishes his work just a few minutes later.   Abigail could probably do math for about… six more weeks.  But I’m thinking that what I’ll have her do is finish up the next three weeks (which include decimals and the metric system) and then do the last three weeks as summer school in July.   Those last three weeks are graphing, ratios, and other forms of measurement, so I’d at least like her to touch on them yet this year.

Zander finished his handwriting last week, Abigail has just next week left in her book.    I’m also trying to figure out what to cull out of her language arts.  We’ll be skipping the chapter on writing a research report, since she already did that first semester, and I think we’ll also be skipping the chapter on writing a friendly letter.  Would that be nice to work on?  Yes, it would.  But I think it’s more important that we knock out as much of the grammar in the next three weeks as we can.  Good grammar will help her with her writing so much, so we’ll squeeze as much of that in as possible.

This week we also went and scoped out our new library, and the kids are in heaven there!  It is so huge compared to our small town library that we were used to.  I think they would have spent the whole afternoon there, had I let them.   Maybe next week I’ll get a chance to see what they offer for adults, because we didn’t even make it out of the children’s section before we had to go.   We also made great use of our park that we’re just four blocks away from.  There is a nice basketball court there, so we had extra gym class this week while both kids worked on shooting hoops.  They had a blast! And I’ve never seen Zander so diligent- he must have tried to shoot a hundred times, and only made it in five or six times.  Regulation height hoops, six year old boy makes for tricky hoop-shooting.  In the weeks to come we’re hoping to pick up some tennis equipment and spend some time in the tennis courts as well.

The milestone I mentioned in the title of this post?  This week we hit our target hours of schooling for the year.  Abigail is required to receive 875 hours of instruction, which I was honestly concerned about meeting.  No concern required, apparently- as we are at 892 hours so far, with three weeks yet to go.  And in those three weeks, we’ll be doing extra work to try and wrap things up for the year.   She has also had 182 actual days of instruction, so by the time we’re done she’ll have had 196- well more than the public school districts.

We didn’t do too bad with Zander either.  He is at 523 hours for the year and 165 days of school.   That’s not bad for a kindergarten year.  I think he’s got the spelling of his last name down pretty well, and the only kindergarten skill we’re really missing is his shoe tying.  Honestly?  He doesn’t wear shoes that tie.  Totally off subject, but the laces they put in shoes these days are a joke- the materials they use simply don’t stay tied, so either we have to put knots in his shoes, or keep re-tying them every ten minutes or so.  So we opt to spare ourselves the headaches and get velcro shoes.  Hey- I had a friend in school who only ever wore velcro shoes all through middle school.  If Zander is a little late in the shoe tying game, I’m not going to be too upset about it.   This week he finished reading a chapter book aloud to me about the Trail of Tears- I think I’ll cut him some slack if his fingers just don’t want to cooperate.

Anyway, our last day of school will be May 27th- a Thursday.  It is very bittersweet to be winding down.  We’ve had such a wonderful time with our school year, and with our romp through early American History.  It’s such a precious time to study, and while we are definitely looking forward to the new adventures from 1850 to today, we’ll definitely miss hearing about our friends of early America.  This week we had a bit of a treat, as we spent a good deal of our week discussing the Buffalo, New York area- where Andy’s parents live.  We spent time learning about Niagara Falls, and Sam Patch the jumping man who successfully jumped the falls.  And then we moved right into learning about the Erie Canal, and how that was built thanks to the Irish muscle who fled their homeland for greener pastures.    In fact, we learned a lot this week about the different people groups and immigrants who really pushed our country into growing.  Where the cities in Europe slowly developed over time, American cities literally sprang out of nowhere and spread rapidly.

Today we wound down the week with some Wii Sports gym class, thanks to a drizzly day here in Wisconsin.    As we look ahead to next week, it seems that we’re going to be learning a bit about doctors in the new world, how homes were built, oooh, and we get to learn a bit about the Alamo as well.  It’s an exciting week ahead.

Today we took total advantage of a gorgeous day and decided to swap out music class for a combination of phy ed and science.   We headed out to our local bike/hiking trail and walked a ways out, getting exercise as well as an opportunity to spot some birds.

It definitely was the perfect day for it, and my ever-observant kids wasted no time in pointing out the different birds and things they found.  Right off the bat we found a nice burrow which left us wondering about the inhabitants.  The droppings nearby led us to believe rabbit, but that burrow was awfully big… my bird-minded daughter thought that there were several birds who might find that burrow nice for a nest.

We’ve been studying birds for science, and there are definitely those days where you wonder if they are even paying attention.  Abigail says it’s the best science she has ever done- she’s fascinated by birds.  In addition to reading our textbook, spring has also found us observing a lot of bird activity in our yard, and we even managed to watch the acclaimed movie “Winged Migration”.    A few weeks ago, on one of the first nice days of spring, Abigail took a notebook and her binoculars outside and spent hours observing and drawing birds.

So today on our walk she had all kinds of opportunities to show off bird knowledge- and that she did!  She pointed out all kinds of birds, and then was able to tell us all about them.   The red-winged blackbirds and robins were most in abundance.  But then we saw the brown-headed cowbird, and Abigail promptly began telling about how they are brood parasites, laying their eggs in other bird’s nests.   We watched some yellow finches taking a drink from a stream, and watched in awe as a brown-tailed hawk swooped over us, looking for it’s lunch.   We saw a small red-headed woodpecker checking out a fallen branch for some bugs, and towards the end of our walk, we saw a pair of killdeer prancing about a pond.   I think Abigail was a little disappointed that they didn’t start acting like they had a broken wing- but I think it may be a little early for them to have their eggs laid.

I was quite proud of my little girl as she observed nature in action.  She’s become an expert bird-spotter and is getting quite adept at using her binoculars to zoom in for the particulars.

We only have two chapters left to explore birds before we move on to flying reptiles and bats, followed by flying insects.   I hope she won’t mind when we change subject matter a little bit.

Tears, but in a cute, funny, kindergarten way.

This week I gave Zander something new to work on for language arts.

I gave him a writing sheet with his last name written across the top.   His goal?  Learn to write and spell his last name. He promptly burst into tears.

His big sister gently encouraged him, assuring him that it took her all year in kindergarten to learn her last name.  She challenged him to learn it faster.  He stopped crying and started copying.

Today I gave him markers for the task and he was quite proud of his efforts.

My little boy, my kindergartner has almost finished first grade math without breaking a sweat, and yet learning to write his last name moved him to tears.

Gosh, I love that boy, and I love being his teacher as well as his mom.