A lot to be thankful for...

I can't believe another month has disappeared. This month has been CRAZY! Here are the highlights:
* We moved into our new house (YAAY!) which is so beautiful and just absolutely perfect for our family. Thank you to all the wonderful friends and family who helped us move.
* I led five young writers through their first NaNoWriMo as they tried to write their first novel. It was an amazing adventure and I loved every minute of it. Sadly, my own novel didn't get touched, but there is always next year.
* I have almost finished my two online grad classes. This has been a serious challenge (ie, I was in way over my head!) Still, I think I will end up with two A's and renew my license next year.
* We have nearly finished learning about Greece and have had a lot of fun. Can't wait for the winter Olympics to start!
* Thanksgiving was amazing this year! We hosted both sets of parents and had a wonderfully relaxed holiday followed by fabulous shopping and then a visit from Aunt Shannon and Uncle Jeff with our cousins.

I still haven't found my camera! Maybe that needs to go on my Christmas list.

Busy, busy, busy

Sorry I haven't posted lately. It has been busy around here and I have misplaced my camera, so posting just didn't seem high on my priority list. Here are a few recent highlights:

We have been studying ancient Greece. A few weeks ago we discussed the architecture and learned the different column styles. The kids picked up on it pretty quickly. We even got to examine a miniature frieze that my mother has from Greece. Then, we used clay to build our own columns and friezes. Grayson and Evie both chose to make Doric columns while LilliAnn took on the more challenging Corinthian columns (which we learned are not actually Greek, but Roman architecture.) I'll post pictures if I can ever find my camera.

Our noveling club has been fabulous! The kids are all so amazing. We are ready to begin writing our novels now that we have developed characters, diagrammed our plot arcs and detailed a few of our settings. It has been such a joy for me to lead them through this adventure and last week they really gratified me with their excitement. They all agreed that they couldn't wait to get started on their novels because they have so many ideas now for other stories that they want to write. Nanowrimo starts in just one week, so we are about to start the real work. I can't wait to be bragging about their success!

I know that we have had a lot more excitement than all of that, but all my brain can think about right now is the move that is coming up in a week. Thank you for all of your prayers for our family and for your support this year in our homeschooling adventure. We love you all!

Our Junior Novelists Club

National Novel Writing Month (NanoWriMo) is coming! Each November writers across the country put their thinking caps on, find a quiet place to hide and start on a crazy adventure together: writing a novel in one month. Actually, the official goal is 50, 000 words in one month, but we are all aiming for a finished novel. This year there will be five new novelists working toward the finish line through Nanowrimos Junior Writer's Program.

Friday afternoon, five brave little souls from the Levy Homeschool Group started their own Junior Novelists Club. I had the immense joy of leading them through all the rites and rituals pertinent to starting a new club such as creating a secret handshake (shhh! Its a secret!), writing a solemn oath (I pledge to never write a boring story...) and making up a really cool, totally original name for our club (The Creative Adventure, Flying Bionicle, Gorgeous Novelists Club).

Once all the official work had been completed, we got down to the real business of writing. Each member is working to earn their badges and this week they explored the concept of Genre. Then, each member chose a genre for their novel and began writing a list of items that they felt MUST be included in their book. What creativity! I can hardly wait to award those lovely badges this week at our next meeting.

{By the way, lest you think I am inordinately gifted with creativity, please be aware that I borrowed all of these ideas from another source who freely offered it to those of us who want to lead young minds toward literary greatness. Email me if you would like to view the link.}

Quiet Moments

I know I have been posting mostly about all the big, fun projects we have been doing lately, but I've decided that as much fun as all of that is for me, it is really the quiet moments that make this experience so rewarding. Here are a few examples:

The other day we were sitting in church and Evie took out her notebook to entertain herself. After doodling for a while like she normally does, she turned to a fresh page and began writing a few of the words she has learned in school. I sat smiling proudly at her, tears in my eyes, when suddenly I noticed Graham look down at her paper. He looked up at me in astonishment and I nearly lost a tear. What a precious moment we shared over that child's golden head, there in the silence of church.

Grayson decided at the beginning of the school year to skip second grade math and go straight to multiplication. Despite a few small concerns over this, I have moved forward with the theory that student-led learning is more effective (a theory you can read about in many educational journals, but hardly practiced in our schools.) Well, we have breezed through the "times tables" and he is just amazing me with his understanding on this subject. What normally would have taken several months in 3rd grade has only taken us three weeks in 2nd grade. Yesterday I introduced the 9s to him and he panicked. I showed him two different tricks and then remembered a third, but he kept saying, "I just don't see it!" Finally, I got out a fresh sheet of paper and wrote as clearly as I could, keeping all the numbers in straight, even columns to encourage the visual pattern in the list of multiplication facts. Then, I asked him to explain to me what I had just said. He did this word for word, but still seemed convinced he didn't understand. So, I gave him a sample problem and showed how I could come up with the answer just by using my "tricks" I had shown him. He got it. He did 5 more problems, including one that was basically algebra to show me how he understood. Wow! We did a happy dance with his sisters to celebrate. Once again, what would have taken a week (at least) in public school had only taken us 10 minutes at home. Incredible.

Today I got the kids started on their lessons and then went to start laundry and return some phone calls. Suddenly, I realized that all the kids had disappeared and the house was eerily quiet. I went upstairs to shepherd them back into submission, but when I opened the bedroom door, the scene that met me nearly melted my heart. The younger two were cuddled up on either side of LilliAnn as she sat in her bed reading Heidi. How could I interrupt such a precious moment?

As I tiptoed away I said a prayer of thanks to God for our new lifestyle and all the quiet little moments of learning and love that now fill our days.

Weekend fun

The fabulous thing about homeschooling is its flexibility and ability to bring a family together. Last weekend we got to enjoy both of these benefits on a little trip out to Camp Carter. For those of you who don't know, Camp Carter is a property that Graham's family owns out near Quitman, Arkansas where we all like to go play in the woods. They are building cabins there and we generally enjoy family time and nature hikes while we are there. So, it seemed the perfect place to get messy with a big project I had been planning for our Egyptian study.

After spending the morning with grandma and grandpa, Graham took the kids into the workshop to help them build wooden frames, which was a lot of fun to watch. They all did really well, but Evie seriously impressed Daddy with her skills. She was not at all afraid to put a little force behind that power drill and she handled it like a pro (well, like a pro who is only about 3 feet tall, but still...)

Once they were finished, the kids and I hiked down to the creek to begin the real point of all this: making mud bricks. We had been studying in Bible about how the Israelites were building cities for pharaoh out of mud bricks and I'm sure you all remember how one of the ways pharoah punished them when they asked to leave was by taking away their straw supply for the brick making. I always thought this meant they had to make bricks without straw, but actually, Exodus says they had to go find the straw themselves and still make thier expected quota of bricks, which considerably added to the length of their workday.

Well, we decided to see how hard thier work must have been by testing this out for ourselves. We started mixing mud in big buckets using a mixture of clay, soil and sand from the creek bed, water and straw. This alone turned out to be an extreme task. Not only does it take an enormous amount of mud, but a seriously strong arm to stir such a nasty mixture (did I mention the mud smelled incredibly foul since it held a lot of rotten leaves. The kids kept asking why it smelled like poop.) After all this, we finally decided it was ready (or at least that WE were ready to move on) and we began pouring/scooping the muddy mixture into the brick molds.

The first one was horribly sloppy and water seeped out of the bottom, trickling into pools that we now considered to be the equivalent of stinky booby traps. Moving on to the next brick we had a bit more success, but by the time we got to the third brick frame the mud was almost gone! We only had enough to fill it half way. (Did I mention these were giant buckets?)

So, here is what we learned through this messy adventure:
1. Brick making is hard work that would have to be perfected in order to ever make any substantial structure.
2. It takes a lot of work, time and physical stamina to make mud bricks (although a few thousand slaves would certainly make the job easier.)
3. Not only does it take a while to make the bricks, but it takes a lot longer for them to dry. One could argue that in Arkansas, they might never be dry. Good thing we have so many trees.
4. Homeschooling rocks!

Another Great Week of School

Our third week was just as much fun as the first, but a lot more comfortable. We've finally gotten used to our routine and the kids have been doing great with their studies. It is amazing to me how much we can accomplish in such a short amount of time with our lessons. Grayson has been doing great at his multiplication studies and keeps scoring just one point under his sister on the quizzes (who is two grades ahead of him!) Evie's reading has been incredible and her writing is almost as impressive. I am so grateful that we get this one on one time together to play and learn as a family. It has been such an amazing and precious gift.
This week we continued our study of Egypt with a look at what it meant to be called Pharaoh. We loved exploring the British Museum's website that gives kids a glimpse into ancient Egypt. LilliAnn started researching the gods and goddesses of Egyptian mythology and is planning a big project that she will share with us at the end of our study. In Bible we began reading Exodus and learned about the Hebrews becoming slaves to Pharaoh. We read some of David Macauley's Pyramid (which is amazing!) and then began building our own small pyramid out of sugar cubes. This was only somewhat effective, although it did teach us a lot about the importance of accurate math calculations and the problem solving skills necessary to complete a building when materials don't work the way you had hoped.

LilliAnn began sewing lessons and so far has learned how to measure, cut fabric, and sew a straight seam. She was very eager and patient as a student. I think we'll see some wonderful work out of her this year.



Evie has worked very hard on her reading and writing this week, finishing two pages of illustrated story so far. She is very proud and I have to say that her family is equally proud of our little reader. We have all enjoyed hearing her read aloud to us. Even her brother and sister have been excellent cheerleaders, celebrating each new success with cheers and dancing.

I am so proud of us all, honestly. We have really learned how to work together, share together, play together and encourage one another through each day - and those are the lessons that are priceless.

Evie's Excellent, Perfectly Great Day

Today Evie became a true reader when she read her first sentence. Then she read another one. WOW! I had decided I was working myself into a corner with the word building (phonics) because she couldn't seem to read when I put a book in front of her. She would completely blank on the words even though we had just worked on them moments before.

So, I tried a technique called Guided Writing, hoping that the new angle would add some excitement and motivation for her. I said to her, "I want to write a story. Would you help me?" That got her really excited. "Okay, I am going to write a story about my cat." I started making up a sentence using the words we had already learned together and then asked her to help me write it by sounding out the words with me. I wrote as she spelled aloud each word. This allowed me to model correct writing for her like punctuation and capitalization. She was thrilled to be helping me build my sentence.

Soon we had finished two sentences about my silly cat who sat on my hat. She giggled and laughed over that and then I asked her to read it. Wow! This method works! Since she had already worked to build the words in our sentence, she knew them. This meant instant success as a reader, which is really the key to motivation. She needed to see that she could do it on her own. Not only that, but she was finally able to see how reading and writing could be meaningful to her. Now that she knew she could write a sentence, she immediately wanted to begin writing her own silly story. Amazing!

It is so fun to watch her grow and learn right before my eyes. I am so glad that I have these moments. Praise be the the Lord our God, who is so very good to us. He spoils me.

Egyptian studies - what an Adventure!

We have been studying about Egypt for the last two weeks and it has been such fun. The highlight of our week came just after studying about scribes and their use of papyrus. We took a little walk down to the pond and looked at reeds growing on the banks. Then, we looked at photos of a family making paper out of papyrus. We finished by making our own paper from torn strips of newspaper that we boiled and then mushed up in a processor, pouring the gray globby mess into screens and patting them into thin rectangle sheets that we set out in the sun to dry. It was a lot of work, but the kids were very proud of their finished product. The next day they practiced drawing Egyptian hieroglyphs and were rewarded by a chance to add their own markings onto their handmade paper.

Grayson chose to draw a scene on his paper. It is a falucca traveling passed Papyrus reeds on the Nile. LilliAnn used hieroglyphs to describe herself and it says, "music, draw, spirit"

Evie Learns to Read... well, almost.

Well, we did it. I should say, "We Did It!" I have to admit that though the week was full of fun projects and exciting learning moments, there were also a few tears shed by us all and at least one "I hate school!" from Evie. Still, I would say things went well.

Evie is finally learning to read and is writing a bit, too. She really put up a fight about the whole reading class idea, but I won her over. It went something like this:
Evie: "I don't want to do this." Arms crossed over her chest in defiance.
Me: "Come on, honey. Don't you want to read? Think of all the great books you could read me."
Evie: "NO!" head shakes emphatically.
Me: Sigh. "If you give me five minutes of your attention - with a smile - I'll give you 5 minutes on the computer playing any game you choose. Is that a deal?"
Evie: "That's a deal!" Giant smile and instant attention.
Me: (Wow! That actually worked?)

So, thinking I should probably use my time wisely because I might not get a second chance with her, I pulled out a set of sparkly post-it note style letters that I bought on a whim. They got another smile out of her. I started with the letter A that we had already discussed and started a phonics lesson on word building. We moved sticky, sparkly letters around making "at" words until she had a nice long list of words that she could read all by herself. By the time we were finished, ten minutes had passed and she had forgotten to be miserable. Wow! I forget that I really know how to do this stuff!

By Friday she had more than 30 words in her "Words I Know" notebook and she was talking about writing her own story. (Is she a Pogue, or what?!) So, it looks like I have a goal for the next week: take Evie from novice reader to budding author. Sounds like fun to me!

First Day of School

What a wonderful day! The kids and I started school this morning with such excitement and the day did not disappoint. We taught Evie about the calendar and today's date, and practiced writing the letter A. They helped her practice writing the number one by making lots of play money and then set up a store out back to allow her to practice counting. Then, we read a book or two and LilliAnn learned to upload photos into publisher to create a book about our first day of school while the other two drew illustrations. We finished the day with a trip to B&N to pick out the free books the kids earned this summer through their summer reading challenge and then home to enjoy a 1st Day of School celebration at tea time. I hope every day is as wonderful as this has been. Tomorrow we'll be adding a bit more work, but they seem excited to dig into our study of Egypt, so I am confident there won't be any complaints.

A Brave New Adventure

Well, it looks like it is finally going to happen. All our books are neatly placed upon the bookshelves in our make-shift school room, our schedule is on the wall and lesson plans have filled my notebooks. We are beginning this adventure with a study of ancient Egypt followed by a look at Greece and then Rome. The kids and I can hardly wait. I've been wanting to homeschool since before LilliAnn was born and in four days it will finally happen.

Maybe homeschooling doesn't seem very brave to you, but I've spent years not following this dream because I was afraid of the criticism and disappointment of others. This year I finally realized that my children were growing up quickly and I was about to let all of our hopes and dreams for our children disappear without a fight. Their time in (award winning) public schools has been a nightmare so far, to say the least, and their education has really suffered for it. I found myself having to reteach at least half of what they had supposedly covered in school each year. What a relief to finally be fully responsible again for their education. Though, I realize this means I get all of the blame if they don't succeed, I guess I have always carried that blame anyway, so I might as well get all the joyful benefits as well.

I hope you'll say a prayer for us when you read this. We are all very excited, but we still rely on the Lord's guidance here. That's why we've adopted this scripture as our motto for the year:

"All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children's peace." Isaiah 54:13