Glimpses

Science - We've been getting boxes from TinkerCrate this year, and they have been fun. The kids look forward to them each month. This month's box was making circuits to light up paper lanterns.

History - I always feel like History and Langue Arts overlap a ton at out house. For MLK day we had a poetry tea time where we watched the youtube video of Dr. King's entire "I have a dream" speech. Then we made hand print wreaths and pasted a quote on them to hang up in the school room.

Art - Ivan's art class doesn't start up again until February, so he's been working independently for the last several weeks. One of the things he made was this, which he calls "A Tree in Three" it is a tree, and he split it into three sections where he used acrylic paints on top, colored pencils in the middle, and oil pastels on bottom.

Math - My wonderful friend Wynter is working on writing a math curriculum. As she's been putting her webiste etc together she's come out with some really fun activities. One of those activities are these fun clocks that help you tell time, learn to count by fives, AND work on your five times tables.

Friday Fun - We've been meeting our homeschool group at the Springville Library on Friday afternoon to play games. It's been a good option for winter time. The kids can still see their friends, we moms can still see our friends, and no one has to be outside freezing to death.

Heading out on a Friday to play games with our home school buds at the library.

Language Arts - We're a little heavy on the langue arts at our house. Sometimes I think we could list just about everything we do under that category. :) We finished listening to Johnny Tremain. We've been doing copy work exercises from it all month, and having some awesome discussions. This middle grade reader is a bit slow at first, but by the end your heart is swelling with pride and love of country. James Otis's speech about "A man can stand up" tied in nicely with our study of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, and we talked about how what the colonists started clear back in 1776 is something we are still trying to fully realize and bring about today.

We also listened to The Red Pencil, but haven't started any work from it yet. Lincoln and Ivan have both read Finn Family Moonmintol, which is where our copy work will come from next.

Lincoln read the biography of Leland Melvin and completed a biography box style book report. As part of the report he made and flew a straw rocket. Ivan has been reading Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart.

Scripture Study - We begin our school days by singing a hymn, having a prayer, and reading a few verses from the Book of Mormon. This year we are attempting to scripture journal also, by using the "Box-A-Day" method. 

We take a piece of paper and fold it into 16 boxes. Each day, after we read, we draw a picture in one of the boxes about what we read, or something we learned, or thought was interesting. At the end of 16 days, when our paper is full, we get out a lined paper and write on it more in-depth about what we learned/thought was interesting/our testimony....basically anything that encompasses putting thoughts to paper about what we've been reading. Then we stick the lined paper, and the box paper back to back and laminate them together. Hopefully by the time we're done reading the Book of Mormon we'll have a fun little picture journal, and our thoughts about what we read, to go with. 

The first 3 pages of my scripture journal

Up close. I require that we write the verses we read for the day at the top of each box. Then I encourage the kid to either copy a portion of a verse  or to in some way write an explanation to go along with their picture. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

A box from Ivan's journal. I love  how well he conveys expressions, even in stick figures. 

This is the back side of one of Ivan's journals. I have them do this part "free-write style" which means I don't correct grammar or spelling. What I'm concerned with here is content, and narrative voice. I want them to feel safe expressing their deepest thoughts without fear that they will get all marked up with red pen. 

CO-OP Classes - Co-op is about to start up here again next week. I am signed up to teach two classes this semester, Animal Science to Ollie's age group, and Poetry (which is titled Wacky Words, so it sounds more fun and less intimidating) for the older kids class. I'm actually really excited for both these classes, but they will be a TON of work. Their are eight weeks of class. These are my class description write-ups. I did them by hand because my computer was being stupid. But, sometimes doesn't it just feel really good to put pencil to paper? It was a really enjoyable exercise for me. 

Swan Family Summer Reading

It finally happened! I've been wanting to do it for years. I made my own summer reading program for our family.

I get so frustrated with the summer reading program at the local library, mostly because of the massive amounts of PEOPLE that are always there, and the resulting absence of books. I guess as a homeschooler I'm spoiled most of the year and have gotten pretty used to having the library practically to ourselves.

Anyways, I made my own program. It has three parts.

Part 1 - Treat of the Week
If the kids read to a younger sibling for 5-10 minutes each day and if they read their scriptures for 5-10 minutes each day, then on Friday we get the "treat of the week". Sometimes it's ice cream, sometimes it's doughnuts; this week was Sodalicious. (And of course the favorite flavor was Butter Beer!)

Part 2 - Read for Points
I made a fun chart that has all sorts of ways, places, and types of things to read, and each thing you read on the chart earns you a certain number of points. For every 100 points you read you get to pick something out of the grab bag, which has candy, little toys, and books.

Part 3 - Every minute counts

During all the reading we are doing, we are keeping track of minutes. If, as a family, we reach a total of 10,000 minutes by the end of August we get to go do something fun, like a water park or to the aquarium (the kids haven't decided yet). 

So that's our program. I'm pretty proud of it, if I do say so myself. I think it will help us work on long term and short term goals, and I think it will help us read a variety of different things (instead of just Harry Potter, haha!) and in a variety of places. 

Yay for summer reading! And yay for skipping out on the crowds!

Adventures in Swanland

The days are hot, so I live for the cool of the evenings. After the kids go to bed, I step outside and I admire my garden and my grapevines, and then the cornfield waves to me and catches my eye, and back even further the are mountains glowing golden in the setting sun. It's beautiful. I am grateful for this slice of heaven and relief in the evenings.

You better believe I have plans coming out my ears for things I still want to do here, improvements I want to make. We are a long ways off from a finished product. But as I make my rounds these summer evenings, I'm satisfied with the progress so far. I can see our yard taking shape. I can see it growing into the visions I've dreamed up for it. A yard takes so much longer to come together than you ever think it will. But it is coming along.

My hummingbird friend came back, and this time I got a picture of him. :) The kids have been anxiously sitting in front of our front room window in the mornings to see if they could spot him. I'm glad they are as excited about it as I am. The Zinnias have been attracting butterflies too.

We spent a  nice weekend up in Hooper for the Lemmon/Sparks family reunion. It's always really fun to have everyone together. I especially love that the cousins get a long so well. It was great to sit in the shade with my siblings and their spouses and relax and chat and eat.

Aaron and Rue and Ollie in the kiddie pool. The big kids couldn't be bothered to stop jumping off the diving board for a picture. 

She thinks she's big.

Ruby loves swimming. She's not one bit afraid of the water either. 

Jackson and Bri's baby Stratton, modeling the pool floaty and pretzel pose.

Of course Adelia found a dragon fly at the park. No outing would be complete without one bug or another worming it's way into her affections. :) 

Swingers: Imogen, Ruby, Ollie, Isla, Emree, Adelia
Photo Credit: Aaron Swan

When it got late, the swings were the only way to avoid a complete earth shattering melt-down for little miss Rue.

Sliders: Adelia, Abi, Isla, Emree, Ollie, Burke, Nolan
Photo Credit: Kyle Lemmon

We got home late Saturday night. Sunday we went to church and spent the rest of the day trying to recover from our wild weekend. So I didn't get out to check on the garden until this morning. Needless to say, our Monday harvest was about three times the usual size. :) The tomatoes are starting to roll in, and I am loving it! There is nothing on planet earth quite like a fresh garden tomato. I have some beans that need picking, but since I won't be eating them today, I'll leave them on the vines until tomorrow. Also, the rest of my beets are ready for pickling, so I'll probably pull them up tomorrow too. And the cantaloupes should be ready this week or next. Yippee!

Borrowed this pic from Bravewriter.
These are the 2016 Arrow books we'll be reading this year.

I've been trying to gear up for the school year. I usually don't start school until after Labor Day. But this year we'll probably be taking most of September off to have a baby. I'm thinking I might try slowly adding one thing in at a time until we are up to full speed. And since my writing curriculum is the one I love the most, I'm planning to start there. I'm doing the Arrow program from Bravewriter again this year. I'm super excited about the book choices for 2016. In August all the copy work and grammar lessons in the Arrow will be based off of the book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Today I assigned both Lincoln and Ivan to read the first chapter. I think I'll have them read silently some of the time, and some of the time we'll get together and take turns reading aloud to each other. I also plan on using the Jot It Down writing projects, as well as continuing with Poetry Tea Time and Nature Journaling.

Ivan asked me last week if he could get some books about Egypt at the library. So we made a trip, he picked out just about every book they had in the junior non-fiction section on Egypt and we brought them home. Friday night after scriptures and family prayer, he said he had a presentation he wanted to show the family.  He brought out a clip board with a blue piece of construction paper on it. The construction paper was filled front and back with drawings. He took turns asking each person to pick a drawing. When the person did, he explained what the drawing was of, and what he'd learned about Egypt that related to the drawing. Example: I picked the picture that looked like a scale. And Ivan told me that Egyptians used to weigh a person's heart after they died, if the heart was light they got to go into the after-life, but if a heart was heavy they got eaten by a monster. I was super impressed with how much detailed information he could remember just by looking at his pictures. On Monday, I asked him to do his presentation for me again so I could take a video. The video cuts out early though because I ran out of space on my phone. I thought it was so awesome that he put together a report all on his own, and that he did it in a way that was meaningful to him.

And I do think art is meaningful to Ivan. I think he uses it as a way to express what's on his mind. He got an art easel for his birthday back in March, and he has used it to turn his bedroom into his own private art gallery. But he takes his time with each picture. He thinks about it, and then once he's decided exactly what he's going to do he'll start drawing. And sometimes he'll work on one drawing for a week or more. Making sure he has it just how he wants it. Sometimes he'll stop what he's doing and take a couple more days to think about it, just to be sure, before he starts drawing again. It's actually a really interesting process to watch.

Besides his art, he has also hung up lists of things that he wants to memorize. Days of the week, months of the year, mine and Aaron's phone numbers, his school schedule for the day, etc. And he also has his swimming ribbons hung up as well. :) I love to watch how differently each kid makes a space their own. I remember loving to make my room my own space as a kid too. Also, that stack of books on his bed railing, yeah...I have plans to make him a nightstand/shelf of sorts that will be accessible to him from the top bunk, but I have to finish Ollie and Cal's room first.

Complete change of topic, in case anyone was wondering why I hate cats, I present exhibit A:

I don't predict that our screen door will last very long under the circumstances. *sigh* But, the good news is that we bought a little kitty house, so now the cats sleep outside instead of in our down stairs bathroom. So that's good. They are officially 100% outside animals now.

And to end on a happy note, look at my adorable husband reading bedtime stories to our crew. It's getting to be quite the pile-up. :)

Oliver Twist and The Canterville Ghost Reviews

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Children's Classic Literature

The Canterville Ghost Usborne Young Reader series

Ivan Reviews The Enchanted Castle

The Enchanted Castle by Usborne Young Reader Series

Lincoln Reviews More Books

This kid is a reading machine! :) At least lately. He even took a break from his "20 Chapter books" to read a book for fun over Spring Break. It was funny though, because we were talking the other day and he started telling me how he thinks he kind of goes through stages, at first he really really likes to read and can do it all day, but after awhile, he gets a little tired of it and wants to go do something else for awhile. I told him I go through the same cycles too. I read, and read, and read, and read; but then I'll go for awhile without reading anything at all. I told him if he was getting tired, he could take a break from reading for awhile, that there was no time limit on our deal, and I didn't want him to get burned out. He said, "Ya, maybe...but I just really want to get my new book." So we'll see how it goes. Here are a few more book reviews from the books he's read in the last week.

Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron

The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars

Wild Born: Spirit Animals Book 1 by Brandon Mull

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6: The Alamo All-Stars by Nathan Hale

First of all, I just have to say that Lincoln LOVES this series, and so do I (although I haven't actually read it myself) because Linc learns a TON of history facts without even realizing it. That being said, this is the one he read "for fun" over Spring Break. It didn't count towards his 20 books, because it's a graphic novel, and because it came in the mail after we were already a week into his reading challenge and we'd already established which books he was going to read. Lincoln graciously offered to do a book review of it anyways (after I bribed him with an ice cream cone) and here it is.

More Kid Book Reviews

Lincoln is working away at his goal of 20 chapter books. I'm actually quite impressed with his focus. I thought after the first few short books that he'd run out of steam. And he definitely isn't going as fast as her originally thought he would, but he is chugging along at quite a rate. He spends 2-3 hours a day reading. And I am content to let him. (You could say I'm a little burnt out with school at the moment. Yay for Spring Break next week!)


Fractions Equal Trouble by Claudia Mills

Stewart Little by E.B. White

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

"Let's Make a Deal."

On Friday morning, Lincoln came to me and said, "Mom, how about we make a deal? If I read 20 chapter books, you buy me a new book." Of course I took him up on his deal. :) And he spent the morning selecting chapter books that I approved of (I wanted the books to be in his reading level range, and I didn't want the list to be stacked with fantasy), writing down what order he wanted to read them in, and generally planning how he wanted to go about his task. These are the books he came up with:

His plans are making me giggle a little bit, but I love them, and plan on just sitting back and watching this all unfold, with him in control of it. He plans on reading 2 1/2 books per day. Also, since he got 10 Peeps in his Easter basket, he plans on eating one Peep after every two books that he reads as a reward.

Ivan decided he wanted in on this action as well, so he and I picked out 20 books at his reading level. But he's not as intense about it at the moment as Linc. And I'm not pushing. This is their thing, not mine. I'm throwing this under the category of project-based homeschooling (the same as Lincoln's robot project awhile back) where the kids are in charge of the learning and doing, and the parent just facilitates.

We also agreed that they would do an oral book report for every book that they read. My good friend and neighbor has a writing/reading blog, where she shares the things she's writing, and reviews things she's reading. As part of that, she has her kids do book review videos. I LOVE this idea! So, I'm borrowing it from her. I think doing book reports orally will help my kids be able to share all of their ideas and thoughts about the books they are reading without getting bogged down in the writing process. Sometimes (at this age especially) the writing process gets long, and they get frustrated with it, and their book reports end up being, "It was great. I liked it." And they don't explore what they liked about it, or why they would recommend it, or what the funny parts were, or things like that. Right now, I'd like to get them talking and thinking more about the books they are reading. We can work on writing about them later. And since my kids love to watch themselves on camera afterwards, my friend's idea to record the book reviews is genius! I will post both boys' book reviews as I get them. They accumulated quite a few over the weekend.

The Littles by John Lawrence Peterson

Beowolf: Usborne Young Reading series

 How Oliver Olson Changed the World by Claudia Mills

 The Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor: Usborne Young Reading Series

 7x9= Trouble by Claudia Mills

 The Call of the Wild by Jack London (Children's classic edition)

 The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith

 Jason and the Golden Fleece: Usborne Young Reading series