I MUST start updating this more often. It makes it difficult to remember what we've done. Essentially, I'm at the point where I have to give a portfolio summary for this first half of the year. B is 7 and would be in second grade. T is not old enough to be in school yet, based on the birthday cut-off, which he misses by a month and a half. I still consider him to be in K and it cheers him up to tell people that he's in kindergarten. T has just turned 5. Anyway...

Science:
This has mostly taken the form of nature studies this year. B has spent a lot of time learning about arthropods, both with library books and by first-hand examination. A month or so ago, he caught a Chinese mantid with a zippered insect bag that I bought him. We used a field guide to determine that it was a Chinese mantid, rather than a praying mantis. After keeping it for a few hours, he released it. Originally, he was trying to feed it leaves, but he learned that mantids are carnivores.

He also started a dead arthropod collection. So far, he has a wolf spider, a dragonfly, and a colorful moth that we haven't identified yet. Oh, and he has a mystery beetle. We learned that there are a tremendous amount of beetles.

We've also made leaf prints and learned about how different trees have different leaf shapes.

We've examined animal scat (deer) and animal tracks. For the deer tracks we found (and one little cat track), we cast them with plaster. Unfortunately, we're having a difficult time getting all the dirt/clay off the plaster cast.

We've also learned about different trees through the seeds that they drop. We've gone harvesting in the woods for acorns, sweet gum balls, beech nuts and hickory nuts.

History and Geography:
We visited the local history museum to learn a little about the history in our part of the state.

We've read various books about:
1. Guy Fawkes
2. The Great Fire of London
3. Kings and Queens of England
4. Martin Luther King Jr and the Civil Rights movement ("Martin's Big Words")

We have some books about the Constitution and Colonial times on order at the library but it's taking forever for it to be our turn. I had anticapted reading them by now.

Also, dh's citizenship test preparation was interesting for the kids. They learned about the physical qualities of the flag and the names of some of the original colonies. I had to quiz dh to help him prepare and they wanted me to quiz them too.

The election in November was also a great lesson in civics and government.

This sounds crazy but we're been watching, "The Amazing Race" as a family to learn a bit about world geography and culture. We've been using a map to see where the teams are on each leg of the race. Some examples of Amazing Race spin-off discussions have been:
1. The Mongols (who were they? who are some famous Mongols? how far did they extend their empire?)
2. St Basil's Cathedral (they really liked that building so we looked it up in another book and read a bit about it).
3. The difference between the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets. We used my Russian phrasebook to see examples of words written in both alphabets, in addition to trying our hand in saying some Russian words.

T and I attended a kids' library event about Sweden. Unfortunately, B was in a class and could not come.

Arts:
1. Both kids have taken drama classes this fall.
2. B has taken two art classes at the museum: sculpture and print-making.
3. T takes dance lessons.
4. T and I saw a performance of "Poor Pluto", complete with a mini-performance by local symphony members.
5. We've visited the art museum.
6. We continue to listen to a wide variety of music, including jazz and opera.
7. We watched "Singin' in the Rain" together, in addition to scenes from "An American in Paris". T, in particular, loved these.

Language Arts:
1. B has started reading for pleasure. He's been able to read for quite a while but he just didn't. Now, he actually reads by himself, silently, and for fun. Some books that he's read on his own have been: "Star Wars the Clones Wars" (chapter book), "Chocolate Fever" by Robert Kimmel Smith, and several books in the "Secrets of Droon" series. He has recently started the Spiderwick Chronicles but I don't know how that is going.

2. B writes a lot and his spelling is improving.

3. B has been reading aloud to his little brother, which is nice for both of them.

4. We always have a family read-aloud each night, in which dh and I read to the kids. Some books that we've read to them have been: the first two Harry Potter books, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis, "Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis and "The Hobbit" by Tolkien. We are still reading the Hobbit.

I'm happy to say that this (#4) is my academic area, where I feel best. I don't just read to the kids. I stop and talk about what we're reading. I ask them what they think is going on, what they think might happen, why they think certain characters are feeling a certain way, etc. I frequently paraphrase after reading something and translate. We talk about what certain words mean. And we often act scenes out.

T is very good at coming up with theories and he remembers an insane amount of detail from earlier reading. He was the only one who remembered Elrond's moon runes in "the Hobbit" when the dwarves finally got to the mountain and looked for the secret door. He has a hysterical set of theories about how Professor Quirrel was somehow behind every trick in the second Harry Potter book, despite our insistence that Professor Quirrel was dead. Sometimes, he's quicker than B to surmise what's really going on. I have a feeling that T's strengths are going to be in language arts, whereas B excels in science. It would be funny if we had one kid like dh (science/math) and one kid like me (liberal arts).

Because Lewis and Tolkien use very rich language, we have spoken a great deal about what certain things mean. I generally read word-for-word and then I follow up with paraphrasing if the meaning cannot be guessed by my tone of voice, expression and actions. The other night, we talked about the words "desolate", "bleak" and "barren" in Tolkien's description of the land affected by the dragon. I like for them to guess and tell me what they think these words mean if they can but I will always give synonyms afterwards. We also talk about how words sound ("desolate" has such a nice sound). Some words require actual translation, such as Tolkien's usage of 'attercop' for 'spider" (atter comes from 'poison' and cop means 'head'). We have a good time with the language in the books.

I feel confident that both kids understand what's going on in the books and that they are developing critical thinking and reading comphrension skills as a result of how we read to them. And they're having a lot of fun in the process.

#5. T is continuing to teach himself to read. It appears as though he's going to follow dh, Ben and I in in being a spontaneous whole-word method reader. One day, while talking via the computer to my ILs in England, he read FIL's full name from the bottom of the interface. On another day, he "Little Bill" from the text-only guide on the TV, despite the fact that we rarely watch that channel or that show. And then yesterday, he read "Jack Frost" from the text-only on-screen TV guide (no audio), despite the fact that he has never heard of that movie before.

Math:
This is something that we need to focus on next semester. The kids use math in their everyday lives. They both seem to have a natural number sense. They like numbers. Sometimes, they ask me questions like "what are 3 3's?". They seem to play with numbers a lot. Using dice has been helpful for T, who announced at dinner one night, " I want 5 pieces, that's 4 and 1. And that's 3 and 2. And that's..." My SIL and BIL recently bought them a card game called "Dr Who Top Trumps", in which you battle with various character points; the kids love it and it requires math.

I do want to find ways of playing games involving multiplication, however, since they seem interested in that. I am working on some ideas for next semester to include more math in our lives.
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I can't think of anything thing else, although I'm sure I've left stuff out. I desperately need to update more often.

I made a solo library trip the other day. It was nice to be by myself for a change because I could take my time browsing. I picked up some random books that I thought the kids would enjoy. I got several on magical creatures, although I still have not found exactly what I'm looking for. I want a magical creature encyclopedia, with realistic illustrations of dryads and centaurs and things like that. Ever since we've read Harry Potter and C.S. Lewis, there's been a real interest in magical creatures. Their interest started even before that, when I got out a huge hardback book on gnomes, a book I had loved in my own childhood. I'm still looking.

I got, "A Wrinkle in Time" for myself. I own most of the other books in the series but I never owned the original for some reason.

I also got another spider book for B. It was in the same series as the book on Wolf Spiders that he enjoyed. The book is about orb weavers. B and I both love spiders and we've both been taken with a particularly pretty spider that makes a large web on our deck, one that we've determined is an orb weaver. We used a field guide to narrow it down, but the field guide doesn't include all species of course.

Anyway, when I got home, I placed the stack on books on the bench near the door. The kids found them and got very excited, more excited than I expected. B spotted the spider one and yelled, "Orb Weavers!!" I have to read it to him at some point. And they really loved the books about magical creatures.

Early this morning, I did something that I very rarely let them do, which is I let them use the computer. Computer usage leads to zombie-like behavior, horrible fighting and a bad case of the "I'm bored's". So we try to refrain from giving them computer time at this point. But I found a really great spider website. The website allows you to narrow down your search by state or region. So now, we can finally see which spiders have been recorded in our state. B was thrilled.

I showed B a picture of an orb weaver that I thought was ours, but he thinks that the abdomen is a different color. We need to investigate that one a bit more. I explained how orb weavers belong to the "Araneidae" family, so he could click on the links with that family name in it to see only orb weavers. Later, he wanted to see wolf spiders. With the help of wikipedia, we found that they are in the Lycosidae family. Then, just to satisfy curiosity, we looked up jumping spiders, because we get a lot of those inside and we like those. Jumping spiders belong to the Salticidae family. I told him that I was sure that salta was "jump" in Spanish and that it would make sense since Spanish comes from Latin. Later, he wanted to know who the Pisauridae spiders were; we found that they are the family of nursery web spiders; we then read about nursery web spiders and B was really taken with how maternal they are.

Earlier, I read him the myth of Arachne. He has really enjoyed Greek and Roman mythology, ever since I recently told him some myths. I think it started when I explained why the cat is named, "Artemis". He's very keen to hear more Greek myths so that's something I have to find for him. It's hard to find Greek myths that don't have rape and things like that in them. Still, there are many that would be fine for him.

I have to get back into the habit of blogging

I use this blog for the mandatory homeschool portfolio I have to keep. I just need to get back into the habit of using it. Sometimes, I forget that I even have a blog.

This year, B would be in second grade. T would miss the K cutoff by a month.

Math has just been life-learning so far this year. They're both into multiplication right now and they ask us things like, "What are 2 6s?, what are 3 3s?", etc. B initially had interest in doing formal math but now he's saying that he doesn't want to. I'm not sure how formal math will play out this year. T has been inadvertently teaching himself addition and subtraction facts when we play Parcheesi; he always wants to count the dice individually before making the total move.

As for reading, B reads at or above grade level. I'm not sure what he can read, because he seems to read fluently in general. I did find that one non-fiction picture book he read was 4th grade level, by the AR group. But he doesn't often sit and read. Instead, he reads environmental print all around him and he browses through his science books. The other day he told me that when a human egg and sperm come together that it's called a "zee-gote", because he read it in a book. I've discovered that he will read things like knock-knock joke books so I'm on the look-out for those. Anyway, in general, he's good with reading.

For read-alouds, we've recently read the first Harry Potter book and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". Harry Potter sort of opened B's eyes to a more sophisticated kind of book. Every night, when I would finish a chapter, he would absolutely beg me to read more. He's done the same thing with the CS Lewis book. I plan on reading the other Narnia books to the kids. And I think they'll be Ok with the second Harry Potter book. I have two other books on my radar screen for the near future, favorites from my own childhood. They are "No Flying in the House" by Betty Brock and Wallace Tripp; and "Black and Blue Magic" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. I think we're going to continue exploring the fantasy genre because both kids seem really excited about it. I have also been making a list of library books that have descriptions and illustrations of magical creatures. I was actually really surprised at how many encyclopedic books there are on magical creatures.

B's current obsession is with bugs, insects and spiders. Also, since we've moved to the country, there's just a general interest in nature and biology. We got a shipment the other day which included bug-catching supplies and a few nature books. For the bug supplies, we ordered a bug net that zips up. Up until now, B has been catching locusts with a butterfly net but then it's hard for him to observe the locust because there's a good chance it will get away. The zippered bug net will allow him to clearly observe the locusts (and whatever else) while keeping the locust safe and preventing it from getting away. We also ordered a small bug jar that has a lid with a built-in magnifier. The latter will be good for catching spiders. B has no fears or hang-ups about creepy-crawlies and I'm good at catching spiders; between the two of us, we'll catch stuff for him to look at. He really wants to make a grasshopper habitat but I think it might be too late in the year; I don't remember the locusts sticking around long after summer was over.

For the nature books, we got a field guide on dinosaurs and an animal scat/tracks identification book. Until I looked at the animal tracks book, I didn't realize that we could preserve deer tracks with plaster of paris. Of course, now that we've figured it out, we haven't seen any deer around for a while. But we'll find them again in the future and we know roughly where to look for their footprints. Oh! And we also ordered a set of 72 buggy pictures, half X-rays and half identification cards. They were a HUGE hit with B.

Several weeks ago, we bought an Audubon field guide for identifying bugs, insects and spiders. B often wants to know what sort of creepy crawly he is looking at. Unfortunately, such a general book can only include a small number of buggy species. We really need a book that is specific to our geographic area. In particular, we really need a book that only includes spiders native to our state. I'm still looking for more specific resources.

We often get interesting looking spiderwebs on the outside of our house and deck. B really enjoys looking at the spiders. There's one spider in particular that really caught his interest (and mine!). It is brown but it has a pretty reddish tone to it. It makes a massive, meticulous web and it seems to move around every day. We still can't find the species name but we've narrowed it down to an orb weaver. The spider makes a new web every night and the web is a perfect circle suspended with support strings in a vertical position. The spider's cephalothorax (spelling?) is larger than its abdomen; we've learned these terms. And the spider hangs upside down, i.e. heads-down. All of these things suggest it is an orb weaver. I've taken some pictures of it and hopefull we'll identify it at some point.

That's all I have for now. If I blogged more often, I wouldn't have to write mammoth posts!

I love living out here in the country. I suppose this falls into the realm of unschooling myself but I've been surprised by the transformation I've made in the 3 months of living here. I grew up in the city and I was always squeamish and nervous about things like bugs. Now, it's like I can't get enough of being outside. If I can get 30 minutes outside by myself before dinner, I feel like a little kid who has been let out to play. I walk through our empty neighborhood (about 100 acres, nearly all undeveloped) and sometimes I explore different undeveloped lots.

I cannot wait until the dead of winter because then it becomes safe for me to explore the woods. Right now, I have to worry about ticks, poison ivy and the like and venomous snakes. When I do go into grassland or woods, I do it very carefully and with trepidation. I always watch where I'm walking and I stomp when I walk. When I get out and back onto the road, I do a tick check on my legs. Oh, and I do wear long jeans and big boots.

Dh loves it here too but he doesn't understand my strong desire to go exploring here. I've also become slightly obsessed with identifying trees and plants. It's typical me; I get topic obsessions that I will completely immerse myself in until something else good comes along. Right now, I want to know what all the trees are. I want to be able to identify things when I walk and get to know them.

Much to my delight, I found that I can enter our dense backyard woods via a small path near the border of our lot. Our landscaper dug up all the weeds and wild grass from the front yard and he drove his vehicle back there to dump them, inadvertently packing and widening the path. So now, if I walk around the kid's playset and go over the corner of the lot, I can walk down this path and be inside our woods. Obviously, I'm still very careful about where I step. So far, the only thing I've seen near my feet have been some species of bee; they seem pretty busy and uninterested in me.

When I walked around and into our dense woods via this path, I discovered something that I couldn't see from our back yard: big beautiful orange flowers on some type of vine. Further investigation led me to believe it was "trumpet creeper". It explains the presence of a hummingbird that follows me around, because the hummingbird likes trumpet creeper. Hummingbirds are so bold and curious; they have no issue with hovering right in front of my face and getting a good look at me. Anyway, so now I know why we have hummingbirds and what they are eating here.

I also found a curious round green fruit on the floor of the woods. I only found a handful of them. I suppose they were about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, green and kind of leathery looking. I have no idea how I started narrowing the search down but I ended up on a page about black walnut trees. It seems that this fruit looks exactly like a black walnut fruit. You have to crush the fruit beneath your heel, being careful to avoid the dye inside which stains everything. Then, you should find a pit which contains the walnut meat.

Today, B and I took the fruit that I collected the other day and we crushed it under my heel on the road. The paper towels surrounding the fruit got stained with a strong yellowish-brownish color. Inside the fruit was a small withered looking pit. We're going to let it dry out for a few days and then crack it open.

I took some pictures of a tree in the woods that is very near the fallen fruit and which looks like it could be a walnut tree. It is slender but of course, it is in competition with quite a lot of trees. The bark is very furrowed. The leaves are alternatively compound, creating a fringe-like appearance. I will have to watch this tree through next spring to see what its flowers look like.

On my walks, I've been intrigued by a very large tree that stands near the corner of an undeveloped lot. I do not know why it intrigues me but it just looks different to the other trees. It's huge and it's attractive but it just looks different. The other day, I noticed that it had nuts all over it. Today, I managed to get very close to it and take several pictures of it. The nuts on the tree are oval shaped and very spikey. Based on the bark, the leaves and the nuts, I think that it's a beech tree.

The neighborhood used to be an orchard but it was cleared. Dh discovered that there are still several apple trees around. I walked to the one nearest our lot but although it was covered with green apples, it appears as though insects or disease have ruined the fruit. But the other two apple trees seem to look Ok. I'm sure the insects and animals will eat all the fruit; deer love apples. But I hope that we can get just one good apple from one of the trees once they ripen.

Living here is like living in a giant science lab. I spend my free outdoors time trying to identify the various plants. I share what I know with the kids. We've read various books about the animals we've seen here. B spends a great deal of time catching locusts. He doesn't hurt them, but he likes to touch them and talk to them. Even T is learning to become a bit less afraid of bugs. When we're outside, it's just blissful. The kids and I are learning so much and enjoying country life so much. I feel very lucky.

B has *really* taken off with his reading. His biggest issues were perfectionism, confidence and practice. Wrt practice, reading obviously becomes much easier the more you do it, because you memorize words. He has not received reading instruction, unless you count watching "Between the Lions" and doing a few pages of "Explode the Code" (he lost interest in the latter). I'm not sure how he reads but he just does it and he sounds much more fluent now. Before, we could tell that he was sounding out every word. Now, he just reads words like he already knows them and he reads with tone.

I got a 'Henry and Mudge' book from the library and he read it in one go. I only had to help him with an occasional word. It's supposed be level 2.1 and he hasn't started second grade yet (nor received the reading instruction that school kids get). I feel good about the whole thing. The most important part is that he enjoys it and he's pleased with himself. After the Henry and Mudge book, he read a book about seahorses in the car. And he's been reading the "Mr. Men" books to T. I'd like to find some comic books and some joke books for him, because I think he would really enjoy them and it would help him practice.

We went to the Natural History and Science Museum yesterday, which we have not gone to in about a year. We got into a rut when we were in the apartment and I feel like we're over that now. Life is much better now.

The kids were really happy to visit the museum. It's one of B's favorites but T actually really enjoyed himself this time. It's amazing what a year of growth can do for a small child. Before, he used to get tired and bored about halfway through. This time, he didn't even want to leave.

The highlights, as always, were: the insect display with magnifiers, the dinosaur artifact room, the hominid evolution dioramas (or "the hairy people" as T calls them), the giant T Rex replica skeleton and the puppet theatre. B also really likes the room with the ancient sealife dioramas, a room that no one else likes. It's full of trilobite models and such. It's challenging trying to keep T content so that B can have his time in this room. I'm pretty bored in that room but I want B to have the time that he needs. Of course, T likes to spend an inordinate amount of time at the insect display, which is funny considering that he's terrified of insects. Oh, while we were there, B read "blue mud dauber". His reading has just exploded.

At the hominid evolution section, we talked about what the Latin terms for ancient humans meant and who "Lucy" was. The museum is a bit outdated, however. Their displays presents Neanderthals as "archaic homo sapiens" and, therefore direct human ancestors. We spoke about modern scientists' theories of Neanderthals being a separate species that went extinct.

We also spent a bit of time in the Earth section, talking about what causes earthquakes and where crystals come from. When we left the museum gift shop, in addition to two cheap toys, we left with a handful of geodes that we hope to break open this weekend.

We had a good day.

Obviously, I haven't updated in a long time. We're finally settled in our new house in the country. We all love it here. I can't begin to describe how different our lives are becoming since we've moved here. So far, in our own yard, we've seen: deer, turkey, a 5 foot long black rat snake and a really cool variety of insect life. We're on 4 acres but we're in the middle of about 100 mostly undeveloped acres. I find myself secretly hoping that no one else builds here for a very long time. It's like our own private paradise.

B calmed down a good bit. He was doing his blinking thing that he does when he's nervous. That started dramatically calming down when my in-laws came to visit. Then, with the move, both kids were much much better. They can now officially make as much noise as they want and they have space to spread out. It's been good for all of us.

In the academic world, B has really taken off with reading. With great difficulty, I convinced him several months ago that he could read a simple Dr Seuss book. He was convinced he could not. He read "Put me in the Zoo" and he was as surprised as anyone that he was actually reading it. That seem to open the floodgates. He started reading everything around us and his confidence started going up.

He still doesn't sit and read but when he does read stuff, he reads it with greater ease and speed. And every time, his confidence goes up. From the back of a Dick King Smith book yesterday, he easily read: "When Ben finds a bag of gold coins under the floorboards, he can hardly believe his luck. But it's Treasure Trove, and therefore belongs to the Queen, not the finder. How can Ben keep his treasure a secret, and will he ever be able to claim it for himself? A magical tale from master storyteller and award-winning author, Dick King-Smith."

The ONLY words he needed help with were: "therefore" and "claim". Oh, and he read "master" as "mister" initially. I don't think that's too bad for a 7 year old who has pretty much received zero reading instruction. I kept meaning to do word walls and such but I never got around to it. He's self-taught, basically, and I have no idea how he did it. He still writes his little story books and while he still writes phonetically, much of his spelling has improved.

He also read a section for "Undercover T-Rex", which was quite technical. And he read me some bits from "Life on Earth: the story of evolution." He still feels nervous or unready to sit and read to himself so we don't make a fuss about it. But he's getting more and more relaxed. We have a feeling that once he takes off with it, that will be it.

I got out some "Choose your Own Adventure" books that belonged to me when I was little. Both dh and I devoured those as kids. I told B that if he could read one of those on his own, that I would gladly buy him as many as he wanted. Of course, I will help him with random words.

I have lots more to post about our summer activities but I'm going to leave this for now.