Our First Poetry Teatime {Brave Writer}

We enjoyed our first poetry teatime today.

I lit a candle, baked some sugar cookies (from a premade mix), and whipped up some orange hot chocolate.

Vocabulary Word Target Practice with Nerf Guns

So we've had our sights on vocabulary words, so to speak. Let me explain.

Over the past six months, my little guy has become obsessed with Nerf Guns. He has a stash of about seven (maybe one of which we have bought him and many that he has traded for or bought himself with his allowance). He and his friends play with Nerf Guns practically every day and talk their crazy Nerf lingo that I barely understand.

I know some people get all uppity about toy guns. We've had people criticize us for it before (despite Aidyn being a super sweet guy who doesn't use Nerf Guns to hurt people or animals or even to pretend to do so). So, if you are of the opinion that "toy guns are evil," you might want to hit the little X in the corner of your screen so that I don't accidentally sway you with a different opinion.

Let me clarify that we don't hand Aidyn toy guns and say, "Have at it, kid!"

We don't do that with anything. There is an ongoing conversation about his interests, things he's exposed to in life, on television, with friends, with family members, with society, with his emotions, etc. because we want to help him establish his own moral compass rather than helicoptering all over him and dictating his interests.

If you're on the fence about it, check out this PBS article about boys and guns.

As I dismount my little soapbox, let me show you this game we made up to combine the Love O' Nerf and Reading. I set up several word cards on the closet doors (any flat surface would do).

Right in the middle of doing school, I very seriously told Aidyn that now I needed him to "pick out [his] best Nerf Gun and make sure it's loaded." He was like one of those cartoons characters that leaves a cloud of dust when they take off fast.

First, he read the words posted in front of him. Some were in the middle, some down low, and some super high. I used a stopwatch to time his target practice, announced a word, and he scrambled to find and shoot it as quickly as possible.

The first round, he scored:

• 5 words per minute
• 5 words per minute
• 7 words per minute

Then I added more vocabulary cards and he got:

• 4 words per minute
• 5 words per minute
• 4 words per minute

The next day I added even more cards, but his scores remained about the same.

I foresee that we will play this game for the rest of our lives  the school year. It has just occurred to me that a game like this could get him suspended from public school, even if he only used a hand gesture to simulate a gun...Reason #324 to homeschool!

The Well-Educated Mind: Cracking Open Don Quixote

It's funny how a particular theme finds itself to you through different facets.

I'm not always proud of my taste in movies, but this last week I rewatched an old fave, Career Opportunities, starring Jennifer Connelly and Frank Whaley.

Photo credit

The movie is about Jim Dodge, the "cool guy" in town, who at only 15, invented the artificial cow heart and works closely with the FBI. Only none of these things are true, except his name. Jim creates his own reality, and the townspeople play along but call him the "town liar" behind his back. But he's likeable and funny despite him being full of shit.

Back up 400 years and Miguel de Cervantes has brought to life Don Quixote, a likeable and funny man who is also full of shit.

Having read mounds of adventure novels, he dreams of becoming a knight-errant to relive the heroism he has only read about. After renaming himself, his bony old horse, and devoting himself to a lady he barely knows, he rides off to pursue his adventure.

“Don Quixote and Sancho Panza” by Honore Daumier (1850) via Wikipedia

I also watched a documentary last night called The Woman Who Wasn't There about Tania Head, the woman who completely fabricated a story about surviving the 9/11 attacks, mourned a husband she didn't actually know, and headed The World Trade Center Survivors' Network, even though (as it came out later)  she hadn't even been to America until 2003.

This woman, like Don Quixote, invented an entire fantasy around her, not for money, but for fame. 

This theme of people inventing crazy realities is circling around me, it seems, which has led to this silly comparison:

Compare and Contrast of Jim Dodge and Don Quixote, so far as the first four chapters of DQ:

Same:

1. Both dream up wild fantasies to make their lives more interesting.

2. Both beef up their rides (Quixote names a beat-up and skinny horse Rocinante; Jim rents a limo to take him to a night custodial job at Target)

3. Both envision themselves the fancy of beautiful women (Quixote/Dulcinea; Jim/Josie)

4. People around them know they are full of shit.

5. Both orate on their greatness.

6. Both wear hand-me-downs. (Quixote his great-great grandfather's rusty and moldy armor; Jim wears Darnell's red coveralls)

Different:

1. Jim "lets" Josie keep her name; Don Quixote renames Aldonza a more "harmonious and significant" name, Dulcinea.

2. Quixote actually goes adventuring, even if he still imagines inns to be castles and whores to be virgins. Jim works the night shift at Target (adventure comes to him later).

3. Jim is young, 21, and Quixote is older, 50.

4. Quixote doesn't seem to really know he's full of shit; Jim knows but gets caught up in the fantasy.

Don Quixote is turning out to be a hilarious book, despite my initial fear of its length and age, and I'm excited to read through more of it.

The Well-Educated Mind Reading Challenge

Being an English major and frequent page-turner since I learned to read, I've felt some pressure to read "the classics." After years of feeling stuck in college classes and forced to read books they wanted me to read, I felt like I lost my will to read for personal pleasure.

But I just can't get away from the allure of a reading challenge, which gives me hope that my passion for reading hasn't died.

Since I am interested in giving my son a classical education, reading all of the classics myself can only help me. I have already read some of these, but I am rereading those and cracking open the ones that are new to me.

If you'd like to challenge yourself, feel free to join me.

My plan:

1. Start at the beginning of the list. 

2. Read a little each day.

3. Blog about my progress (at least once a month) to share and keep myself motivated.

Without further ado, here is the list:

Books marked by an orange asterisk (*) are books that are being re-read. Books written in blue ink are ones I have completed. I'll be reading a few from each section so as not to overload on any one type of literature. 

NOVELS

Don Quixote- Miguel de Cervantes (1605) currently reading

The Pilgrimʼs Progress- John Bunyan (1679)

Gulliverʼs Travels- Jonathan Swift (1726)*

Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen (1815)

Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens (1838)

Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte (1847)

The Scarlet Letter- Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)*

Moby-Dick- Herman Melville (1851)

Uncle Tomʼs Cabin- Harriet Beecher Stowe (1851)*

Madame Bovary- Gustave Flaubert (1857)

Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1866)

Anna Karenina- Leo Tolstoy (1877)

The Return of the Native- Thomas Hardy (1878)

The Portrait of a Lady- Henry James (1881)*

Huckleberry Finn- Mark Twain (1884)*

The Red Badge of Courage- Stephen Crane (1895)

Heart of Darkness- Joseph Conrad (1902)

The House of Mirth- Edith Wharton (1905)

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)*

Mrs. Dalloway- Virginia Woolf (1925)

The Trial- Franz Kafka (1925)

Native Son- Richard Wright (1940)

The Stranger- Albert Camus (1942)

1984- George Orwell (1949)

Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison (1952)*

Seize the Day- Saul Bellow (1956)

One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1967)

If on a winterʼs night a traveler- Italo Calvino (1972)

Song of Solomon- Toni Morrison (1977)

White Noise- Don DelilloPossession- A.S. Byatt (1990)

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

The Confessions- Augustine (A.D. c. 400)

The Book of Margery Kempe- Margery Kempe (c. 1430)*

Essays- Michel de Montaigne (1580)

The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself- Teresa of Avila (1588)

Meditations- Rene Descartes (1641)

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners- John Bunyan (1666)

The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration- Mary Rowlandson (1682)

Confessions- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1781)

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin- Benjamin Franklin (1791)*

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself- Harriet Jacobs (1861)

Life and Times of Frederick Douglass- Frederick Douglass (1881)*

Up from Slavery- Booker T. Washington (1901)

Ecce Homo- Friedrich Nietzsche (1908)

Mein Kampf- Adolf Hitler (1925)

An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth- Mohandas Gandhi (1929)

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas- Gertrude Stein (1933)

The Seven Storey Mountain- Thomas Merton (1948)

Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life- C.S. Lewis (1955)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X- Malcolm X (1965)

Journal of a Solitude- May Sarton (1973)

The Gulag Archipelago- Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
Born Again- Charles W. Colson (1977)

Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez- Richard Rodriguez (1982)

All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs- Elie Wiesel (1995)

HISTORIES

The Histories- Herodotus (441 B.C.)

The Peloponnesian War- Thucydides (c. 400 B.C.)

The Republic- Plato (c. 375 B.C.)

Lives- Plutarch (A.D. 100-125)

The City of God- Augustine (Completed 426)

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People- Bede (731)

The Prince- Niccolo Machiavelli (1513)

Utopia- Sire Thomas More (1516)*

The True End of Civil Government- John Locke (1690)

The History of England, Volume V- David Hume (1754)

The Social Contract- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1762)

Common Sense- Thomas Paine (1776)

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire- Edward Gibbon (1776-1788)

The Vindication of the Rights of Women- Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)

Democracy in America- Alexis de Tocqueville (1835-40)

The Communist Manifesto- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848)

The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy- Jacob Burckhardt (1860)

The Souls of Black Folk- W.E.B. Du Bois (1903)

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism- Max Weber (1904)

Queen Victoria- Lytton Strachey (1921)

The Road to Wigan Pier- George Orwell (1937)

The New England Mind- Perry Miller (1939)

The Great Crash 1929- John Kenneth Galbraith (1955)

The Longest Day- Cornelius Ryan (1959)

The Feminine Mystique- Betty Friedan (1963)

Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made- Eugene D. Genovese (1974)

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century- Barbara Tuchman (1978)

All the Presidentʼs Men- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (1987)

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era- James M. McPherson (1988)

A Midwifeʼs Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary- Laura Thatcher Ulrich (1990)

The End of History and the Last Man- Francis Fukuyama (1992)

DRAMAS

Agamemnon- Aeschylus (c. 458 B.C.)

Oedipus the King- Sophocles (c. 450 B.C.)*

Medea- Euripides (c. 431 B.C.)

The Birds- Aristophanes (c. 400 B.C.)

Poetics- Aristotle (c. 330 B.C.)

Doctor Faustus- Christopher Marlowe (1588)*

Richard III- William Shakespeare (1592-93)

A Midsummer Nightʼs Dream- William Shakespeare (1594-95)*

Hamlet- William Shakespeare (1600)*)

Tartuffe- Moliere (1669)*

The Way of the World- William Congreve (1700)

She Stoops to Conquer- Oliver Goldsmith (1773)

The School for Scandal- Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1777)

A Dollʼs House- Henrik Ibsen (1879)*

The Importance of Being Earnest-Oscar Wilde (1899)

The Cherry Orchard- Anton Chekhov (1904)

Saint Joan- George Bernard Shaw (1924)

Murder in the Cathedral- T.S. Eliot (1935)

Our Town- Thornton Wilder (1938)

Long Dayʼs Journey Into Night- Eugene OʼNeill (1940)

No Exit- Jean Paul Sartre (1944)

A Streetcar Named Desire- Tennessee Williams (1947)

Death of a Salesman- Arthur Miller (1949)

A Man for All Seasons- Robert Bolt (1960)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead- Tom Stoppard (1967)

Equus- Peter Shaffer (1974)

POETRY

The Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2000 B.C.)*

The Iliad and the Odyssey*- Homer (c. 800 B.C.)

Greek Lyricists (c. 600 B.C.)

Odes- Horace (65-8 B.C.)

Beowulf (c. 1000)*

Inferno- Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)*

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1350)*

The Canterbury Tales- Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400)*

Sonnets- William Shakespeare (1564-1616)*

John Donne (1572-1631)*

Psalms- King James Bible (1611)

Paradise Lost- John Milton (1608-1674)*

Songs of Innocence and Experience- William Blake (1757-1827)

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

John Keats (1795- 1821)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1883)

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)*

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)*

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)*

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)*

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

Robert Frost (1874-1963)*

Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

Ezra Pound (1885-1972)*

T.S. Eliot (1888-1954)*

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)*

W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

Philip Larkin (1922-1985)

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997)

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

Mark Strand (1934-)

Adrienne Rich (1929-)

Seamus Heaney (1939-)

Robert Pinsky (1940-)

Jane Kenyon (1947-1995)

Rita Dove (1952-)

Library Haul- May 28, 2013

A la The Well-Trained Mind, I had Aidyn select the books during this library haul based on categories. Doing so helped him to learn the locations of certain sections in the library, and he enjoyed being able to pick  all of the books himself. He chose one of each:

1. a science book
2. a history book
3. a biography/autobiography
4. an art/music book
5. an imaginative storybook
6. a book of poetry
7. a classic novel

(I was also going to have him select a how-to book, but the art book he chose fit the bill.)

Here's what he chose:

1. Science- Volcanoes: Journey to the Crater's Edge
2. History- Eyewitness Books: Castle
3. Biography- Lost Boy: The Story of the Man Who Created Peter Pan
4. Art- Fast and Funny Paper Toys You Can Make
5. Imaginative Storybook- Dr. Suess's Daisy-Head Mazie
6. Poetry- Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep
7. Classic novel- The House at Pooh Corner

Excited about the books he had chosen, we immediately dove in and started reading. He wanted to start the poetry book, so we shut off all the lights, closed the blinds and lit several candles to create a spooky atmosphere. He arranged a blanket and pillow on the floor, and we read spooky poems.

David snapped this picture of us

As our school year is coming to a close, we're going to transition to summer reading and simply enjoy every story and subject to which we are drawn.

Are there any books you are looking forward to reading over the summer? I'd love to hear them!

He Is a Reader! (despite my many failings)

I have been holding out on calling my son "a reader" until I felt like he hit a stride with reading fluently, could pronounce words bigger than c-v-c combos, and could critically engage with the story that is unfolding as he is reading.

He is a reader!

Yes, he still struggles with remembering sight words or that he just read the word "roar" on the previous page, but he is reading!

I hate/love that hindsight is 20/20. On this road to reading, I feel like I made some serious mistakes as well as many loving decisions. We'll start with the terrible first:

1. I had high expectations that he would LOVE the act of reading.
2. I expected that he would learn to read with the same ease that I had with reading.
3. Working through our phonics book felt too much like "school" on too many occasions.
4. I audibly worried about his reading, probably too much.
5. Instead of just answering him when he would ask, "what does this say?" I would encourage him to sound it out himself nearly every time.
6. I talked too much on the Great Importance of Reading and, as a result, pressured him on occasion.
7. I got into a FIAR rut early on, in which I had him label maps and color stupid things because it was related to a FIAR book.
8. I got in the way sometimes of the natural road to reading.

Now that I feel horrible about myself as a parent, let me go over the good choices:

1. I have read to him from the moment he was born, as a loving act, to bond, to lull him to sleep, to share stories with him. We still cuddle up and share books.
2. We have read all sorts of books (and everything counts!): board books, picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, comic books, poetry, non-fiction, horror stories (Goosebumps, for example), etc.

3. I've let him see me enjoy reading and audibly admired his father for reading for fun.
4. We've gone to dozens of library shows and seen magicians, puppeteers, farmers, clowns, etc.

5. We attended library storytelling mornings for tots.
6. We've signed up for summer reading programs at the library every year since he was born.

7. I've made scavenger hunts for him, which he so enjoys.
8. I've patted his back, hugged him, kissed him, congratulated him, supported and waited for him as he has learned to read.
9. I've spent hours scouring YouTube for funny phonics videos that I knew he would love (especially Cliff Hanger videos!).
10. I thought about his love for Legos and helped him "build" words with tiles.

11. We played with words.

12. We live in a book-friendly home. Books spill out from shelves, are stacked on a desk, color the coffee table, and peek out from every imaginable spot.
13. I've kept myself open and tuned in to what engages him, whether it be a kind of book genre, learning style, or learning obstacle.

What I Know Now That I Wish I Knew Then:

• just enjoy the road to reading and worry MUCH less, if at all.
• don't push a boring old phonics book.
• find fun and personalized ways to practice reading.
• don't air out worries, ask if he "likes reading," or cringe if he just shrugs his shoulders.

Where We Are Going from Here:

My goals are to continue reading to him aloud, from a vast array of genres and subjects. I will read all the fart books and joke books he wants since he clearly enjoys them. On that note, I will keep finding personalized ways for him to learn and allow him to find those things for himself by giving him space, without any nagging worries, to explore and figure himself out. We will continue to play with reading, join summer reading programs and watch those who love to entertain and educate at the library. I will continue to proudly watch him grow and help him discover who he is and what makes him happy.

Fun Videos for Learning to Read

I'm always on the lookout for videos to help my child learn to read. Sometimes it just is not enough to work through his Sadlier Phonics books. Words on a page ebb from his memory, but a catchy song or a hilarious video tends to keep those memories alive.

Below is a catch-all collection of YouTube videos which have greatly helped Aidyn remember phonetic sounds.

Our favorite series of all are the Cliff Hanger videos, which not only entertain but provide a nifty sort of captioning, keep us watching to see if this poor guy will ever get off the cliff. Most of the Cliff Hanger videos focus on long vowels, as in "mole" and consonant digraphs like "ship."




Short A videos:

Between the Lions: "If You Can Read at..."
Between the Lions: Chicken Jane and the Bad Ram
Between the Lions: What's Cooking? Slammed and Rammed Ham (-am words)

Short E videos:

Between the Lions: Cliffhanger and the Bed
Between the Lions: Chicken Jane and the Red Elephant
Between the Lions: Gawain's Word: Net
The Electric Company: Wyak- Short E

Short I videos:

Between the Lions: Cliffhanger and the Tricky Pixie
Between the Lions: Gawain's Word: Kick
KidsTV123: The I Song

Short O videos:

Between the Lions: What's Cooking? Hot Chop Drop Soup
Between the Lions: Chicken Jane and the Ox in a Box
Between the Lions: Magnificent Monkey Cheerleaders- Hop
Between the Lions: Sloppy Pop (-op words)

Short U videos:

Between the Lions: Grubby Pup
Between the Lions: What's Cooking? Rubbed and Hugged Mutton
Between the Lions: Chicken Jane and the Duck with the Truck (with -ck ending words, too.)
Classic Sesame Street: I'd Like to Buy a U for the Word "up"

Long Vowels: -ai-, -ay-, -ea-, -oa- videos:

Between the Lions: When Two Vowels Go Walkin' (amazing video to use throughout long vowel instruction!)
Between the Lions: Cliffhanger and the Rain (-ai- words)
Classic Electric Company- Everyone Has a Pain (-ai words)
Between the Lions: Cliffhanger and the Enchanted Goat (many -oa- words)

Silent E videos:

The Electric Company- Silent E Music Video
Classic Electric Company- Silent E


 Long A videos:

(still searching for good ones!)

Long E videos:

Between the Lions: Double E Song (mainly -ee- words)
Between the Lions: Monkey Pop-Up Theatre- Bo Peep (lots of -ee- words)
Classic Sesame Street- E Imagination (-ee- and -ea- words)
Between the Lions: Gawain's Word: Weep
Between the Lions: What's Cooking? Beef in a Sheet (-ee- words)

Long I videos:

Between the Lions: Vowel Boot Camp- Long i

Long O videos:

Between the Lions: Dixie Chimps- Long O
Between the Lions: Cliffhanger, the Mole, and the Rope
Classic Sesame Street- The O Song (wonderful song with long o words)
Between the Lions: Fonix- Double O, Oo (-oo- words like "moo")


Long U videos:

The Electric Company: Josephine: Long U


Y as a vowel videos:

Classic Electric Company- LY
Between the Lions: B.B. the King of Beasts- Troubled by Y

Long vowel combo videos:

Muffin Songs: ABC Phonics Chant Song- Long u, o, and e

Consonant digraph videos:

Between the Lions: Cliffhanger and the Sheep on a Ship (-sh- words)
Between the Lions: Gawain's Word: Shark (-sh- words)
Between the Lions: What's Cooking? Squished Fish on a Dish (-sh- words)
Between the Lions: What's Cooking? Tickled and Pickled Ribs (-ck- and short i words)
Between the Lions: Gawain's Word: Tickle (-ck- words)
Between the Lions: Cliffhanger, the Pheasant and the Phone (-ph- words)
Between the Lions: Cliffhanger and the Chuckling Chickens (-ch- words)

r-controlled vowels videos:

Between the Lions: Cliffhanger and the Dirty Purple Shirt

More will be added as we find and use more. Check back later for new additions!

Word-Building with Phonics Tiles

So my highly kinesthetic first grade boy squirms like a wiggle worm and dissents any type of phonics worksheet. Because I am teaching him how to read, I've had to find alterative methods to pique his interest in learning to read for himself.

One way that has proved fruitful and delightful is word-building with colorful phonics tiles.

Right now we're working on long vowel sounds, which can get confusing for a new reader to get that -ie and -igh make the same sound. Here's what's worked for us:

1. Make flashcards showcasing the phonics sound you're teaching.

Right now we are working on long u sounds.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Unit Study

For the first week of homeschool, we started with a gentle unit study of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault (same duo who wrote one of our favorites, The Ghost Eye Tree) and illustrated by Lois Ehlert who has illustrated and written many beautiful children's stories.

 

 

We rowed the book for five days. At the start of each day, I would read it and we would focus on a specific aspect of the book.

 

 

Day 1: Rhyme and Palm Tree Art

 

 

On Day One, we found the rhymes in the story and made up new ones. Then Aidyn painted a "forearm and palm" tree.

 

 

 





Day Two: Math

On the second day, we counted the letters in our names to see who had the most letters and who had the least letters.

Day Three: Patterns and Kitchen Fun

On the third day, we made an ABC pattern on the board and created ABC Kabobs. Prior to the lesson, I chopped up apples, bananas, and cantaloupes. Aidyn strung the fruit pieces in ABC order and devoured them happily.

Stringing away.

Speaking of food, we also snacked on these beauties:

Pudding cup base, smashed graham cracker sand, Pirouette mint wafer trunk, and Fruit Roll-Up leaves.

Cashew butter graham cracker sandwiches and Granny Smith apple leaves.


Day Four: Music and Collage Art

On the fourth day, we listened to a musical version of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

We also watched some videos about Lois Ehlert's art. It garnered many "oooo"s and "awww"s from Aidyn.

We then set out on a nature walk to gather supplies for our own collages. When we got back, we made these:

 

Aidyn's Yellow Man.

 

 

Mama's Ocean Scene.

 



Day Five: The Science of Coconut-Smashing

To the beat of Hawaiian music, we whacked open a coconut.

After the nail failed to do much, we switched to the chisel.

 

 Pouring out a little bit of coconut water.
In order to completely crack open the hard shell, we had to wrap the coconut in a towel and demolish it with a hammer. Aidyn proudly assumed that task.

 

This has to be the winning shot.

Afterward, we scraped our teeth on coconut meat and shredded some up for later.

We had a blast with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and while Aidyn was a little sad during our "last" reading of it, I'm sure we'll come back and read it again.

Many of these ideas came from Homeschool Share.

The Curious Letter C

Last week, we focused on C themed books. After several weeks of active homeschool days, C Week was a more low-key. Lounging in the late afternoons, we read books about crocodiles, cats, and creepy castles. Through Tomie DePaola's book, Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile, we not only met a crocodile but learned about Egyptians-their monuments, beliefs, and ancient rituals. In City Cat, Country Cat, we found that cats can lead double lives! Of particular interest to Aidyn was the book about creepy castles. Lately, he has been fascinated with "spooky" stories, a curiosity I believe to be a normal part of growing up in what may seem like a terrifying world for a little guy. Because of his request to hear more "spooky" stories, we'll be reading more chilling tales to satisfy his curiosity.

The Amazing Letter A

In an effort to teach phonics, whole words, and reading, I decided to take a slower, more enjoyable approach. This week we have focused on the letter A and have gathered topics starting with A. Through reading these books and being exposed to these sounds, he'll inevitably soak in the phonics. Here is what we have been doing since Monday and plan on continuing until next week.

Letter A

Reading topics:ants, alligators, albatrosses

Social Studies:reading about astronauts, discussion about what astronauts do

Art:reading stories about children who make art

Music:"The Ants Go Marching," and "Alouette"

Foreign Language:Learning the ASL sign for A

Math:Practicing addition

Food:applesauce, almond milk, alphabet soup, apple bars

Music:The Apples in Stereo

Blue Pocket Chart:sight words starting with A, pictures of the Alamo Mission and Angkor Wat, uppercase and lowercase A, picture of our friend Aurora

Field Trip:perusal of pet store aquariums

Applying the Nuts and Bolts

I started out this week teaching Aidyn phonics on an audio program. Though Aidyn followed along, grasped most of what sounds were being said, he lacked enthusiasm and slumped in his chair like it was a dreaded chore. I didn't have fun either. Reaffirming my love for whole-word approach, it is admittedly difficult learning about the "nuts and bolts" when we have nothing to apply them to.

Instead of focusing on the nuts and bolts, I am going back to whole-word approach and will point out phonetic sounds as need be. To help him naturally learn phonics, we will continue to:

-read living books
-read road maps, signs, billboards, etc.
-watch The Letter People videos
-play with letters, physically and through verbal games, rhymes, etc.

Phonics and Chrysalises

Today after singing the alphabet and naming letters, I showed Aidyn the new phonics program that we'll be using. It's basically a CD that follows a booklet which introduces phonics. For me this is new territory as I learned to read using the whole word approach, but I figure that a blending of the two schools of thought wouldn't hurt. Aidyn has been "reading" simple, rhyming words by sight, so I know that he's naturally picking up reading skills; however, learning the nuts and bolts of reading will help him when he comes across a word he doesn't recognize. So, at the table, we followed the booklet, spouting letter sounds and accompanying words. We went through the whole alphabet, took a break, and repeated it a couple hours later. My plan is to do phonics work a couple times a day for the duration of the week and, of course, continue reading stories daily.

In other news, our caterpillars have begun hanging on the top of their cup and one or two have officially become chrysalises. That means that very soon we'll need to pick up some fresh flowers for our soon-to-be arriving butterflies!

Closing One Door to Open Another

When I got home from work today, I read Aidyn a few books while he was a captive listener. We read Davy, Help! It's a Ghost! by Brigitte Weninger and Eve Tharlett, and Aidyn delighted in the antics of the Rabbit Family creating ways to survive a night home alone. Afterward, we read Harriet's Halloween Candy by Nancy Carlson and talked about the importance of sharing and not overdoing it on sweets! We also read Tough Boris by Mem Foy and learned that even tough, sruffy, greedy pirates cry. To cap off, Aidyn requested his third hearing of The Ghost-Eye Tree by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. Those books and conversations sealed off our last unit of New Orleans Square, pirates, and ghosts.

In the early afternoon, Aidyn and I made an impromptu trip to the library to stock up on A.A. Milne stories for our next short unit. Settled at home, Aidyn and David were both listeners to The Pooh Story Book. I read two lengthy sections of the story, and the boys laughed at the subtle hilarity of the author's narrative wit. To read classic Winnie-the-Pooh tales was simply touching, and we all enjoyed hearing them very much. For fun, Aidyn and I decided to watch The Book of Pooh which was a relatively modern live-action series about the stuffed bear and his Hundred Acre friends where they attempt to bring to life the joy of reading. Honestly, it had me falling asleep, and as it turned out, it had the same effect on Aidyn. I yanked the tape out and replaced it with another "classic:" Winnie the Pooh and the Day for Eeyore (1983). Much better!

When I had a moment, I researched A.A. Milne and his Winnie the Pooh legacy and learned some very interesting facts. During the short duration of our time with this chummy bear, I would like to sample the stories "through the ages." For instance, I would like us to continue reading the original tales by Milne, and watch several adaptations of the story starting from the 60's to the present My Friends Tigger and Pooh. This is sure to be a Tiggerific unit study!