Hello family and friends! We have been up to A LOT over here these past two weeks. First of all, we have started up with our unit studies "five in a row".


The first book we studied was Madeline. Through reading Madeline daily, we learned many new things in a variety of subjects. The kids learned where on the world map France is located, particularly Paris on the river Seine.
We discussed the trade aspect and why big cities are usually located on or near rivers. Then to prove our point, we took a fun field trip to the downtown Oklahoma river and canal. We road the canal boat and walked around the river, much like Madeline did in Paris (too bad we couldn't go THERE for a field trip).






* Unlce David happened to actually be in town from Austin, TX when we took our field trip so the kids got to have a fun night with their uncle, we were all excited!*

We noted throughout the night the big "city" buildings and how rivers attract people and businesses through trade via river boats, and the water source in itself. We also discussed how in the case of Paris, the river Seine was able to bring in trade from surrounding countries from the ocean feeding the river (the English channel). The kids also learned what the flag of France looks like and the kids got to paint one of their own.





The kids also did math with blocks as manipulatives, and we worked on a new concept- division. Savannah learned the symbol for division and we took groups of 12 blocks (to represent the 12 girls from Madeline and we divided them into different sized groups to see how many groups of 4 there would be, groups of three, etc. It was a fun activity and Liam played along.



We did other activities including social studies and history. We even compared our heater to the heater that was drawn in the hospital scene in the book. We found the copyright page and located the year the book was written and discussed how different the 1930's are from now, and who we know that were children during that time.

We have also begun a new book for our studies called Grandfather's Journey. It is a fascinating book that lets the kids in on Japanese culture, history, geography, and landscapes. It is also a Caldecott Medal winner.So far we have located Japan and traced the "Grandfather's Journey" from there by boat across the Pacific ocean to our own continent, North America. We all agreed that 3 weeks in a boat is a very long time and it must have been quite a journey. And also how mom probably would have been throwing up the whole time since I get seasick. Savannah noticed how the women in the book wear Kimonos and how that's what the waitresses at Shogun's steakhouse wear, and we think we just might need to take a field trip there :). We discussed a little bit about World War II and how our countries were fighting and the tragedies of war.

We discussed comparisons in the book, how their lives after the war were scattered like "leaves in a storm". We learned a new word "simile" and how this type of writing is used by the author to give us a better picture or feeling of what the character's went through.



Also on the homeschooling front, we started our awesome co-op. A homeschool co-op is a once a week event where a number of families get together and the kids get to take different classes taught by all of us moms. We know and love so many of the families involved in this co-op. There are around 80 kids involved. Savannah is taking a science class, an art class and a fun and games class where she'll be doing hands on activities and games with other kids her age. She had a blast. Liam is in a 3 year old class where he will be doing lots of learning activities for kids his age.
I get the privilege to teach chemistry to 7 middle school to high school age students and I think it's going to be fulfilling and lots of fun!

Lastly, Liam turned 3 and he had an awesome time at his birthday party. He felt so special that day and that is what birthdays are all about!










I can not believe my giggly, snugly sweet baby boy is already 3. Time really does fly more and more every day.

Pre Labor Day activities...

Well, we have been enjoying the cooler weather with a bitter-sweet feeling. Our favorite time of year used to be fall, but with all the outdoor activities that this homestead keeps us busy with, we are actually going to miss working in the hot sun in the garden, mowing on our John Deer that was given to us (for free!!), and sitting back watching the chickens chase the abundant bugs.

We celebrated this cool, gloomy Saturday morning with homemade bread and corn chowder from our neighbor's brother's cornfields.

*Side note- after the kids helped me make the yeast bread dough, Liam literally ate 1/4 cup of flour. He even passed on reading time while the bread was rising so he could stand on the stool in the kitchen and eat the left over flour from kneading!

We all have been enjoying curling up on the couch in the mornings every day and reading numerous books. The kids absolutely love to read and the stories and discussions we share are actually so fascinating that even Liam, a 2 year old boy, is frozen in interest.

We have been exploring 3 of the books for the five in a row unit studies. One of the books is titled How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World in which the market is closed in a little girl's town so she travels the world to collect by hand each of the ingredients for her apple pie. She finds her wheat in Italy, chicken's eggs in France, cinnamon from the bark of a kurundu tree in Sri Lanka (did you know cinnamon comes from the bark of a tree? I sure didn't), a cow for butter in England, salt from the salt water in the ocean, sugar canes from Jamaica, and apples from Vermont. She then proceeds back home and actually takes the raw ingredients and makes them into what the kids and I see daily during our cooking adventures in our own kitchen. She mills the wheat into flour, grinds the kurundu, evaporates the seawater from the salt, boils the sugar cane, churns the milk into butter, etc. I love that the kids get to learn at such a young age that sugar and flour don't just exist in their present forms somewhere out there in the world. And of course, we have to read this book numerous times for the facts to really sink into the kids growing brains.

We will start up with the structured five in a row activities on Tuesday after labor day.

Fall planting has begun and the kids helped us plant the green beans and carrots that we hopefully will be eating by October.

Savannah has been working everyday on her kindergarten workbook. Most days she is practicing lower case and staying in the appropriate lines for the different kinds of letters (e.g. d and c and g all have different ways they are to be written on ruled paper.) She's also been practicing writing her numbers which is somewhat new since our math at her age is mainly spoken, me writing the numbers for her to observe, or reading number books.

Liam gets better with his letter recognition everyday and now gets super excited when he can recognize a letter written in random places. He knows his colors and like all 2 year olds learns vast amounts about the world around him everyday.

We all got to watch (even Felicity) a huge tractor with a baler on the back bale a huge round bale of hay about 15 feet away from us in the property behind our house! Gives seeing a bale of hay from the interstate a whole new meaning.

Regarding the hay baling, I've learned that turkey vultures celebrate the end of summer by scouring the chopped off grassy fields that are to be baled and indulging in the suddenly exposed wildlife that's right at their talon-tips.

Stay tuned for more learning adventures!