Bananas, Mangoes and Coconuts!

"Aruba, Jamaica, ooo I wanna take ya to Bermuda, Bahama, Come my pretty Mama..." Now that I have that song stuck in your head I will begin :) I think buying a coconut at the store for our week was one of my highlights! I have never purchased a real coconut and had so much fun thinking of all the activities that we would do soon. Yesterday, after the kids enjoyed bike riding for about an hour we started in on our lessons. Our theme this week is centered around the book, " Call It Courage". It is about a boy, Mafatu, who has an intense fear of the ocean due to losing his mother to it when he was a young boy. He is growing up a couple of hundred years ago in the Polynesian Islands where the ocean is their life. He decides to show everyone, as a now older boy at age 12, that he can move past his fear by confronting it. So, on a solo journey into the South Pacific he begins with only his dog Uri for company.

While reading each chapter, or half a chapter, we are enjoying a light snack of mangoes ( Hannah's new favorite), bananas, pineapple and yesterday, coconut. I placed the coconut high up in a tree where the boys had to think up a way to maneuver it down or climb the tree to obtain their source of food and water for that moment. They were pretty cute to watch, commenting back and forth on what they felt would work and shimmying up the tree like monkeys.

After they retrieved the coconut, we drilled one hole and then two holes into the shell to get the coconut milk out. We talked about air flow and why two holes allowed a faster flow of milk. Finally, much to the boys delight they went out front and smashed the coconut on a rock to break it open. They brought it inside to eat as we read.

Today, I had the kids close their eyes and using each sense: taste, touch, feel, hear and sight describe what their deserted island looks like. What they hear, the birds, animals rustling in the bushes, what they see, etc. We then made a list of what we would need to be able to survive on the island if we were all alone. Jayden immediately thought of knife, Austen mangoes and Riah drew some pretty intense pictures but I'm not quite sure what they were of :)

Finally, after each reading yesterday and today, I am having the kids color pictures of what I am reading about ( this book is a bit above Riah and probably some of Austen's level) and describe it to me when I am finished. Today, we talked about how we would feel if we were Mafatu, stranded now in the middle of the South Pacific, after a huge storm with no sail, mast, knife, coconuts and fishing spear. Hopefully, if I can keep track of all their pictures I will make a little book of what they were able to take away from the book, when we are completed.

Now, off to put makeup on for the day- its a new record, makeup and shower before 2 pm! We will then finish math and language arts and Spanish.

Joan of Arc and Pow Wows?

making a flag with fleur de lys on it

Yes, you read that right. We traveled back a couple hundred years earlier today at our local Pow Wow and then we traveled 700 years back to learn about Joan of Arc. This morning was a lot of fun. We visited our local Arts Center and were surrounded by hoards of school children. I was laughing to myself thinking of how, when I was in school, I would have looked at us and thought, " Why is that Mom and Dad with those kids". Hannah definitely stood out in the crowd. She was entertained for about five minutes of the performance and then I had to keep going in and out as she kept calling out, " Mama!" at the most serene moments of the Apache Indians story telling.

I was thankful Ben was with the other three kids as if you read our previous post of the 12 Dancing Princesses, where I had to keep leaving the kids. Anyways, the men did hoop dances and an Eagle dance which was very cool to watch! The kids really enjoyed the beat of the drums and the rhythm of the music. Overall, a really good experience for them. The best though, for those of you on my facebook, was my five year old's very innocent political incorrectness. After all of our prepping him about what we should and should not say, we were walking out, surrounded by a crowds of Native American students and Austen yells, " Was that man an Indian because he had long hair?"- Ohmigosh Austen!!!! You are going to get me in trouble one of these days!!!

We arrived home and enjoyed some Annie Macaroni n' Cheese "Arthur" style and then we started in on our Konos lesson. The book and theme we have next week is really exciting so I'm trying to stay steadfast with our study of Courage. We read a book on Joan of Arc and talked about her courage in the midst of war and death. I would like to learn more about Joan of Arc. This link, Joan of Arc biography, has a lot of painful information to read about a young girl who "screamed the holy name of Jesus" as she was burned at the stake. Again, I was never enlightened on this historical character and it just shocks me and makes me rethink the definition of courage and if I would have it in that moment, I truly believe I would- my prayer is that my children would also.

We created a flag that Joan held by gluing on the fluer de lys ( lily flowers) that symbolized the trinity. The flag is hanging in the boys room as a reminder, that as with anyone in the Bible or throughout history that trusted in God, the battle is the Lord's!

The Courage of Sarah Noble and the Matchlock Gun were two more books we read a chapter out of. Both of these books again, reinforce courage and display to my boys, especially, how courage looks in different situations. I asked the boys questions like, " Is it courageous to lay in a sleeping bag full of rattlesnakes? or go in a barrel off Niagara Falls...." to show the different between daring and foolish and daring and courageous. Finally, I shared with them a couple of experiences in my life where I needed to show courage. Spanish ended the day and robot creating at the library ended our night! Thank you God for rotisserie chickens and sweet potato fries! Off to spend the evening with my husband!

So Much To Courage

the kids plus a friend at the Arboreteum

beautiful Cactus starting to bloom

not sure why the blue tint, but the kids garden at farm co op

the fruit of his labor :)

march around " Jericho"

Well I am going to try and recap these past two days. Wow, is all I can say. Homeschooling is so busy and so fun and so tiring! I am so exhausted sitting here right now; yet, writing makes my brain unwind, so here I am :) We read the story in the Bible about Joshua. I love this story so much as it really teaches the kids and exemplifies a man who trusted in God. What is so cool, is that God was extremely specific on what they should do. Walk around the wall 1x per day until the 7th day. Then, blow your trumpets and yell. I can just imagine in the spiritual world that might and power of God breaking and crushing down the walls. I am in awe of God! If God is for us, who can be against us?!

We listened to men blowing shofar horns. This was such a strong and beautiful sound. We talked about how the priests blew the horns and how the army men yelled. The boys then, dressed in armor ( Jayden) and with a "shofar horn",aka: stick ( Austen), marched around our entire block 7 times and each time blowing the horn once until the very end where Austen blew the horn as loud as he could, Jayden yelling and them understanding the courage it took for the men to trust God regardless of how others would view or question their reasoning.

We have a tall order of books to read this unit. Our courage unit will take us until the end of December and on our to read list is , " Call It Courage, The Courage of Sarah Noble, and the Matchlock Gun". I, honestly, have never read any of these books so I am really hoping we make it through them .

Finally, we read Anatole by Eve Titus. This book is about a mouse who displays courage in the face of adversity and against an animal that could likely gobble him up. We enjoyed reading this classic book and discussing who had courage and why.


The kids had a field trip to a beautiful arboretum today where we learned about plant life in the desert, the 5 C's of Arizona, and tasted some desert plants and agave nectar. It was cool, windy and relaxing despite Hannah refusing to sit in her stroller or be held. The problem was, the girl had no other options, I could not let her wander her sweet little self into a barrel cactus because she deemed it necessary to walk. So, there were a few tantrums and screeches and screams but overall, she did fine and we left, drove 35 minutes home, at lunch and left for a fun filled afternoon at art co op with another great group of homeschoolers.

Did I mention, that the kids picked vegetables in their gardens that have sprouted since the beginning of a farm co op they are apart of where they have baked pies, milked goats, brought home chicken eggs, learned how to subsist on the land and enjoyed the great outdoors. Why do I love homeschooling, because it brings the kids constantly out of the "classroom" and into real life with real life experiences. Wow, God- thank you!

Daniel and the Lion's Den-Grr

credit : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Daniellion.jpg

Ok, what a fun, cool, windy day we have had so far! It started off a little rough.  Hannah decided that today she wanted to eat us out of house and home...I literally felt like I was cutting up fruit, grilled cheese and carrots all mid morning long! She went down for an early nap. Then, Ben and I were upstairs talking and Austen comes screaming in a blood curdling sort of way up the stairs. His foot is an enormous shade of green and blue and throbbing. Apparently, Moriah was throwing my free style weights at the boys. Jayden said he was trying to protect himself by curling up on the couch! Thankfully, Austen can walk on his foot and there appears to be no fracture. We will still watch it but seriously, who flings weights, and especially someone with the arms the size of baby toothpicks? Good grief!

Riah went down for a very early nap as well without lunch- she had a "tad" melt down that ended in her screaming in someones ear. Soo, the boys had the great idea of practicing our Spanish. This was a great "ice breaker" as I was a little stressed and who can be stressed when you are singing, " Jehova es mi pastor, nunca me faltara?"- Jehovah is my Shepard, never will I lack. :)

We made flash cards of our vocabulary and taped them to there appropriate object, ie: el libro-book. Then, we learned our memory verses in Spanish. Then, we moved on to courage in Konos. I am feel so blessed learning about all of the biblical characters who showed courage and strength in the face of adversity. I am so thankful we wrapped up responsibility too. We were definitely ready for a change.

Today, we read the entire story, out of hte Bible, of Daniel. We discussed what the likelihood of Daniel surviving the fall into the den without the lions devouring him. Especially since the bible states that the government officials, their wives and children who put Daniel in the den, were they themselves thrown in afterwards and the lions devoured and crushed their bones before they even hit the bottom of the den!

We researched lions on the Internet and came across National Geographic kids. We listened to a lion's roar and talked about how God is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. We also wrote a "research" paper ( a paragraph) on interesting facts on lions. For Jayden, we focused on basic punctuation marks, capitalization, indentation, etc. For Austen, his job was to draw a picture and tell me something(s) about lions.

WE then listened to, thank you "youtube" Joshua Fought the Battle at Jericho and Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego. The kids and I smiled, sang and snapped our way through that fun song all the way emphasizing that " The battle is Mine says the Lord"- this seems to be a theme for us lately.

Jayden and I moved into n+9=15 equations and more multiplication. I cannot believe how early it seems they introduce algebraic equations. I feel like when I was in third, I was learning the basic multiplication at the END of the year. I was also 9 where Jay is 7....its just insane sometimes!

We wrapped up our day in style and now the boys have a window open ( not sure if that is such a good idea), watching the dust storm in the distance. We were hoping to go hiking tonight but I think that will have to wait. I am thankful for today because it did not start off as productive as I would have liked but I am really trying and not letting my circumstance and feelings dictate my responses as well as smiling more. so Cheese   : D !!!

Courage through David

I was so excited to start our new unit study on courage! The definition of courage that we are learning is: Doing what is right even if it is dangerous and even if I am afraid.

My hope is that the kids will come away understanding the difference between cowardice and caution and be willing to take risks for a higher cause. Psalms 18:2 will be our verse for the next few weeks. Tomorrow, the kids will do a picture of what they feel the verse "looks" like to them. Yesterday, we read the entire story of David and Goliath. I LOVE how David shouted at Goliath that the battle is the Lord's! How awesome is that! We can apply this to so many situations in life- walk victoriously, the battle is the Lord's! The boys then wrote out questions that they would ask David, if they could.

I loved reading their questions: How did it feel? Was it hard to cut Goliath's head off? What were you thinking when Goliath fell?, etc..

We discussed that when we have our own " Goliath's" in our lives how we need to cut their heads off figuratively as well otherwise they will come back again and again. Never give the enemy a foothold in your life, he will take it and cause his cancer to spread rapidly.

The boys then constructed their own sling shots and practiced shooting them in the backyard. Spanish, language arts and math were all accomplished as well thanks to Ben taking the two girls to work out. The house was unusually quiet and it was VERY nice!

The boys and I played a fraction pizza game, a sequential numbering game, a location motion game that focuses on prepositions and read some stories. I am so excited to be studying a new trait and especially this one. We have so many fun things planned and my prayer is that each day I enjoy this journey more and more.

I ordered a bunch of books from the library and Ben was laughing at my stack sitting in my van to take back, " Are you starting your own library?"- why, yes I am...I like to call it " Books on wheels". I will drive up to your home and roll my window down, all the while playing books on cd while you sort through the mangled piles of books strewn throughout the car until you find your gem, check it out and stroll along your merry way. Yes, books on wheels and I'll even throw in some crumbly crackers inside the pages for your reading, snacking pleasure. :)