Ancient Greece

The children and I have been reading about life in Ancient Greece.  One of the things we read about were Grecian children sculpting dolls to play with out of clay.  Lella and Marcus wanted to sculpt their own dolls.  We bought some clay and they came out quite good!  Can you guess who sculpted which doll?  :-)

 

Calvin and Hobbes and Completed Books 2/17

The kids and I have had so much fun reading Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson!  They have read:

The Calvin and Hobbes 10th Anniversary Book

The Days Are Just Packed

It's a Magical World

The children read The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks (128 pages), Nancy McArthur, together and just finished it today.  They laughed out loud throughout this whole book!  It was so much fun.

The kids and I also just finished Ballet Shoes (192 pages), Noel Streatfeild.  This was such a lovely book - set in England, three adopted sisters vow to have their names in history books when they grow up.  One of my favorite books this year!

Marcus' recently completed books:  The Secrets of Droon:  The Knights of Silversnow (122 pages), Tony Abbott, Odd and the Frost Giants (117 pages), Neil Gaiman, Theodore and the Talking Mushroom, Leo Lionni, Katie Meets the Impressionists, James Mayhew, Flamingo Dream, Donna Jo Napoli, Seven Ravens, Brothers Grimm.

Books Completed 2/6/10

Gabriella really liked Pirate School by Colin McNaughton (40 pages, very easy read).  One warning though, this is a pirate book and in pirate school kids are taught, well, how to be pirates!

Marcus:  If You're Reading This, It's Too Late (373 pages), Pseudonymous Bosch (note:  There is a character in this book whose parents are divorced.), The Secrets of Droon:  The Knights of Silversnow (122 pages), Tony Abbott, Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine, Evaline Ness, The Earth Shook, Donna Jo Napoli, Buying Mittens (31 pages), Niimi Nankichi, Applelard and Liverwurst (34 pages), Mayer and Kellogg, The Trogan Horse, Warwick Hutton, In English of Course, Josephine Nobisso, The Dog Who Lost His Bob, Tom and Laura McNeal.

Lella:  The Real Winner, Charise Neugebauer, Nicolas, where have you been?, Leo Lionni, Morris's Disappearing Bag, Rosemary Wells, How Georgie Radbourn Saved Baseball, David Shannon, and her wonderful National Geographic Kids magazines that Gigi provides each year, The Secrets of Droon:  The Mask of Maliban (120 pages), Tony Abbott.

Both:  Captain Abdul's Pirate School (40 pages), Colin McNaughton, Count Your Way through Greece, Haskins and Benson, Swimmy, Leo Lionni, The Librarian Who Measured the Earth (46 pages), Kathryn Lasky (note:  I LOVED this book!), Kings and Queens of the Bible, Mary Hoffman and Christina Balit, Tales from the Waterhole (64 pages), Bob Graham, Hotel Jungle (32 pages), D. Napoli and S. Johnston, Cider Apples, Sandy Nightingale, The Rainbabies, Laura Melmed, The Trogan Horse:  How the Greeks Won the War, Emily Little.

Interesting Article From Alpha and Omega Publications

Homeschool View - How to Speak Your Homeschooler's Love Language

After you read the article, this will make more sense.

 

Gabriella said, "First hugs, loves and kisses and then I would want a gift!"

 

Marcus said, "First kisses and hugs, and then I would want you to worship God."

 

Steve said, "I would want to know where in the heck you had been!"  That made me laugh.   

Completed Books 1/29/10

The kids and I are half way through Swallows and Amazons (352 pages), Arthur Ransome.  We have very much enjoyed this book full of joyful adventure!  Our library only has one copy, and because someone put a hold on the book, we had to return it early.  We will pick it back up in a month or so for sure!

Marcus:  The Secret of Droon:  The Mask of Maliban (119 pages) and Voyage of the Jaffa Wind (132 pages), Tony Abbott, Locked in the Library (56 pages), Mark Brown, Stories to Solve (53 pages), George Shannon, Rimonah of the Flashing Sword, Eric Kimmel, Kings and Queens of the Bible (31 pages), Mary Hoffman, The Perfect Nest, Catherine Friend, The Amazing Pig, Paul Galdone, Anatole (32 pages), Eve Titus, The Monkey and the Crocodile, Paul Galdone, Tutankhamen's Gift, Robert Sabuda.

Lella:  You Wouldn't Want to be a Slave in Ancient Greece! (28 pages), Fiona Macdonald, Stuart Little (131 pages), E.B. White, Snake Hair - The Story of Medusa (48 pages), Stephen Spinner, Uno Blue-Ribbon Beagle (47 pages), Stephanie Spinner, Zoo in the Sky, Jacqueline Mitton, Why Can't I Slide Down a Rainbow? (29 pages), Sally Hewitt, The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (selected chapters), Astrid Lindgren, The Secrets of Droon:  Under the Serpent Sea (113 pages), Tony Abbott.

Both:  There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly Guy, Ted Arnold, Greek Myths:  King Midas and the Golden Touch, Arachne, Perseus and Medusa, Adventures of Hercules, Jim Weiss, Monkey Business (selected chapters, Erik Brooks, The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor (119 pages), John Yeoman, A Dog of My Own, Jack Canfield and Mark Hanson, The Trojan Horse (48 pages), Emily Little, Ishtar and Tammuz, Christopher Moore, Once Upon a Starry Night, Jackqueline Mitton, Buster's New Friend (54 pages), Marc Brown, Why Can't I Jump Up to the Moon? (27 pages), Sally Hewitt.

Fun Website

A friend of mine gave me this website and the kids love it!  The site is geared mostly towards math, but there are some spelling and grammar games.  Enjoy!

Arcademic Skill Builders

Stories to Solve and Completed Books 1/21/10

Stories to Solve: Folktales from Around the World, George Shannon, is such a fun book to have on hand.   

"Shannon aptly combines folklore and puzzles in this short collection of 14 stories from around the world. The tales, not more than a page or two long, present situations in which someone figures out a problem or solves a mystery. Readers are then asked to suggest how it was done. For those who can't -- and many of the stories are abstract -- solutions are provided."  Amazon

Are you ready for one?  Here is a fun and familiar puzzle from the book.  See if your children can figure it out!

One fine summer day two fathers and two sons went fishing at their favorite lake.  They fished and talked all morning long and by noon everyone had caught one fish.  As the two fathers and two sons walked back home, everyone was happy because each had a fish even though only three fish had been caught.  Two fathers and two sons.  Only three fish and no fish were lost.  How can this have happened?  

The answer is at the bottom of this post!

Book completed 1/21:

Lella:  Anatole (32 pages), Eve Titus, The Monkey and the Crocodile, Paul Galdone, Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm, illustrated by Adrienne Adams, The Amazing Pig, Paul Galdone, The Perfect Nest, Catherine Friend,  Tutankhamen's Gift, Robert Sabuda.

Note:  Lella really enjoyed Anatole, Parisian mouse magnifique!

Marcus:  The Secrets of Droon:  Under the Serpent Sea (113 pages), Tony Abbott, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (GIC, 236 pages), Jules Verne, Mummy Math, An Adventure in Geometry, Cindy Neuschwander, from The Children's Treasure of Virtues:  Try, Try Again, The Tortoise and the Hare, St. George and the Dragon, The Lion and the Mouse, David and Goliath, The Minotaur, "America", edited by William J. Bennett.

Both:  The Legend of the Persian Carpet, Tomie DePaola, Temple Cat (31 pages), Andrew Clements, The Secret of Droon:  The Hawk Bandits of Tarkoom (116 pages), Tony Abbott, Jonah and the Whale, Rosemary Lanning, There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly, Simms Taback, Get Ready for Second Grade Amber Brown (48 pages), Paula Danziger, Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream, A Mathematical Story, Cindy Neuschwander, Four Hungry Kittens, Emily McCully, George Washington's Breakfast, Jean Fritz.

Note:  Gabriella loves reading There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly and has the whole book memorized.  She actually read it a couple years ago and recently requested it again.  I was amazed she even remembered reading it!  It is such a silly book, but she thinks it is very funny!  She is also in this strange phase where she is requesting touch and feel board books.  She is such a kinesthetic learner!  

Solution to Riddle:  Only three people went fishing.  A boy, his father, and his grandfather:  two sons and two fathers.  

  

Draw, Write, Now

I am not gifted in drawing, so I was very excited to come across this series that teaches kids how to draw using basic steps.  Below is an excerpt from book 8:  Animals of the World, Dry Land Animals. 

Here are Marcus' and Lella's drawings.  Marcus' are pictured first and then Lella's. 

Completed Books 1/14/10

Lella:  The Secret of Droon:  Quest for the Queen, Tony Abbott (91 pages), Lost in Little Bear's Room (32 pages), Else Minarik, Tales of Mystery and Terror (GIC, 238 pages), Edgar Allen Poe.

Both:  The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor (119 pages), John Yeoman, Mush, a Dog from Space (39 pages), Daniel Pinkwater, Tut's Mummy Lost and Found (48 pages), Judy Donnelly, Laffite the Pirate (48 pages), Ariane Dewey, The Banshee (32 pages), Eve Bunting, The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales, Scieszka and Smith, It's A Fair Day Amber Brown (48 pages), Paula Danziger.

MEDtropolis

This is a fun free site for kids to explore the human body:  MEDtropolis.

You Can't Take a Balloon...

Marcus and Lella really enjoy looking at this series of books (there are three) about art mimicking real life.

A little girl brings her balloon to a museum, but is not allowed to bring it inside.  In each book, someone who works at the museum offers to watch her balloon.  The balloon, by various means depending on which book you're looking at, becomes free.  The museum worker chases the balloon through the city and each scene is similar to a piece of art the little girl is looking at.  We make up our own words for each page!  Very fun!  

The books are written by sisters Jacqueline Weitzman and Robin Glasser.


Enjoy!

Snowflakes

This was such a fun activity to do with the children (Thanks Chandra!).  I used this site for instructions:  How To Make Snowflakes.

Books Completed 1/11/10

Marcus:  The Secret of Droon:  Quest for the Queen, Tony Abbott (91 pages), The Octopus, Cynthia Rylant (57 pages), Just So Stories (The Elephant's Child and How the Whale got his Throat), Rudyard Kipling, The Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature:  Humpty Dumpty, Jack and the Beanstalk, Red Riding Hood, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie-the-Pooh.

Note:  If you can get pick up The Illustrated Treasury of Children's Literature, I would do so.  It's a lovely book with many stories complete in themselves and carefully chosen excerpts from some of the greatest books in the English language.  These stories are designed for families to read aloud, although Marcus likes to pick stories here and there to read on his own.  Either way, it's a lovely book to have on hand.

Lella:  The Secret of Droon:  The Sleeping Giant of Goll, Tony Abbott (91 pages), The Secret of Droon:  The Tower of the Elf King,Tony Abbot, (100 pages), Get Ready for Second Grade, Amber Brown, Paula Danziger (48 pages).

Both:  The Whale, Cynthia Rylant (96 pages), The Eagle, Cynthia Rylant (64 pages), Tales From Cultures Far and Near, Jim Weiss (CD), Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Henry Barker, Sir Cumference Series (see post), The Story Keepers, Catacomb Rescue, Brown and Melrose (29 pages).

Reading together leads to reading separately.

Sir Cumference - A MUST read!

Join a knight called Sir Cumference, his wife, Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius on their fun math adventures!

We recently read three of the books in this series by Cindy Neuschwander.

Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (32 pages)

Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland (32 pages)

Sir Cumference and the Sword in the Cone (32 pages)

Marcus and Gabriella can still tell me the definitions for right, acute and obtuse angles, diameter, radius, and circumference!

Enjoy!

Beautiful Warrior, The Legend of the Nun's Kung Fu

Beautiful Warrior, The Legend of the Nun's Kung Fu, Emily Arnold McCully was recommended to me by my friend Chandra.  Marcus and Gabriella LOVED this book.  Marcus especially loved the Kung Fu and the beautiful illustrations. Both children were able to understand the story's lessons, soft overcomes hard, calm overcomes strong.  I highly recommend this book!