It has been a long while since I last blogged - a month! Well, it has not been because of a lack of things to do. We have been quite busy here.

L and C started Sonlight Core 6 within the last month or so. Overall, we are loving it. Our Bible curriculum is a Children's Bible Field Guide (aka Bible Handbook). It takes 36 weeks to give a good overview of the whole Bible. There are 5 activities for each week, but I have been just doing 3 or 4. C needed to do a Creation Poster for AWANA about the same time that we were studying Creation (chapter 2) in their Bible book. So, I had both kids make Creation pages - one page for each Day of Creation. C took his pages to AWANA instead of a poster and now they will go in their Bible notebooks. The kids made the pages on the computer with Paint. We are also reading through the Bible in a One-Year Daily Bible for Kids. We do this reading in the evening. We have had lots of opportunities for discussion.

The History/Geography this Core is World History through the Middle Ages. So far, we've worked on ancient Egypt, Sumer, the Indus Valley, China, and sub-Saharan Africa. We have The Story of the World on CD, so I get to sit and knit while we are listening to it. I have not been using Sonlight's map activities. Unfortunately, those have always gotten pushed to the side. This year, though, we are using maps that I print off the Usborne site (we also use the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History). This has been working very nicely. C circles things that I want him to remember. L circles important items, but also writes notes off to the sides. We are doing lots of notebooking, with variable results. C doesn't like to add pictures to his work so I think I am going to start typing his (I've been writing them for him and it takes a while and he talks fast!) and not worrying about pictures. When he does pictures, they tend to be more abstract and conceptual than actual pictures of the items about which we are studying. We were doing vocabulary work, but I have dropped that. Both kids have excellent vocabularies so we were adding unpleasant work that gave minimal benefit. My Dad gave P a book called Tyndale Handbook of Bible Charts and Maps. What a great resource that has been! I use lots of their maps to discuss what we are reading in Bible (in the morning, we are in 2 Chronicles, at night we are in 1 Chronicles - it's a little confusing right now, but we will move more quickly with our nighttime reading, so we won't be reading similar passages within a week or so) and history. Between those maps, the globe, and the Usborne maps, I think the kids are getting a much larger dose of geography this year. I'm much more interested in L learning some of the details. I just want C to get an overview.

L is doing lots of writing, and not just with her notebooking. She has not complained much at all about it. She does not like the assignments in which she has to make a rough draft and then a final copy - spelling is her nemesis. She is really very good at grammar, but doesn't get it right when she is writing off the cuff. So, her final drafts require some work. We have gone back to Sonlight's dictation and activity sheets. The kids are tolerating them quite well. I see them both learning a good bit from it. C is really taking off with his reading. He continues to get reading lessons weekly, but I am also adding new concepts (but slowly). C is doing lots of reading captions of pictures which is pretty new. He is learning new phonics rules that way, too.

Our science study is really pretty fun right now. We are using a book called Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day of Creation. It is written by an author who is an unabashedly young-earth creationist. I lean toward old-earth creationism. This leads to some interesting discussions with the kids. L enjoys the discussions, but C gets confused by them, so I have to be careful about when we talk about such abstract concepts. In any case, we are starting by learning about birds. We made a bird "map" last week in which we learned the different field marks of birds. This morning, we made two bird feeders, each of which has different kinds of seed. The kids have been avidly watching birds and looking them up in their field guides. I bought them little notebooks and they are starting to fill in when, where, and what they see. After P gets our feeders up, we will have lots of birds around. We also have a suet feeder and a hummingbird feeder. Our yard isn't very big, but I'm betting it will be busy!!

We have also done some "extra" activities. Both kids did notebook pages about Mozart (the homeschool play this year is "Of Mice and Mozart"). We watched a DVD last week about Bonhoeffer. A lot of it went over C's head, but L learned a good bit. I had to spend some time with C discussing World War 2 and Hitler. He has heard bits and pieces about that time in history, but we spent a little time looking at our timeline to try to help him understand it.

L and C's piano teacher is retiring this year. We were going to change to a different piano teacher in the fall, anyway, but this makes it more pressing (as well as easier emotionally). L is going to Lawrence University's Piano Odyssey day camp this summer. She is excited about spending 5 full days learning piano theory, history, improv, etc. I hope she finds a teacher that she likes so I can get the kids set up for lessons starting in the Fall. C tends to complain about piano, but he's pretty good, and he wants to play drums and guitar. Our rule has been that the kids need to stick with piano as long as they have any interest in other instruments. Besides, it's an important exposure to theory, but also piano and music history.

C is going to a nature day camp for a week in June through the elementary school. He is going to have a great time, I'm sure. The nice thing about it being through the school is that the cost is minimal - yay! I've also been looking into the free Tuesday movies starting in June.

My CPAP seems to be working pretty well. I saw my pulmonologist recently for my sleep study results. It turns out that, not only do I have sleep apnea, but I have a pretty severe case. The CPAP really helps the apnea. It hasn't really helped me fall asleep, so I'm typing this at 1:40am because of my insomnia. But, I've also been weaning off some other meds, so there are lots of possibilities. The main thing is that there is a good chance that the CPAP will help me feel better even if it doesn't completely cure the problem.

Book Reviews:
The Phantom Tollbooth - I never read this book as a child, but many of you will recognize it as a childhood classic. We did it as a read-aloud a week or two ago. It was really funny. The premise is that Milo is a little boy who is never content to be where he is or what he is doing. He finds a toy tollbooth in his room, so he gets in his toy car and goes by the tollbooth and he is transported into another land. The story revolves around his adventures in Dictionopolis and his quest to bring back Rhyme and Reason. C's notebook page about this book was his recounting of the section about the "whether" man - after all, it is more important to know "whether" there will be weather than what the weather is! (paraphrase from the book). I strongly recommend this as a read-aloud for age 7 or above or a reader for a child who can read chapter books independently.

Theras and his Town - This is a Sonlight reader about an Athenian boy who is sent to live in Sparta. It does a good job of showing the stark differences in the city-states. It is clearly written for a pre-teen audience. We have not seen the movie 300 (and, I'm not sure if I want to - it sounds pretty gory), but this book provides a nice scaffold on which to "hang" stories like the Battle of Thermopylae.

Hittite Warrior - Another wonderful Sonlight book. The main character is a Hittite who is sent to live with Sisera (a Philistine). He gets detoured to Tyre and gets caught up in running from the city for assisting with preventing the sacrifice of a child to the god Moloch. The story revolves around the Biblical account of the judge Deborah and the battle between the Israelites and the army of Sisera. Great book for preteens to teens.

Mara, Daughter of the Nile - Also a Sonlight reader. This is a great book for preteens on up to adults. I was fascinated without feeling like I was being "taught" anything. Mara is a slave girl who is bought and sent to Thebes as a spy. In the meantime, she becomes a double agent, spying for both sides and planning to stick with whoever comes out on top. But, she falls in love, complicating the entire plan. Great read!

Archimedes and the Door of Science - I haven't yet finished this. I love all the stuff about Archimedes, but the author puts a lot of physics in the book which slows it down. Of course, the point is to give a biography of Archimedes, but also to explain the things that he was able to discover. Not a bad book, but I'm not overly thrilled.

D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths - I pre-read this one since it is listed as a reader, but C really wants us to do it as a read-aloud, which we will. The myths are told in an engaging style and in an order that helped me to understand some of the relationships between mortals and gods, etc.

Infidel - A biography of John Newton, best known for being the converted slave trader who wrote "Amazing Grace". I'm not quite finished with this book, but it has been a real page-turner. Newton's depravity during his early adult life was shocking (even by modern standards), but his conversion was complete, even if not instantaneous. This book can give hope to any parent with a wayward child. Part of Newton's conversion experience had to do with his early religious instruction from his mother.

The Ides of April - Yet another Sonlight book. This is a wonderful story about murder and intrigue in ancient Rome. When a prominent Roman citizen is murdered, all the slaves in the household are to be executed. Hylas, a 17 year old slave, manages to escape capture and is able to convince a young Roman tribune to help clear the slaves of wrongdoing and to plead for mercy. Hylas also meets another man who risks his own life to help the slaves. In the end, we learn that he is a Christian.

The Bronze Bow - Sonlight reader. An excellent story about a boy who learns to hate with all his being but is transformed by the love of Jesus and learns to love instead of hate. Very rich characters and texture to the book. The characters are believable and likable. It is an uplifting story about the power of the itinerant preacher who was actually the Savior in flesh among us.


Movie Reviews:
Bridge to Terabithia - Wonderful, wonderful movie. I have heard great things about the book, but had never read it. The movie is beautifully set and well-acted. It is about children and for children, but adults will love it as well. We see people learn to change through love and imagination.

TV Reviews:
Monk - Crime drama with a main character who has obsessive compulsive disorder. I haven't seen anything objectionable in the show (well, except for the murders, but it is a crime drama after all). Not only that, it is funny and well-acted. I let the kids watch with me. It's certainly not high drama, but it is fun.

Robin Hood - This is on BBC America. It just started this season, so I've only seen three episodes. Overall, I really like it. It is fun to watch. The good guys always win. The only issue I have is that Islam is clearly given preference to Christianity. Robin Hood quotes at times from the Koran. He also speaks negatively about the Crusades (not war in general, but the purpose of the Crusades, which is not a subject for a line here or there - The Crusades were complex military and political events). There is almost nothing positive about Christianity in the show. But, it's a fun 30 minutes to watch. I just keep my eyes and ears open for anything the kids and I need to discuss afterwards.


The kids and I did a presentation at 4H on first aid. Overall, it went pretty well. I think the kids learned some things. I tried to intersperse talking with demonstrations and role playing in groups. They really liked using the Vet-wrap for simulated sprains and strains (Vet-wrap is the veterinary version of Coban or self-adherant bandage material - it's way cheaper although I did have to get it in the veterinary section of Fleet Farm!).

Well, it's 2am and I think I'm getting sleepy. We got 2 DVDs on birds from Netflix today. We are supposed to have 6 to 8 inches of snow tomorrow, so I think it will be a good time to watch DVDs and listen to our history CDs. I'll try to post more regularly.