George Washington (one of many!)

George Washington by Ingri D'Aulaire

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My kids were enthralled with this. At one point someone commented, "George Washington moved around a lot just like us!" Being military kids they were able to identify with some of his earlier life.

The illustrations were lovely and the text easy to understand. It was a great introduction for the younger kids. My older boys will need more but this was a fantastic start.

Highly recommended.

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Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe

Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe by Todd Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another great book by Todd Wilson. I really love his humor and his honesty.

In this book he looks at the common 'lies' we homeschoolers all seem to believe like "everyone has a clean house except me" and "everyone else's kids are really obedient, talented, smart, etc". He points out the lies and then shows WHY they are lies and how to feel differently about them.

I so identified with many of the points made here and it helped calm my fears and doubts. If you are at all worried you're not doing a good job homeschooling your kids or that you're the only one who doesn't have it together, this will help.  This book will stay on my shelf forever, and I try to re-read it every year to not only remind myself that everything will be okay, but that I need to set an example of transparency for those around me, to show that I am human and not Super Homeschool Mom, because I'm not!

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Can't You Make Them Behave, King George?

Can't You Make Them Behave, King George? by Jean Fritz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My boys really enjoyed this and told me that 'lots of other kids should read it because it's so funny'. We read it in two days and I've found them looking through it over and over again.

The book treated King George very well and we learned a lot about him we hadn't already known. I liked that it mainly focused on him and not so much on the battles. I liked this better than George vs. George for actually learning about the King.  George vs. George, however, discussed the battles more in-depth.

A nice addition to our study of the American Revolution. Highly recommended.  This would be best for elementary or early middle school.

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Portuguese Lesson 1

So, I spent 18 months in Brazil doing missionary work for my church, many moons ago.  I failed to teach my children the language when they were young, but we've started now and hopefully it will all come back to me.

I couldn't find a program I liked (that didn't break the bank) so I'm sort of piecing stuff together and figuring it out as I go.  If any one has any suggestions or wants to have me review their program for free, just let me know!

I'll be posting lessons every day or so, possibly once a week.  I'm not sure of the format I want to use yet so it may change over time.  We're writing things down on a white board so they can see it every day and use it to practice, but I also want a more permanent "book" for them so we can review it as needed.  I need to figure out how to make the accents and such too, so I may have to come back and revise this as I go.

You can learn along with us, or completely ignore these posts!  We starting out SLOWLY.  Some of these lessons you will be able to do all in one day, as opposed to spreading them out over a period of days.

Underlined words are the new words of the day.  You will have already learned the words/phrases in previous lessons.

Greeting
Day 1
Person 1:  Bom dia!  Como vai?
Person 2:  Bem, obrigado.

Translation:
Person 1:  Good day.  How are you?
Person 2:  Good/well, thanks.

My best attempt to give pronunciation hints:
Person 1:  Bone jee-a.  Como vye?
Person 2:  Bain, o bree ga do.  (If you're speaking to a female add an "a" instead of an "o" at the end - o bree ga da.)

Day 2
Person 1:  Bom dia?  Como vai?
Person 2:  Bem, obrigado.  Como vai voce?

Translation:

Person 1:  Good day.  How are you?

Person 2:  Good/well, thanks.  How are you?

Pronunciation:

Person 1:  Bone jee-a.  Como vye?

Person 2:  Bain, o bree ga do (or o bree ga da).  Como vye vo-say?

Day 3:

Person 1:  Bom dia!  Como vai?

Person 2:  Bem, obrigado.  Como vai voce?

Person 1:  Bem.  Eu sou ___________.

Translation:

Person 1:  Good day!  How are you?

Person 2:  Good/well, thanks.  How are you?

Person 1:  Good.  I am _________.  

Pronunciation:  

Person 1:  Bone jee-a.  Como vye?

Person 2:  Bain, o bree ga do (or o bree ga da).  Como vye vo-say?

Person 1:  Bain.  A-o so ___________(say your name).

Cashew Almond Butter Chocolately Goodness

This recipe comes from my good friend Misty.  It is one of my favorite smoothies because it tastes like a milkshake.  I save it for a treat, for when I need something sweet.  

• 4 c frozen bananas
• 1/2 c cacao nibs
• 1/2 tbsp cashew butter
• 2 c vanilla almond milk*
• 1/4 c agave (I use raw honey)

Blend all ingredients in high powered blender like my beloved Blendtec.  I should give that thing a name.

*Sometimes I don't have almond milk so I just use raw almonds (soaked and dried) with water or homemade almond milk. I also usually add in a few handfuls of raw cashews (also soaked and dried) and sometimes some almond butter.

If you make your own almond milk and/or nut butters this would be considered a "raw" recipe.

Benjamin Franklin by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire

Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D'Aulaire

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The boys loved this book. It was always their first choice of which books to read in the day. The information was clear and interesting. The illustrations very d'Aulaire. We enjoyed reading the various sayings of Franklin's listed on each page and trying to figure out what they meant and how one would say them in modern English.

Excellent choice for learning about Benjamin Franklin.

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more Starfall

Have you seen the more.Starfall.com site yet?  It's lovely.  Well, a better description would be cool, colorful, engaging, fun.

 My two youngest (ages 7 and 5) had been messing around with the free version for a few months.  While they loved what they saw, they were always mad there wasn't more.  And I was too frugal to want to pay $35 for a one year subscription.

Fast forward to me agonizing over school plans for the upcoming year and wondering what to do with my 5-year-old who technically only has 30 minutes of "school" time, in addition to story time.  He usually sits in with us but sometimes (okay, often) gets bored with us and starts to cause problems.  I know MOST 5-year-olds would not do this...he's an unusual child. 

So I sat down and gave the more.Starfall site another look.  Hmm, early phonics and reading.  Games.  MATH!  Colors.  Nursery rhymes.  I took the plunge and bought the subscription and that's when my jaw dropped.

I now have access to HUNDREDS of worksheets.  Now, I'm not a worksheet mom but they do have their place for keeping little hands busy.  These are fun worksheets, cool activities, puzzles, word family printables, handwriting, sorting, coloring and the list goes on.  

AND THEN...I saw the lesson plans.  They have 31 weeks worth of lesson plans (mostly geared to kindergarten) which blends phonics, science, math, reading and all sorts of fun things.  It gives you the teacher prep involved plus lists what you’ll need each day then gives you step-by-step instructions on how to mesh everything together.  I'm not sure this is something I'll use, but it's nice to know it's there!

My two little guys have loved using the full version.  They can easily navigate without my help (the interface is just like regular Starfall).  When I’m teaching the older boys their individual subjects (math, reading, spelling) I let the younger boys explore more.Starfall or work on some of the activities I’ve printed.  I'm so pleased with the variety of tools it provides, not only for the kids, but for me as the teacher/parent.