Our Sunflower House

I've been excited to share this little hide-a-way with everyone who walks in the door. After reading through Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots by Sharon LoveJoy, I knew I needed to grow this little place to play in our yard.

Thankfully, I got the seeds in in time, and we have flowers! This is a shot looking in the doorway. Morning Glories are planted with the Sunflowers to climb up, up and maybe even cross to other flowers, creating a roof.

But do you need a roof on a playhouse that stands 12 feet in the air? My heart swelled with kid-joy (I still have it sometimes) today as I watched Nate walk out there after our camping trip weekend to inspect growth. He wasn't even 1/3 as tall as these flowers. He looked so, so small!

When I planted I used a variety of heights, colors, types of Sunflowers. I cannot tell you that I know the types, only that I adore each of them, and they smile out at the neighbors every day.

The Reds have been earliest to bloom, quickest to loose their petals.

A few down low make for great inspection for little eyes and fingers. Yes, you may pick.

Another beautiful thing, the bees! We can see them, hear them, watch them collect, but they really stay up high, allowing the kids to feel safe from them. Another interesting thing...it could just be me, but it seems that since we have honey bees the yellow jackets have disappeared. I'd prefer to have bees anyday!

November Homeschool

October School

December is always a full month. I have set out to keep it as simple as I can over the last years, but no matter how I try it's full. Events and gifts, cards , decluttering, and school.

Yes, school is just about last on the list. And it's good, we do light school. A few more reading aloud, a little less seat work. It's kind for all of us, peaceful December.

My most recent excitement is deciding that we need a school room. It is not an easy interruption, clearing the table for meals or any other thing that needs to take place on the kitchen table. Not only that, but I think it would be lovely to have walls on which to pin my maps and other school wall-art. Mostly, I'd love to have a chalk or white board.

I started dreaming on moving school to the basement. We have a large playroom down there, it seemed the logical place to have school and tables, posters and pencils. However I've since changed my mind, and decided to put school in the room that has no name. It's a small room off our family room. Right now it's a Lego room, home to a large collection of toys sprawled across the floor. A bookshelf, a drying rack, a file cabinet. Nothing much in there but space and window and WALLS. So I'm excited to begin the changes this room needs to work school out of the kitchen. Oh, can you tell I'm excited? I can't stop rambling about it.

The other wonderful part is that my grandmother has asked if I want her old teaching table. My grandmother got her teaching certificate when she was 16 years old. Must have been about 1930. She worked in a one-room school house in Nebraska for 6 years, running the school and the furnace to keep them warm. What a lovely story! Years later after my father was born, she held a Kindergarten in a finished garage off of their home. In these days Kindergarten was optional. So in this Kindergarten she had four large tables for her students, my grandfather made each of quality Walnut. And she would like to know if I want the table! Oh joy! I cannot wait!

I did go to visit my grandparents over the weekend, a very, very sweet time. I wasn't able to bring the truck to move the table though, the roads were snowy and I drove my car.

I will be posting photos of the new school room as it develops.

Reviewing the month of November goes like this;

We stuck to our plan of Unschooling Fridays. We had a lovely time focusing on Nature Studies but also spending time on Autumn crafts and then, snow play!

For all of my three students;

I'm using Start Write to work on Penmanship. I usually copy of the memory verse the boys are working on for Awana and they copy them daily. The boys need plenty of work on Penmanship, all three. We also read through their Awana books for Bible stories and conversation.

The boys continue to practice Classical Conversations memory work as usual, and Joey is doing extra practice work. Joey will try for Memory Master this year, which will require him to have memorized 100% of the facts we've learned this year; English, World History Timeline, Geography, Latin, Science, History, Math. This is a lot of work but memorizing seems to come easily to him and he gets better.

Our Classical Conversations has spurred topics and mini studies in the solar system and constellations, and we follow up with Story of the World learning about Islam and other Medieval Middle Eastern History.

We continue with Nature Studies, Art, and have practiced Tin Whistle in Novemember.

Eldest, Third Grade, turned 9 in November! What a fun month for him.

Saxon Math

For his Essentials Writing Class, we're reading through First Language Lessons. He's been writing about Knights and the Middle Ages, and Honey Pot Ants.

For Spelling we've used SpellingCity.com (too fun!) and practice. Luckily, Spelling comes easily to Joe.

Middlest , First Grade

Saxon Math

We keep personal Calendars to discuss the format & work on the concepts of time and planning.

Nate is working through Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lesson and improving on his reading daily. He likes to read Bob books and I am working through Writing With Ease with he and Eli.

Littlest, Kinderyear

Eli has been working through various workbooks for Math. Numbers, addition and subtraction seem to come quickly to Eli.

He is also doing daily reading lessons in 100 Easy Lessons. Eli has read a few books, but I think this book is a good place for him to start.

Other Thoughts:

My husband suggested that I begin to create monthly report to keep record of what we're doing, what materials we're using, etc. Truthfully, I'm a little miserable at keeping track elsewhere. In doing this, I'm also seeing some weak areas I'd like to improve upon.

I haven't really taken time to set goals in our work. Perhaps I'll set some sort of calendar to create goals. I'd like to work through our read alouds more quickly, and work more quickly through our Math books too. I will start Eli on Saxon 1, and probably begin 1/4 into the book, and take Nate there with us. Going back a little will reinforce the work that he has done and he and Eli can do the work together. Nate is ready to begin spelling, and it's just time to make some changes. I'll post my plan one day. :)

Familiar Places

What a treat to be able to share with you that we have a familiar place. You know, that little place you tend to visit or revisit if you're out for a walk or a little Outdoor Hour. This week we were challenged to visit that familiar place to let our little ones explore and observe the differences that November brings.

I didn't expect Winter.

We have been in this house for two short months, and already we have seen our familiar spot in Summer, Autumn and now we've had a full dose of winter, dumped over top of Autumn.

So we headed out to our familiar spot, with a few layers of clothing, hats, mittens & sleds or disks. The boys flew down the hill that they usually run up to see the river. Then they ran back up. The boys played in the untouched snow until they could go no more. At last they turned around and saw it, our spot in the river.

I overheard conversations:

Where are all the leaves? They're covered by the snow.

Now that the leaves are gone we can see the river so well!

The river isn't frozen, even with all of this snow!

The rocks are hard to see in the snow, but easier to walk on.

Later in the week:

The river is still NOT frozen... :)

Did I ever tell you that we belive Juneau is 60% Husky, 40% Lab? He hates water, but loves, loves, loves the snow.

Do you remember the photos of our Sycamores a week ago? After a windstorm and now the snow, the leaves are gone and have been replaced with white. What a wonderful Thanksgiving we get to have!

The Woodsies

A little hard work for some little boys is a good, good thing. I find that it keeps them content.

The results sometime give way to plain old fun. (Do you see two faces in there?)

We walked up and down the streets with a basket in search of treasure.

Basket of booty for boys! We tossed it all out on the table, I grabbed my glue gun and googly eyes. (I make it sound so easy...I had to go to the craft store to get the eyes, mine are packed away somewhere. I found my glue gun in my hubby's workshop. It's never that easy)

Introducing: The Woodsies

below is hockey-playing Woodsy

Nate's little Woodsie family


Eli, minus a shirt. Yes, I KNOW it's November. I know it's cold. I know they should always have shirts on...but they say they're hot! Good grief, here I am in my long johns...I have to stay on top of the shirt thing or they disappear. My boys!!
This trio Joey crafted are an American Indian family, complete with teeny rock papoose.



Our craft/keep your boys happy, interested and busy time is only complete with a little nature dance.

Autumn Outdoor Hour

The boys and I hit the river again for our Outdoor Hour with Barb. This week we were challenged to observe both the weather and the change of the seasons. We bundled up in our warmest and packed up some hot chocolate & sketch books and headed down.

The boys are so content just to go to the river, they didn't need to have a task or challenge. I kept them close long enough for us to make some observations.

Eli's took notice immediately, and saw that the sun was hidden by the fog and clouds. Fog was an item of great interest. When we looked it up: While fog is a type of a cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated locally (such as from a nearby body of water, like a lake or the ocean, or from nearby moist ground or marshes)

Summer or Autumn, rocks abound & are treasures for our pockets

We've discussed how the fog hovers over the river oftentimes in the morning and burns off as the sun rises.

We observed that the leaves in the trees are thinning and the rocks were covered, and that they make the gravel more comfortable to sit on.
The day's stats: 9:00 a.m Nov 5

47.8 degrees

Wind blows off the river, to the West

Dew on the rocks near the river, from the fog?

I printed out a simple weather chart, and contemplated investing in a barometer and rain & wind gauges. I know my husband will love these things. I plan to post the weather chart by the back door, with hopes that the boys will take readings as frequently as they like. (Thanks Barb, for this inspiration!)

Hot Chocolate, mugs abandoned

The boys stayed at our beach spot long enough to get warmed by hot drinks and visit, then they were off to explore. I crept up to the river trail where I could catch a view, reading from The Handbook of Nature Study about weather and the historical development of the study & prediction of.

Summer/ Autumn Contrast: Green tree leaves are now golden, yellow and brown ground leaves. The air is cooler, when the sun is out it's warm but not hot. We haven't been here long enough to notice where the sun is rising...that will come. Autumn has fewer bugs, snakes, critters but we still hear the birds in the nearby trees. The air smells wet.

Dandelions revisited; we didn't find a single blooming dandy, but many have gone to seed.

Before Eli blew these seeds off, I heard him whisper "God, I wish for sisters. Amen" Too cute!

Perhaps our favorite season monitor so far, the Sycamores in our yard. Beauties!! When we got home, the boys added treasure to our nature collection & sat down to nature journals to sketch. I regurgitated what I read in the Handbook, we discussed the chapter more.

What little boys are made of.

These little ones, the joy of my heart!

A Friday

Sometimes the the days all run together, streams running into a building river. The river, whose current pulls at me until I feel I'm flying by every moment without a chance to stop. To stop and see color. To see detail.I creep out of bed and wander down to my bright-eyed-boys. I scoop them up, those boys wondering what is just so special about the sunrise. It comes up, it goes down. Every.day.
And maybe that's just it. Up it comes, and each morning I catch a glimpse out of my bedroom window. Then in the bathroom, that sun, it keeps coming. And I look at the mist on the river and think "I really should go down there." But then that stream of duty and things-to-be-done pull me hard and fast spinning down the river.

And I tell those boggled boys that today is different because today we will stop and watch that sun rise over the river. In jammies and sweatshirts we hike on down and discover a perfect beach, a perfect place to sit and linger over coffee....
Directions: Warmly dress boys, add nature and let simmer. Sit and sip coffee and look at every.little.thing around me.




Watch sun rise, see the effects. Play with stones, feel the weight of them in your hand.
See color. Then just try and drag little bold and curious boys home, home from the sunrise. From the moment of the day. I am never, ever sorry for stopping. Never, ever sorry for climbing up to the river bank to look, to listen and love life. Never Sorry.

Summer Fun

While the boys and I are certainly taking a summer break. But what I know after a few trial breaks is that we at the Perko house need to be busy-boys.

So though we're not doing much seat work this summer(I may load them up when we're sitting in the car for long drives) we plan to participate in several fun projects and investigations to keep hands and minds busy here at the Boy's Noise School.

Mondays offer a LEGO challenge over at LEGO Quest Kids. The boys love a challenge, and they love LEGOS. There's always something fun for them to build and share with other families that are participating.

Tuesdays Barb over at Sketchy Tuesday offers a challenge to sketch each week. My boys love the weekly slide show & the anticipation of the next subject to draw.

Then on Fridays we'll be participating in Outdoor Hour challenges with Barb at Handbook of Nature Study. We've been loving our studies so far. I'm learning with the boys new questions to ask, new techniques of of observation. It's wonderful.

Hopefully these fun activities, plus a lot of camping & visiting in between should fill our summer nicely & yet leave enough time to swim, watch some fun weekend movies, play games, and of course, read, read, read....

What are you planning for the summer?

Outdoor Hour: Snakes & Why We're Making the Hour

This week for our outdoor hour the boys and I checked out snakes. We brought home a handful of books from our local libraries and read some interesting facts about snakes. We looked at dozens of photos in those books and those of the snakes that are listed as native.

Snakes that are native to the area are;

1. Rattlesnakes. Enough said. For that very snake we did not go poking around in the Canyon to find snakes. We leave rattlers alone.
2. Gopher snakes. Gopher snakes gain much respect too, as they have a mock rattle to scare away predators. It works.
3. Rubber snakes...the boys & I found these to be quite interesting b/c they really look rubbery.

There are a few more, but on to a bit of what we've learned about snakes in our reading and research.

• Snakes are cold blooded, which means they have no control over their internal temperature. So in order to keep warm they lie in the sun or on sun-warmed rocks. Snakes have to get warm enough just to eat or move.
• Snakes shed their skin as they grow. The shedding starts at their mouth, the skin peels off over their body and they wriggle out of their old skin.
• Snakes are carnivorous. Meat eaters. Some snakes are egg eaters. They eat the eggs, crack them and eat the nutritious meat of the egg. Then they spit out the shell.

We read billions of new things, then the next day we took a field trip to our local pet shop to get a better look at some real live snakes. This proved to be an interesting visit. Both the gals that were working in the shop were happy to let us look at the snakes but not interested (loathed & hated) in snakes, therefore, our list of questions that we brought went unanswered. They were, however, willing to unlock the cage so I pulled out a ball python for the boys to touch and hold. I didn't get any photos, as I was doing the handling. :)

The most interesting things we learned in the pet shop were;

• "I thought that snakes weren't slimy!" Joey said. Snakes are so soft and smooth that they can feel and appear slimy. But they aren't. They're smooth and dry.
• Pythons, even babies that are a a foot long, squeeze their prey to kill it before they unlock their jaws to swallow their food in a single "bite."

The boys have had a wonderful time reading about and checking out the snakes, I'm hoping we'll see some on our hikes in the future...or at least be looking.

LOOKING. Why we're looking.....



I'm starting to see why it's important for us to be doing this hour. The art of observation.

Little boys, little sweet-two year old boys are incredible observers. I think it has much to do with their inquisitive nature, and the fact that they're down low to the ground and not moving too fast. But big kids...they move so fast. Teaching these bigger ones to slow down and observe...and what to look for is so important. Now that we've been taking some time to observe, the boys are naturally starting to slow down and observe nature themselves, pointing out lichens and birds, identifying flowers and types of rock. I love when a boy comes screaming in the door, "Mom! We found a bumble bee! I know it was a bumble bee because it had little pollen pockets on his legs!"

Today life has a hard pull on people to stay indoors. This is the other great part of the Outdoor Hour for us. We are encouraged to get outside for just a bit, and it usually leads to more time outside. Being outdoors is so important. Connecting with God through His creation never gets old and He reveals Himself through nature. Creating competition with technology and lethargy is the work that this hour can accomplish. I'd encourage you to join us with Barb at Handbook of Nature Study for her Outdoor Hour.