Boys' Noise School Report

October has been a settling month for our family. The last couple of weeks started to feel like new normal, I think we all welcomed that.

KinderYear

Elijah, as I've shared, has been working on his early reading skills. He accomplished the wonderful milestone of reading his first words this month. I'm thrilled for him, he's thrilled!

In Math Eli is practicing writing numbers, reading analog time, calendar, knowing coin value and doing some small adding with those coins. He has been doing some simple addition as well.

For reading we are working through Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, for fun we pick through the "Bob" books and other library books.

First Grade

Nate has also taken a huge step in his reading journey. He had been fighting through reading work for a good year. It's been work for him. But this month we seemed to have broken the dam, and he's really successfully sounding out words, and sometimes just blurting them out. I'm so pleased with Nate's hard work, and grateful for the process. This is a good reminder that sometimes waiting for these milestones is all you can do....wait. But the wait works.

For Math, Nate is working through Saxon 1. It seems to be a little daunting for him so he works through a lesson every other day, the other days he works math worksheets. He is working on subtraction and addition. We also are working on the calendar, money math and telling time.

In Reading, Nate reads the level 2 Bob books, and we're also working phonics with the 100 easy lessons. I'm thrilled at his progress this year.

Third Grade

Joey is speeding through Saxon 6/5. We just hit long division, he's begun fractions and been perfecting multiplication this month.

This year Joey is taking a class, Essentials of the English Language. In this class we're studying grammar, spelling, and writing. Joey edits a paragraph each work, and has memorized the 112 possible parts of a sentence. Sounds daunting, eh? We're doing some sentence diagramming as well. I say we....yes, we. ;) For writing he's been creating keyword outlines, then rewriting paragraphs using important things such as quality adjectives, strong verbs and clinchers. Joey will take this class for the next 3 years, by the time he enters 6th grade he should be able to impress anyone with his knowledge and familiarity of the English language.

Essentials is part of Classical Conversations.

Together

I read, which is most certainly a favorite activity here, daily from numerous books. We finished Farmer Boy of the Little House series this month. This very nearly brought me to tears, I found I was quite attached to Almanzo and his family and farm of integrity. So we march on into Little House on the Prairie. I'm also reading from Story of the World Vol. II; the Middle Ages. Highlights have been Robin Hood, (of course!) Charlemagne, & Muhammed. I'm also reading from various science books to the boys, we're studying the solar system. For Bible we're reading out of the book of Luke.

For Classical Conversations this year we are learning about the Middle Ages in History. Math is the same each year, memorizing the multiples of all numbers up to 15, and in English we're memorizing Pronouns, etc. Latin is latin, and Geography is Europe & Asia. In Science we've been studying the solar system and other natural sciences.

For example, one History sentence we have memorized: After the church split into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, William the Conqueror defeated King Harold of England in 1066 and started Feudalism.

We are also memorizing scripture to recite at Awana, doing our occasional Nature Study and sketchy Tuesday, as well as Lego Challenges (see the side bar for links).

We have had walks to the river and park, a trip to the Pumpkin Patch. The boys have started gymnastic classes that they love and we've done a few fall crafts.

Ambitions for Next Month

I've been working hard to figure out how to get in a little more fun. For November we're going to label Fridays "Unschool Friday" 'cause I've always envied those unschooling households just a little but know that I need a little structure in life to actually get something done too. So Friday's you'll find us out and about, playing games or crafting--doing fun school things that don't fit into our other days.

Maizy Pumpkin Squash: Cast Your Vote over on the Right!!

(This one is for you, Karyn, my friend. Karyn, who has great confidence in my photography skills, says that I could find something great to photograph even in a decrepit end-of-season pumpkin patch)
Our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch was a hoot. Of course it always helps when a) we go on a cloudy, cool October afternoon and b) that afternoon is a weekday when all the rest of the kiddos are sitting at school so we can have the bounce house to ourselves for a good hour. Or should I say...the boys can have it & I can sit and chat with my mama, uninterrupted for a bit. ...and then get up off my laurels to chase me some boys in the corn maize that's full of old corn...these boys, who weren't bothered by the cold, spent more time husking than cruising. Fine by me.


Then we were off to a quiet hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. We already had pumpkins at home and I didn't want to pay a gazillion $/pound so we just looked over all the neato varieties there and I spent time day dreaming about just what kind of pumpkins we'd be harvesting next year. You just watch. :) So take a good look in the photo above and see if you can find my littlest pumpkin, he's in there! If you click on the image you should be able to find him for sure.


Since we didn't need to find a pumpkin to buy and we had time until our hay ride left the station, we decided on a hunt for the ugliest/ most rotten pumpkin. Please take time to vote for the grossest pumpkin, in your humble opinions. The boys would like to know.

Nate's pumpkin is nicely adorned with some late in the season rot, with a bonus bug habitat inside.

Joey's specimen is a beautiful, ovalish puddle of goo, mold and slime-seeds. Last but not least, Eli's squash is just that. Squashed. Moldy and oozing, a beauty!

Don't forget to vote. Children's votes count for two!! There is an easy vote box on the side bar to the right. :) Happy Weekend!

That Boy Has All Kinds of Manners

Yesterday, Nate was pulling up his shirt to show me a scratch on his stomach. After looking it over I was overcome and pulled him to me and said in Mama-Fashion, "You're so cute!!"

He looked at me and answered, "You're so....big."

Of course, I started laughing. Explaining his response he said, "Well, I was going to say 'You're so old' but daddy told me ladies didn't like to be told that they're old."

What a polite little boy!

Again today:

Nate asked me, "Mom, how do you tell if a dog is a girl or a boy."

Honestly, I answered, "Well, a boy has a p#^$s."

"How else can you tell, Mom?"

"I guess that's it. A boy has a p%@$s and a girl dog doesn't."

"I know another way you can tell, Mom," Nate answered. "Girls are more appropriate when they pee."

Ha! I suppose they are a bit more dainty or discreet when they do.

I'm glad Nate appreciates manners.

Conversations with Myself

I'm grateful that I never set out to make this blog spot something specific. I labeled it "A Thousand Words; a biography of books, boys & becoming." With such a broad spectrum I feel I can stay true to those topics generally, and I enjoy writing all over the place.

I occasionally stop and wonder why I enjoy blogging so much, it's clear to me that my blog is like an old friend....like a favorite blanket or pair of slippers....cup of tea in a favorite chair. There is a comfort in routine & ritual of being here. I'm unsure of how many people peek at my blog anymore, but truly, I don't care. If I'm blogging to myself, it's fine and I'm happy to do it.

This morning is one of those that just just fits comfortably. Laundry is going, chili chock full of veggies is in the crockpot. The sun is streaming in the windows interrupted only by an occasional twirly, falling leaf.

The boys are on the walls, just where they belong.
Soon I'll strap backpacks on them and we'll haul our school to the library because I really can't stand being inside so much when the autumn days are so cool, crisp and colorful. I love these days.

I've signed the boys up for gymnastics. It was Nate's idea, and the idea caught on with his brothers. We had our first classes last week and the boys all came away with an enthusastic "YES, we love gymnastics!!" Tonight I'll take them to class again & I'm grateful for their strengthening bodies and added rhythm to the week.

I'm off to relish the day, what are you doing today?

Autumn

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.

The Watched Pot Will Someday Boil

It's the task that you hammer away at.

Day after day you water, feed, give light and wait...

wait...

wait...

wait for the little synapses to connect. Wait for that seed you planted to take root and grow fruit.

And most days it feels like waiting for that pot, watching and waiting.

Then one day you wake up and the day feels normal. Climb out of bed and pray for wisdom in the day with a 5 year old wrapped around your legs under a blanket on the couch. Breakfast and books & pages of numbers. A doctor's appointment and stop at the local office store.

Then come home to snuggle up to some reading work. Always start with the littlest student. His work usually takes the least time, and the biggers can work quietly while the little one gets some mama-teach-time. And you open that book and talk about sounds and then it happens.

He reads a word. Mama squeals and bursts into laughter and tickles that sweet 5 year old because he just learned the best tool he'll learn in life. He read a word. His first word was "at." And maybe he was a little more excited about "ax" because that's a word that means something to a boy.

And more importantly, he learned that learning is a delight. It's fun. It's important. And sometimes you get a squeal out of your teacher.

Then the day shifts into one of those days where the water is boiling and I can't imagine any job that's more important, any job that I'd rather be doing today.

And tomorrow, when I'll be watching the pot again.

...post script~ I wrote this post a week ago. From his first time reading on, each time he sounds out a new road, Eli cries, "Tickle me Mama! Tickle me!!"

We have recently taken up "Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." It's been very helpful for my younger boys, and includes "games" & short lessons that keep our work fun.

A Cheerful Heart with an Overwhelmed Mind

Life is not today, what I want it to be.

It's far too full, for one. My list of things to do seems to not shrink, but grow by a few things every day. I don't like that. I want my list to shrink. But our life is full in so many ways so there are things to do.

I laid the wood, paper and Ponderosa needles ready last night so I could light the fire the moment I crept down the talking stairs of our house this morning. And as I did I was overwhelmed of all there is to do and be and whether I should go ahead and keep these plans or just cancel so that I could stay home and be a mom and wife and get things that are screaming at me done. Very, very important things.

I wonder at the purpose of my days.

I feel week and shaky, thinking of all that I need to be when I know I'm just little old me and that I can't possibly get all these things done anytime soon. So I whisper to God that this is who I am, what I do and can He reach down and help me be tender and teacher in the middle of all this thinking and lists and tasks? This, I thought, is how each day should begin. Humbled and knowing I need help...crying out or whispering for His help. I can't do it.

And then I sat down in the morning light and read His Word. There was no miracle in it, no standing out word but that I should do this or drop that. But I wrap His instruction around me and press forward into the morning. I read in Proverbs that a cheerful heart is a good medicine so I determine to have just that as I muddle through. I want my family to have good medicine today.

When I read other blogs this morning, there are so many other mamas that feel this way. What to do? How to slow down and love when you're new-baby exhausted? How to take care of your family when you can hardly take care of yourself?

It is good, not to be alone.

And I come back to a cheerful heart, I join up with Ann again today to count the things for which I am grateful, the things that give me a cheerful heart when mediated upon.

The tender hug of my mama when she's missed me so heavily. I wonder if she felt how I pulled it in, felt it completely?

Music that is light and keeps us moving and cheerful.

Memories of long ago friends, and feeling that my life is full in friends.

Carpet that doesn't reveal every.single.doggie hair.

Memories of middle of the night words whispered to not-sleepy babies.

Dog piles in my art room, just minutes ago. I was in the middle of all those boy-arms and legs.

Laughter with my 10-year-loved husband. And that look he gives me. Still.

A hot fire that draws us all in to the same room.

Babies. Mine are all big, but there are so many fat, cute babies to wink at and smell. Oh, I love babies.

Today. To fill as I like. To have the choice of a cheerful heart.