Eating Pop Rocks for the First Time!

One of the treats in the party favor bags was Pop Rocks.  They were a big hit with everyone!  Here is Pat trying them for the first time!

Happy Birthday Pat!

We were so excited that a couple of Pat's friends whom he had grown up with in China were able to come to celebrate his birthday with him.

Five kids, all of whom were babies together in the same orphanage and spent at least six years together.  What a really special thing it is that they are able to continue their friendships!

Pat kept asking the other mom if it was HER son's birthday.  He really couldn't grasp that it was his own.  The squeals of delight when he found the gifts were actually HIS was both happy and sad.  He asked for help in opening his gifts because he didn't know how to do it.  No child should wait a decade for his first birthday party!                                                                                                                  

Happy Birthday, dear boy!  This was just the first of many where you will know the love of a family!

First Day of Co-op

We are attending a different homeschool co-op this year -- for several reasons.  One of the biggies was our schedule. With two mornings tied up with therapies, our old co-op required taking yet a third day away from home in the middle of the week to allow the kids to attend.  In one way the week is easier now because we can go from Monday morning therapy quickly into an afternoon co-op.  In another way it makes Monday a REALLY long day.  Today was our first day.

Let's be brutally honest.  Going someplace new can be intimidating for us.  Some people don't know how to react to our children and their special needs.  We aren't always embraced cause let's face it.  We don't look "normal," we move slower, we may require an extra explanation (or two), Miss A does quite a bit of her communicating in sign language, and Pat doesn't totally "get" the English language yet.  We were upfront with our needs when we registered, and our new co-op was very accepting of us.  We were happy to find cheerful, friendly faces today, and the special needs were really not a big deal.   The kids all seemed to like their new classes too.

The three younger kids are in a lapbook class about Native Americans (great way to learn some American history!) and a class about holidays.  THIS is marvelous!

Our biological kids grew up with the holidays and learned over the years why we celebrate each one.  Our kids from China haven't had the benefit of  these lifelong traditions, and I know I haven't always done such a great job explaining the history of them.

Today we studied about President's Day, and specifically George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  The teacher had the classroom looking festive with red, white and blue balloons.  She gave a short history lesson about both presidents, then there was a craft with the silhouette of the two presidents on it.  Each child began a 2016 calendar on which each holiday, as well as family birthdays are written.  At the end of the semester they will have a calendar for next year labeled with these special days as well as the holidays they studied. The class ended with cupcakes, candles and singing Happy Birthday!  Yeah, they can hardly wait for next week!

Above and Beyond Five in a Row

Some have wondered what Tikvah is doing while the rest of the kids are doing "Five in a Row."  I'll give you a little glimpse into her week too.  Since she is too old for FIAR, she is doing "Above and Beyond Five in a Row."

 
This was written by the FIAR author's daughter, a fourth-generation homeschooler.  It can be completed as a 6-8 week stand-alone unit study or expanded as you see fit.  I am giving Tikvah lots of extra time to go off on "rabbit trails" since she really enjoys independent research.  There are several countries and time periods (100 years) covered here so there is a lot of potential for independent study.

We've had this curriculum on our shelf literally for years, and I was happy to dust it off to give it a try.  Like the FIAR curriculum this is literature based, only the entire study centers around just one book --  Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field.  Unlike the FIAR series, this level is intended for ages twelve and up to work through independently.

So what does this cover?  Hitty: Her First One Hundred Years crosses centuries and continents covering topics in History and Geography, Language Arts, Science, the Fine Arts, and Human Relationships. In addition she has a separate Math (Saxon) and Language Arts (English 2600) curriculum.

To give you an idea, here is the first week:

Bats was the topic of science..  Earlier in the summer we went to a bat program at a local park in anticipation of this unit.  We saw a bat live and up close, and had lots of activities and games with a bat theme.

 She studied about Ireland,

Tikvah made a flag of Ireland.

began writing her own memoirs, learned about listening to her conscience, and received instruction on drawing animals more realistically.   Since antique shops were also discussed in this first chapter, Tikvah and I went on a field trip to a nearby town that is famous for its antiques.

 

On field trip to an antique district in a nearby town.

 Unfortunately it seems the publisher only released this one title, and it is still available through Amazon and Rainbow Resources if you are looking for it.  Who knows?  Maybe if enough of us request it we can get them to release another volume?

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

We officially began our school year this week and are using the Five In A Row curriculum.  If you aren't familiar with it,  FIAR concentrates on a specific classic children's book which is read each day of the school week - thus Five in a Row.  Allowing for therapy and co-op in our schedule we are actually only doing our unit study 3-4 days a week so most of our "rows" will be a couple of weeks long.  In addition to this unit study I work with each child daily in English, Reading, Writing and Math.  The girls also have speech, occupational, and physical therapy.

The first book for our unit study was "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World."

The first thing we did was to make "suitcases" and passports.

 In the book a girl wants to make an apple pie and sets out to get FRESH ingredients.  She gathers wheat from Italy, eggs from France ( a chicken actually)  milk from England (a cow) cinnamon from Sri Lanka, etc.  It was a fun story that the kids enjoyed a lot!  We put story disks on our large world map for each of the countries that were visited.

 And since the kids knew nothing about wheat we tasted some wheat berries and then ground some into flour.

Apparently my camera got wheat "dust" on it!

 We used the flour to make an apple crisp. 

While it was cooking we watched a YouTube video about harvesting wheat by a couple of different methods:  with a tractor and threshing by hand.  Our apple crisp finished baking and was so yummy that I totally forgot to take a picture until Abigail was down to her last bite!

YUM!

The second day began with apple pancakes, then we made diagrams of the life cycle of an apple.

We found that Reading Rainbow has an episode featuring our book, so that was a must to watch.  A chef in this episode made a lasagne using rice instead of noodles.  So with my kids (and their love affair with rice) OF COURSE we had to give it a try.  Off we went to the market to buy our fresh ingredients.

I LOVE the Caroline's Cart!

We also made sausage stuffed apples for dinner.

On our third day after reading How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World we also read Ten Apples Up On Top just for fun - and a little more exposure to beginning math concepts.

We began a "FoldNLearn" which is like a lapbook. You can get these free printables by subscribing to the Five in a Row Blog.

We made a paper flag of and watched a video tour of Italy, which is where our book character went to get wheat.  My kids LOVE pizza, so when it was mentioned of course we HAD to have some!  Caramel apples for snack time.

And while not a part of the Five in a Row curriculum, I'm thrilled to report that Isaac read THREE beginning readers to me today!  Yessssssssssssssssss!  He loves to read in Chinese, but this is huge for him to read English!

YouTube is a great place to find things to add interest to your FIAR studies.  I found this playlist that tours the various countries mentioned in the story, as well as covering some other concepts like the life cycle of the apple.  Playlist here

On our fourth and last day of this week (we were off for Labor Day Monday) we video toured France, listened to their national anthem a couple of times, made a French flag and did our FoldNLearn page.  Isaac is especially interested in why the country chose the colors that it did and always asks about its meaning.

This "row" was continued into the next week where we learned about England

Sri Lanka whose flag is very difficult to make!

And Jamaica.

We listened to reggae music while we did our FoldNLearn.

Inside Jen's FoldNLearn

And on to our third week where we had just a couple of days to spend on our unit studies.  The highlight of the week was a visit to an apple orchard to pick apples.  The farm we went to had small trees with the apples low enough that even my kids with mobility issues were able to pick.

 And back at the house the following day we ended our unit with "visiting" Vermont and making an apple pie.

What a fun few weeks of learning!!

School Year Kick Off

We traditionally don't begin our homeschool year until the Tuesday after Labor Day.  But the three youngest kids got a head start today when we were invited to a country study at a nearby art center.  Each month a different country is featured, along with a music and art activity to go along with it.  Today we studied England.  They began the day with recording information in their "passports."  The facts came from a slide slow and presentation from the staff.

This was followed with making scones!

While the scones were baking we learned the song The Grand Old Duke of York  (click the link to hear it on YouTube) along with a line dance that went with it.  Sorry, no pictures.  I was too busy keeping Jennifer on her feet!

By the time we had sung and gotten everyone through the line dance our scones were done cooking, and so we had tea.

Pat never delays when food is around.  His scone was GONE by the time I got my camera ready!

Our time was up before we got to the art project for this session, so they've promised an extra long art session next month.  Wow, the kids had a great time!

Isaac goes FAST!

A couple of weeks ago a big truck pulled up in front of our house.

Isaac wondering why we called him to see the delivery truck...

Challenged Athlete's Foundation gave us a grant to get a sports chair for basketball.  While we've greatly appreciated the loaner chair provided through the basketball league, it didn't really fit him well and provided its own set of challenges.  How wonderful to have a chair made just for him!

 The delivery driver was super excited too, and even stuck around and watched us get it put together. 

During the summer - the off season for the Cincinnati Dragons - one is never sure how many will show up to work with the coaches.  It so happened that the first time Isaac got to take his new chair to practice that he was the only kid to show up that day!  The coaches were able to make the adjustments needed to his chair and then give him some tutoring on how to get the most from it. 

Here he is at practice a few days ago being taught to GO FAST!

We are so thankful for these opportunities for our boy!