Five in a Row Curriculum - Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

* Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel  

This is the story of Mike and his steam shovel Mary Ann who put in many, many productive busy working days.  But new technology has sent most of the steam machines to the trash heap.  Mike's determination and ingenuity saved both of them from unemployment.

Having spent much of their lives in an institution, my kids didn't know a lot about different types of power or even different vehicles.  And it seemed a challenge to find out much about steam power.  One book we liked was Inventions That Shaped the World: The Steam Engine by Tamra Orr.  You will also find a few things about steam by searching on YouTube.

The FoldnLearn from the FIAR BLOG had some information on steam machines as well.

We made our own steam power which seemed to get the point across better than any book or movie we could find.  The plain ole tea kettle released steam and as Isaac held his pinwheel near to the steam it turned the wheel.

I have been thankful many times this school year when the book we were studying
gave us a natural setting for discussing life values.  This time it was stewardship.  Mike took such good care of Mary Anne that she was in great working condition long after machines of her type had been junked.  A challenge that is fairly common with institutionally raised kids is teaching them the value of their belongings and the need to take care of them.  And more yet, they must be taught to respect other people's belongings.  Good discussion.

We talked about the elements of a good story

and also what "personification" is in literature.  But I think only Isaac was able to understand these concepts.

 Most of the units in FIAR have art incorporated too, centering around either the illustrations in the book or a concept mentioned in the story.  In Mike Mulligan our attention is drawn to the countryside and the different way trees are drawn, whether they are aerial views or seen from close up.  

And for those more advanced try out this link. Guide to Tree Sketching  I only printed that one for Isaac who is actually a pretty advanced artist.

In the story the cellar is completed "four corners... neat and square."  We looked for things in magazines that were square.

 My younger kids are still grasping the terms for shapes so we did a hunt around the house for things that are square shaped also.

Looking at the bookshelf for square things.

Hunting in the living room for squares.

On the final day of our unit study, instead of reading the book again, we found a "movie" version of it on YouTube.  It was the book being read plus some songs, and was about a half an hour long.  My kids loved it!  You can find it AT THIS LINK HERE!

Fun book enjoyed by the girls as well as by the boys.

*Amazon affiliate link to book

MORE Document Drama

About eleven o'clock this morning I received a call from our courier in New York informing me that my husband's health form had been rejected by the Chinese embassy because a portion of the side of the notary's stamp wasn't on the form.  Even though the entire stamp from this same notary was on MY health form, and the stamp on his actually showed all the information they needed, it was still rejected.

This presented me with several challenges.  I called our doctor's office and they were willing to complete another form quickly, but didn't have another copy.  They wouldn't accept an email.  As you may recall from my last post my van is GONE.  I tried several things and finally at noon our time, our agency on the west coast opened.  Our China case manager was able to fax the needed form to the doctor.

Next problem -- the doctor wouldn't release the form without my husband's signature allowing it.  He took off work, and went to get the form to bring it to me. Since his car isn't trustworthy to make a long trip I rented a car online in the meantime (to be paid for when I picked it up) intending to get the car on the way out of town.

BUT THEN the rental place wouldn't give me the car because my card is a debit card.  Ethan had to appear with his actual credit card to rent the thing.  At this point I was beginning to sweat because the day was tick, tick ticking away and I still had ninety miles to drive to get the state seal on the document.

The weather was also a definite factor today. Being foggy and rainy made it another white knuckle trip. BUT I arrived at the Secretary of State's office with actually an hour to spare.  After having the document certified I took it to FedEx in Columbus (not risking getting back home in time to send it!) copied it and sent it all overnight on to the courier.

We have lost a few days over this, but I'm thankful that I was able to get the redo out so quickly in spite of all the complications.  Please pray that our dossier actually gets authenticated this time and that the rest of the process goes quickly.  I continue to be concerned for Little Miss' health, and the effect these delays may have on it.

Please pray!

I will start this post out with the GOOD news.  Our courier has confirmed that he has our dossier, and it will be hand carried to the Chinese embassy today!  Since it takes 7-8 business days for them to get to it, we are looking at only a couple of weeks then our agency will have our completely authenticated dossier.  We are so close to being DTC!

Now the not so good news.... remember my van?  It will cost more to repair it than it is worth.  We are actively looking for another vehicle.  Now our family can't just go out and buy a car.  We need something that seats eight and has cargo room behind the seats for two wheelchairs (Susy will need one) and a walker.  Oh, and we have very, very limited funds to purchase it.  It is a tall order and we're going to need a minor miracle for this to happen.  If you think of us will you please pray for wisdom and for God's leading to the transportation that we need?  Thank you!

Dossier is off to the courier!

I've had some lessons in flexibility the last few days.  I made a white knuckle trip to the Ohio Secretary of State office in the snow and heavy traffic on Thursday and THOUGHT I was done with the dossier prep when I arrived home that evening.  A "last check" of the documents on Friday afternoon found a staple issue that was a deal breaker.

So today the kids and I returned to Columbus with a couple of fresh documents to have them resealed.  We left early so we could get back in time for co-op this afternoon.  It was a long day of commitments, but I did manage to get to FedEx to overnight those important papers to our courier.

That left only a musical practice with Tikvah.  Just when I thought I was really DONE and could go home to bed, I ended up in a parking lot ten minutes from home waiting on a tow truck.  That last ten minutes took over two hours.  Sigh.  Some days are just like that. 

But you know, it could have been so, so much worse.  It could have happened when we were out of town today, or when I had all the kids with me.  It COULD have happened last Thursday when it was cold and nasty, instead of today when it was sweater weather.  It could have prevented our dossier from actually going out today, but it didn't.  With another adoption on the horizon, van repairs are NO WHERE in our budget, but I expect even that will somehow work out.  I'm thankful to have the dossier sent, and to be HOME at last!  Good night!

Studying About Egypt

Once a month the younger kids and I go to a music/art study of a country.  This month the country was Egypt.  After a slide presentation about the country we moved to the mat to play instruments.

The girls started out on a "riqq" (similar to a tambourine) and Patrick had a "rababa" which was a pipe like thing that he struck against his hand.  They traded off to try different instruments and played for quite some time.

If you'd like to hear what you missed, I uploaded a video of it HERE on YouTube

Then we moved to the art studio for some clay work.  They each made a "cartouche."  This will be a large necklace of sorts that has their name (or initials) on it in hieroglyphics.  They practiced writing their name on a paper first.

And then it was down to business, trying to get the clay to soften up!

They cut the shape they wanted and smoothed the edges.

Wrote their names, and here is what we ended up with.  The staff will put them in the kiln for the next session. Now comes the hard part.... waiting for a whole month!

We finished the day by trying out Kashari, the national food of Egypt.  It is made with rice, noodles, lentils, and a spicy tomato sauce.

My kids all thought it was really good - as ANYTHING with rice or noodles is, of course!

And they lined up to get seconds!

We always have such fun at these lessons!

Huge Progress!

At last!  We received our certified copy of the homestudy and immediately went to our state capital to have our dossier authenticated.  Note: We were approved for two on our prior i800a (with Pat) and it hasn't expired yet, so we are able to skip that step and send an authenticated copy of our previous approval.

The Lanz kids at the Secretary of State office getting baby sister's papers done!

It took longer than expected to have our documents sealed, and then traffic (and snow!) made travel VERY slow on the way home.  I was very disappointed to not make it back in time to Fed Ex these tonight.

However, we are READY, and they will be on their way to our courier tomorrow.  Next stop will be at the Chinese Embassy in New York on Monday!!!  DTC is hopefully just a couple of weeks away!

Leap Day!

Leap Day provides a fun opportunity for us. Our family likes musicals, and we also use any excuse to have a party.  Our oldest daughter and her husband took it upon themselves a few Leap Years ago to host a pirate themed party on this day in honor of one of our favorite musicals, The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan.

If you aren't familiar with the story, the main character, Frederic's birthday is on Leap Day.   Having been apprenticed (by error) to a band of pirates until he reached his 21st birthday, he is released from his servitude only to discover that by the terms of his contract, he is actually only five and a quarter years old.  Because of his strong devotion to his sense of duty he must return for another 63 years!

Party guests are encouraged to dress a part....

Our little band of pirates!

It is a funny tale with lots of great music.  Perhaps the biggest challenge of this party is to keep the party guests from singing too loudly during the official showing of the movie!

We hope you did something special on your "bonus day" this year.