Since we are homeschoolers, and this is supposed to be (partly) a homeschooling blog, I thought I’d post a little about the things the kids have been doing lately.
We watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the Tuesday before Easter, which led to a great discussion of who Aslan is like and why He had to die.
In the next few days, the kids embarked on a huge project to create their own country. They named it Narnia, but then came up with 10 states that they created names for. They drew a map with boundary lines. For each state they drew and then named churches, hospitals, stores, banks and anything else they thought was important for a society. Noah is the king, so I guess it is a monarchy. The stack of paper they have produced is amazing and tomorrow when I shop I’ll be buying a notebook for them to organize all of their maps and building plans. This was not an assignment, it was something they decided to do on their own. I’ve allowed them to spend as much time on it as they would like, a luxury they wouldn’t have if they were in public school. In the meantime, they’re learning all sorts of neat social studies stuff.
Natalie and Noah have both started writing. I’ll bet you can figure out from their writing what they are “into” these days.
Here is Noah’s story. He is 7 years old and in 1st grade.
Neopet on Mystery Island
by Noah K.
Once there was a creature named the Blumaroo. It was a neopet. When that Blumaroo
laid an egg it died. Then the egg hatched. Another hatched and when they came
out they said, “Who are you?”
Then one of them said, “My name is Bounce.”
“And my name is Zoom.”
Then Bounce said, “I think we should go for a walk.” Then they saw another egg. When the egg hatched out came a tiger neopet.
Then the tiger said, “My name is Choosy.”
Then when they got to this strange place they saw a sign that said, “This is Mystery Island.”
“Mystery Island?” said Bounce.
“Should we go in?” said Zoom.
“First I think we should test our powers,” said Choosy.
So Bounce did his power first. When he did it ice came out of his hands.
“Wow!” said Bounce.
Then Zoom did his powers. When he did it fire came out of his mouth.
“Wow!” said Zoom.
Now it was Choosy’s turn. When he did it sharp claws came out of his hands.
“Wow!” said Choosy.
“Now it is time to go in,” said Bounce.
When they got in there was a lot of strange sounds in there. Then they saw a fire monster. Then Bounce got in front of everybody and did his powers and froze the monster.
“Cool!” said Bounce.
Then they saw an ice monster. Then Zoom got in front of everybody and did his power.
“Cool!” said Zoom.
Then they saw a real monster. Choosy got in front of everybody and did his power and sliced the monster.
“Cool!” said Choosy. Then they got to the master of the monsters and everybody did their powers and the master died and then they saw another egg.
When the neopet came out, she said, “My name is Erica.”
The End
Here is the first chapter of Natalie’s story. She is 9 years old and in 3rd grade.
Angela and the Magic Mirror
by Natalie K.
Chapter One
Angela was a tall thin brown haired girl with a nice father and mother. Her father had black hair and her mother had red. Angela’s mother and father had never told her something and she was soon to find out that day. It was a good day. As usual she woke up early in the morning and ate breakfast and went to school. She said hello to her friends and then when school was over she went home.
“Hello, Mother and Father,” she said.
“Hello,” her father said.
She went up into her room and did her homework until her mother called her down for dinner. Angela went down to dinner.
“We have something we have to tell you,” Mother said.
“What is that?” I asked.
The family sat down for dinner and everyone ate. As they were eating, I asked, “What did you want to tell me?”
“Eat, I will tell you at dessert,” Father told her.
Soon dessert was brought out and I asked the same thing again.
My father sighed and talked to my mother. I heard what they were saying.
“Are you sure she is old enough?” my father asked my mother.
“I’m sure,” Mother said.
What are they talking about? Angela thought.
My mother and father sighed.
“First of all this is why we didn’t tell you this long ago, because you weren’t old enough and now you are. You might not believe us but it is true,” Father said.
“Of course. You won’t lie. Why would you lie?” I said.
“Are you ready?” my father asked. “Your mother and I are…”
There was a long silence.
“Are what?” I asked.
My father sighed again.
“We are wizards,” he said.
I couldn’t believe it. I ran into my room and shut my door.
“They can’t be wizards. My mother always told me that magic wasn’t real. Maybe that’s why she always got that look on her face whenever I asked about magic. Wait a minute, if they are wizards, that means I am one, too,” I was so happy that I rushed down stairs.
“I am a wizard, too and you never told me,” I yelled.
My mother sighed.
“Now I know why you didn’t tell me before. I wasn’t old enough,” I said.
“We will bring you to the magic world tomorrow,” Father said. “There is a magic bank and you also have to your broom stick and your wand and we will take you to train number 975 so you can go to the school teaching about magic,”
I was so happy I went straight to bed.
I was thinking about tomorrow and how I would go to the magic bank and how I am a wizard. I couldn’t believe it! I was really a wizard. Then I fell asleep. I dreamt about tomorrow. And how I was really a wizard. It was amazing. Then it was morning and I got dressed and ate and got into the car.
In the midst of all this creating and writing, Noah has finished his math book for the year and is playing on Quarter Mile Math on the computer to help memorize his addition and subtraction facts.
Natalie is learning long division. Which means I am teaching her long division, which I loathe. Fortunately, she picked up on it very quickly. She has also started Writing Strands 3 and is enjoying it.
Jonathan is plugging away at learning to read. He can now read all one-vowel words and about 10 sight words. He is learning to sound out two-vowel words and chomping at the bit to “just be able to read!”. He’s almost finished with his math also.
Add to that all the read-aloud time in the evening and finishing up our history for the year. We are heading into that last stretch before summer break, and it is nice to see things being finished up and lots of time for the kids to be outside. It has been around 70 degrees and gorgeous for the past few days and the weatherman says it will stay that way all week. Great for our T-ball games!
Anyone else want to share what you’ve been working on lately?
by Anne Tyler
