A fellow blogger really needs our prayers right now.  Marsha (drewsfamilytx) of Our Homeschool and Other Such Happenings is now facing every mother's worst.  The death of your child

Her 3yo precious little boy went home to be with Jesus on Tuesday.

Check out a wonderful tribute to this sweet little man at Heart of the Matter.

I have a song that my choir is working on running through my head right now.

Even in the valley, God is good
Even in the valley He is faithful and true.
He carries His children through
Like He said He would.
Even in the valley God is good.

This road of life has led you
To a valley of defeat
You wonder if the Father
Has heard your desperate plea
But there is hope in that rugged place
Where tears of sorrow dwell.
Can't you hear Him gently whispering,
"I'm here and all is well"

This week was kind of short.  We were so jam packed with other things going on that there were two days that we actually didn't get to any type of formal schooling.  But we did have some great life lessons going on about service and hard work.  I like that we can be flexible.

Bible:

• God calls Abram
• Abram and Sarai visit Egypt, and lie
• Lot and Abram part ways
• We began marking a map of Abram's journey's
• Bible drills.  Cameron loves, Loves, LOVES to be timed.  He even has his own personal stop watch that he will time himelf on just about everything.  So he was really excited to time himself looking up some simple Bible passages.  I thought this will give him good practice for when they do Bible drills at church and hopefully build up his confidence.  He even timed me once and I was glad that it didn't discourage him how fast I was.  He realised with much practice, he too can be fast as lighting. 

Memory:

• Matthew 5:41 And whosoever shall compel the to go a mile, go with him twain.
• added Ruth and 1 & 2 Samuel to his OT list.  This is something else they are learning in children's church. 

Phonics/Reading:  Again, another wonderful, wonderful week of phonics.  Much of this is review but it is going much more smoothly.  He actually choses "his" reading when given a choice.   I'm so pleased with our progress.

Math:

• worked with an analog clock;  learned that half-past is the same as :30
• adding to 10; subtracting up to 10
• filling in the missing number in addition and subraction problems
• introduced word numbers for eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and twenty

Literature:

• Pilgrim's Progress: "Obstinate & Pliable"  Cameron gave a GREAT narration for this, remembering details from previous readings.  The book that we are using has so much extra resources and tools.  At the end of each chapter, it has a list of words to know.  So we read over those words first and then he was to listen for them and see if he could remember what they meant.
• We finally got our copy of Understood Betsy from the library but haven't finished with chapter 1 yet.  We will just keep reading a little bit every day until we are caught up.

History:

• The Little Duke: first half of chapter 2.  Richard, the little Duke's father dies. 

Geography:

• Tree in the Trail: chapter 4.  The idians cut up the buffalos from their hunt and prepare the meat

Nature:

• Burgess Animal Book: Chapter 4 and 5 (one of the books we are slightly behind on) --> Red squirrel,  gray squirrel, fox squirrel and Kaibab squirrel, and abert squirrel

Poetry of Walter de la Mare

• A Widow's Weeds
• The Little Green Orchard

Artist/Composer:

• Week three of "Magnificat" by Bach.  Cameron is not overly enthused with the whole song.  We both love the first peppy part though.
• Picture study was a moderate view of "Primavera" by Botticelli

Nature Study:  Monarch butterflies and milkweed. 

Copywork:

• Memory verse
• "There shall be no more crying, for he that is owner of the place will wipe all tears from our eyes" (Pilgrim's Progress)

Outdoor Challenge #22 is Focus on Insects-Butterflies.  This fit in very well with what we are studying. 

Our very first butterfly emerged yesterday while we were away.  I saw the opaque chrysallis and new that I should make prepreations for it but then forgot about it in the rush of getting ready for church.

When we arrived home, the chrysallis was EMPTY!  And the butterfly was nowhere to be seen.

Finally I spotted her on a picture hanging on the wall and we caught her with our net and put her in our butterfly cage with some fresh fruit to feed from for the night. (They cannot drink water because they will drown.)

We named her Boo.  It fits her.  "Boo" there she was as a caterpillar.  BOO there she goes making her chrysallis.  BOO there she is hanging on the wall.

Today, we took her outside to observe and sketch and then we let her go.  We put her in the fridge for about 10 minutes.  The butterfly can only fly when their thorax (middle segmant of their body) is a certain temperature.  This cools them down so that they do not fly away right away.

There is no black dot on the wing.  This tells us that this butterfly is a female.

Isn't she pretty?!

This is an insect but for the life of us, we could not find the last two legs.  Maybe on our next one.

Before we released Boo, we both took some time to sketch her into our nature journal.

Dana made a chrysallis early this morning.

Bible:

• Family line of Seth.  Filled out a chart showing when each was born in relation to Adam and when each died. He made the observation that Methuselah possibly died IN the flood.  I find that very interesting
• The Ark.  Figured out the dimensions of the ark
• The Great Flood
• God's Covenant, the Rainbow
• Tower of Babel

Memory:

• Ephesians 4:32b ...forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgive you.
• added Joshua and Judges to our Old Testament list

Phonics/Reading:  We are doing really, REALLY well with our new system.  We didn't have ANY tears this week!!  It was awesome.  I am so pleased with our progress.

Math:

• 1 and 2 math facts
• improved number word recognition
• Worked on some real life math adding when we were working on our chart for Bible

Artist/Composer:  Listened to Magnificat throughout the week and did our picture study on "Fortitude" again.

Nature Study: We have been learning much through hands on experience with our Monarchs. 

Literature:

• Pilgrim's Progress: Chapter 1 "Christian & Evangelist"

History:

• The Little Duke:  second half of Ch 1
• An Island Story: ch 23 Battle of Stamford Bridge
• Child's History of the World: ch 47 Two Empires, Two Empires

Geography:

• Tree in the Trail: ch 2 and 3

Nature:

• Burgess: ch 3 Swamp Hare, Arctic Hare, Prairie Hare, Antelope Jackrabbit,  and Jack Rabbit

Poetry from Walter de la Mare

• Some One
• The Little Bird
• The Cupboard
• Hide and Seek
• The Window

Copywork:

• memory verse
• first stanza of "The Cupboard" by de la Mare
• "A river of buffalo rushed downhill like a muddy-brown flood." (ch 3 Tree in the Trail by Holling)
• "It wasn't much of a house in which he was born, but it was just as good as most people had in Kentucky in 1809." (Abraham Lincoln by d'Aulaire)

Book of Centries:  We finally made some entries into our BOC.  I'm not sure we're doing it right but I'm sure we will figure it out better as we go along.

Caterpillars grow so fast.  Last night, I went to get some more milkweed to feed Dana.  I was keeping the milkweed my mother had given me, outside in a bucket of water. 

Well, there must have been eggs on the milkweed because I found another very small caterpillar on the leaves I was bringing in.  Surprise, surprise!

This morning, when I showed Cameron our newest arrival, he found an every smaller caterpillar!  Surprise, surprise, surprise! LOL

We had to go out and find more milkweed to feed these new little ones.  But we accidently brought home one more small one. 

The biggest one is Dana!  The smallest is the one that Cameron found.

Here is the smallest one close up.

Barely a fourth of an inch!

This is about how much they grow in a week's time.

Check out my Monarch videos.

My Mother has supplied me with several Monarch caterpillars.  He favorite was a wee little tiny one.  We have given some of them away to others to observe, learn from and enjoy but we kept the little guy.  I asked Mom if she wanted to name it.  She came up with a great name: Dana. 

First, you cannot tell if the caterpillar is male or female until it becomes a butterfly and Dana is one of those names that can be either male or female (I know one of each LOL)

Second, the scientific name for the Monarch caterpillar is Danaus plexippus.

We were given charge of Dana last Friday, Aug 16.  Dana was still very small.

Here is a size comparison with one of our other ones that was only a few days away from making its chrysallis.

Dana looks very small in comparison!

Monday, just three days later, Dana had already grown quite a bit.

Here is Dana one week after the first picture.

They grow VERY fast.

Dana is still eating, molting and growing.  We do expect it to make its chrysallis in a few days.

Check out my Monarch Vidoes.

We are really enjoying studying and learning from the Monarch caterpillars that we have.  I captured a few great moments on video.

This first one shows the caterpillar chomping away at the milkweed.

Next we see the caterpillar in the hanging "J" getting ready to make its chrysallis.   The antenea is limp and you can actually see it heaving inside itself.

And the piece de la resistance the making of the chrysallis.

In the past, I have housed my caterpillars in old mason jars.  I stretched a paper towel across the top and the put one of the canning lids to hold it in place.

But now I have two great observation units made for Cameron by my step-father.

He took wire mesh and pulled it into a cylinder.  It is held together with heavy duty wire.  All you do is set it on a paper plate. (Do not use Styrofoam) Put a paper plate on the top, and you are ready to go!

Isn't that great?!  It makes it a since to get them out for up close observation and to clean out their living area, as well as putting in fresh milk weed.

I've put our Monarchs in one and the milkweed tiger moths in the other.

It is so great to be back into the routine of school. 

Bible: So far, I really like what we are using for Bible this year. 

• The Bible: discussed the Bible as a book (table of contents, number of books, chapters, verses.) Inspiration of the Scriptures, why it is important to study the Bible
• Creation
• Garden of Eden
• Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil / The fall of Man
• Cain and Able

Memory:

• Ephesians 4:32 a And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted...
• First 5 books of Old Testament.

Phonics/Reading:  I am trying something a little different this year.  I am going REALLY slow.  I'm kicking myself for not going slower previously.  We are using the same material that we've used for the last two years but we have gone back to the beginning and reviewing and mastering each level.  This year, I am timing us as well.  We will work on this skill for 15-20 minutes and then stop, no matter where we are.

This week, we had to take a break in the middle of the lesson because he was getting frustrated which was leading him to make even more mistakes.  So we closed the book and did jumping jacks, stretches and ended up laughing.  I think that it helped him to get a break from his mind set of frustration.

Math:  Again, we are working for mastery of skills.  It makes sense to master one skill before moving on to the next.

• August calendar (measuring the lines, making a graph, days of week, months of the year, how many days are in each month, the year, writing numbers 1-31)
• Math facts for number 1 (addition and subtraction working to increase speed and accuracy)
• Number words 1-10
• Counting by 1's to 100, 2's to 100 and 10's to 500

Artist and Composer:

• Artist is Botticelli and we viewed Fortitude.  When he was describing the picture to me he picked up on a few details that I hadn't noticed.
• Composer is J.S. Bach.  For the next few weeks we are listening to Macnificat in D Major. (I found it here at You Tube and usually we listen to it during Math and Copywork).  I am also reading for myself a biography about Bach, just to familiarize myself with his life and thus be able to pass on information to Cameron. 

Hymn and Folk Song:

• "At Calvary".  Our schedule of songs for our church services is made up a month at a time.  So I chose a hymn from the last week.  That way, we have all month to work on it and by the end of the month Cameron will know a hymn that we will be singing in church.  This worked for us really well last year.
• "Oh My Darling Clementine".  I chose this song for our first folk song (not even sure if it is a folk song LOL) because he partially knows it thanks to Hulkelberry Hound.  We ususally only spend 5-10 minutes on these every other day.

Nature Study:  Right now we have a collection of bugs that we are observing.  We have a chrysallis that will be ready in a few days and we have another Monarch eating away at our milk weed.  He also is catching various bugs to feed the toads. 

Literature

• Pilgrim's Progress Introdcution and Author's Appology
• Lamb's Shakespeare: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Is it me or is Shakespeare fond of having the woman disguise herself as a boy?)

History:

• An Island Story, ch 22 Harold
• First half of chapter 1 of The Little Duke

Geography:

• Tree in the Trail chapter 1.  We really like Holling C. Holling books.  This is also the easiest one for him to narrate

Nature

• Burgess Animal Book chapter 1 and 2: Cottontail Rabbit,  Marsh Rabbit, Northern Hare

Poetry by Walter de la Mare

• The Horseman
• Up and Down
• Mrs. Earth
• Tired Tim
• I Can't Abear

Copywork selections from:

• Memory verse
• Tree in the Trail
• Farmer Boy (additional reading)
• Burgess

I am so strange.  I love shopping for office, or rather in our case, school supplies.  I was actually kind of giddy at the store today.  I love the back to school bargins!

I love them so much that I already have quite a stack of notebooks.  I said that I wasn't allowed to purchase anymore of those spiral bond.  I have enough to last me for a very long time. 

BUT...

They were only 5 cents!! 

So of course I had to get some.  Oh well, they have no shelf life and we will always need paper.

I spent a little over $12 and got

• 50 folders with three prongs and 2 pockets in various colors (we use these folders for just about everything.  I used some for church things too last year so I wanted to be well stocked)
• 3 composition books
• 4 packages of 100 index cards
• 4 big bottles of glue
• 20 spiral notebooks
• package of erasers
• 64 crayons

I just love back to school shopping!

Two years ago, Cameron and I successfully watched three Monarch caterpillars grow, make a chrysalis, and emerge into a beautiful Monarch butterfly.  It was such a wonderful experience that we both remember very fondly. 

Last year, we did not have much success.  I think I started looking too late in the season and I wanted to share the experience with others and gave away a few of the ones we did find. 

This year, I am determined that we will again experience the joy and wonder of watching this change occur.  I constantly am on the look out for milkweed.  I've checked a few patches several times with no luck.

Today, while my car was being inspected, we spent time at my mother's house.  We were checking the milkweeds on her property and it didn't look like we were going to find anything.  But, Mom finally found one fat worm!  We were all estatic. 

We didn't find any more but we find some other cater pillars also on the milkweed. 

Milkweed Moth Caterpillars, Euchaetias egle.  We found one of these last year but I couldn't identify last year so I was excited to figure out what these were. 

We will have to wait and see how these one's turn out.

"Whoever has not had a pet toad has missed a most entertaining experience.  Toad actions are surprisingly interesting..." Handbook of Nature Study

Last year, I found some great finds at a yard sale.  I found two large fish tanks.  Someone asked if I had thoughts of getting fish.  My response was, "No, not really, but I homeschool and I have a boy so I'm sure we will be able to fill it with something."

Cameron and I turned one of those tanks into a terrarium.  Right now it is housing two toads, a salamander or two, worms, and various other invertebrates, AKA food.

We just took dirt and rocks that we found outside.  Some plants, sticks, pine cones and moss help to make it feel a little more like home and a terra cotta pot split in two provides great hiding places.  A butter dish level with the dirt rounds out our terrarium

Not a great picture but you can almost see the toad at home.

The other day, we took one of the toads and put it our mason critter jar.  We took the toad outside, stretched out in the grass with the jar in front of us and just observed, using the Handbook of Nature Study to help us.  It was great in leading us to different points of observation.

The first thing we found out was that our toad is a girl.  According to the book, the males have black throats.  We had been calling both of our toads "he" but they are both "she."

Toads do not give you warts.  They will pee on you, but it is a defense and does not produce warts.  The large bumps behind the eyes are their glands that secrete toxins that discourage enemies from eating them.

"The toad is colored so that it resembles the soil and thus often escapes the observation of its enemies...If a toad is removed from an earth or moss garden, and put into a white wash-bowl, in a few hours it will change to a lighter hue, and vice versa.  This is part of its protective color, making it inconspicuous to the eyes of its enemy." Handbook of Nature Study

She was a little camera shy but still has her eye on me.  Here, she is a darker hue, one that matches the dirt in her home.  Towards the end of our observation, she had started to lighten up and her spots were more pronounced. One of the differences between toads and frogs is their skin.  Toads have warts all over while frogs are smooth.  She is not slimy or even wet feeling but is very bumpy.

"The toad is ajumper, as may be seen from its long, strong hind legs, the feet of which are also long and strong and are armed with five toes that are somewhat webbed.  The 'arms' are shorter and there are four 'fingers' to each 'hand'; when the toad is resting, its front feet toe-in in a comical fashion." Handbook of Nature Study

Next week marks our third year in homeschooling!  I'm so excited to get started. 

This week I have been preparing: rearranging, pruning, organizing, and brain storming for the coming year. 

All of the assignments are in the Homeschool Tracker.  What a great tool that is.

We are going to use Ambleside Online again.  This year, however, I feel a little more comfortable and we are adding more aspects.  We will add the artist and composer studies as well as the folk songs. 

I am so excited for our nature study this year.  I believe I am better prepared and I was able to get my very own copy of Handbook of Nature Study by Comstock.  I had not seen a hard copy of this book and was in AWE when I first laid eyes on it.  It is 800+ pages, chocked full of nature, ideas for observation, and encouragement.  We've already used it several times.

My biggest hope this year is for reading to finally click with Cameron.  I have plans on reviewing from the beginning and really trying to slow myself down.  I know that we did this last year and the things that we reviewed from the year before seemed to make better sense and come easier. 

I did have a lightbulb moment with Cameron just yesterday.  I realized that he doesn't understand that he will have to really work at some things.  He is just not going to naturally know how to do all the soccer drills.  He is not going to wake up some morning and be able to play the piano.  And it seems that he feels if he can't do it now he will never be able to do it. 

This makes total sense.  He was very reluctant to learn to ride his bike, with AND without training wheels.  Both times I basically had to find a slight hill and push him down.  He has had some really rough moments in school which fall into this mentality.  He has had some melt downs at soccer along these lines.  And of course our ever present issue, learning to read.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to utilize this new information to help me cater even more to his learning style.

Yesterday we visited the Purple Martins again.  We had such a wonderful experience last year that I had to bring others to learn and enjoy.  We had such a gracious hostess.  She has a real love of these birds and is very knowlegable and very informative.  She also let all the kids hold a baby bird.

This bird is a very people friendly bird.  The parents didn't come near while we were investigating the young ones but they weren't upset at all.

The darker, "purple" ones are the males and the lighter colored ones are the females and the immature males.

Once we put the house back up, the moms and dads were back to business with keeping their family fed.

Purple Martins eat and drink "on the fly."  That means that they are not ground feeders.  You will very rarely find this bird on the ground.  Among all the many insects they eat the dragon fly is their favorite.

The kids found a dragonfly that the birds must have dropped.  I've never seen one that big!  That was pretty interesting too.

For more on this field trip, check out my friend Linda's blog.  

My mother is so crafty.  She learned to crochet and knit while a child.  She sewed many clothes for us through the years, including my sister's wedding dress.  She has made many things over her lifetime so far and she is constantly trying new things and even inventing her own patterns.

She made quilts for all three grandsons.  I love Cameron's quilt.  I've *borrowed* it many, many times.  I asked Mom if she would help me make a quilt. 

She pulled out something that my dad's mother had given her a few years ago.  It was a quilt top which was put together by my great-grandmother who died when I was 13 and great-great-grandmother.  It was a sample quilt from the 1930's that they had never quilted, but kept. That was during the time of the Depression when people used and saved everything.

When mom first showed me, I thought it was very ugly.  I had visions of picking out a pattern and material and helping mom make me a quilt.  But what I got was much better.  My mother offered to quilt it for me.  She even took it to a specialty shop to research it.  They were able to tell her that the material was from the 1930's and that a quilt from this era would use cotton batting instead of the now popular polyester.  Because of all the confusing patterns she quilted it in the scallop pattern on the back, not even looking at the front until she was finished.

I now have a precious piece of family history.  I have something that was started 70-plus years ago.  I have a one of a kind original.  I have a treasure that one day I can pass on as a family heirloom.  I LOVE my quilt. 

Thank you so much Mom for your labor of love.