We have been doing school the last few weeks but I haven't found the time to blog about it. The week of Valentines Day we read "A Pair of Red Clogs" by Masako Matsuno and it was a beautiful story about a little girl in Japan who got new shoes and accidentally cracked them and tried to trick her mother into buying new clogs. She learned not to try and trick people and tell the truth. It was a fun story for the girls to learn from. We talked a bit about Japan and did some counting and talking about weather. They also made a Japanese flag picture by gluing red yarn on a white piece of paper in a circle. I am really enjoying that through the FIAR curriculum the girls are learning about other countries. They regularly recognize American flags and are showing awareness of other country's flags too.
That same week we picked up doing Caley's reading book again and she showed great improvement and fluency in her reading, although the lessons were review. I realized it might be helpful for her to do lessons at least twice before moving ahead, and it so far is working. Caley is enjoying the stories again, which is so encouraging.
The following week the story was "The Rag Coat" by Lauren Mills which was the sweetest story, and it made me cry. It's about a little girl in the Appalachian mountains in the late 1800s (I'm guessing) who isn't able to attend school because she doesn't have a coat to keep her warm in the winter. Her father worked in the coal mines and said he'd find a way for her to attend school, but is unable too because he passes away. Her mother's friends who work on quilts to sell, "The Quilting Mothers," then pool their quilting scraps and make the girl a coat and she's able to attend school and makes friends. Caley really liked the story and asked lots of thoughtful questions about the girl's friends and funerals, wearing black, and going home to be with Jesus. It was beautiful to snuggle on the couch with her and talk about real things.
That week the girls also made a rag coat craft by ripping paper, did shape puzzles, did some other puzzles, and helped me make laundry detergent. Caley also sorted laundry into darks, lights and towels. It's encouraging to have our school be so much a part of real life and I believe teaching skills through real life makes it much more meaningful.
Last week we read "Who Owns the Sun" by Stacy Chbosky. This was a surprising book. It was written in 1987 by a girl who was 16 and won the "Written and Illustrated by" award which honors young authors. The story is about a young boy who asks his father "who owns the sun," "who owns the birds" and "who owns the flowers" and his father replies, "No one, they belong to everyone." Then the boy realizes someone owns his father, because his father is a slave. His father says he is not really owned, and the boy perseveres despite knowing the hard truth.
The concept of slavery was one that I wasn't sure about broaching with the girls, and I hope to read this book again when they may better understand. But we still did coordinating activities and had a fun week. The illustrations are with paint, so we did some painting, talked about Genesis and creation (because really everything belongs to God), and talked about food and food groups. They peeled some carrots and Caley identified which foods belonged to what group. Caley also did some more reading book and is such a good little reader!
We spent some time at the doctor's office for Wesley's 1 month and Caley's 5 year appointment. Caley was very compliant with her vision and hearing test, and they played "doctor" with the tools in the exam room. Later in the week we went to playgroup where the topic was China so they practiced using chopsticks, "fishing" and eating ethnic foods. We also went to an awesome park with a merry go round, or "merry go around" as Amelia calls it. They also moved rocks and helped Daddy in the back yard, there's nothing like a little manual labor to encourage character! :)
Doing school is largely doing life together, and learning together through it all. Although I am starting to feel the pressure that in September Caley will officially be a kindergartner and school will need to be somewhat more structured, or at least I'll need to make some decisions about how we will do things in the fall.
