Back Yard Science

See our catepillar? A few days ago while I was weeding in the backyard I found this little catepillar. K. and I brought it inside and put it in a jar with an avocado leaf and bell pepper sprouts (we had an over-abundance). It ate the bell pepper sprouts, so the next day we went back out and gathered an assortment of leaves and plants from where I found it. Of course, it likes the tomato leaves! Anyway it has almost doubled in size now.

Calendar

When K. was 2 she started asking about when things would happen, so I decided it was time to introduce the calendar. I made a two-week calendar form and put it on the bulletin board in our dining room. I labeled the days of the week and used clip art for pictures and symbols for events -- church, Cubbies, park day, grocery shopping, birthdays, sisters visiting, etc. -- and covered them with clear contact to make them last. With the two-week calendar we had the concept of what was happening this week and next week. Then on Sunday, the events that were "next week" got moved up to "this week". I also made a sun, with the center cut out to move from day to day to show which day it was. We used this for almost 2 years.

Now we use the family calendar and just put up special events (not weekly the weekly ones of church, Bible Study, groceries as she now understands what day those things happen). We use an orange highlighter to draw pictures of these events and to circle the number of the current day. I chose a highlighter because any writing on the calendar (birthdays, dr's appointments, etc.) will still show through.

Two and Two are Four

This book, by Carolyn Haywood, is about a family that moves from the city to the country. The Dad buys a farm, but he takes the train to the city to his job and there is an older couple (the Perkins) who work the farm. The isn't really about the farm, but about living in the country and the adventures that Teddy and Babs and the Perkins' grandchildren (Peter and Jane who come for the summer) have. The children have problems with a skunk and pigs. They go on a barge ride for the 4th of July, and they get a pony. There are a couple chapters that deal quite nicely with disobedient children, although I think I would have prefered Babs having to help clean her hat instead of it being done for her.

At the beginning of the book K. started saying, "I want to live on a farm." There are a couple chapters she really enjoyed and we have read them more than once.

"B" is for Betsy

This is the first book Carolyn Haywood wrote. On an historical note, it is interesting that in this book (written in 1939) the children's first year of school is first grade, but in Betsy's Little Star (written in 1950) the first year of school is kindergarten.

We really enjoyed "B" is for Betsy. It is full of fun with some suspense. K.'s favorite chapter was "How Betsy went to pick violets and got into trouble". One thing I really like about Carolyn Haywood's books is that the children call the adults Mr. or Mrs. It is really nice to read books that reinforce that.

Taffy and Melissa Molasses

This is one of my favorite books by Carolyn Haywood. Taffy and Melissa live on a farm and have a variety of wonderful adventures with Jonathan (Here Comes the Bus) during their summer vacation from school. From the surprise of a pony being born to being locked in the summer house during a rain storm to picking blueberries to being stranded on a rock their adventures this book are fun, realistic, and exciting.

Reading this book was the first time K. has ever said, "Read the next chapter". Her favorite chapter was about the 4th of July -- we've read it over a couple times. With the 4th just a couple weeks away it was quite appropriate to read this book now. Isn't it so neat how God orchestrates even what book I pick up to read!

Memorization

"Memorization is not for impressing others, but for impressing the memorizer's heart."

This is a quote from Educating the Whole Hearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson. I think I will make it into a big poster to help me remember and evalute what to have K. memorize.

Is memorizing all the presidents of the U.S. in order, the 13 times tables, or the tallest mountain on each continent to impress others, or to impress my child's heart? Are those really things my child needs to memorize or things she needs to be exposed to and understand? Am I educating my child to be a contestant on Jeopardy or a contender for Jehovah?

Hello, Star

Hello, Star, by Carolyn Haywood, is a quick read with only eight chapters. It is a look at Star's visit to her Grandparent's farm during her fifth summer, but it isn't about the farm. Star and her cousin Jerri (boy) have adventures involving racoons and swans. The main idea of the book is that wild animals are fun to watch, but you should not try to make them pets.

Independence Day

I picked up four books from the library to read to K. about the 4th of July.

• Independence Day by Helen Frost
• Independence Day by Ann Heinrichs
• Independence Day by Robin Nelson
• The Declaration of Independence by Melinda Lilly

I like parts of each one, but one skipped over the Revolutionary War and another talked more about how we celebrate today, and . . .

So I took the parts of each one that I liked, put it in my own words, and wrote my own book. I added clip art and scanned pictures from the books so it really looks pretty good. Here is the text from the book. If you like it, you can make your own!

We celebrate Independence Day every year to remember how the United States of American became a free country. Independence Day is on the 4th of July. Independence Day is the birthday of America. It is the day we decided to become a free country. Today the United States has 50 states, but the country used to be much smaller. It began with only 13 states. But before they were states, they were called colonies. The 13 colonies belonged to Great Britain. Great Britain is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. King George III was the leader of Great Britain. He made laws for the 13 American colonies. Many people in America thought the laws were unfair. They decided Great Britain should not rule America. The American colonists wanted to govern their own land. They colonies' leaders had a meeting called the Continental Congress. They talked about America being free. John Adams asked Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence says that all people are equal. They have the right to be free and to rule themselves. It says the colonies should be free states. When Jefferson was through writing he took the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress. Members of the congress liked what Jefferson wrote. They voted yes on July 4, 1776. The colonial leaders at the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence. Great Britain did not want America to be free. They fought for six years, but in 1783 the colonists won the Revolutionary War and their freedom. Every year Americans celebrate their freedom on Independence Day. We display flags and decorate with red, white, and blue. Families and friends celebrate Independence Day. They have picnics at parks and homes. Many people eat hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, watermelon, and apple pie. Communities celebrate Independence Day. They have parades during the day and firework displays at night.

I ended the book with a portion of the poem 'The Flag Goes By' by Henry Holcomb Bennett.

Penny and Peter

We finished reading Penny and Peter by Carolyn Haywood yesterday. I'm not sure which chapter was my favorite, but K.'s was when the crabs were crawling all over in the train. Penny and Peter got into some interesting scrapes and this book had us laughing a lot. It does celebrate Christmas, but there is no mention of Santa Claus.

There were some incidents that were so familiar that I'm sure I read this book when I was in elementary school. Did you know that Carolyn Haywood wrote one book almost every year from 1939 (B is for Betsy) to 1987 (Hello, Star)!

Pre-Writing Activity

Yesterday we did this really fun pre-writing activity. K. and I made a batch of bisquit dough and then formed it into numbers. We did 0 through 9 and still had some dough so we added 10, 11, 12, and 13. Then we ate them for dinner!