The Great Book Page-a-thon

You already know how much we like to read around here. And we have just started another reading challenge, and we want to challenge your family, too!

It is....(drumroll, please)...The Great Book Page-a-thon!!!!!!

Between now and the end of the year, we challenge your family to read a total of 2009 pages (in honor of the new year fast approaching). It can be from any book, and each member of the family can contribute to the total. We do recommend that you read books on your reading level, but smaller books read to non-readers do count. We also recommend that at least one page a day come from the scriptures (or whatever spiritual book you hold in high esteem).

We are already up to 259 pages just today! (It helps that we can read picture books to Elizabeth.)

If we reach our goal, we get a PARTY!!!!! You can party with us, too. Come join our Great Book Page-a-thon!

The Spelling Breakthrough

Today I, Ammon, figured out how to spell words.

You may wonder why I didn't learn this before, but spelling has always been hard for me to do. I can read the words just fine, but trying to write them down hasn't worked well.

But today my mom and I sat down and figured out exactly where I needed help, then she showed me how to fix it so I could learn to spell.

And guess what?! She gave me a HARD word from the 8th grade spelling list (the word was 'antibiotic'). AND I SPELLED IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!!!! She gave me more words from the same list (predicament, orthopedic, antithesis), and I spelled them right, too!

I CAN SPELL!!!! HOORAY!!!!!



Mom's Note: You should have seen his chest swell with pride when he got that first word right. I knew he had it in him but we just needed to find the lightswitch to turn on his brilliance. I am so proud of him. FYI he could also spell the smaller words he was struggling with just a few weeks ago. It really was as if a light went on inside his head. This really was a spelling breakthrough for him.

God's Creations poem by Ammon

God's Creations
By Ammon

Galaxies of worlds unknown.
Oceans of waves overlapping one another.
Deserts of sand blowing in the wind.
Sunrise and sunset on a beautiful day.
Comets racing across the sky.
Rainbows of colors after a rainfall.
Elephants trumpeting their happiness.
Apples and bananas growing from the trees.
Tiger moms cuddling with their cubs.
Icebergs, cold and white and frozen.
Ostriches, dark and big and fast.
Night is now setting, so
See all that God has created.

NOTE: This is an acrostic poem. You can read the definition of acrostic here.

MOM'S NOTE: Yes, he really did write this himself. I helped him brainstorm ideas but these were his words.

The Month in Review--September

NOTE: The week in review was getting to be a little too much to keep up with (not to mention a little boring), so I've switched to the Month In Review format instead. That will free up some time to focus on the more interesting/exciting things happening in our homeschool. --Elissa

We accomplished so much in September! Our co-op is turning out great! We all love our classes and Mom says that it isn't as bad as she thought it would be to spend six hours on Tuesdays at the school.

By the end of the month, here's where we all stood in our schooling:

AMMON

-Math: Math-U-See Beta weeks 4-12.
-History: From the fall of Rome (about 286 AD) through the Byzantine Empire with Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora (527-565 AD).
-Grammar: Letters lessons (practiced the proper way to write and address a letter) and Well-Trained Mind First Language Lessons Level 3 Lessons 1-9 (nouns, forming plurals of nouns, pronouns, memorizing The Land of Nod by Robert Louis Stevenson).
-Science: The study of Sound (half of the six-week unit at co-op). Also did cooking projects, participated in a Science night at Ben's pack night, and listened to Ben's and Daniel's science lessons (see Ben's post).
-Reading: Various books--he really didn't keep track of the titles. Did finish "The Silver Chair" by C.S. Lewis (book 5 in The Chronicles of Narnia series) and started "The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Jester during read-aloud time with Mom.
-Art: In ceramics he made pinch pots (some plain and others with designs on the side), a pinch plate, a coil coaster to place the pinch pots on. In drawing/painting he drew scribble art, drew a boot (realistic drawing), and then did an owl with charcoal. At home he also made a Byzantine-inspired mosaic with paper squares and crafted his own "Barbarian" war axe from cardboard.
PE: Tag games, relay races and scooter games at co-op. At home, rode his bike and dueled with brothers using toy lightsabers or anything else that could be turned into a "weapon." Lots of running involved in that!

BEN

-Math: Math-U-See Alpha lessons 1-4 (place value, counting to 100, adding +0)
-History: See Ammon's history section above.
-Grammar: First Language Lessons Level One lessons 1-13 (intro to nouns, dictation, memorizing The Caterpillar by Christina G. Rosetti).
-Science: Animals (Rhino, Buffalo, Giraffe, toucan).
-Reading: The Magic Treehouse #2: The Knight at Dawn. Various Dr. Seuss books (his favorite).
-Art: In Ceramics class did pinch pots and coil plates. At home he also made a Barbarian war axe with cardboard.
-PE: Same as Ammon (see above).

DANIEL

-Math: Counting, sorting, shapes. No formal math program, just everyday math.
-History: See Ammon's history section above.
-Science: Animals (see Ben's science section above).
-Reading/Phonics: Worked on ABC book (added pictures of things on the proper letter page) and practices letter sounds while doing it. Also worked on a few lessons in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Mom. Not quite ready for more, so Mom put it aside to focus on phonics with him.
-Art: See Ben's ceramics above. Also did paper mosaics with Ammon and lots of drawing on his own.
-PE: Participated in brother duels (see Ammon's PE section above).

ELIZABETH

Since she is still really young, even for preschool, she mostly worked on her colors and shapes with Mom. She also loves to spend time painting and dancing to music. She also worked on phonics with Daniel.

GRACE

She mastered the art of sitting up and worked on learning to crawl.

Is It Math? Is It Science? It's Cooking Time!

Earlier this week we quickly finished up our schoolday in order to free up some time to do a cooking project. We needed snacks to take to school, so Mom decided it would be fun to make them.

First we started with making soft pretzels. We each helped Mom dump the ingredients into the mixer, and then we set the dough aside to rise.

While it was rising, we made peanut butter balls. It was fun taking the "peanut butter dough" and rolling it into balls, then rolling the ball into powdered sugar or crushed corn flakes. Those went into the fridge and out came the pretzel dough.

We rolled the dough into long snakes. Then Mom showed us how to make a U shape with the dough and fold each end to make a pretzel shape. It was hard for some of us, be we all managed to figure it out eventually.

Then Mom plopped them in boiling water for a little bit and then shook salt all over them. Then we put them into the oven to finish cooking.

YUM! They were so good! At first we were unhappy that they wouldn't be like the crunchy pretzels we buy from the store, but they were so good that we ate the entire batch right then and had to make a second one for school the next day!

And we tried the peanut butter balls, too. YUMMY! But there were enough of those that we didn't need to make another batch. Besides, we were getting full from all the pretzels we ate.

So was it math we learned? Yes. We counted the cups of flour and figured out how many 1/2 cupfuls of honey we would need to equal 2 cups. We also learned time as we calculated what time the dough would be finished rising.

Was it science we learned? Yes. We talked about how dough rises (thanks to the yeast) and learned about friction and ways to reduce it as dough stuck to the table and we put oil down to stop it from sticking.

But most of all, it was Cooking Time! We love Cooking Time!

Week In Review, Sep. 15-19

Sorry it's a bit late, but here's what we accomplished last week in our homeschool.

AMMON-attended his Lego, Science, PE, Painting/Drawing and Ceramics classes at the coop. (See previous two posts about these classes.) He finished two more weeks worth of math (lessons 8 and 9) and two grammar lessons. And he read a few books. We started reading Norton Juster's The Phantom Toolbooth together (Mom's reading it outloud to us boys).

BEN-attended his Lego, Toy-Making, PE, Ceramics and Hands-On Math classes at the coop. He completed week 3 in math and also read on his own.

DANIEL-attending his Lego, Toy-Making and Ceramics classes at the coop. He also started working on his ABC book. He has a page for each letter of the alphabet and he picks pictures out of magazines that begin with the letter and pastes them into his book. So far he is filling the letter pages in at random while working on the sounds each letter makes.

ELIZABETH-more painting. She also worked on her shapes and colors with Mom and went to story time at the coop.

GRACE-worked on figuring out how to crawl some more. That's all she ever does, except eat our homework when we leave it on the floor.

TOGETHER-we learned about when Christianity came to England and learned about the monasteries there. We made our own illuminations (the brightly colored pictures the monks made in the books they copied). When Mom gets the camera working again we'll try to take pictures of these cool things. We also learned about Giraffes for science. Did you know that a giraffe NEVER takes a bath for its whole life? Mom said "Ewww!" but Ben said "Giraffes are so lucky!"

Co-op School, Day Two

Yesterday was our second day at our co-op school. We had classes that lasted ALL day. Here are the classes we took yesterday:

9:00-10:00am was Ammon's P.E. class. He played tag games like Raptor Tag, Missionary Tag and Toilet Tag.

10:10-11:10am was Ben's P.E. class. He also played tag games. He said Freeze tag was his favorite.

11:20am-12:20pm Ammon had drawing/painting class. He drew doodle art and turned squiggles into pictures. At the same time Ben and Daniel had their ceramics class, where they learned how to work with clay.

12:50-1:50pm was supposed to be Ben's Hands-On Math class, but they still didn't have a teacher this week so class was cancelled.

2:00-3:00pm was Ammon's ceramics class. He made a clay pot.

Elizabeth and Grace spent the day in the Commons with Mom. Elizabeth painted, laced a picture (used a shoelace and went in and out of holes in a picture), drew shapes with the help of some templates, watched a DVD about letter sounds, and played with the older girls who were inbetween classes. She also got to go to her own "class." From 9:30-10:00 am one of the mom's had story time for the 3-5yos. In the afternoon she also played a few board games that the school has available.

Grace just crawled around and tried to eat anything within reach. She also took a few naps.

Also, after school Mom took us over to the Boys and Girls Club and got all the boys registered for Basketball! HOORAY! And since Ammon's basketball doesn't start until January, Mom also let him sign up for Gladiator for the fall season. Gladiator is a combination of Capture the Flag, Dodgeball and Flag Football.

Elizabeth wants to take dance lessons but since they cost too much she wasn't able to sign up for anything.

That was our very long day! It was fun be we were glad to get home at the end of the day.

The First Day of Co-op School

Today was the first day of our co-op school. We go to classes at the Family Learning Center, which is a special co-op school in our school district. We have classes on Mondays and Tuesdays. Here was our schedule for today:

9:00-10:00 am--Ammon had Lego class. Today he just sorted Legos back into their right places because the internet was down so they couldn't go to the Lego website and do the introduction that their teacher had planned.

10:10-11:10 am--Ben and Daniel had Lego class. They did the same thing Ammon did.

11:20 am -12:20 pm--Ammon had science class where he did sound experiments. It was cool because he had to memorize a certain sound and listen for it. Ben and Daniel went to their Toy Making Class (yes, it really is a toy making class). They each made a paper ball-catching game. You know, those cups with the ball attached, and the object of the game is to catch the ball in the cup. It was super cool to bring home a toy!

Mom, Elizabeth and Grace waited in the Commons while the boys were in classes. Elizabeth painted a picture, ate a snack, played with a magnet game that taught the four seasons, and played with the other younger siblings waiting too. Grace just crawled around and tried to eat everyone's shoes (and her toys,too).

Tomorrow we will tell you all about our long day at the co-op. We can't wait to go back. The classes are really small but totally fun!

Week in Review, Sep. 8-12

We had another good week. Here's what we accomplished:

TOGETHER: History was about the Celts, the first known people in England. Did you know they used to paint themselves blue before battle? Weird. We read a chapter out of our history book and made our own Celtic double-edged war axes out of cardboard, foil and twine (they were COOL). We also read an old Celtic tale, Finn MacCoul. For science we learned about buffalo, both the Asian and African versions and our own American bison.

Ammon: Week 6 and 7 in math, cursive writing, grammar lessons 3 and 4 (plus lesson 2 in writing letters), reading and spelling.

Ben: Week 2 in math, grammar lessons 3-5, reading and spelling (another 100%!), and he wrote and illustrated a story about blue people who like hot dogs, standing on their heads and the color yellow.

Daniel: Practiced writing the alphabet, dictated and illustrated a story about blue people who had lava that came out of their feet, and read books with Mom.

Elizabeth: Also wrote and illustrated a story about blue lava people. Read books with Mom, too.

Grace: Worked on her hands and knees (i.e. she's learning to crawl)!

The Week in Review--Sept 1-5

Our homeschool has officially started. Here's our week in review:

Together--We read a chapter about the end of the Roman empire in our history book, The Story of the World, Vol. 2 (it covers the Medieval period). Our history activity was to make our own Roman pillar out of cookie dough (which we then cooked and ate to symbolize the "barbarians" who conquered/destroyed the empire). For science we learned about rhinos. Did you know the horn on a rhino's head is not bone but similar to what our hair is made out of? Weird, huh!

Ammon--Finished week 4 and week 5 in his math book (he's catching up so he's working quickly through this math book). He did the first three weeks throughout the summer break. He also completed the first two lessons in his grammar book, which was mostly review but gave him more writing than previously, and a lesson on letter writing. He also completed his spelling and reading.

Ben--Finished week 1 in his math book. He did the first two grammar lessons and has started to memorize the poem, The Butterfly, by Christina G. Rosetti. He took his very first spelling test and got every single word correct the first time! He also did some reading of his choice. For art he painted with watercolors.

Daniel--Worked through some lessons in Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. He also watercolored.

Elizabeth--Painted and painted until her heart was content. She really loves to paint.

Two Fieldtrips while on Vacation

We went on vacation to visit our family back in Utah this month. While we were there, our mom and Aunt Erin and Grandma Putnam took us on two cool fieldtrips.

CHEESE FACTORY


On August 13th we went to the Deseret Cheese Co. in Uintah, Utah and took a tour of their cheese factory. Only Aunt Erin and Connor came with us on this fieldtrip. The cheese factory owner gave us these cool hats to wear so that our hair would not fly around and accidentally fall into the cheese vats.


We went in the back and saw the big silver vats full of milk, and we watched as they siphoned off the whey from the curds (they taught us that the whey is the yellowy water stuff and the curds is the thicker cheese stuff).


Then they took us into their huge fridge. It was a warehouse fridge full of aging cheese! This is a picture of Elizabeth down one aisle of the fridge. We only stayed inside for a few minutes but we were cold! The tour ended with samples of "squeaky cheese" for everyone to try. Squeaky cheese is what our mom calls fresh cheese curds because it squeaks on your teeth when you eat it. Everyone except Ammon tried it.



UTAH STATE CAPITOL



On Saturday, August 16th we went with all our cousins and Aunt Erin and Grandma Putnam to the Utah State Capitol. A copy of the Declaration of Independence was on display inside, and we wanted to see it. Ben asked if this was the building where the President lived.


We waited in line for about 15 minutes and then Mom went to see how long the line really was. It wound around the entire building! The Declaration stood in the middle of the building directly below the Rotunda (the circular top to the building). So instead we got a glimpse of the Declaration from a distance and spent some time climbing the huge staircases and staring up at the painted ceiling of the Rotunda then decided to go home. We are glad we did. As we were leaving we heard one family talking about how they had stood in line for six hours and didn't get to see the Declaration up close. They had finally left, disappointed, because the wait was just too long.

Another Reading Challenge Update

CONGRATS AMMON! Ammon filled in his last spot on his reading chart today! He has read 1000 minutes!

CONGRATS BEN! Ben has just reached 600 minutes!

CONGRATS DANIEL AND ELIZABETH! They have filled in more than half of their reading game chart and are well on their way to earning a free book!

How about the rest of you? Are you keeping up with us?

Book Report on "Time Warp Trio: 2095" by Ammon

I recently read "2095", a book in the Time Warp Trio series by Jon Scieszka. In this book there are three characters, Fred, Sam and Joe. They have this book and touched some numbers in it and they went in time to the year 2095.

They met their great grandkids in the future. There was a cellbot that tried to kill them, but in the end it was just a hologram of things to buy. Fred goes up to this shop and buys some anti-gravity disks that hook onto your shirt. And they met Sam's Uncle Joe, who had given him the time-travel book. Then Uncle Joe flipped open the cover of his watch and he said some magic words and then he zapped them back into the time when Blackbeard the pirate was alive. Then they went back in time to all the places they had traveled to before with the book and end up right back in 2095. In order to go home, they have to find The Book (Sam's magic time-travel book) wherever it is hiding in that year.

In the end, they find the book in the museum. The director of the museum opens The Book and Sam punches in the numbers and they go home.

What I liked about this book was that is was funny. I liked the part when they were floating with their anti-gravity disks and a giant talking roll of toilet paper was rolling away from them, then the kids used it like a ramp and jumped high in the air. I think you should read this book because it's funny, it's fun to read and it's a good adventure.

--Ammon

Fieldtrip: Bagel Factory

Today Mom took us to visit a bagel factory to see how bagels are made. We also went with some of our homeschooled friends.

We got to see them stick the bagels in the huge steam oven, we watched them teach us how to dip a bagel to get the seeds or onions on top, and we even watched one lady braid challah bread. This is a picture of us next to the really big mixer. Holy cow! It was BIG!

They also let each of us make our own bagel. But first we had to put on our "chef hats." They were silly, but we put them on anyway!

Then we each were given an uncooked bagel. We could sprinkle them with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, colored sprinkles and rock sugar. So we used all of them, of course.

Then we baked them for about 10 minutes and took them home to eat them. They were too hot to eat at the factory, but once we tried them they were YUMMY!

What a cool fieldtrip.

Reading Challenge Update

Just an update on our reading challenge.

Ammon has reached 500 minutes!

Ben is very close to reaching 300 minutes!

Where are you in our reading challenge? Leave a comment and let us know.

Our Summer Reading Challenge

On Monday our library system started its summer reading program. We happened to be at the library on the day it started. So we all signed up for a summer of reading fun. The pre-readers (Daniel and Elizabeth) earn a free book for completing a summer reading game, and for the readers (Ammon and Ben) 500 minutes of summer reading earns a Personal Pan pizza from Pizza Hut and 1000 minutes earns a set of binoculars. And if the we finish before August 31st, we are entered into a drawing to win a free laptop computer!

Thinking about all this reading made us wonder, how much does everyone else read? So we set up a poll to find out. Please take it and let us know how much reading goes on in your day.

We also offer a challenge: we'd like to see if you can read at least 1000 minutes this summer along with us. Ammon is already up to 300 minutes and Ben's at 100 minutes (and it's only Day 3 of the program), so if we can do it you can, too.

Please leave a comment telling us how far you get in our reading challenge and maybe, just maybe, we'll send you a prize if you read 1000 minutes before August 31st.

This challenge is for you adults, too. We dare you to read more than we do!

Come Join Our School

We wanted a place to share what we do in our homeschool. Though it is officially summer now, we tend to homeschool year-round. Ammon is now in 4th grade. Benjamin is now a first grader. And Daniel joins us as a kindergartner. Elizabeth rounds out the preschool side of our homeschool and Grace tags along as well.

From exploding volcanoes to mock battles to pages of math facts, come join in the fun.