I just read The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. This book was...I can't explain it. It was awesome. It was the best book I've read in months.
It starts out with a kid, Hugo. His father finds a mechanical man called an automaton. And then one night when he was in a museum fixing the automaton, the guard accidentally locked the doors and a fire started. Everything was burned up and Hugo was left with his uncle. When the uncle went to buy food and drinks, he went to the store and never came back. Hugo did his uncle's job for him and tried to fix the automaton himself.
Hugo gets caught stealing parts from an old man's toy shop. Hugo has to work for a few weeks to pay him back. Later he learns that the old man was the one who built the automaton. He is the long-lost great movie maker, Georges Melies. Hugo helps him remember who he is and the old man starts making movies again.
The coolest thing about this book is that there are more pictures than words. The pictures tell part of the story and then the words take over to help tell the story.
In the end, Georges Melies takes Hugo as his son, and Hugo becomes a magician. And the mechanical man does something very special at the end of the book. Here's two clues: 1) one hundred and fifty-eight and 2) twenty-six thousand one hundred and fifty-nine. You'll have to read the book to find out what it is.
You can buy this book at Borders for $22.99. The library has a copy, too, but you'll want to buy it so you can read it over and over again and see the cool pictures.
We've keep forgetting to update this blog. So here's a little update about what we've accomplished the last few months.
WACKY HALLOWEEN (October 2008)
We don't have much to share about October except the fun we had getting ready for Halloween. We decorated cookies, picked out Halloween costumes, and talked about the history of the holiday. Here Halloween is an official state holiday, so we took the day off of school.
A few days before Halloween we received a package from Grandma P. She had sent all sorts of goodies and fun. Our favorites were these glasses.
VOLCANOES (November 2008)
Ben got a Volcano kit for his birthday, so we finally got around to putting it together in November. He painted it, and together we helped it erupt! Ammon also took some time to learn a bit more about volcanoes (and rocks in general) and earned his Geologist Activity Badge for cub scouts. Here's Ben painting the volcano and a few shots of it erupting.
BASKETBALL (October-December 2008)
Ben and Daniel played basketball with the Boys and Girls Club. They had a great time learning and playing.
Ben received a trophy! (His team was the Cougars.)
Daniel received some cool wrist bands with a Cardinals logo on them! (His team was the Cardinals.)
Here's Ben racing down the court during his last game.
Here's Daniel with the ball during his last game.
THE SCRATCH PATCH (December 2008)
Grandma P. came to visit and took us to the Scratch Patch. It is a cool store that has over 2 tons of polished rocks ON THE FLOOR that you can go and play in. She bought each of us a small sack and we got to choose which rocks we wanted to take home.
Ammon and Mom spent lots of time inspecting the rocks. There were so many cool ones. Ammon's favorite were the Tiger Eye rocks.
Ben made rock angels. His favorite rocks were the spotted ones (he called them the rocks with the dots on them).
Daniel made neat piles of the ones he liked the best. He couldn't fit them all in his bag, so he had to choose only a few of his favorite. 
Lizzie buried her doll in the rocks. When we left, her bag was full of only pink rocks! 
Grace wasn't sure what to do in the rocks. Eventually she decided to eat them (not pictured).
THE GREAT BOOK PAGE-A-THON (December 2008)
You can read more about this in our last post, but we wanted you to know that WE MADE OUR GOAL a few days before the end of the year. Yes, folks! Together our family read 2009 pages in December! We had a pizza party and also meant to make an ice cream cake roll but that hasn't happened yet.
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!
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
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.
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.
