Fifth Wheel Requirement

Working part-time in a fifth wheel with three monkeys is...challenging. I tend to get up in the morning with The Duke and work until the kids get up (from about 4:15 a.m. until 8:00 a.m.). Alas, today was not such a day as my brain simply would not function enough to do more than turn on the coffeepot, mix up a sausage for my hubby and drink a cup of java hot out of the pot (spot o' cream please!).

So I have had to work during conscious monkey hours.

The Duke must be psychic, as he left me a present a few days earlier as a joke:

I have determined that this is a must-have. Not sure I can do this more than once a week though, as it feels like it pulls a layer of skin out of my ear canal every time I pull them out. Hmm...maybe some headphone-type noise cancellation contraption?

Fresh Starts and Giant Beer

Sorry for the train-crossing-during-morning-commute length of time that has occurred between postings!

What better way to start anew than to let you know what curriculum choices we've gone with this year!?!? That's a rhetorical question, by the way; I'm sure that you can think of better ways to begin, but I'm tired and have consumed an extra-large Corona, thanks to my sending The Duke out with a grocery list (he's more than willing, but when two 24 oz. bottles come back in place of a six-pack, I have to wonder about his ulterior motives).

So what's the latest-and-greatest?

Bible: We've just started working through Foundations 1: Creation to Christ(minus most of the extra book reading outside of the Bible itself), coupled with Exploring the Bible: Genesis. All three kids get in on this action, to different degrees. We listen according to the one-year schedule and work through according to the activities schedule, Bible drills and discussions for the olders while the younger gets a corresponding coloring page.

Spelling: McGuffey Eclectic Speller. It starts out pretty slow, but it is sequential spelling, so it will build quickly. Not sure if I'm emotionally ready for Capt'n Crash and Pumpkin to spellcheck my work though.

Grammar: Shurley Homeschool English Level 1. We stopped using this after traveling from California to Oklahoma to Arizona to Oklahoma and back to California. But we've picked it up, and it only took two rehearsals for the kids to remember the songs! Hurrah! Capt'n Crash and Pumpkin are diagramming sentences with Subject Noun, Verb, Adverb, Adjective and Article Adjectives! And yesterday saw the review of synonyms ("cinnanmons") and antonyms. While Button is still too young to work on this (she only recently mastered all of her letters and corresponding sounds), she does sing all the jingles (Noun, Verb, Sentence, Adverb, Adjective, and Article Adjective), so she's already ahead of the game.

History: Mystery of History, Story of the World Audiobook, Story of the World: Ancient Times Student Activity Book, copious amounts of Dover coloring books and paper dolls, and Netflix (oooh, Netflix, how I love thee!). All three get this to the same degree. It has actually been a bit of a battle, as the older two REALLY love history and would happily sit and color/draw for hours while I read or we listen to select portions of the audiobook. 

Science: Pumpkin is an avid lover of anything with more than two legs (since she was an itty-bitty, she had a desire to one day own a zoo...she has since modified it and has 
decided to own/operate an animal rescue center), so she is working her way through Exploring Creation with Zoology: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. She is already aout 3/4 of the way through, and wants to move to Exploring Creation with Zoology: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day next (which would be WONDERFUL along the California coast...talk about some hands-on, up-close-and-personal experience!). Capt'n Crash finds zoology interesting, but nowhere near as interesting as astronomy, so we are slowly working our way through Exploring Creation with Astronomy. Here, we also have activities such as art (drawing birds and rockets/spacecraft via "How to Draw" books, more Dover coloring books such as Birds of Prey and Space), and documentaries (Netflix again! Have I mentioned how much I love Netflix?). Button sits around and listens to both lessons while cutting paper (her newest obsession...emptying the vacuum canister always seems to result in showers of confetti).

Math: Pumpkin has already finished Teaching Textbooks: Math 4 and is taking a break from standard textbook-type math to learn about the "Real World" application of the concepts by working through Your Business Math: Pet Store. Talk about some "oy vey" experiences! For all of the headache, learning how to calculate percentages (markup pricing, advertising revenue), she LOVES it! It is more in-depth than I thought it would be and I am extremely impressed with it! Capt'n Crash already passed the halfway point in Teaching Textbooks: Math 3 and absolutely adores it. He primarily uses the CD-ROMs, but has worked through about a week's worth of lessons out of the book while we were on the road and did not have computer access. Button is still playing around with Math-U-See Primer, learning what the numbers look like, tens and units, how to recognize patterns, working on her fine motor skills to write her numbers. 

Reading: Both Pumpkin and Capt'n Crash are working through McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader right now. I've started Pumpkin on Reading Comprehension as well, and she is currently working her way through Little House in the Big Woods (which we picked up for 50c at a thrift store...hurray! We have almost the entire collection now, as I've been finding them over the last four years at thrift stores, all for $1/each or less!), coupled with the Comprehension Guide from Veritas Press. Capt'n Crash is an insatiable reader, and the basic Kindles that we bought with my parents for the older two have been well-used...Capt'n Crash has read every Thomas the Tank Engine Kindle book available through the Overdrive systems we have access to (we're up to four available library systems now!), as well as books on Galileo Galilei, Solar System, etc. If it is in his reading range, it doesn't stand a chance! Button is read to and listens to audiobooks frequently. Still, I want us to start reading through The Peleg Chronicles together. I've already read through them and am excited to find a Biblically-based epic series!

Miscellaneous: Pumpkin is currently working on learning to play the guitar that Uncle B. bought for her; Uncle B. also loaned us his Pimsleur Spanish course, but we haven't quite started working through that yet. The Duke had originally wanted us to learn Japanese, but has since decided that Spanish is probably the way to go for now.

This isn't the entire list, as I'm always finding fun stuff online (such as Math Invaders), but it does give a pretty good idea of what we do and where we're headed. One really nice aspect to homeschooling is that, with the exception of Capt'n Crash's Astronomy material, one purchase works for three kids (i.e. as Pumpkin finishes one year of math, Capt'n Crash is working through the material she previously finished, and Button is working through the material that Capt'n Crash finished a couple years ago). So while the initial investment of $120 for Teaching Textbooks seems pricey, I just remember that it works out to $40/student, so saving for a few months for a piece of curriculum doesn't emotionally hurt as much.