Fall Party

Kyler:
"Today, I watched a movie called 'The Mysterious Islands' for unit studies.  I watched it because we are talking about creation, and it is a movie about creation vs. evolution.  I liked how it showed animals like the blue footed booby and the black sea turtle.  My favorite part was when it told us about Charles Darwin and how he was wrong.  I also went to my brother's soccer practice and helped his coach.  My friend Mason also helped.  We played 'Kick the Coach' and Mason and I were coaches.  We also played when Brennan's team tried to shoot goals, and Mason rolled balls to them, and I retrieved them from behind the goal and in the goal.  I liked talking with Mason as we did it.  At school, I did lots of other fun things, and we caught a frog, made a habitat for it, and had a fall party.  At the party, we jumped in a pile of leaves and played a game called leaf tag where two people are at the top of the playground, and one person is at the bottom of the playground who walks around the playground to the beat of a song that everyone else chooses.  When the song ends, someone at the top says 'Fall!', and everyone on the playground has to get off the playground and run to a certain point.  I think that the party was a great success."

Ella:
"I had a great day.  You know what Kyler said about the party.  Did he tell you about the leaves we raked?  Well, we raked leaves, then we saw that there weren't enough leaves to jump in.  And, we did unit studies.  We finished a movie about creation and evolution.  Also, we pretended that we were doing a performance.  Can I tell you about it?  OK.  We were having Kyler teach us a music class.  And, we did performances after we practiced them.  The End."

Brennan:
"I did leaves.  I pulled a wagon.  I love you.  I got to do some goals and play a game where we kick the ball at the coach and throw the ball at the coach.  I read a book.  There are millions of things that I read.  I read 'There Was a Small Pig Who Wept Tears' and 'Surprise!'  and 'The Box'."

When Dinosaurs Roamed....Our Living Room!

We've been having a lot of fun with our study of creation. We found a great book called "Dinosaurs by Design", which is written for children, but explains how the evidence supports creationism, not evolutionism. Here are some of the activities we've done:

• The kids had their own dinosaur dig, except we used rice instead of dirt, and lego guy pieces for bones, which they then assembled.
• They saw the powerful effect of water on the rice, illustrating how a catastrophic flood could have created geological phenomena, such as the Grand Canyon.
• I placed "dinosaur bones" (K'nex pieces) in a bag and shook it up, and asked if they thought it had formed into a dinosaur, showing how unlikely it is that a complex creation could happen by chance.
• The kids designed and built their own dinosaurs out of K'nex peices, and we talked about how God had created us in His image, including a desire to be creative.
• We learned about several kinds of dinosaurs, including Iguanadon.  On the globe, we located some of the places in which their fossils were discovered, and we used tape measures outside to show how long and tall they were.

Brennan also got to try his hand at hat design, for crazy hat day at Kindergarten.

Cooperation...Makes It Happen...

...Cooperation...working together...Dig it!

Today was the first day of co-op!  The kids were so excited, and I heard nothing but fantastic reports when I got home.

Kyler immediately got out his Latin book and started reading the first lesson to me.  Can you imagine a 9-year-old that excited about Latin?!  He also enjoyed science.  They talked about cells and inventors from different countries, and next week they will be making edible cells (out of candy).  In P.E., they played link tag and flamingo tag and talking about different muscles.  I guess that crazy P.E. teacher knows what he's doing after all =).

They made pictures in art class which they will later cut out and make into other pictures.  Kyler liked being able to make up his own designs, and he liked using things like pieces of carpet and sponges to make patterns in the paint.  Most of all, he had fun meeting new friends, as well as seeing old ones.

Ella's favorite was recess, because she got to play tag with lots of friends and use up lots of energy.  She also enjoyed their science experiment in which the class mummified an apple slice using baking soda and salt.  Next week, they will compare it to another, non-mummified apple slice.  Of course, she loved P.E., because "My Daddy is the best P.E. teacher in the world", as she kept telling everyone all morning.  She enjoyed playing  flamingo tag amd animal red light / green light.  Finally, Ella was happy they got to eat a picnic lunch outside because of the nice weather.

Brennan spent the morning at Teacher Loekie's.  He says he "painted orange around a meeellions of green."  I'm not sure what that means, but I'm sure we'll find out.  His snack was string cheese and grapes, which he liked, but one of his friends didn't.  He got to come to co-op for lunch and the rest of the afternoon.  The favorite activities were Hi Ho Cherry-O, making play-dough that smells like cherry, and making the letter "A" with felt.

Autumnal Equinox

Brennan's tree and serpent

It's been a while! We've been very busy with school, including our afternoon unit studies, which we've been enjoying. The kids are eager to participate in discussions about passages we read together in the Bible, and they've been coming up with their own related crafts and activities for afterwards.

Ella and Kyler working on their creation timelines

Brennan's leave rubbings

Kyler's leaf rubbings

Another favorite is family exercise in the mornings. The kids take turns picking the exercise, such as riding bikes in our cul-de-sac, walking to the park and playing tag, and Simon Says. During our walk on Friday, we started picking up the first of the colorful autumn leaves. Later that day, we arranged them on the table as decorations and did some leaf rubbings.

As for today, here is what the kids had to say about it...

Kyler:
"Today I played typing games and did my second math test. I went to Brennan's soccer practice and played with my friends. We watched a movie about creation and I read creation books. I also read another book, and wrote an intro for a story. Like always, I had a great time today."

Brennan:
"Today I learned about vowels. I learned about numbers that add up to six. I wrote these two sentences:

One hen sat in a van.
One hen sat in a hat.

I read books. I love you! The end."

Ella:
"I remember when we played tag at the park. It was fun. I played with my friend Gavin. School was fun today. I wrote the words to a song called 'I Love You More Than the Stars.' I haven't figured out the tune yet, but I will figure it out soon. I did math, and a couple days ago or yesterday, I watched lesson 2. Lunch was good. The End. Bye bye."

In the Beginning

Today was a day of beginnings.  It was Brennan's first day of Kindergarten at Teacher Loekie's school.  There were mostly new faces, but there were a couple from last year and a some friends from other places there.

It was also the first day of unit studies, which happened to be about the first day ever!  Scott and the kids read and discussed Genesis 1 and did some related crafts.

Kyler:

"Today, I went to soccer practice again, and I won multiplication and division racing games online.  I also started unit studies.  In unit studies, I started a timeline and made a Earth flipping coin (west/east hemispheres).  I also rode bikes.  I wrote two letters.  I also started a book and finished one.  I had a great day."

Ella:
"I did another poem.  It was a fun one.  And I did some language arts.  I learned about a little snake that couldn't see very well, so he fell in love with a hose.  It helped me learn about capitalization.  I did unit studies today.  We did one chapter in Genesis.  We learned about a part of creation.  And then we made some crafts of the things we learned about.  And then I did cursive.  I'm learning to do cursive.  All done."

Brennan:
"Today at school I made a gate with paper.  And then I saw Boris and I ate string cheese.  I love you, everybody in my class, and in my whole family.  The End."

Welcome to Fort Diefenkid!

Today was a fun day at home school!  Some things seem to take longer on these fun days, though.  The kids' imaginations start revving up & the focus can become less important.  Fort Diefenkids was a project that was imagined, planned, and built without any adult consultation (and I'm proud to say that their engineering feat lasted all day long!).  It sure is nice to be able to re-arrange our schedule to accommodate imagination like that! - Scott

Brennan:
"I liked everything.  I wrote Ella, Kyler, Megan, and Dad in my notebook.  It made me feel happy.  I finished my whole pattern in math.  I love you, family.  And I love grandmas and grandpas and uncles and aunts and cousins."

Ella:
"I played at the park with a boy named Gavin.  It was fun.  I wrote a different version of 'The Three Little Pigs.'  I get to take my math test soon.  I almost finished lesson 1.  Lesson 1 is about units and tens and hundreds.  We did chores too!  Just like always.  We had Cocoa Krispies for breakfast.  We get to do unit studies some day."

Kyler:
"I got to go to my dad's and Brennan's soccer practices.  When I went to Brennan's soccer practice, I played with my friend Mason.  We played Bionicles and Hero Factory mixed together.  Before that, me, Ella, and Brennan built a fort by putting blankets on my and Brennan's bed like curtains.  I wrote a story called 'The Ant Who Went On', which is about an ant who was bringing a cake to a caterpillar.  The moral of the story was 'If you are doing something important, stick with it.'  I also did math in my math book.  I am excited about taking my test soon.  I also read part of my book.  My book is called 'Landslide!'  I had a great time today."

Welcome to Fort Diefenkid!

Books, books, and more books...

Yesterday was our first trip to the library to gather resources for our upcoming unit on creation.  We're going through the Bible sequentially and building a unit around selected topics, integrating subjects such as Bible, science, history, geography, art, technology, and life skills.

We came home with a rather large pile of books :).  Which is good.  I'm looking forward to getting started on the Bible portion of the unit next week, as are the kids.

The kids had their first soccer games today.  All of them played really well and had fun.  We won't talk about the scores =).  Kyler's team is the "Golden Eagles", Brennan's is the "Rockets", and Ella's is, of course, the "Butterflies".  With pink shirts.

Now we're off to the store to get supplies for our first math application project...brownies!!!

O Queen

Queen, I will give you a quilt.
O Queen, I will give you a quail.
O Queen, I will ask you a question.
Do you have a duck that quacks?

Oh yes, I do.

by Ella Diefenbaugh

"I don't go to school. I go to HOME school!"

Day three was supervised by Daddy. The kids must have enjoyed it, because I heard Ella telling her soccer coach, "I don't go to school. I go to HOME school!", with a very proud look on her face.

Ella:
"My favorite thing about today was soccer practice. I liked to see my coach. I liked the stretches. I did a split. I liked kicking the ball into the goal. For language arts in school today, I wrote a thank you email to Grandma Brownlee because she took great care of us. And I said 'Thank you, Grandma. I had lots of fun. I liked it when you took us to a water park.' That's all."

Kyler:
"My favorite thing about homeschool today was that I started math. For math, I watched a movie and learned about fractions with unit blocks. I also liked to type an email to Grandma Brownlee and keep working on my story. I had a great day."

Brennan:
"I love you. I read a book with Daddy and made a cow sign. Some day, I'm going to nail it on a pole. Not a light pole, just a wood pole."

I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

RAIN!

Today was the first day of homeschool supervised entirely by Scott. It seemed to go well. I'll get my turn on Thursday. Though I'd rather be directly involved, in a way it's fun to hear about it from the kids. Here's what they told me...

Kyler:
"Today I went to soccer practice, and I started a new grammar book. I re-read a book I had already read before. My favorite game at soccer practice is scrimmage. I also like heading and shooting. I played a bunch of math games on the computer. It helps me learn more math. I had a great time today."

Ella:
"I read 'Thumbelina'. It was a good story. We did worship today again. We actually do it every day. It was fun. I had quiet time, just like always. I played math games online, just like always. It was fun. Do you think homeschool is fun? Have you ever tried it?"

Brennan:
"I read in my reading book by myself today."

Brennan wasn't very talkative tonight, but I have to say, I'm already surprised and impressed by his work ethic in school. There was a time when I would have predicted that Brennan would be the least "academic" of the kids, but he frequently gets his math book out on his own. Today, he got one of his reading books out and read the next story, without being prompted at all.

Another advantage of homeschooling is that we can count activities outside of school hours as "school". Today, P.E. for the boys was soccer practice, though we probably shouldn't count Brennan's. It lasted about 5 minutes, due to sudden, unexpected, and torrential rain. Kyler's team continued to practice under a nearby playground shelter. Ella gets to practice tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a little drier for her!

We learned today that the boys have the same color of game shirt, and even the same number! Fortunately, Kyler's is a bigger size, so we'll be able to differentiate them in the wash.

Matching Shirts

Matching Numbers

The kids insisted that I do a top and bottom view too...

Matching Hair Color

Matching Cleats

First Day!

Today was our first day of home school!  I know most schools start tomorrow, but we wanted to take advantage of us both being home.  Plus, one of the nice things about home schooling is that we don't have to do what everyone else does...so there :).  We're not completely organized yet, but we're getting there.  Everyone's excited!

We're going to try to blog about school every day, or at least most days.  I thought I'd let the kids describe their day today in their own words.

Brennan:
"My favorite thing about today was playing games on the computer, and next was working in my math book.  I want to talk about something else.  It is my book that I read.  I read about a cat and drew a picture of the cat.  I'm going to name it 'Shoo Cat'."

Ella:
"We did quiet time in the morning and we did worship.  And we did reading and writing.  And I listened to a CD.  One song was to learn to count by twos up to twenty.  This is how it goes: '2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20.  When Jesus sends his soldiers out, He sends them two by two.  2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20.  As we go out to all the world, we march in ranks of two.'  I got to play spelling games online.  I loved it!"

Kyler:
"I want to tell you about our home school schedule.  I sang songs before breakfast, like 'Holy Fire' and 'Holy is the Lord'.  Then I had breakfast, and then we did chores, exercise, and piano practice.  Then we did rotations (online practice, instruction, and reading/writing).  For writing, I wrote four Haiku poems about a trout, an eagle, a firefly, and a sloth.  Then we had lunch and got school supplies, and we got to stay at Mud Puddles to play.  I had a great day today."

The kids really seemed to enjoy it.  I was stressed out.  But again, I'm sure it will get easier as we go.

~Megan

Yes, this photo is staged.  Ella is wearing my glasses, Kyler is looking thoughtful, and Brennan is....being himself.