Our Pumpkin Study

About a week and a half ago, we visited a local pumpkin patch for a day of fall fun for the whole family.  We came home with a few brilliant orange treasures, so we’ve taken a couple of days to learn a little bit about these paragons of beauty and tastiness of the autumn season.

1.  The Books We Read-

The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons- a great introduction to pumpkins and their life cycle.

From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer- another book with great pictures and explanations of the life cycle of the pumpkin.

The Very Best Pumpkin– a sweet tale of friendship and growing pumpkins.

Pumpkin Soup– another story about friendship, working together, and getting along.

Pumpkin Town– We all laughed our way through this silly and very enjoyable book about pumpkin vines that take over a small town.

2.  Nature Study-

After reading about the pumpkin and its life cycle, we drew the life of a pumpkin.  A few days later, they were able to explain in some detail about how a pumpkin grows.  I was impressed.

Then we added a page to our nature journals with a drawing of the outside and inside of a pumpkin.  At first, after her first glance, Princess K refused to even look at -let alone draw- the insides of the pumpkin.  She declared it too icky.  Eventually, she warmed up to the project and though she still would not touch the insides, she drew them.

You can see the look on this girl’s face- she is not interested in the inside of a pumpkin

3.  Art Projects-

We all had a great time making pumpkin pie play dough and then the kids had a blast playing with it for a long time.  We used the recipe from Dresses and Messes.  This play dough really did have a great texture to it.  I pulled out some cookie cutters- along with a pumpkin one, of course- and let them go to town.  They built what they called an Ant Playground and then went outside to try to recruit some ants for their project.  What interesting ideas my kids have.

We also used the idea and tutorial from Hodge Podge to draw pumpkins with our pastel chalk.  We really enjoyed it and they turned out vaguely like pumpkins.  Success!

4.  Baking Projects-

After reading Pumpkin Soup, we worked together to make Pumpkin Soup for lunch.  It was delicious, though my kids only had a few sips before they were done.

Pumpkin Soup and Roasted Seeds

We also roasted the seeds and this afternoon, I am going to spice them up with some sugar and pumpkin pie spice.  I am greatly looking forward to that delicious snack.

In the next few days, I also plan to make pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin pancakes.  I absolutely love the flavors of fall!

Pumpkin Patch Fieldtrip

Last weekend, the family went to the local corn maze and pumpkin patch for a day of family fun.  We brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed the warm, sunny autumn day.  Daddy and the kids loved climbing the huge hay stack and Z- urchin made an equestrian friend.

Climbing the Hay

 

An Equestrian Friend

After lunch, we headed over to the Amazing Corn Maze.  Daddy refused to pay the extra dollar for the map of the corn maze and though that seems like a set-up for a horror tale, as it turns out, we did very well without it.  He had a rule: choose one direction and always turn that direction.  So that’s what we did.  The older two kids led the way and they did well always choosing the left path any time there was a choice to be made.  I believe that they used their hand stamp to help remind them which direction to turn- Princess always turned in the direction of her hand stamp, X-man always the other direction than his hand stamp.

In the Corn Maze

There were two look out stations in the middle of the maze and it was fun to see how far we had walked.  And then we also saw how far there was to go.  It sure looked like a large field of corn.

Look out point

Eventually, Z-urchin got quite tired and so got himself a shoulder ride thus tiring out his parents.  Just when I thought I could not carry him any farther, we turned a corner and we were out!  It took us 45 minutes.  We were so proud.

Got a bit tired

We decided to head over to the pumpkin patch area and got sidetracked by an awesome activity.  A huge sandbox like contraption full of dried corn kernels.  The kids had a blast.

Finally, we made it to the pumpkins.  X-man really wanted to take home the biggest pumpkin he could find.  I have to admire his tenacity: he rolled that thing very far to attempt to convince us.   I had brought the magnifying glasses and X-man and Princess K enjoyed peering closely at the pumpkins, their stems and leaves.  Princess K noticed that when close-up, the pumpkins are yellow with orange lines running through them.  In the end, we selected three medium sized pumpkins and X-man helped carry them over to the stall to pay for them.

Z-urchin watching X-man roll his pumpkin to the family

Taking a closer look

Carrying the pumpkins

When we were in line, we got a wheelbarrow to put the pumpkins- and our littlest pumpkin- in and I was reminded of last year when we came here.  I took a picture of Shortstop in a wheelbarrow.  I’m feeling a little sentimental about these two pictures side-by-side.  How he’s grown!

Shortstop in a wheelbarrow: last year and last week

Homemade Alphabet Book: S

S is for sand, smiles, Star Wars guys, and stars.

Teaching Among Tornadoes: Trick #6, Pipe Cleaner Sculpture

The past several weeks, I have been posting my attempts at keeping my preschooler happy and occupied so that I can get some school done with my older two.  Today, we tried an idea I’ve seen several times on preschool busy bag sites:

Trick #6- Pipe Cleaner Sculpture.

I gave Z-urchin a bunch of pipe cleaners, some big buttons, and a colander.  I thought I would need to demonstrate what to do, but nope.  He totally had this one covered.  He spent over 20 minutes sliding buttons on pipe cleaners and sticking the pipe cleaners through the colander holes.  The only problem was that (like the Hot Dots, Jr. and the stamps) my older children really just wanted to play pipe cleaner sculpture with their little brother.

Conclusion: Try this again from time to time and be sure to leave a little time for the older kids to play too!

 

Preparing the Hearts of my Children for Jesus

When I was pregnant with my first child, I spent a lot of time preparing for his arrival.  My husband and I attended a 12 week birth preparation class.  We read books like Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and Signing Smart for Babies and Children.  We rented the video Happiest Baby on the Block and memorized the 5 S’s.  We spent a great deal of time selecting the right furniture and then decorating and setting up the nursery.  I diligently washed and folded all of the tiny little onesies and sweet little outfits and placed them carefully in little baskets and drawers. I had my hospital bag packed and the car seat buckled in the car a month ahead of time.  When our little boy finally arrived, we were ready.

With our second, things were a little different.  I did set up the baby’s area and put her clothes in baskets and I did pack my hospital bag, but with only two weeks to go instead of four.  The carseat was attached in the seat about 5 minutes before we left for the hospital.   I cut it a little closer with my third, getting my preparations done about a week ahead of time.

And then with number four, I pulled out the box of baby boy clothes the weekend before he was due and I packed my hospital bag the day before he arrived.  My husband had to go back home for the carseat and the evening of the day we brought him home, my husband went to the store to get a bassinet, since our other one had broken and we didn’t check it or set it up until we came home from the hospital.

Careful preparation for my first-born son

How different my preparations were with my first and subsequent children.  It is a reflection, I suppose, of the calmness that comes with experience and the business that comes with having children underfoot.

Lately, I have been studying Mark.  In the very first few verses of the book, I see the care that God takes to prepare the world for the arrival of His First-Born Son.

” The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way,
 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
    ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight,’”

Mark 1:1-3 

God had been preparing for hundreds of years for the arrival of His Son.  He told Adam and Eve that He would come.  He promised Abraham that He would come from one of his descendents.  He prescribed feast days, most significantly the Passover, to give a picture of what His Son would do when He came.  He told prophets details of His birth place and His life’s work.  He prepared a messenger ahead of time to soften and prepare the hearts of the people so that they would be ready for the Messiah and His message.

“John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  Mark 1: 4-8 

This messenger, John the Baptist, preached a message of repentance so that the people would see their need for a Savior.  He was a godly example to the people as did not seek after possessions and the finer things of life, but lived for the purpose to which God had called him.  Though he enjoyed great success in his ministry he glorified the Lord and pointed to the Messiah as one greater than himself.

As God through John the Baptist prepared His people’s hearts for His Son, I want to take care to prepare my children’s hearts to follow Jesus throughout their lives.  So I can do the things that John the Baptist did for the people of Israel:

1.  Show them their Need:  Daily Bible lessons and stories can reveal God’s character and standards, His mercy, justice, and compassion.  Whenever shepherding or discipline opportunities arise, I can use them to show my children their need for Christ.

2.  Be an Example: I can only do this through Christ’s strength, but because of His grace, even my failures can be opportunities to point them to Christ and show them how to live.  When I do wrong and apologize, they learn to repent.  When I start my morning with prayer and in the Scriptures, they learn how to have a relationship with Christ.  When we worship the Lord together as a family, they experience its significance and beauty.  When I pray before them for our needs or about our problems, they learn what to do when they struggle.  When I bring them with my to deliver a meal or help a friend, they learn the joy of serving others.

3.  Point to Jesus: There are opportunities every day to see the glory of God and the work of Jesus in the world.  As I thank the Lord aloud for our blessings and point out His beautiful creation and notice His hand in all of our lessons and in our life, they can see Jesus.  And hopefully, with hearts softened and ready, be drawn closer to Him every day.

So my prayer is that I will take greater care in preparing their hearts for Jesus than I spent in preparing their rooms for their arrival.  (You know, A LOT more care.)

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”  Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Memorable Moments: Pilgrims, Nature Walks, & Narnia

After last week’s lovely catch-up week, we were refreshed and ready to resume our regular schooling and studies.  The weather was nice and autumn is beautiful, so we took a lot of nature walks this week.  Our math focus this week was clocks and we kept plugging away at our handwriting and phonics work.

Our top five awesome moments this week:

1.  Pilgrims- We began our studies of pilgrims this week by reading Pilgrims of Plimoth and starting the book Stories of the Pilgrims.  We began our studies on Monday when I sent the kids into the time machine while I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.  When they came out, I was dressed up as a pilgrim!  Well, sort of.  I had a tablecloth wrapped around my waste, cloth napkins as my collor and apron, and a basket liner hat.  The kids were pretty amazed anyway and asked me all sorts of questions about my family and my life and I told them to call me Mrs. Eaton.  Every day that I read to them from Pilgrims of Plimoth, I was dressed like that pilgrim.  I really look forward to next week when I read them Sarah Morton’s Day and Samuel Eaton’s Day.

2.  Our enthusiasm last week for drawing led us to want to continue this enjoyable pasttime this week.  So instead of having our normal notebooking pages for history, I pulled out my Draw Write Now book that contains directions for drawing pilgrimy things and we drew a picture that matched our reading every day.  It was a lot of fun and I have to admit that I spent more time on my pictures than the kids did on theirs.  They were off playing while Mommy was finishing her schoolwork.

A sample of our pictures this week

3.  Our nature walks and studies were great fun and the time we spent jumping in the autumn leaves was enchanting.  A beautiful, breezy day with the fragrance of fallen leaves, and the laughter of delighted children- a perfect moment in time.  We also drew seeds and leaves in our nature journals and identified a few trees, which made us feel very proud of ourselves.

4.  Baking zucchini bread and muffins with the kids and then eating them- yum!

5.  Friday Family Fun Night this week included pizza, popcorn, and the movie, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe.  The kids loved it and it was so much fun to watch it all together.  This morning, the boys found some swords and we made a bow for Princess K- I’m sorry, excuse me, I  mean Queen Susan- and they played Narnia battles.

Once a King or Queen in Narnia, always a King or Queen

Homeschool Teaching Techniques: 5 Tips for Teaching Bible

Bible is the most important subject I teach my kids.  In fact, God’s truth and good news revealed in the Scriptures is  foundational and central to all that we learn and do.  As they grow, learn to read, develop maturity and understanding, my methods for teaching the Bible to my children will change.  For now, I want to introduce them to the Lord through the stories He tells about Himself and His dealings with the people of this world.

To that end, I came up with a plan for going through the Highlights of the Old and New Testaments.   With Penny Gardner’s list as a reference and skimming through the Bible, I listed 180 Old Testament stories (with a theme for each of the 36 weeks) and 180 New Testament stories (again, with a theme for each week).

That is the backbone of our Biblical studies.  I want to share with you my 5 favorite strategies for teaching the Bible in our homeschool classroom:

A Joyful Noise with Breakfast

1.  Bible with Breakfast:  I think that starting the day with the most important subject is a good practice.  It reminds us all of our priorities and it starts us off on the right foot and sets the mood (at least for me!) for the whole day.  Given that, I have found the best success with doing our Bible lesson during -or right after- breakfast.

It is convenient, for the kids are already at gathered at the table.  Mentally, it is helpful for me to start school so early- I have found that I am more likely to keep the ball rolling with school for the day if I have started at breakfast.  Finally, even if nothing else gets done for the day, we have at least done the most important thing.

2.  Begin with a Hymn:  I’ll be honest here.  I’m actually not my best in the morning.  I find myself a little too sharp, impatient, short with anyone who tries to talk to me.  So beginning the morning with my children by worshiping the Lord together is beautiful and uplifting.  I love it.  It is precious.  It helps me not snap their heads off when they ask for more food.

We do a hymn a month (chosen to correlate somehow with our Bible stories) and when we are first learning the hymn, I will play it on YouTube for the children and we sing along with it.  After that, we just sing together a capella.

3.  Flannelgraph:  Several years ago, I purchased a set of Betty Lukens flannelgraph.  It was a lot of work to cut out all the pieces (over 600 figures).  But it was well worth the effort.  The figures are absolutely beautiful and vibrant and my children love having the story told to them with flannelgraph.  It is true that this is a very old-fashioned medium, but every child I’ve taught- my own, or in Sunday School- is very drawn to the use of flannelgraph.  And then they want to play with it!

4.  Narration:  After I tell the story, I want my children to tell me back what they just heard.   I usually have to ask a few questions to encourage them to remember it all.  Then often, we discuss what the passage teaches us about how we should live or what God is like.  We have had many deep and interesting conversations come from these discussions.  These conversations are the very best part of our whole homeschool.

Often, I will help them narrate by using the flannelgraph to aid their memory.  Eventually, I would like them to use the flannelgraph to tell back the story.  (Just not when they’ve just had syrup with their pancakes.)  We will also occasionally act out the story we’ve just heard and I have plans to have them make popsicle stick puppets someday to narrate the story.  And then practice it to give a show to Daddy!

5.  Bible Journal:  They have composition books where each page has half a page blank for drawing purposes.  Right now, about once a week or so, I have the children choose a story from that week to illustrate in their journal.  Then they dictate to me the story and I write it down for them.  I have been impressed with the details that they remember from the stories.  They love drawing and telling me these stories and so their Bible journals are quite a treasure.

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Fun with Fall Colors & Textures

This week, we have spent a good deal of time outside completing our October Colors & Textures Grid from The Outdoor Hour Challenge.  We’ve enjoyed the activities and the sunny, warm, and breezy weather.

We started by finding a leaf that has more than one color.  I sent the kids on a treasure hunt to find leaves with more than one color on them and they returned with all sorts of leaves.  We found red and brown leaves, red and yellow leaves, red and green leaves, brown and yellow leaves, and green and yellow leaves.

We arranged some of the leaves we collected into a beautiful colorful leaf collage on the grass.

 

I really love those bright, shiny red leaves! Wow!

We looked around at tree trunks, searching for different colors of tree bark.  Most of the trees we saw were gray.  However, we did find some tall redwood trees- with reddish brown bark- lining the walkway at the entrance to our neighborhood park.   Finally, we saw a stark white tree with no leaves at all.  The kids had never seen- or perhaps never noticed- a white tree before and they thought it was pretty funny.  They were also very interested in a gray barked tree that had bright yellow patches of lichen all over it.  They thought that was pretty funny too.

Our nature journals reflected the interesting fall trees we found

The next day, we went to another park and after playing and running around, we got down to nature study business.  I sent the kids on another treasure hunt.  This time for smooth or soft things and rough or prickly things.  They scattered for the hunt and came back with some interesting treasures.  Some very prickly seed shell things and some very smooth seeds and acorns.  When we got back home, we used the Internet and our tree field guide to discover what these seeds were.

To our surprise (since they did not find the prickly seeds shells and the smooth brown seeds together), the prickly seed shell was the outer husk of the smooth, shiny seed we had.  Both of these belong to the California Buckeye Tree.  X-ma drew a whole diagram in his nature journal explaining the relationship of these seed shells and and seeds to the tree and to each other.  The other seeds we found looked like long tapered acorns, and were in fact the long tapered acorns of the Valley Oak Tree.

They also found something soft– the seeds of dandelions.  They definitely felt the innate impulse to blow those dandelion seeds in the breeze.

We made some bark and leaf texture rubbings for our nature journals and they both were intrigued by the leaves we collected and peered closely at them with their magnifying glass.  X-man was trying to discover what made the back of his leaf so soft.  Princess K wanted to look more closely at the brown spots on her yellow leaves.

Tree bark rubbings

Leaves up close

Finally, we found all sorts of dried leaves.  And then we gathered up as many as we could into a big pile and jumped into them!  I jumped right in with the kids and smelled the aroma of fallen leaves in the autumn and was enchanted by the experience.  Enchanted, refreshed, and renewed.  This is the beauty of nature study- exhilarating, rejuvenating fun for the whole family.

Homemade Alphabet Book: R

R is for rice, rocks, rainbow, and rhinoceros.

Teaching Among Tornadoes: Trick #5, Leap Frog

 

This year, I am exploring many different ways to keep my preschoolers busy during school time so that I can squeeze a little teaching into my day and so that they will not run around the house destroying everything that they see.  It works some of the time.  The other things I have tried include watercolors, stamping, new toys such as Hot Dots, Jr. and The Sorting Pie, and using classroom supplies such as child safe scissors and dry erase board and markers.

So on to trick #5- School Videos.  My Netflix streaming account has proven extremely valuable in keeping my preschoolers occupied, entertained, and out of trouble while I get some school done.  They have several of the Leap Frog vidoes and these are perfect for my little preschooler.  A few times a week (or some weeks, once a day), I let Z-urchin choose one Leap Frog movie to watch.  Each one lasts about a half an hour, which is enough time for me to get in a good math lesson and maybe even a little phonics with the older two.  He loves his special school movie time and I appreciate the peace.