Our Week in Review - Pirates

Last week, to commemorate International Talk Like a Pirate Day, we studied Pirates! We read Usborne's The Story of Ships, which taught us the history of sea travel, and The Usborne Official Pirate's Handbook, which taught us all the tricks of the trade.



Andrew took a fencing lesson at our local recreation center, and this weekend, I sent my little pirates on a treasure hunt. I used clip art to make picture clues for Jasmine, and I made riddles for Andrew based on this list from Scavenger Hunt Fun.




You can find pirate booty for sea lovers of all ages at Usborne Children's Books. Or create a lapbook using this free template from Homeschool Share.






To keep your youngest pirates busy, let them dig for treasure. My husband filled our sandbox a few weeks ago, and it has been a great babysitter educational activity for my children.



Grandma bought this plastic turtle sandbox for our children at a garage sale 5 years ago. If you don't have a sandbox, place sand in an empty plastic swimming pool, infant tub or Tupperware container.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day may be over, but the pirate fun has just begun. Aaaargh!

My Little Princess

When I asked Jasmine what she wanted for helping me with my Usborne business, she asked for the Horses and Ponies Kid Kit.




The book was above her level, but she loved the stamping activity. We also followed the book's internet links for some fun, horsey activities.





Jazzy had her first ballet recital back in May and I could not resist buying a few ballet books. We gave her teacher the internet-linked World of Ballet. And we gave Jasmine the Usborne beginning reader, Ballet, and the Nutcracker CD Pack.




Jazzy danced to the song Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman, and she looked just like a little princess.



Please remember to keep the Chapman family in your prayers as one of their little princesses has gone home to be with the Lord.

Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones

Last month I completed my 12 week training period as an Usborne consultant. I joined Usborne in order to purchase some homeschool books we wanted at a discount, and ended up earning over $500 in free books.

Andrew and Jasmine helped me put labels on catalogs, stuff folders, and sort orders. They are becoming quite the entrepreneurs. Andrew has decided he wants to open his own business. He wants to buy a computer of his own so he can visit NBA.com.

I promised both of the kids I would buy them a kid kit, and Andrew chose the Dinosaur Excavation Kit. He read the dinosaur book, carefully remembering to subsitute the word "thousands" for "millions". Then we started digging for bones.

It's a good thing ancient dinosaur clay is non toxic!






Inside the kit was a series of questions, including one that read "What is the difference between paleontologist and archeologist? Would you like to be either?" To which Drew responded, "Well, I'm kind of into sports..." Thank you Dirk Nowitzki.


After I took this picture, I asked Drew what was up with the peace sign. He said, "I like to put a little piece of me into whatever I do." I have got to get rid of the channel ESPN.

Usborne Convention

We got home from the Usborne convention yesterday. The kids were glad to be home so they could talk loudly again. At the hotel, we kept yelling at them to "SHHH!"

On our last day at the convention,

we took a tour of Usborne's facilities. My husband sells automation services, so this was his chance to tell us about what he does for a living. As we left the factory he said, "I could reduce their workforce by half!" What a lofty goal, dear...

On the way out of the building, we took a picture in the president's chair. I had Andrew take a picture in the chair alone so he could see himself as a president, not an employee. As I was explaining this to him later at lunch, he replied, "Mom, do you think I should play basketball or beatbox for a living?"

Good thing I still have 10 years to brainwash him.

Summer School

Andrew finished his 1st grade phonics and language arts programs, but we still have quite a bit of math to finish before we start his 2nd grade work this fall. Here's our plan for the summer:

Andrew will complete two math worksheets, a handwriting worksheet and practice writing every day. He completes the worksheets in less than 15-20 minutes. For writing practice, he started a blog.

Typing has helped reinforce the concepts of starting a sentence with a capital letter, ending it with a period, and actually leaving a SPACE between sentences. As a side benefit, he looks so cute pecking away at the keyboard!

I've noticed Andrew getting frustrated when he has to wait on me to help him spell certain words, so we'll probably work on spelling. I think this is one of the keys to learning - let your child see the need for a particular skill and then ask if he wants help working on it.

Two Ways to Teach Reading!

Jasmine has been asking me to teach her how to read, so this week I pulled out the Leap Frog fridge magnets. I took the M and the A, told her each sound, and showed her how to blend the sounds together. We then practiced using the A with the letters T, J and S.

She caught on within a few minutes, so I do believe she's ready to read. We'll keep practicing with 2 letters and then move on to 3. When she can handle 3 letters, I'll pull out the Bob books!

Jasmine is also learning to write her name, and she insists on doing "real school" using her Rod and Staff ABC workbooks. I love these workbooks because they are simple, biblically based, and have fine motor activities like cutting and pastng built into the lessons. We also love Kumon workbooks.

Now of course I can't leave Isaiah out of "skoo" so he's watching the Your Baby Can Read DVD's. Here he is in his "skoo" chair.

I am mostly of the Better Late Than Early mindset, and there are things I'd rather do than have my baby watch a 30 minute DVD twice per day. However, Usborne sells the YBCR program, and as a consultant, I felt I should try it. I believe in being totally honest about products I promote, so when someone asks me about YBCR, I want to be able to either honestly recommend it or say, "Girlfriend, save your money!"

I am going to write a thorough review later, but so far I can say the DVDs truly are interactive and they hold Isaiah's attention. He's memorized the sequence in which some of the words are displayed and I wonder if that is a precurser to him learning to recognize the words by sight.

I am strongly in the phonics camp in the whole "phonics vs. whole language" debate, but the program claims to teach phonics as well. If nothing else, I feel no harm is being done and the program is a great vocabulary builder. The videos of babies reading are truly amazing, so it will be interesting to see if we experience similar results.

Isaiah also uses a set of fridge magnets that a friend gave us when Jasmine was a baby. As with anything, he has to add a bit of danger to the activity.

Greathall Productions

Some of our favorite purchases from this year's homeschool conference were audio Cd's by storyteller Jim Weiss of Greathall Productions.

We drive 45 minutes each direction to Jazzy's ballet lesson every Monday. Last week, we tried out Mr. Weiss' Tell Me a Story! which features classic fairy tales. My children listened intently (and best of all, quietly) the entire ride.

We were right in the middle of the story Rumpelstiltskin when we reached ballet class. Andrew begged me leave the car running until the story was finished, and I admit I didn't want to turn it off either.

I unhooked Isaiah and let him sit in my lap as we listened. At the end of the story, just as the woman tells the little man she knows his name is Rumplestiltskin, Isaiah pushed one of the radio control buttons on the steering wheel which caused the CD to jump back to the beginning. Andrew thoroughly harassed me until that afternoon when we could listen to the entire story again in order to hear the last 30 seconds.

We found more of Jim Weiss' recordings at our local library, and we've since listened to American Tall Tales, Tales from the Old Testament, and Giants! A Collection of Tales and Tunes. So far Tell Me a Story! and Giants! are our favorites. After listening to the latter, even my 16 month old was saying, "HOW dya do?"

Andrew is a strong visual learner, and audiobooks and stories are great for strengthening auditory skills. They are also helpful for homeschooling on the road.

We've also been enjoying Usborne's CD packs, which include lively music, sound effects and an accompanying illustrated book. So far, Gulliver's Travels is our favorite. I'm not sure Andrew would admit it, but we all really enjoyed The Princess and the Pea.

Just say NO!

We have quiet time here every afternoon, and I will occasionally lie down while Jazzy and Isaiah nap, leaving Andrew up to read or play quietly. A few months ago, as I went to lie down, Andrew asked me if he could do a science experiment.

Andrew will occasionally find an experiment in one of his Usborne books and ask me for a shoe box, yarn, a spool of thread or something similar and follow the instructions on his own. I didn't think twice about saying "yes".

I fell asleep and woke up to the following:

There was flour all over the table and floor, and shoved into a half full jar of olive oil. There was a sink stacked full of dishes covered in goop that I later found out was supposed to be "cookie dough".




There was a muffin tin filled with tuna fish, olive oil, ketcup, barbecue sauce, sliced onion, pure maple syrup, orange juice, jalepenos and other substances that was to be put into the freezer.

There was BLOOD on the kitchen floor and in the bathroom.

There was a melted bowl on my counter.

And to top it all off, my husband James was here, awake, working in the office. He got Andrew a bandaid when he cut his finger on the kitchen scissors, totally overlooking the fiasco in the kitchen. Later he said he smelled something burning and asked Andrew what was going on. Andrew said, "nothing", and James WENT BACK TO THE OFFICE!!!

So what's a good homeschooling mother to do?

I lectured myself on giving permission for unsupervised science projects.

I lectured ds on safety and asking for help when problems arise.

I lectured dh on catching a clue.

I looked for the offending book of experiments, Usborne Science in the Kitchen, and made a list of Usborne books to purchase.

My list grew so long that James encouraged me to become a consultant. I've spent the last six weeks sharing Usborne books with others, and I've earned over $450 in free books for my children, as well as income for my family. It's been easy and it's been fun!

However, I've missed blogging and checking in with my online friends, and I've been anxious to get back to it. I have quite a bit I want to share with you, so please stay tuned...