Dawn K Homeschool

Nathan has been inspired to copy illustrations from Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You which can be bought  here .  He has been practicing with his Prismacolor pencils and blender.

Since the school year started, I have been implementing a weekly dinner menu to make the days run more smoothly.  It has helped!  You can download the form I use  here .  I prefer the 1-Week Menu with Grocery List.  I clip this to my refrigerator once it is compiled by using a magnetic clip.  Check out her blog while you are there! Before creating my menu, I look through my freezer, refrigerator and pantry to see what I can use up.  Then, I look through my index card file box which holds recipes which are placed behind dividers.  My categories are: soups/stews sandwiches breakfast casseroles Italian Mexican beef chicken pork fish I typically try to choose a meal from seven different categories though this often depends on what I have on hand.  I then write the meals on the left-hand column and any items I need on the right-hand column.  I then add anything else we are in need of. I like having the menu with me when I am at the grocery st...

And, the winner is Stacey Jeannete!  Please email me your mailing address! While in the Shenandoah Valley, we finally visited the  Green Valley Book Fair .  I had so much fun looking at all the children's books; many were titles I had never seen before.  For about $50, I received the following history, artist and composer books which I know we will enjoy. I also bought several fun books for Ben including Poptropica and Club Penguin items along with The Great Christmas Kidnapping Caper (Audiobook on CD)  and The Modern Story Book (CD and book set) . For Nathan, I bought  The Secret History of Giants  and  Eragon's Guide to Alagaesia .  My husband picked out a landscape painting book for him.  His favorite from us is  The Name of this Book is Secret (Audio CD by Pseudonymous Bosch) . So, I bought an extra The Name of this Book is Secret audio CD to give away on my blog.  If you would like this unabridged audio book, just leave ...

We took the chicks out for a little fresh air and sunshine yesterday. The soaked it in!

I bought a styrofoam incubator years ago at a yard sale for $5.00. I finally had a chance to use it when a friend gave us four fertilized eggs. So, I found the box in the garage, dusted it off, set it up and hoped for the best. It worked! For 19 days, I flipped the eggs two-three times each day. On the 20th day, I added water to the extra reservoir and waited. The next day, I noticed a tiny chip off the egg (I learned this is called peeping). Within 24 hours, three eggs (named by the boys Charles, Cheep-Cheep and Peetey) had hatched with little Luna bringing up the rear.

Today, I finished reading  Children of Summer: Henri Fabre's Insects by Margaret J. Anderson  to the boys.  It is a lovely book which introduces naturalist and scientist Henri Fabre and many of his insect investigations.  Here is a review from Booklist. Imagine having a father who is known as a hermit, accused of being a poacher, and thought to be strange and simpleminded. According to this fictionalized story, French entomologist Jean Henri Fabre, a contemporary and correspondent of Darwin and a friend of John Stuart Mill, may have been such a man. Using the voice of Fabre's 10-year-old son Paul, who, according to Fabre's own writings, often helped his father, Anderson tells of Fabre's passion for learning about cicadas, scorpions, and the other "children of summer." The man's curious behavior will draw readers in, and the descriptions of the oddities of the insect world will keep them interested: children are bound to remember Fabre's shooting a cann...

I never took the time to upload some of the boys' writing assignments for the course we have been using this year from the Institute for Excellence in Writing -- Student Writing Intensive A. So, here they are! First are Ben's from the assignments "Our First President" and "The Donkey and His Driver." Next are Nathan's from the assignments "Our First President" and "Peter the Great."

We have been moving slowly -- too slowly -- through our writing course this year. On the bright side, we have been diligent in all other areas. Here is Ben's -- 5th Grade Here is Nathan's -- 6th Grade .  

Wow!  It's been a while since I posted.  I've fallen into the habit of just posting on Facebook because it's so convenient.  So, I thought I'd go through my Facebook posts and see if there is anything worth posting here. First subject -- Poetry! Though I read a lot of poetry to my boys, I wanted something poetry-related for them to complete independently. Essentially, they read a poem a day, then they answer a few multiple-choice questions for comprehension, then they focus on some poetry elements. Though Evan Moor offers other grade levels, this is the book we are using. Here are some samples from two different grade levels: I Hear America Singing Grass

Below are the boys' versions of the Institute for Excellence in Writing assignments "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."  Both Ben and Nathan modified the original story to their fancies.

Download digital copies of the following magazine issues for free  here . APPLESEEDS only  - ages 7 to 10 COBBLESTONE only  - ages 9 and up; American History CALLIOPE only  - ages 9 and up; World History FACES only  - ages 9 and up; World Cultures ODYSSEY only  - ages 9 and up; Science DIG only  - ages 9 and up; Archaeology

I know I have neglected posting, but (as everyone says), I've been so busy.  Really, though, aren't we all?  I have a few minutes, so I wanted to pop in and post a few random thoughts. 1.  We have been consistently learning Latin this year!  Okay, I admit, I took a year in college, but I remember practically nothing!  We started out using Latin for Children, and though I am certain it is a fabulous program, it wasn't for us -- at least not at this stage.  I wanted a more gentle introduction, especially for Ben.  My goal is to have them comfortable with a foreign language to be able to study one in high school.  I really enjoyed the Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek program, so we are using their companion, Latin's Not So Tough  series. It doesn't introduce terms such as accusative or genitive, but I know enough of that to teach the vocabulary correctly.  We also diagram many of our Latin sentences.  I'm really just thrilled with the s...

I just wanted to post the boys' diagramming from yesterday because they did such a great job!