Swallows and Amazons

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome is our new favorite book.  I started reading it aloud over summer, then we set it aside when Levi was born.  We picked it back up at the start of school and finished last week.

The book is set in the Lake District in England between the World Wars in the late 1920's.  It's a great story of two sibling groups finding high adventure and building friendships while on summer vacation.  The story involves sailing, camping, fishing exploration, and piracy.  There's just something nostalgic about it and the innocence of childhood.   

Our kids loved the story!  So much so, that one day they decided to go on "an adventure".  They packed up all sorts of things and set out "to camp" near grandma's.  Well, apparently Ruben thought he would climb the tree to "tie the string for the tent", but unfortunately he climbed too high and became stuck.  Thankfully, The Farmer wasn't too far away and heard the panicked cries.  He and Angel were able to rescue Ruben after some time, but it wasn't easy.  Ruben's leg was wedged and he was so high up they had a hard time reaching.  They had to use a ladder in the pick-up box.  Wow, we're glad it all turned out and Ruben vowed not to do that again.  It was one of those things where you must remain serious for disciplinary effect, while trying to hide the smile inside remembering a time when you may have done the same thing. ;-)

I should note some of the language in Swallows and Amazons can be a bit tricky.  There was a wealth of sailing and boat terminology.  Also, there are a few differences in language due to the British author/setting.  We occasionally investigated definitions, but overall were able to figure it out from context. I like to challenge the kids with that higher level language and thinking.  It stretches their mind and I've found they are capable. 

Overall, we highly recommend Swallows and Amazons.  Riley said, "It is a very, very good book!"  Ruben said, "It was very good.  I loved it!"  Angel said, "I thought it was a good book, adventurous.  It was enjoyable to listen to."  All the children commented on re-reading the book at some point. 

There are 12 books in the Arthur Ransome series.  Swallows and Amazons is also part of the Year 3 Program at Charlotte Mason Help. 

There is an awesome website here that shows illustrations of the boats and gives particulars for your nautical enthusiasts. 

Nature Portfolio Throughout the Year

Riley's working on Nature Portfolio Throughout the Year  by Barbara Shukin this year for science.  Nature Portfolio is built on the idea of nature notebooking or journaling.  The portfolio is divided into two sections including 48 student notebook pages covering 60 topics to study and the parent guide.  The topics are broke down by seasons and biomes. For example, for fall, under September, October, and November are..

Yards and Gardens:
grasshoppers & crickets, mice, apples

Woods and Fields:
geese & ducks, wasps, nut trees

Ponds and Streams:
birds of prey, freshwater crustaceans, mosses & ferns

Desert Lands:
snakes, foxes, pines & pine cones

Along the Seashore:
sand crabs, sandpipers, sand worms

The parent guide gives you cut and paste images for the student pages, suggested writing assignments including narration ideas, copy work, and vocabulary, reproducible forms and lined pages for student pages, and a skeleton lesson plan with suggested books and resources to aid your study.

Some recommended resources are The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock, Fun with Nature: Take Along Guides, The Wonders of Nature Sketchbook by Colleen Monroe, Christian Liberty Nature Readers, as well as many other picture books. 

We typically do science on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I read aloud information on the suggested topic and Riley completes a notebook page.  We also go out and study the topic in nature if possible.

Here are some samples of her work....

Riley prefers drawing her own illustrations rather than cutting and pasting the images included.  She also likes writing mini reports in addition to the copywork, and vocabulary.


I do have one complaint regarding Nature Portfolio.  I removed the parent/teacher section from the binder so Riley could keep her notebook pages orderly.  But now, because of way they're hole punched, these pages don't fit in a typical binder.  Rather than re-punch pages and making holes in student work areas, I just have them loose in a file folder.  This is not very handy.  I wish the teacher pages were bound separately or created to be punched for a traditional binder. 

Overall, Nature Portfolio is a good nature study program if you want something planned and laid out for you.  This is not typically our nature as I like to plan.  However, we needed this option this year.  As you may have noted from former posts, science is not my forte and with all we have going on right now, we chose this in an effort to simplify.

Italian Hoagie Pizza

I recently found this recipe on Mr. Food.  I used fresh tomatoes from our garden.  I was disappointed with the store bought wheat crust I used.  It didn't rise the way it should have.  But overall, the pizza was great!  I also added red onions to the mix.  They created an extra sweetness.  I bet fresh pressed garlic would be good as well.  I may try that next time.  Enjoy!

Government Lesson Plan

Angel is using a few different resources to obtain one high school credit of government this year.  This semester she's using Exploring Government by Ray Notgrass pretty much as written.  We've used books by Notrass in the past for World History through My Father's World.  You can read more about that here. 

Exploring Government has 75 lessons divided into 15 units.  A unit is intended to be completed in 5 days.  Each unit provides an activity, which is typically a writing assignment that gets the student thinking about what they've been reading/studying.  For example, after studying how Congress functions in regard to who the members are, what they do and how they do it, the student is to do the following activity....

"Here is an opportunity for you to think about something you don't like about how our government operates and to express yourself on it in a positive way.... Write a two to three page speech in which you outline the problem, tell how things ought to be, and suggest a practical way in which things can change.  Imagine that you are to give this speech before a civic club, homeschool debate society, or some other organization."

Exploring Government provides optional quizzes and exams.  Also, an additional book titled We Hold These Truths offers a collection of historic documents, essays, and  speeches in American government.  The student is expected to read excerpts as assigned in the text.  We Hold These Truths is a nice compliment to the course.

Exploring Government provides 1/2 of a credit of American Government.  Because we wanted Angel to have a full year of American Government, she'll also be reading Never Before in History and Under God.   Both of these books are recommended by My Father's World.   I've outlined our plan below.  However without the resources used, it will not make much sense.  Feel free to tweak it and make it your own.  

Government

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
1	Notgrass Exploring Government Unit 1 Lesson 1	Lesson 2	Lesson 3	Lesson 4	Lesson 5
2	Activity & Quiz	Unit 2 L6	L7	L8	L9
3	L10	Activity & Quiz	Unit 3 L11	L12	L13
4	L14	L15	Activity & Quiz	Unit 4 L16	L17
5	L18	L19	L20	Activity & Quiz	Unit 5 L21
6	L22	L23	L24	L25	Activity & Quiz Units 1-5 Exam
7	Unit 6 L26	L27	L28	L29	L30
8	Activity & Quiz	Unit 7 L31	L32	L33	L34
9	L35	Activity & Quiz	Unit 8 L36	L37	L38
10	L39	L40	Activity & Quiz	Unit 9 L41	L42
11	L43	L44	L45	Activity & Quiz	Unit 10 L46
12	L47	L48	L49	L50	Activity & Quiz Units 6-10 Exam
13	Unit 11 L51	L52	L53	L54	L55
14	Activity & Quiz	Unit 12 L56	L57	L58	L59
15	L60	Activity & Quiz	Unit 13 L61	L62	L63
16	L64	L65	Activity & Quiz	Unit 14 L66	L67
17	L68	L69	L70	Activity & Quiz	Unit 15 L71
18	L72	L73	L74	L75	Activity & Quiz Units 11-15 Exam
19
20	Never Before in History Read Pi – 11a	Never Before in History Read P11b-18	Never Before in History Read P21-28a	Never Before in History Read P28b-37
21	Never Before in History Read P39-48a	Never Before in History Read P48b-57	Never Before in History Read P59-65a	Never Before in History Read P65b-71
22	Never Before in History Read P73-76a	Never Before in History Read P76b-85	Never Before in History Read P87-94	Never Before in History Read P97-107
23	Never Before in History Read P109-113a	Never Before in History Read P113b-116a	Never Before in History Read P116b-121a	Never Before in History Read P121b-124
24	Never Before in History Read P127-134a	Never Before in History Read P134b-141a	Never Before in History Read P141b-145a	Never Before in History Read P145b-151
25	Never Before in History Read P153-158a	Never Before in History Read P158b-164	Never Before in History Read P165-170a	Never Before in History Read P170b-179
26
27	Under God Read Intro Read Romans 13:1-7 & Pledge of Allegiance	Under God Read Ch1	Under God Read Ch 2	Under God Read Ch 3	Unit 1 Project & Test Recite Pledge of Allegiance & Star Spangled Banner
28		Under God Read Ch4	Under God Read Ch5	Under God Read Ch6	Unit 2 Project & Test
29		Under God Read Ch7 Memorize Preamble	Under God Read Ch8	Under God Read Ch8	Under God Read Ch8
30	Unit 3 Test A; Project Lapbook Recite Preamble	Under God Read Ch9	Under God Read Ch9	Under God Read Ch10	Under God Read Ch11
31	Unit 3 Test B; Lapbook	Under God Read Ch12	Under God Read Ch12	Under God Read Ch12	Unit 3 Test C; Lapbook Due
32	Under God Read Ch13	Under God Read Ch13	Under God Read Ch14	Under God Read Ch14	Unit 4 Test; State Scapbook
33		Under God Read Ch15	Under God Read Ch15	Under God Read Ch16	Under God Read Ch16
34	Under God Read Ch17	Under God Read Ch17	Under God Read Preparing For the Future; Unit 5 Test	Under God Read Ch18	Under God Read Ch18
35	Under God Read Ch 19	Under God Read Ch 19	Under God Read Ch20	Under God Read Ch20	Unit 6 Test
36

Notgrass Exploring Government – Complete daily reading and questions

Never Before in History – Complete daily reading

Under God – Complete daily reading; answer “Do you remember what you read?” questions; review “For Further Thought” questions; define any new/unfamiliar “Words to Study”; discuss and choose one unit project to complete