Learning By The Way

Moriah bought some fuzzy, soft fleece fabric with some of her Christmas money, with the express intent of making a bathrobe. Here she is with her handiwork! She loves to do crafty things. I am pleased that she is learning to run the sewing machine, and even more pleased that she waited very patiently for 3 weeks until I had the time to help her with it. Bravo to Moriah’s bathrobe and her sweet patience!

Toby drew this mummy, and wanted to share it. Please do not be frightened, it is only a picture.

This morning I started Chisanbop with Elsie and Peter. This is a method of performing mathematical computations easily using the fingers. It originated in Korea. They seemed to enjoy it, and I think it will help them to master math concepts. I also intend to use it with Toby, as he responds so favorably to working with the abacus, and this is similar.

Moriah, Samuel, and Toby did multiplication and division worksheets.

We talked about racism in this country’s history, and how all people are made in the image of God. They did a vocabulary worksheet with civil rights related words like boycott, segregation, and freedom.

Can it really have been 10 days since I posted? It must be true.

Moriah went with us to a neighborhood meeting last Monday evening, and we learned about the plans for redoing the ’streetscape’ on an important road bordering our neighborhood. I ended up being interviewed and made the 11 o’clock news.

Not only was I on TV (!), but Moriah, Toby, and Elsie got their picture in the Peoria Journal Star. A local reporter was at the Peoria Public Library during our weekly visit and asked if the children could be models for a story about a new feature on the library website. The children were happy to oblige and thrilled to see their picture in the paper. I doubt that this media frenzy can possibly continue, but if it does, I’m hoping for a big endorsement deal.

The children watched another sign language video. Elsie especially tends to come up to me and tell me the signs for things.

We had a luncheon at our house on Thursday, and had a nice prayer time with the ladies that work at or are Samaritan families. One of the little boys visiting inadvertantly added drama to our lunch by falling backwards onto our radiator and gashing his head open. Boy, head wounds bleed a lot. Thankfully, it was a minor scrape and is healing quite nicely already.

The children went to their second fencing class at the Peoria Fencing Academy, and again loved it. I think that their teacher is excellent, and am so pleased that they have this opportunity.

We had a Discovery Toys party on Saturday, and the children played host to their guests very nicely. I let them all come down and play with the toys a little at the end, and they enjoyed it very much.

I thawed out a cow’s heart to cook for supper. Last time we had heart, we studied it and dissected it. This time unfortunately there were no intact valves or chambers to examine. Still, we did review the heart function and went into more detail than last time on anatomy. The 3 older children completed worksheets labeling the major veins and arteries and such. Elsie and Peter colored a heart.

No, this kind of fencing does not require a posthole digger. Moriah, Samuel, Toby, and Elsie started a fencing class today. They learned about the 3 different kinds of swords that are used, how to hold the foil, and how to salute and go en guarde. They had a lot of fun. Their teacher seems very good with children and at fencing. After they complete this basic beginner’s class, they will divided into two different age based classes where they will begin fencing with the electrical scoring system (Samuel is looking forward to this).

I had never realized what an odd name improper fractions have. Their name comes across as being a trifle risque, or at least lacking a decent upbringing. Today the children learned about improper fractions, and then the 3 older children did worksheets converting the fractions to something proper, with a whole number and all.

I have found a great website to print up worksheets, coloring pages, and other great stuff to go along with what we are learning. It is called Enchanted Learning. The three older children completed some subtraction review (well, for Toby it wasn’t review) and did some more work with fractions. Elsie and Peter did counting pages. Elsie wanted very much to try an alphabetizing worksheet, so I helped her with it. By the time we were halfway through putting the names of the flowers in alphabetical order, she was able to do it by herself.

Moriah has completed a report on lions. She wasn’t sure what to put under the reproduction section of her paper, so I suggested putting something about how long lionesses are pregnant. She consulted her resources and complained that all she could find was how long the gestation is. I informed her what gestation was and she was able to finish it up.

She loves animals of all kinds, and learning about them. She wants to be a naturalist when she grows up.

For the Sunday School Christmas program, Samuel and Toby’s class sang “Go Tell it on the Mountain” while mostly maintaining a human ‘mountain’ formation. They tried the human pyramid at home, with our neighbors Mia and Donald (with varying degrees of success) and much hilarity.