Learning By The Way

The three ‘big kids’ lined up on the couch reading after our trip to the library.

Did you know that if you have those handy beepy things attached to your remote, that allow you to whistle and locate them, that they will announce their presence frequently during Wagnerian opera? It’s true. We haven’t finished Part 1 of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung yet. Not sure if we’re going to.

The children have been gung-ho in researching their reports. I think 2 of them will finish much earlier than I anticipated. Then they can start a new report!

Moriah and Samuel begged for a spelling bee last night before bedtime. I complied. Moriah won, but it was a good, close match.

Though some might wonder after my not posting for over a month, I am still alive and kicking. We have started this year off with vigor. Toby is a full math book ahead of his older brother and sister, and I am mostly settled on taking a break from Singapore Math after Moriah and Samuel finish their current book (4B). I think all three of them could use some concentrated time spent drilling times tables and division. Also, I think they are ready to be introduced to algebra, and I will be ordering Borenson’s Hands On Equations. This program looks very cool, teaching algebra with manipulatives.

We are also starting up a new unit study based on a game our family loves to play together, Heroscape. The children each have picked a character in the game to do a report on over the next month, as follows:
Moriah- Mimring (report on dragons, their history and the danish myth)
Samuel- Jotun (report on giants and Norse mythology)
Toby- Major X17 (report on robots, maybe with a focus on use in war)
Elsie- Valkyrie (report on the myth)
Peter- Kelda (study of the Kyrie)
We kick of the study today by watching the first part of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung

Lastly, let me offer a link that is a news story on the literacy gap between boys on girls. At the end of the article, the researcher comments “Here’s a fascinating fact,” she said. “There is no literacy gap in home-schooled boys and girls.”

Yes, I know I don’t usually post here, but I’ve resolved ordinarily not to post more than once a day on the other blog, and I’ve been on a roll lately in posting about a particular topic that will likely go on for a bit. And this topic actually seemed to appeal just as much to my wife’s many faithful readers as it did to the fewer number who frequent my blog.

This week, as is our practice, we did our year end measurements of the children on the back of the pantry door. Margary of course grew the most, moving from just shy of two months old to just shy of fourteen months. Moriah, though, didn’t get beat by much in the growth category. She has shot up this year, growing several inches. Another year like this and she’ll be looking Aunt Raquel in the eye.

In a surprising move, Toby has overtaken Samuel as the tallest boy in the house. He’s only 3/8 of an inch taller, but a full few inches taller than Samuel (who is 13 months older) was this time last year. Samuel is still quite a bit taller than Moriah (16 months his senior) was last year, lest you think he’s going to be short. Moriah seems to be hitting that typical girl early growth spurt as she approaches her 12^th birthday, so it may be a few years before the boys actually pass her up.

Elsie shot up a bit this year as well, and next year she’ll start having a comparison to Moriah at the same age (Elsie is 7 now and the first year we measured Moriah was 8). I’ve always thought of Elsie as being short, but it appears that’s more subjective than real, because she is growing quickly—she just has taller siblings because they’re older. So with our third new year in this house we’re eagerly watching to see which girl is going to be the tallest of our three.

Peter is still fairly big for his age, and it’ll be another year before we can compare him to Toby at the same age. At this point my guess is that Samuel will be about the same height as his papa and Toby and Peter will be looking down at me in my old age, and both older girls will be looking down upon their mother. Growth is a funny thing, though, so we’re waiting to see what kind of frame God gives each of our six blessings in their adult lives, which are coming all too quickly.

I’m looking forward to it.