And we're done!!!

We are finished with 3rd grade!  Woohoo!!!  It was quite a year, what with the pregnancy and baby and all, but we managed to get through it without losing our minds and we even finished on time!  Halleluiah! 
We actually had a good year.  We learned all about the middle ages and Renaissance and Indy's reading improved by leaps and bounds.  This was the most exciting part of the year for both of us.  The day after we finished, we took off for Paris for 4 days.  I'll be posting more about that on my main blog though.  We now have 7 weeks off before we start 4th grade.  Actually a week has already passed, so really, we just have 6 left.  Today I started pulling all the 3rd grade material out of my binders in preparation for all the new stuff.  Next year we'll be doing a condensed version of early modern and modern history so we can be back on cycle by the time we hit 5th grade and the logic stage.  While we're both anticipating a nice summer break.  We'll keep up on reading and I'll ask him questions about what we learned this past year, but for the most part, we'll just be taking it easy.

Homeschooling with a new baby

If you aren't a reader of my regular blog, you may not know that 6 weeks ago, I had a baby!  Yep, a big old surprise baby who is absolutely adorable.  Indy is in love with him and gave him the blog name "Han Solo."  This is them 3 days after Han Solo was born.  Aren't they precious?

I have been trying to get as much school work done as we possibly could before Han Solo was born, but of course we didn't finish the year.  Since Han Solo has been home we've done easy school, but still working hard.  It's not exactly easy considering I'm seriously lacking in sleep (I totally forgot what it was like to have to get up at night with a baby-NOT fun) and Han Solo requires so much attention.  Sadly he's not quite as easy a baby as Indy was and needs much more holding and face time.  Because of all this, our school days have changed.  Indy doesn't seem to mind though.  Our days have been starting later because after Han Solo eats around 6 or 7am, he goes back to sleep and so do I.  Indy gets up and plays in his room with Legos or his Indiana Jones action figures and usually fixes his own breakfast (man, I love that kid). I'm usually up by 9:30 and I'll give Indy some independent work to do while I hop on the treadmill (not every day, but I'm working on it) and shower.  Han Solo is generally up by the time I'm done and ready for a bottle. Indy LOVES to give him his bottle, so I set them up with the Boppy pillow (I sit next to them) and read to Indy.   Once Han Solo is done eating, I take him and burp him (Indy really wants to burp him, but I won't allow that) and then Indy reads to me. HE reads to ME!  He's reading level 4 readers, which is amazing considering he could barely read at all this time last year.   After we're done reading, I usually try to do some work that requires my assistance while Han Solo dozes in my arms.  This is hard!  Once he's asleep though, I can lay him down for a nap and Indy and I can get to the meat of his work before a late lunch (around 1pm).  After lunch Indy does his math (which is on the computer and does not require me!) and then we're done for the day.  We don't do quite as much as we did pre-Han Solo, but since we pushed so much before and it's nearly the end of our school year I'm not all that concerned.  In fact, last week we read about the Renaissance and Indy was so intrigued by Leonardo da Vinci (we read Leonardo's Horse, which is a great, short book). that we took the week off from our regular studies to spend this week reading about him.  Indy's working on a (FREE) lapbook from homeschoolshare.com on Leonardo's Horse (it includes other stuff about the Renaisance too) and today experimented with writing backwards.  He thought this was loads of fun.
So, homeschooling with a new baby is challenging, but totally doable.    We'll see how doable it is when Han Solo is a toddler.  ;)

Earthquake lapbook

In my previous post I mentioned that with all the media coverage of the Japan earthquake, we would start a unit study of them.  We opted to make a lapbook with our study.  Indy really enjoys making lapbooks and I do too, I just forget about them.  Homeschoolshare.com  has loads of FREE lapbook components and information on a wealth of subjects (we started on their HUGE volcano unit week).  All of the parts of this lapbook came from them.

Cover:

Inside:

We didn't have enough room in the basic folder for all the components, so I added another sheet of heavy card stock to make a flap that opens and give him more room to put things.   Here it is open:

Area under the flap.  We made booklets with info on the Haiti and Japan earthquakes:

Close up of one of the components (notice the neat handwriting!):

Indy really enjoyed learning about the earthquakes and has been riveted to the news to get the latest information on what's going on in Japan.

Natural Disasters and Science

Ugh, poor Japan.  I don't know what else to say.  Every day it seems to get worse and worse.  Indy has been glued to the NEWS watching what's going on over there and started asking questions about the earthquake and tsunamis and all that they encompass.  We've been really slacking in science, so I got the bright idea to study earthquakes and volcanoes.  Is that wrong? 
We started working on an earthquake lapbook (it also includes tsunamis) this week (FREE from homeschoolshare.com!) and when it is completed, we we will move on to the volcano lapbook (also FREE!).  Some part of me feels kind of weird to use a horrible event like this to kick start our sadly lacking science, but I figured we're getting loads of information on it via the news and Indy seems really interested in learning about it, so why not?

Latin!

Wow, two posts in less than a week?  What's going on?  I don't know!
In my previous post, I mentioned I was thinking of changing our Latin program and that evening I bit the bullet (or debit card as the case may be) and bought the Big Book of Lively Latin 1 download.  Holy cow!  When they say big book, they mean it.   It's seriously huge.  I've barely printed off half of it and my 1" binder is bulging.  We started working on it the next day, and guess what?  IT IS FABULOUS!  Indy loved it.  He begged to do more!  He begged to do Latin the next morning!  I have to say, it is rather fun, though I can't really pinpoint why.  I'm learning right along with him and enjoying it too.  Indy likes the worksheets (who knew?) and the audio vocabulary.  He actually asked to do the audio vocab a second time to make sure he got it.  Huzzah!  The format is engaging and not too much to handle at one time, which I think he really likes.  I only wish we'd been using this from the beginning!  The only issue we're having seems to be technical.  For some reason, on two different computer, trying 3 different browsers, the video lessons won't work.  It's very frustrating, because that's one of the reasons I wanted Lively Latin, but the company is trying to see if they can figure out why and I have to say I'm impressed with their customer service.  If you're looking for a Latin program, be sure to check this one out.  You won't be sorry.

Back in the saddle and griping about books and maybe some changes

Whew, we've had an entire month off school and now we're back!  I was worried it would be hard to get back into the routine, but we fell right back into it.  Huzzah!  This week we're learning about Robin Hood and Richard the Lion Heart (who was not a great king if you want to know the truth).  Our book of the week is Robin Hood (A Stepping Stone Book).  We've read several of the Stepping Stone Books and the more of them I read, the less I like them.  I know they are aimed at children reading them to themselves, but Indy's not at that point yet, so I have to read them to him.  They are sooooo basic in their writing and grammar.  I find it insulting to be honest.  Some of the sentences aren't even complete, but fragments.  This drives me insane.  I'm not even sure I want Indy reading them once he gets to that point.  The stories are also pretty much dumbed down and that's really irritating too.  I think I only purchased 2 other Stepping Stone Books that we haven't read yet and I'm not sure we will.  I may get different books to replace them.  Sigh.
I'm also thinking of replacing our Latin program.  Indy really, really likes Minimus (mostly because of the comic strip at the beginning of each lesson and the fact that it's based on a real family who lived in Roman Britain), and I think it's cute, but I don't have a Latin background and find it hard to teach.  I've heard a lot of good stuff about Lively Latin and like the samples I've seen online, so we may switch to this and use Minimus as a supplement once our Latin knowledge has increased.   Indy really enjoys finding words in English that are actually Latin or Latin based.  It's become like a game.  I'm glad I decided to introduce it this year.  If we can keep it up, one day he'll rock the SAT's.  :)

The Ultimate Field Trip: Warwick Castle, England

At the end of September, Indy and I flew to England for a few days to visit Warwick Castle in Warwickshire, England. We had just learned about castles and their uses and construction. It was the perfect time to take a field trip to one of the best preserved Medieval castles in Europe.

Indy was fascinated by this HUGE tree in the castle entrance.

The original outer bailey walls and towers.

This is what happens when you don't listen to your mom!

The castle gate.  Indy was fascinated when a lady explained to him about the "murder holes."

Of course he loved all the weapons and armor.

This is up at the oldest part of the original castle on top of the motte, founded in the late 900's.

We climbed over 550 very tight spiraling stairs.

A view from the top of the battlements looking to the bailey and the motte.

This archer was amazing!  He demonstrated the long bow and a crossbow with amazing accuracy.

The birds of prey show was amazing.  This is Sid, a type of vulture.

We had a great time and learned a lot about Medieval castles.  Indy had a great time and came home with loads of stories about things that had gone on at the castle he'd been told by costumed workers.  It was the "best field trip ever."