On Tardiness and British History

First off, I am so sorry! I am late again on posting. So many things have happened, but we have just been so busy that I haven't had time to write about them. I will endeavor to do better in the future. Again. Hopefully.

Okay, so we just finished up our Term 2 exams. I was happy with how the boys did. They each missed two questions which I thought was very reasonable. I marvel every day at how much they have grown in their thinking and enjoying reading in just the last 6 months.

We are LOVING Island Story! I think I am enjoying it as much or more than my kids. I am also using documentaries from the BBC to help cement particular things in their minds. I.e. While S is reading about the Landing of the Pilgrims, he also watched a documentary on the Pilgrims, and E just finished reading about the battle of Agincourt and tomorrow will watch the corresponding documentary.

I also found a song from Horrible Histories on YouTube about King Henry VIII and his wives. It took one day for all three of the boys to learn this song and they now sing it all the time. I. Kid. You. Not. But it is a great song, imo, because it includes all of the pertinent information on each wife. I have decided that I am going to have to look for more of their songs.

Bold Grenadier was a folksong that we did a while back but for some reason that one has stayed with my kids more than any other. They are constantly singing the first verse of it. Folksong study has become one of our favorite things in school, although Artist study is a close second. We have finished with Monet, Cassat, and Remington. Now we are studying the paintings of Eugene Delacroix. Cassat was a bust with 3 boys. They were so happy to be done with her, but the rest have been much enjoyed.

We listened to Kara Shallenberg's podcast on Mozart (as that is the composer we are studying currently) last night and the children were much surprised to learn that Haydn was alive at the same time. And that we had been pronouncing his name wrong. Oops.


Life is busy but wonderful down here in Mexico. The rains have finally come so we are breathing a sigh of relief at this point. Although it is still hot, it is nothing compared to what it was in May. Thank you, Jesus! The coming of the rains means that the boys are going to the river almost daily again. They are so happy that the river is back up again!

Ambleside Online

Okay, I just have to say this. We are LOVING Ambleside Online. Our days are so much smoother and we all love the great books that we are reading. We are almost halfway through
Term 2 for all of the boys. I am noticing so many changes in them. They are much more interested in history and nature. Before Ambleside, we really didn't pay much attention to nature around us. Now, they are always coming in telling me about a bird or bug that they saw and describing it to me. They are enjoying so much of the "riches" now. I look forward to all of the new books that each term is bringing us. And thank you, Librivox! I don't know what I would do without you! It saves my voice so much to be able to divide up the books I read, and the ones that they can listen to without me. Such a blessing!

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier- Review

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Well, I have had this book set aside for my children's upper school years and finally decided to pre-read it. I am so glad that I did! I originally bought this book after seeing it recommended on several book lists for children. After reading it, I have to question who makes these book lists!

Alert: Spoilers ahead!

Young Timmy is in awe of his brother, Sam. Sam is dashing and rebellious, and leaves his Tory family to join with the Patriots in the Revolutionary War. Timmy is unsure which side he believes in, but knows only that he loves his brother dearly. Sam is certain that his side is the right one and defies his father, and stealing the family gun, runs away to fight. Timmy, meanwhile, is living a normal life for a boy on a farm in the 1700s. The book is full of day by day happenings without much happening. Finally, Tim's father feels that he is old enough to make the yearly trip to sell their cattle. The only problem is, they have always sold their cattle at a certain port which is held by the British. Tim's (as he is now called) father doesn't care who buys the cattle as long as he can sell them. On their way back home, he (the father) is captured by unknown assailants. After a long wait, Tim and his mother finally hear that he has been killed. The kicker is that he was held prisoner on a British ship and caught cholera. So now, Tim feels that the British side is horrible, else how could they capture and keep his father prisoner when he was a Tory? After some time, Sam makes a visit home with his company. During his visit, Tim begs Sam to come home and help the family. Sam says no, that he plans to re-enlist as soon as his time is up. Tim realizes that Sam is making a selfish choice but can do nothing about it. Then one night, they hear a disturbance in the barn. Some of the men from Sam's company are trying to steal their cattle but when Sam runs out to stop them, they turn on him and take him in as a prisoner for the crime that they were committing. Tim and his mother do everything they can to right the wrong that has been done but Sam's commanding officer is determined to make an example of him. In the end, Sam is executed most brutally and Tim witnesses it all. He comes to the conclusion that neither side is right and that there had to have been a better way to resolve the issues at hand.

Now, I love a Revolutionary period book as much as the next person and I really had high hopes for this book. But it was very depressing and disheartening. It will not be staying on my shelves, needless to say. I understand the whole “let's show them real life” theory in books, but in reality, books should have a happy ending. Otherwise, we are teaching that there is no reason for hope. If we are all doomed to an unhappy end, why even try? On another note, the language in this book was a bit of a shock. As a children's book, I was very unhappy with that side of it. I guess I will be pre-reading everything on these famed “lists”.

AO Term 1 Exams

I am so excited and pleased! We just finished our first term with Ambleside Online. This week all of the boys did their exams, and let me tell you, I think I was more nervous than they were. I am so proud of them! They really did awesome on their exams. There were a couple of questions that they missed, but overall, I really was amazed at how much they had retained. And all three of them are determined to do even better at the end of the next term. :)

Just another day in Mexico

In the midst of all the drama with our melted crayons, my neighbor came to my door. "Check your back yard!" she says. "There is something dead back there."  At this point, I am praying that it isn't one of our dogs. Thankfully, the boys were occupied, so I slip to the back yard and sure enough, there is a dead animal. Thank you Jesus, I could see instantly that our dogs were fine. It was a cat. A big cat, that had obviously been dead for a few days. Here is the problem.........the cat wasn't back there an hour before. And then all of a sudden, BAM! In the middle of the yard, dead cat and at least 50 HUGE vultures. My dogs were going nuts trying to get the vultures and I was trying to get the dogs chained up before they messed with the dead cat or the vultures messed with them. I must confess, for a moment, I was a little worried that our female (she is only 6 months) might get carried off. I mean, these are big birds! Anyway, I got the boys to help me tie the dogs up in the hopes that the vultures would carry off the dead cat. On a side note, my kids got an interesting show of nature. They proceeded to sit on the back steps and watch the birds fight over and eventually carry away the carcass. Too much info? Sorry. This is just another day in Mexico.

Melted Crayons??

Well, after seeing so many posts and article about melted crayons and all the things that you can do with them, my children and I decided to do a simple project today. Yeah.......we thought.

We got out all of our old crayons, since N (6 yrs.) doesn't like crayons but prefers pen, and peeled all of the wrapping off of them. Then we broke them up and put them into the cookie cutters like we read. Um....dummy me, I didn't think about how that OBVIOUSLY wasn't going to work the way we read it would. So after the requisite 7 min at 275 degrees, we pulled out our baking sheet.....and....yeah, you guessed it.......melted crayon everywhere. Just a full baking sheet of melted colors. Oh, did I mention that it broke through a part of the tin foil (I lined my pan) and so my entire baking sheet has a thin layer of crayon now? Yes.......not my idea of fun.

As if this wasn't enough drama for the day, I had the great idea that maybe, JUST MAYBE, I could save our project. So I waited until the crayons cooled, put some coffee filters in my muffin tin (since I don't have muffin holders), broke the cooled crayons up into pieces and tried it again. ::sigh:: It did NOT work!!! Now, I have TWO pan with melted crayons stuck in the bottoms. I must say.....this will be our last attempt with melted crayons. Right about now, I'm thinking we were insane for trying this. Not to mention the fact that my kids are all feeling like it was a major waste of their time.

On a better (hopefully) note, we have another project planned for tomorrow. Lets hope that this one turns out right! I'll keep y'all posted!

A Drop of Water

Well, just the other day we did our first science experiment. S has "A Drop of Water" for science. Our first experiment with this book was about surface tension. You have to take a bowl of water and a needle. Without breaking the surface tension of the water, you have to get the needle to float on the surface. It is even trickier than it sounds, trust me! If you don't do it just right, the needle sinks. We finally figured out that if you will use a bent paper clip to gently slide the needle onto the surface of the water, it won't sink. S was thrilled when he finally succeeded. Of course, then E and N also wanted to do the experiment. It turned into a 45 min session and everyone wanted to be videoed. I've never been big on science experiments, but this was great fun!


A Drop of Water