Happy Valentine's Day

"We love him, because he first loved us." 

1 John 4:19

Hunter is 5 years, 10 months old

Meteor Stencils?

The other day while we were decorating a recycled frozen juice container to make Hunter's new pencil can, Hunter was going through his pack of stencils to decide which ones would make the cut and said,

"I want to use the crab, the dinosaur, and the meteor."

Don't your stencil kits have meteors in them?

"Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!" 

Job 22:12

Hunter is 5 years, 4 months old

Exploring Symmetry (Mathematical Mondays)

In reality, no one can teach mathematics. Effective teachers are those who can stimulate students to learn mathematics. Educational research offers compelling evidence that students learn mathematics well only when they construct their own mathematical understanding.

-National Research Council, 1989

His toys spurred this little exploration on.

It was a little over two weeks ago when I suddenly noticed that all of Hunter's recent tinker toy creations were consistently, perfectly, accurately symmetrical.

And you know me. My mind started ticking and my fingers started googling. What are some fun activities to introduce the vocabulary behind the concept that, he obviously knew [hence the tinker toys], yet just didn't have the words or rules to describe it yet?

A little bit about our blooming adventure.

First we stumbled upon the Illustrated Lesson on Symmetry, courtesy of my google search. Very cool, informative, free. Hunter played this pretty much entirely on his own with very little coaching from me, and wanted to play again the next day. He used the reflecting mirror in The Amazing Book of Shapes to figure out which figures were symmetrical and which ones weren't.

We later learned that there are actually different kinds of symmetry, illustrated with stencils:

Reflective symmetry, aka the dinosaurs, the kind we're most familiar with, which is basically the "mirror image" effect.

Glide reflective symmetry, aka the dogs, same as mirror effect except the reflected image is moved [glided].

Translational symmetry, aka the flamingos, is when an exact copy of an image is moved [translated].

Rotational symmetry, aka the palm trees, is when an exact copy of a figure is moved [rotated] around a center point.

Those red lines in all the drawings? That is the line of symmetry. We learned about that in the before mentioned game, that there are different kinds of lines of symmetry. Sometimes it is vertical, right down the middle, sometimes it's horizontal, sometimes diagonal, sometimes there is more than one line of symmetry. One day we made these folding-paintings (paint one side, then fold and press to "translate" symmetrical version to other side) to illustrate some different lines of symmetry:

Besides using the mirror and our eyes to point out reflective symmetry in a great many things around the house (and find things that were asymmetrical as well), the last activity / craft we did was these "snowflakes" (which thankfully turned out way cooler and more suitable to the season). Ours, after folding them only in quarters, had two lines of symmetry:

It was a really neat little spree of activities. And I think he had fun and definitely explored the vocabulary and depth of the concept more thoroughly.

Math sure is fun, isn't it?

"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."

Matthew 11:25

Hunter is 5 years, 1 month old

Seasons and More

Earlier last week was the winter solstice, or "first day of winter" and longest day of the year. We talked about how the days have been getting shorter and shorter little by little, but now they will start getting just a little bit longer and a little bit longer until the longest day of the year in June.

This is actually something that has been really close to Hunter because, not only does he notice that his daytime playing hours are certainly less than before, it is especially noticeable to him because of the time Brandon goes to work every day (4:30 pm). When we first got here, there were several hours from between the time Brandon left and the time it got dark, but now the sun is setting as he leaves.

Anyhow, we made a chart of the location of the earth in relation to the sun at the different seasons. I made the earth and sun pieces out of construction paper, and Hunter glued them together and glued them on the paper. He also cut out the sun, helped color the sun beams, and wrote the season words. We talked more about the opposites of summer and winter in the northern and southern hemispheres and why summer is summer and winter is winter (tilt of earth creating longer/shorter days as well as making us closer to / further from sun).

We also learned some words - summer and winter solstices (shortest and longest days of year) and vernal (spring) and autumnal (fall) equinoxes (equinox means "equal", where the day hours are as long as the night hours).

Later we'll talk about how on the equator it is always hot (they are always close to the sun) and that they always have equal nights and days.

I like making crafts like this because it's not only something that is a fun project and a fun lesson, but something that we'll use again and again. We'll refer to this often to talk about a lot of other things (like the north and south poles and the magnetism of the earth, how the earth rotates as well as spins counterclockwise, the gravitational pull of the sun, etc., etc., etc. It's fun to learn these things as we relate them to real life experiences, making it simple and interesting to understand.

I was going to hang it up in the school room, but Hunter protested, "No, I'd like to hang it up in my room."

"He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." 

Job 26:7

Hunter is 4 years, 9 months old 

Tree and Presents

This was Hunter's "gift" to Brandon and me. He drew a lot of things like our actual tree, like the red bow on top, the brown carpet (although ours is actually more of a beige), and the red and green gifts.

We haven't done any more of the Drawing with Children exercises but I really love his representational drawing here. And that he really loves making so many pictures now. (Oh, and by the way, on Christmas day he drew about six more pictures, and kept "wrapping" them and giving them to us to open. Apparently he thought he had to try and match the amount of presents he got. So cute.)

"And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger." 

Luke 2:16

Hunter is 4 years, 9 months old

Drawing Explosion

Hunter has experienced a drawing explosion recently.

It's funny because, up until this point, he did not like to draw.

Ok, maybe I'm being a little too harsh on myself (or on him). It's not like he hated drawing or would never draw, it's just that he never really wanted to draw or, at least, not long enough to finish much of a picture.

I have been talking about the book, Drawing with Children, for quite some time now. I have loved the idea of the book (that is, that any child [or adult] can draw and draw well, even very young ones, without some special genetic gift) but Hunter hasn't really seemed "ready" for it up until now. I hate using that term because it's not that he wasn't capable or couldn't learn or couldn't enjoy it, just that we were focusing on other things.

But recently, he has been drawing a lot. Maybe it's because he doesn't have as many toys here or other distracting factors. Maybe it's just because he suddenly became interested. Either way, he's been at it a lot and more importantly, really focusing on detail unlike he ever has before. The picture above (of the phone) was taken a while ago when he sporadically decided he wanted to draw my phone, which he had been doing with similar things quite frequently.

So it seemed like the perfect time to get the book from the library and start implementing some of the simple, easy lessons. The bookmark to the left was made for Brandon's birthday, and he was able to draw this well after just one lesson (no kidding).

More on this coming soon, I am pretty excited about it.

"And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them." 

Isaiah 10:19

Hunter is 4 years, 9 months old

Happy Birthday

Hunter has been working really hard to give Brandon a nice birthday. He helped link together hundreds of paper chains, made a six-foot banner, colored paper balloons, cut up homemade confetti, and even made his own party favors (graham cracker treats, his own recipe, unasked and unassisted). He even made him a very cool bookmark, which Brandon will be using quite frequently, and a card.

Can I tell you how much fun he had doing all this? And, on a side note, learning a thing or two? (small motor skills, language skills, nutrition, kindness, hospitality?)

"Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many."  

Proverbs 4:10

Hunter is 4 years, 8 months old

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving.

It was certainly different, without masses of relatives running around, but it was still a fun day together as a family. We also got to skype (which is free domestically) our family back home who was just done eating dinner.

Hunter watched the Animated Hero Classic William Bradford: The First Thanksgiving movie (which we borrowed from the library) about a dozen times and can practically quote it now. In fact when he made his little Indian hat today for a craft, he insisted on having just one feather because "that is how Squanto's was". He colored the band all brown too and didn't use any of the other decorations provided, apparently how it was in the movie.

We also did a lot of reading and finished the classic historic journal, Of Plymouth Plantation (at least the part up until the first Thanksgiving) for the second year in a row. I think he has a pretty fair grasp of the meaning of the holiday at this point.

We had another couple over and had a fun Mexican / American Thanksgiving dinner. We also celebrated Thanksgiving last Saturday at a friend's house (picture below). We are so thankful to have so many blessings in our life.

"Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works." 

1 Chronicles 16:8-9

Hunter is 4 years, 8 months old

Bahrain

Hunter's letter to Brandon:

Brandon, I colored this flag
of Bahrain for you. It looks like
the flag of Qatar. I colored a map
too. The sand is yellow. I am glad
you are home now. Love, Hunter

Bahrain is a little island of the coast of Saudi Arabia. While we were printing out geography coloring pages for the next two years (flags and maps) we printed out this of Bahrain, too, where Brandon was for about a year and a half. We have been learning about it and reading about it. He was very careful to color the map a brownish-yellow, because "there's sand there". When we were finding the flag of Bahrain on his geography wall, he was careful to point out that it looked a lot like the flag of Qatar.

He did really good at coloring, he was especially careful with the map, with all the little crevices around the islands. It's so fun now that he's old enough to write letters, is getting better at talking on the phone, etc. It'll really be an asset for staying in touch with friends and family, even from the other side of the country.

"For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven"

Job 28:24

Hunter is 4 years, 4 months old

Parts of the Sun

For science this unit we have been learning about the sun. It is the first theme in our science curriculum this year. We're doing earth science this year, but the curriculum we're using starts out with an introduction to astronomy, the sun being the first topic on the list.

We have been doing parts of the sun bits, with the core, radiative zone, convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere, and corona highlighted on each flashcard.

Today he colored a coloring page that I printed out for him, and did a really good job. He did the whole thing without any input from me, and chose the colors orange, red, yellow, blue, and brown to color the various layers.

One thing that I thought was really interesting though was that he actually made his own chromosphere (the blue layer, picture shown at right) which was not on the coloring page. He just made it himself after only seeing the flashcards a few times!

Lots more exciting news about fun things we've been learning about the sun, soon to come!

You can download this coloring page from google docs for free.

"They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations."

Psalm 72:5

Hunter is 4 years, 2 months old

Days of Creation Craft

For history this unit, one of the things we're learning about is the creation of the world according to the Genesis record. With this new school year, we're going to be doing a lot more crafts rather than exclusively open-ended art activities. Not that we're cutting out painting or playing with playdough, not by any means. But up until this point we haven't done that many crafts because most of the time, the preschool craft ideas I see are just plain dumb.






I got this idea from a half-made craft similar to this I saw with my mom's old homeschooling supplies.

I used six-inch high card stock numerals that I traced and then cut out myself (template to be available as soon as I can get my scanner to work). Then, we decorated each day as follows:

Day 1: God makes light and darkness

I glued black construction paper on the bottom half, and Hunter sprinkled white glitter on the top half.
Day 2: God makes the atmosphere

Hunter's favorite! He colored numeral blue, then tore up and glued on pieces of cotton balls.

Day 3: God separates the dry land from the water, makes all vegetation

Hunter colored the top half blue with waves, bottom half brown and green, then glued on leaf and flower cut-outs.
Day 4: God makes the sun and moon

I covered the numeral in black construction paper, then Hunter glued on handmade sun and moon cut-outs, as well as little star cut-outs.



Day 5: God makes all birds and creatures of the sea

Hunter colored the top half light blue, the bottom half dark blue, then glued animal stickers on.
Day 6: God make land animals, insects, and man

Hunter colored parts of it green, and drew a picture of Adam (since we didn't have any "man" stickers on hand). Then he covered the rest in animal stickers.

Day 7: God rests from his work

Hunter colored the numeral a light blue and then drew Z's all over it.






I hope this doesn't sound too complicated, because it really wasn't. All I did was think about what was made on each day, then went around the house looking for something that could represent the work of that particular day.

The stickers for days 5 and 6 came from scrapbooking materials we had, and the stars for day 4 came from a specially-shaped hole-punch, as did the flowers.

A few days before we did the craft, I gathered all the materials, did all the prep work (such as gluing black construction paper to days 1 and 4), and then placed it all in a bag, ready to use on that day! Preparing ahead is SO, SO important. I can just imagine spending half the morning searching around for all the materials, doing the prep work, getting everything set up, and then by the time it's all said and done, that's the only thing we got done that morning!

It was a really fun craft, which Hunter REALLY enjoyed (and has wanted to make more crafts ever since then, especially with glitter and cotton balls). I'm looking forward to more craft ideas for the coming year that will reinforce our lessons as well as be a fun keepsake for years to come.

Get free template for numerals by clicking here.

"And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good..."

Genesis 1:31

Hunter is 4 years, 2 months old

Pajama Day

Hunter had pajama day at his library story hour today.

All morning he was going around with this funny grin on his face, telling everyone that he was going to get to wear his pajamas to the library, and isn't that funny?

He was supposed to bring a teddy bear but he brought monkey instead (which, apparently a lot of the other kids didn't feel the need to bring teddies because most had various stuffed animals as well).

They read books relating to bedtime and watched a little video too. He liked the craft, which involved gluing popped popcorn to a piece of paper with a pan on it.

This is one of his last story hours for this season, he sure has been doing great this time around, he's so much more socially competent and doesn't even get the slightest bit nervous anymore going into the classroom without me. I'm so proud of him.

"Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread."

Proverbs 20:13

Hunter is 3 years, 11 months old

Young Picassos

Bathtub paints. Fun while it lasted, probably not too great for the skin.

Hunter's bangs were pink the next day, as well as his hands.

Not the greatest toy they ever played with but they sure had fun making mini masterpieces all over the tub, the walls, and each other.

"I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires."

Isaiah 54:11

Hunter is 3 years, 10 months old

Realistic Animal Coloring Pages

I found these neat coloring pages from National Geographic Kids. I liked them because they are realistic rather than the cheap cartoons that most other stuff for kids is like. They had quite a selection of animals as well as a few facts about each one. I printed out lowland gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees for next week as we'll be learning primate bits. Enjoy!

National Geographic Coloring Pages

"For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine."

Psalm 50:10-11

Computer Drawing

Hunter made this picture on the paint program today. He was using Nana's touch-screen laptop so he was actually using a pen-type device. I was teaching him the basics of the paint program so he's getting some of his first introductions to computer science! We need to work on the computer more he really loves it.

Anyhow, it was a cute and colorful picture so I thought I'd share!

"I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires."

Isaiah 54:11

Hunter is 3 years, 7 months old

Look Mommy! It's a Van Gogh!

As we were heading out the door today to go out of town to visit relatives, Hunter was playing in the front yard while the van was being loaded.

All of the sudden he runs into the house and says, "Mommy! Mommy! Come quick, hurry, I want to show you something! Come see!"

I assumed he had found some interesting insect or perhaps a dead mole or some other phenomena of nature, which is very often the case.

As I walked outside looking for what it is he's so desperate to show me, he brings me over to the driveway where our bags are piled and eagerly points to one of the book bags saying, "Look! Look!"

Of course, it's not an insect or a bird or some strange toy or a dead rodent - it was a bag with a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. Which, of course, is just as interesting as any of the above mentioned things. Just ask a three-year-old.

"I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works." 

Psalm 9:1

Hunter is 3 years, 6 months old

Color Grading

Almost a year ago (right after hearing about Doman) I made this really neat activity for Hunter about color grading. I got the idea from Montessori materials and decided to make my own but for much cheaper.

I used free paint samples from the store, cut off the words and glued them from darkest to lightest on a piece of card stock. I then outlined blank spots where the matching pieces should go (I got two of each paint sample).

In the meantime I showed them to my mom, and she said that he would get pick up on it really quick if I first showed him a more obvious color difference (like one dark blue, one medium blue, and one light blue). I intended to do this and put away my finished project, waiting till I had more time to work on it.

Nonetheless it had been almost a year since I made the activity and never managed to create a simpler one. It's been sitting under Hunter's desk and under the bottom of my priority list for many months now. But today I saw it and got it out. "Look Hunter!" I said excitedly. "Look what Mommy's doing... you wanna see?"

He watched as I matched the first two pairs. "Hmm..." I said thinking and demonstrating out loud. I scanned one of the cards across the colors until I found the one that was the same, then went back and forth again between the two that looked nearly the same to let him see me observing the subtle differences. I matched two pairs and then offered if he would like to try matching some. He eagerly took the little paint sample cards and matched them exactly to the correct colors, without much effort or forethought. I was impressed! There's not that much of a difference between some of the colors (especially the light ones), but he passed with "flying colors".

I only did one, and then put them away. Remember the cardinal rule of teaching - always stop before the child wants to stop.

I'm going to have to say that this activity was just a little too easy for him though. Maybe I waited too long, and he's too "old". Or maybe he's just already learned to notice subtle differences, so it came naturally for him. Like learning the difference between the vertebrae C3 and C4, the difference between a enneadecagon and an icosagon (a 19- and 20-sided polygon), the difference between the shapes of Arizona and New Mexico, the difference between the sound of C and C sharp, or the difference between the brush strokes of Renoir and Monet.

That might have something to do with it.

Either way, it was a fun, almost-free, interesting little activity, that even if he didn't have trouble with it, still probably emphasized the artsy-lesson of color shades, the terms light and dark in color, and, um, yeah, that's all I can think of at the moment.

"Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place."

2 Chronicles 7:15

Hunter is 3 years, 5 months old

He is Risen

Happy Easter everyone! We enjoyed this special day of celebration and reflection with the whole family. Hunter got to color Easter eggs for the first time with me. The boys were so cute all dressed up in matching suits, and Hunter enjoyed his Easter basket and all the candy.

I'm still not sure what to think about all these traditions we've adopted but haven't come up with any new ones just yet. It was fun though. And, most importantly, the main focus of our conversation was the true meaning of the season.






"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

Romans 6:4

Hunter is 3 years, 0 months old 

St. Valentine's Day

So yesterday was Valentine's Day and I thought about helping the kids make something memorable to put in the scrapbook to commemorate this holiday.

As a child I always watched a video around this time of year about St. Valentine, who, according to the video, was imprisoned for marrying soldiers against Emperor Claudius' law (who thought single men made better soldiers). While in prison he healed the prison guard's blind daughter and eventually gave up his life to save his Christian brothers and sisters.

When I did some more research I was disappointed to discover many conflicting reports. It seems that the true story has been lost in a history of pagan traditions involving flowers, candy, and romance. But we enjoyed a brief discussion about the history. We didn't get any books from the library, since they all focused on first grade crushes and the joys of candy, not really anything worth celebrating.

We made hearts though, and Hunter did an excellent job cutting out the shape I traced for him in construction paper. Celebrating the story of a Christian man of great love, rather than the typical cupids and candy, was a fun way to commemorate the day.

"Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman"

Exodus 35:35

Hunter is 2 years, 10 months old

Toddler Time

Today was "wear your favorite color" day at Toddler Time. When I asked Hunter what his favorite color was, he thought for a moment and then proudly stated, "blue!"

When I asked him a little later to reconfirm his response (not a good idea) he decided that his favorite color was now yellow, not blue, and he wanted to wear yellow.

Unfortunately, he had just wore his last clean yellow shirt yesterday, so we were out of options in that category. Attempting to coax him into his previous choice, he kept telling me, "No, yellow is my favorite."

We eventually came to the conclusion that blue was monkey's favorite color, so he would wear his favorite instead. Sounds good to me. So he wore a blue shirt [two, actually], blue jeans, and navy blue All Stars. Even though his favorite is really yellow.

And on we went into the library discussion of colors... color books, color games, a video about colors. And finally, a color craft: the rainbow arch, which required more assistance from Mommy than creation from Hunter. But it's cute, right? And that's what those crafts are for, after all.

"I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires."

Isaiah 54:11

Hunter is 2 years, 10 months old