We have had comings and goings as well.
The Walshes sadly left, but before they did, they certainly had cultural experiences and homeschool experiences that they won't forget anytime soon. Here's their Daniel checking out what it's like to go to a (poorer) school here in Vanuatu:
But even before they left we got new visitors: The Tillacks and their grandson, Ezra Peavoy, who just happens to be Maxwell's best friend.
They were a delight to have. The Tillacks are full of spunk and treated my kids like grandkids, and Ezra was a perfect kid. He's so appreciative, and always a peacemaker.
Ezra wants to be a marine biologist when he grows up, and so he was in heaven among all the creatures he found here.
Even when he was on land, he was finding little creatures. For example, he found a snake that threw-up an iguana. He also found a giant snail while he was helping me at the orphan school.
He also had some pretty awesome cultural experiences:
And most of all, my kids were delighted he was here. Maxwell and Ezra have been earning the money for his trip for months, and it really paid off.
And after a month, they're gone as well, but even before they left we got yet another set of visitors! The Adams.
Dana is Dustin's oldest friend, and they have been a delight. They brought tons of supplies that were donated from Handwriting Without Tears and Rightstart math to the orphan school. I think I'll do specific posts about that to promote HWtears and RS math as a thank you.
Dana and John not only brought the supplies, but they've also helped me document the occasion, and helped teach.
Now for the four main subjects:
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Believe it or not, living in a developing country really is enough social studies in and of its self.
Daniel has continued to come with me to the orphan school. He's my usual choice, but all of my older boys have come.
One day the school went and donated food to people in need. It was really touching, and very memorable to go with this poor school with the little they had, around to the neighbourhood giving to those with nothing.
The kids like touching Daniel's straight hair which is so different than their own. He doesn't appreciate that very much though.
We also take all the local village boys on adventures like exploring neighbouring islands:
We also love exploring around our neighbourhood as well.
And we have brought our culture here as well. We brought the tradition of Leprechaun trapping to Vanuatu. The girls who are staying with us (FYI their younger brother is living with us now too!) had never even heard of St. Patrick's day, and it was gratifying to pass on the fun.
We also have been plugging along (slower than scheduled) the traditional North American social studies.
We continued to go over the US bill of rights. I think it's important, and so we've learned it thoroughly. One of the joys of homeschool.
We also went over Tecumseh and how he united the Native Americans. (No Activity.)
We also went over the Louisiana purchase and the Louis and Clark expedition. I had never realized that Sacajawea was still a teenager when she was their guide. I also didn't realize that she didn't know english very well. One native tongue to another native tongue to French to English. Sheesh! It's amazing they communicated anything!
We didn't really do that much of an activity for this either, but this is us talking about the continental divide and using the mat as our continent with a bump as the Rocky Mountains.
We've also been talking about the war of 1812. Maxwell has already done a report about Laura Secord that I've shared earlier. It's so fascinating to teach the war of 1812 after growing op in the states, but now being Canadian. Both countries really believe that THEY won!
My boys LOVED this youtube video about Canada burning down the Whitehouse (WARNING: mute the OMG at the start!)
Because this was the time that the US national anthem was written about their flag, we made our own flags after looking at the progression of the Canadian flag (my thanks to who ever made the final choice, because it was by far the best. I love our flag...the Canadian one that is. Boy I really am becoming Canadian eh?)
SCIENCE
We finished learning about light. We talked about refraction and lenses.
Now isn't that the coolest picture of light being refracted by glass and water?
We moved on to sound. We talked about vibration, pitch, and frequency. I showed them this video, which is always a crazy experience that everyone seems to hate/love but is also mesmerized by:
This is us making a jug band witch different pitches because of different vibration lengths/water depths.
ENGLISH
Abraham has been having random people in the house draw specific things for him which he then makes people (usually me) write out what he says is going on in the picture. It's his own personal graphic novels!
William has started Toe By Toe. I actually started Ezra on Toe by Toe as well. I was curious how it would work on a teenage non-reader, and I believe that if he continues with the program, he should be a reader within a year.
Ezra was the best student ever! He was sooo appreciative and sweet. Man, I could teach a hundred Ezras any day!
William is my true guinea pig for Toe by Toe since I have him at my mercy constantly. I have started a VERY thorough review, that I plan to share with the world, of my experience with Toe by Toe in comparison with my experience with Barton. We'll see. So far, if William continues at his current trajectory, he will be an efficient reader by the end of his grade one year! I'm willing to try it.
We haven't gotten to the hard transitions yet, so who knows if this will work. In fact, it was a rough beginning, as we had to review all his letter sounds that he had forgotten as we were working on Foundation in Sounds.
He's very proud of himself that he's reading, and points to all the marks he's getting right, and so far it's been a very positive experience. (But to be honest, I'm sceptical because it's missing so much of what makes Barton work.)
Daniel has finish level 5 of Barton!!! So excited! During level 6 is when Maxwell and Hyrum have become efficient readers, so I'm super excited for him to get to that stage! Congratulations to Daniel and me!
Level 5 is all about prefixes and suffixes, and here's a worksheet showing his prefix knowledge.
Hyrum is plugging along with level 6. Here's a worksheet showing his knowledge of phrasing so far.
It's been so rewarding to hear Hyrum read lately. He's reading Minecraft Choose Your Own Adventure books all by himself, and here he is reading to everyone around him. A dyslexic mom's dream come true.
Maxwell is done with his Student Intensive Writing Course!!! Thankfully, I brought the next level with us. I'm so proud of him. His writing has improved so much in the past year.
I had him write about the end of the isolation of Japan because that's what was on the Westwind Alberta agenda for grade eight.
MATH
Daniel:
Hyrum:
He's been learning about the circumference of Circles, and the way that Rightstart has Hyrum learn how to understand what Pi is, is by hands on learning. One time, we took a stick and rope, and went out to the sand and made a circle in the sand with the rope as the radius.
We then measured the circle with the rope. It was 6 radii and a little bit. We talked about how this was 3 diameters and a little bit, which is obviously preparing him for Pi.
He's also learned all about the Pythagorus theorem. I even brought the book "What's your angle Pythagorus," which is excellent.
Check out this worksheet though, it is so full of personality! Oh how I love that Hyrum of mine!
Maxwell:
