Paul Revere and School Stuff

We had a relaxed, summer row with The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere the week of the 4th.  Joe asked me why we celebrated the fourth of July so I thought this would be a wonderful time to row this particular book and read some go-alongs about the Revolution and America.  By the end of the week he knew and understood exactly why we celebrate this special day and what a blessed land we live in.

We learned about:

• Paul Revere
• The American Revolution
• Signals in case of emergency, morse code, signals made with lights, etc.
• Reading poetry aloud
• Using light (moonlight in this instance) in art for effect
• Briefly learned about the state of Massachusetts

Joe made a timeline of several important events during the Revolution. We discussed the way reflections on water (with the help of moonlight) make objects appear differently than they actually look.  Joe drew a ship in the water using an illustration from the book.  He used oil pastels.  The book was full of examples of reflections in water.  Joe chose his favorite to draw. Joe labeled some rivers and places of importance on a map of Massachusetts and completed two notebooking pages about the state. We didn’t do any extra activities and very few notebooking pages.  We did read lots of go along books though.  We’ve been busy just enjoying our summer swimming and playing each day and I didn’t want this to feel like ‘school’, more like fun and time together learning about the 4th.  It was nice for a change!

We had a super fun day with family!  We enjoyed swimming, eating good food and just being together. We’ve got a couple more weeks of summer vacation left before we start our new school year.  I plan to start with the boys the first full week of August.  Hanna will start the last week of the month.  I think it will help me out to start them at different times.

I’m excited about our new school year.  I finished getting everything laid out this week just in time to enjoy two weeks myself (school free) before we start back!  This will be our fourth year homeschooling and I’m just so thankful for the blessing that it is in my life and in our family. 

Ideas, inspiration and printables for Paul Revere can be found at:

• Five in a Row Volume 3 manual
• Homeschool Share
• 50 States Notebook pages

The Little Red Lighthouse, FIAR

(6/18 – 6/29)  We learned a lot and visited new places as we rowed The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde H. Swift.  All three of the boys enjoyed listening to this book and I liked it too.  I love it when a book is based on a true story.  This book is written about the red lighthouse at the bottom of the George Washington Bridge and it is still standing today.  We read a great go along book suggested in the Five in a Row Volume 2 manual, Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie.  Another book based on the true story of an experience had by a lighthouse keeper’s daughter as she kept the lights burning in their lighthouse for several weeks during a storm that kept her father at sea.

We learned about:

• lighthouses
• bridges
• three color printmaking
• personification
• compound words
• the difference between good and bad pride

Here are some pictures of our learning fun:

Compound words game—we used this last year when we rowed Gramma’s Walk and it was good review for Joe.  Last September it was a challenge, but he’s definitely mastered this concept now!

Personification using our Pick and Draw game and lighthouse printables from Homeschool Share, (original inspiration for game via Delightful Learning).  Joe and I played this together and it was fun! 

Joe’s:

Mine:

Illustrations using three colors—red, blue and black.  All of the illustrations in the book use three colors only—red, blue and black.  Joe used a combination of an art lesson on drawing lighthouses from Art Projects for Kids, and an illustration from the book to draw his own 3 color picture.  He did a really great job!  He is always so patient and takes his time when he draws and I love that.

We saw our own great gray bridge in Charleston.

We visited and toured the Hunting Island lighthouse.  On our way there we actually crossed a drawbridge and that was pretty neat!

This was mine and the kids first time ever being in a lighthouse.  It was a cool experience.  There were 167 winding steps to the top. Lighthouse keepers had to carry a 50 lb. bucket full of oil up and down these stairs!

Jamie stayed back with Jesse—he didn’t meet the height requirement to go up.  When we got to the top we waved to them down below.  There was a really pretty view of the beach from the top.

After our tour of the lighthouse we enjoyed the beautiful beach at Hunting Island.  Definitely the prettiest beach I’ve ever been to!  I ♥ the beach. This was one of my most memorable rows because of our visit to the lighthouse and the discovery of a new beach that I know will become a favorite, one we’ll hopefully make many memories at together.

Up next we learned about Paul Revere as we celebrated the fourth of July.