fiar : lentil

for our first week of school we rowed* through lentil by robert mccloskey. lentil is the story of a boy who discovers that his special talent of playing the harmonica makes a difference in the world. rowing through this book provided us with so many fun learning experiences! we learned about taste, sound/acoustics, life in a small town, & even french second empire architecture!

one of lentil's characters, "old sneep", eats lemons, & makes everyone around him pucker.  we learned about taste buds by trying salt, sugar, lemons, & cocoa powder on the roofs our mouths, where there are no taste buds, then on our tongues.

: looking at taste buds :

: their best pucker faces :

(they actually like lemons, so their puckers are more like kisses!)

we learned about acoustics by playing harmonica into a pillow first, where the sound is muffled...

...then in the bathtub (just like Lentil!), where the sound is beautiful, loud, & pure. this activity was extra-fun because i'd let the kids eat some sugar cubes during our previous experiment of taste!  between the harmonica & the sugar-induced laughing, it was hard to keep quiet for sweet little napping peregrin!

: we used finger paints to draw a street scene in alto, ohio :

: heron's :

: shepherd's :

"old sneep" sat around & whittled all day, so we learned to whittle with soap & butter knives

the colonel's house was a very distinct type of architecture, called french second empire. we made our own collaged french second empire houses. characteristics of this style include lightning rods, shutters, peculiar roof line ("mansard" roof), weather vane, round-windowed cupola, decorative trim brackets beneath the eaves, & a canopied entryway.

we discovered there was a french second empire style mansion in portland, so we went for a visit.  it is now home to the alliance francaise, & they were kind enough to let us tour.

: we constructed some of the buildings from lentil out of blocks :

we talked about the elements of a good story--setting the stage, conflict, rising action, climax, and denouement, & wrote & filmed our own little story (on my phone). since heron & sheppy are only 3 & 5, i didn't go into too much detail. i emphasized coming up with a good climax for the story, & that was challenging enough! yes, i do know that sheppy makes for a really pretty girl in this picture! 

here is a summary of what we studied this week:

bible : we memorized proverbs 15:1, "a soft answer turns away wrath."  (we are going through my abc bible verses, one per week.

science : learned about taste buds and sound/acoustics.

history : talked about the 1940s & noticed the difference between then & now through lentil's illustrations (cars, school desks, cash register, nail barrels, bath, sink, steam locomotive, passenger trains, horse drawn carts).  we talked about which of those "old-fashioned" experiences we would most enjoy. sheppy replied, "a claw-foot tub" (he loves baths!), and heron replied, "a lantern" (she loves candles & low ambient lighting!).  we also talked about the american flag, because it is so present in the book. now the kids are always noticing & commenting on flags on our car trips, & counting them along the way.

geography : we learned a bit about ohio, & colored maps of the state.

literature : studied elements of a good story focusing on conflict, using costumes, making a video.

math : math worksheets + filled out "i'm saving for..." sheets from homeschool share.  lentil set a good example of making a goal & working towards it.

art : fingerpainted cityscape, studied & visited french 2nd empire architecture, looked at houses in see inside houses long ago (& talked about what type of house from all of history we'd like to live in. heron : teepee; shepherd : french castle; me : 1700s saltbox house)

social studies : we talked about uniqueness, & about what makes each of us unique. (we unanimously decided that heron's unique giftings are tree-climbing & art-making, sheppy is an expert at building & breaking things & putting them back together again, & about per, heron said, "he's such a good traveler, he's going to travel all over the world and tell people about Jesus!") lentil was not able to sing or whistle, so he set out to discover something that he was good at. when he discovered the harmonica, he played & practiced with all his heart. he became an expert. heron & sheppy started violin lessons this week, so the discussions on practicing so as to become an expert were especially relevant. we also talked about disagreeable people & jealousy. "old sneep" was jealous of the colonel, & that's what made him mean & grumpy. lentil, in contrast, rather than becoming jealous of his classmates who could sing or whistle, set out to discover his own giftings. we talked about celebrating other people's talents, & being happy for others when things go well for them.

resources : most activities we completed this week were suggested by our curriculum book five in a row, volume 1; as supplementary resources we used maps of the USA, worksheets from homeschool share, see inside houses long ago from usborne books, and my ABC bible verses.

* rowing refers to reading a particular classic children's book every day for a week, & selecting learning activities surrounding the themes in the book.  our curriculum guide is called five in a row, thus, "rowing"...