We began a new chapter in our lives on Monday. We started home educating Hazel, our kindergartner. We very much believe that learning should be fun. Five in a Row is an acclaimed curriculum, and we knew it would suit our family well. The gist of the curriculum is using delightful books (also known as Living Books) to teach your children. You read the book each day for a week and draw out lessons for the week–Math, Art, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. We like it because it teaches our kids that learning happens everywhere.
We kicked of our school year reading The Glorious Flight.
Science
Louis Bleriot was the first person to cross the English Channel in an aircraft, so we took some time looking at the history of flight. We watched some YouTube videos of the Wright Brothers, and read about Amelia Earhart’s flight across the Atlantic in Night Flight.
Daddy lead some science lessons about lift and thrust.
The fan worked as the engine. When the engine died (the fan turned off) our planes crashed.
Thrust is the force necessary to move our plane forward.
We took a field trip to our municipal airport and looked at all the model airplanes. This wasn’t as fun as I hoped, but both kids left wanting to be pilots. I think that’s a success!
Fleming Field
But our favorite part of the week was working on our Kiwi Crates. August’s crate was about flight (how perfect!). So Hazel and Ambrose both assembled kites and flew them on the sidewalk.
Opening our Kiwi Crate!
Decorating his kite
Flying our kites down the sidewalk.
Later in the week we put together our Kiwi Crate rockets and practiced counting down until Blast-Off.
3-2-1 Blast off!!
Geography
This book takes place in the city of Cambrai, France. We’ll be reading other books that take place in France, so I didn’t want to spend so much time on France. So we simply colored in a French flag and took a field trip to a French Bakery to enjoy some croissants.
Coloring Flags
Then we studied the English Channel and looked at some pictures of the White Cliffs of Dover.
Twenty miles wide.
Black, tossing waves.
Fog and rain.
A very cold bath.
A long swim.
It is a dangerous prospect.
Papa Bleriot flew his 11th plane across the English Channel so we made 11 paper airplanes and flew them across our backyard version of the English Channel. The kiddos thought this was great. Ambrose manned the rescue ship–The Escopette. And Hazel successfully flew all of her planes over the channel! Ambrose on the other hand delighted to crash his planes into the water while steering the Escopette in the other direction while saying “Uh oh, my pilot died.”
Making Paper Airplanes
Making Paper Airplanes
Crashing Planes into the English Channel while the Escopette steers in the opposite direction.
Language Arts
This book uses a lot of descriptive phrases. So we introduced the concept of Adjectives and had Hazel use five words to describe her lovey, Daddy Frog.
Delicate, Green, Dirty, Loved, Cute
There were also a couple new words for Hazel so we made some vocab cards.
Valiant – Heroic, Courageous, Determined
Art
Perspective and viewpoint
Many of the paintings in this book show people looking up at the sky while others show Papa Bleriot looking downward from his plane. Hazel took pictures of the toy airplane from the ground looking up and from the sky looking down. We discussed what made each viewpoint different and how each painting illustrates the viewpoint.
Viewpoint and Perspective
Viewpoint and Perspective.
It was a wonderful first week of homeschooling. Hazel told me she loves school this year, and we can immediately see the benefits after just one week. Hazel’s heart seems to have softened–she is far less grumbly and is thriving on the attention given to her. Ambrose is appreciating the structure that school gives our family and is learning what is expected of him–ie He needs to get dressed before school starts, He may watch Curious George on PBS then he must turn off the TV, He and Hazel must play without Mommy’s help while I get lunch ready.
We thoroughly enjoyed our first week of homeschooling. We know not every week will go this well, but it was a wonderful way to begin our school year!
Dodd Road 