Rinoa is currently learning about animals in science. It is the first part of her three-part life science curriculum this year – with the other two being the human body and plants. Here is a lapbook we did to learn more about ostriches, including a video of her showing the lapbook and talking about ostriches. (With a few modifications, this lapbook project was taken from here.)

I’m sure I’ve mentioned in the past that history has become Rinoa’s favorite subject. Each morning as we start our schoolwork, she would ask me if she has history lessons that day. When she doesn’t (since I alternate history and science), she would plead to have history – much to Mica’s irritated astonishment. (Haha!)

My curriculum is loosely based on the The Well-Trained Mind, and as such, I use the The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer to teach Rinoa history. (This is a four-volume series. We are currently using Volume I and studying about Ancient Times.) During class, I read to her a chapter from the book. (Sometimes we read together.) The book, written for grade school children, has an easy-to-read narrative style that introduces historical events and keeps Rinoa constantly engaged on the lesson. As I read to her, I ask her questions to make sure she understands what we’re reading. I also use a large wall map to show her various places and areas as we come across them. Afterwards I give her time to write down a short summary of what we just read and draw a picture to go with her narration. (According to the Well-Trained Mind, “narration is a way to develop the child’s understanding and storytelling skills.”)

Here are a few narration pages that Rinoa made for her lesson on “The Earliest People”:

Nomads by Rinoa Redington (5 years old)

The drawing shows a young nomad catching a lizard to give to her mom to cook for breakfast. The narration is as follows: “Nomads move from place to place to find food. The live in tents or caves. They eat berries, lizards, eggs, honey, and large animals like deer.”

The First Farmers by Rinoa Redington (5 years old)

The drawing shows a farmer hard at work. (He is wiping off his sweat.) He keeps his livestock beside his house (in the middle) and he has a field of crops on the right. The narration is as follows: “The first farmers live in the Fertile Crescent. They were nomads who stayed in one place and grew crops. They built houses and tamed animals like sheep and goats.”

Map Work by Rinoa Redington (5 years old)

When Rinoa is done with her narration page, we do some map work. This one shown here is from the activity book that goes with the Story of the World. (It is bought separately but is a huge time-saver.) Aside from the map work, the activity book includes review questions, sample narrations, coloring pages (which Rinoa love!), and lots of projects.

I supplement the Story of the World with the Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History. The colorful illustrations in the book help Rinoa picture more vividly the lessons that we discuss. Some of the internet resources, especially the ones designed for children, reinforce our studies and keep Rinoa entertained.

Here’s a summary of the books I use for grade school history:

• Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times (for use in first grade)
• Story of the World, Activity Book 1
• Story of the World, Volume 2: Middle Ages (for use in second grade)
• Story of the World, Activity Book 2
• Story of the World, Volume 3: Early Modern Times (for use in third grade)
• Story of the World, Activity Book 3
• Story of the World, Volume 4: The Modern Age (for use in fourth grade)
• Story of the World, Activity Book 4
• Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History (for use with all Story of the World books)

Con mucho amor,

Somewhere I Have Never Traveled
e. e. cummings

somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which I cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though I have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, I and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(I do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

Part of Mica’s language arts program is reading classic books and poetry. She just got done reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. And after that, I gave her the poem above to read, discuss, and memorize.

“Somewhere I Have Never Traveled” is probably my favorite poem ever. It’s just so intense and romantic – makes you fall in love. The first time I encountered the poem was in my freshman English class in college. My professor played us this song from Beauty and the Beast (the TV series) as an introduction. Oh did my heart melt! I got lost in Vincent’s voice (the Beast). While listening to the song in class, I tried to hold back tears. I glanced over at my friend and saw that she was crying! It made me feel better to know I wasn’t the only sentimental one. {Ahh! Wonderful memories!}

Anyways, Mica’s probably too young to appreciate the poem. She finds it too sappy. But I still discussed it with her. Rinoa listened and she got wide-eyed and excited when she understood the metaphor between the poet and a rose in springtime and wintertime.

Analysis of the poem:

First Stanza
{somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond any experience}
Cummings starts out by saying he’s gone to a place he’s never been to before and he’s happy.

{your eyes have their silence}
Here we see that he’s using metaphors and allegories in the poem and we get a hint that this “somewhere” he “has never traveled” is not an actual place but more of a state of being. He’s captivated by the gaze (“your eyes”) which takes him to this quiet, peaceful place where everything else seems to vanish.

{in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me, or which I cannot touch because they are too near}
The phrase “frail gestures” gives us a clue that he is talking to a woman. Now “frail” might be construed as negative but it’s actually a compliment, indicating that the woman is tender and delicate. Here we start to understand that the poem is a love story. Her gaze and delicate gestures are so powerful that he feels “enclosed” by them. Her effect on him is so deep within him – it’s at his very core – that it’s “too near to touch”.

Second Stanza
{your slightest look easily will unclose me though I have closed myself as fingers}
He is saying that, before he met her, he has guarded himself from love. Maybe he has been hurt before. But he easily lets his defenses down and bares himself to her even with just a “slight look” from her.

{you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens, (touching skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose}
He compares himself to a rose and she to nature. Just as a rose bud blooms in the spring, so does the woman have the power to open him up and breathe life into his soul.

Third Stanza
{or if your wish be to close me, I and my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly}
Even though he willingly opens himself up to her, he will just as easily and readily draw himself away from her, if she so wishes.

{as when the heart of this flower imagines the snow carefully everywhere descending}
Again, he compares himself to a rose, now facing its imminent death in the winter – a death that is not tragic but beautiful since the flower will bloom again in the spring. He describes her power over his life and his death – which, like the rose’s and if she so chooses, will not be a tragedy but a glorious celebration just the same as life.

Fourth Stanza
{nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility}
He points out that her feminine ways are so powerful that they go beyond what we know and understand – they transcend the physical world.

{whose texture compels me with the color of its countries}
He compares her traits and characteristics to countries – countries in the woman’s ethereal world, and he is enthralled by them.

{rendering death and forever with each breathing}
Here, he re-emphasizes her power over his life and his death.

Fifth Stanza
{I do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses}
He can’t quite tell why she has so much power over him, although deep inside him, he understands – and that is enough for him.

{nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands}
So far in the poem, Cummings has been comparing the woman to nature but in this last line, he goes as far as saying that she is more powerful than nature. He is describing the rain as having small hands because a raindrop can go through even the minutest of opening in the soil to get to the seed which it enables to grow and open up. And he is saying that the woman has a much deeper effect than that of rain. (This is actually my favorite line in the poem. So romantic!)

Cummings wrote this poem for his second wife, Anne Barton. His first wife, Elaine Orr, left him for another man, taking their 4-year old daughter with her. The court gave him custody of their daughter for three months in each year but his first wife did not acknowledge this and he didn’t see his daughter until 22 years later. They were only married for two months (although they had an affair for years before that). Hence the “I have closed myself as fingers” in the poem.

Unfortunately, his second marriage did not last long as well. Cummings and Barton separated only after three years. (I know, a tragic ending for such a lovely poem.)

Con mucho amor,

Last month, we attended a friend’s wedding and Rinoa enjoyed the company of a girl her age. After the wedding, she was saddened to know that the girl lives in another state and was just in town for the wedding. She cried at the thought of not being able to play with her new playmate anymore. I told her that even though her new friend lives far away, she can write her a letter. And so she did. (I’m putting this under “homeschooling” since writing letters once a month is part of Rinoa’s curriculum.)

Rinoa's Letter to Emily

Incidentally, I had to ask permission from Rinoa before I could post this letter. I even had to negotiate with her – haha!

Con mucho amor,

That’s what permeated our house today (aside from the stress-relieving scents of Shea Butter and Cedarwood from my Yankee Candle) for our Fridays are not only dedicated to art but also to music. Our homeschool music program consists of music appreciation and piano lessons. In music appreciation, the girls listen to works of classical composers and learn about their lives and music style – nothing overly intensive. The main idea right now is just to make them aware and, hopefully, appreciate classical music. Then I give them piano lessons which includes theory, technique, and performance. For their piano books, I use Piano Adventures by Nancy and Randall Faber which I complement with performance music sheets. My favorite resource for free music sheets is The Mutopia Project which also includes midi files so you know how the music piece sounds like. Most of the music sheets in The Mutopia Project are intermediate to advance so another site I found invaluable is Making Music Fun which is geared more for children. (Both these sites offer free classical music sheets. I was classically trained, so naturally, I’m teaching my girls the same way.)

Here’s Mica playing Spring from Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”. (The password for this video is vivaldispring.)

Here are some more recordings of Mica playing the piano: Stephen Foster’s Camptown Races and Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

Con mucho amor,

Summer is over in our household and we are back to homeschooling for the third year. As always, I’ve reassessed my goals and reasons for homeschooling. Every now and then, I start to lose confidence and question my goals, but what’s interesting is I always get some sort of sign that reminds me why Troy and I decided to homeschool. I was reading this book about incorporating poetry into daily life and it’s quite an unusual place to find an answer to my doubts:

“In our schools, grades K through 12, students are not so much educated as trained to perform well on standardized tests. They aren’t taught to think for themselves, question, or be curious. They’re encouraged to accept what they’re told without hesitation.” – Poetry as Spiritual Practice by Robert McDowell

Anyways, this year is a tough one because aside from teaching Mica, it’s the first time that Rinoa has a full formal curriculum. You can read about Mica’s subjects and her thoughts on homeschooling here. As for 5-year old Rinoa, she’s tackling first and second grade level subjects. And she’s loving it! Her favorite subject is history! (Would you believe?!) She begs to have history if it’s not scheduled for the day. It’s making Mica, who hates history, crazy!

To keep me sane during school days, I’ve dedicated a 2-hour break in the middle of the day called “quiet time”. During this time, Mica and Rinoa can do whatever they want as long as they stay in their room. It works well for us – it keeps us refreshed and ready for afternoon lessons. It’s especially important since they now have gymnastics class almost every evening.

Mica back to hitting the books this year.

Con mucho amor,

For this post, I wanted to share a video of Mica reciting the Lord’s Prayer in Latin, which I had her memorize. (Latin is part of her foreign language course, the other part being Spanish.)

“Foreign language provides one with entry into a worldview different from one’s own. If it is important that our young value diversity of point of view, there is no better way to achieve it than to have them learn a foreign language.” – Neil Postman in The End of Education

For Rinoa’s grammar lessons, I use First Language Lessons by Jessie Wise. This scripted book not only teaches grammar concepts, but also includes memory work, copy work, and narration. As the author wrote, “Exposure, not mastery, is the goal at this level.” and the daily lessons that are given in small doses are perfect for this objective.

After forty or so lessons, Rinoa now understands the concept of nouns, proper nouns, and common nouns. By next week, she’ll be ready to learn all about pronouns. I’m using Schoolhouse Rock videos to supplement the grammar lessons. I don’t even have to buy them, they’re all in YouTube. Below is the video that got her excited to learn all about nouns. (I just grabbed the first video I saw in YouTube.) And you can’t blame her, the song is very catchy!

Aside from learning grammar, she’s also developing her narration skill. I tell her a short story, and she tells back the story in her own words. The problem I encountered when I started teaching her was she gives too much details that her narration become too long to write down – but she’s learning to pick out the important points and tone down her summary. As for memory work, she absolutely has no problems. I give her a 4-line poem and she has it memorized in one day. Below are two of three poems she has memorized so far.

She makes up all the hand gestures by herself and the person you hear clapping in the background in both videos is Mica.

In one of Mica’s writing activities for Language Arts, she wrote a character sketch of her cousin, Jessi. I promised my sister-in-law a few months ago that I would share it, so here you go …

My Character Sketch of Baby Jessi

by Mica Redington

The first time I met my cousin, Baby Jessi, was in New York. She is a very happy and playful baby. Whenever you put her in front of a mirror, she laughs and giggles. If you play with her a lot, she usually smiles. Jessi loves it when you hold her up on her feet. She loves it even more when you play music and move her around like she’s dancing. Baby Jessi is one of the happiest babies I have ever known.

And what’s a post without pictures? Here are some of Baby Jessi , taken by my brother.

Lapbooking was introduced to me by my cousin who is a homeschool consultant in San Diego. Apparently, it’s a growing trend among homeschoolers. I think it’s a brilliant idea. Lapbooks are an absolutely fun way to learn and can be implemented in any subject.

Our first lapbook project was for Mica’s literature study on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. In conceptualizing this project, I knew I wanted to try the idea of a lapbook but make it so that the pages can be kept in a 3-ring binder. The result was a fusion of lapbooking, notebooking, scrapbooking, and mixed media collage. (What can I say, I was having fun!)

This is what the finished project looks like, kept in a 3-ring notebook. I used two 12×12 cardstock papers as the base. (One of my objectives is to use materials that I already have at home; and believe me, I have an endless supply of cardstocks!) I trimmed off 1″ on both papers to make each measure 11″ in length. I scored the papers vertically so that the width measures 8.5″ each with a 3.5″ flap. I then prepared the various mini books, pockets, and other elements that went on the pages and just had Mica put them together as she completed the different activities that I designed for her.

On the left outside flap, we placed several memorable quotes from the book. On the right outside flap, we placed a trifold minibook that contains quick facts about the book.

The “quick facts” mini book contains flaps for author, illustrator, publication place and date, setting, main character, and ‘what I liked about the book’. You open a flap and find the answer inside.

I had Mica gesso the main pages just for fun. (I’m in this mixed media craze right now.) Then I gave her pictures representing each chapter of the book and she glued them on the pages with arrows to show the story sequence. She rubbed some oil pastels around the pictures for an artistic touch, then wrote the chapter summary beside each picture. Also on the left main page, we attached a pocket that holds strips of paper for each character in the book and another pocket that holds a mini quiz book. On the left inside flap is a questionnaire analyzing the symbolism of the characters in the book.

The right main page is shown here with the chapter pictures and summaries. We also included a bifold mini book that holds another ‘analysis’ question for Mica to complete. On the right inside flap is a short writeup about the author, Charles Dickens.

The bifold mini book is shown here opened up. (I know it’s not exactly a mini book since it’s just one page but I don’t know what to call it.) And there you go, our first lapbook/notebook. Maybe I’ll call it a crossbreed lapbook – yep, that sounds alright.