The Artist (6th grade) Writes....

As promised, here is The Artist's hero paper; the assignment was to give 500 words about who is a hero to him, what characteristics or actions make that person a hero, and how do those actions benefit the student.

We started out with "My dad, because he's good at Resident Evil, is very nice, and makes great apple pie." and spent two hours turning that into almost 500 words. I just kept reading what he wrote, then asking follow up questions that would pull a bit more information from him, and he'd tell me the answers, then write them in sentence format in the paper. We just kept doing that until he reached the correct number of words.

This paper has not yet been graded by his teacher.  UPDATE: As of Monday, Jan 15, it was graded. She gave him a 100 and wrote "You are very lucky to have such a loving dad."  How sweet is that?!  In case you are just joining this blog and this is your first post, he has an outside teacher for this class; grading and course requirements are identical to public schools in Texas.

My Dad, My Hero

My dad is a hero to me; when I grow up I want to be just like him. My dad is a fun-loving guy, who spends time with me doing things that he knows I like to do. I can always tell that my dad loves me because of the way he acts towards me. 

One of the things I like about my dad is that he’s good at video games, and whenever he plays he lets me look up the walkthrough for him. When he plays I watch him to learn the best ways to get through the part of the game that he is playing.  The game that my dad plays is Resident Evil (4); it is all about shooting bad guys and trying to stop the main bad guy. I need his help because it is a hard game for me, and it is kind of scary, but when my dad plays, it is less scary because my dad has got bigger and stronger guns on his file than I do on my file.  Also, with my dad sitting next to me, I don’t get as worried because I know he will always protect me. 

Another thing that I like about my dad is he is kind, and he is nice to me. And he helps me with my school work. Just the other day he helped me with my science by bringing the right things for it, such as a beaker, a scale, some magnets, and some rocks. Then, he did the experiment with me and made it more fun than if I would have done it by myself. 

Probably my favorite thing is that my dad is a very good cook, and he makes delicious apple pies. And his apple pies are very good desserts! Also, sometimes my dad lets me help cook too. A long time ago, we (my whole family) made family soup! The most delicious food in the world, we all work together to choose ingredients, chop them up, and then, after the cooking, we all work together to eat it! Now “Family Soup” is one of our favorite meals to make! 

Sometimes my dad lets me lead, and he helps me. One night, he helped me cook dinner! I decided to make a stir fry, but we forgot to take the meat out so it was frozen. Then my dad decided to marinate it so that it would thaw out faster, so we put it into a bowl with some seasonings and a secret ingredient: beer! It tasted good in the end and we had a great dinner.  

When I grow up, I want to be just like my dad: very good at video games, a good cook, and very loving towards my children. I chose to write about my dad, one of my heroes, because I really like him. 

I'm curious to see how he does on this one. It is not his best writing sample; he has some difficulty getting from a general topic to a fully developed paper. His summaries for class have been very good, as he is able to highlight the key points in what he's read, then put that information into his own words. He has turned in two so far; the first of those he received a 90, the second, a 100. I hope his essay is up to par; we'll see what his teacher thinks! I'll update or post follow-up when we receive his grade.

Tomorrow, a glimpse at quotable moments, good and bad, from The Adventurer's week, and then Monday I will begin the posts about his diagnosis, suggested course of therapy, how that plays out in real life, etc.

A Day in the Life.....of a Middle-School Boy

I'm writing this Thursday night, so will just talk about it as "today" even though by the time you read this, it will be yesterday, 'kay? 'Kay.

The Artist, sipping some hot tea, and reading. Of course.

Today, The Artist.  Newly-turned age 12, he is in his 2nd semester of 6th grade. He is enrolled in Science & English via the same TTUISD that we use for The Writer; Science is a print-based course, meaning they sent us a PDF of the course syllabus & assignments and we type his answers and email them back (or, if we were in the US, we would mail them in). English is on-line and is done the same way as The Writer's courses; reading assignments are posted, he reads in a textbook and completes quizzes and worksheets on-line, and submits written assignments by typing them, saving them, then uploading them to the website.

The Artist also does Teaching Textbooks Math 6 and reads assorted history books; he is supposed to be doing World Geography, but I have seriously let that slide. The therapy stuff for The Adventurer really threw me for a loop, and most of my planning time from September to now has been used up with sorting out what all of the Psychologist's suggestions mean. I have not had time to be in charge of directing The Artist through a research based geography course, so instead have been handing him biographies to read and historical fiction about different time periods and parts of the world; thank goodness for all the leftover Sonlight books!

I've decided to save The Adventurer's routine for next week, so today, just a quick look at a day in the life of a middle school boy.  Today his day involved a LOT of computer time. The boys rediscovered Civilization III last night, so he's been playing it basically every time he can convince me to let him on the computer. As I was fighting a sore throat and general blah feeling, and it was raining so outside activity was a definite no-go, he got let on the computer a lot.

Between Civ III sessions, though, he attempted to do research for a paper on volcanoes (for English, not Science) and despite 45 minutes of faithful effort, could not find the answers he needed. I decided I did not have enough brain power to direct his research, so told him I'd help him later. That no due date thing is a blessing. Or a curse. Whichever.

Instead of working on the paper, then, he had to write a 500 word essay on a hero in his life. I typed up the questions that his teacher wanted him to answer and left space between each so he could fill in a chart and organize his thoughts. Then I spent two hours helping him develop his thoughts into well-written, well-developed paragraphs. We managed to get from "My hero is my dad. He is good at Resident Evil, is very nice, and makes great apple pie" to a fairly good essay, though we did stop at 479 words because I just could not see how on earth to add those last 21 words to what we had. And after two hours, I was ready to quit. I uploaded the file, clicked submit, and crossed my fingers. Here's hoping the teacher likes it.

Aside from that, The Artist had one math lesson and read half a chapter of Science. Or, as he puts it, "two entire sections....."  He did learn a lot about types of energy, though, and spent the rest of the afternoon telling me what types of energy exist in all the objects in our house. And which civilization he was going to conquer next. But I don't think that was from Science.

Oh, and he read. A lot. As he is never without a book (or his kindle), I forget to count that as school. He reads while he eats breakfast, reads while he eats lunch, reads between school assignments, reads out in the hammock in the afternoons, reads at night after going to bed......he is always reading. Right now he's reading through the original Boxcar Children series, as a 12-book set was recently free for Kindle. Right now he's advising his older brother on the best strategy for Civilization III......

Over the weekend (you don't have to stop by, but I'd love it if you do) I'll post up The Artist's essay, and hopefully his grade, so you can see what an average 6th grade boy writes and how it gets graded by an average school teacher; I will also share some quips and quotes from The Adventurer's past week just to give you a glimpse of who he is before I really get into his therapy needs. Monday (and probably a lot of next week) will be all about how a veteran home school mom can be totally caught off guard by something like a dyslexia diagnosis, what all therapies were suggested, what all we're doing, and how that fits into our day. In a country where every aspect of his therapy and remediation rests solely on me, because there simply are no options available to us in English otherwise.

Good Citizenship Thoughts from a 10 Year Old....

I want to thank each of you who commented on Son #1's thoughts about being a good citizen, and assure you that I'll address your comments when I write this from my point of view later this week.

Today has been our Independence Day celebration and we've mostly been lazing around not doing much, but I'm finally coming back to share the things that Son #2 thinks are key points of being a good citizen. Please keep in mind, he's 10 years old.

What does The Artist think makes a good citizen?

Recycling. Not making a racket when your neighbors are trying to sleep. Playing with little kids. Respecting the dead. 

Short list, simple things, nothing to in depth but again he strikes right to the heart of the matter -- being a good citizen is kind of like being a good neighbor and treating others as you'd wish to be treated.

I think for a ten year old boy he's got a decent beginning, wouldn't you agree?

I remembered the funny thing The Artist said.....

So, yesterday I mentioned that The Artist puts me to sleep entertains me each night by asking me random questions while I'm trying to get The Adventurer to fall asleep, and I was all set to share one such question with you.....only I forgot.

Except now I remembered, so here you go.

The Artist is studying American History this year, a continuation from last year, and right now he's reading a book called Freedom Train about Harriet Tubman who herself escaped from slavery and then returned to The South over and over again to lead more and more slaves North to Freedom.

Now, having arrived at this, that does in fact mean he's covered the Civil War, a biography of Abraham Lincoln, etc. He knows about the time period, in other words.

So, he asked me why Brazil went and stole slaves from Africa.

I answered that all the countries who had slaves pretty much stole people from Africa, and I didn't know why. Perhaps because the people who were the slave owners felt that someone who looked really different from themselves was less of a person*.

He mulled that over and said something about being glad the US didn't have slaves.

I said that the US did have slaves.

"What?!? You mean.....what?! I thought slaves were just in the South???"

Yes, the south. The southern states of the United States, ie, southern America, not South America. 

"Wait....what?? You mean...Texas?? Texas might have had slaves?????" 

He was shocked, appalled, horrified, and all sorts of other things.

I was torn between being horrified that he mixed up this little fact so badly and wanting to laugh because it just figures that a kid living in South America would accidentally confuse the two terms. He was, after all, drawing on his personal frame of reference and "south" of the US is S. America, and by extension, Brazil. Honest mistake. Funny, hilarious in my "I just want to sleep" state of mind, but honest.

I did straighten things out, and then we talked about Harriet Tubman walking to Canada, and he did laugh at himself for mixing up "The South (of America)" with "South America" and then it was midnight and I was waking up to head to my bed.

Have your kids ever made little innocent, but hilarious, mistakes like that? 


*please rest assured that he knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, of the wrongness of this sort of thinking. By stating a historical fact I am in no way endorsing such a view. See previous post on Backing a Winner for my views on Equality for All should you have any doubts as to my thoughts on this.

Book Review (by my 10 year old): Harry Potter Deathly Hallows

The  older two boys have been reading the Harry Potter series in anticipation of the release of the final movie installment.  Both boys are determined to finish the full series before the July 15 debut of HP7pt2, or Harry Potter 7 Part 2. We fully intend to see the movie opening weekend if at all possible.

While The Writer is not yet done, The Artist, age 10, finished Book 7 this past week. He was thrilled. I was thrilled. We've had a few (very brief) conversations about the book  -- things like, "What was your favorite part??" answered by, "Umm, the end."  And, "Was it sad? What did you think about......was that surprising?"  answered by, "Yea."

In  order to find out a little more, I handed The Artist my newest Secret Weapon for school -- a Book Review Book Mark. The boys will fill one out for every school book they read this year, fiction and non fiction. Sometimes they'll have to turn these comments into an actual paper in paragraph form, but for Harry Potter I decided the book mark was enough.

Without further ado, here's what The Artist, age 10, thinks about Harry Potter - Deathly Hallows.

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: J. K. Rowling
Type of book (mystery, sci fi, etc.):  fantasy
Setting (where/when):  Hogwarts, London
Main Characters:  Harry Potter, Ronald Weasely, Hermione Granger
Brief Summary:  It's about three teenage wizards going on an adventure to stop a great evil
Rate the book from 1 (best) to 10 (worst):  1
Describe your favorite part of the book:  the end and the epilogue
Describe your favorite character in the book:  I like Harry Potter cause he defeats You Know Who
Explain why you would  or would not recommend this book: (no answer given)

So, wow. I feel a bit bittersweet that my boy has read this most wonderful book. I have to tell you, The Artist was around 6.5 yrs before he started reading and 7 at least before he was reading fluently. So, for him now, at 10, to be reading books like Harry Potter.....just wow. Helps the bittersweet that it is a book series that has had a pretty big impact on me....the emotion in book seven gets me every time.

But this isn't my review, this is The Artist's review, so I'll stop typing now. Except, let me just say that I love love LOVE his brief summary: "...three...wizards going on an adventure to stop a great evil."  Yep, I'd say he got the gist of it.

What about you? Read it? Or not? Love it, or hate it? Interested to hear what you think on the matter!

Creativity Times Three: My Three Sons

I have some really creative kids. Seriously. The things my boys come up with, it will sometimes knock your socks off. Today I want to share three of those things, one from each boy, 'cause I think they are all three pretty amazing.  The boys and the objects of creativity. I'm fairly sure you'll agree.....

The Writer's:

He'd recently been given a small magnifying glass. A lens in the hands of a 13 year old boy, mixed with tropical sunshine....I should have predicted this one, but he took "burning holes in leaves" to a whole different level. Check it out....

a bull's eye, and a smiley face burned into a leaf.
He used a magnifying glass, focusing the sun's rays, to do this. 

Next up, The Artist's:

He's been greedily snatching up all my scrap fabric, and dabbling in sewing. He made a tree shaped Christmas ornament, a blanket for one of his stuffed animals, and then this - a gift for The Chemist's birthday.  As soon as The Artist saw scraps of batting in his scrap bag, he knew just what he wanted to do. Every stitch is his, except for the binding added to the outside. He chose every color, every piece of fabric, planned exactly how to arrange it all -- this is truly his creation, start to finish. I pin for him and draw a straight line for stitching, he does the rest. Not bad for a just-turned 10 year old, is it?

front view
(he chose brown because it reminded him of chocolate pudding, and Christmas)
(no, we've never eaten chocolate pudding at Christmas....)

back view
(he wanted to use one of every fabric he had, thus pieced on both sides)

Lastly, The Adventurer's: 

This boy is full of creative fun, morning to night. All day long, every day. Sometimes it wears on me, if you want the truth. But sometimes it amazes and delights me. Like this project - "Dubloons," a board game he designed based on a Sponge Bob episode. Start at the boat, roll two dice, move the number of spaces (by jumping on the rocks) until you arrive at the "X marks the spot."  He used character legos for pieces, and even a little pick ax (lego) and golden treasure chest (also lego). When you reach "X marks the spot" your character digs with the pick ax and reveals the buried treasure. Pretty ingenious, don't you think? Remember, he won't be six until later this month....

Caught in the Act
this is right after he called me to Come see!
since I'd been cutting tape for him all morning, I was curious what he'd come up with.

"Dubloons" board game
I have to admit, I'm impressed. I think the frame around it is a nice touch.
Plus, math skills, counting all the rocks and taking turns, going the number on the dice.
Not a bad work for a morning...

Well, what'd ya think? Pretty creative, my boys. How about you and yours? What creative thing have you or your child(ren) done lately? Grown-ups, go ahead and chime in here too! All tales of creativity welcome. 

A Poem -- "Come Sew and Go" -- by The Artist, age 9

The Artist, age 9 years and 10 months, wrote a poem and asked me to share it with you. Since he's been exceptionally delightful lately, I couldn't resist.  And since the Grandparents read the blog, I'm kind of obligated to post these types of things every now and then anyway.

Please enjoy his poem.

Come Sew & Go
by The Artist, age 9

Every day I go to sew.
When I'm done I go.
My free time
Is my play time.

When I'm nice there's rice.
When I'm mean it's Halloween.
When I'm sad today
It's a bad day.

The Flip-Flap Body Book: Read at Your Own Risk

This book is a great book.  A wonderful learning tool.  A terrific way to teach your young children about various aspects of the human body.  Things like digestion, the 5 senses, and human reproduction.  On a very kid-friendly level, really.

But use The Flip-Flap Body Book with caution.  Because repeated readings can lead to some really interesting situations.

For instance.....

....the 5 year old sits down to draw a picture. He draws an odd oval-ish shaped thing. (...and some other stuff...)

 When I ask him what it is, he responds quite plainly, "It's the shape of a stomach, Mom."  He repeats this to Louci, the Portuguese tutor when she asks.  When she doesn't understand, he rephrased his answer in simpler terms: "It's a tummy."  He even rubbed his belly for emphasis.

Guess he was paying attention the 327 times we read that section, huh?

Nothing interesting about that one, you say? How 'bout this.....

....the 9 year old sits down to read to the (then 4) 5 yr old. He picks The Flip-Flap Body Book.  He flips immediately to the reproduction section, at the insistance of the 5 year old.  Seems the 5 yr old is tired of mommy stopping before she gets to that part.

The 9 yr old has no such qualms and reads to his younger brother all about how babies are made, grown and born.  Complete with commentary: "see, this is what the baby really looks like at this point....isn't that ugly, Adventurer?! But see, it's only as big as this dot...that's not so ugly, is it?"  Cool, cross Sex Ed off the list. We've got that covered.

The 9 yr old even read the bold section titles, often phrased as questions, and had the (then 4) yr old repeat the questions before he'd go on to read the answers.  So I was not too surprised when I heard, "So what happens when the sperm gets to the egg?" coming from my youngest son....and then answered by my second son as he read the corresponding answering passage. 

Yea, fun times. I even have video, but it won't post here....


Seriously -- it's a great book, and introduces big topics in a way that little people are totally comfortable with.  Just prepare yourself for the inevitable interesting moments that are sure to follow.

On a lighter note, and so I don't leave you terrified of the book, they also compared the size of their hands to the size of the baby hand in the book, as per the directions on the last page.

 Isn't sweetness and brotherly love like this totally worth the, -ahem-, more embarrassing moments?  

Yea, I think so, too.

note: I bought this book as part of a Sonlight Core. No one is paying me or otherwise reimbursing me for this splendid review. I just had these 2 great moments to share, and the book tied them together nicely. Really, I promise.

How the Portuguese is Going....

I've mentioned that my Avon Lady, Bible Study Leader, Neighbor, Friend Louci has agreed to teach the big boys Portuguese, and thought it's about time for an update on how that's going.

Louci is truly a dear lady, and I'm grateful to have met her. As one who does not believe in accidents, I truly believe she was sent to us on purpose, and I'm really, really glad that we were seen fit to receive the blessing of meeting Louci. I hope that we can be a blessing to her as well.

The boys had their 3rd lesson yesterday, right after the birth of the kitties. To say they were distracted would be an understatement, but Louci handled it beautifully, fully understanding the excitement of small children welcoming small animals into their family.

She is a very capable teacher, and as she is also a Christian, she begins each class with a short prayer; she is teaching the boys to pray in Portuguese, which I think is a good thing. She is having them memorize a prayer, which is not my preferred method, but for the meantime, I think it is okay.

She then works through the day's lesson, progressing at whatever rate suits that boy. She teaches them separately, which is new for us and I think very beneficial for the boys. The Artist can no longer coast through class on The Writer's coat tails, and The Writer is no longer bothered by The Artist's distractability during class. Each of them can now progress at his own rate, moving through as few or as many pages as he is able to absorb in a single hour. It's really wonderful.

Louci also tailors the content to fit each boy, delving deeper into more complicated conversation with The Writer than she does with The Artist, as his age, maturity, and willingness to learn allow. Her patience is tremendous, particularly with The Artist. He is not a bad student, not disrespectful or slow or defiant, but his mind wanders and he is easily distracted; it is hard for him to focus for so long on one thing. Louci does not mind this, and works quite well with him. I could not have asked for a better teacher for him.

During or at the end of class (she's begun having this time in the middle for The Artist, which I was going to suggest but she did on her own), she sings with the boys. She is teaching them common praise songs in Portuguese, and helping them to learn the words & melodies. I think that perhaps her motive here is partly to get them comfortable enough with the language that they might come with me to Bible Study (it is a family small group), but I'm not sure. Or perhaps just to get them comfortable enough that they won't mind attending church. Maybe she just enjoys singing praises to our Lord, and wants to encourage that in the boys. Whatever it is, I don't mind. The songs are fun, so far they are songs we know in English, and the boys seem to enjoy it as well.

The materials she is using are very practical, much more so than waht they were doing before. She spends much time in conversation, gently correcting pronunciation and grammar, but only enough so that they don't make embarrassing errors. She was quick to teach them to be careful of casado and cansado, the first meaning married and the latter meaning tired. I did not share with her my years-ago mistake with just those same two words, but I smiled to know that my boys will be spared such an embarrassing slip-up.

The boys do grumble about class, but half-heartedly, in a manner that says "I don't like adding new things and new work and being stretched a bit out of my comfort zone" rather than "this class is utterly terrible and I cannot believe you are making me do it." I think given a few more weeks, the grumbling will stop and they'll relax into the new routine. Already it's slowing down, which I find promising.

I really can't express just how glad I am that Louci found us; she's already blessed our family in so many ways. She is a treasure, and I hope we can show her that we consider her as such.

What My Kids Are Learning....

Since everyone in the US is in "Back to School" mode, I thought I'd at least participate with a "What the kids are learning" post. We school along the Brazilian school calendar, from Feb to Nov, with our summer break in Dec/Jan (southern hemisphere, ya know...). As such, we're approaching the end of our school year, not the beginning, but we are expecting a shipment or two of school supplies soon, thanks to the Grandmas back home. Fun times those will be, opening those boxes! We all love new school supplies.

So, what are the boys learning this year?

They are learning about people around the world who don't know about Jesus or the One True God.

They are learning about people around the world who might know about Jesus, but don't yet have the Bible translated into their language.

The Writer is learning about fractions, and percents, and performing complex word problems with same. You know, Sue sold 2/3 of her muffins in the morning, and 1/4 of the remainder in the afternoon, and then had 36 muffins left over; how many did she have to start with. Serious stuff.

The Artist is learning to multiply and divide, and is amazed that the one is just the reverse of the other. Glad he enjoys it.

The Adventurer is learning to count. For real this time. He understands numbers pretty well, and knows at a glance if there are 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 of us at the table. But ask him to count a line of shoes and he counts 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 4, 10, 14. He is finally asking me to help him sort that out, and so I'm doing my best.

They boys are all learning what signs to look for to tell if your pregnant kitty is going to deliver soon. Nothing like lessons from real life, huh? Haven't I mentioned yet that we're expecting (kittens, I mean)?

The big boys are learning Portuguese, thanks to dear, sweet Louci. The Adventurer is learning to hide upstairs whenever she comes over. I am learning that Portuguese Class Time is my most productive time of day, because all the boys stay occupied and out from under foot.

The Writer is learning, and sometimes The Artist sneaks in a listen, about US/Japan relations in the time of the Shogun, and how steam ships were a scary looking thing back then.

The Artist is learning about God's faithfulness to His people, thanks to a great book "Missionary Stories with the Millers."

The Adventurer is learning that sometimes Mom is right when she says things like "Don't do that, you might get hurt." So far he's learned that "falling off" the bunkbed ladder to the bean bag below might hurt your back if you fall wrong. And he's learned that jumping from the rolling chair to the non-rolling chair, and back again, might send you crashing forehead first into the hard, tile floor below. No lasting injuries, but hopefully lasting lessons.

They are all learning to return their new pencils to the proper place, not spread them out across hundreds of hiding places in the house, never to be found again. 'Cause Mom does not like losing brand new pencils.

I hope the boys are learning that Mom enjoys school time with them, and play time with them, and that family is the most important thing. I can see they are learning to help each other, to interact with all age groups, to take care of little ones or weak ones, to give respect to older ones, and to get along with people, no matter the differences between them.

In short, they are learning plenty of things that will help them be successful, Godly young men one day. At least, that is my prayer.

What are your kids learning?