Five in a Row ~ Miss Rumphius Day 3

Here we are, Day 3  with Miss Rumphius from Five in a Row .   Just after our family Bible reading was over, dd5 asked to read to us.  So she did:)  I love it.  She remembers most of what's happening on each page and tells the story (narration) as she shows us the pictures.  It's such a sweet minute in the morning.

Next we got started by reading our book, Miss Rumphius and learning about bushel and peck measurements.   She sure had a LOT of seeds to sow!  Since it isn't lupine planting season just yet, we 'planted' our own.  I used large packing paper (just because I had it from our recent move) and  each child used finger/thumb prints to creat lupines to scatter about their "lane".  There is a separate little hallway to the children's bedrooms, so they'll be able to enjoy their own work.

We also re-placed our story disk, this time letting our youngest do that.  And she remembered!  We did copywork from the story as well as discussion of deserts.  I have to do plenty of animal studies for my boys.  They love animals, especially snakes and such.  I couldn't just mention things that live in deserts or something about a desert where Miss Rumphius might have visited.  I have to go all the way.  For them. :) 

I have these little habitat books called, "One Small Square".  This one is about deserts.  LOTs and lots of cool info there for guys.  Here, at the end of the book is a matching page.  Nate is trying to find some creatures whose silhouettes must be matched with the actual picture in the 'one small square' that he read about.

We also did a few math word problems that go along with the story from the Homeschoolshare site.  We only did three of those today.  I will pick and choose a few per day, since we do our regular math text throught the week for 2nd grade.  My K student did the counting for us as we did the figures on those problems ;)

Yes, we add a little extra to FIAR.  Not a whole lot, just enough to expand and go a little further.  Honestly, we have to school for 4.5 hours here and it makes those  hours a little more fun!

Five in a Row ~ Miss Rumphius Day 2

Miss Rumphius, Day two was a hit!  We began with reading  the story.  We discussed personification.  We also did a little seed graph worksheet that I took from an Old, out of print teacher's science book of worksheets.  They loved coloring the seeds and graphing them.  It was very simple, and my 2nd grader did help out my K student.  He got a chance to lead/teach, too.

Also, we read through the page on plants and seeds from a text that we had around here.  I'm not a fan of texts for a whole lot.  I just did it because it had some cool pictures in it and it told the children to soak a few beans in water to see them sprout.  So they did.  They had to read and follow directions for themselves and they were all too happy to do so!. 

Then, we took a brief walk outside for a nature walk.  We discussed a few plants whose seeds spread by wind.  I am ashamed to say that I don't know what they are yet because we've only lived here a few months and we have yet to see a full bloom of all that is growing in our yard.  But we could see that the seeds would drop and fly away.  They also discussed that they had seen a few 'hitchhikers' on the dog the other day.  And of course, how birds  help to displace seeds as well. 

We checked our seeds that were planted but nothing has come up yet so patience will be the theme there. 

Most of these activities today had no paperwork involved.  FIAR really can be a simple way for your children to learn. 

Five in a Row ~ Miss Rumphius Day 1

We are FIARowing the book Miss Rumphius this week.  I chose this book since we are doing a lot with seeds and planting right now.  Spring has made an early arrival and we are down to business.

Day 1

Read book and discussed location of story disk.  Ds placed it and did well identifying directions.

We discussed routine and made and hung our charts to establish a good routine. Checked off today's activities so far....

Dd12 read Jack and the Beanstalk to youngers as I prepared lunch.(I like to add a little CM ~tales)

Ds took some time after lunch/play to explain plant life from the pages of  Usborne Science Encyclopedia.

I like to allow the older children to "teach" some things.  They get so excited to share with their siblings.  And opportunities for leadership, patience, understanding and caring abound.  Also, the youngers learn to learn from others.

This was one day's lessons using FIAR.  It is not the same for all families.

Organized Simplicity- My Kitchen

I recently downloaded a free book on kindle called Organized Simplicty and am working through it with the ladies at FIAR . These are my (way too tall for me) cabinets in my kitchen that are being used for pantry storage. Our new house has no pantry but plenty of cabinet space. My challenge in using this space well is my own height vs. cabinet height. I am only 5'4". The ceilings here are 9 or 10 feet and the cabinets extend to about 1.5 ft below that. I cannot really use the top two shelves of most of my cabinets for anything that I would need on a daily basis. So, this is what I came up with.

Five on a Row Ornament Exchange Tree

We didnt have am extra tree running around and weren't going to buy one since we just moved out to "the sticks". So we gathered some unique limbs from our woodline and made do:). These ornaments are what we have collected from our exchanges over the last 3 or 4 years. We just love our FIAR family!

Five in a Row BlogRoll

We began using FIAR curriculum in 2004 when we began homeschooling. We have loved it! Here is a blogroll of other moms using FIAR if you would like to get more ideas and see what everyone is up to, using this wonderful curriculum.