The Colton Family Schoolhouse

We are coming to the end of our human body unit. It's been such a fun curriculum for us, and a steal at only $12 (!)--full of experiments, crafts, and great books.  I last posted about the circulatory system unit. Since then, we've done the respiratory system, digestive system, and urinary system. Here are some highlights.  Respiratory system:  We recorded an experiment about breathing and heart rate at rest vs. after some jumping around.  We tried to use homemade puffy paint to make a model of the respiratory system. The puffy paint (shaving cream and liquid glue) didn't stay puffy, but anything with paint is still fun!  We tried twice to make a model of the lungs and diaphragm using a water bottle and some balloons. Neither worked! So we watched a video of someone making it on YouTube. Oh well!  Digestive system:  I guess I only have one picture from this unit, but it was a fun one! One activity was mashing up graham crackers in a bowl, with a little...

We start out each school day with calendar time. It signals the shift in our morning--school has started, and it's time to focus. It's also good practice for Alina. This is the only "school" activity that she has to participate in... after calendar time, she runs off to play.   We follow the same pattern every day. First we practice some slow, deep breathing, and the girls and I take turns with coming up with fun ways to do this. Some favorites are "curtain breathing" (made by Alina; you start with your hands over your face, and take a deep breath in while moving your hands out and away), the yoga move "cat/cow," and full body breathing (lie on the floor, and take in a deep breath while lifting up your legs and arms into the air). I don't participate in that last one right now, being 35+ weeks pregnant!  Next we look at their calendars and figure out what date and day of the week it is. We have a "days of the week" song that we someti...

We started the year by practicing individual letters, which we had left off with at the end of last year. But I quickly realized that Anya's capacity for handwriting had changed a lot! Her focus, stamina, and interest have definitely grown.  Every day she copies one sentence. We started off with some really basic sentences about bugs. I think her favorite part was the cartoon to color when she finished!  When she finished those, we moved to some Bible verses. Last year, when our curriculum was Charlotte Mason inspired, I appreciated that one of the principles was offering a "feast" of Scripture and literature for the child to listen to and experience and ruminate on, and I want to generally follow this idea for copywork.  "To introduce children to literature is to install them in a very rich and glorious kingdom, to bring a continual holiday to their doors, to lay before them a feast exquisitely served." - Charlotte Mason  Copywork takes barely ten minutes, but ...