Harold and the Purple Crayon ~ Crockett Johnson

Harold and the Purple Crayon Folder ~ Crockett Johnson

Front of Folder ~ I have started to use folded file folders to store completed work. It saves space and is well organized. It also provides little "spaces" to place extra information such as a scripture reference or a narration.



Dictated narration ~ The inside flap of the folder is a perfect place to put this.


Artwork ~ Purple Crayon Drawing - Going from a random thought (squiggle) to a more concrete thought/ image; City Scene Collage using perspective - fireworks are in the background and the buildings are in to foreground. A great activity to reinforce 2-D shapes; Another Purple Crayon Drawing - Using near and far perspective.



Transportation collage ~ Some pictures are printed from the computer while others are labelled directed drawings. And yes, an elephant can be a means of transportation! :)

The Snowy Day Folder ~ Ezra Jack Keats

Front of folder ~ Snowflake colourings of various flavoured snowflakes.



Cut and paste snowman, art creation using cut paper and water colour paint, snowman chalk drawing (directed drawing), story sequencing booklet, and copy work of Psalm 90:12.

Miss Rumphius ~ Barbara Cooney

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths ~ Ephesians 4:29
I adore Miss Rumphius! We rowed this book in the Fall and it was wonderful, but it would be ideal as a Spring unit since there is a focus on planting seeds.


~ directed quail drawing, narration, booklet of various places that Miss Rumphius visits


~ multi-media art (watercolour paint and felt pen), ways to make the world more beautiful, letter to grandparents and their responses

Favourite Activity ~ Letter Writing:
In Miss Rumphius the grandfather tells his granddaughter stories about when he was young. We decided to reenact this storytelling through letter writing. My daughter copied a letter to 2 sets of grandparents and to 2 sets of great grandparents and asked for them to write her a letter about "when they were a kid". Her grandparents rose up to the occasion and wrote amazing letters about the good ole days.

Nothing can replace these letters. I was crying through several of them as I read about the memorable moments in my parents and grandparents lives ~ many moments that I had never been told about before.

The wonderful thing about this activity is that my daughter now has an incredible keepsake that goes beyond words. A keepsake that I hope will be treasured forever!

Wee Gillis ~ Munro Leaf ~ FIAR Unit Study

Memory Verse: Proverbs 9:9 ~ Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still.

Day 1
~ listened to bagpipe music
~ talked about the months of the New Year and January
~ went through a calendar learning the names of the months and an occasion that corresponds with each
~ sung the months of the year (made up a tune)
~ compared "oatmeal eating" pictures
~ made homemade oatmeal

Day 2
~ looked at the picture of Wee Gillis blowing the bagpipes and talked about how the "cross-hatching" lets us know that his cheeks were red
~ tried cross hatching on a square piece of paper
~ glued pictures of a hairy-cow and a stag into our animal classification chart

Day 3
~ looked at the shadows in the illustrations and discussed where the sun was coming from (my daughter also looks for her shadow and the direction of the sun when outside)
~ completed a directed drawing of a hairy-cow and it's shadow




Day 4~ placed a sticker on Scotland on a world map
~ created a Scotland flip book - the pages included a flag of Scotland and of our own country, pictures and labels of a kilt (and a swatch of plaid material), bagpipes, a hairy-cow and a map of Scotland




Day 5
~ narrated the story of Wee Gillis ~ my daughter dictated and I typed (she needed a little prompting but for the most part it is her interpretation)
~ cut and assembled scrapbook pages with the completed Wee Gillis activities

To Choose or Not to Choose

I'm talking about curriculum here. There are so many choices to choose from when deciding on homeschooling curriculum that it truly can be overwhelming. At a recent homeschooling convention the keynote speaker, Debra Bell, realistically revealed that as a homeschooling parent it is inevitable that we will choose the "wrong" curriculum . . . sometimes. It's not so much a mistake as an opportunity to learn what doesn't work for our families.

Over the last couple of years I have been experimenting with Jane Claire Lambert's Before Five in a Row (FIAR) curriculum. I will admit - both the kids and I love it. This curriculum focuses on quality literature based unit studies and is very open ended. Suggested activities are provided that correspond with the "book of the week" and I can choose which activities I feel will best meet the learning needs and abilities of my children. It is very hands-on which requires more time commitment from myself, however the results are delightful! I have been using Before Five in a Row (for ages 2-4) for the past 2 years in a very unstructured way. My kids have been "doing school" but haven't even realized it. I plan to continue to use some of the Before Five in a Row units during my daughter's Kindergarten year just because the books are so . . . wonderful.

I have recently been searching for blogs of other homeschooling families who are using Five in a Row. There are a lot of them! I am so excited about this newly discovered online community of other "rowers" (that's what they call themselves!). I will be adding "Rower" links to my sidebar . . . soon.