Owen's Reading Lesson

Owen read the following story to me this morning:

The White Tooth Brush

A girl liked to brush her teeth. She had a white tooth brush that she liked. But she did not see her white tooth brush. She looked for it. She said to her mother, "Where is my white tooth brush?" Her mother said, "I do not have it."

The girl was walking back to her room when she fell down. She fell over her dog. That dog was brushing his teeth with her white tooth brush.

The girl said, "You have my white tooth brush."

The dog said, "I like teeth that shine like the moon."

When the girl looked at the dog's teeth, she smiled. Then the dog smiled. The girl said, "We have teeth that are white, white, white."

The dog said, "We have teeth that shine like the moon."

The End

We are at Lesson #73 in the program, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." By the time he finishes lesson #100 he is supposed to be reading at a second grade level. I don't have any other curriculum to compare this program to but I really do like it. This is the first time I've ever taught a child to read so I admit I have no experience. But my 4.5 year old son loves it and he's doing great. When he read the above story he paused periodically to laugh. He's not only reading, but he's comprehending!

Owen's First Story*

Today as part of our home school Owen had to make up a story. I wrote as he talked. I type fast but I have to say, he was hard to keep up with! He had no problem with this assignment. I told him he could tell any story he wanted as long as it was one he made up, not something he had heard before. I tried my best to type exactly what he said so you'll have to ignore the poor grammar in some areas. Here it is:

Once upon a time there was a mad lion who wanted to eat a boy. I don’t know what his name was. The boy found a little tree and he saw a tail. The tail was swinging around and around and around up in the tree! The boy said, “Maybe that’s a lion.” So then, his mouth opened and he had sharp teeth. The lion looked down and saw the boy. The boy ran as fast as he could. All the animals tried to knock the boy down so they could eat him for supper. Elephants, lions and tigers – they all wanted to eat the boy!

Soon, he found a rope. He hit all the animals back with the rope. The lion was right near him. He went and got a gun and know what he did? He shoot the lion! It went over him and shot the lion right in the back. Then there was fire and water. The boy didn’t know what to do. So he ran to a house and got all the guns. He shot all the animals except for all the lionesses. All the lionesses were hunting, trying to find the boy. All the other boys and girls ran into the house. They ran fast. So then, you know what happened? The boy found all the tails of the lionesses! The boy hided. There were all the trees behind the lionesses and the boy hid behind all the trees. Soon, he ran. He found a big huge thing. It was way outside. He said, “Maybe that’s a bigger lion!” Soon it came to him. He went, “AHHHH!” Then he ran back to the house and locked the door. All the other boys and girls were still in the house. He never saw the lion or the lionesses again. He never saw the animals again! The End.

That’s my story, Mama. Is that a great story?

*The title of this post is misleading. This is the first story of Owen's that I have recorded. He's been making up and telling stories since he was 2!

Owen's First Chapter Book

Two weeks ago I began reading Charlotte's Web to Owen. We finished it tonight and I think it's safe to say that he loved every single one of the 184 pages in the book. Each day he begged me to read more. Tonight I let him stay up past bed time so that we could read the last three chapters. He hung on every word and I could see the emotion in his face when we read about Wilbur fainting, Charlotte dying and the baby spiders being born. I'm amazed how much a four year old can understand! Tonight as I tucked him into bed he asked if he could pray first. He started his prayer with, "Dear God, thank you SO MUCH for protecting and saving Wilbur." I sure do love his innocence, and his sweetness. He has such a tender heart.

Tomorrow, as a reward for finishing the book, we will be watching the movie, Charlotte's Web. Owen is so excited! Popcorn and a movie - that's his kind of treat.

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy home schooling?

Now that we are finished with our first chapter book I think it's time to start another. Any suggestions on what would be a good age appropriate book to read next?

Nature Hunt

We are having a beautiful week in Michigan! Here's Owen collecting leaves for a little project we did.
Last week a friend of mine shared that she took her son on a nature hunt. Since we're having beautiful weather and we have a backyard perfect for such an activity (and since we're homeschooling and can study whatever we want) - it seemed like the thing to do! Here's Owen looking at the list of things we had to find.

Checking it twice! We had to find a squirrel, ball, bee, bird, butterfly, cloud, rocks, leaf, flower, dog, swing and a tree.

Looking over the yard once more to make sure he found everything.

Believe it or not, we could NOT find a cloud. It was THAT nice of a day!

Our First Two Weeks of School

We are in the beginning of week 3 of homeschooling and Owen is loving it! He has learned three Bible verses, my phone number, facts about winter and spring, the days of the week and the first six months of the year. He's learning about jobs people do, he's participating in critical thinking drills, and practicing writing. We've discussed and memorized the definitions to the words attentiveness, faith and generosity. These are just the highlights. It's so exciting for me to watch him learn!
Because I am his teacher I have the joy of seeing him understand things for the first time and witness him use his new knowledge at appropriate times. For example, one evening outside of school time I was talking to him and when I could tell I didn't have his full attention I said, "Owen, listen to me." He quickly replied, "Proverbs 4:20, 'My son, be attentive to my words, incline your ear to my sayings.'"
When he saw a picture of snow in one of his books he quickly explained to me that snow falls when the clouds freeze and turn to ice. It's so exciting to see him "get it."
My heart is thrilled when he cheers as I announce that it's time to start school. And of course it's always encouraging to hear him say, "Mama, let's do more school!"
And then there are those sweet, precious moments like the one we had our first week of school when I introduced our Bible verse for the week. I told him that we were going to be hiding God's Word in our heart. He replied, "Why, Mama? Who is trying to steal it?" He sure does take things literally! But it was a good opportunity for me to share with him the importance of having God's Word memorized.
Last week Owen took it upon himself to set up three chairs on the back patio and suggested that we do school outside since it was such a nice morning. So we did! Just another one of the many advantages of learning at home.

Owen uses this little chalkboard to practice writing his letters. It's so neat to see the progress he has made in just two short weeks!

Aubrey wanted to showcase her artwork.

We talked about the Flood during Bible time one day last week. Afterward Owen made his own rainbow, a reminder of God's promise to never flood the earth again.

On Friday we review the Bible lessons from the week. This last Friday we went outside and I used sidewalk chalk to color three difference scenes and had Owen tell me what story I was drawing. Then we reviewed the story and the lesson we learned from it. The above drawing is when sin entered the earth.

The Flood

I also drew a picture of Cain killing Abel. Thankfully (since I'm not good at drawing!) Owen was able to identify all of the characters and retell the stories in his own words.

And he also practiced writing his name