When I Was Young in the Mountains {FI♥AR}

10/28 ~ 11/4
Social Studies: Appalachia, Mountain Life; History: Old Fashioned Way of Life.

I've been looking forward to this book since we rowed Down, Down the Mountain. Both books tell about Appalachian mountain life, but this one was special because we were able to tie it in with our own experience of when we were young in the mountains. Our life in the Beartooth Mountains (a range in the Rocky Mountains) is very much an old fashioned way of life - no electricity, no running water. We read by candle light, haul our own water, and heat and cook with a wood cook stove in our home in the mountains. 

Language Arts: Repetition, Personal Story, Theme: Contentment

"When I was young in the mountains" is repeated throughout the story. Malachi made up a personal story of when he "was young in Wyoming."


The theme of the book is contentment:
"When I was young in the mountains. . . I never wanted to go anywhere else in the world, for I was in the mountains. And that was always enough."
I used the Content card from We Choose Virtues to help me teach this lesson. 




We practiced having our "wanter" under control and tried to go the whole week without saying "I want" or "I'm bored." "It is better to want what you have, than to have what you want," reads the back of the card. We talked about ways that we can "practice" being content. I will share more in my upcoming review, but I'll say that this review and this row was timely - I have little ones that are struggling with being content!

Science: Nutrition, Moon

Malachi colored in an "I Eat Healthy Foods" booklet (below) and then I made an "I Take Care of My Body" sheet for Malachi to fill out and illustrate (ideas from Evan Moor ~ Nutrition). 



Then I had him cut out healthy foods from magazines and make a collage. 

Healthy Foods Collage

We talked about what makes a meal healthy (review of our row Who Owns the Sun?) and whether or not the meal served in the story was a healthy lunch (cornbread, pinto beans and okra).  Then, I had Eliana do a healthy lunch activity - she made a "healthy lunch" from magazine pictures and glued them onto her lunch sack. 



We reviewed moon phases in Malachi's Daily Science and also from the lesson in the manual. 



The Changing Moon wheel is from a Scholastic "Lift and Look Science" book (that I snagged from their  $1 deals). 

Art: Sky Treatments, Puffy Paint Moon

The illustrations in the story give the "suggestion of a sky" so I had Malachi try to use just a little bit of blue on just part of the white paper. 


I colored the moon with a white crayon and ended up "coloring" a part of the sky white to help him remember not to paint the whole sky blue - but to just give the "suggestion" of a sky. 


Malachi took it one step further and tried to paint the "suggestion" of mountains. (See below). 

Then he made a puffy paint moon. 

Puffy Paint Moon


Lap Journal:



FIAR Recipe: "Cast Iron Cornbread" and "Wood Fired Pinto Beans"

This was my first time cooking cornbread and pinto beans with our wood cook stove. =) 



We also went on a Fall Nature Walk ~ something we loved to do when we were "young in Wyoming." 






When I Was Young in the Mountains is a Five in a Row selection from volume 2. 

This week (11/7 ~ 11/11), we just did the basics and Malachi focused on leaves in his Daily Science. 
Why do trees have different kinds of leaves?

Exploring changing leaf color from leaves I collected and pressed. 

Why do leaves change color?

I also had Malachi sketch four signs of autumn in our neighborhood.
Signs of Autumn

Elli and I made cookies. I rolled the dough, refrigerated it and then let her press them all and scoop them onto the tray by herself. I taught her how to lightly coat the spatula with flour to transfer them easier. 
Peanut butter leaf cookies  ~ a favorite. 
We are on letter g and sound of g in All About Reading

Frozen g, g, grapes for our Tasty Alphabet Time

I had so much fun when we did a letter of week, but I truly love how easy All About Reading is. I so wanted level one to come out for Malachi (and was stalling in hopes it would be soon) but we have moved on with All About Spelling (which teaches phonics in addition to spelling, but does not teach reading like the reading program does). 

Packing up the sounds of /s/. 

When I brought out the bowl of frozen grapes, Malachi asked if he could do reading too. And then I had an idea! 


I could cover the all important pre-reading skills with Malachi's help! He played Ziggy for me and since it was scripted, I just told him what to say.

"Ziggy wants to say Hi!" he says. 



You read more about our week in my Homeschool Mother's Journal. =)

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