FIAR Moms Reunion

I was thrilled to get to spend a few hours catching up with dear friends today. 

Eleven years ago this month, we had our very first Five in a Row co-op day.  We read Cranberry Thanksgiving and were done by lunchtime.

I remember the kids making bookmarks by stamping them with cut cranberries but my only other memories of that day are of how shy the kids were with each other (of course, I was shy, too) and the thought that this group seemed very promising.

It turned out to be the only group we stayed with all through the years.  We drifted in and out of various other, larger, co-ops but they all paled in comparison to what we had with this group.  It was a good fit in those early months because it expanded on our main curriculum.  It remained a good fit not only because the families all became friends but also because there was a lot of brilliance in the minds of these women below.  They had amazing ideas accompanied by great follow-through and I credit them with making our homeschooling journey not only more successful, but also a whole lot more fun.



 (I'm stealing my friend Cheri's picture since, bad blogger that I am, I didn't even take my camera along.)

As we continued to meet, the ideas expanded and became day-long events each month.  Our planning sessions helped us get to know each other better and become good friends.  We'd often be brainstorming ideas when we should have been heading for home, because we'd spent all the planning time talking and laughing together.  As the kids grew, we moved away from the FIAR curriculum but remained a literature-based group, reading a book each month and doing corresponding activities.  We're down to three families now, but have no plans to give it up yet.

Time moves on, circumstances change, and it had been a few years since we'd all been together.  The idea of a reunion was mentioned and we all managed to make some time today to get together and play catch up.  It's hard to believe the youngest of our kids is now 12-he was just a baby when we met.  The oldest of the group is now a couple years into his enlistment in the Marines.

I am so thankful God brought us together all those years ago.  I left our reunion once again feeling so thankful for the blessing they have each been to me and so happy to have been able to spend a little time with them-just like old times.

Meeting Phil Vischer

This past spring, our FIAR group read Phil Vischer's autobiography, Me, Myself, and Bob.  The kids suggested this book, mostly because they wanted our activity for the day to be a VeggieTales marathon.

As a mom of VeggieTales groupies, it was, at times, a difficult book to read because we so love VeggieTales.  Phil Vischer is incredibly gifted and it was heartbreaking to read about the downfall of the company he had invested so much of his time, talents, and energy into creating.  But you have to keep reading because it ultimately is not a sad story, but rather a story of how God used the failure of his business to teach him some things, as well as to direct his path.

One of the other FIAR moms heard about Phil Vischer coming to the area to speak at a church this past weekend.  The church has both Saturday night and Sunday morning services, so we all met there Saturday evening to hear him share his story and some of the lessons God taught him through those bad experiences.  It was well worth the hour-and-a-half drive for us, especially when the kids got to meet him afterward.



It was a pretty big deal to meet him-especially considering Julianne's comments for her commencement program included the following:


I’m tempted to attempt thanking everyone who has helped my education thus far, beginning with Phil Vischer and Veggietales, or Tom Clark and his obsession with why.  However, in the interest of saving trees I think I’ll just cover the highlights.  You can all breathe a sigh of relief.

 

She did it!

 

Last Saturday was Julianne's commencement ceremony.

Julianne and her friend, Samantha, were the only graduates, which made for a small ceremony, but it was a very special day.  One of the big co-ops here offers a graduation ceremony to any homeschoolers who want to participate-but you don't get to choose your own color cap and gown.  I still find that strange, since homeschoolers by definition are independent thinkers.  So we had to do it ourselves.

Allison played the piano for the ceremony, then sang with Julianne while Julianne played, in lieu of having to fit a piano recital into our too-hectic schedule this spring.

Emily made Julianne toss her cap into the air when we were outside for pictures.  Some traditions just can't be broken, ya know.

Julianne's cap, by the way, is a Dr. Seuss "Oh, the Places You'll Go" cap.  When I saw it on Amazon, I knew it was perfect for her.  She agreed.

Some of our dear Five in a Row friends made the long drive to spend the day with us.  Unfortunately, a ninja snuck in and knocked Max out of the picture.  Looks like Molly is in imminent danger, too!

We are so proud of you, Julianne.  You've worked diligently to reach this milestone and we look forward to seeing what you accomplish next.

Recital

Last night was the girls' voice recital.



Allison sang "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof and "Welcome to Our World", a song I adore, written by Chris Rice.

Julianne sang "Goodnight My Someone" from The Music Man and "How Beautiful" by Twila Paris.

They did a duet of "Vivo Per Lei", a song in Italian popularized by Andrea Bocelli.

They also sang "The Lonely Goatherd" from Sound of Music with their teacher's 7 year old daughter which was very fun-especially the yodeling.

The girls have the most wonderful voice teacher-she is so encouraging and a lot of fun, too.  Last year our girls were her only students, which made for a very small recital.  This year, recital was much more varied as well as larger because she has added several more students.  It made recital even better to have a larger audience and the girls liked seeing a couple of friends who also performed.  It was a great night.

The Diary of Anne Frank

We had an opportunity to see a performance of The Diary of Anne Frank with some of our friends.  I guess we moms are never content to let an event stand alone because we brainstormed what else we could do to tie in with the play.

My friend Angela suggested the kids each research a holocaust survivor and give a presentation on them, either by creating a scrapbook page or gathering momentos that would tie in with telling us the story of the person they chose.



Julianne decided, of course, to scrapbook.

She  chose Solomon Radasky to report on. 

Allison, who is not as fond of scrapbooking as Julianne, wanted to go the momento route but ultimately decided the scrapbook idea was simpler to pull together.

She chose Eva Galler for her report.  She was able to include the little armband she had fashioned as a momento in her scrapbook spread.

The play was very well done and the kids did a great job on their presentations, too .  It was easy to see God's hand in several of the situations the kids learned about as they researched.  I loved Angela's idea because we learned about regular people and how they lived through the holocaust.

When My Name Was Keoko

Our Five in a Row group read When My Name Was Keoko for November. It is a fantastic book by an author our group was familiar with already because we read A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park a few years ago (and loved it as well).

We had an extra special day to go along with Keoko. One of the families has a friend who is Korean and has stories from his childhood that very much went along with what we read. He agreed to meet us at a Japanese/Korean restaurant and guide us through choosing some Korean foods as we shared lunch together.

I've gotta tell you, after seeing the menu and being completely unfamiliar with which menu items would be Japanese and which would be Korean, I was plenty worried. I'm a far more adventurous eater than when I was younger but when I saw squid, eel, octopus (which I actually have eaten once, years ago), fish roe, and the like on the menu, I wasn't sure it was going to be a fun time.



We started with miso soup. Safe enough so far, and quite delicious, too.

Next came edamame, which I enjoy, and potstickers. Then they brought salad with a wonderful ginger dressing I'd love to have the recipe for. I was feeling better about the experience already.

I think this dish is called Bibimbob

We all shared the dishes he ordered. I enjoyed every.single.thing!

This, I believe, is called Chapchae

He shared a lot of family memories with us and it was amazing how much his stories corresponded with the story line of the book. We found it incredibly interesting to listen to him.

We finished the meal with a choice between green tea ice cream or red bean ice cream. I only had a taste-I was actually full!-but the girls enjoyed it a lot.

We intended pay for lunch for him and his wife, to thank him for sharing his time and tales with us, but he wouldn't let us. Instead, he paid for our whole group-such generosity!

This book, and our day together, will not be quickly forgotten.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

September was a busy month for all of us in our FIAR group so this month was our first meeting of the new school year. We chose The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and everyone really enjoyed it.

Our day included some language arts exercises for the kids-taking text from the book and noting which words were "lightening" words. The kids took some of Mark Twain's sentences and changed some of the words to simpler ones, then took simple sentences and gave them more flair, using lightening words. It was amazing to listen to their creativity as they read the re-written sentences aloud.

They talked about persuasive speech techniques and each of the kids had to think of a way to try to convince the other kids to take on an unpleasant task, like Tom did to get the other boys to paint the fence for him. The kids tried to convince the rest of us to do things like vacuum the pool, vacuum the floor, write a paper, go to the dentist, become a vegetarian, sell discount cards for a fundraiser, mow the lawn and clean the litter box. After they finished, we took a vote and the job most desired was vacuuming the pool. My friend, who usually has to do that job, was quite excited to think she'll have all those willing helpers next summer.



For our snack, I decided on "wedding" cake to remind us of the cake Tom and Becky ate in the cave when they were lost. The girls and I made our first attempt at making fondant roses without having our friend nearby guiding us. Allison made most of the roses because Julianne and I ran out of patience for it. I really do enjoy trying to think of a snack to go with our books but cake decorating is not my forte, that's for sure.

After lunch, the kids acted out a skit they made up during lunch. They pretended to be newscasters at the scene when the boys go pirating and are missing. They interviewed family members, then covered the story when the boys came to their own funeral.

It was good to be back with all our friends, beginning another year of reading and learning together.

The things you find at garage sales...

I'll apologize in advance-this is a long story-but it's one of those "coincidence" things that you just know in your heart God has orchestrated for you.

Two summers ago, the girls and I cruised through a subdivision garage sale near our home. As we left one house empty-handed, we saw the next house was also having a sale and walked over to check it out.

We found quite a bit of music, and picked some of it up for the girls to use for piano lessons. We started chatting about the music this young mom was selling and she mentioned that she went to college for voice and used to give lessons but had stopped. Somehow, we then started discussing homeschooling. They were thinking about homeschooling their young daughter and I had to mention how much we had loved Five in a Row for those early school years.

We left with her phone number on a sticky note, stuck to some of the music, so I could check back with her to see if she would be doing voice lessons in the future. The note immediately disappeared. I was disappointed, because Clarence and I had discussed finding someone to give the girls voice lessons in the past and now I didn't know how to reach her. I didn't even remember which street was hers-let alone which house she lived in.

Months passed. One evening last spring, as I was greeting a friend at the library, this family walked past who looked very familiar. She saw me and spoke, reminding me that I'd been to her garage sale. I apologized for losing her phone number and she kindly gave it to me again. But life was busy and I never got around to calling her.

Then, last fall, returning from a little vacation, we stopped to eat at a local diner. I went to wash my hands and passed their family sitting in a booth. I was embarrassed that I hadn't called her; she was, as always, sweet and gracious.

This time, I called and we made arrangements for lessons.

The girls love their voice lessons. Tiffany is incredibly encouraging while pushing them to be better.

Tonight was their year end recital. Since they aren't having a piano recital, Tiffany suggested they play as well as sing.



They each played the piano, then sang individually and together.

Tiffany also asked the girls to bring some things they've done this year to display. Julianne brought a frame she mosaic-ed, that gorgeous doily she crocheted for our anniversary, and her quiz trophy. Allison shared the DNA earrings she made, an origami box with rick rack roses inside, a kanzashi bouquet, and her quiz trophy.

We've been so blessed to get to know this family this year. Tiffany shared the story of how we met tonight and said that our conversation helped them make the decision to homeschool their daughter. They've tried Five in a Row, too, and love it as much as we do.

Believe it or not, once the girls started lessons, I haven't run into Tiffany anywhere again. Don't you love those little coincidences that aren't really coincidence at all?

The Breadwinner

Our FIAR group read The Breadwinner in April.One of the moms of our group has a friend who spent several years living in Afghanistan. Her friend came to speak to us about life in Afghanistan-and brought along some props!

Can you tell who is wearing the burqua?

In the book, one of Parvana's jobs is to carry buckets of water up several flights of stairs for her family. The kids filled buckets outside, then carried them up the steps to dump into a washtub. It was a nice day and they managed to have a lot of fun doing it, unlike poor Parvana who saw it only as a dreaded, tedious, back-breaking chore.

I tried my hand at making naan bread for our snack. I made the dough, but the kids each rolled out their own for baking. Almost everyone liked it.

I somehow neglected to post about our book from March. We read Running Out of Time, which was a very interesting read. I didn't take any pictures that day, which must be why I never blogged about it.

For this book, we discussed dominant and recessive genes, human experimentation, and the ethics involved. The kids played a game similar to Taboo, where they tried to describe various modern items without using modern words like "plastic". We shared apple pie as our snack because in the book the family had apple pie for breakfast!

This book was different than most we've read, but we all really enjoyed it. I found it thought provoking while still being a quick, easy read.

Framed

For January, our FIAR group read the book Framed. Plans for the book fell into place easily because there happened to be an exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts called Fakes, Forgeries, and Mysteries. A great go-along with the book plus, for the girls and me, a chance to go to a museum we'd never before visited.

Between the DIA's schedule, trips out of state, weather, illness, and other commitments, we had a terrible time finding a day we could all manage to go. Finally, last week, everything worked out and we were able to enjoy our day together.

The kids didn't have any homework assigned ahead of time but they went on an art scavenger hunt once we got there. Julianne mentioned to her friend, Molly, that she wanted to do a copy of a picture from the DIA and Molly chose Poppies by Henri Matisse:



Here is Julianne's version:

I still find it surprising when my girls decide to do something like this-an un-assigned homework project. I can't quite imagine my younger self getting excited about something like that. Yet, I love the fact that they are so engaged in what we study that this isn't "homework", it's just something to be done for fun. I think that's the best kind of learning of all.

Allison's Valentines

Allison loves to make pie.

I've tried to give her advice-as if I make pie very often at all. I've watched her, shaking my head that her crust won't turn out well because she re-rolls it so many times, and she patches the places that don't hold together. But, I've discovered that she has exactly the right temperament for pie making. She has fun and doesn't worry how it will turn out. And it always turns out beautifully.

That said, I knew she'd be excited about the idea I saw on Our Best Bites a couple weeks ago.

Valentine's Day hand pies.



She made these cute, and delicious, apple pies for her friends in our FIAR group last week. She made a few extras in case some didn't turn out well so Clarence and I got to sample them, too.

She wrapped them in red Saran Wrap, then added a tag with a little riddle/pun to go along with our activities for the day ("What is the sweetest number?") taped to each one.

Julianne crocheted little hearts to use on her Valentines but I didn't get a single picture-in fact, she never even showed me her finished ones-but I'm sure they were cute. ;-)

Happy Valentine's Day to each of you!

The Phantom Tollbooth

Our FIAR group read The Phantom Tollbooth this month. It was a great book and we had a lot of fun with it yesterday.

We started with the kids assessing various quotes from the book and determining if they were wisdom or nonsense. Some great discussions took place as we looked at the quotes from various perspectives, some of which made the same quote seem like wisdom and some like nonsense.

Next, the kids acted out the literal meanings of some idioms and the rest of us guessed the idioms. It was as hilarious as I'm sure you can imagine it being to see idioms like "The dog days of summer", "Flying off the handle", "Letting the cat out of the bag", "Skating on thin ice" and "Rome wasn't built in a day" acted out.

The kids then took part in some estimation activities. They estimated how long it would take to...move a certain amount of salt, grain by grain; move 8 cups of water, drop by drop; and pick apart a Styrofoam cup with a pin.

When it was time for lunch, we had the Synonym buns I had made.



After lunch, they did more math problems like figuring out the average number of children per family for our group, some distance problems using the distances between our homes, and counting the hairs on their head.

They distributed their Valentines to each other and played a game of Balderdash before sharing the homonym jokes and riddles they had found or written themselves as homework.

It was the best kind of day-one filled with laughter and learning.

Our day with Johnny Tremain

Our FIAR group read Johnny Tremain this month.

We discussed pride (a huge problem for Johnny), Paul Revere and his portrait, some different styles of silver tea pots, and then read The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (an actual FIAR title but, since the kids have gotten so old, it was good to revisit it).

The kids then moved to the kitchen to try their hands at polishing silver pieces some of the moms brought. We've never covered child labor laws as part of our co-op days...and I don't think we plan to do so anytime soon.

After lunch, we left our friends' home and went to a pottery/craft shop so the kids could try making something silver for themselves.

They pressed silver clay into the mold of their choice, rolled it smooth on top, then chose to either press or etch a design into the top. Julianne etched her own design on hers; Allison used a stamp for hers. The clay was dried with a blow dryer for a couple minutes, then removed from the mold and put on a hot plate for a few minutes to complete the drying process.

Once dry, each piece had to be sanded before firing. I thought it was interesting that they could either drill a hole in the piece before firing or punch a hole through after it was fired.

Allison's creations are on the left, Julianne's are on the right. They plan to make them into earrings.

After firing, the kids buffed and antiqued their pieces. A quick polish and they were done.

Each month is something new and fun with this group. Last month, we read The Shakespeare Stealer and delved into Shakespeare a bit. (I mention it here because I didn't take a single picture or blog about it and I have a strong tendency to forget what we studied if it isn't written out.)

This is, and always has been, our favorite co-op group and they are one of the many things I have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. They have become some of our dearest friends and I am truly thankful for all the memories we have made, and will make, together.

I think it's working again

After encountering various issues, I called our isp for help. They told me to make a change on a modem setting and call back if my problems persisted. Unfortunately, the change was to slow down the modem-as if dial-up isn't slow enough already. However, there are positive trade-offs to the move, so we'll try it for now.

One of the positives is that my pictures seem to post correctly again. I did a "make up" post for our FIAR group's day from May (here) and since it was successful, I decided to post this month's get-together.

For June, we decided to review. The kids chose their favorite title from all our years together and wrote a paragraph or two about what they liked about the day, then drew a picture, too.



Then, it was all play. Here the girls are all swinging together...

while the boys found other things to do.

The parents enjoyed the opportunity to visit and catch up with each other. We came home sunburned, never having given sunscreen a thought due to the clouds, and with more happy memories of time spent with friends.