Exploring Paddington with Branch Out World {Product Review}

Do you love the stories of Paddington as much as I do? There is just something about that darling bear which warms my heart. We were recently asked to review a unit study of Paddington Bear from Branch Out World, a British company.

About Branch Out World

Branch Out World is a British company producing educational resources like the Picture Book Explorers series. These are a collection of literature based unit studies created around beautifully illustrated picture books with links to the British Isles. These are all downloadable units that incorporate reading aloud with a variety of coordinating fun and educational activities.

In limbo...

Well, I had planned that we would start our 1st grade curriculum this week...however, that is on hold. Not because of MY planning, but because my husband just told me the other night that he didn't want to start Little Britches in 1st grade yet because he's afraid he'll get too ahead too fast and doesn't want him to graduate from high school when he's 15.

okay. Well. Wow. That just really came out of left field and thru me for a loop. I thought he and I both agreed on a modified year round schedule...so this was a bit...frustrating?

So until I have another heart-to-heart with my hubby...I'm in limbo.

I need to ask him why thinks we have to hold Little Britches back...he's definitely READY for 1st grade. Yes he IS advanced. But isn't that what homeschooling is about? Letting your child go at his or her own speed? I do NOT think he'll be advanced in all subjects. And we don't have to rush through the 1st grade program. I had planned on doing half days during the summer to allow maximum play time. We will take breaks for vacations and field trips and our camping trips.

I totally understand where my husband is coming from...but at the same time, I think he's also getting a little ahead of things! There is a big gap between 6 years old and 15 years old!

So what are we doing in the meantime?

Well, Little Britches learned how to tie his shoes which was a huge thing and cause for MUCH celebration when he tied his own church shoes this past Saturday!

We are continuing to practice our reading skills with books of all kind, but especially his favorites--the Biscuit series about the little yellow puppy. We owned two of them and then I found a pack of 6 more at Costco and then on Ebay, I found a 10-in-1 collection of MORE Biscuit stories...he doesn't know about any of this yet...I'm saving it. He LOVES to read them and because of that I want to make sure he has them to enjoy.

We will bring back Five-in-a-Row to fill in the time...that is a curriculum in itself and he'll be learning a lot. I have Grandfather's Journey, Clown of God, and A Glorious Flight lined up for us.

We are doing the Singapore Primary Mathematics 1B Textbook. I got it for free on Paperbackswap.com and it just happens to cover the EXACT thing we needed to work on. So even though we don't have the workbook, we are going thru it using the whiteboard and talking thru the answers. He's learning a LOT. It also helps me to see if I want to go the Singapore route after 1st grade when I split up our curriculum.

We are continuing to work on our handwriting with book reports and copywork. I like to use lines from the books we are reading for his copywork because he knows it.

And we are continuing to read our chapter books. We finally finished reading Black Beauty last night...now we are going to put together the amazing Black Beauty lapbook that Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler created. I was so excited to see that it was one of her units in her Classical Literature. I have a whole stack of books to do next...I'll share those in a few days with my first grade curriculum post.

And last but none the least...we started piano lessons. It is different for me to teach my own child--but enjoyable. I just have to remember to place practicing as a responsibility he has. But we set up a practice schedule for him and he's enjoying it...so far! LOL! Here is a picture of him hard at work practicing...

It's great because with Little Britches starting, that gives me THREE boy students--a personal record! LOL! I don't get boys very often, but the three I have now WANT to learn so that makes all the difference!

So that is what we are doing right now as I continue to work out the kinks...and really it is enough!

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Our row for the past 8 days has been Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.

Little Britches had been dying to get his hands on this book since it first arrived in the mail, so he was estatic to FINALLY get to read it! He is all about anything with wheels, but especially heavy equipment--his daddy is a heavy equipment mechanic...which explains the obsession! LOL! Anyways, he eagerly cuddled in for our read.

Day 1~Social Studies: History

We read the book and then we chatted about things that use steam. He has an All About John Deere movie which focuses on Steam Tractors and threshers with mention of Steam locomotives...so he was able to carry on a nice dialogue about things that run on steam. We even spoke about Thomas the Train since he's a "steamy" too! LOL! Then I had him color and put together a little minit book about steam things.

Day 2~ Science

We tried to do the pinwheel with steam...but our paper pinwheel just curled up and wouldn't spin...LOL! So I'm going to snag a "real" pinwheel at the store tonight so we can try it one more time tomorrow when we finish up our row.

Day 3~ummm....history?

So today was just one of those days where you have early release...LOL! So we just read the book again and didn't do anything. LOL! BUT we did go online and look at Youtube videos of old steam shovels...THAT was something he LOVED!

Day 4~Math-Story Problems

I absolutely LOVED the story problems worksheet that coordinates with Mike Mulligan! It was easy to read and easy to follow. Little Britches enjoyed using my button collection to help him work thru the problems--even choosing a special RED button for Mary Ann! He wrote all his numbers by himself which was a great achievement for him!

Day 5~Language: Literature-Personification

Today after we read the story, I introduced Personification. I used the manual for explanation and then we looked in the book for places with facial expressions of Mary Ann. Then we thought about other things that Little Britches pretends is "human"--like his teddy bear. He knows what it means, but has problems pronouncing it! LOL! We did a little page for his lapbook. Then he colored some construction equipment pages.

Day 6~ Language: Story Writing-Characters and Vocabulary

We discussed the new words "Canal" and "Cellar" and then found some canals on our world map. We are adding these words to our vocabulary box. Then we talked about characters. I started off by asking Little Britches about his favorite cartoon "tom and Jerry" and who the cartoon was about. This gave him an idea about characters. So then he was easily able to tell me who the main characters were in our book. We filled out the Character paper for Mike Mulligan. Then we had some fun and I let Little Britches create his own character. He really got in the swing of things and I was writing as fast as I could to keep up with him! Then he did one more set of coloring equipment.

He also colored a picture for his book row--I used the free printable by Tamara at Homemaker's Heart that she created for the FIAR books. You can see the links for all the volumes on her post HERE.

Day 7~Art: Drawing- Trees

This was a fun day because Little Britches had never used paints before! After we read the book, we examined the different types of tree drawings and talked about how they were different. Then I gave him a sheet of watercolor paper and let him use his set of watercolor paints ($1 store special! LOL!). He REALLY enjoyed this! I gave him an example of what the trees would look like far away and then up close and let him have some fun. He did a good job...and even told me a story about one of his trees. The only thing we had issues with...there is no brown in his paint palatte...not very good for trees...but he decided a black tree trunk was close enough. LOL!

Day 8~Handwriting

For our last day, I had him do the copywork page which I found again over on Tamara's Blog. (THANKS, TAMARA!!) Little Britches was very sad that we weren't going to be working on Mike Mulligan anymore, and he declared that he was going to read it with daddy EVERY night.

As you can see, we rowed this book a little longer, but it still worked perfectly fine and Little Britches WANTED to make it last longer, so we did!

Our next book will be Madeline...and I'm not sure how well that will be received coming on the heels of the "best book ever"...any ideas for making a totally girly story more boy friendly?

The Story of Ping

We kicked off our first week of school with our first attempt at using the Five In a Row curriculum for our afternoon activities. Because I only have 3 of the FIAR Vol. 1 books on hand, I decided to start us with The Story of Ping--a children's classic! So here is how we "rowed" our book last week...

Day #1-Geography/Social Studies

We started off reading the book--and then we talked about China and we put our story disk (colored by Little Britches) on our big world map (that REFUSED to lock in place when I pulled it down...grrrr). I decided I need to show Little Britches a round version of the world since he just can't get over how far away China is from us!

Then he colored a little picture of a scene from China--and we took his map and drew in the Yangtze River and the capital Beijing. Little Britches also learned how to say Yangtze (Yang-zee).

Today we did some science experiments! We tested to see what happened when you put oil on paper and then dropped water on it--similar to a duck with water rolling off it's back--I borrowed this idea from Michelle at Delightful Learning.

Day #2 Science

Then we did some Sink or Float testing. Using a worksheet from some the Ping Lapbook Resources @ Homeschool Share, we made predictions, then I rounded up supplies and we went out back to the baby pool and tested them out!

Little Britches had a blast with this part...I'm guessing it had something to do with water? LOL! He enjoyed doing all his testing and marking his results.

Here he is giving his results:

Day #3- Math

We did a nice little worksheet for his math. He enjoyed coloring the ducks and added extra long beaks to several of them.

Day #4- Science/Biology

Today we learned about ducks. I printed off an encyclopedia entry from the computer and we used it to fill in the information on our Duck Classification page. Clearly he couldn't say the words (um neither could I!) but he read the letters to me once I found the answers. Then we found types of ducks and had fun putting that little book together.

Day #5-Art

Our last day was all about coloring. We added a duck picture to a fabulous poem and then finished up our lapbook with a flag, and a picture of Papa (my father) standing on the Great Wall of China.

We had fun with our first row and Little Britches loves the lapbook we put together! All our printouts we got at Homeschool Share for The Story of Ping--except the last one of the great wall. I copied that from a World Countries workbook I bought at the local Dollar Tree.

We are rowing Mike Mulligan right now...I'll let you know how it goes once we are all the way thru it!