IEW - Medieval History Based Writing Lessons

This year, because we are studying the Middle Ages for history, I decided to purchase the Medieval History Based lessons from IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing) for sons C and A to use for writing.  I love when content areas such as history or science can be merged into writing practice.  I don't normally buy a new writing curriculum each year, as I am so familiar with IEW's methodology that I can make our own writing assignments based on any subject that we wish to write about. However, I wanted to be a bit more systematic this year, especially for Little Man, who has learned so much IEW from listening to me teach his older siblings that I forget he himself has had very little formal IEW instruction!

I LOVE this book!  So happy we went this direction.  It dovetails so nicely with our history studies, and builds writing practice step by step.  It has a track for older students that requires more work, so it is easy to use with both boys at their respective levels.

We did a lot of good writing this past week.  Here Little Man is making his key word outline based on a paragraph on the Byzantine Empire:

And here is son C doing the same thing.  He had two paragraphs to outline, rather than one.  The following day they wrote their own paragraphs based on the outlines they had made.  We talked about quality adjectives, and found places in their paragraphs to "dress up" with these great adjectives.  The day after that they typed up and printed their own paragraphs.

Little Man is gluing his paragraphs into a bound book of blank pages, and adding pictures on the facing pages, so that by the end of the year he will have his very own hand-made history book!

Our Week In Review

This would be for last week.  :-)

Last week we began a three week study of Victorian England, but the week before that had been a study of the Texas War for Independence, including the battle of The Alamo in 1836.  Because I have several boys, and they were so into the desperation and heroism of the Alamo story, we let the Alamo spill over into our first Victorian England week quite a bit.  Which is a somewhat odd mixture I must say!

I went to the library and checked out every book the children's department had on The Alamo.  I selected one in particular to be our fifth grader's history book for that week, and left the rest in the family room for everyone to look at during book time.  This one captured the imagination of son G: The Alamo, a day that changed America, by Shelley Tanaka.  It is the story of the battle as told through the eyes of a young Mexican boy inside the Alamo with his mother when the fighting began.  Some of it was historical fiction, but much of it was historical fact, and the pictures were AWESOME!
  

I read a short book about Davy Crockett to Little Man, and afterward he made a flapbook of Davy Crockett's life.  He dictated to me what he remembered from the book we had just read, I wrote down his words, and then he drew accompanying pictures.  This is the page about Davy's childhood.  The picture on the right shows him atop his horse, whipping some cattle into shape!  (when he was just 13 years old he helped herd cattle across several states).

Then we got the idea to make a diorama of The Alamo mission/fort itself, and that idea grew into this:

The perfect size for little Lego Mexicans and Texans!  Take a note of the flag ~ at the time of the battle, the flag did not yet bear the symbol of the lone star.

The boys poured over their books to break the battle down into smaller pieces.  Who was defending what part of the fort?  Who fell first?  They designated a lego man to be Davy Crockett, one to be Jim Bowie, and another to be Colonel Travis (who was very likely the first, or among the first, to be killed on that fateful last day of fighting).  They carefully set everyone where they were thought to be in real life on that day.

And then....

Some revisionist history began happening.  Somehow the Texans acquired medieval era weapons.  And blood began to spill....

We even had a few beheadings.

Here is Davy Crockett in the middle of the picture, with a pile of dead Mexican bodies nearby (which did happen in real life).

Here is Jim Bowie, fighting from his bed inside the chapel of the fort.  He was sick with pneumonia at the time, but bravely fired from his bed until his ammunition ran out, and then fought with his famous knives until he finally succumbed.  He was very likely one of the last ones killed.

Our boys have had tons of fun with this, and aside from the medieval revisions they made (which they *know* are revisions!) they also learned details of the battle that I am sure they would not have known otherwise.

We watched the John Wayne movie version of The Alamo, and the three middle boys are all polishing up writing assignments having to do with The Alamo (son C wrote a story about Davy Crockett, son G wrote a biographical essay on Crockett, and son L wrote a report about Jim Bowie).

Son C usually had a dog by his side as he did his history reading!

We have acquired a second dog to "dog-sit" and while I have never really cared for the look of pugs, we are learning to love this one!

Next week:  Pride and Prejudice, and tea and scones!

Our Week In Review

 This would be for last week. :-)


We did all the usual work, but focused on our writing assignments which we'd been working on for the past two weeks.  To wrap up our three week study of South America in the early 1800's, each of the children chose a South American country to write about.  The specifics of the assignment were as follows:

I specifically added the "one picture must stick out from your poster" part to give each of the children a chance to be artistic and creative.  I was curious how each child would choose to do this. 

Little Man chose to study and write about the country of Bolivia.  For one of the four pictures on his finished poster, he chose to put a map showing where Bolivia is located.  Here he is coloring in the country of Bolivia on a map of South America.

Sons G and L chose the countries of Peru and Ecuador, respectively.  Son G became fascinated with Machu Picchu, while son L was enthralled with the Nate Saint missionary/martyr story (he chose to write about missionary work in Ecuador for his fourth paragraph).  Son C, not pictured, chose to write about Venezuela.

Daughter G chose the country of Brazil.  She had such FUN with this assignment ~ spending hours and hours researching this particular country, finding pictures that would adequately represent the incredible flora and fauna of the Amazon region, and choosing the subject for her "famous person" paragraph (retired soccer star, Pele).  Her poster is the only one completely finished.  Unit celebration is fast approaching this weekend, so everyone else is finishing up with their poster assembly this week!

I love writing assignments.  They can encompass so much learning from many different disciplines.  We did quite a bit of internet research, so I had the opportunity to help direct the children in how to do this.  We did use some info from wikipedia, but talked about how usually that source is just overwhelming because there is almost too much info.  Certainly for the scope of their paragraphs, I discouraged wiki.  We found books at the library, we read, we outlined, we wrote, we edited, we typed, we printed pictures, we drew pictures, we worked a bit on graphic design ~ the laying out of all the pieces on posterboard.  Such great learning!  And the children really know about their country of choice, so much more than they would have known otherwise.

I can't wait to display these posters at our unit celebration!

William Wilberforce

We have been quite awed this past week as we have learned more about William Wilberforce's campaign to end slavery in England in the late 18th century.  If you are not familiar with his story, get thee to a library (or just go on amazon!) as soon as possible and get a book about him.  You may have heard of, or seen, the movie Amazing Grace, about his life.  It is a wonderful movie that gets many details right.  But a well researched biography has more of the details right, and gives you a lot more info than a 2 hour movie can.

Our two middle schoolers read parts of a book about Wilberforce, while our high school daughter read an entire (short) biography of him written by John Piper.

Of all the interesting, amazing, noteworthy (insert other superlatives here) aspects of Wilberforce's life, the one that stands out to me the most is his tenacity and perseverance.  He became a member of the British Parliament at the tender age of 21, and took up the cause of abolishing slavery about 7 years later.  From that point on, for 46 years, he worked tirelessly to outlaw slavery.  FORTY SIX YEARS!  That was a LOT of "no" votes, a lot of friendships lost, a lot of ridicule endured, a lot of rejection.  But he never gave up.  He never quit.  He never said, "I think I've done enough."  He persevered until slavery was finally abolished just a few months before his death in 1833.

And throughout this 46 year struggle, he lived his life with an incredible sense of joy.

Truly, his was a life filled with God's amazing grace.

Our three older children are all writing short essays about Wilberforce this week.  Here is our daughter's opening paragraph:

"William Wilberforce is best known for working tirelessly for the abolition of slavery.  Surprisingly Wilberforce did not always live his life with purpose.  In his youth he was a spoiled, selfish libertine, who was completely uninterested in God.  He had inherited a large fortune from his father, and used it, unfortunately, on gambling and dining at fancy London clubs.  Having some interest in politics, in 1780 when he was only twenty one, he got a spot in Parliament, starting his political career.  Later Wilberforce commented, "The first years I was in Parliament I did nothing - nothing to any purpose.  My own distinction was my darling object."  Then, at age 25, he was converted to Christ by Isaac Milner, who was his old schoolmaster.  Wilberforce felt God so powerfully that he went in secret to talk to John Newton because he felt confused about his calling.  He wasn't sure if he should continue his political career or serve God by becoming a minister.  Wilberforce had known Newton since he was thirteen, as Newton was his childhood pastor.  Newton encouraged Wilberforce and hinted that he could, indeed, serve God by serving in politics.  Introduced to the horrors of slavery, William Wilberforce launched himself into the campaign for its abolition in 1787."

Doesn't this make you want to read the rest?!?

Last week we read about this incredible man and saw the movie Amazing Grace.  This week we are writing about him.  I am thankful for the opportunity to dig a little deeper into the life of such an obedient and faithful Christian!

(and as an aside to this: for the first time in several years we are not using a packaged IEW product for our writing, but I am creating all our writing assignments myself based on IEW methods.  I am LOVING this opportunity to more closely tie our writing with our history!  Finally following the wise adage of Marcia Somerville (author of Tapestry of Grace) to "read, think/discuss, write." Whoo-hoo!)

Summer Fun! (and co-op planning)

I mentioned that our co-op moms met together (all 3 of us now that Angela has moved away ~ boo hoo!) and planned out the writing portion of our co-op for this coming year. Our kids also had a chance to swim and play together - which they dearly loved!





This is a short video showing each of the children on the slip 'n slide. It will put a smile on your face!!




As the children played, us moms were able to: schedule out the entire year, which weeks we would be meeting, schedule which lesson of our writing curriculum would be taught each week, and schedule who was teaching which lessons. I feel so good about what we accomplished!


This year we will be using another IEW product called "Student Intensive Continuation Course - B", or SICC-B for short (just like "sick-b"). It picks up where our writing class left off last year, and will be a rigorous class for our older children. Each week there will be a dvd lesson taught by Andrew Pudewa, and then the writing teacher will help the students begin outlining and practicing the new "dress ups" and "decorations" prior to their homework assignment.

Since all 3 families are using Tapestry of Grace (though not the same year plan), we each plan to substitute the content of the homework assignments with topics from our history studies, which means the moms will grade their own children's work rather than the writing teacher doing it. We also have to adjust SICC-B down considerably for our younger writers which will require another gab session, oops! I mean planning meeting. ;-) But we got a lot decided!

As an aside, doing SICC-B along with a grammar program (such as IEW's Fix-It which our family will be using) and literature discussion (which is included in Tapestry of Grace's program) counts as 1 English credit. So at the end of this school year, our daughter G will have earned her first "official" high school credit!

Our younger children, who did the young 5's alphabet class last year, will be working through several books from Five In a Row, Volume 1 (more on that later). We will essentially have 3 groups, 2 writing groups and the Five in a Row class, and just 3 moms. So Friday mornings are going to be busy! But we are very excited for our upcoming year and are thankful for likeminded families and good friends to learn with!

Our Week in Review - The Writing Process

Last week, our three older children who are in the writing class at co-op completed their final assignment from unit 6 of IEW, which is learning to write a report from multiple sources. I was very excited about this final assignment, as they could each choose a topic of their choice and then write a 3 paragraph report, practicing what we'd learned in that unit. Since it was to be a 3 paragraph report, they then had to select 3 sub-topics to write about, one paragraph each. The "taboos" for this assignment were, they could not use the internet as one of their sources (learning to use the internet as a source of info will come later, for now it is just tooooo overwhelming, as so many links and so much info comes up whenever you google something), and they could not choose a biography of a person (same deal, too much info for now). I love how IEW encourages us, the teachers, to give them appropriate parameters for success.

Once they had each chosen a topic, we headed to the library. I gave them a mini lesson on how to use the on-line catalog to find books on their topic, when they didn't know specific titles ahead of time. Then we stood in the stacks and carefully looked at each book we pulled out to see if it would make good source material. Did it have a table of contents and/or an index? Did it have pages and pages of info on each sub topic, or rather a manageable amount? Did it have headers to show each topic?

Some books had information for 2 of the subtopics, but not all 3. So in order to have 3 sources for each of the 3 paragraphs, we ended up checking out about 6 or 7 books each. Son G chose to write about medieval times.


Son L chose to write about rainforests. In both pictures above and below, you can see the boys working on their outlines. We are learning that the outline is KEY. If you have a good outline, and you have worked to organize your thoughts on the outline, the actual writing is pretty easy. At the beginning of the year, they would both say to me, "can't I just start writing?" but now they have learned the value of the outline!


We used large 11x17 paper, folded to make 6 squares, for our outlines. They had one of these large papers for each paragraph. The 3 squares across the top were used for writing outlines from each of the 3 sources for that particular sub topic. We looked through the books we'd checked out to find which pages had info on which subtopics, and then I helped the boys by jotting down in the bottom of each of these squares the title of the book and the page numbers where info on that sub topic could be found.


Once the 3 top squares were filled out, they used the middle bottom square to make a "fused" outline. This is simply choosing which facts from the 3 top outlines are the most interesting and important to the writer, and then transferring them to the outline below. Each top outline only got 3-5 facts, but the fused outline could have 4-7 facts. The fused outline then became the working outline that they wrote from. Below is son L's fused outline for his paragraph on jungle layers (click on picture to enlarge).



I will admit this was laborious. For the boys and for me. :-) But the process of practicing is where learning takes place!

Our daughter G chose to write about the civil rights movement. This is also what we've been learning about in history. One of Marcia Somerville's (author of Tapestry of Grace) mantras is, read, discuss, write. In that order. We do lots of reading and discussing, but because we are going through all 9 IEW units in order this year, we have not always written about our history topics. In fact, rarely. So this was very exciting for me to watch G interact with our history material on a much deeper level. She did so much extra reading to find appropriate source material, and really thought hard about how she wanted to organize her paper and how she wanted to write it. She and the other 7th grader were given the option to write a 3, 4, or 5 paragraph paper, and she chose 5!

Here she is working on her paper in her room. Her fused outline is up on her magnetic board in front of her, and she is referring to that as she writes. She does virtually all of her independent work at this desk in her room.


Please forgive me for this proud homeschool mama moment, but I really am so proud of all 3 of them for working so hard on such a BIG writing project! The finished reports turned out very well. It was great for our character development too, to stick with a hard task and keep working at it little by little until it was done. And a public shout out to my friend Sally who taught the writer's class for this unit ~ well done Sally!!!! Thank you!

Compositions from our 3 oldest children

I have shared so much 0f what the young 5's class does on Friday mornings at co-op, but seldom have I shared what the writers are working on. What follows are the compositions that our 3 oldest children wrote two weeks ago. This assignment was from unit 4 of IEW, writing reports from a single source. They could write on a topic of their choice, and they were to go to the library and find one source to use for their outline. This source could NOT be from the internet, it had to be a book. We spent a considerable amount of time in class learning what types of books worked well for source material, and which ones don't, because if you get the wrong book (with either way too much information, or not enough) the assignment becomes frustratingly difficult. With the right source material it is not too hard and even enjoyable! Each of the children was to write a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph, and a clincher sentence at the end. We have not yet worked on transitions between paragraphs. This is L's first year using IEW, also son G's first year, and daughter G's second full year. Without further ado, here are their compositions:

The Astronaut’s Life

by

L, age 9

All astronauts train continuously for many years. Mostly the training takes place in large water tanks because the water helps astronauts adjust to being weightless. Some astronauts, who are called mission specialists, are doctors, engineers, or scientists. They learn to do special jobs in space. Although astronauts have different jobs, they all train.

After all their training astronauts are eager to get into orbit. To help boost the shuttle into space, the spaceship needs two rockets. However, when the spaceship reaches orbit the rockets strapped to it drop off because they are no longer needed. When they are going into orbit a force, which is called gravity, mightily pushes the astronauts back into their seats. Once they are in orbit, the force is gone. Now there is no gravity to hold them down. Fortunately, their training has prepared them for life in orbit.

Because there is no gravity in space, it is extremely challenging to live. Strangely, everything on the ship floats. The capable astronauts eat, sleep, and work floating. Because their food and water float, they use straws to drink. Astronauts, who have been trained for weightlessness, are strapped in bed to sleep and also sometimes while working. Although astronauts are well trained, with no gravity, living in orbit is still very difficult.

The Fascinating Airplane

by

son G, age 10

Most military aircraft, which have jet engines, are amazingly maneuverable. Incredibly, fighter planes can roll from side to side and make quick turns to attack or escape. Since fighters are light, with their powerful engines on full blast they can fly straight up. Afterburners, a part of a jet engine, give planes extra thrust so they can go faster. Military fighters are known for their maneuverability.

All planes require landing gear to land. Thankfully, the landing gear is on the end of legs which are stable. Of course, the wheels have shock absorbers. Just as it sounds, the landing gear is obviously used to land.

Inside an airliner’s fuselage, which is the largest part of the plane, is the passenger cabin. The cargo hold is under the cabin. Aboard different airliners, seats are arranged differently. Amazingly, people can breath at such high altitudes because oxygen is continually pumped through the plane in pipes. The fuselage and every part of an airplane is very fascinating.

Dangerous Life in the Wild
by

daughter G, age 12

While many animals are not, mice, like a few other rodents, can be found in all sorts of habitats. These habitats include prairies, forests, deserts, marshes, and cities. All rodents need a safe, dry den, or shelter, to live in, store food, and raise babies. Nesting not on the ground, some species of mice dwell up in the treetops and rarely ever come down. Those living in the desert use their dens to keep cool from the scorching sun. In cold areas mice sometimes survive by tunneling under the snowy earth, which is a lot better than traveling in the freezing wind. Many mice, though, prefer living by humans in the warmth and comfort of their barns, houses, and other buildings. Humans also sometimes keep mice as pets. Rarely mice leave their dens in the daytime but come out instead at night. This is called being nocturnal. Observed all over the world, mice live in nearly every kind of habitat.

Considering their small bodies, mice have an exceptionally large stomach and powerful jaw, not to mention their speed. Most rodents are herbivores. Herbivores eat mainly plants and other non-living things, but there can be an exception. Included in their diet are insects, nuts, seeds, and fruit. Surprisingly, mice eat strange things, such as wallpaper glue, tape, and soap, and actually don’t eat a lot of cheese, if any. Their daily diet would be like you having a miniature thanksgiving feast to yourself every day! All rodents have large, strong, curved teeth called incisors, which are two long front teeth in the center of each jaw. Growing non-stop, the rodent must wear its chisel like incisors down by chewing and rubbing them together. If the rodent does not do so, the top incisors could curve back and pierce its skull. Without their sharp teeth and powerful jaw, mice would not be able to chew through all the things they can, like: paper to wood and plaster walls to even sheet metal.

Because mice live out in the wild, families must depend on each other to survive. Usually, female mice have litters of 10-24 babies, or pups. Some species can have litters 3-4 times a year! That’s a lot of babies! Blinded and helpless, baby pups look up to their mother for care and protection. Leaving the den only for short periods of time if not at all, the mother gives her pups the proper care they need until they are ready to depart from the nest, which isn’t a long time to wait. Within 6 weeks the pups are grown enough to start their own family. Of course this is normal for them because mice only live 2-4 years. It is extremely dangerous, though, for a young mouse to start a family out in the wild, facing the dangers of its habitat.

A is for Apple

This morning was the first meeting of our new homeschool co-op. We have 4 families, 14 children, divided into a young 5's class and an IEW writing class for the 4th, 5th, and 7th graders. We are taking turns meeting in each other's homes, and this month the co-op is meeting at our house. We had a blast! I am the teacher of the young 5's class this month, and today we learned all about the letter "A".


We made applesauce.

And painted with apples.


We had recess!



And learned how to write the letter A.


Little Man and his BFF checked out the writing class through the kitty door.


And our two littlest ones, ages 2 and 3, participated at their own special table.


Meanwhile, down in the schoolroom, the writing class watched a lesson on dvd and then began working on their own key word outlines.


It was a very fun and productive morning. Though we miss the people at our old (much bigger) co-op, we are going to love our new co-op!

IEW Writer's Conference

My friend Sally and I had a wonderful time at the IEW writer's conference! And for my fellow IEW users, to prove that I actually met Mr. Pudewa himself, here is a pic of us together! I was actually a tad giddy about having my picture taken with him, can you tell? He is an excellent speaker; engaging, inspiring, and funny. And he has an amazing vocabulary! Listening to him speak was like music to my ears and food for my soul.

IEW stands for Institute for Excellence in Writing. They produce the writing curriculum and the poetry memorization curriculum we use in our homeschool. I love their approach to writing, because they incorporate the teaching of both structure and style. They teach 9 different models that cover every type of writing that could be required of our students, and they also teach stylistic techniques that make the writing more interesting to read. I have used IEW for nearly two years now, but hearing Andrew Pudewa teach it himself has given me much more confidence in utilizing it fully in our homeschool. I can't wait to implement what I've learned!

The seminar energized me greatly for the rest of the school year, and helped to remind me why we do the things we do, as well as giving me food for thought about NOT doing some things which may be unnecessary. I came home much encouraged!

Unfortunately, I also came home sick. I am pretty sure it's strep throat, though I'm hoping not. If I am not significantly better by morning I will go get a rapid strep culture. Tomorrow will be school lite, naps, and playing catch up from 2 days away. Lord willing, I can dig in to school again in earnest on Tuesday.

Record Keeping and Storage (part 9)

Thankfully, we live in a state that is currently very friendly toward homeschoolers and does not require record keeping or reporting of any kind. We know, however, that this could change at any time, so we have chosen to keep a record of the work we have done should we ever be legally required to show it. It's also good for our own benefit, to be able to look at a record of our work and say, "oh, that's what we did all year!"

In our family, we don't keep official grades for every subject until sixth grade (as in, writing down the grade of all assignments in a grade book of some kind and giving a letter grade for the class overall). Since our oldest just completed fifth grade, I have not had to keep a grade book yet. That will be something new this next year.

This past spring I was able to purchase a comb binding machine during a really good sale, and I made a comb bound book for each of the three older children of all their daily assignment sheets for the entire year. Each book is literally 36 pages that shows what they did each day in every subject.
I also made comb bound books of all their work in history, geography, literature, and writing. We used file folders for the front and back covers, in each of our children's assigned colors of course! :-)

These books hold everything from mapwork,

to coloring pages,

to writing,

to homemade charts. This is a homemade flow chart showing the 3 branches of government as set forth in the constitution.

Our daughter has a separate writing notebook where she has chosen to keep all her completed writing assignments, but our son G has his writing for the year in this comb bound book. Here is an example of a key word outline, which we learned how to make from our excellent writing curriculum, Institute for Excellence in Writing.

After making his key word outline from a paragraph in one of our history books, he closed the book and rewrote the paragraph from his outline. Here is his version of the paragraph:

Each of our children has completed a writing book called All About Me during their third grade year, and I think these books are destined to become treasured keepsakes! Each page asks a question or two about the student's life, and when the book is finished it is a record of many of that child's favorite sports, memories, things to do, vacation spots, family activities, subjects in school, and daily habits.

These comb bound books, plus the All About Me book, and the colonial lapbooks we did earlier this year are the sum total of what I am keeping as a record of this past year. It takes up this much space:

I have a labeler which I will use to label all the comb bound spines so that I can tell what they are when they are sitting on the shelf (in our basement). All of the workbooks go in the paper recycling bag, and all the hands on projects, once they are properly photographed and oohed and aahed over, go in the trash!

Sharing some written work

Once again I'd like to share a story written by our 11 year old daughter. For you fellow homeschoolers, this was from IEW's unit 3, summarizing narrative stories. Her work that I shared previously was a fable that she'd re-written from her summary of The Fox and the Crow. This time, after summarizing The Tortoise and the Hare, her assignment was to substitute the main characters with revolutionary war characters, and substitute the conflict with a revolutionary war era conflict, in essence creating an entirely new story. Her story was quite a bit longer than the original, illustrating in perfect stereotypical fashion the difference between boys who "just want to build forts all day" and girls who "love to write" (quotes frequently spoken by the IEW author, Andrew Pudewa). Here is her story:

One night, King George III was going to bed when he started thinking about his colonies, which were all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. They called themselves Patriots and declared war against him. Well! He would show them! Because he was like a father to his colonies, he could punish them any way he chose for dumping his tea overboard into Boston Harbor. "If they want war, well then, I'll give them one! I'll make sure a squad of regulars is on every common in America!" he yelled. Finally, he drifted off into a deep, deep sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, which seemed like only a few seconds to him, he decided he had everything worked out in America so he went out for a stroll. What he didn't know was that he was having a dream, but while he was dreaming some surprising things were happening over in America. In his dream while George III walked, he thought about George Washington, who was badly losing the war. He was so sure he and his enormous army were going to win this war and show those americans that he was boss.

Just then he heard bullet shots. "Whoa! What was that? I can't get to a peaceful place wheresoever I am!" he said. Then some British regulars ran past him. "Where do you think you are going?" King George exclaimed. "King! What are you doing over here in America? And we cou....." Just then George Washington stepped out of the forest with a group of ruffians wearing blue coats and holding muskets. The redcoats started running again but King George stopped them. Slowly the American militia surrounded the King and British troops. "Get them, men!" yelled the king. The regulars did as the King commanded, but the Americans fought back in such a way that surprised the British, and the British troops were slowly pushed back.

Now, in American, something like this was really happening just like in King George's dream. Back in his dream the king scolded, "What? Come on troops, we're much better than those scoundrels, those rebels!" But the British still were pushed back. Now the British were badly losing! They started to run.

All of a sudden some french men came out of the trees, blocking the British troops from escaping! They were trapped! King George surrendered, and over in America the British surrendered at Yorktown. King George walked home humiliated, and dreamt he fell into a deep sleep.

When King George III woke up for real he slumped into a chair. The war was over. He had lost America. Over in America, George Washington was being praised for acting so wisely and winning the long war. So King George learned that being slow and patient can usually win a war.

Sharing some written work

I'd like to share with you what my daughter wrote today. Please know this is not a boastful type of brag, but a genuine "wow, look what my daughter did today" type of mommy brag. Since I am pretty much homebound and without adult interaction much of the time, you are the lucky ones who get to hear it. :-)

This might also be considered a mini commercial for our writing curriculum, Institute for Excellence in Writing, or IEW. I am so thankful the Lord brought us to this curriculum at this juncture in our homeschool journey. It is a curriculum that teaches writing skills using models, so from the very beginning students don't need to worry about what to write but are simply taught how to write. Once these models are practiced and retained, they become automatic and then older students can spend all their time on what to write because they already know the how. Make sense?

We are currently learning how to write short narrative stories, and the model we are using for this is the fable. First we learned how to break the fable down into its three main parts (characters/setting; conflict/problem; climax/resolution/epilogue) and made an outline of these parts. Then today our daughter put the original fable away, looked at her outline, and re-wrote the fable from her notes. She was required to add in the "dress-ups" that she's learned, those elements of style that tend to "dress up" our writing, making it fancier.

Here is her fable (the Fox and the Crow), minus a catchy title which we haven't come up with yet. She did this 100% on her own, and you can tell that she likes adjectives!

Once there was a black crow perched on a leafy branch in the dewy sun of the morning, with a big yellow delicious piece of cheese in her beak. Along came a fox trotting through the forest. When he saw the piece of cheese in the crow's beak, he drooled and licked his lips. The fox craved the cheese and said to the crow, "Good morning, you look very beautiful today!" The crow smiled but didn't say anything because of the piece of cheese in her beak.

Then the sly fox said, "How black and glossy your feathers are." The crow puffed up with pride. Then the fox pleaded, "I'm sure your voice is even more beautiful than your feathers. Please just sing a few notes for me." This pleased her and the poor crow opened her mouth to sing. The piece of yellow cheese dropped down to the open mouth of the waiting fox. Then the fox gobbled up the cheese and said, "Ha! That was very delicious cheese, but your song was ugly. Remember, watch out for flattery." And with that, the fox walked off into the sunny forest.

The crow was left behind on the branch of the tree, starring into the forest. Then she flew over into a bigger tree where she had a large stash of nuts and cheese. "Well, at least I have more cheese," she gloated, "but that selfish fox did teach me a lesson. Beware of flattery."

We need to work on alternate ways of beginning a sentence other than with the word "then", but I thought it was a wonderful start!