FIAR: The Story of Ping

Our last official row of the semester was The Story of Ping.  We worked on this book the weeks of November 3rd and 10th.  Now, I can't say it was a disappointment because we always manage to have fun and accomplish a lot of hands on learning with our Five In A Row titles.  However, I have extremely fond and sentimental memories of this book from my own childhood, but Emma did not share my enthusiasm for the story.  At all.  Not a favorite of hers.  I don't really know why?  She hated that Ping got "spanked" and lost from his family.  Nothing appealed to her about the book, so we did not end up reading it every day.  That's okay.  It still served as a springboard for other things.

We did a fun math sheet with Bingo markers to calculate how many members are in Ping's family.  We also used some downloads from Homeschool Share and a FIAR Fold and Learn to make some pages for our scrapbook.  I accidentally erased some pictures from my memory card from this row, so I don't have much to actually show.

Since ducks are buoyant, we conducted a "sink or float" science experiment.  We gathered assorted household items and predicted if they would sink or float.  Then, we tested our theories and graphed the actual results.  The graphing exercise was great practice.  We also then categorized our items into various categories....those that sink, those that float, those we guessed correctly, those we guessed incorrectly, etc.  She really enjoyed this.

Ducks are also waterproof, thanks to a special oil glad that secretes an oil they distribute when they preen their feathers.  We demonstrated this theory by painting a card stock duck with oil, then spraying it with water.  Waterproof!

The one redeeming thing about this book was our in depth study of ducks.  She LOVES animals, and was endlessly interested in the duck theme.  We found TONS of non-fiction books at the library to read, as well as a basket of fun literature....Happy Birthday Dear Duck, Daisy Comes Home, and many more.  We will continue to study ducks when we row Make Way For Ducklings this spring.  I thought I would have to wait several months to space these two books apart, but she has already asked a few times when we are going to do the next duck book, so that's great!

Our library had several early elementary level books about China.  It was quite interesting to learn about the culture and traditions of little girls in China.  We also prayed for the spread of the Gospel there and had some sweet heart to heart talks about what freedom of religion looks like in the US.  I'm often humbled by the sweetness and innocence of children and their viewpoints.  Some of the questions she asked and prayers she offered were really memorable.

There were a few things that fell by the wayside....we never went out for Chinese food and we didn't make our own egg rolls.  I also had some cute Chinese crafts that we did not do.  We had out of town company during the first week of this row, and a field trip day during the second.  Since there were a few things we did not get to, I thought about extending our study by a few extra days, but she was ready to move on, and due to her lack of interest I felt okay about closing the book on this one.  I wish she would have been more excited about the story, but we still managed to have a good time and learn some valuable things.

I can't believe we finished our first semester already. So far we have rowed:

Night of the Moonjellies

Madeline

Harold and the Purple Crayon

How to Make An Apple Pie and See the World

Johnny Appleseed

Lentil

Papa Piccolo

The Rag Coat

The Story of Ping

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge

I'm excited about the progress we have made, and have BIG plans for more titles this spring!