At Home with Allison

Second Quarter Update

2012-11-07T14:42:00.001-06:00

The good news:
My kitchen is 98% finished and it is beautiful - way more beautiful than I thought it would be
All of the kids, including the baby, are alive and well
School, in some form or another, has been happening each day according to my original schedule
I can wear some of my normal pants (anyone out there who is pregnant - keep those belly band things...you can wear them indefinitely, I think, while holding on to the belief that one day, you will no longer need them and you will actually be able to button your pants again)

The bad news:
Mitt Romney is not our president (I know, you already knew that)
School has been a struggle for everyone, and we're all lacking in ambition, focus, cooperation, attention to detail, endurance, and so on, and so on, and so on...
I have discovered that it is not possible to do anything in public with all 5 kids along, unless I'm in the mood to be humiliated and frustrated and possibly burst into tears. I'm not usually in that kind of a mood.
It is also not possible to do anything at home while all 5 kids are awake (except scream - we are all definitely capable of screaming while everyone is awake, or while some are sleeping, with the intention of awakening them)

I have not posted any homeschooling updates, but our 2nd quarter meeting with our supervising teacher is just around the corner, so I have actually prepared something for it. Here it is:

Isaac Wood

2^nd Quarter Update

Friday, November 7, 2012

English:

Learning Language Arts Through Literature Tan Book

Current Lesson: Lesson 13 – How to conduct personal research

Topics covered this year:

· Prefixes

· Suffixes

· Timelines

· Words beginning with c/k

· Common and proper nouns

· Helping and being verbs/verb phrases

· Writing a biography

· Figurative language – similes, personification

· Adjectives

· Poetry – stanzas, triplets, poetry vs. prose

· Pronouns

· Compound words

· Adverbs

· Paragraphs – topic & supporting sentences

· Transitional words

· Contractions

· Possessive nouns

· Organizing thoughts using a “circle word picture”

· Positive/comparative/superlative form

· Direct quotations

· Subject & predicate

· Sentence fragments

· Sentence types

· Adding suffixes to words ending in “y”

· Compound subject, verb, sentence

· First-person and third-person narrator

· Context clues

· Plot lines

· Synonyms and antonyms

· How to conduct personal research

From the Roots Up (Greek and Latin)

Words covered this quarter:

· Biblos

· Sauros

· Photos

· Graph

· Tele

· Metron

Read-alouds:

· Where the Red Fern Grows

· The Tanglewoods’ Secret

Math:

Math-U-See Epsilon

Current Lesson: Lesson 13 – Reducing Fractions

Topics covered this quarter:

Fraction of a number
Fraction of one
Add and subtract – equal
Equivalent fractions
Add and subtract – unequal
Rule of 4
Compare fractions
Add multiple fractions
Multiply fractions
Dividing fractions
Common factors
Reduce fractions 1
Reduce fractions 2

Social Studies/History:

My Father’s World & Elections Unit Study

Topics covered this quarter:

· 7 days of creation

· Adam and Eve

· Cain and Abel

· Noah and the Ark

· The Flood

· After the Flood

· Noah’s descendants

· Tower of Babel

· Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia

· Cuneiform

· Farmers of the Nile Valley

· Unification of Egypt

· Egypt: Work on the land

· Egypt: boats

· Mummies

· Pyramids

· Job

· Abraham’s journeys

· Abraham and Lot

· Hagar and Ishmael

· Indus River Valley

· God’s covenant with Abraham

· Hieroglyphics

· Papyrus

· Voting and elections

o Vocabulary: government, authority, power, liberty, tranquility, justice, rights, principle, vote, poll, prediction, tally, ballot,

o Local, state, and national government structure

o Purpose of government

o Branches of government

o How laws are made

o About the Constitution and Bill of Rights

o Electoral College

o Democrat vs. Republican

o Who can vote and be elected

Science:

My Father’s World

Topics covered this quarter:

· Dinosaurs in the Bible/biblical times

· What is light?

· Bending light

· What color is light?

· Electromagnetic waves

· Light as a form of energy & lasers

· Light from unexpected sources

· Pyramids

· Preservation of mummies

· Mold and decay

Simon Wood

2^nd Quarter Update

Friday, November 7, 2012

English:

Learning Language Arts Through Literature Red Book

Current Lesson: Lesson 13

Topics covered this year:

· Short and long vowel sounds

· Compound words

· Nouns – common and proper

· Adjectives

· Syllables

· Alphabetical order

· Rhyming

· Pronouns

· Hard and soft g

· “ck” sound

· Three sounds of “y”

· Fact and opinion

· Two sounds of “s”

· Order of events in a story

· Months of the year

· Adding “ing”

· Context clues

· Adding “ed”

· Homonyms

· Punctuation at the end of a sentence

· Two sounds of “ow”

· Contractions

· Adding –ed and –ing to words with a short vowel and one consonant

· “ar”, “or”, “ou”, and “aw” sounds

· Fiction vs. Non-fiction

· /er/ sounds – “er”, “ir”, “ur”

· Direct quotations

· “wr” and “ew” sounds

· Compound words

· Pronouns

· “wor” sounds

· Verbs

· Synonyms

· Possessive nouns

· “dg” and “tch” sounds

· Dropping silent “e” to add –ed and –ing

· Possessive pronouns

· “oo” sounds

· Using commas in lists

· “ea” sounds

· Emotions

From the Roots Up (Greek and Latin)

Words covered this quarter:

· Biblos

· Sauros

· Photos

· Graph

· Tele

· Metron

Read-alouds:

· Where the Red Fern Grows

· The Tanglewoods’ Secret

Math:

Math-U-See Beta

Current Lesson: Lesson 13 – Column addition

Topics covered this quarter:

Place Value and the Manipulatives
Sequencing; Word Problem Tips
Inequalities
Rounding to 10 and Estimation
Multiple-Digit Addition
Skip Count by 2
Addition with Regrouping (Carrying)
Skip Count by 10
Skip Count by 5; 5¢ = 1 Nickel
Money: Decimal Point and Dollars
Rounding to Hundreds
Adding Money; Mental Math
Column Addition

Social Studies/History:

My Father’s World & Elections Unit Study

Topics covered this quarter:

· 7 days of creation

· Adam and Eve

· Cain and Abel

· Noah and the Ark

· The Flood

· After the Flood

· Noah’s descendants

· Tower of Babel

· Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia

· Cuneiform

· Farmers of the Nile Valley

· Unification of Egypt

· Egypt: Work on the land

· Egypt: boats

· Mummies

· Pyramids

· Job

· Abraham’s journeys

· Abraham and Lot

· Hagar and Ishmael

· Indus River Valley

· God’s covenant with Abraham

· Hieroglyphics

· Papyrus

· Voting and elections

o Vocabulary: government, authority, power, liberty, tranquility, justice, rights, principle, vote, poll, prediction, tally, ballot,

o Local, state, and national government structure

o Purpose of government

o Branches of government

o How laws are made

o About the Constitution and Bill of Rights

o Electoral College

o Democrat vs. Republican

o Who can vote and be elected

Science:

My Father’s World

Topics covered this quarter:

· Dinosaurs in the Bible/biblical times

· What is light?

· Bending light

· What color is light?

· Electromagnetic waves

· Light as a form of energy & lasers

· Light from unexpected sources

· Pyramids

· Preservation of mummies

· Mold and decay

Feeding the Baby

2012-10-10T07:11:00.000-05:00

I was going to call this post "breastfeeding," but I didn't want to scare people (like my dad, who may want to avoid reading this post anyway).
Every baby is a new experience, and I've learned the following things from baby Phil these last three weeks:

I cannot nurse the baby and knit at the same time. I have tried my hardest, but it's just not possible. Maybe there's room for an invention here...some kind of hands-free knitting device that you can rest on the baby's head?
Asking, "Phil, do you have a poopy diaper?" will probably continue to make me giggle until the poor kid is potty-trained. I'm not sure if this is a pro or a con of naming your child after his grandpa.
Babies can pee on you and you don't even know it. Either they're in your lap and you suddenly feel pleasantly warm, or you're changing them and then your face and the walls and the floor are being sprinkled on. Comprehending that it's pee takes a few seconds, even after the 20th time. During those few seconds, the experience is actually kind of nice. Who doesn't like a warm lap?
Car seats are a pain. A large, unwieldy, spit-up covered, impossible to latch into the stupid base part, life-saving pain.
I can nurse the baby and use the bathroom at the same time. Strangely, this has been necessary more than once already.
Babies are not good at keeping their feet in the proper leg holes of their pajamas. Both legs get stuck in the same one, and then they squirm and make it impossible to figure out how to get the snaps together in the right order. All baby clothes should have zippers, not snaps. Or babies should be born with enough fur to just remain naked all the time. Hello, evolution? Where are you when I need you?
I can also check Facebook while nursing the baby, while simultaneously watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix (4 seasons in just 3 weeks).
Esme and Grace will be great mommies someday, as long as they eventually figure out the difference between patting the baby gently and smacking him.
When it's the middle of the night and you're somewhat sleep-deprived, having a newborn baby stare at you can be very unsettling. You start thinking that he's going to start talking or read your mind or steal your soul (depending on your level of sleep deprivation).
Baby diapers are way better than toddler diapers. To avoid changing toddler diapers, wait for the toddler to poop, then announce to your husband that you have to go change the baby's diaper for the 50th time today, thereby guilting him into changing the nasty toddler diaper. I've almost got Grace trained to poop during John's lunch hour. Genius.

Can You Teach a One-Year-Old?

2012-10-09T18:31:00.000-05:00

I think it's possible to teach a one-year-old. I'm sure that there are one-year-olds who are potty-trained, or who can speak in sentences, or who know their colors, or who at least know not to eat their colors and then use the remaining stumps to destroy the walls and furniture. MY one-year-old, however, seems to be unteachable. By me, anyway. At present. I'm struggling with everything - discipline, nap time, keeping her occupied during school time, potty training, table manners (not the complicated ones, just stuff like not throwing food everywhere) - I feel like Helen Keller's mom before she figured out sign language. (Remember that? She would just roam around the dinner table like a pet eating scraps from people's plates).
I know Grace is a good baby, and I am pretty sure, most of the time, that I'm at least an adequate caregiver, but I feel total despair about this. I've tried looking at homeschool blogs and websites about preschoolers, but they aren't helpful. Every "independent" learning activity I've come up with either fails to capture her interest or ends up in her mouth. She doesn't like sitting on my lap unless she can bang on the computer or draw on my stuff (which she can somehow distinguish from her stuff). She doesn't like to play with her own toys unless she's trapped in her room during naptime. She's discovered that ripping up her books bothers me, so she's started ripping the pages in all of her books. The only thing that keeps her quiet is the TV, and I hate using the TV.
Am I alone? Please tell me that this is a phase. Maybe it's the new baby? It started before the new baby, but maybe it's gotten worse? Has anyone figured out how to do this? Does anyone want a job as an unpaid nanny?

More Election Resources

2012-10-03T09:02:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure why I was thinking that teaching about the election process would somehow be easier than following our regular lesson plans. But, I did, and I'm going to do it, darn it. And all of the information I've found is so cool that I'll feel guilty if I don't do something with it. Here are some links to election/government sites for kids:

National Mock Student Election: http://www.nationalmockelection.org/curriculum/elementary-school/introduction/. This site not only has a mock election, it's got a curriculum page with full lesson plans divided into three sections: Our Government, American Principles, and The Electoral Process. I think we're going to use this for our lesson outline.

Ben's Guide to US Government: http://bensguide.gpo.gov/k-2/. This is the link for the K-2 curriculum, but they have material for kids through high school. It's got all kinds of great information and additional online resources for teaching government to kids.

You Tube Schoolhouse Rocks video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30OyU4O80i4. We actually have the Schoolhouse Rocks DVD set, which I hate to admit we've never watched, so I'm excited to show the kids this video on The Preamble.

The Constitution for Kids: http://www.usconstitution.net/constkids4.html. This is another site that's divided into grade levels. It explains the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in a kid-friendly way.

I've got to go kill a spider and rescue a crying baby, but these should be enough to get you started on your own election unit study. Leave a comment if you find anything else that might be helpful!

Election Unit Study

2012-09-25T08:05:00.000-05:00

I'm looking for ways to do school for the next couple of weeks without having to be as rigorous with our schedule as we have been, and I have had a stroke of genius: we're going to study the election. How perfect is that? We can talk not only about this election, but the electoral process, political parties, city/state/federal government, past presidents, and current political issues. I even happen to have a father who has been on the Carroll city council and can tell us about elections from the "inside."
The only downside to this brilliant plan is that I'm not all that knowledgeable about the current or historical political scene, and I haven't been following the current election AT ALL. I mean, not one little tiny bit. I did see Obama 2016, and I occasionally see a political ad while watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Hulu, but that's the full extent of it. So once again, homeschooling is giving me the opportunity to learn something that I've always wanted to learn and felt sort of guilty for not knowing. Sometimes, I think it actually helps to be as uninformed as the kids are, because it helps me to teach at their level and be a little bit more patient with them.
I've found some great online resources (through Pinterest, my new favorite thing to do), and I think we're going to do a couple of lapbooks:

Source: homeschoolshare.com via Allison on Pinterest

If I had a bunch of kids or a classroom, I'd love to hold a mock election, but I don't know how to do that with just the three of them. Maybe our homeschool group can get together and do something like that. Wouldn't that be cool? They could come up with their own platform, a catchy slogan, a persuasive speech or essay, even an advertising campaign. I suppose all of that is possible without a mock election, too.
Let me know if you have any creative ideas...this is something that I think really needs to hit home with the kids; they need to learn that being involved in the political process is exciting and fun and NOT optional.

Baby Phil's Breastfeeding Tracker

2012-09-23T08:42:00.001-05:00

Baby Phil is here, and I have to say, he's already proven to be superior at breastfeeding and weight-gaining. Of course, he's also very sweet, adorable, good-smelling, and snuggly. I, on the other hand, am forgetful, cranky, slow-moving, and not nearly as good-smelling, so I'm extra-proud of the one productive thing I've done in the 5 days since Phil's arrival: I made a breastfeeding log.
So far, it's working wonderfully, and I feel reassured every time I use it that I'm being a responsible mother. It's no scrapbook or journal or organized set of newspaper clippings, but at least I'm creating some kind of record of Phil's early days - and it provides a way for me to spot trends in his eating and pooping that might help identify little problems before they become big ones.

Here's a link to my form: Allison's Breastfeeding Log

I also found a bunch of other logs online. I like mine best, but you might want to track differently than I do. I like that with mine, it's easy to see which breast was first for each feeding; that way, I can alternate.

More pen-and-paper logs:

If you have a smart phone or iPod or similar device, you can also do some fancy tracking with those too, although I don't know if it's as satisfying as having a nice stack of worn, scribbled-on pages. Here are some breastfeeding apps I found online (I can't vouch for their usefulness, but they look cool):

No matter how many babies I have (and five may very well be the final count), each one seems like a totally new, miraculous adventure. I hope this post helps bring a little bit of peace and structure into your new - or newly expanded - family.

The New and Organized Me

2012-09-15T15:12:00.000-05:00

Staying Organized

I’ll be honest – I have never been good at keeping track of appointments. We’ve missed practices, dentist appointments, late starts at the public school, and all kinds of other events because I’ve never been able to find a calendar system that I can keep up with. I buy planners and use them for a week or two; I put things into Gmail or Outlook and fail to log in to them for weeks; I write notes that get lost or thrown away or stuffed in the bottom of my bottomless purse.

Enter Cozi, a free online calendar/to-do list/journal/shopping list program that has totally changed my life and reputation. I am now “on-top-of-it” Mom who never misses anything and is actually able to tell people what we’ll be doing and when.

If I had a smart phone, which I don’t, I could look at it and update it from there, but I just keep it all updated from my home computer. I can print weekly and monthly calendars to hang up at home and at John’s office, and I can have text message reminders sent to my “dumb” phone for important things that I’m likely to forget.

When you create your account, you can share your password with the whole family, and everyone can go in and add their own events. You can flag each event for one or more family member and do all kinds of other things that I haven’t used yet.

Check it out! www.cozicentral.com

Homeschool Share & Lapbooking

Lapbooking is one of the best discoveries I’ve made since I started homeschooling. I would describe it as “educational scrapbooking,” and it’s something that all ages – preschool through high school – can use to enhance their study of a particular topic. They make great presentations for older kids and great “quiet time” activities for younger ones.

Each lapbook has a theme, and it opens up to a bunch of mini books and pictures and activities related to that theme. You can either make the whole thing yourself; or with kids who are old enough to cut or color, you can work together; or, with middle- and high-schoolers, you can have them work completely independently.

There are a ton of websites that sell or offer free lapbook kits, but if you’re creative and have the time (ha!), you can make your own. Homeschoolshare.com has some great free ones; right now, I’m doing one for Esme about apples. We did lapbooks with the boys last year for our book studies of Island of the Blue Dolphins and A Cricket in Times Square; both of those were free lapbooking kits from Homeschool Share.

Most lapbooks use one or more file folders as the base, and you tape, glue, staple, or fasten your materials inside the folders. There are all kinds of neat paper-folding and paper-cutting techniques that you use, which appeals to some kids (Simon) and annoys others (Isaac), but it helps develop hand-eye coordination and forces them to work carefully, which I think are great skills to develop. Take a look: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/lapbooking_resources.php.

What We’ve Been Doing

All of my kids love animals. Animal books, animal documentaries, animal stories, actual living animals, dinosaurs…they are just fascinated by anything animal-related. Simon has amazed me more than once by identifying some obscure animal that I’ve never heard of, and Isaac has decided that he wants to write a nature guide about birds. Simon asked me the other day if he could play on the computer, and I reluctantly said yes – only to find out that, instead of playing computer games, he was searching Google images for pictures of gorillas and other creatures that he thinks are cool. Animals are the one topic that they get truly excited to learn about, and we’re always in search of ways to incorporate animals into our studies.

This week, we discovered that Aunt Ann bought us a subscription to National Geographic Kids magazine, which is all about animals. Yay! They also have a huge website (www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/) with videos, pictures, and facts about all kinds of animals, places, crafts, recipes, science experiments, contests, and games.

There’s even a “Little Kids” version of the magazine for ages 3-6!

Next time we’re looking for a supplement to our curriculum, we’ll have to remember to consider a magazine subscription as an alternative to another book or textbook.

10 Great Homeschool Pages to Like on Facebook

Library and Educational Services
Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Preschoolers and Peace
Practical Homeschooling
Lesson Planet
I Love Homeschool
Homeschool Share
Homeschool Freebie of the Day
Homeschool Creations

Mold, Decay, and Lessons of all Types

2012-09-07T15:13:00.003-05:00

MOLD AND DECAY

Part of our study of Egypt involves the study of mummies and how mummies were embalmed. The coolest thing we learned is that they took the brains out through the nose with a big metal hook. We didn’t do any brain removal, but we have been looking at how some household items decay over time.

Our first experiment was to bury some stuff in the backyard. Pictured below are the results of a week and a half of underground decay:

(L to R: wood, peeled apple, apple, potato, peeled potato, Star Wars guy)

The most impressive decay was the peeled apple, which was just a blob of goo. Everything else seemed disappointingly intact.

THE MUSICIAN AND THE ARTIST

We got the trumpet! We got the trumpet! Isaac is already great at making random noises on his trumpet, although lessons don’t start until next Tuesday. Depending on how much he practices, he should be able to join the rest of the 6th grade band by the beginning of 2013.

I was a little bit leery about buying an instrument on ebay, but it met all of the criteria the band director gave us (brand, functionality) and was from a top-rated seller, and so far, I think it was a good buy. We paid a total of $225 for the instrument and the case, and shipping was free.

Meanwhile, Simon is loving his art classes. Pictured above is his first project: a monster made out of pieces of construction paper. His second project, a landscape made with the same technique, is still drying at the studio.

WHAT WE’VE BEEN DOING

This week, it seems like Math and English have taken up most of our time (and tears). Isaac is adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, and he just learned the “rule of four.” He does not like the “rule of four.” Here it is:

Step 1: take 5X3 to get the denominator for the first fraction (15).

Step 2: take 5X2 to get the numerator for the first fraction (10).

Step 3: take 3X5 to get the denominator for the second fraction (15).

Step 4: take 3X3 to get the numerator for the second fraction (9).

Simon is working on skip counting, which he thinks is strange and confusing.

In English, Simon read a cute story called “Hard Short Hay,” about a smart mama cow, a lazy son, and (as Simon calls him), a “sassy” goat.

Isaac has been doing a lot of sentence and paragraph writing, and I think he might be starting to figure out that random capitalization and non-existent punctuation make everyone miserable. First me; then, by the third re-write, him too.

Esme now knows the /o/ sound (ahhh), and she’s been reading words like “cat” and “ram.” She has trouble with the letter “i”, but she loves the sound “th.”

Foreign Language Classes

We’re still debating on whether to take sign language classes this year. I think it sounds cool, but they’re on Thursday nights, which is probably the worst night of the week for us to add another activity. The Iowa School for the Deaf offers free classes using the Iowa Communication Network (virtual) classrooms; all you have to pay for is the textbook. I’ve been having visions of the kids translating for famous speakers on the side of a stage in front of a huge audience…wouldn’t that be an interesting job?

http://www.iowaschoolforthedeaf.org/

Our second choice is Rosetta Stone Spanish, which is highly recommended by seemingly everyone, although I’ve heard it can be a little bit difficult for younger kids. It’s also expensive, so we’re still thinking about it. There are a ton of free and inexpensive beginner resources online, so once we get through our “Who is God” book (which currently occupies our Foreign Language time slot), we might start with the free stuff and work our way up to Rosetta Stone next year.

http://www.rosettastone.com

Netflix, Mummies, and Moldy Bread

2012-08-30T20:56:00.000-05:00

TV ISN’T ALL BAD, IS IT?

A couple of years ago, we got rid of our satellite TV in favor of Netflix. Our primary motivation, I’ll admit, was cost…not the prevention of the childhood brain-rot that is supposed to develop from too much TV watching. We care about their brains, though, and Netflix has helped us keep a closer eye on what and how much the kids are watching. You can’t hide from the “recently watched” list, as I learned when I accidentally clicked on Hot Yoga (which, as I should have guessed, involves men doing yoga in their underwear).

Netflix has also allowed us to explore the kids’ non-fiction TV interests, and it turns out that they all LOVE documentaries about animals. Anything nature, animal, or dinosaur-related is a huge hit, and it has the added bonus of being educational (anti-brain-rot, you might say).

The best part about Netflix is the search feature, which returns something relevant nearly every time we use it. Rather than scour the library or take our chances with the cable TV schedule, we can supplement our classroom work almost effortlessly.

Our current history study is on Egypt – the building of the pyramids and the rise of the pharaohs. A quick 10-second effort on Netflix yields 13 awesome-looking documentaries from Nova, National Geographic, The History Channel, and others that would be a great addition to our reading and other school activities.

TOOLS AT THE LIBRARY

I love the library. I would love it more if I could go by myself and look at the grown-up books, but I still love it when all the kids are with me and we’re digging through the Dora books in search of the one that we haven’t already checked out 6 times. I may not have a sound grasp of the Dewey Decimal System, and I will never get over my weakness at the “free to a good home” rack, but the library will always be one of my favorite spots.

What I didn’t know until I started homeschooling was that the library has just as much to offer online, from the comfort of the couch, as it does in the actual building. The Carroll Public Library has a TON of free online resources that are either costly or unavailable otherwise.

Some examples – all free:

EBSCO – search for academic periodicals/articles
Hobbies & Crafts – read all kinds of articles on all kinds of hobbies (knitting, fishing, you name it)
Learning Express – get extra practice in Math, English, and other subjects appropriate to your grade level
Searchasaurus – online kids’ dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus
Global Road Warrior – learn everything you could possibly want to know about other countries & cultures
Other cool stuff you can do:
Check out e-books and audio books, search the library’s physical stock, reserve books, renew books, create book lists, and search for books at other IA libraries.

WHAT WE’VE BEEN DOING

This week, we’ve been learning about how and why the pyramids were built. It turns out that the first and primary task of each pharaoh was to figure out how and where he would be buried. Thousands and thousands of men would work throughout the pharaoh’s entire reign to construct his tomb, which was usually raided and completely robbed of its’ treasures shortly after the pharaoh’s death.

We’ve also just finished memorizing the 39 books of the Old Testament, which earned us a trip to A&W for some ice cream. There’s a great song on YouTube that we used to help us with the memorization:

HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=T7GLF9ZFXSO&FEATURE=SHARE&LIST=PL68754DCDDC0552DF

Or search for Old Testament (a.k.a. the Ice Cream Song) by Phil Joel.

Our Greek vocabulary word for the week was TELE, which means “from far away.” Isaac learned how to find common denominators, and Simon learned about place value. Spelling was tough this week, but I think Simon has finally mastered the word “naughty” (the concept, of course, has been in his repertoire since birth). Esme learned that “c” makes the /k/ sound, as in her favorite animal, “cat.”

HANDS-ON STUFF THIS WEEK

Our curriculum does a great job of incorporating hands-on projects into each lesson. I do a somewhat less-great job of actually carrying them out. However, this week was good.

This week, we’re attempting to grow mold on three different slices of bread: one that’s plain, one that’s toasted, and one that’s been coated with antibiotic cream.

We also buried several things in the backyard to see what decays more quickly:

A plastic toy

A piece of wood

A peeled apple

An intact apple

A peeled potato

An intact potato

Can you guess why we’re studying mold and decay?

Hint 1: They don’t really come to life and try to eat you

Hint 2: They’re not really wrapped in toilet paper

Hint 3: You don’t need hint #3, do you? It’s because we’re learning about mummies!

Aunt Ann's House, Mummies, and the Unification of Egypt

2012-08-27T15:23:00.001-05:00

Usborne Internet-Linked Books

Our program from My Father’s World is based on “real books” (as opposed to traditional textbooks – this is a Charlotte Mason concept, whose educational model we try to follow), and one of them is what’s called an internet-linked book from Usborne publishers.

The book we’re using, Ancient World, is currently teaching us about mummies and pyramids in ancient Egypt. We can read the material in the book, then log on to www.usborne.com/quicklinks to learn more online.

We simply type “Ancient World” in the search box, find the book, then browse by page number to view links to pictures, articles, videos, and activities that relate to the pages we’ve just read from the book.

Today, after finishing pages 12-13 in the book, we logged on to watch a video about the tombs of ancient Egypt from National Geographic. Then, we played a game in which you had to properly embalm a mummy in order to send him to the afterlife.

No password or purchase is necessary to view the Quick Links pages, so take a look around!

Homeschooling Magazines

There are several print and electronic magazines available to homeschoolers and their families, and many have at least some material available for free. Here are a few that we like:

Homeschooling Today:

http://www.homeschoolingtoday.com/

The Old Schoolhouse:

http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/

Practical Homeschooling:

http://www.practicalhomeschooling.com/

Homeschool Magazine:

http://homeschoolmagazines.com/

Home Education Magazine:

http://homeedmag.com/home-education-magazine/

Home School Enrichment:

http://homeschoolenrichment.com/

Heart of the Matter:

http://heartofthematteronline.com/

Field Trip to Aunt Ann’s House!

Lego Land

http://kansas.legolanddiscoverycenter.com/kansascity

(...and then, I got lazy with the camera...)

Kansas City Aquarium

http://www.visitsealife.com/Kansas-city/

Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead

http://www.opkansas.org/Things-to-See-And-Do/Deanna-Rose-Childrens-Farmstead

Fiorella’s Jack Stack BBQ Restaurant

http://www.jackstackbbq.com/

Cinzetti’s Sunday Brunch

http://www.cinzzettis.com/

The Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt

Did you know that in ancient times, Egypt was separated into two distinct nations, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt? I had no idea.

Did you know that Upper Egypt was in the south and Lower Egypt was in the north? Me – totally clueless.

Did you further know that Upper and Lower Egypt were so named because the Nile River flows from south to north, terminating in the Mediterranean Sea? Again, I was unaware. Who even knew rivers could flow from south to north?

Isaac, Simon, and Esme are pictured above re-enacting the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Isaac portrayed Menes, the victor over Simon, and Esme was a queen. There were no actual queens in our lesson, but we tried not to dwell on that. Or on the fact that Isaac won and Simon lost. Or on the tragedy of Grace ripping Esme’s crown in half shortly after this photo was taken.

Learning Language Arts Through Literature

2012-08-22T15:28:00.002-05:00

Anyone still searching for the right Language Arts curriculum for this school year MUST check out Learning Language Arts Through Literature. We're on lesson 4 in the Red (2nd grade) book and the Tan (6th grade) book and I couldn't be happier. I've disliked our English curriculum for the last 2 years and feel like I've finally found something that works. I love the lessons, I love that they're based on "real" literature (a la Charlotte Mason), I love that there are separate teacher's and student manuals and that the students do all of their work in the manual (vs. in a notebook), and I love that they incorporate reading, writing, dictation, grammar, spelling, phonics, and even art.
The pace of the lessons has been working for both boys, somehow, even though one is a fairly slow worker and one is fairly fast. They're Christian too, and they sometimes use Bible verses as the basis for the lessons, which we can't get enough of. (Since this is about English, should I have said "of which we can't get enough"?) As our memory verse for this week tells us, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be fully equipped to do every good work." 2 Tim. 3:16-17.
Did I do that from memory? Of course I did.

This Week in Homeschooling

2012-08-17T12:32:00.004-05:00

Extra-Curricular Activities

Homeschooling isn’t always about being at home. Because we control our schedule, we can fit in all kinds of field trips, classes, and play dates. We’re able to give the kids quality family time, as well as eye-opening “real world” experiences and time with their peers.

We’ve got several activities planned for Isaac and Simon this fall, with the intention of developing their natural gifts and interests, giving them time with adult role models and instructors other than Mom, and providing an opportunity to get to know some of their peers in the community.

Isaac is taking junior karate lessons at the Round Kick Gym in Carroll on Thursday evenings. He’s also participating in the Outdoor Adventures Club on Mondays and the Carroll Champs 4H club. Starting in September, he’ll be part of a First LEGO League team with other homeschoolers.

Simon is taking art lessons on Tuesday evenings from Laura Comito at the Artworks Studio. I took lessons from Laura many years ago and still has fond memories of putting construction paper in the blender and weaving yarn and sticks.

Did You Know?

We learned some pretty cool stuff this week, which, in an ideal world, the kids would be able to affirm by answering these questions correctly:

What are the first 14 books of the Bible?
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles

What are the two rivers that supply the Fertile Crescent with water?

Tigris and Euphrates

What was the earliest form of writing called, and why was it called that?

Cuneiform, which means wedge-shaped, because the writing was done with a stylus on a clay tablet, forming wedge-shaped marks in the clay

What We’re Learning

This week, we learned what happened after the Flood – how the world changed and the population grew, and how the earliest forms of writing developed. We reviewed the story of the Tower of Babel, and we talked about how people dispersed from Mesopotamia across the globe.

We also did some experiments with light, including cracking Wint-O-Greens in the coat closet to see the sparks and hiding a penny under a glass of water.

The boys practiced drawing ellipses for art class, and Esme learned the letters “i” and “d.”

Spotlight: Staying Organized

Keeping everyone organized and on track during the school day can be a challenge - or, it was a challenge, until we discovered Sue Patrick’s workbox system (http://www.workboxsystem.com/).

Sue Patrick developed this system for use with her own kids, and it’s designed especially for children with ADD, ADHD, Autism, and for large families. The goal of the system is to gear children toward “independence and greater focus.”

Basically, I stick each assignment in a clear plastic shoebox, then number them in the order in which they are to be completed using Velcro numbers. Once someone finishes an assignment, they stick the Velcro number on their clipboard (which has Velcro spots for each number), so they can keep track of their progress throughout the day.

We don’t have a lot of work that’s completely independent, but the workbox system has been very effective during our group time, and the kids love having a visual representation of what they’ve accomplished and what they have left to do.

I also fill out a personalized agenda for each child for each day, which they haven’t been paying much attention to. It’s great for me, though, and a good way of recording our progress for posterity.

Where is the “classroom”?

Last year, our classroom was almost exclusively downstairs. That’s still our headquarters, but we usually move upstairs mid-morning, because the change of scenery helps the kids re-focus, and it’s nice to be up in the sunlight. We do our Bible study together in a circle, using some comfy chairs and a loveseat downstairs, then we work for a while at the dining room table. In the afternoon, we usually do our read-alouds and independent reading in the living room so we can spread out and lounge.

What? A New Post???

2012-08-11T14:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am posting again! After quite a long break, first excused by morning sickness and then by summertime, I feel the need to record at least a weekly summary of what we're doing in school, if for no other reason than to have evidence that we are not spending all day every day watching The Pound Puppies (we reserve that for Saturdays).

After weeks of searching for the best curriculum, then for the best deals on the best curriculum, then for a place to store all of the best curriculum, school has finally begun. We started Monday, July 30 and will be going through Friday, September 21, followed by a three-week break (for baby Phil to arrive & get situated). School will start up again on Monday, October 15.

(Red = School Days)

AUGUST
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

SEPTEMBER
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

OCTOBER
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Hmmm. That table looked a lot better in Excel, but you get the idea.

School Schedule

This semester, we’re trying a morning schedule. School starts at 8 and ends between 12 and 2, depending on when we have lunch and how intense our English and Math lessons are.

8:00: Bible

8:20: Vocabulary

8:35: Handwriting and Spelling

8:50: English

9:20: Math

10:05: History

10:45: Book Basket

11:00: Science

11:25: Who is God? (WONDERFUL book from Apologia!)

11:45: Art/Music

12:00: Read-aloud

What We’re Learning

Our core curriculum is My Father’s World, which provides our Bible study, vocabulary, history, science, art, music, and read-aloud materials, as well as our overall lesson plans. It’s a Christian, history-based curriculum, and the package we’re using is geared toward children in 2^nd – 8^th grades. Last year, we did “Exploring Countries and Cultures,” a geography-based study in which the kids learned the locations of major countries, oceans, continents, ecosystems, and people groups. This year, we’re doing “Creation to the Greeks,” through which we’ll learn about history from creation through the Greek Empire.

The first two weeks of school have been spent reading the story of creation and the flood in Genesis, studying dinosaurs and how they fit into the creation story, and performing science experiments using light (because on the first day, God created light).

Spotlight: English and Math

Simon and Isaac are using the same Math and English curriculum at their own, age-appropriate levels. Simon is using Learning Language Arts Through Literature (LLATL) Red, and he’s been reviewing phonics rules, punctuation, parts of speech, alphabetizing, and reading skills. Isaac is using LLATL Tan, and he’s been learning new vocabulary, punctuation, parts of speech, and writing a biography based on internet research. This series uses literature (including the Bible and classic children’s books) to teach basic English grammar and writing skills.

Esme is learning to read with “Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. So far, by lesson 10, she has learned the sounds made by the letters m, a, t, r, s, and e, and can read simple words like “mat.”

In Math, Simon and Isaac are using Math-U-See, which is new to us this year. Simon is on the Beta level (addition and subtraction), and Isaac is at Epsilon (fractions). Levels roughly correspond to grade levels but are more focused than other curriculum on a specific skill set. Each week, they complete practice worksheets A – F and a unit test (Simon’s is called an “activity”). Esme is using Mathematical Reasoning from The Critical Thinking Company, and she’s been studying counting, writing numbers, even and odd, and patterns and addition with shapes.

FAQ

What does Grace do during school?

Grace likes to look at books, play with her toys, and sit with Mom. When the boys are doing subjects that Esme doesn’t participate in, such as Spelling, she and Grace go and play in their room.

What if someone gets behind?

If one of the kids does not get finished within the time allotted for a subject, it is his responsibility to finish that work after school is over – similar to homework at a regular school.

What do you do with the rest of your day?

We’ve been going to the library and reading our library books, playing with cousins, going to the pool and the free movies, and just relaxing at home. After we meet with our homeschool group at the end of the month, we’ll have more formal activities planned, either monthly or more frequently. Isaac is going to play soccer, and Simon is going to take weekly art lessons. Wednesday night church will be starting in a week or two as well.

We may choose to participate in the zoo classes again this year but haven’t officially decided.

Every Monday, we take some or all of the kids on our Meals on Wheels route, and we’ve been playing bingo at the nursing home – less frequently lately – on Wednesday afternoons.

We’re excited for a great year. I look forward to watching each of the children develop intellectually, spiritually, physically, and emotionally – and to sharing their progress with you.

Public School at Home

2012-02-29T09:35:00.002-06:00

I am horrible at following news or current events of any kind, but I have managed to hear about a new "public school at home" program that's being offered in Iowa, and I just got an interesting link about it from a homeschooling friend: http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/ia/201202220.asp. To me, public school at home sounds like the worst of both worlds...parents are required to use the same textbooks and curriculum as the public schools, so gone is your opportunity to customize anything to suit your children or your educational goals, and in its place you get the public school worldview - which is at best, non-Christian and at worst, anti-Christian. This article paints a pretty negative picture of the results of public school at home too - poor test scores, etc. My advice, for what it's worth, is that if you want to homeschool but can't face the thought of making everything up yourself, don't resort to this option. There are tons of free or inexpensive programs out there that outline everything for you, and you WILL find one that fits your (and your kids') needs. I'm still trying to psych myself up for the Ambleside Online program for the next school year, which is almost totally free. All you buy are the books and resources that aren't available online for free - and since many of the books used are old enough to be in the public domain, many of them are free. A curriculum based on reading great literature and studying God and nature - does it get any better than that? (My kids would argue for a curriculum based on Legos and Star Wars, but I'm not convinced that they're ready to take control of their studies...yet...)

What's Been Happening at School Lately

2012-02-04T11:52:00.000-06:00

First, some things I want to take a closer look at (after a lazy morning of surfing the net):
Living Math!
Science Bob's Science Blog
Cyberchase cartoon show
Clever Dragons

Fun (and not-so-fun) stuff we've been doing at school lately:
The book of Matthew - ch. 13 (memory verse Matt. 6:19-21)
The Cricket in Times Square
Plural nouns (s, es, ies, irregulars)
John Wesley
Mary Slessor
Lizards & lizards as pets
Simon - two-digit math carrying the ones
Isaac - real world math; figuring area and perimeter
Germany
Kenya
River ecosystems
Grassland ecosystems
Parables - what is a parable, what parables did Jesus tell, why
No spelling. We needed a break, and I (the best speller in the family) am convinced that good spelling comes by reading, not by spelling drills
Crystal-growing
Laundry - Isaac can do both washer & dryer; Simon can do the dryer
Independent Bible study & prayer (not going so well - I need more kids' bibles)

Girl Scouts "Leadership" Campaign

2012-02-01T07:39:00.002-06:00

The Girl Scouts have decided to make it their mission to put as many women in business and political leadership positions as men within the next generation. As part of this mission, they did a study of young women, which found that girls think that "while women can succeed in business, they rarely become corporate executives; and many believe they are more burdened by family than men as they try to succeed in their careers." Later, a woman who is the co-founder of the Girls Leadership Institute says, regarding women balancing family and career, "It's almost impossible to do both well." So...what are they saying? They want girls to grow up wanting careers and not families? That if you have to choose - and apparently they think you do - you have to choose career over family? I don't have time to go into the many ways that this study and this project disgust me, but I'll tell you one thing: I am not buying any more Girl Scout cookies, no matter how much I love those Caramel Delights. And furthermore, or perhaps more importantly, the Girl Scouts support Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion services, and is therefore in my book staunchly anti-women...regardless of what they think they're promoting.

Cricket in Times Square and LibriVox

2012-01-31T07:36:00.001-06:00

We finished Island of the Blue Dolphins and have been studying The Cricket in Times Square for the last week or so. We're doing a lapbook, like we did for Island, and we're also using this wonderful site to find activities and English lessons that relate to the book: http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading24/cricket_in_times_square.htm. One thing I've learned is that Simon doesn't have the stamina for writing that Isaac does, so I try to have Simon do some of his work on his own, then I take over as his "secretary"; he tells me what to write, and I write it. It's amazing how his attitude instantly changes once I start helping him.
So, at one point, Mario takes Chester (the cricket) to the soda shop and gets him a strawberry soda. It's lemon/lime soda, vanilla ice cream, and strawberry syrup. We recreated these at home, which was a much-needed reward after a busy Monday. We also learned early in the story that Tucker the mouse loves liverwurst, so the kids and I had crackers with Braunschwieger with our strawberry sodas. Believe it or not, Simon and Esme had their Braunschwieger eaten before I even had a chance to beg them to try it. Isaac ate it too, and of course, so did I. I tried to take a picture of all of this, only to discover that our newer, better camera is broken. "Grace dropped it" was the story I was told. So, I need to start using the old one, but I was too annoyed to go and find it yesterday.
In unrelated news, I was digging around for a kids' church lesson for Wednesday and I came across this site: http://librivox.org/. It's a collection of free audio books (you can even volunteer to do some recording, if you want to). I didn't look very hard, but in the A's and B's I found Aesop's Fables and the Bible, and I looked a little farther and I found Little Women and Little Men by Louisa May Alcott, so I think this is worth investigating. I'm listening to "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg" right now, and it's pretty cool.

Paper, Paper, Paper

2012-01-30T06:21:00.001-06:00

We are so un-green at my house when it comes to paper. We probably use 30 sheets of paper a day, and most of those end up, eventually, in the trash. My kids are huge doodlers; Simon alone can easily use up a notebook in a day or two, and he gets very testy if I try to get him to use the back sides of the sheets or the edges of the page. I print things off the internet that I know I could just use electronically, but there's something in me that has to see it on paper. I go through an ink cartridge every couple of weeks. In fact, right now, I've been out of black ink for two days and it's killing me. I also have a thing for books. I love buying books, and even though I know that I'm not likely to read them more than once, I feel like I need to buy them rather than get them from the library (although we usually have at least 20 items checked out from the library at any given time). John and I have been drooling over the Kindle forever, and I have a friend who just got the Kindle Fire and refers to it as "the best homeschooling investment" she's ever made. Would this solve some of our paper problems? It would mean that we have three "computers," so Isaac, Simon, and I could all look at the same things online at the same time...that would solve some of our problems. But I'm afraid of giving myself that much easy access to Amazon.com. Would I go nuts buying and downloading stuff? I looked up some of the books on my wish list, and they are a lot cheaper as e-books, so maybe I'd save money...or maybe it would just be so easy to buy/justify things that I'd waste money. Sigh. I think I'll just daydream about it for a while. And maybe start a recycling bin for all of our doodles.

Art Sites and Other Stuff

2012-01-29T07:18:00.004-06:00

I just got an email with a link to a cool art site for kids: http://nmoe.org/gallery_art/index.html. I clicked the "Art Zone" link from the home page and just made my own collage online using the "collage machine." It was inspired. There are a bunch of other cool activities there too, although I kept having to install Adobe Shockwave Player stuff and was too annoyed to keep exploring. I blame this on my laptop, not the website.
I also found a great book at the library that is supposed to be about learning styles but is really more of a practical guide to using creative methods to get your kids engaged in school: The Big What Now Book of Learning Styes, by Carol Barnier. My plan is to write down a bunch of her ideas and use them on my kids...the first one I'm trying is like a scavenger hunt:
1. You make up a bunch of clues to direct your kids from place to place in the house. For example, the first clue might lead them to the washing machine, and then at the washing machine is another clue that leads them to the bathroom, etc. I made my clues rhyming poems in an attempt to make it a little more fun.
2. Once the kids get to the first spot, they find a list of review questions to answer or an activity to complete. When they finish it, they open the next clue and move on.
I'm also going to use her suggestion for teaching kids to tell time - have them lay on the floor in pairs and use their bodies (one is the minute hand, one is the hour hand), to create the times I give them. Isaac is pretty good with telling time, but Simon has no idea, and I saw it coming up in his Math book.
Finally, in my quest to learn more about Charlotte Mason, I've decided I need to read her original writings. Fortunately, there is a site where you can read these translated into modern English - or even in paraphrase: http://www.amblesideonline.org/CM/toc.html.
And now, to get ready for a full day of church stuff. We have church this morning, then we head back at 3 to set up for our annual meeting, which runs until 6 or 6:30. Maybe there will be some time for knitting and napping in between?

Piano

2012-01-25T07:20:00.001-06:00

I used to really enjoy playing the piano. I took piano lessons for years, and I even have a piano in the living room, with a bench full of music. I hadn't played it FOREVER until yesterday, when I got sick of looking at the book that I had staged on the music stand, so I dug through the bench looking for something else. I think I still recognized most of the notes and started practicing a song, but it was hard without a metronome (you know, the thing that ticks so you can keep time). Then, it dawned on me - I bet there are a zillion online metronomes out there! Sure enough, I found one right away: http://www.metronomeonline.com/. How cool is that? There was a cell phone version too, but I think you had to buy the app for it. You can buy metronomes too, although a lot of them are digital, which I don't think existed back when I took lessons. I like the old fashioned ones with the stick that ticks back and forth. There are plenty of both kinds for sale online: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=metronome&x=0&y=0. If I can manage to master a song, maybe I'll post a video of it. Give me a while...I don't want to embarrass myself.
Today, we're studying the second fruit of the Spirit - joy - in kids' church. Here's our "joy" memory verse:

Psalm 28:7 - The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

We're going to make shields, which the boys will love, and give thanks to him in song, which the boys will pretend to hate but will secretly enjoy. Have I shown you our favorite fruit of the Spirit song? Here it is:

Videos

2012-01-24T07:45:00.006-06:00

I got a cute little video camera for Christmas - only $20 - and I'm trying to figure out how to put things on YouTube and embed them in this blog. So, as a test, here's a video of Grace eating. This is not very exciting or amusing, but if it works, fascinating video will be forthcoming.

Here's my concern - this is currently "public," so anyone can view or share it. Does that matter? I don't know. Lots of people do this, don't they? Will anyone who doesn't know me care or even be able to find this? Am I exploiting my children if I put videos of them on the internet? I'll do some research on this and see if I can figure out the smart/safe/best way to do it.

Allison's Vocab Search

2012-01-23T09:05:00.003-06:00

I think I have created a vocabulary game with a magical combination of fun, physical activity, and education - at least, until I try it out on the kids and they scoff at its lameness. For now, anyway, I am feeling like a creative genius. Here's my game:
1. I made a huge wall of vocabulary words using the roll of paper I bought for our easel that doesn't actually fit on our easel. There's a space to the side of each word for taping up the definitions.

2. I put a picture of each word on an index card with the word written on the back. Then, I taped the index cards (picture side out) around the house. I think this one is a picture of "sinew." (This is Island of the Blue Dolphins vocab.)

3. Next, I wrote a simple, one- or two-word definition for each word on another index card. Example: my definition for "ponder" is "think."

The point of the game is that they run around the house looking at the cards, then they come downstairs and tape the definitions up next to the words, based on what they've learned from the pictures. So, looking at an index card with a picture of a guy thinking and seeing the word "ponder" on the back should give them the clue they need to tape up the definition "think" next to the word "ponder" on the big list. I'm thinking about giving them 60 seconds to run around looking at words, then 60 seconds to tape up definitions, and alternating that until they get tired or bored.

Here's Grace, wishing she were old enough to read (or run, or use tape) so she could get in on this game:

Nature Study

2012-01-22T07:15:00.000-06:00

I am not an "outdoors person." I remember being a kid and my stepmom getting so disgusted because I could go the whole summer without getting any hint of a tan. Given a choice, I would rather sit inside with a book or some Barbies than play outside. What do you even play outside? I remember being shooed outside and having no idea what to do once I got there. I've gotten better as I've gotten older; I like to go on walks and runs (although I have to say, I'd just as soon be on a treadmill), I like the pool and the park in the summer, and I like to sit on a lawn chair in my backyard. But I hate bugs, I hate wind, I really hate being cold, and I'm a huge fan of climate control. There are windows in my house that have not been opened since I've lived here. But a big part of homeschooling, especially if you use the Charlotte Mason method, is to teach nature appreciation. I found a cool book from 1911 called Handbook of Nature Sutdy, and a blog that offers lessons to go along with the book. And here's a Squidoo page of stuff on Charlotte Mason nature study: http://www.squidoo.com/cmnaturestudy. And another one called "Nature Tales": http://www.squidoo.com/naturetales. Maybe this will help me change my ways?

Charlotte Mason

2012-01-21T06:35:00.004-06:00

We've been using curriculum this year that is somewhat Charlotte Mason, meaning it focuses on reading real books (as opposed to textbooks), being in nature, drawing and art, and letting the kids pursue (to some degree) their own interests. I've been looking online at a couple of websites that focus on Charlotte Mason methods, and it makes me want to try a little harder to figure out how to be even more in line with her teaching style. One is a blog: http://www.momentswithmotherculture.blogspot.com/, and one is more of a normal website: http://charlottemasoneducation.com/. Both sites promote books on the Charlotte Mason method: A Charlotte Mason Companion, by Karen Andreola (blogger), and A Charlotte Mason Education, by Catherine Levison (normal website). One thing I have learned about my kids is that they LOVE to be read to. They love love love anything I read to them, especially if it's got a storyline. And, the more I read to them, the more interested I see them becoming in reading to each other and on their own. And what we read, they remember. If only I could teach them math by reading to them. Or can I...?

Island of the Blue Dolphins

2012-01-20T07:16:00.004-06:00

The kids and I just finished reading Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell, and we did a cool lapbook project along with it. I did not make this project up. (Ha! As if you were wondering.) We got it for free from Hands of a Child, a lapbooking website: http://www.handsofachild.com/freebie.html. I was surprised by how much the kids loved the story, because it is, after all, about a girl...but they were fascinated. I was fascinated too. The book is based on a true story of a girl who lived alone on an island for 18 years! She was finally "rescued," but by that time, no one knew her tribe's native language anymore (the tribe had all died, mainly of disease), so no one was ever able to get the details of what she did all that time. She could only communicate in signs. So it's historical fiction, and it's awesome. We want to watch the movie (circa 1964), but it looks like we'll have to buy it. Here's a link, if you're interested: http://silveragemovies.com/island-of-the-blue-dolphins-1964-p-255.html.
We did find a movie called End of the Spear on Netflix - also on Hulu - also at this website (http://endofthespear.com/%29, which is a great movie about Nate Saint, the missionary pilot who died trying to help the Wuaroni tribe in Ecuador. We read about him for school a few weeks ago and just happened upon the movie while searching the "faith and spirituality" category. There was a documentary about him too, but we haven't seen that yet. Be prepared to read a bunch of subtitles to your younguns, because all of the dialog between the Wuaroni natives is in the Wuaroni language. If you'd rather read the book, here's a link to that; it's written by Nate Saint's son, Steve Saint.
Our other big project right now is studying and memorizing the fruits of the spirit, which are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Even Esme has these memorized, although demonstrating them consistently is another matter. For some great songs about this verse (Galatians 5:22-23), check out my YouTube playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE7E25DA3AC5CB32.
And that is homeschooling for this week.