The project for the day: Self-Government. Beautiful Feet History does a wonderful job of introducing the concept of Self-Government. Self-Government is, in a word, the same as self- discipline or self-directed.
I have a load of errands that must be run today, Danny is home with the children for the day, so I made a list on the school board of about 7 areas they can do work in using self-government. When they're done, their time is free! On the list is:
Brainquest
Handwriting
Science Reader
History Reader
Quickie Math
Calculadder
Read Aloud: They each read aloud to each other for 10 minutes, a story the "read-ee" chooses.
Also-afternoon chores and lunch are on the list.
I made the list in the middle of the board, and they will check off their side of each subject (I have two, so that worked!)
They enjoy these times of independence, and I am amazed at how much they can do on their own. At the time of this posting, all is quiet in the school room as the children are excercising self-government.
Our homeschooling month so far has been very relaxed-not the activity level, just the school work actually being accomplished. Up though last week we were busy getting ready for a homeschool Christmas play involving about 40 children and almost as many families. It went so well.
This week the two big events have been my husband's birthday, having friends over for dinner that night, and preparing for another Christmas play at our church, as well as preparing for a wedding I'm leading worship for this weekend. Shopping? When does that enter in to the picture?
My question to myself is, is it possible to still begin something like Christmas around the World? How about Christmas Around the Mall? No. It just doesn't have the same ring to it. Seriously, I want to go through Christmas and have it be a wonderful and memorable time for our children.
So, if by chance there is a reader of Field Notes out there (and that is no plea for anything other than this....), please pray for me that the Lord will help me to divide and conquer: divide the necessary from the unnecessary, the wasted time from the productive time, and let God's plan for our December be revealed. Honestly, I don't feel like I've prepared much room for Him. Scoot over calendar, scoot over responsibilites and take your position behind the one who left Glory to inhabit my spirit.
Personally, I love weather, maps of all kinds, charts, graphs. This site even has dials showing wind direction and speed. Very cool, and especially helpful for us locals in Phoenix. Not only does Pepper Ridge Weather Page give detailed explanation on all matters of local weather, there is also a weather glossary under the Weather Ed. link. Check it out. Anyone around the country would benefit from a visit to their site.
God makes learning so much fun. Our science curriculum, Considering God's Creation is taking us on an expedition through space. Tonight at dinner Daniel uttered his desire to travel in space for the first time to this praying mother's ears. This video, provided by Fox News, documents well the recent mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis as well as future endeavors of N.A.S.A. They fill in with a great amount of detail on fuel weights, miles per hour, and the like. It truly is fascinating. Somehow, they're even able to capture a sense of the power exerted by the shuttle and it's rockets during the takeoff process. Take about 10 minutes and enjoy!
Our school goes year around. We began in June this year, and have already had two exciting breaks, one in August (TN and AK) , and one in October (our annual camping trip with Mary Lee,) and one right now, in fact! If you're curious about the curriculum we're using this year I've listed it on the side.
Daniel is supposed to be in first grade, but because homeschooling is such a beautiful thing (and it is!) we began him at Grade 1 level last year. While he is able to handle 2nd grade material this year, we find that skills such as penmanship are still very 1st gradeish. In addition, we felt like we could take our time finishing up 1st grade materials from last year, and so there is some carryover.
Bethany is in 4th grade. We are firming up her math skills before really tackling 4th grade math. So, Saxon 3 is our primary math, but we supplement with an older Bob Jones 4th grade textbook. Also, one day a week I use a grade 4 MCP Math workbook, as it just approaces Math from a different perspective. It has a lot of word problems and some really challenging mental math. Bethany is much better at Math than she thinks she is. When we tackled fractions, and when I was teaching U.S. Customary Measurement I taught Bethany and Daniel together.
Then there are the shared subjects as well as our many Read-Alouds:
We just finished, The Family Under the Bridge. Before that, A Door In the Wall. We love those night time reading sessions.
We love to do Science together. Our primary Science is Considering God's Creation. It has a lot of hands on projects, and is very Bible centered. Last year we used Apologia primarily, and will still use it this year along side CGC.
History is a carryover from last year, and we're really enjoying that. Beautiful Feet chooses some excellent literature, so we decided not to hurry.
In January, we plan to begin a countries and cultures study using several resources but first on our list each day is Bible, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Lest I forget: We love to read daily out of Every Day Graces by Karen Santorum. It usually fits well during lunch.
Our days are full & the list tells it all. Even though we are beginning our 5th official year in homeschooling, I am STILL an organizer in training. By God's grace and for His pleasure I am always striving higher in this area as it just seems to make things go better in all areas including homeschooling. Hope you enjoyed this explanation of what we're doing.
We're still in the process of completing Beautiful Feet's primary edition of Early American History. Though we began this study at the beginning of last year, it's been worth taking our time in going through their great selection of literature.
During our study of George Washington, I was able to find this commentary-styled audio story. It's always nice to find a new way to get the great stories across.
Category: Apologia , Curriculum , Hand Writing , Homeschooling , Language Arts , Math , What We Did Today
We're enjoying a leisurly stroll through the remaining portion of our history curriculum from Beautiful Feet Books, Early American History. We just completed the life of Benjamin Franklin and events such as the Stamp Act and the Boston Tea Party. I decided we needed to change things around just a bit, and stage a re-enactment. King George III was hot under the collar when he discovered how many crates of tea were dumped into the harbor to the tune of what I am told would be 1 million dollars worth of tea at today's value. I think he had other plans for the tea and especially the dough that would come from selling the tea.
Now, if you were from Boston, the word party would sound like.... what I think this picture looks like! 
Go ahead and guess.You guessed the word _ _ _ _ _ ( Please fill in the blank. Remember, this is SCHOOL!) You're right! Daniel looks like he's having a good time - at the party!
Yes, we had a Boston Tea Party. The best part was setting it up. The kids gathered their favorite animals and people and we placed them around the tub. We forgot to dress up like Indians, but we did rip open some gallon tea bags to toss in the tub.
May I go ahead and confess they both were permitted to drink tea out of the bathtub? I know, "Yulk!" My thoughts exactly. Trust me, I discouraged it, but their persistance paid off. Honestly, they had a blast and I did too.
If anyone is reading this, you may pray for me, teacher Mom in choosing a math curriculum. There are reasons we're not using some, and the reasons seem to be varied making it difficult to choose what we should use. I think I'll be making a trip to the Resource Center on Wednesday to do some parousing!
Vacation Bible School begins at 7pm and ends at 9pm at best. Then we're on the road for the 25 minute drive home. Then there's a small snacking moment. So, bedtime is at about 10:30 or so. More or so. Sleeping in goes until about 9 or 9:30, then about 10 there's breakfast, then chores, then.....and the next thing you know it's after lunch. Lesson learned: do not attempt a hefty school schedule or any at all during the week of a night-time Vacation Bible School!
Bethany:
LLATL-Learning Language Arts Through Literature (working thru Grade 3 workbook to finish)
Calculadder-Daily Math drills
Horizon Math-Because it's considered an advanced math program we selected Grade 2 for her 3rd grade year. We're finishing up
Cursive Writing Practice-Grade 4: A reproducible daily practice by Teacher Created Resources
Skill Builder's Reading: Grade 4 Carson Delarosa
Apologia Zoology-Flying Creatures of the 5th day.
Beautiful Feet Early American History:Primary Version-We're finishing this up from our 3rd grade year before moving on to a Geography/Cultures focus.
Actiities Planned: Homeschool Sports League: Soccer, Swimming Lessons in July, Vacation Bible School at COG
Vacations planned: Georgia to celebrate Gramma Hayes's birthday, Missouri to celebrate Gramma Greene's birthday, Alaska to visit the Torkelsons
Books to read: TumTum and Nutmeg
Videos and books to prep us for Geography
GOALS for Bethany:
Get very comfortable with writing words in cursive
Finish our History from BF Publishing
Finish Math Curriculum or atleast hit the highlights to get ready for next year
Read aloud every day to the children
Do a mini-science Unit Study to prep for Geography
Read 2 full length books/assign daily pages to read
3 sentences per day about her reading
2 days narration to me about her reading
Memorize 10 Commandments
GOALS for Daniel:
Have addition and subtraction facts memorized
Improve his handwriting
Daily Reading time
10 minutes of Daily Read Aloud Time to Me
Write 3 sentences daily about a topic of his choice
Memorize 10 Commandments
Each Wednesday I'll report on our progress. Next update on how we're doing will be Wednesday, July 1.
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/cquest/
This site looks great so far, and has a variety of activities which can be used in a Geography Unit Study, or to supplement a current text you're already using. We'll definitely be using this. It's basically an online International Library for children.
Tonight the children, Danny and I went up to our church and helped with Vacation Bible School Props and set-up. Bethany and I did outlining of the painted props. Daniel helped sort screws and put them in the supports for the props.
This is part of it for us. What would it profit us if they only love to learn. We are also teaching them to learn to serve....here at home and in our place of worship.
Category: Curriculum , Geography , Hand Writing , Homeschooling , Language Arts , Math
I like supplementary materials. Now, the key is remembering that I have some and using them! These are great tools to put in a grab and go school bag for errands, Dr.'s appointments, or staff meetings, should such a thing exist for you! These are helpful also for changing up your schedule, or filling in some blanks.
Today I picked up these items:
Skill Builders: Grammar, Grade 4. Short lessons focusing on parts of speech, sentence types etc.
Skill Builders: Reading, Grade 4. Skills include comprehension, vocabulary, logic etc.
Both of these are published by Rainbow Bridge Publishing. They are reproducibles and easy to understand so that the student can do the work themselves. Two pages per week would take you through the year. They are small in size so easy to pack and carry. See also summerbridgeactivities.com.
Also: Cursive Writing Practice Grades 2-3 by Teacher Created Resources. Cursive has been the challenge for us as of late, and as far as I can see it, these will help jump start our hesitancy to really jump into cursive. The book is small with very self explanatory lessons. Two pages a week and you're done!
Finally: Math Detective(Beginning) for Grades 3-4 by The Critical Thinking Company. I love these books. They challenge me! They also have grade appropriate Science and Reading Detective series. Visit CriticalThinking.com or call 800-458-4849 for resources. We have used Mathematical Reason with Daniel, and it's a great tool. It helps them look at math in a whole new way. One that I would have liked to have seen at some point is Can You Find Me, for PreK-1. It develops skills in reading readiness, science, math and social studies.....just sounds like fun!
I also picked up Teachers Daily Lesson Plans by The Riegle Press Inc. I will be using it to plan out our Geography Studies over the next couple of years. It can be used to plan art, reading, music, cooking, crafts, service projects, reports etc....all focused around Geography, a particular continent or people group. It was in the bargain bin for $3. I hope it will work.
I also purchased a nice-sized wall chart of the World and the United States, the 13 colonies, plus a cute border (that I thought included more countries and continents) that I will use as a border round our bulletin board and white board. Now I am just sorting through which Geography books and/or curriculum we will use. Geography, here we come!
Category: Christian Liberty Press , Curriculum , D.C. , Educational Videos , History , Washington , What We Did Today
Today we read two chapters from American Pioneers and Patriots published by Christian Liberty Press. I think almost anything by CLP is excellent. We have used several of their books for history and science readers. These history books also have some fun hands-on acitivites and questions which conclude each chapter. It's written at about a 3rd or 4th grade level, and is written in narrative form making it very easy and fun to listen to. The children have loved it. Even though it's been many weeks since we have needed this book, they still remember the stories.
Today the chapter was on when George Washington became President. We also read a special section on the use of the fireplace, and how important it was in early homes.
To add to our historical study we watched Washington, D. C. put out by 100% Educational Videos. This is one video in a collection called Our United States. A young student and her mother narrarate the video. I found it at our local library and highly recommend it.
One of the things I learned is that the original White House burned to the ground during the 1812 War. I do not recall learning that, but I have learned it now. One of the reasons I love teaching!
Also: Lessons 106 & 107/Horizons Math, LLATL, Calculadder
Daniel: Explode the Code book 2, Calculadder, Spelling, HW
This afternoon: soccer league
Last night I reviewed National Audobon's EAGLE Aventures video from their Animal Adventure Series. The video is about 30 minutes long and is pretty fascinating. It's not too terribly laced with agendas, but seems to be pretty straight forward.
We're using Apologia Zoology currently and are studying birds and insects. Our next section is on feathers, so this should be a helpful supplement. (I was also able to pick up some goose feathers while in Georgia this week. Five really nice ones which will help in our study. Nothing like hands-on.)
I found this video at my local library.
Regarding: Art Gadget
My goal is to increase reader's and my own appreciation of beautiful art. So, if there's an artist's rendition of a biblical event or scene please know that....yikes, just watch your eyes. Many artists leave off cloaks, wraps, etc. which may make the painting or sketch one you would prefer not to view. I think we all understand that, so just be advised.
Oh, click on the pic and you will be able to read the history of the artwork.
Make n' Break
Calculadder
LLATL-Bethany
School Pictures
Library on Geography Search-some success
Art-Daniel
Portfolio Cover Art-Bethany and Daniel
Category: Back To School , Curriculum , Education Board Games , Homeschooling
Today is our first day back to school for the new year. We plan to begin today, and go through this date next year with about 12 weeks of vacation and free days scattered thoughout. Planned, but scattered.
Today will be a very light day. We will play Make 'N Break, a fun and fast moving thinking game using colored blocks to build the image on the card. This is a timed game which can be played at varying levels. We will do Calculadder drills, read together, make a bird feeder, and paint. We will also go to the library.
Yesterday I purchased supplies for a back to school bag for the children. Here is a picture of their first day of school with their bags!
Daniel is 6 and 1/2 and is in 2nd grade mostly.
Bethany is 9 and entering 4th grade.
This summer we will finish leftover curriculum from last year and begin our geography focus. The children will also participate in summer soccer league, swimming lessons, and other activities with friends. Planned also are two more vacations, one to Missouri to celebrate my Mom's 70th birthday, plus a trip to Alaska to visit with our friends the Torkelsons. These vacations will be the first 2-week break planned for this school year.
Once our curriculum choices are made I will post the selections.
I found this quote by Charles Swindoll on parenting. It describes one of the reasons we homeschool:
"The church and schools can not resurrect what the family has put to death!"
While this quote may stoke the fires of those who oppose homeschooling I see it as a framework of responsibility. Danny and I do not expect the church or school systems to take the Deuteronomy 6 mandate and run with it. God gave the mandate to us. There's no question in my mind of the invaluable role of the local church in the life of a growing Christian family, but it surely is not the foundation. I don't expect it to do what we're to do. While homeschooling is not the context of Pastor Swindoll's quote, it fits well. I encourage those considering homeschooling to see it as retrieving the dropped baton and continuing the race marked out before us as parents.
Category: Geography , Homeschooling , Languages , Music , Online Games , Website Favorites
An Ongoing Post:
I may eventually organize these sites topically and put them as a link on a sidebar, but I think I would eventually run out of room. We'll see. I am on a serious learning curve for links, so just copy and paste to go to the site for now.
www.montessoriforeveryone.com
This site looked good. I love freebie teaching helps and this site has them. I will be using the student self-evaluation form, which I think helps put the ball in their court on learning.
www.purposegames.com
This website has timed games played online for geography and other subjects. Because we are doing Geography this next year I am especially excited about another tool to reinforce the learning.
www.peoplegroups.org
www.worldmap.org
This site has many kinds of click-on type globes to help reinforce geography, understand people groups, etc.
www.classicsforkids.com
This site enables you to listen to music samples from continents, it also organizes it by time periods. It color codes it by time period. You can click on the composer and learn about them. It also has a timeline of world events overlaid on the top bar so you can see what was happening in the world when a particular composer was living. A great auditory learning tool, good for history and music.
Our homeschooling journey began when our oldest was about three. My husband Danny was meeting with some men for prayer on a weekly basis. This was a group of men who cared greatly for their family and recognized their opportunity to send sharpened arrows out into the world they were born into. Enter: homeschooling. Most of these men were homeschooling Dad's, they shared Danny's concerns about the future, and encouraged Danny and I to attend our first homeschooling convention. We did. The point of no return. Heavy influencer: keynote speaker that year, RC Sproul, Jr.
Because Danny travels for a living I was not anxious to take on this endeavor, but each year the glue sticks better and better. I'm stuck on homeschooling!
We began by printing out number tracing pictures off of the internet, buying a book or two at Sams and just finding bits of time to have fun with Bethany. There was always lots of music to dance and sing to. She was always a natural and eager learner. We read to her from week 1 being home from the hospital, and it didn't take her long to develop her own love of learning. Someday I will post a funny video of us teaching Bethany the hard-g sound. Daniel also makes a cameo appearance.
Well, other than what was already in God's heart for our family, that's our homeschool beginnings as I see it.
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
