Weekly Reviews - Weeks 1 & 2

We started school much earlier than usual this year.  I always try to follow the local public school schedule since there are so many kids in our neighborhood.  The public school started a new schedule this year, shifting the school year up a few weeks.  Anyway,  this is much different than what we are used to, but the first two weeks went fairly well.

We started My Father's World 1850-Modern Times.  The first two weeks of history were spent reviewing some of what we learned last year.  Easy enough.  And, it was optional, so no pressure for the first couple of weeks.

We started science right away, using The World of Science and 100 Science Experiments.  What great fun we've had already!  I have to admit that learning about atoms, molecules, and elements wasn't my favorite in school, but, like history, my interest has grown over the years.  And it helps to do all these simple, but fun experiments along the way.  Each child is just using a spiral lined notebook to draw diagrams and record experiments.  I almost got fussy over this, wanting it to look like a work of perfection.  But, I let go of that quickly, and went with simplicity!  I feel so free!!!

We haven't done any art yet, other than the kids doing their usual crafty stuff that always leaves a trail of cut papers, markers, pencils, glue, and more recently, duct tape.  The gentle reminders to clean it up have transformed into stern demands at times, but I can't help but to love the imagination and creativity behind their projects.  :)

Reading has really picked up around here, which I am so pleased to report.  It's no secret that we have struggled with reading, so this is a celebratory time in our house!   Emily has read many books just over the past few weeks - I think she's making up for lost reading time.  Katie is becoming more fluent reading her Pathway Readers, and is doing well working more independently in her reading workbook.  Yay!

Math will begin this week.  I wanted to do math over the summer, but...  well, it was summer, and we enjoyed it!

My favorite part of the day is when we have Bible time.  MFW chose an excellent book to read alongside the Bible this year.  It's called A Young Person's Guide to Knowing God by Patricia St. John.  We read some in the evenings when Daddy is home, but we mostly start each day with it.  It really is a wonderful book.

Since the weather has been so nice, we have held school out on the patio on some mornings.  It just dawned on me (after all these years) that our patio doors are steel, so I can easily use magnets to hang our map for geography.  Love that!  As far as the CD of geography songs goes, my girls gave me the "you've got to be kidding" look when I played the first scheduled song.  But, it was such a catchy tune, that we learned the states in no time.  Emily already knew most of them, but Katie only knew a few.  So, this has been silly, but great! 

We will have a much busier year than last year.  Katie will be taking homeschool gym and swim classes at the YMCA, and she is joining a homeschool orchestra.  We will also be attending a co-op this year, with each of the girls taking three classes.  Well, one of Emily's is study hall, but she'll have plenty to do.  I'm very excited to see some old friends and make new friends.  I need more adult interaction with fellow homeschoolers!  Katie is very excited, too, and Emily is starting to warm up to it. 

I wanted to post pictures, but I haven't gotten them on the computer yet.  So, that will have to wait.  I'll try to get to it this week.  Hope it's a great one!



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Organization: Just Keepin' it Real!

 We've been using My Father's World (MFW) for many years now.  Each year, all the books go on the bookshelf to be easily stored during the year.  Organization should be easy, right?  Yes, if that's all there was.  However, I have a plethora of books and supplies that go way beyond what arrives in our box from MFW.  (I was so tempted to say "we" have, but really, it's mainly me - ouch!)

So, I'm sitting here, taking a break from the organization process.  It's mentally draining and I really need this break!  What to keep and what to toss is mind boggling.  We have so many great books, and I hate to toss any of them!  (By toss, I mean part ways.)  But, do I really need them all?  There's only so many things I can assign each year, even though I would love to assign it ALL!  I would probably be labeled the worst mom/teacher of the year if I did that!

The other problem is that our bookshelves are loaded with many things.  They house the telephone book (like I really need that, right?), a hodgepodge of spiral notebooks (some used, some new), readers, boxes of CDs, glue, and other supplies, magazine boxes filled with misc. papers (yes, I need to weed those out), some magazines, games, and a small wealth of resource books.  I keep telling myself to use it or lose it!  But, it's not working this time.  You see, I'm down to the nitty gritty here.  I cleaned these shelves off a while back and filled two good sized boxes with stuff we weren't using and stuff I knew we weren't going to use.   Now, we're down to the harder decisions.  Can anyone relate?  Does anyone else want to keep it all, but you know it just isn't necessary, and it's just consuming valuable space?  Does anyone else suffer from MNIS (Might Need it Someday) syndrome?

Hello Summer!

Our formal school year is officially over.  Overall, we had a great year, and for the first time ever, we finished before June!

We finished strong, learning about the California Gold Rush in 1849.  Just a few days before studying it, I stumbled upon these little bags of "gold" at the store and couldn't resist buying them.

 

These chewing gum nuggets unexpectedly furthered our lesson.  Since gold is so strong and can be hammered flat, I used these nuggets as an object lesson about gold.  We all put some in our mouths and took note about how the "gold" didn't break apart, rather it flattened out.  Pretty cool, huh?

 

The girls got to paint on canvas on our last day.  Katie painted a tree (haven't taken a picture of hers yet), and Emily painted a hedgehog.  They both turned out very cute.

 

 

 

 

Emily made homemade chocolate chip muffins to celebrate our last day.  Very yummy!

 



 

Our last day was on Thursday, so we had Fun Day Friday and went to Kings Island.  It was a beautiful day!

Friday night, the girls were doing simple experiments on their own.  They made a mixture with vinegar to clean pennies, and put Ivory soap in the microwave to see it expand.  Katie even explained to me how it happens.  After they pulled the soap out, they crumbled it into a bowl, and now it's ready for me to use with my homemade laundry detergent.  Bonus for me! :)

We will be doing some math and language arts over the summer.  I say this every year and we've never met my goals.  But, after all these years of spending too much time in the fall reviewing, I'm going to work harder at sticking with my plan this summer.

My plan is to start My Father's World 1850 to Modern Times some time in August.  We are making some changes in math and language arts but I haven't nailed them down just yet.  I'm leaning heavily towards using Teaching Textbooks for math.  We've always used RightStart, and I still love the program.  But, it's teacher intense.  Need I say more?  I might also add Life of Fred as a supplement.

I plan to use some materials from Queen Homeschool Supplies for language arts.  I'm pretty sure we'll use the vocabulary, and maybe some copywork.  But, I haven't nailed that down yet either.

For now, we are all looking forward to summer and the warm weather it brings!



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Television

While I was doing dishes today, I was thinking about how many times I've heard Christians (including myself) say they wish there were more good, quality shows on TV.  I had no idea why this thought even came to mind.  I really don't watch much TV myself, but I do have those veg-out moments.  God spoke to me in a very clear and real way.  And that's when I realized the meaning behind my thoughts.

God doesn't want His children to waste so many precious hours watching TV, even on "good, quality shows."  That might be like spending all of our time in church and never going out to tell the world about Jesus.  Serving Him and helping others is what God wants us to do!  If there were more good, or dare I say great shows on television, we might be more inclined to sit and watch rather than get up and do.  Let's face it, television, and other electronics, make us lazy.  I don't want to be a lazy Christian.

So, the next time I flip through channels in an unsuccessful attempt to find a quality show, I hope and pray that I remember this revelation, and will do something to serve God instead.

"If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."  John 12:26

Reading and Copywork with McGuffey Readers

I'm so glad we finally started using the McGuffey Readers on a regular basis.  It took way too long to do this!  Since we have some reading struggles, we are taking it slowly.  So far, the results have been very positive. 


How We Use McGuffey Readers

We start off by reading a story in the book. Katie reads from the McGuffey Primer.  Although some may think she is too old (10) for the Primer, I chose it so that she would gain more confidence in reading, and give her more practice in handwriting, spelling, and grammar in a very practical way.

After she reads the story, I then have her read all the words from the word list that follows the story.  We use a separate spelling program, otherwise I would use the McGuffey word list for spelling.  Often times, words from her spelling book also appear on the McGuffey word list, so this provides great review and practice.  Once she has a good grasp on reading each word on the list, she then copies two sentences from the story and draws a picture about them.  We repeat this nearly every day until she has written the entire story.


Modification

You can modify what we do to suit children that are less or more advanced simply by reducing or increasing the amount of copywork.  The McGuffey Readers are so flexible!  If your child is not quite there yet, just work on a portion of the word list until that portion is mastered, then move on.  If your child is beyond this, you may want to move on to the next reader. 

Note: When we move on to McGuffey's First Reader, I do not plan to assign every sentence as copywork since the stories are longer.  Can you imagine how daunting that might be?    So, I plan to choose the sentences that I believe would be most beneficial, and maybe allow Katie to copy her favorite sentences as well.  I'll gage that by her level of interest, progress and time.


Katie never complains about her McGuffey assignments.  I believe she enjoys them because they are practical and creative (drawing).  Next year, we may use the McGuffey Readers for spelling rather than using a separate book.  The boxed set includes a Progressive Speller too, but I haven't put much effort into looking at it yet.  With some prayer and research, I trust that God will lead us down the right path for us.

Now, if I could just sharpen Katie's math skills, I would feel much more balanced!

My brain is about to explode!

It's late, and I don't think any of my friends or family would appreciate a phone call from me at this hour to release all these thoughts racing through my head!

We've been away with Hubby on a business trip that took us to southern California for ten days.  It was beautiful.  We enjoyed great weather and sunshine, unlike the cold air and snow we left behind.  Swimming, hiking, shopping, and painting pottery are some of the things we did while we were away.  I'll save the details and pictures of all the fun we had in California for another post.  Right now, my brain is focused on school.

As soon as we returned from California, I took a three hour nap after flying the red-eye, and headed to the homeschool convention.  I had big plans to attend some speaker sessions, and browse through the vendor hall.  I ended up going to just two sessions, of which I only sat through part of each.  Why?  Because I was so exhausted that I had a hard time focusing.  Hmm, how might we relate that to our children and school, whether homeschooled or publicly/privately schooled?  We all need adequate sleep to function well.  Anyway, I had the same problem as I browsed through the vendor hall.  I could not maintain focus long enough to accomplish much of anything.

The next day was much better.  I went back to the convention (later than I wanted to, but at least I went!), attended a couple of sessions, purchased CDs of sessions I wanted to attend but didn't get to, and browsed in the vendor's hall.  My time was short and I was trying my best to stay focused.  I ordered our books for next year, and found a few other goodies along the way. 

My thoughts began to race when I attended a session given by Cathy Canen who talked about reading and writing to help kids learn better in all subjects.  After the session, I spoke with a mom who sat next to me and found that we struggle in the same areas.  After talking for a few minutes, I think we both felt encouraged and better guided.  I went to Cathy's booth, which happened to be Writing Strands, little did I know!  We use Writing Strands and really like it.  Interesting how God keeps bringing me back to the same things!  I now plan to purchase Reading Strands, and possibly the Writing Evaluation book.

At the close of the convention, I finally found the ONE BOOTH I wish I had seen much earlier!  Queen Homeschool Supplies.  This company developed their own Charlotte Mason style materials, and I love it!  I didn't just stumble upon this booth.  I believe God led me to it.  There was a speaker session I wanted to attend that was given by one of the ladies from this booth.  I didn't get to attend that session, but when I read the description of it and visited their website, I knew I had to see their stuff!  By the time I found the booth (after jotting down the booth number incorrectly, and spending quite some time searching for it), they had begun packing up.  NO!!!  They gave me a catalog, of which I've been pouring my eyes over for hours since.  It's not your typical sales catalog.  It's full of wonderfully useful information about Charlotte Mason's methods, and detailed descriptions of the materials they sell.  This is one catalog I will not toss into the recycle bin!

While there, I remembered visiting this booth at the convention last year!  I remembered liking their materials, especially the language arts and copywork.  And I wondered why I never purchased them.  Then I remembered thinking that I could create something similar.  Ha!  Could I create it?  Yes!  Of course I could, but when would I have time?  Well, obviously, I never did have time, and had even forgotten all about it.  I think God wanted to be sure it would stick this time because I haven't been able to get this stuff off my mind for two days now!  And here we are again with God bringing me back to the same place.  Can you tell that I don't always get it the first time around?

I'm most interested in the language arts, vocabulary, spelling, and cursive.  They also sell Life of Fred, which is a math series.  I really didn't know much about it until I read about it in Queen's catalog.  Now, I want to check it out.

Queen offers two other math books that would make great supplements to any math program.  Magnificent Math is a book of real life math in the form of word problems.  Math Facts for Copywork is a book that helps students to memorize the math facts by writing them down.  After all, Charlotte Mason strongly believed in accuracy through careful work and repetition to avoid incorrect information from being locked into the mind (whether it be math, spelling, or other).  Read that sentence again, and let it sink in.  If your brain is trained to only see the correct rather than consistently seeing the incorrect, then you will know, without a doubt, what is correct.

Queen has many other materials available, including games (Manners for Mealtimes is something we could use!), history, geography, science, and living history books.  The Living History Readers set would be a nice collection to add to any library.  I'm lucky enough to have one of the books in that set, given to me by my grandma.  My copy is a very old copy, printed in the early 1900's, and one I would not turn loose to my kids without my close supervision.  The title I have is American History for Little Folks and I love it!  It's a great addition to any American history program.  This one (and probably the others) is available as a free download on Google Books, but if you're like us, we like to have an actual book in our hands!

Since my mind is racing, and I can't seem to grab hold of all my thoughts, I suggest that you visit Queen Homeschool Supplies for yourself.  Request a catalog, and try not to stay up too late drooling over all that you discover!

God Bless!



This is just my personal opinion of things I have learned and discovered.  I have not been paid by anyone to write a review.  I just wanted to share my findings with anyone who might stumble upon my babble and actually read it!

Revolutionary War Wrap-Up

 History

We are finally finished with our study of the Revolutionary War.  We spent extra time on it because we did so much with it.  Honestly, it was too much!  Oh well.  We sure did learn a lot.  We read lots of books, printed and cut lots of lapbook pieces (many haven't made their way into the lapbook yet), started assembling a lapbook, wrote notebook summaries, made a fun timeline, watched some Liberty's Kids videos (and others), and made berry ink.  In addition, we had mild illnesses and dentist appointments that held us up a bit, and we had a snow day.  My head is spinning!

Making berry ink and using the quill pen was a challenging activity for both of the kids.  But, once they got the hang of it, we all enjoyed it!

The timeline turned out great, and we included some important Revolutionary figures along with it.  These free printables are found here.

Science

Our plants are off to a good start.  I hope the growth continues.  I'm new to this light hut/greenhouse thing.  We've kept a plastic cover over the flat and don't know how long to keep it on.  I suppose that will require more web searching.  :)

In the process of finding great educational websites and free printables, I decided to create Pinterest boards to help me organize these sites by subject.  I just love seeing pictures and descriptions of these sites, along with my personal notes about them.  What a time saver!


I'm hoping this is our last snow of the season.  At least we built a nice snowman!  (Actually, I think she's a snowgirl!)