Mater Magistra

TGIFunny

2012-02-10T00:00:00.000-06:00

Especially funny for those of us teaching English Language Learners!

Quick Idea for Focus and Reference Charts

2012-02-09T16:38:00.005-06:00

Okay, so I'm not such a regular blogger anymore... OH how I WISH posts could go straight from my brain to my blog! I would post all day!

We are smack in the middle of a great year of 7th grade ESL, 10th grade and now I have one in college! I can't believe it! Even with older ones, I still look for great ways to organize and energize our school area. Someone "pinned" an idea awhile back using a paper towel holder, binder rings and page protectors to store scrapbook paper and stickers, and I immediately thought of using it for focus charts and reference pages. It's a great individual-sized "chart stand" for the school table.

So, I stuck one together today, and simply used the pages I already had in the front of my 7th grader's weekly binder. Now they aren't cluttering up his binder and are always accessible.

(These particular charts are available here.)

Source: Uploaded by user via Cyndi on Pinterest

Maybe this will work for you! If so, pin it and let me know! I love sharing ideas. :)

TGIFunny

2010-04-16T10:40:00.002-05:00

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com.

What We're Up To This Year... 5th Grade ESL

2010-01-12T09:07:00.005-06:00

Okay, I've been w-a-a-a-y too busy homeschooling this year to post about homeschooling! With a high schooler still doing most of her work at home, a middle schooler preparing for high school work, and a 5th grader who has only been in America just over a year, school can get pretty interesting around here!

I recently answered a post on an adoption Yahoo group (CAFE Kids, if you're looking for an awesome group of Christian adoptive families who have adopted kids from Ethiopia), and I linked my blog. I realized how much I would love to say what's working for us in case that would help anyone at all (NOT because I'm any sort of expert!!!) but how I have neglected to do so.

SO. While the boys are getting started on their morning independent work, I am going to take a few moments to link what is working for Minte so far this year. And add what we're changing this semester.

The above photo is Minte playing a sight word BINGO game from our Sonlight 1. (We use change from the change jar for BINGO markers, and once he BINGO's, if he can read me the words on the row, he gets to keep the money. Fun!) I have LOVED using Sonlight with him this year. It is World History, which he can completely comprehend and is a body of knowledge to which he has had no exposure. It's so interesting to me that he has come from one of the most ancient lands on the globe, but has no idea what has happened there (not to mention all over the world.) It has been fun to study this together using Sonlight's literature-rich approach. However, since he is an English Language Learner, we are using the Level 1 Readers and Read-Alouds. I have accelerated the schedule a bit and I feel like we might be ready to order the level 2 books soon.

For math, he originally started in a co-op class using Right Start Math. It was a great class, and he enjoyed the interaction and the teacher, but it was not a good fit for him. We have since switched to something more consistent for him and with which I am more familiar: Math U See. I have used that program for years with my other two and I. Love. It. It is thorough, hands-on, and visual. He is currently working throught the Gamma level. Due to his prior schooling in Ethiopia, he is zipping through portions of it, but I am getting a measure of assurance that he is getting a solid foundation. He will also complete the Delta level this year. He was in school in Ethiopia before he came home, but we have been on a year-long quest to solidify his knowledge of basic facts, as well as learn to tell time and do measurements in English. I love how it is taught in a hands-on way through Math U See. Also, the pages are plain and not too distracting. A good fit for us.

In addition to his Sonlight readers, he has loved going through the Explode the Code books for phonics. This semester we will begin slowly working through Wordly Wise A for sequential vocabulary-building. He has been "real life" vocabulary building for a year now, but I think it's time for a more systematic, academic approach. I like the format of the early Wordly Wise books, so we will begin doing exercises a couple of times a week through book A and possibly get through book B before summer.

Handwriting: I've always used "A Reason For Handwriting" because I love the short daily exercises, only 4 days per week, and copying Scripture. He has done well with this. He is almost through with his first book, so I'm considering switching to Draw Write Now. In his school in Ethiopia he had no drawing/ art experience and actually has a disdain for art. I want him to feel more confident in his drawing. There are short sentences to copy as well, which I think he will be able to read now. I think it is a good fit, even though he has told me he does not want to learn how to draw. We'll see. ;)

Last year we worked our way through Abeka's level 1 science reader. Then we just added in whatever I came up with, like growing butterflies, planting flowers, other science experiments and concoctions. (One of my favorite resources for this is here.) This year he's in a science class that meets once per week. It's one of his favorite things and I don't have to deal with the mess. We still like making concoctions... I just don't want the pressure of a weekly one. ;)

Writing: Here is something I'm toying with. WriteShop Primary. I got it at a book fair last year. Now that he's more fluent in English, he has soaked up enough good English through literature and read-alouds, he is ready to begin writing stories of his own and learning how to write. (Remember, you can't squeeze anything out of a dry sponge! Kids need to spend time absorbing good writing and rich stories in order to compose their own.) I think we'll start some short lessons from this program each week.

So, that's his schoolyear in a nutshell. I realize he is 5th grade age, but he has flourished using the primary levels. He came from a culture that doesn't even use our alphabet. In fact, I just overheard him doing his math and I heard " arat, sost, and, hulet..." (4, 3, 1, 2 in Amharic.) He still does quick calculations in his first language. Plus, even a year later, he's still adjusting. Plus, because of his past, he's still grieving some days. Plus..... There's always a plus. There's always a bigger picture, and it's not always about school. I am seeing him poised to absolutely "snowball" in his progress, once the basics of phonics and vocabulary are in place, along with his increased comfort level with the English language. My goal is to have him on "grade level" by high school. I am seeing great strides!

I hope the above suggestions help someone who may be walking this road, or just starting out homeschooling an English Language Learner. It has taken us a year even to get to this point. To read what we started out doing, go here.) Enjoy this journey! Don't put pressure on yourself, which always has a way of putting pressure on your child. Each day with this precious person is a gift. In many ways, you are making up for lost time... but our great God, the God of time, will do that. He will make up what you lack. I have seen this day after day in our home!

He's Here

2009-12-21T15:56:00.003-06:00

Now that my kids are older (read: teenagers) I miss reading "storybook" type books to them. I really do! I don't know if they miss it as much as I do, but that's been something I've mourned as they've gotten older. We read aloud still, but it's chapter books, British Literature, and other selections. One thing I've loved since our adoption, however, is that I can go back through some picture books and story Bibles with all of the kids again, and they'll listen with their new brother. Because, you know, it's for him.

One book we've been reading that came out after my kids were small is the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. The subtitle of the book is "Every story whispers his name" (referring to Jesus). Oh, how true! The Christmas season (if you listen) shouts Jesus' name, and passages like Luke 2 wonderfully depict the birth of Christ. But what I never truly realized until recently, and what this book helps kids to see is how every single other story in the Bible points directly to Christ. I have been captivated by Lloyd-Jones' masterful ability to bring that out.

Just last week, we were reading the story about Abraham sacrificing Isaac, and it said "They climbed the steep stony trail up the mountain. Isaac carried the wood on his back. His father carried the knife and the coals."

At the end of the story, she draws this amazing parallel: "Many years later, another Son would climb another hill, carrying wood on his back. Like Isaac, he would trust his Father and do what his Father asked. He wouldn't struggle of run away. Who was he? God's Son, his only Son- the Son he loved. The Lamb of God."

My older son (13) said quietly, "Wow. I never thought of that before. That's so true!"

Here is a wonderful video from the book with the story of the birth of Christ. I love this. I needed to see this, and so did my kids.

I'm so glad He's here.

Have I Not Posted Since October???

2009-12-07T18:50:00.005-06:00

What on earth?

Well.

This has been sort of a nutty school year. And by "nutty" I mean, really trying to do it well, sticking to a schedule, and not blogging as much.

But, alas, it's December and it hasn't been as rigorous a school year as I was aiming for, I'm quite sure I'm not "doing it" as "well" (what does that mean, anyway?) and sticking to a schedule doesn't always work. And I've still not blogged as much!

Well, here's a quick post about something that I've been using this year:

WebEnglishTeacher.com

What a helpful site!

It's got loads of links, but I've found the ESL section especially helpful, as well as Shakespeare and Dickens.

I've got so much more to say. Like how much I'm LOVING Sonlight for my 8th grader and 5th grader. Like how homeschooling high school is the toughest job you'll ever love. Stuff like that. But right now I'm behind on grading and I've got to read the next chapter of A Christmas Carol.

Oh, blog. I miss you.

If You Give a Former-Bandsie-Turned-Homeschool-mom a symphony CD

2009-10-14T07:45:00.003-05:00

...to play for her kids to prepare them for the upcoming DSO youth concert, sooner or later she's going to get out the recording of her wedding music (Reunion Brass).

After she gets through crying about how much she loves her cute husband, she'll get out her french horn, which of course means she'll try to play along with "Fanfare for the Common Man."

This will make her attempt to hit the high B at the end.

And the kids will get to see new veins pop out on her forehead, which will lead to a discussion on the circulatory system.

Once she regains consciousness and her hearing returns, she'll probably want a cd to listen to...

The "Real World"

2009-09-11T14:51:00.002-05:00

"What will happen when your kids (meaning, my homeschooled kids) have to encounter the 'real world' someday?"

That's a question I've heard often during my years of homeschooling. It's usually a sincere question, but one that indicates that the person asking it doesn't feel that being at home is being part of the "real world." It's actually a mindset that I, myself, had before I left the classroom to be a full time stay-at-home mom.

I remember very, very well what we were doing the morning of September 11, 2001. We were living in an apartment, having sold our house and in the process of building another one in a neighboring community. My husband traveled and was not home, and would be sitting in a board room in Corpus Christi, TX for most of the day. My children (kindergarten and 2nd grade at the time) and I were sitting at our little dining table in that small, third-floor apartment finishing breakfast and prayer time and beginning our schoolwork. The phone rang, and it was a friend who knew I wouldn't have the TV on, telling me I'd better turn it on. I watched in horror as I saw what had happened to the first tower. Then I saw it happen to the second tower. In the meantime the report came on about the Pentagon. It was horrific and surreal. But it was real. It was happening. It was something that would impact all of us, and it was unfolding at that very moment.

I remember being so glad my kids were there with me that day. We were able to discuss what was going on and to immediately go to our knees in prayer. I didn't have to wonder if I should go get them at school. (I know many who wanted their kids with them, and rightly so.) We were able to discuss that no, we were not in danger of a plane being flown into our apartment even though we were on the third floor (a very real concern to a 5 year old, who thought three flights of stairs was a skyscraper!) They were able to talk to their father on the phone, who was getting one of the last rental cars available in the city where he was, and to pray while he drove home. They processed what was going on in the way their minds could comprehend it, all the while being reminded that God is in control and being comforted by their mother. I remember that God gave me the hymn "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" that day. I tried to help the three of us keep our eyes on Jesus, especially given what was in front of our eyes on the news.

Meanwhile, the kids in the elementary school near us knew nothing about what was going on (not that they should've told them in that setting). Since it was not known if schools were a target, the administration made the (wise) decision not to allow them to go outside for recess, and they were told it was because of an "ozone warning." The horror-stricken teachers had to slip out of their classes and go down to the office or teacher's lounge to catch snippets of what had happened, all the while not letting on to their students that one of the most historic events to happen in our country in their lifetime was unfolding. The students continued doing their work as if everything was fine, and the teachers had to stay in their classrooms, largely uninformed.

Who was experiencing the "real world" that day? My kids or those kids? Those of us who knew what was going on or the ones who were sequestered away from it? I don't get into the "public school vs. homeschool" debates, and I don't think homeschooling is always superior for every child, but I do tire of the argument that homeschoolers aren't in the "real world."

It's days like this that remind me that yes, they are.

Originally posted 9-11-07

TGIFunny

2009-08-14T07:32:00.001-05:00

I posted this a couple of years ago. Now I'm seriously considering this...

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

So Much Time, So Little to Say! Wait, Reverse That...

2009-08-12T08:23:00.005-05:00

Well, I haven't posted since May! How did that happen? And before that it was sparse. Oh how I've missed my homeschool blog and blogland in general!

It's that time of year... time to finalize curriculum orders, make sure everything's in place and ready-set-go! I am going to have to simply post some school "blurbs" periodically on this blog because coherent, cohesive, well-written, informative posts just aren't going to come. So today I thought I'd pop in and post some of the things I've bought and what we're doing for school this year. I'm still working it into schedules, making all the pieces fit. Honestly, that is the hard part this year. I'm having such "analysis paralysis," due in part to our adoption. I don't know how long I can blame it on that, but that's what I'm currently attributing it to. But that's another post.

Anyway.

This year I'll have an 11th grader (HOW did that happen??? I blinked!!) an 8th grader, and an ESL 5th grader. Fun fun!! God is so good!!

Here's what's on tap for each of them:

11th grader (my super-studious textbooky daugher):

Apologia Chemistry
Math-U-See Honors Geometry
Abeka U.S. Government
Economics using Blue Stocking Guide and Whatever Happened to Penny Candy
BJU Spanish 1
BJU British Literature
Writing and Grammar 11
Analytical Grammar- Teaching the Essay and Research Paper

8th grader (my history-buff son who loves piles of books):

Sonlight 100: In-depth American History (History, Literature and Bible)
Apologia Physical Science
Math-U-See Honors Algebra 1
Clase Divertida Spanish Level 3 (finishing in the fall, not sure what for spring)
Wordly Wise 3000 book 7 (fall) and book 8 (spring)
WriteShop 1

5th grade ESL (our newly-adopted 10 year old son who's been home from Ethiopia about 10 months)

Sonlight 1: Introduction to World History Part 1 (with Readers 1) (Literature, Reading and Bible)
Right Start Math
WriteShop Primary A
"Extreme Science"- 1 hours per week of hands-on experiments offered at a local co-op
Abeka Science Readers (he loves these, really!) grade 3 fall, grade 4 spring
Wordly Wise A (fall) and B (spring)

I have SO much more to say!! About homeschooling a high schooler. About teaching and transitioning an English Language Learner. About having one in high school, middle school and elementary school. About scheduling. About burnout before you begin. About being overwhelmed with life as well as with JOY. But, that will have to wait until another day.

I hope you have had an amazing, relaxing, and rejuvenating summer and are gearing up for the BEST school year ever!

Copycat Shoes

2009-05-20T20:40:00.003-05:00

This was originally posted in July 2006, but I reposted it today in honor of the newest pair of "copycat shoes" I bought today.

Oh, yes I did. :::sigh:::

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I bought a pair of "copycat shoes" yesterday. You know, you see a cute pair of shoes on a girlfriend, say, "Cute shoes! Where'd you get those?" and then go pick up the same pair for yourself, imagining that you'll look just as cute in them. These were copycat flip flops, actually, and rather than having asked her where she got them, I stealthily tossed them into my basket yesterday at Target. So, actually, no one but me would know they were copycat. I mean, we all buy flip flops at Target, right? Well, today I put them on and they are SO... uncomfortable! Of course, I slipped them on yesterday at the store, but they were attached to each other, so I couldn't get the "feel" of them. (You can't freely flip and flop in them when there is elastic holding them together!) I simply checked for size and off I went. HOW can flip flops be this uncomfortable? Well, they are. Hmph.

I've bought exactly three pair of copycat shoes in my life. This is the third time that they have not fit. I think I see a pattern here! Now, I've had shoes before that I've chosen, only to discover that several other people have those same shoes. To me, that's not the same as a copycat shoe because I picked them out for myself. We just all happen to have made the same choice. I've been shopping with a friend and we have mutually agreed that some shoes were cute, tried them on together, and have decided then whether or not to purchase them for ourselves. Those haven't been copycat shoes, either. No, exactly three times I have bought shoes I wasn't otherwise looking for simply because those shoes look SO great/ comfortable/stylish/ hip ...on her. Exactly three times those shoes have been a complete wrong fit for me.

I realized today that I have done this with homeschool curriculum as well. Copycat curriculum. I have shelves and filing cabinets full of it! We, as homeschoolers, are so prone to chronic curriculum comparison. The curriculum is always greener on the other side of the exhibit hall! So often I have read one mention of what worked for someone on a message board or heard a friend talk positively about a certain program, and have bought it (even when what we were using was working!) only to find that it just doesn't fit. Just like shoes, we must walk in our curriculum daily. And ill-fitting curriculum can be painful! Sure, sometimes we make informed choices and carefully research curriculum, only to discover that it doesn't quite match with our teaching style, our kids' learning styles, or the flow of our schedule. But how often do we see what works for another family, what looks so good on another family, and immediately get it for ourselves? Families, like feet, have different sizes, shapes, and dynamics. And, no, it's not always possible to get the complete "feel" for curriculum until you get it home and try it on. Just like shoes that are tied together at the store, sometimes you've got to get the books home, get the shrink-wrap off of them and try them on. Sometimes you've got to "flip" and "flop" in it for a few weeks! This summer as I'm continuing to purchase next year's curriculum, I'm going to be more aware of why I'm buying what I'm buying. Is it a well-researched recommendation or is it a copycat?

Anyone wear a size 7? Can I interest you in a pair of flip flops?......

Works for Me: Weekly Binders

2009-04-22T09:08:00.013-05:00

Honestly. This has been THE most scattered homeschool year I've had in my 11 years of homeschooling. I was foggy-brained last half of last schoolyear while we were going through the adoption of our newest child, our precious 9 year old son from Ethiopia. Then, this school year we traveled as a family to bring him home and have been transitioning him for the past 8 months... so that remains my excuse for being scattered, confused, and generally discombobulated.

BUT... this has worked for me this year, so I wanted to share it!

I have posted my different organizational systems over the years... I think I've done it all, but for some reason this year it blew apart. So, I've scraped it together into something else that works for me: weekly binders. My planning strategy remains the same... my trusty laptop and Excel spreadsheets, but putting the younger boys' work together for the week in binders has really helped us keep it all together.

I color code my kids, so when we adopted Minte I assigned him a color... the only one I had heard him say in English: "red." I found these fun "Zwipes" binders at the office store this year, and they enjoy writing and drawing on the front, and sometimes I'll write them a note of encouragement. This week the front of Minte's is simple: "Minte's School."

Here is his binder on his desk this morning, ready for the day's work.

Each day has a tab, and the dividers are heavy-duty plastic with pockets, because I cram it ALL into these binders...

Here is Minte's binder open to today. He's got a book for drawing insects, which he'll be reading about in his Science reader today, also in a heavy-duty plastic pocket behind the "Wednesday" tab. His pages for cutting out and sequencing his Bible story, and other work are all ready for today. You can see the owl he made yesterday when he read about owls. The paper sack and all the owl cut-outs were in a pocket page behind the Tuesday tab. Basically, every single thing he'll need for each day I try to find a way to put in that binder!

In the front of his binder is his weekly assignment sheet. (You can click on the photo to make it larger.) I thought this would be too complicated for him to see each week, but he saw that's what his older brother had (Kyle wanted the whole week instead of the daily assignment sheets I used to do) and wanted one, too. He loves marking off the assignments each day! On the right you can see that I obviously utilize DVD's and CD-roms for part of his school, and those are in 3-ring DVD pockets so I'm not chasing those down in other locations when it's time for school. We also use the BOB books, so those are in the pockets for each day as well. See? I cram it all in there, LOL.

Here is what Kyle's looked like this morning. His assignment sheet lives in the front as well, and there are his Teaching Textbooks CD and his BJU Science DVD ready for the week. In the front (on the right) is also a math "cheat sheet" I made him for now for some of his measurement conversions for math. I laminated that and it lives in the front of his binder all the time as well.

These have been handy because if we are heading out on some errands they can grab their binders and have most of their school with them. I spend time at the end of each week transferring their week's work into each of their large 4-inch binders divided by subject, where I'm storing their year's work.

I know everyone has their "systems", and weekly binders are certainly nothing new or particularly innovative, but these work for me!

For more tips, visit Kristen at We are That Family. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Homeschooling For High School

2009-03-01T19:21:00.003-06:00

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

Well, that's one way to do it, I suppose! And don't think I haven't thought of that!

Another way to do it is... HANG IN THERE! Our plan continues to be to homeschool all the way through high school. God is so faithful! He knew that this year, while I'm so scatterbrained, I would need a boost during my regularly scheduled February Freakout. So, He ordained that there would be a Homeschooling for High School seminar in my area recently. I was blessed to be able to attend Kathleen Duncan's seminar last year. This year I returned for the new "portfolio session." Awesome, awesome, awesome. She takes what seems like an insurmountable task and makes it "doable." Thanks to the portfolio workshop I officially have my daughter's high school portfolio started. I also bought a portfolio kit for my son to start next year, as I really should've/could've started my daughter's during her 8th grade year.

If you are planning to homeschool through high school, you might want to check out her website and materials. She has lots of great links and information. And by all means, if you see that she is coming to your area (she speaks throughout the south), I highly encourage you to attend the workshop. I'll hopefully post more about it when I have more time and get our portfolio going, but I just wanted to let you know about this wonderful resource!

What do you want me to do next?"

2009-02-23T07:58:00.010-06:00

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?"
~Hymn by Richard Keene, 1787, emphasis mine

"What do you want me to do next?"

That's the question. Always.

Admittedly, and probably justifiably, I've been flying by the seat of my pants this school year, more than I have in the past 10 years of home schooling. Honestly, I feel like I just can NOT get it together. Oh, it looks together, and school is happening (I think) but this has been a discombobulated year for sure. I said, "justifiably" because it is no small task to complete an international adoption and transition an older child into the family. It is joy-filled, to be sure, but not as easy to organize as in years past, with children who, though ever-changing, were familiar to me. So, I think the "unknowns" associated with my precious new son have caused me to go into "analysis paralysis" in all areas of homeschooling, even with my other two. I've been guilty on more than one occasion this year, almost weekly in fact, of staring gape-jawed at the books, unsure of what to plan or wondering how to do it a new way, rather than just, well, doing it like I know how to. Why is that??? I'm still figuring that out, but here's something that came to me last week.

It's a biblical principle I learned several years ago, in fact. One that God seemed to be telling me again in my quiet time last week. I have been praying so hard over some issues in recent weeks, child-raising issues which really do confound me, and I have been praying Jeremiah 33:3, asking God to tell me things- "great and mighty things"- that I do not know. I feel like there is SO much I don't know, and so I've been turning to the One Who does! There is certainly nothing wrong with that, and there are plenty of directives in Scripture (just like the one I mentioned) that encourage us to do exactly that. But last week, it's as if God whispered to my soul (again), "Child, why are you crying out to me for new truths when I'm simply waiting on you to act on the truths you know? Simply do what you know to do." How...simple. But what a challenge! To take what I do understand and act on it. To make my theology work its way into my reality. Then some of those "great and mighty things" that I do not know will become more clear. I'm seeing it already in a couple of situations, and I'm so thankful to the Lord for this reminder.

What does this have to do with homeschooling?

This has been, like I said, a very disorganized year for me. As a result, I haven't always had the assignment sheets ready like I usually have. Planning in Excel has still continued to be what works best for me, and now that he's in 7th grade, my sweet son can now handle having a complete week's worth of assignments on a sheet staring him in the face. So, it's still a great system, but I don't ::gasp:: always have the sheet ready. Last week, during one his "Mom, what-do-you-want-me-to-do-next" moments, for which I, in my "analysis-paralysis" mode had no idea, I heard myself say, "Just do what you know to do until I let you know the rest." Yes, I had yet to figure it all out, but he knew to read the next chapters in his assigned reading, go on to the next English lesson, write his science vocabulary cards, etc. There are some "built in" assignments in our home school that are always in place. There is always something to read, math facts to practice, vocabulary exercises to complete, outlines to study, etc. The rest of it will get filled in when mom gets it together. Now, I know theologically speaking, as it applies to my lesson above, I'm not waiting on God to "get it together" by any stretch, but the principle of doing what you know to do while you wait to find out the unknowns has been a lesson we are both learning.

So if "What do I do next???" is a question you are hearing at your house, either from your own lips or from your kids, I encourage you (and them!) to simply act on what you do know. Do the next right thing. The rest will become clearer. It always does.

Now, where were we?

2009-01-05T11:21:00.001-06:00

Originally posted Dec. 28, 2006

So, Christmas is over. Our anniversary is over. New Year's is this weekend, and while we really don't have any big plans (okay... any plans at all...) it's the next "holiday" before school starts. Actually, I'm glad for New Year because it buys me some time to get my act together before we plow ahead in school. Today as I was working around the house in an effort to restore some sort of order after the Christmas-gift-splosion and find a place for all of the ~~debris~~ ~~loot~~ gifts, my mind was jumping ahead to next week when we will hopefully get back into some of our school routine. We've been out of it for too long! But, I must confess that the idea of "school" is one big, jumbled mess in my head right now. My plans in my computer need to be thought through (again), lots of cutting and pasting needs to be done and I need to re-evaluate what we're doing this spring. As I was musing through all of that this morning, my mind went back to a simpler time (schoolwise) back when my kids were in preschool and the early grades. At that time I was really interested in Charlotte Mason's philosophy. In particular, I loved reading Karen Andreola's book, A Charlotte Mason Companion.

A while ago I pulled Andreola's book off the shelf in the schoolroom and flipped it open to a page where I had almost highlighted all of the text. What caught my eye, and what used to be my everyday goal of my homeschool was this:

Be sure that your children each day have:

Something or someone to love
Something to do
Something to think about

How... simple! And how I think I've lost sight of this. As they have gotten older, and the curriculum has, of necessity, gotten more demanding, I think I've lost some of the simplicity of my approach in those early years.

In applying the above three goals to our days I want to concentrate on:

Something/someone to "agapao," demonstrate love to.
Something to actively do (not just watch or click)
Something to think about (or think "through")

So... as I go forward with our plans for the new year, I'm going to reread parts of Andreola's book and try to "Masonize" our studies as I did in years past. If you've never studied her approach or read her books, I encourage you to read "A Charlotte Mason Companion" or read some of the websites dedicated to her philosophy. (A great place to start is the FAQ's here. I am particularly drawn to the booklists on this site.)

2008-12-24T07:36:00.001-06:00

Enquine le gena adersashewu!

***************************
Merry Christmas!

From our family to you!

Homeschooling Older Adopted Children

2008-12-21T08:13:00.025-06:00

One day last week while we were eating lunch, Minte began to look thoughtful (even a bit concerned) and then asked me a question.

"Mommy. Ahfter Chreestmas... Minte go to school?"

"Yes, after Christmas we've got to start our schoolwork again."

"No. Ahfter Chreestmas, Minte go? Out? (pointing to the door) To other school?"

"Oh, no baby. We're going to do school at home still. Minte will go to school here. With Mommy and Kyle and Bethany."

Then it was my turn to think, and perhaps be concerned. Maybe he wants to go to school. Maybe he feels like he's missing something. Maybe he's asking me, hoping I'm going to tell him "yes." Maybe...

So, of course, I asked.

"Does Minte want to go to school? To other school?"

His eyes widened and he replied, "NO! Minte no English. Teacher talk, Minte say, 'I don't know!'"

He seemed happy and reassured that we were, in fact, going to continue homeschooling. Of course, that made me happy and reassured me that we are doing the right thing for him.

He really is a "best-case-scenario", in the adoption sense. He was very well cared for and loved by all of his caregivers, in a consistent, well-run, small orphanage with a nurturing environment. He is generally happy, appears to be extremely resilient, has a positive disposition and a great sense of humor, has a deep, abiding faith in God, has positive memories of his "former life" and his Ethiopian parents, which he freely talks about daily. He seems secure and responds well to new situations. He's extremely obedient and courteous. He's highly intelligent, has the capacity to learn and retain large amounts of information, and can recall facts to a great detail. Overall, he's an excellent student. By all accounts and estimations, he would do well in a traditional classroom setting. But, at his deepest level, it's not what he wants. There is an underlying insecurity there, and I'm really glad he shared it with me.

I shared part of our reason for homeschooling him, and a little bit of background here. I am hopeful that sometime during our holiday break, while I'm at the computer putting the finishing touches on our school plans for spring I'll be able to share more specifically what we've been doing. But for now, I'll just share that it's working. It's working for me, our other children, and most of all, it's working for him. He is learning about family, about love, and about home. He's progressing academically, and learning a new language and culture at a manageable pace. He's learning that when he needs to, he can look me (and the others with whom he's in constant contact throughout each day) in the eye and ask questions using his broken English without fearing that he'll be misunderstood or made fun of. He's learning that he can throw some Amharic in there as well and that it makes Mom smile. He's learning that sometimes Mom will try to answer him in broken Amharic with a Texas twang, and that makes him smile. What could be a barrier in another setting is actually part of the bonding process in the home setting. Our bond is growing day by day, and homeschooling continues to be a major part of that.

Here are some articles I read and bookmarked as we began this journey. If you are adopting, and have the ability or inclination to homeschool, I highly encourage you to think about it. It's awesome. And I believe it's a gift. One for which I remain so thankful.

Homeschooling the Older, Adopted Child

Parenting in the Home School: Homeschooling Adopted and Traumatized Kids

Homeschooling The Internationally Adopted Child Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

A Fun Thanksgiving Song

2008-11-26T14:18:00.002-06:00

**Originally posted November 9, 2007**

I learned this song when my kids were preschoolers, and I pulled it out of my files this week at our little "music co-op," not just for the little ones, but for the big ones who couldn't remember the date of the first Thankgiving!

The Pilgrims Sailed Over The Ocean
(sung to the tune of "My Bonny Lies Over The Ocean")

The Pilgrims sailed over the ocean;
The Pilgrims sailed over the sea.
The Pilgrims sailed over the ocean
So they could praise God and be free.

Pilgrims, Pilgrims
They had the first Thanksgiving Day
They all wanted
To sing and to feast and to pray.

Their Indians friends were invited;
They brought some wild turkey and deer,
They ate and they sang with the Pilgrims;
Sixteen twenty-one was the year.

Pilgrims, Pilgrims
They had the first Thanksgiving Day
They all wanted
To sing and to feast and to pray.

*Somewhat Tongue-In-Cheek Disclaimer: I do not wish to debate or discuss the historical accuracy of the song's stated reasons for the Pilgrims "sailing over the ocean," the use of the term "Indians" rather than "Native Americans" or any perceived references to whiskey. You are, of course, free to change any of above lyrics to accomodate your personal convictions. Thank you. ;)

WFMW: Learning His Language

2008-11-26T07:10:00.008-06:00

A recent morning conversation between me and my 10-year-old Ethiopian son:

Me: Sent encoulat tehfalligalli? (How many eggs to you want?)
Minte: Yeh-teh-teh-beh-seh ena yeh-teh-kuh-kuh-leh? (Scrambled or boiled?)
Me: Yeh-teh-kuh-kuh-leh. (boiled)
Minte: Sent tefalligallio? (How many do we have?)
Me: Hulet (two)
Minte: Mmmmm, ...and tehfalligallio ( One, please)
Me: Eshi. (okay)

We're about 9 weeks into our transition home with our precious son, and since November is National Adoption Month I've been taking time on Wednesdays to post some things that have been "working for us" during our first few weeks home.

My first posts on this subject have been on my main blog, but since this one is sort of "homeschooly" I thought I'd bring it over here today! If this is your first time to visit either of my blogs, welcome! I'm so glad you are here! My previous posts on this topic have been about the benefits of establishing a routine, labeling the house, and how we have utilized afternoon movie times.

Today, as you can see from above conversation, I'll be discussing language. This has been a biggie! That's always been one of the first questions people have asked me, even before we brought him home, "Does he speak English?" The answer: "No." The language he speaks is called Amharic and is the primary language spoken in Ethiopia. It is a beautiful language, but bears absolutely no resemblance in sound or in written form, to English. He had very little English instruction in the school he attended while at the orphanage. It consisted mostly of copying English worksheets into a composition book. SO, I've started from the beginning with him. I listed some of our curriculum here, and I'm preparing to write another post on homeschooling ESL again soon. God is being so faithful to bring to mind ideas that are helping me... as I have no idea what I'm doing, and there aren't a lot of resources for teaching ELL's (English Language Learners), especially within the context of homeschooling.

As you can see from the photo, what has been "working for us" involves notecards. But hopefully, you noticed that there are two sets. His and mine. Every couple of days, we sit with his box of notecards and he simply names words he wants to know how to read. Sometimes he has had to point to an object so I could tell him the name of it, but frequently it's a word he knows (like "bike) but just doesn't know what it looks like. We pull the cards out every few days and he tries to read the words he has chosen. For the most part, he's successful because those words mean something to him: favorite toys, his siblings' names, our address. Even though he's really reading "word shapes" at this point, he's getting used to reading English print, which is a step. But that's not all this exercise is about.

You see, it's a two-way street. Mom has her notecards, too! Just about every day I ask him how to say something in Amharic (if he can give me a translation) or I get phrases from one of my three can't-do-without-'em resources: Talk Now Amharic, Lonely Planet Phrasebook, and Simple Language for Adoptive Families. He absolutely loves hearing me speak to him in his native language, and he loves the give-and-take of teaching each other. It is so sweet to hear him slowly pronounce things so I can write down what it sounds like on my card. Then I repeat phrases back and he corrects me, isolating certain sounds. I work on it (genuinely work on it!) and then use the words and phrases in conversation. His face absolutely lights up when I throw down some Amharic when he least expects it! He understands only a fraction of what he hears all day, everyday, and it's a welcome "interruption" when something familiar is spoken to him. He smiled SO big the other morning when I asked him in Amharic how many eggs he wanted! Such a small thing, but it meant a lot to him, I could tell.

What distinguishes these moments from other ESL/ELL teacher-student situations is that this is my child. Part of our bond is being able to communicate with each other. Learning English is an all-encompassing task for him right now, and I think it "spurs him on" to see that Mom is doing the same thing. When we're having an Amharic conversation and I have to dissect e-ve-ry sound and see if I'm tracking with him, for that brief slice of time, I can feel how he feels every other second of the day. I can understand why "bucket" sounds like "basket" and how "popcorn" sounds like "pumpkin." I botch phrases all the time and he practically rolls in the floor laughing... I love it! Being an active learner of his language has gone a long way toward how we relate to each other, and it's really working for me... and for him.

For more ideas that work, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

There are many more precious children like Minte who need a forever family (and would love to teach you Amharic!) If adoption, either domestic or international, is something you're considering and you need a place to start, you can visit our agency's website here.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Back to Basics- Writing

2008-11-23T09:38:00.008-06:00

This fall, as we have been in a time of transition as a family, I have needed to get "back to basics" in our homeschool.

Over the years, we have had many subjects going at one time and I have enjoyed planning and implementing different approaches, actually relishing the planning and teaching as I would a treasured hobby. Not so this year! I am tired! The adoption process and the subsequent travel and transition of our awesome new son into our family has left me very little mental energy for "mile-wide" school planning. All of my "systems" that I've used in the past are still what I default to (and I'm so glad to have them in place) but they only work if I *do* them! And it's been slow-going getting back into my tried and true systems of planning and organization. Add to that, that for the first time I have a high schooler, a middle schooler and an elementary schooler. Oh, and add to that that the elementary schooler speaks very, very little English.

So, it's been "back to basics" around here. Here's what I mean by that:

I sit at the park every afternoon while my sons play, practicing their basketball skills, Minte honing his bike-riding skills, all of us enjoying the change of seasons and getting some much-needed exercise. These daily outings to the park have afforded me the opportunity to read back through a few books that have become a lifeline to me as a homeschooler over the years:

The Well-Trained Mind -- I LOVE this book because I think it sets forth a vision of excellence, and a buffet of "doable" things- binders, schedules, etc. from which to choose. I *don't* follow it to the letter, but I have always loved how Bauer and Wise inspire me to raise the bar in my homeschool.

Ruth Beechick's books, A Strong Start in Language, An Easy Start in Arithmetic, A Home Start in Reading, and You CAN Teach Your Child Successfully. These are invaluable to me! I have always used these as a very basic resource because she gives you actual techniques and solid, time-tested wisdom. LOVE these.

So it is, on these afternoons at the park after I walk my laps around the pond, I have sat with my coffee or Diet DP and perused these books, trying to re-energize myself towards our school, refresh my memory on what I've done that has worked in the past, and convince myself the "all is not lost" in certain areas in which I've let us get behind. Yes, we've gotten behind! There, I said it! Over the years we have taken mission trips, taken on ministries, adopted a child, and certain academic areas ::cough::writing::cough::: have slipped through the cracks. Whew, I feel better now that I've admitted it. :)

So. What to do about it? Two weeks ago during my "park reading" I came across a list in Ruth Beechick's language book that helped me greatly as I was mentally lamenting not being as diligent in writing as I should have been. I have read this list many times, it was highlighted in my book, and I have implemented it over the years. But this time I read it with fresh eyes: the eyes of a mom with an English Language Learner, a middle schooler who hates writing, and a high schooler preparing to tackle essays for college prep.

Here is her list of writing skills, leveled in difficulty from easy to hard:

1. Trace a model letter or word.
2. Copy a model word or sentence.
3. Write a sentence from slow dictation, getting all the help necessary to make it correct.
4. Write a familiar sentence from dictation fiven at normal speed and expression. Compare. Write again.
5. Write an unfamiliar sentence from dictation. Compare. Write again.
6. Study a paragraph. Write as it is dictated sentence by sentence in normal expression. compare and correct errors.
7. Write an unfamiliar paragraph from dictation, deciding from the expression how it should be punctuated. Compare. Talk about any differences between your writing and the model. Learn from these differences.
8. Write from dictation a variety of passages which are longer than a paragraph- dialogues, descriptions, news stories, and others. Compare. Learn.
9. Review by repeating two or three times any lesson in which you made too many errors. (If you keep on making many errors, find easier sentences or paragraphs.)
10. Make notes on a passage of writing, put the notes away for a few days, then try to rewrite the passage from your notes. Compare to the model.
11. Find a description, poem, or any short piece of writing that you like. Use it as a pattern to write something of your own.
12. Find a letter to the editor or other piece of writing that you disagree with (wouldn't blogs be great for this? ;) Write your answer.
13. When you have something to say, decide what form you will use- essay, poem, letter, or other- and write your thoughts for someone else to read.

This has helped me so much because as I read this list, I saw it at a sort of "writing continuum." I could see where my ELL-son is. I could see where my 7th-grade-writing-hater is. I can see not only where they currently fall on the "continuum" but where we need to back up, review and practice in order to get our "writing feet" back under us and keep taking those steps.

Dr. Beechick goes on to expound on implementing these steps as well as give grade level guidelines, discuss spelling, and give sample lessons in the book, so I encourage you to get it (it's only $4.00 new on Amazon, and only $.01 from some sellers!). But just this list of steps has helped me to assess my kids writing "skill level" and realize that all I need to do is back up a "step" and do that for awhile. Another thing I've had to do is give myself (and my writing-avoidant son!) a LOT of grace. So, rather than struggling, we've simply been doing some well-chosen copywork and dictation. He's reminding his brain what good writing sounds and feels like. Just like a piano student plays songs that have been been written and performed by many others before him so he can learn the technique, a writing student can copy beautiful pieces of writing that have stood the test of time. My English-language-learner son can copy modeled letters and words. I know what they can do and what the next step is. I can get out of "analysis paralysis" and take some actual steps.

I just wanted to share something that is working for us, and encourage you during this season when so many of us typically slow down school for the holidays (a good thing) but then get disheartened as we reflect on what isn't working or what we didn't get done this fall (a bad thing.) All is not lost! Maybe you just need to stop, take an honest look at where you are and get "back to basics."

Grace-Based Homeschooling

2008-11-02T16:32:00.007-06:00

I have been reading through the book Graced-Based Parenting, by Tim Kimmel. I have taken my time getting through it, usually reading a few pages at night before bed. I have found that I (and my children!) benefit when I take the time every few months to read a book about grace. We all need it, daily, and I am a primary vehicle of God's grace in the lives of my children.

Over the past week, I read the chapter called "A Strong Hope." In this chapter, Kimmel points out that "the plague of today's children is a foreboding sense of hopelessness. It is the logical consequence of a generation of parents who took the permanence out of love and the absolutes out of truth. Premarital sex, cohabitation, divorce, and a series of live-in lovers have communicated to too many children that they can't put any hope in commitment." I think that is a great point. Hope is so central to every area of our lives, our children must develop a strong sense of hope to function healthily emotionally, intellectually or spiritually.

He then makes the connection to how being a "grace-based parent" produces a "hope-filled child." I so want this for my children!

I liked his three points in this chapter:

1. Children develop strong hope when they know their parents recognize their God-given abilities and liabilities and turn them into assets for their future.

"We need to be enthusiastic about helping them build disciplines around their gifts and skills. This will require grace from us," he points out, "because our children's gifts and skills might be our areas of natural weakness." Yes! How many of us math-phobic moms are homeschooling budding mathematicians? Or left-brained, analytical moms schooling right-brained, artsy types? When our children see us taking on areas outside of our expertise or interest and know that we are doing it on their behalf, Kimmel says "these efforts five them great hope... They gain hope when they realize that their parents aren't trying to make them into mini-clones of themselves or trying to rewire them from the schematic that God assigned to them."

Working with our children every day also puts us in touch with their weaknesses like no one else. This is where grace plays a HUGE part in homeschooling! Kimmel says, "These (weaknesses) test our patience and our sanity. Children need to see parents who approach their shortcomings without venom or condescension. As they find parents who take delight in building into them life skills that compensate for their shortcomings, they develop a strong sense of hope for the future. They realize that someone in their lives loves them supremely and wants the best for them." I love that as a homeschooling mom, I get to be the teacher that loves them that way. What a privilege!

2. Children develop a strong hope when their parents lead them and encourage them to live a great spiritual adventure.

When we started our adventure as a family into short-term missions several years ago, I realized I was abandoning "safe Christianity." Kimmel points out that "safe Christianity is an oxymoron," anyway! I remember as we first got shots for our then 8 and 10 year olds and journeyed with them to Africa, my confidence had to be in the Lord. When I sent my 12 year old to stay in China with some missionary friends for 6 weeks, I had to rest in the knowledge that God loves her even more than I do! Kimmel says, "We must put our confidence in a God who would not bring anything unpleasant into our children's lives except for those things that He deliberately desires to use to mold them into His image." He had to first deal with me, my lack of faith, my own insecurities, and my illusion of control over their heath and safety so that He could draw them, and our entire family, closer to Himself and show us new rooms of His heart. I am so glad that by His grace I allowed Him to do that! I hate to think of what we would've missed!

As homeschoolers, we already live on the outside of what's considered "normal." It's tempting, while in "control" of all areas of curriculum, field trips, exclusive homeschool groups, etc. to end up insulating them from any risk. While it's wise to be prudent, Kimmel points out that "it's easy to want to build a safe hope in them, rather than a strong hope." My prayer is that my parenting is helping to build a strong hope in the God of the universe.

3. Children develop a strong hope when their parents help them turn their childhood into a series of positive accomplishments.

"Our children are going to have to know how to work hard, get along with difficult people, solve confusing problems, handle money, repent, forgive, take good care of their bodies, minds and spirits, fear God a lot, fear their fellowman very little, laugh at the right time, cry at the right time, and bring out the best in the people closest to them." Is that on your list of "basic skills" in your curriculum this year? When I read through that I was reminded again that the purpose of educating them is NOT all academic! They could get a perfect score on the SAT and still not be able to do what matters most in this life, which I think is summed up very succinctly in the above sentence. I loved this reminder.

But, what came to mind as I read the word "achievement" in this chapter, is how easily we as homeschoolers can focus on it. After all, it is a bit affirming to hear that homeschoolers win Spelling and Geography bees, or are being pursued by ivy league colleges. While it is God-honoring to pursue things with excellence, Kimmel points out that "grace dictates that we keep achievement goal in context with the children's bigger role as members of God's chosen people. They need to see their commitment to achievement as a way to glorify God as well as a way to make them more valuable to others. Grace helps us keep achievement in its rightful place, as a means to an end."

I've wondered a bit over the years about competition, and what place it should play in my children's lives. I've got one who's highly competitive and one who, when he senses competition (even with a timer) he gives up, taking himself out of the competition rather than come up short. I know some Christians who don't play competitive sports at all because they believe it is exaltation of "self." I know other Christians whose children spend up to 5 hours per day honing a competitive skill. One sentence in this chapter that jumped out at me was this:

"Grace also keeps us from unwittingly turning our children into overachievers. In almost every case, overachievement is at the expense of something greater than what is achieved....Many disciplines that parents build into their children's lives don't make them better people; they just make them more proficient than someone else."

As homeschool parents, we've got a huge opportunity to be vehicles of God's grace in the lives of our children. This book is helping me to examine why I do what I do. Grace and mercy do not come naturally to me, for some reason. I am glad that I'm reading this book now, as I am currently smack in the middle of my "fall stall" and my "February Freakout" is just a few months away! I need grace! And if I need it, how much more do my children need it? Something to think and pray about.

Election Propaganda and Fallacies

2008-10-31T15:50:00.004-05:00

Last year, we enjoyed going through the book Fallacy Detective, by Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn. Did you know that at the Fallacy Detective website there are videos, articles, blog links, audio lessons, and a even an e-newsletter, the Fallacy Detective News, to help you and your kids sharpen your critical thinking skills? It's a fabulous resource, and during election time especially, there is no shortage of material on which to practice!

This week's exercise is Name the Propaganda. It's really interesting! Click on over to watch the Youtube videos and see if you can determine what type of propaganda is being used. Last week's was equally good, about fallacies in both campaigns.

A simple man believes anything,
but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.
Proverbs 14:15

It is not good to have zeal without knowledge,
nor to be hasty and miss the way.
Proverbs 19:2

Test everything. Hold on to the good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21

Homeschooling ESL

2008-10-06T16:01:00.011-05:00

Okay, now I've done it. I've titled this post in such a way as to attract Google searches from people researching how to teach ESL at home, people looking for how the "experts" do it, or some brilliant ideas. Well, I apologize in advance if that's what led you here! I can't promise any longtime-ESL-teacher wisdom, brilliant research or a scope and sequence for how to do it. In fact, as I researched this topic myself, I didn't find much on the subject. I would have LOVED to come across the blog of a fellow homeschooler who recently adopted one older child and was homeschooling him. If that describes you, welcome! Let me know who you are and let's encourage one another!

A couple of posts ago I wrote about how God is "doing a new thing" in our homeschool. He's doing many new things, actually, one of which is bringing a precious English Language Learner into our midst. What an adventure this is! We've been home for about two weeks with our new 10 year old Ethiopian son. When we met him about 4 weeks ago, he knew and spoke very, very little English. In the few weeks we've been together, he has learned multiple new words per day, and our communication is mostly nouns and charades, but we are bonding wonderfully and communicating effectively nonetheless. God is so good! But... what about school? How do I approach academics with an English Language Learner? Isn't it best to leave this to the professionals?

In case this is your first time to read my blog, I'll give a little background on myself. I received my MEd in 1991 and taught public school for four years before coming home to stay home with my children. We began "officially" homeschooling in 1999. I have a daughter who is 15, working at approximately the 10th grade level, a son who is 12 doing 7th grade this year, and our new son, a fourth grader. We have always homeschooled, and plan to always homeschool. Yes, even through high school. So, when we decided to adopt an older child, it was with the intent of homeschooling him just like our other children. I know other homeschool families (whose blogs I've read) have handled it differently for very various reasons, but we feel strongly that we are to homeschool our new son. Our conviction to homeschool our kids has not changed because someone with different needs has come into our midst. In fact, homeschooling has become the perfect answer to those needs.

Among other reasons, bonding is a key issue. That's 35+ additional hours per week that he will be with his family. When he lived in Ethiopia, he lived in an orphanage and went to a school. He was exceptionally well cared-for, loved, and taught but the reality is that he spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in some sort of institution. It is time for him to spend that kind of time living and learning family. He turned 10 the week after we arrived at home, and I already felt time ticking. Homeschooling has always felt like God gave us a big, beautifully wrapped box and inside it was T-I-M-E. I have LOVED that aspect of it most of all. It has never felt like the gift of time as it does now. I thank God daily for that gift!

Another reason is that though he is 4th grade age, he is not, at this point, functioning at a fourth grade level. There are many reasons for this, but I am so glad that he can be in an environment in which that is not a problem at all. I have materials in all subjects beginning at the preschool level, so he is able to have curriculum which is tailor-made to fit his academic needs in all subjects and allow him to experience success and build confidence as he begins to learn a new language, and learn subjects in that language.

Enough of the "why's" (because there are more, and I could go on all day!) and on to the "how."

Like I stated earlier, I'm not an "ESL" expert, or specially-trained in that area at all, but from my years as a teacher and now as a homeschooling mother I know how children learn, so I'm basing what I'm doing on how I've taught my other two, my "gut instincts," random ideas that just pop into my head, and a couple of things I read on a Yahoo group. God has been so faithful to lead me to information just when I need it!

I was planning on waiting several weeks after bringing him home before starting school. But, he had been on a school break for two months when we got there. All of his friends were going back to school the Monday after we got back, so I think he was in "back to school" mode. I, of course, was not in BTS mode, but after a week and a half back, he needed the structure and my older son needed to get back to his school work. Last Monday we began our main subjects: Reading , Math, and Life. (I'll add the others in as his English gets better.) As you can see from the photo above, today he played with Play-doh. We are doing lots of playing and talking. Talking and playing. He used all of the cookie cutters and cut out shapes, which we talked about... colors, animals, textures, etc. We have spent lots of time blowing bubbles, kicking the ball, writing with sidewalk chalk, painting pictures, building with blocks, playing with the RC car, listening to music, playing with puppets, reading books (in English and Amharic)... anything to spur creativity and foster conversation. So, before I get going on the curriculum aspect of our school, please know that it is a small part of the big picture right now.

For reading we are currently working our way through the Scaredy Cat Reading System, developed by Joyce Herzog. (No, it's not for people who are scared to read, it's referring to the fact that vowels are "scaredy cats"... they make different sounds when they are scared. Cute!) I came across these materials at our homeschool book fair back in May and I just loved them. I only purchased Level 1- The Alphabet, and I am deciding if I want to purchase the next level for vowels or keep going with other materials. So far he has responded very well to the videos, songs, visual aids and workbook. I was afraid it would be "beneath" him a bit, since some of his schoolwork in Ethiopia was done in English. But once I got him home and got a chance to sit down with him and his composition books full of written English, I realized he could not read me any of what he had written. I realized that we needed to start at the beginning. So, though some of it is basic (for instance, he knew what the letter "A" was) it's good to teach phonics thoroughly, sequentially, and in context, so that I can know that he understands it before moving on. Besides, there is so much in his life that he doesn't know right now. Everything is new for him. There is a degree of comfort in hearing information repeated that one has already learned, and it gives him an opportunity to feel successful. Additionally, it is helping solidify his understanding of our written alphabet and the phonics rules and is filling in inevitable gaps. It helps me to ensure that he has thorough phonics/English instruction. (Any English he knows right now, after all, was taught to him by teachers for whom English was not their first language.) So, it's okay if some of it is review. He needs to hear it and I need to teach it, and we are enjoying our time together!

Part of learning to read is distinguishing between different sounds. To that end, I purchased two fun Bingo-type "Listening Lotto" games: Sounds at Home and Outside Sounds. We played the "sounds at home" game today and he *loved* it.

An additional supplement which was shared with me by an elementary ESL teacher is the website Starfall.com. We have been doing the ABC link (at the top) and going through the letters as we do them in our Scaredy Cat reading. Each letter has an activity that goes with it. Later the program works through the vowel sounds and and words, and reads stories to them and has fun games, activities and printables. A very helpful resource!

Of course, I've got one of my favorite resources, Phonics Pathways ready, as well as Bob Books. Unless I feel like he needs to continue with Scaredy Cat Reading, I may transition over to those after we finish the alphabet. Those are my "tried and true" resources that I used with my first two, plus I already own them and it would save some money.

Speaking of money, that's always been one of my weaknesses when I face a schooling challenge-- throwing money at the problem! So, what did I do last week? I went to Sam's and bought every level of Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills books from grade 1 through 4, as well as Math K-3 and Phonics K-3. He loves doing those colorful sheets, especially for math, he's on such different levels in each subject, and will progress at such differing paces and they were only $7.86 each. (So, I didn't throw too much money...) I think those will be a handy supplement over the next couple of years.

Oh, I can't go any further without mentioning some of my favorite resources EVER-- the books by Peggy Kaye: Games for Reading, Games for Math, Games for Learning, and Games for Writing. My copies of those are well-worn and loved, and I've already got many of the games made from using them with my other two. Playing games is one of the best ways to learn, in my opinion.

Well, this post has gotten long enough! I'll close for now and post again about what I found for English and Math, as well as some wonderful games and other resources I've found. So many links, so little time!

Seriously?

2008-09-30T21:49:00.006-05:00

I haven't posted since August??? Wow!

Well, if you have visited my regular blog at all, you know we've been up to something pretty big! We came home from Ethiopia the week before last with our new son. It has been, and continues to be, an amazing journey.

But now... it's time to return to *some* sort of school schedule (which, when I'm overwhelmed usually means Math, Reading and Life) so that's what we've begun this week.

More on that later... more on what it's like to teach ESL for the first time ever (which is going GREAT, by the way), more on what curriculum we're using... just as SOON as I have some time and another big cup of Ethiopian coffee. For now, here are some "school" pictures I snapped this week so far...

Yesterday I gave Minte a book (in Amharic and English, which I ordered from here) to read while I prepared lunch. Momentarily I heard the back door open and close, and here's what I saw when I looked in the backyard:

Isn't that a great way to enjoy a book and the cooler weather? Pretty soon his brother caught on and joined him. I thought this was so cute!

As for math... Here he is after playing a math game, working on his addition using the Flashmaster, which he LOVES:

So, we're back! And I'm still here! I hope to post more soon. Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope your school year is going great!

"A New Thing"

2008-08-24T10:41:00.011-05:00

"Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert."
Isaiah 43:19

First of all, we have had BIG doin's at our house in recent weeks, so if you don't normally check my "regular" blog, you can click on over and see our newest addition to our family. We are SOOO excited! We have a new son! We are very prayerful that he will be joining us in the next 2-3 weeks. Please pray with us that we could travel SOON!

My mind has been all a-jumble the past few weeks with the adoption and preparing to travel, but school hasn't completely been on the back burner. However, I haven't posted on my homeschool blog in WAY too long, and I hope to get back to it regularly once we get back from Ethiopia. I've got so much to post, but so little time it seems.

God is truly doing a "new thing" in our family. I love the verse above, as it speaks of a God who brings new things to pass, creates life, makes things "spring forth" and makes rivers and roadways into new territories. That's what I'm trusting Him for this year! This is a year of "new things" for us, for sure!

One of the newest things recently is that this is the first year I've "farmed out" any classes for any of my children. My daughter, who is beginning her 10th grade year, began taking some courses at a local homeschool "resource center." It's not exactly a co-op (since I don't have to teach or volunteer) but she is being taught by some other highly qualified teachers/homeschool moms in a few subjects. I originally signed both of my older kids up for a few classes each for this year because when we began this adoption I wasn't sure if we would be adopting a baby, toddler, one baby, two babies, a baby and a toddler, etc. SO much was unknown! But, I knew I would need help, especially for the high school courses. We went last spring and registered for Biology, Writing, Rapid Math/SAT Math prep, World History/Literature, and Study Skills. I chose those classes for her because they either involved curriculum that she/we already wanted to use.

Biology is Apologia. I understand that there are many schools of thought on this, but it is important to us that science be taught from a Christian perspective. This will be our first year to use Apologia, as I've always chosen BJU for its "meatiness." (We are finishing up BJU's Physical Science 9 DVD course and were headed toward using their Biology as well... I still may with my younger two when it is time.) However, this class is being team-taught by two sharp teachers, so I'm confident that it will be a good fit for her.
The World History/ Literature course is a combination of BJU 's World History text (which she liked and already wanted to use, remember she's my textbook girl!) as well as an excellent booklist which already had several books on my list for her (from Veritas' Omnibus I-III books.)
Her writing class is a combination of writing assignments and online grammar activities, to be completed and emailed weekly.
Rapid Math is a combination of math tips/tricks and weekly SAT Math practice (especially in the word problems/logic area.) When I figure out what curriculum the teacher is using, I'll post it. It looks great!
Study Skills will probably be one of her most challenging and beneficial classes, in my opinion. I'll take more time in another post to explain what they're doing, but all I can say is I wish I would've had that class in high school! Wow!

SO, that's the first "new thing." Other teachers teaching and assigning. Syllabi coming into the house that I didn't prepare. Projects due that I didn't assign. The control freak in me is getting restless! She started her classes this week and I have to admit, it was strange. She would say, "I've got Biology homework," and inwardly I would think, "What Biology homework?" because I wasn't the one who assigned it! But, it will be good. The classes only meet one day per week, God directed us to do this, and most of all Bethany herself is loving it.

She will still be completing Geometry and Chinese at home.

Geometry will continue to be with Teaching Textbooks (through Algebra 2, at which point I will evaluate whether we will continue with that curriculum.)
Chinese is a combination of Pimsleur Mandarin, Rosetta Stone Mandarin, Shaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar, and we have also begun a relationship with a wonderful woman who works at a Chinese restaurant in our town who is from the province in China where Bethany loves to go, who is willing to meet with her on a regular basis and work on her pronunciation. One thing I think is great is that Bethany prepares Bible verses to say to her for her to help with her pronunciation. It truly helps Bethany, and God's Word is spoken. Love it. If someone would've told me when she was in kindergarten that her high school foreign language was going to be Chinese, I would've said they were crazy! But, this is another "new thing" that God has done in our family over the years. He is so good!

SO, outside classes are one of the "new things" going on around here. It may feel strange now, but in a few weeks I will welcome the fact that someone else is teaching her one day a week because the other major "new thing" that is going on around here is that I'll be a 4th grade ESL teacher for our newest son. More on that in my next post...

I'm Still Here!!!

2008-06-30T19:09:00.002-05:00

And I've got lots to post!

Like...

all of the goodies I found at our homeschool bookfair in May
how we're trying to wrap up school over the summer (now that my daughter's back from China and we're counting down the weeks until we go to Africa!)
all of my thoughts about homeschooling an older, adopted child
what I've been finding as I've researched ESL instruction
how EXCITED I am to be homeschooling our new son when he gets here
a different approach I'll be taking with my younger 2 next year
fun stuff I've been wanting to order
Deep Meaningful Homeschool Mom thoughts. You know, because I have so many. LOL

SO... now that our adoption has calmed down for the time being and VBS is over, I plan to get back to this blog!

We received some fun adoption news today, so if you don't usually read my "regular" blog, pop on over (in the sidebar. :)

Have a great week!

2008-06-06T07:57:00.001-05:00

Educational Choices

2008-05-08T10:10:00.003-05:00

I'm still here! I canNOT believe it's been over a month since I posted on my homeschool blog. Incredible. BUT, we do have some incredible things going on in our household... things I can't wait to post about but things I find hard to put into words at the moment. On the school front, we have been plugging along, winding up our year. Tomorrow we will go to our big ole' book fair/ convention. I'll try to post what I found and what our plans are. Even if it doesn't help anyone else, it helps me to get it written down and formulate some thoughts! In a way I've needed the breather, but in many ways I've missed this blog. I'm sure I'll be post-happy this summer and make up for my time away!

I came across this today on Josh Harris' blog. Years ago God used his father Gregg's words to speak truth into our family and into our homeschool. Then I became familiar with Josh through is books, and now his blog. I just love him and his Godly insight about so many things. I know this is the time of year when so many of us are evaluating the school year we just had and making plans for next year. I just wanted to share what he said on his blog and to his church. May his words encourage you as you are deciding how to proceed with your children's education. May we all support each other as the body of Christ.

I'll be back soon!

What We Have Been Up To

2008-04-04T06:48:00.009-05:00

I'll start this post with one of my favorite Todd Wilson cartoons:

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

According to the calendar, we should be right about...here:

Does that look like you? I just looked in the mirror and it definitely looks like me! Happy April!

I remember at a MOPS convention I went to years ago, Elisa Morgan showed a picture of a shriveled up juice box with straws sticking out of it all over, and she asked, "Is this what you feel like??" I just wanted to cry! I was that sucked-dry juice box! To this day that image pops into my mind from time to time.

Well, what in the world have we been up to in our homeschool, anyway? It's been weeks since I've posted, so we must be doing SOMEthing... I haven't posted a "school update" in months. But, believe me, we have been doing school. Boy, have we! Well, since I posted the cabbage juice post last month, I might as well follow up with the pictures of the pHun we had testing the pH of various substances.

As you can see, the cabbage juice being poured in is purple, but as it hits the substance in the cup it changes color. Pretty cool!

Here are some of the substances we tested:

It looks like we were dying easter eggs, doesn't it? It was a fun experiment, and very easy to put together using (non-yicky) ingredients from around the house. It was in our BJU Science 6 curriculum, but there are some links for similar experiments in this post if you want to try it. And, if you're one of my friends who lives nearby, I've got a jar of extra cabbage juice!

This semester we made a switch in my daughter's science as well. Since we are in the midst of an adoption, and we're not sure when our new addition(s) will arrive, we are trying to make hay while the sun shines and really get ahead, to give us some margin after we get home from Africa. I've been thinking for some time that I'd like to try a BJU dvd course for science to see what I thought of it for possible use for Biology or Chemistry for high school. For various reasons the co-ops around us aren't a good fit, and I acknowledge that I need some support in the area of upper-level science. SO, we ordered the BJU Physical Science 9 dvd course for this semester (continuing in the summer.) We started it after Christmas in January. We wrapped up the Earth Science 8 in December. It was a push, but I condensed the chapters and feel that she got a good grounding in Earth Science/Astronomy. (The grade 6 book had a substantial amount of that as well, so she had it two years ago...)

We've been very pleased with the DVD course so far. The teacher, Mr. Harmon, is pleasant to watch and, while he's not completely goofy, he doesn't take himself too seriously so he holds her interest. It's a very thorough course (as I've found BJU science to be... packed with information!) and she's really understanding it.

I went ahead and ordered the Science 9 Kit from Home Science Tools because it had some things in it we didn't have (like a bunsen burner, test tubes, etc.) and some chemicals that I didn't have around the house like, oh say, sulfuric acid... It's been SO handy to have it all ready for labs. At $399 the course seemed pricey to me, but when I compared it to the $40 or so a month (plus fees) my friends pay for 9-10 months of a co-op, it came out almost the same. Also, with the DVD's, she has instruction every day and not just on Fridays. I do have to set up the labs and help her with them, but in return I'm not driving her to a class and volunteering in Cooking with Tots, and/or finding somewhere for my son to be or paying for him to take a class he doesn't necessarily want to take (and thus, volunteering my time on his behalf as well) so it works out, at least for us. And, I enjoy teaching science, I just needed support. My son enjoys watching some of it as well, and it's preparing him for some of his upper level work as well.

We took a brief break from Omnibus I to read something "lighter" for the past few weeks. She's finishing up Christy by Catherine Marshall and then it's back to Genesis to begin the Omnibus Primary books. I have found that it helps sometimes to alternate between something really heavy and serious to something lighter and a bit easier to read. That may not work for everyone, but it works for us. It's something I've done in my own reading over the years.

Kyle read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 recently, per the Veritas grade 6 list. It was quite a challenging read but it lead to some great discussions. There is a synopsis here if you don't remember that book from high school!) We checked out the movie from our library and watched it after he finished the book. It's interesting, the wall-TV's that were so "futuristic" in the mid 1960's are the flat screens that are common today. People in the book went around with tiny earphones in their ears as well... Hmmm.... This book sparked (pun intended!) some great discussions about media, reading, v*oyeurism (and the link between that and watching "reality TV"), etc. I'm glad we tackled it. This week, for something a bit lighter, he read Two Williams by Doug Wilson, a new sequel to Susan Creek and Blackthorn Winter, which he read and enjoyed last year. These are very well-written and historical books, and beautifully illustrated. I highly recommend these for logic stage reading. Speaking of beautifully illustrated, next up for him is The Yearling, which we checked out from the library. The version we found is from the Scribner Illustrated Classic series and was illustrated by N.C. Wyeth.

For Kyle, we took a break from Teaching Textbooks when we got to the decimals and percents chapter and he is working through the Zeta: Decimals book in Math U See. I wish I had done that with Bethany when she was in the Pre-Algebra TT book, as we had jumped right into TT from MUS without completing the decimals section of MUS and she experienced some frustration. Hopefully we'll adequately cover decimals and percents and he can jump right back into the Pre-Algebra in a few weeks. It is going very well right now.

Bethany is continuing to enjoy TT Algebra I. She attended an SAT/PSAT prep class this week and is ready to jump into Geometry (she was at a distinct disadvantage for PSAT prep without it thusfar... but she's only 8th/9th grade, so it's coming!)

We've FINALLY wrapped up Latina Christiana I and are getting into Level II. Believe me, when Leigh Lowe said, "There's no reason to hurry through Latin" I took her at her word! Let me encourage you... Latin is wonderful and worth it, so go for it! There's no reason to hurry through it, and it's a very valuable endeavor. (I wrote about why we study Latin here.)

It's always worked for us to study one language that's not spoken (Latin) and one that is (a modern language.) Kyle is continuing to enjoy studying Spanish, and is gaining quite a vocabulary! Last year at our annual book fair, Sr. Gamache invited Kyle to help him run the Clase Divertida booth this year, so he's really been working. Bethany continues her Chinese, which I can tell is a truly God-given passion and gift for her. In fact, she will be returning to China next month, so she'll get to use what she's been learning.

Our current missionary study is Amy Carmichael. This is our second time to study her. I LOVE HER. In fact, it is very likely that our next daughter will be named Amy. Her life and her writing has spoken into my life so much. We are enjoying our study of her. She was amazing. Truly amazing.

We are also enjoying reading Grandpa's Box. You can go here for more info about the book and to see the corresponding projects we are doing. I highly recommend this book.

Well, there it is. That's some of what we've been up to. (There's more, but this post is long enough!) We're continuing to plug along, and when the sun is shining we read on the patio.

Spring is here!

FYI...

2008-03-10T08:50:00.004-05:00

Al Mohler will be discussing the California homeschooling issue today on his radio program. You can listen to it online here from 5:00- 6:00 PM Eastern Time. (Or if you're a podcast junkie like I am, you can subscribe to it here.) His blog article about it is here. I really appreciate Dr. Mohler's perspective on SO many issues. He really is a voice of reason in my opinion. I'm ready to hear what he has to say on this issue.

Have a great Monday!

Whose Children Are They?

2008-03-07T14:16:00.009-06:00

Can you imagine the public outcry that would be heard if it were suddenly brought into question whether parents could legally be in charge of feeding their own children unless at least one parent became a certified, registered dietitian? What if, in order to prepare your children's food in your own home it was mandatory to be under the ongoing supervision of a credentialed, registered dietitian?

How do you think the general public would feel about their state assuming that since one family didn't adequately feed their children (as determined by the courts) now all families must receive training and certification as dietitians and cooks, or else bring their children to state-funded nutrition centers for all of the meals for their minor children? Because, obviously, parents can't be trusted. They're not qualified. The feeding of children is too important an issue. We can't leave dietary decisions and menu implementation to amateurs! Even amateurs who love these children with their very lives and are doing everything they can to educate themselves and feed them properly. Parents either must receive the necessary qualification and certification to cook for and feed their own children, or let the proper professionals handle it. In fact, it should be the law.

This sounds a bit absurd in the realm of nutrition, but this is exactly what's happening in the realm of education. The underlying assumption is that parents simply can't be trusted to educate their own children.

This week's California Court of Appeal decision is found here. If you haven't already, I encourage you to go read it. The language is clear. It's not just about this one family. The decision is now on the path to become a legal precedent for other cases. I don't think it's alarmist at all to listen to James Dobson's radio broadcast for today and consider seriously what is discussed. It's not paranoid to join HSLDA or at least your state's support group. It's not irrational to go here and sign this petition on behalf of thousands of homeschoolers in California. You never know when your family might benefit from the work that's being done on behalf of the rights of parents. Parents who happen to want to nourish the minds of their children themselves... through homeschooling.

**Edited to add: This is not just a homeschool issue! Al Mohler has a great post about this on his blog here. Dr. Mohler states, "This is a controversy that demands the attention of all parents. After all, if parents have no constitutional right to educate their own children, what other aspects of the parent's choices for their own children lack protection? This question reaches far beyond educational decisions."

Lie # 7

2008-03-06T18:26:00.014-06:00

**This is the seventh post in a series that I have been writing from the book Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe, by Todd Wilson. (If you haven't read my other posts on the topic, you can find them by clicking on the link in the label at the end of this post.) **

That's what I love about this blog. I can start a series of posts, leave off, and pick up the series a year later! If you are a serious blogger you probably can't imagine doing that. (If you are a homeschool mom, you probably can. ;)

It's March 6th. Finally! It's March! Did you make it through the "February Freakout?" Do you typically have a FF? I do. Every year in February I have that "WHAT am I DOING??" feeling. The momentum of fall is gone. The Christmas rush is over. There are no more holidays in sight until spring break or Easter. Some of the curriculum I *loved* last summer and eagerly started last fall is staring at us, no longer fun and new. The books have creases and pages are torn out. Some of the things I thought my kids would get a kick out of got an "eh" and a shrug. Several of the plans I made in my August back-to-school-coffee-fueled-plan-a-thon were too much trouble to actually put into practice. My clothes are no longer cute. The weather doesn't know if it wants to be cold or warm (where we live) but my legs attest to the fact that it is NOT time for capris pants.

If you don't do this in February, chances are you feel this way at some point (or at many points!) in your schoolyear. It's in seasons like this that you run into.... her.

You've seen her. The "perky homeschooler."

She's perpetually dressed cute, or even worse, looks cute in *whatever* she wears. She's always in a good mood. She's excited about what she and her kids are doing in school. Moreover-- her kids are excited about it! You usually run into her when they've just come from one fabulously enriching activity and they're on their way home to write about it in their Enrichment Journals. She loves all of her curriculum and wouldn't change a thing. Just being around her makes you feel extremely guilty about your own feelings about homeschooling at the moment. Why? Because you've bought...

Lie #7: Every other mom loves homeschooling her kids.

Most of the moms I know like homeschooling most of the time. In fact, the majority of them love it (in theory) the majority of the time. But the truth is, in practice, many of us don't LOVE it each and every day. Some of us love the results of it, but not the everyday-ness of it. And... that's okay! It's hard work!

If you look at what you do that's really good for you, it's not always easy. Taking vitamins, for instance. The mediocre vitamins I get at Wal Mart that are good-but-not-that good for me are a pleasant color and not that hard to swallow. The vitamins I get from my vitamin store that are the bestest-vitamins-in-the-universe are huge, green horse pills. Which do you think I *like* taking? Which do you think actually make me feel better and more energetic?

Exercise, eating certain healthy foods, certain spiritual disciplines, ministry tasks, motherhood... most things that are best are hard! Most moms I know who are homeschooling are doing it because for whatever reason they (along with their husbands) have decided it is best for their children. But it is hard! And things that are hard are usually not The Most Fun Everyday.

I am motivated by a deep love for my kids and a commitment to do what's best for them. My husband and I have decided that homeschooling is best. (Yes, through high school!) I LOVE knowing that I'm doing what I know God has called me to do. Do I always love doing it? No. I *love* what homeschooling is. On most days I *like* what it involves. But, I *live* the reality of each day, relying on God's power and not my own energy or emotion. In fact, on the days I don't really "love" it, it's more of an offering to God and I find I'm more reliant on Him. If I love Him with all my heart, soul, and mind, and homeschool as though working for God and not man... it doesn't matter if I love it all the time.

Not loving homeschooling for a season is not the reason not to do it...Not loving it is not a sign you're not good at it...Not loving it does not make you "less" of a homeschooler than your perky friend...Not loving it gives you an opportunity to lean more on Him, and gives Him an opportunity to work His character into you as you persevere...Not loving it brings an opportunity to make necessary changes...Not loving it is okay, and it is normal.

I'll close with a quote from Wilson's book. "The things that are the easiest are usually not very good for you, but those things that take blood, sweat and tears are worth everything. So take heart. Homeschooling must be really, really good because it's really, really hard."

Everyone (even Perky Mom) has those "not-lovin'-it" seasons. Don't believe the lie!

Cabbage Juice, Anyone?

2008-02-23T14:07:00.011-06:00

Next week's science at our house involves using purple cabbage juice to test the pH of certain substances. There are different suggestions out there of how to get purple cabbage juice, and even substitution ideas. Here's a quick and easy way we did it. (And, though it may be suggested that red onions work too... I found that no, in fact, they don't, and I'm still burning candles to get rid of the boiled red onion smell. ;)

First I started water boiling in a kettle on the stove. While it was heating, I chopped cabbage. We only need two cups of the solution, so I just used half a head of cabbage.

I chopped it into small pieces.

I put it into a eight cup bowl.

Once the water was boiling, I poured it over the cabbage, just enough to cover it.

This is what it looked like after about 15 minutes.

It didn't get much darker, but this is how it ended up 30 or so minutes later.

I then strained it into a jar, and ended up with more than I thought so I needed two jars! Once site suggested pouring vinegar over the leftover cabbage and using it as a relish. Um, we didn't do that, but if it sounds good to you... go for it! I read said to store it cold, so it's now in our garage refridgerator awaiting our science experiments next week!

The procedures we will be doing are in our BJU Science 6 book, but here are some sites which offer fun ways to test acidity with cabbage juice:

Zoom Activities: Cabbage Juice Indicator

Children's Museum (Connecticut)

Coal Education

Cabbage Patch Chemistry

Suzy's World (exceptionally clear explanations)

We'll see how it turns out. It should be "pHun!"

What Kind of House Are You Building?

2008-02-21T07:29:00.001-06:00

Originally posted Feb. 13, 2007.

"A wise woman builds her house,
but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down."

Prov. 14:1

God has whispered this verse into my spirit so many times as a mom, in the midst of a tirade against my children or while being self-indulgent. "Are you building your house or tearing it down right now?" Oh, how convicting. There is no more satisfying feeling than knowing that I am actively engaged in building my house. There is no feeling more awful than knowing that I am tearing it down with my own hands. As moms, we have the power to do both.

I've been thinking of this verse in a new light lately, though. I've been considering it as it applies to homeschooling.

If you think of someone literally building a house, you think of the expertise they bring to the project. Some homes are brick, so you would want someone with masonry skills to do the work. If you wanted a sided home, you might hire a different contractor to do it, not necessarily a bricklayer. I've seen some gorgeous stucco homes (there is a stunning one in my neighborhood) which involves a totally different set of skills. Any of those types of homes are nice. They fulfill their purposes- to provide shelter for those who inhabit them. Though there are certain advantages to each different style (cost, energy efficiency, regional tastes, etc.) mostly it's personal preference which leads to one choice over another.

Much has been made over the past 20 years or so about "learning styles" of children as it pertains to effectively educating them. That has been a particular interest of mine, as it was the topic for my "research proposal" that I wrote for my masters degree. As homeschooling moms, though, I think we must take it a step further. What about our teaching style? Are you sequential, textbook-y, unit study-ish, holistic, scheduled, loosey-goosey? Whatever you are, however you are wired, I believe it is God-given, and it is your "building style."

Much frustration would come to the bricklayer who was hired to do a sided house. So, too, for the mom who buys curriculum for one type of "house" when that's not her style or expertise. A bricklayer could possibly build a sided house, but it would not be as quality a job since it is not his area of expertise. A thematic unit-loving mom would go nuts trying to implement a structured school-in-a-box approach. She could do it, but it might not be done as well as someone who loves how those fit together and enjoys that approach. Similarly, someone who loves writing her own curriculum would be frustrated following someone else's plan for the year. She could make it work, but the end result might not be what she was aiming for. What kind of house are you building? What kind of house are you gifted to build? Go with that! God did it! Our loving, sovereign General Contractor knew just what kind of house you were to build for your family and gave you desires and skills that fit it perfectly.

And I don't think He randomly assigned kids with learning style a,b,and c to a mom who's teaching style is x, y, and z. He didn't just put us all together and say, "Well, good luck with that!" chuckling to Himself as He walked off. He knows the blueprints for the house He has called you to build, and He has given you the raw materials. He will make it work! I am just now discovering in my 8th year of homeschooling that some of my frustration over the years has been from following someone else's blueprint, or building a brick house when God gave me stucco abilities. I'm sitting on a pile of bricks, with "Masonry For Dummies" books strewn all about, when what I'd really like to do is grab my trusty trowel and stucco like I know how to do. (Okay, an over-abundance of symbolism, but hopefully you get what I mean!)

However, having to work at it doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. Building a house is hard work. But the key question is: Is the house being built? Is there progress? Perhaps if you are building along and finding holes and leaks, it's time to go back to the drawing board and see if you are building according to the right blue prints, using your God-given giftings and preferences not someone else's. Or maybe you just need to go back and patch up some spots and work more diligently in the future. God will honor our attempts to work hard at something. I don't believe He will honor our attempts to get out of working at it, or to make it easier on ourselves, though. Only through prayer will you know if you're building the wrong kind of house or if you're just not being diligent in the work you've been doing.

Your "house" will not look like mine, and mine will not look like yours. But may they be functional and beautiful, built to the glory of God.

TGIFunny

2008-02-15T08:50:00.002-06:00

What Every Kid Wants for Valentine's Day...

2008-02-14T08:27:00.005-06:00

A day off!

Nothing says "I love you" like meeting Gram at Starbucks for a muffin and a latte. And for Gram and daughter to go shopping at a favorite mall to shop for some much-needed clothes. And for mom and son to spend the afternoon at the library and the Army/Navy store. And then for everyone to meet back at home for a wonderful Valentine's day dinner with Dad.

Oh, yeah...

Chinese New Year

2008-02-12T15:34:00.001-06:00

Xin Nian Hao!

It's not too late to celebrate Chinese New Year!

It officially started last Thursday, but my daughter's Chinese friends say that they are celebrating it for 15 days.

Last week we had a small Chinese New Year Party with two other families. Here's the group, the girls dressed in their "qi pao," Chinese party dresses. Their American Girl dolls were dressed for the occasion as well! I posted a slide show on my other blog, but I thought I'd post over here about the resources and games we used.

My daughter used this site at mandarintools.com to create each party guest their own Chinese name. We put them on name tags, and it was interesting to see how each person's name truly reflected their character!

After the guests arrived and put on their name tags, we sat and read a story. We read the book Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin. It is a beautifully illustrated and easy to understand story of a Chinese family. The explanations of the customs are clear and understandable for a wide range of ages, as we had preschoolers up to a 14 year old at our house, and all enjoyed the book. One of my friends even pointed out how we can "adapt" some of their customs and put them in a Christian context (instead of sweeping out last year's "bad luck" we can sweep out bad habits and sins that have accumulated over the past year, etc. A very interesting discussion!)

We then made some "Year of the Rat" picture frames and Chinese lanterns that I ordered from Oriental Trading Company. We used sticky dots from the craft store as well as glue sticks and they worked great... and we didn't have to worry about glue drying.

We made up a "Ladybug Game" (sort of like a "cake walk"...we got the ladybug idea from the Chapman's book, Shaoey and Dot, a favorite among the families who were at the party who have precious daughters adopted from China). We laminated some ladybugs and taped them in a circle on the floor. Each ladybug had a differen number of dots on its back. We played some Chinese music while everyone walked in a circle.
When the music stopped each child stopped on a ladybug and counted the number of dots on its back and we drew a number out of a bag. The child on the corresponding number won a prize. The prizes were items we bought in China while we were there, but also a Chinese New Testament and some coins with John 3:16 in Chinese. As each child won a prize we removed that number and ladybug, so each child got a chance to win. (This photo was taken after most of the kids had won and were sitting on the stairs with their prizes...)

We also played a story game, the "Left/Right Game." The children sat in a circle while my daughter read a story she had written. There was a gift to pass around while the story was read. When she said the word "right" (or "Wright" or "write") the gift was passed to the right. When she said "left" it was passed left. It was a cute story she wrote about the "Wright family" and how they celebrated Chinese New Year. (Story below.)
When the story stopped, whoever was left holding the gift got to keep it. In this case, it was a wonderful set of small figures from China representing the 56 people groups. The winner was so excited, because his sister is from one of the people groups!

We had some yummy Chinese take-out from our favorite Chinese buffet in our town. We have made friends with the owner and his wife... His wife is from the province in China that we visit. She helps my daughter with her pronunciation and is very helpful to translate any shirts we buy at Target (or wherever) that have Chinese writing on them... I want to know what they say! We ate lunch at the restaurant and then ordered take out for the party for later. We gave her one of our coins with John 3:16 on it, and she read it with interest. We hope to get to know her better in the future. My daughter has been learning Scripture in Chinese and we want to get her to help her with her pronunciation. What a great opportunity to let God's Word speak for itself, and perhaps open the door for the gospel.

After crafts, games and food, the kids played for awhile upstairs and then we had fun cranking the Chinese "hip hop" music (that we found on iTunes) and then popping party poppers. It was a great time!

If you'd like to learn more about China or Chinese New Year with your kids, here are some additional resources:

Kids On Mission: China

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Left-Right Game

The Wright family was preparing for the Chinese New Year. For the Wrights, if you did not celebrate Chinese New Year, than that was just not right. The Wright family lives in Fuzhou, China, but they soon left to travel right up the coast to Shanghai, China, where the rest of the Wright family members were left waiting for them to begin the celebration. The Wright family finally arrived at their family's house which was on the left of the street, right across from the market place. Their family was preparing for the New Year by sweeping out the bad luck left over from the last year. Uncle Wright decided to write a good luck poem to hang on the left of the door outside. Grandma Wright gave the little Wright girls a fresh hair cut, and Auntie Wright left to fetch their new gowns. Next, the entire extended Wright family began the celebration right away with a huge feast. The Wright's feast had just the right amount of food to feed each Wright, but left plenty of leftovers for tomorrow. After everybody was finished eating, the Wright family members left the kitchen to stand right outside and pop firecrackers. When there were not any poppers left, there soon came the best part of all, the dragon dance. Each Wright family member left any bad thoughts behind and gathered around as Auntie Wright colored in the left and right eyes of the dragon. The dragon's eyes were now opened so that he could see. The music began blaring from the instruments being played right to the left of them, and the dragon began its dance. Left and right, left, left, left and right and left it swayed. It followed the sun right then left, then right and right again. Left it turned, swaying further and further left, right. Right as the music started to calm down, the dragon reared to the right and came to a halt. The Wright family roared in laughter and applause and each Wright hugged all of the other Wrights. Right at the end of the clapping, each Wright left their places and gathered closer, singing and shouting, Xin Nian Hao! Yes, the Wright family was right, the old year was left far behind and the New Year was finally here.

Election Resources

2008-02-03T15:30:00.000-06:00

With Super Tuesday upon us, and amid all the continuing coverage of the caucuses, debates and primaries, the election is in front of our kids at every turn. What a great opportunity to use this time to teach them about it first hand!

I know there are some great resources out there in book form and online, and I'm in the process of scoping them out. I thought I'd share what I've found so far...

If you are a Republican, there is a fun website coordinated by an oh-so-together mom I've "known" for years on the Well-Trained Mind Yahoo group. The site is called HSforGOP.us and you can join and access it for $5 for an individual or $10 for a family. This site will provide age/grade appropriate lesson plans and interactive activities throughout the election process. We joined today, and I'm currently trying to figure it all out, so I can't post any more details than that! My kids are the perfect age to enjoy logging on and participating in some of the activities, so hopefully it will prove to be useful in the months ahead.

Another resource I've ordered is a Presidential Election Process labbook e-book from Knowledge Box Central. I ordered the 6-12th grade one (linked with the title), but there is one available for K-5th grade here.

Enchanted Learning, which I've loved for years, also has some fun printable election activities here.

I know this is only the tip of the ~~iceberg~~ ballot box, so if there are others you've heard of or are using, let me know!

TGIFunny

2008-01-25T07:15:00.001-06:00

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

Finding Time for Fitness

2008-01-20T11:33:00.000-06:00

Daisy had a great question in my comments this week, another topic I like to think about and get ideas from other moms about:

"When your children were younger, did you have/make time to do things like exercise/work out, or was this something that just happened in the course of your playing and interacting with your children (running around with them etc.)?"

I'm so glad you asked this, Daisy. First of all, I'm glad you asked about when my children were younger. Because, I actually DID make more time to exercise when they were younger than I do now, and in fact, this is an area in which I've been feeling convicted in recent months. Thank you so much for bringing this up!

When my children were quite small (as in, still babies/toddlers) I used to ::::I hate to keep saying this:::: get up really early to go walking. My husband left for work at around 6:45, so I would hit the sidewalk at around 6:00. No, it wasn't easy to get up and get moving, and no I'm not a morning person-- my opinion is that morning people are made, not born. But, oh, how I relished those early morning walks! It was such a great time to be out breathing fresh air, having some MUCH needed time alone, praying, thinking, and taking care of my body by exercising the way I should. I did this at least 4 mornings a week. If I got up at 5 (which I have done for a number of years) then I also could get in a good quiet time, too. Coming in after a brisk walk, kissing my sweet husband goodbye, having some coffee and getting ready for my day really helped to energize me for the day. It also helped, in those years, that one or both of the kids went down for a nap in the afternoon, because a routine that early usually made me tired by that time, too, and I could either rest with them or have a few minutes of "down time" myself.

When they were early elementary aged, we moved and had some extra room so that I could get a treadmill. We didn't spend much on one (that's when they were quite expensive... we bought a used one at a "Play It Again Sports" store. Now treadmills are quite reasonable.) If I couldn't get up or out for my morning walking/running, then I would make time at around 3:00 in the afternoon. That was well after we were through with school, and there was still time to shower and prepare dinner before the evening hours. Back when Dr. Ph*il first started coming on, while I still watched that show, I would watch that everyday at 3:00 and get on the treadmill. My kids were old enough by then to do something independently for that period of time and since we had spent the day on school they were just as glad for a break, I'm sure!

As far as equipment goes, a treadmill is certainly not necessary. While I was still doing my outdoor walks I began carrying handweights, which added a workout for my arms and could serve as a self defense weapon, too, I suppose! Now we have some wrist weights and ankle weights that are much easier to wear/carry. Also, if a treadmill is not a possibility, there are some wonderful workout shows available on DVD. One set I found is the Moving to the Word workout dvd's. I love these because the women are dressed modestly, the music is Scripture, and it's a great workout! Recently I began incorporating some ideas I got from seeing Kelly Ripa's workout tips one morning during our Christmas break. We bought some weight balls and have begun doing some of what she suggests. We love doing the alphabet workout with the weight balls. I can really feel this in my legs! In my more creative moments I think I want to have them do this with spelling words or science vocabulary, but I haven't done it yet. Going through the alphabet would great for younger kids to do with a regular playground ball and for mom to do with a 5-20 pound weight ball!

With my older kids I have (when I think about it!) begun having them take turns choosing a song for us to "move" to. They love to get on our iTunes and pick a jazzy song and then we take turns leading each other in aerobics type movements to the song. It gets us all moving and laughing!

Well, I'm certainly no "fitness expert" and this is an area in which I'm really trying to become more disciplined, but this is what we've done that has worked. I'd love to know what has worked for you!

TGIFunny

2008-01-18T07:26:00.000-06:00

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

When They Were Younger

2008-01-15T15:08:00.000-06:00

Recently my sweet friend Alycia asked me a question in a comment on my other blog. I thought I'd take some time today to answer her question.

She asked how I managed homeschooling when my children were young. She shared that she sometimes feels like she is not able to balance everything... homeschooling, lesson plans, what she thinks they should be learning/doing, whether she is doing enough, etc.

What an excellent question, and an excellent topic! I love to hear other homeschool moms discuss the issues of how to get "it all" done (that elusive "it all!" What is it???) and share ideas about how to balance all of the responsibilities that come with the task of schooling our children ourselves. I used to think it would get significantly easier as my children got older. I felt tugged in so many directions when they were in those toddler/preschool years and as they got into early elementary grades. I longed for the days when it would finally "even out." In my mind we would finally look like that serene family on the front of the Abeka or Sonlight catalog.

I have to admit, things have gotten smoother for us the past few years, but not because the task got easier or because I suddenly got more competent! I need God's grace every bit as much now as I did in those early years, and He meets me each day with a fresh supply. Okay, on to Alycia's question. I think there are two issues at stake: What is "it all" and "enough," and how to balance the "it all/enough" with the rest of... life!

When I started out during the preschool/ early years I was QUITE ambitious. I was coming off of teaching public school, a career I dearly loved and for which I was still enthusiastic. Now I could teach whatever I wanted! Whenever I wanted! All of it! All day! Every day!! Yippee! Additionally, not long after I started planning, I got my hands on a copy of The Well-Trained Mind, so not only was I going to do a bang-up job, I was going to do it classically. Oh, the joy!

As my oldest started her Kindergarten and early elementary years, and my son came up two years behind her I was really Charlotte Mason-y. By God's grace, I had come across Charlotte Mason's books and some wonderful websites, so I took TWTM methods and Mason-ized them pretty well. Lots of outdoor time. Short lessons. Books, books, books. I think that was the only way I stayed sane trying to do all that TWTM entailed. I took things in small chunks and stuck with what was really worth doing. But there was so much! And, like Alycia (and many other homeschool moms) I seemed to tread a fine line each day between being overwhelmed with all we were doing and yet feeling like I wasn't doing enough.

A few years ago I took some time to really look at what we needed to do. First I went to Scripture, my primary guide. According to Scripture my husband and I were commanded to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4) and impress God's Word on their hearts as we went about our lives (Deut. 6:7). I've read, as I'm sure you have, all of the scriptures pertaining to raising godly children. I reminded myself of this primary goal. Beyond this, really, there was no specific Biblical guideline as to what school subjects we were to do. But there was another Scripture which pointed to how I could pinpoint those. According to Romans 13 we are to submit to governing authorities. So, what did those in authority over me say I was to teach? According to the laws of my state I was to teach "reading, spelling, grammar, math and good citizenship." The law also stated I was to do this in a "bona fide manner" using a "written curriculum." God's Word plus 5 subjects. To this day if I become overwhelmed with too many subjects, projects, ideas or extracurriculars I remind myself that I am largely bringing that upon myself. If I simply pare it down to what God's Word and my state say, it's doable. That's the "it all" and "enough."

Now, how to balance that with the rest of life? I don't think God would give us the above guidelines and then give us an impossible scheme into which to fit them. I also don't think He is going to allow us a sense of "balance" in homeschooling if the rest of the priorities He's given us are out of whack. As wives, we are to be keepers at home ("busy at home.") We are to love our husbands. As important as the homeschooling of our children is, it is not our primary calling. As much as homeschooling our children requires the use of our unique Holy Spirit-given gifts, I believe that Scripture teaches that our husbands are to be the primary recipients of those gifts. I remember once reading a homeschooling mom (in a Christian homeschool publication) who said that if she had lots of energy left at 4:30 she probably didn't put as much energy into her kids as she should have. I couldn't disagree more! Where's her energy for her husband? The hours after 4:30 are my primary hours with my sweet husband. And while I have days when I'm wiped out by the time he gets home, I can't imagine planning for him to always get the leftovers of my time and energy, or feeling guilty if I had energy for him! For me, the key to finding "balance" was to find a way to make our school life (as important as it was) not detract from or take away from the bigger picture- a God-glorifying marriage and home. This, for ME, required a schedule. It required dropping out of some good-but-not-best activities and co-ops. It required discipline in the area of not hanging out with other moms and friends for afternoons on end. I've posted before how I discovered that homeschooling, for us, needed to happen... at home. (I had to put the "home" back in "homeschooling!") That may not be how it needs to be for everyone, but that's how it has worked for us.

I had to designate certain times/days for certain subjects. I had to make certain times of the day off limits for the phone or email. (Usually I only return phone calls or email in the afternoons, in that "lull" between after school and dinner.) I designated specific days of the week for working on different ministries in which I was involved. (Ex. Monday I planned my Childrens Choir lesson for the next week, Tuesday I planned my BSF lesson, Wednesday through Friday I worked on our school plans, always trying plan at least two weeks ahead.) Most of this planning, by the way, happened e-a-r-l-y in the morning, too, after my quiet time. I commited to spending a few minutes daily going over their work from that day and stuff their folders for the next day/week. I got serious about making doable meal plans and chore charts. (Managers of Their Homes was a terrific help to me in this area.)

These are habits that were hard for me- the right-brained, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants procrastinator- to get into, but they still benefit me to this day (and are still hard at times!). Oh, how I hope I can still do this when our new little addition gets here!

I hope this answers your great question, Alycia! I can't say I'm any sort of expert, but this is what we did. By God's grace, we are still on this homeschooling journey and I'm learning more and more as I go along!

School Update and Gingerbread Fun

2007-12-19T08:28:00.000-06:00

Wow, after Thanksgiving it seems I began to totally neglect this blog. My diligence on my homeschool blog is not always an accurate reflection of my diligence in our actual homeschooling, but in this case... it's pretty close! (Just kidding, we have been doing school.)

We used to take off the entire month of December, but for the past couple of years we haven't. While I enjoyed the ginormous break while it was happening, I found it that much harder to get "back on track" in January. Struggling to get us (well, mainly myself) back up to speed in January seemed to set me up for my annual February Freak-out all the more. So. We started maintaining at least some sort of schedule in December.

This year, however, I let them each choose a subject to not do during the month of December- a break for them and for me. I could hardly get the entire question out of my mouth before my sweet son exclaimed, "Math!!!" So, he's enjoyed a math-free December. My daughter, who is prone to feeling behind if she's not plowing ahead, decided to keep doing all of her subjects but said she would enjoy no tests. I thought that was a great choice! So she has enjoyed a test-free existence these past few weeks. Our "together subjects" that we typically do on Friday- Latin, Art and Mission Study- have fallen by the wayside since Thanksgiving. And that's okay.

All in all, it has been a lighter school month, but a productive one. Today we are officially "out". I have not updated the specifics of our school progress these past few weeks, because as I frequently say, sometimes you're just too busy doing it to post about it!

Over the break between Christmas and New Year (besides celebrating my anniversary with my cute husband) I will be refining our spring semester plans. My daughter and I are looking at adding another science course, and I will be planning their writing. (They've spent fall on grammar.) With our forthcoming adoption and accompanying uncertainty of the travel dates and plans, it looks like we may just plow ahead and do school all summer, right into next fall. (Basically continuously until the baby comes!) to build in some margin time-wise for when we are adjusting and need to take some extended time off. So, as I'm planning our spring I'll be keeping that in mind.

I'll close this "update" with some fun pictures. Every year since they were little we've always made gingerbread houses. ( When I say "made" I mean I went to Linen's N' Things and bought the pre-made houses and we decorated them. I've never gotten the homemade kind to stand up. They would always turn into a "Gingerbread lean-to," which wasn't exactly the look I was going for!) Over the weekend we had some dear "MK" friends stay with us- one of their last weekends in the states!- and they enjoyed making gingerbread houses along with us.

I love this picture because on the wall behind them is the place (a wall planter, actually) where we keep photos of people (especially overseas missionaries) for whom we are praying. Unless we are in Asia working with them, the only way we see these sweet girls is when we see them on their prayer card on our wall. And here they are, right here in our kitchen! What fun.

Kyle had to do his later because he had been on an errand with Dad...

The finished products turned out great!

A gingerbread neighborhood! I eventually moved ours to the china cabinet. We used to leave them out, but then the dogs discovered them. It wasn't pretty.

Well, that's a little of what's been going on at our house. Have a great Christmas break!

This Just In...

2007-12-03T11:01:00.000-06:00

For those of you who primarily read this blog and not my "main" one, we've got some fun news!

Go here to read about something new and wonderful happening in our family! What a JOYous season, indeed!

Celebrating Advent with Preschoolers

2007-12-02T09:09:00.000-06:00

A couple of people asked in the comments on a post on my other blog about what I used to do for Advent when my kids were younger. The years seem to really fly by! It's hard to believe it's been about 8 years since I had a preschooler! I thought back to what exactly we used to do, and I've been thinking about it all day. The years all seem to run together!

First, let me say that are some wonderful Advent resources on the web, such as here, here, and here. There are also blogs dedicated to Advent ideas like this one Lindsey did last year here. I certainly can't improve or add to what any of those (and many other) sites suggest. But, that wasn't the question. The question was... what did we do?

When my kids were very small, things were chaotic for me. I was involved in many, many things and had quite a few commitments. I spent way too much time feeling "overwhelmed" when my kids were that age. I bought into the "supermom" myth, big time. (By God's grace, I live much differently now!) I also had quite a difficult situation going on in my immediate family that required much of my mental energy, so those were harder years for me. I see some of the wonderful Advent ideas at the above links and I think to myself that as wonderful as they are, it just might have sent me right over the edge back then to have to make ornaments with my small children everyday, or create jars, or any of the many other creative ideas that are out there. At that point in my life what I needed was... simplicity. I don't remember there being a vast quantity of Advent materials or even "how to" books on the subject at the Christian bookstore, and the internet was pretty new. (Wow, that makes me feel old!)

SO... the answer to the question of what we did when my kids were younger was-- keep it simple. For the purpose of this post I will stick to the topic of what we did for Advent, specifically each Sunday in December. Of course, in the midst of it we read tons of children's Christmas stories, went to story times at Barnes and Noble (where Mommy could get a Gingerbread Latte and let some other nice lady read a story!), made crafts and baked cookies. But at some point when they were very small I realized that we needed to make each Sunday during Advent a little more meaningful, so the true purpose of the season didn't get lost among the rest of the activity.

I went to a nearby Christian bookstore and bought an Advent candle wreath like this one:
I bought some greenery and some angels in the floral department at a craft store, wove some ribbon around it. There are some beautiful pre-made advent candle sets now that I've seen, and you could also simply use four votives around a larger candle. Each year I buy some taper candles, sometimes the purple and pink advent candles (which I bought this year) sometimes we just use burgundy which matches our Christmas decor.

I also picked up a Nativity set that was pretty, but that I wouldn't mind the kids handling. For our advent wreath I arrange the Nativity around the wreath and put Jesus in the middle. Here is what ours looked like last year, which is pretty much what I've done each year:

I bought the middle candle last year at Target, and I like it because it has three wicks, signifying the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This year, though, I'm just using a votive holder that has a cross on it... which to me signifies that He came for the cross. See? Each year I do it differently, using whatever I have on hand.

For our "readings" in those early years we used different ones. We used this one (which I just found in my filing cabinet) but there were others. When they were the youngest, we didn't read something or light a candle every night like we do now. We did it each Sunday of Advent and on Christmas morning. We simply read from the readings, read the Christmas story straight from the text of the Bible or from a children's version story book. The main focus was the Bible story. And, each time we read, I would let them hold a different piece of the nativity while they listened. One week they would each hold a shepherd, and we would talk about the shepherds. One week they would each hold an angel, and we'd talk about the angels. (That's why I bought a nativity I didn't mind them handling. I wanted them to be able to touch, feel, and "see" the story as much as possible.)

Over the years as they've gotten older, we've incorporated the Jesse Tree, the Jotham's Journey books, and now the Handel's Messiah Family Advent Reader. But it was in those early years that we developed what I think is the most important Advent "habit" of all... we stopped. We paused regularly and consistently, lit a candle, got quiet(er), and remembered what the season is all about. That's something that I hope will continue for them long after they leave our home.

So, as we begin Advent tonight, it is my prayer that no matter how your family celebrates Advent, you will be blessed by simply stopping and focusing on God's precious gift, Jesus.

Have a blessed Advent!

Keep Looking Up

2007-11-20T07:31:00.000-06:00

As I posted on my other blog, we'll be out of town this week (starting today!) camping for Thanksgiving. Over there I mentioned some of what we'll be doing to celebrate the holiday. The above picture is one that we took last year on our trip. It was the view when I looked straight up from my favorite spot... my chair by the campfire! Every morning my sweet husband starts me a fire, and there I sit. Oh, I venture out and hike around a little bit, but then I always get back to my "home base" by the fire. Ahhhh, heaven!

When I came across this picture today, I was reminded of something my brother-in-law said to me last summer. We were in a boat on a lake in east Texas that is just thick with trees. We were cutting through this skinny area through some trees in their "mud boat" and he said "You know, at night, there's just no way to see at night when you're in these trees. The only way to know where you're going is to just look up. You just have to keep looking up." Apparently the night sky is enough of a contrast to the darkness of the tree cover to help you keep your bearings. I've thought of that a lot since then. "The only way to know where to go is to keep looking up."

Don't you know that's how it was for the Pilgrims? As the ship's crew navigated that tiny ship over such vast waters, they had to "keep looking up" at the night sky, using the position of the stars to keep their bearings. And of course the Pilgrims are a perfect example of those who really kept looking up-- up beyond the seen, to the unseen. From beyond their cramped quarters below the deck of the ship where they spent day after day dealing with limited food, inadequate space and debilitating illnesses. They had to place their faith completely in God for safety, guidance, direction and provision.

And isn't that how it is for us as we homeschool? We spend our days looking down- literally! Looking down at planbooks, school books and papers, our faces bent over little hands working to form their letters correctly or read new words, overseeing projects... or scraping the remnants of projects off of the kitchen table! But, as we navigate these waters, how important it is that we "keep looking up!" That's the only way to know where we're going!

I am so thankful that you stopped by. I hope your family has a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving week. What a great week to spend some extra time "looking up!"

TGIFunny

2007-11-16T07:36:00.000-06:00

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

Raising Future Leaders

2007-11-13T08:56:00.000-06:00

Every summer my husband and I are privileged to attend a leadership summit at our church. The first couple of times I went, I felt like I was in the presence of great leaders but I didn't feel like a leader myself. Sure, I help my husband coordinate a ministry, but he's the leader... not me! About two years ago I was sitting there at the summit, having those thoughts, and it was as if the Lord broke in on my thoughts and said to me, "You are a leader. You lead not only in a small group in your church, but more importantly you lead the little souls living in your home everyday." Since that day, I have seen myself more as a leader and have even begun to apply some of the leadership principles I've learned to our homeschool.

Today I came across this article at the HSLDA website. I had never really considered that I was running a "leadership academy" at my home, but in many ways I am! And chances are, you are too!

In your homeschool, do you...

... foster "independent thinking," encouraging them not to follow the crowd doing something simply because it is popular?

...do your part to help them cultivate a strong faith in God, and to act according to their beliefs?

...nurture your child's creative thinking by giving him situations where he must "think outside the box?"

...teach your child not to be ashamed to go against popular thought and to act in accordance with a strong code of ethics?

If so, you are raising future leaders! Whatever your name for your homeschool (if you have one), you could put the words "Leadership Academy" in the name, and it would be an accurate description.

I believe God is raising up a generation of godly men and women who will lead His people into a key period on heaven's timeline, and some of the leaders He will utilize are in enrolled in our "leadership academies" at this very moment. Isn't that an exciting thought?

A Fun Thanksgiving Song

2007-11-09T06:26:00.000-06:00

I learned this song when my kids were preschoolers, and I pulled it out of my files this week at our little "music co-op," not just for the little ones, but for the big ones who couldn't remember the date of the first Thankgiving!

The Pilgrims Sailed Over The Ocean
(sung to the tune of "My Bonny Lies Over The Ocean")

The Pilgrims sailed over the ocean;
The Pilgrims sailed over the sea.
The Pilgrims sailed over the ocean
So they could praise God and be free.

Pilgrims, Pilgrims
They had the first Thanksgiving Day
They all wanted
To sing and to feast and to pray.

Their Indians friends were invited;
They brought some wild turkey and deer,
They ate and they sang with the Pilgrims;
Sixteen twenty-one was the year.

Pilgrims, Pilgrims
They had the first Thanksgiving Day
They all wanted
To sing and to feast and to pray.

*Somewhat Tongue-In-Cheek Disclaimer: I do not wish to debate or discuss the historical accuracy of the song's stated reasons for the Pilgrims "sailing over the ocean," the use of the term "Indians" rather than "Native Americans" or any perceived references to whiskey. You are, of course, free to change any of above lyrics to accomodate your personal convictions. Thank you. ;)

TGIFunny

2007-11-09T06:18:00.000-06:00

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

Bi-Weekly Report

2007-11-04T14:11:00.002-06:00

I hope you had a great week last week, and that your school year is just "falling" into place! Last weekend we were out of town, then we jumped right into school when we got back, so I haven't gotten a chance to sit down and write up what we've done (which is SO helpful for me, I'm finding!) I've missed my homeschool blog for the past week and a half, but sometimes doing something makes you too busy to post about it, which is how it should be I guess.

Here's what we've managed to accomplish the past two weeks:

Grade 8:

Literature- I think this is the longest we've ever spent on one book! She is reading Chosen By God (for Omnibus), but this is one book that I decided we would read s-l-o-w-l-y and discuss thoroughly. She has also been copying the chapter summaries and charts, as well as completing the discussion questions and writing assignments in Omnibus I.

English- Two weeks ago when I printed out her weekly assignment sheet, for some reason I didn't have English assignments on it! As the week progressed, she was so busy with her other work, I simply didn't add it. SO, she basically had a week off! She seemed to make it through, though... LOL. We went out of town last weekend and she carted her big ole English test with her for the road trip and finished it on Monday, just in time to jump into the chapter on verbs. It's been an action-packed week in English!

Math-NOW it's getting good! Order of operations, multiple operations, longer equations... THIS is the Algebra I remember! We've been having some fun (okay, I've been having fun) sitting together on the couch solving problems on the whiteboard together. God is so faithful. It's all coming back to me!!

Science- As I posted earlier, she enjoyed a bit of a break from her book work to construct a small lapbook on the planets. She worked on that on her Science days the past couple of weeks. I think it turned out great!

Geography-The chapter she just completed was so interesting! It was all about "society"; populations, demographics, different types of governments and culture regions. I am loving this course for her... it's very thorough and interesting.

History- I think she has enjoyed the transition to Story of the World 4. She reads or listens to the chapter and completes the outline. While her brother and I have been camped out in the Civil War, it's been a great chance for her to catch up to where we were so beginning this week we'll be back in history together. It'll be like old times! We're continuing our History of US readings together, so we're getting a good dose of American history, but SOTW is helping us keep it in world history perspective. I think it's a good balance for now.

Chinese- Chinese is going great. She really sticks to it, and I'm proud of her for that. She is retaining the scripture she's memorized and is adding to her vocabulary each week. She is also faithfully reviewing her workbook pages after she completes her computer and audio work. I am seeing fruit from combining the curriculum the way we have.

Grade 6:

Literature- After he finished Powder Keg, he went on to read Mr. Lincoln's Drummer, which he really enjoyed.

Geography- There always seems to be one subject in which we stay behind. This would be that subject, for now. For some reason we stalled out in Delaware! But, we're picking up there this week and then moving on to the southern states. I'm sure I'll feel more at home, LOL. Besides, down south, it's okay to move more slowly... ;)

Math- This curriculum (Teaching Textbooks Pre Algebra) is chock full of review, especially here at the beginning. So, he is enjoying the "familiar"- factoring and cancelling, prime numbers, and all the FUN that is fractions. :)

Science- We finished up the chapter on "Natural Resources" and he took his chapter test Thursday. Now we move on to cells and classification. As much as he enjoys a good oil spill, the prospect of using a microscope is even more exciting! This should be a fun chapter.

History- He finished his Civil War lapbook, which I posted about here. This week he made "Hardtack", a type of cracker or biscuit eaten by the Civil War soldiers.

It tastes pretty good, but take it from me, don't eat it if you have any loose fillings! :)

Spanish- He has about two more weeks left of his Level 2 review, so he's still practicing animal names, ordinal numbers, and restaurant words. Last week one day I just had to get some chips and salsa during a Spanish lesson. Ah, the power of suggestion!

Language- This week for his copywork he copied his Latin lesson and he also has continued on with his Switched on Schoolhouse lessons which are a nice diversion from textbooks, and I'm enjoying the fact that it combines Language and Spelling.

Combined Subjects:

We've been enjoying our small music co-op that meets at our house every other week. My mom is teaching the kids some wonderful sight-singing and the kids are singing some beautiful harmonies. The last time we met she had the kids stand on our stairway with the wood floor and the tall ceilings, and the acoustics were so great! We sounded just like the Von Trapps! We meet again this week, and the kids can't wait. We are also continuing on in our Latin exercises, and although it's definitely NOT my kids' favorite subject, they do well in it. (Plus, I think they like it more than they admit...;) I decided to count our pumpkin carving for art this week. Yes, "vegetable sculpture," that's it! In our mission study we finished our Mary Slessor biography and began Trial by Poison, a Trailblazer Book by Dave and Neta Jackson.

Well, that's the long and short of it. If you don't have a blog, or don't do "updates," I encourage you to keep a journal or somehow write it out... it makes you realize you've accomplished more than you thought!

Planets Lapbook

2007-11-04T13:49:00.000-06:00

My daughter has been enjoying BJU's Space and Earth Science this year. I have liked it, too... it is very thorough! However, for a break from the book and activity manual, I decided to have her do a lapbook using the information in the chapter on the planets. This is what she worked on last week. I think it turned out cute!

(You can click on the pictures to make them larger.)

She used two file folders, folding one toward the center and stapling another one on the side flap.

On the left flap underneath the diagram of the sun there is a flap that says, "Pull Me Up." When you pull it up there is an accordian book of information about our sun, a chart she made using Excel. (Photo below on right.)

The middle of the main folder has some facts and definitions distinguishing planets, dwarf planets, and small solar system bodies. She also included information about how we classify planets and a wheel book with information about each of the planets in our solar system. There is also a 3D "pop up" section explaining why Pluto is no longer considered a planet.

In the second folder she included photos of each planet typed up information about each one.

She enjoyed this week and a half long break from her science book. It was a fun assignment!

Civil War Lapbook

2007-11-04T13:25:00.000-06:00

This was a fun one! I downloaded it from Knowledge Box Central. My sixth grader and I have spent the past 3 weeks camped out in the Civil War, and he's had plenty of time to complete it. (Like I say every time I post a picture of one of our lapbooks, it's not elaborate at all compared to others you see around blogland.!)

The first folder has the map of the states, color coded according to Union, Confederate or "neutral." We also studied Civil War food and made some Hard Tack (pictured beside the "Civil War Foods" booklet. He also made mini-books of the causes of the Civil War and the uniforms (left.) On the right is the list of medical supplies and a medical chest.

(You can click on a picture to make it larger.)

In the second folder, he copied part of the Gettysburg Address, made cards with Civil War trivia on them, made a flip book of each battle in chronological order, and wrote about amputations (fun!) In the yellow booklet on the left, he illustrated each type of weapon.

The third folder contains a Grant and Lee Tic Tac Toe game (there are little cards with Grant's and Lee's faces on them for the game pieces- I thought that was cute!) The folded white paper is a Civil War wordsearch, and on the right are the major leaders.
This picture shows how they are attached.

It's been a nice "hands on" way to learn more about the Civil War. We both learned some new things!

"Book Bending"

2007-10-24T08:33:00.000-05:00

"For some children and for some of the time, certain books will happen to be just right. But if you find yourself struggling to mold your child to a book, try reversing priorities. It's the child you are teaching, not the book. Bend the book, or find another; make the studies fit the child."

Ruth Beechick, You Can Teach Your Child Successfully

Week-In-Review

2007-10-21T13:37:00.000-05:00

Another week completed. Wow! Time does fly. At least sitting down for periodic updates helps me think through what we've gotten done and where we're headed...

Grade 8

Literature- Lots of reading this week. We are enjoying curling up together and reading through her Omnibus assigned reading. This means a lot to me... she's growing up so much, and I know our years of reading together on the couch or my bed are fewer and fewer. We kept on in chapters of Chosen By God this week.

English- I've begun assigning her to do the odd/even exercises based on the page number. We finished up her chapter on pronouns this week. I had forgotten there were so many types- demontrative, relative, interrogative, reflexive... She really does well in this area. Maybe she'll be a writer. Or a greek scholar. Or a homeschool mom.

Math- We wrapped up her "negative" chapter with a positive test grade. Woo-hoo! Now we move on to "longer equations." Yes, they get l-o-n-g-e-r. Oh, the joys of algebra! LOL.

Science- With our newfound love for lapbooks, I have assigned her to construct one on the planets, using her text as well as "living books" and the internet. She has been working on that this week. It is due November 1. I can't wait to see it!

Geography- She studied world industries, which was actually quite interesting. Primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Free trade vs. fair trade. Embargos. Fun! Next week we move on to "cultures" which I know will interest her, because she has such a heart for the nations and for different cultures.

History- I have transitioned her to Story of the World 4, with brief readings from her American history text. She's a bit behind where her brother and I are, but she'll be catching up, and then we just might all do it together. Something else I started this summer, which I picked up again this past week, is reading aloud from Hakim's Story of US books. Each chapter is the perfect length to read each day at lunch. History is one subject I've always enjoyed doing all together.

Chinese- In addition to her workbook, audio and computer exercises, this week she successfully memorized John 3:16. I just love hearing her say it!

Grade 6

Literature- He finished Powder Keg this week. He really liked this book and wrote a great summary of it.

Geography- He studied the Mid-Atlantic states of Pennsylvania and West Virgina. He mapped them and studied the coal industry.

Math- Fractions. Just, fractions. He is enjoying it about as much as he always has, LOL. Thus my cartoon choice for the week. :)

Science- One fun activity we did this week was one suggested in the TM, and it was to hide checkers all around and see how many you could find in 20 seconds. Then the next person had to see how many they could find in 20 seconds... progressively harder to find. This demonstrated how it is with our non-renewable resources, such as oil. It was an interesting study, and he likes this chapter.

History- We continued on with his Civil War lapbook. I didn't get to snap any pictures, but it's coming along nicely.

Spanish- He's about halfway through the review of Level 2. He's been working on weather words, seasons, and telling time. Most times he checks the clock he can tell me the time in Spanish. It's habit now for him to ask me "Que hora es?" instead of "What time is it?" Of course, I always answer him in French, which doesn't really help I suppose...

Language- This week I incorporated copywork back into his life. After he stopped jumping for joy (!!) he copied a chunk of the Gettysburg Address. I know this will help both his handwriting, and his writing. He's been copying outlines for history as well. On alternate days he does typing. He's still enjoying his SOS language lessons, and this week I finally took out the quizzes because they were tedious. That made up for the Gettysburg Address thing.

Combined

Mission study- We are LOVING reading about Mary Slessor. Loving it. We are almost to the end, and Bethany has already said she's going to leave the room when it gets to the part where she dies. We always hate that part, even though we realize that whomever we're reading about lived in the 1800's and couldn't possibly still be with us... :::sigh:::: We should finish the book this week and then start on our lapbook projects.

Art- They each needed to finish up their previous mission study lapbooks, which involved a fair amount of glitter glue and artsy-ness, so that was our "art" for the week.

Music- We didn't have a music "class" at our house this week, but both of them noodled around on various musical instruments during the week. So I checked that box. :)

"PE"- They take a homeschool gymnastics class each week, and this week they also went to an open gym, which they loved. One other fun thing we started this week was that each of us takes turns (on the days they don't have a gym class) leading all of us in "exercises." Of some sort. Any kind. To music. A fast song and a slow song. It was so fun! On the first day, my fun son picked "Here It Goes Again" by OK Go, and we jumped around doing whatever "moves" he came up with. Then we stretched out to "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer. It was a really fun mid-morning exercise break and got us all moving. My turn's Tuesday, so I've got to get in my iTunes and pick my songs...

Well, that was week 7 at our house! I hope you had a wonderful week, whatever your week held for you. Another one starts tomorrow, let's make it great!

George Mueller Lapbooks

2007-10-21T10:18:00.000-05:00

This year is our first year to attempt lapbooks. In fact, though I had read the term in recent years online in homeschool forums and blogs, I truly had never paid any attention to what they were because my kids were "older" (and I pictured them being for younger kids), and also because it rhymes with "scrap book" which I don't have the time or inclination to do in this season of my life. So there. ~~Case~~ File folder closed.

But this year, lapbooks began to interest me when I actually began to see what they are... scrap-booky, yes, but in a file folder, and a neat way to put projects on a certain topic together in a non-threatening, small, easy-to-store way. And the fact that my kids are "older" means I'm not the one doing it, they are. So, we decided to give it a go. Last week I posted pictures of my son's Civil War lapbook that is still in progress, but this week I decided I'd post the pictures of the George Mueller lapbooks we did a few weeks ago (and just now put the final touches on this week).

If you are a lap-booker, (or a scrap-booker!) these will not be impressive in the least. We didn't spend a whole lot of time on them for "looks." I have scrap-booked in the past and am artsy enough to know how all-encompassing a project like this can be, so I tried to keep it in perspective with the rest of our curriculum and not let us get out of hand with it. I kept it simple and let them come up with their own ideas.

There are three of us who are reading some of the same missionary biographies this year and meeting every six weeks or so to make lapbooks of them. Our first one was George Mueller, so we read George Mueller: Guardian of Bristol's Orphans with our kids on our own and made some projects on our own at home (whatever we came up with.) My friend (at whose house we met and compiled our lapbooks) had made a timeline and copied off some pictures for the kids to use as well, and each of us brought a couple of additional ideas for the kids to add to their books if they wished.

Here is my son's finished product:

The top flap is a map he colored of the United Kingdom. On the left he did an acrostic of the word "faith" with some of George Mueller's characteristics. In the middle is the timeline, and on the right he made a collage of some things representing Mr. Mueller's "breakfast club" he had for the orphan children- a tea bag because he served tea, oatmeal because they always had oatmeal, and an apple crate made out of toothpicks because the children sat on overturned apple crates instead of chairs.
He made a photo album (seen on the left with George's picture on the front) from pictures he found on the internet, and on the right is a "prayer wheel" wheel book of some of the things that George prayed for (he was known for his expectant prayer. We learned SO much in this area!)

Underneath the acrostic "faith" flap book, he sewed a small gown out of some fabric and stuck it in his book, representing a nightgown/dress that had to be sewn for the orphan girls.

Here is the inside of his "memory" book. He made some of the pictures pop up.

Here is the inside of my daughter's book. She did a "faith" acrostic, too, and her map is cut off at the top, but she colored one as well. She did some things on the computer, including researching modern-day Bristol.

As well as researching fashions of the 1800's (George Mueller's time period.)

She also made a page with a little window, raised using some accordion-folded paper, then some pictures of the girls of the orphanage. I thought this was a cute idea. This picture doesn't really show the 3-D aspect of it, but it turned out neat, I thought.

She used some parchment paper and tore the edges for her photo album to make it look aged.

It was a fun project, and most of all we learned some great lessons from this wonderful man of faith. My husband and I read his biography two years ago on the plane to Ghana one summer. He read it on the way there and I read it on the way back. We have learned so much about praying in faith about EVERYTHING and expecting God's provision. I have learned to simply trust God in certain areas and pray fervently without necessarily telling everyone what I'm praying about, to see God's provision for myself. I have learned that even if I haven't always been faithful in the area of finances (if in fact it has been a weakness for me!) that can be an area of overwhelming victory when placed in God's hands and used for His glory alone.

John Piper has written an excellent article about George Mueller's life here, and I would encourage you to read Mueller's biography written by the Benges with your kids. This is also a great site to check out.

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." --James 1:27

"The love of money was gone, the love of place was gone, the love of position was gone, the love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone. God, God alone became my portion. I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else. And by the grace of God this has remained, and has made me a happy man, an exceedingly happy man, and it led me to care only about the things of God. I ask affectionately, my beloved brethren, have you fully surrendered the heart to God, or is there this thing or that thing with which you are taken up irrespective of God?"-- George Mueller

TGIFunny

2007-10-19T07:51:00.000-05:00

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com.

Am I Listening?

2007-10-19T07:46:00.000-05:00

"Whether they are homeschooled or not, our children need us to listen to their lives."

Michael Card, The Homeschool Journey

Just Say No!

2007-10-16T16:29:00.000-05:00

**Originally posted last year after our first six weeks. I was thinking about this again yesterday, so I decided to post it again... :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Has it really been six weeks since we started our school year? A quick look at my "year-at-a-glance" schedule in my planbook says it has. Wow. I look at how infrequently I have blogged lately and I can see evidence of how school has "taken over" for now. But, it's as it should be, and we are really clicking along. Everything that needs to get done is getting done, and look at me... even having time to blog after all!

A piece of advice I read a few years ago in a homeschooling book has struck a new chord with me this year. (Actually, it started resonating with me last year.) It was honestly a new thought to me when I read it. It was this: "Stay home." Hm. "Well, that must be for people who don't really have many involvements or who can't handle too many outside commitments," I thought at the time. I went along, continuing our fully-scheduled, frequently-mobile, gone-most-days life for a couple more years. At the beginning of last year I realized that God was impressing on my heart that WE needed to "stay home." As in HOMEschooling. At home. We have, over the years, enjoyed various co-ops, frequent field trips, and getting together with friends at a moment's notice. Mostly, if I am honest with myself, because of the "s" word. (Homeschoolers know this is the word "socialization." As in, "are they getting enough.") Last school year I took every single one of our organizations, co-ops, teams, social commitments, etc. off of our plate. Then I prayed for the Lord's guidance as to what to put back on. No co-ops went back on. That was a hard one, and I made difficult phone calls to some friends with whom I had enjoyed several years of "co-op"ing. (And who totally understood our decision!) We opted to not do sports teams for a time. (Note that we didn't opt not to play sports or enjoy physical activity-- just no organized teams and all that they entail.) Those were the two biggies. No Girl Scouts. (Okay, that was a big "whew" for me. Just being honest here.) Then I decided not to sign up for too many field trips. As I reflect back on last year, I realize that although I felt behind, mostly because of traveling, we were academically on our way back on track, and covered more ground than I could've dreamed. And the kids both had full social lives and plenty of outside experiences. It worked! Imagine!

This year is much the same story. We've been at it about six weeks, and I have closely guarded our days at home. It struck me this week that each day we spend at home is a "no" to something else. Literally. Every single day there is something else we have been invited to do, or an outside opportunity or class is offered somewhere. Even when we are at home, the phone will ring. There is an opportunity right there for at least one of us (usually me) to become involved, at least momentarily, in something other than school. That's not to say that we spend our days chained to our desks. In fact, time on task actually affords us some margin to say "yes" when I feel like it or have a lighter day. It reminds me of Psalm 16:6, "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places." It's nice. There's freedom.

It's hard, though! I remember reading a few years ago in Genesis 15 about when God was about to make His covenant with Abraham. Abraham carefully prepared his sacrifice according to God's instructions, exactly the animals God had specified, cut exactly the way God had said, laid out just as God had directed... and then "birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away." (Gen. 15:11) It wasn't the birds' fault, they were just doing what birds of prey do, looking for a meal! But it was Abram's job to carefully guard what he had set before the Lord. It reminded me of my life, in a way. So often I can be seen, flailing away (usually figuratively, but sometimes literally!) at the "birds of prey." God has directed me to set aside this time with my children. Like Abram, I was asked to leave the familiar. I have left the familiar territory of a career and of public school life, and ventured into this land of stay-at-home-momhood and homeschooling. In preparation I have meticulously prepared our days, to the best of my understanding, according to God's instructions. But I must carefully guard what I have brought before the Lord. If someone plans a park day or a field trip, that's great! For someone. But not necessarily for me. Or not necessarily today. If my phone rings I am certainly free to talk to that person, but maybe not right now. Today's technology actually affords me the opportunity to find out who it was, what they needed, and call them back at a more opportune time. The co-ops, classes and teams that are available are wonderful opportunities for many families, but maybe not for our family. None of it is inherently bad or wrong, most of it is good, in fact. But not all of it is best. My "birds of prey" are not necessarily someone else's "birds of prey." What might be a distraction now might be a welcome diversion another time.

So, we have our school days at home. We have 2 days per week when we do have outside involvements- afternoons only. Currently if we are gone one day, we stay home the next. If I'm out one night (for a meeting or whatever) I'm home the next night. We spend more days home each week than out. The subjects that I feel are "key" are touched on every single day. There is much more consistency and predictablilty, and I am... calmer (though frequently flailing and flapping at those birds!) The kids are thriving, social, learning, and happy.

A "no" to something good is often a "yes" to something better. Don't be afraid to say "Just say no!"

Our Week

2007-10-13T07:02:00.000-05:00

Another week has gone by. Wow!! It seems we just got started, and now we've finished week 6. How can that be?? I remember when I taught school, each "six weeks" was a marker... time to average grades, report cards, etc.I'm not sure who started this "weekly homeschool update" on the blogs, but I like it! As a homeschooler, the weeks and months flow together so fluidly. It's nice to stop, though, weekly or periodically (like on a blog or in a journal) and reflect on what we've done. I feel like I put all sorts of time into planning in the summer, and then once our school year gets going it sort of takes on a life of its own and takes off without me. Once we add in activities, ministries, and commitments, school can get rushed or pushed off to the side, and I forget that it is one of my primary callings right now. Seeing what others are up to sort of spurs me on.

This week I didn't have time to post anything on this blog, and only posted a couple of things on my other blog because sometimes you're too busy livin' it to post about it, you know what I mean? Now it's early Saturday morning, I'm the only one in the house who's up... My cute husband and son have headed out the door early to go hunting, (I typed it really small, in case it offends anyone, LOL) and my beautiful teenager is still snoozing away in my bed. She and I had a "sleepover" in our room last night, and my husband and son had a "camp out" in my son's room since they would be leaving so early. (They konked out early, and we stayed up watching "What Not To Wear." So fun! And, I need to go on that show desperately...) So now I have time for a bit of reflecting about our school week. I'll divide it up by grade. (Note, it turned into my Six Weeks report. Which means, it may take you six weeks to read it!)

Grade 8

Continued plugging away through Chosen By God. We are loving this book. Okay, I am loving this book. She is reading it, as assigned, and appreciating Dr. Sproul's insights. She says he gives too many illustrations and examples. She likes things very cut and dried... just tell her the point! In addition to the discussions and writing assignments in the Omnibus book, I've been having her do something very "elementary" and copy the chapter summaries in her notebook. It's been very helpful.

English is, well, English. We've delved into demonstrative, interrogative, reflexive and intensive pronouns. But wait, next week we'll hit indefinite and relative pronouns... and then it gets exciting! Actually, this week I was talking to my brother and (I'm not sure how it came up, because our conversations are usually not about English grammar, LOL) and he said he didn't learn most of this until his Greek classes in seminary. Well, that's all I needed to hear. I'm preparing her for seminary, LOL!

Math (algebra) was pretty negative this week. Okay, it was because she's in the chapter on "Negatives" but she's stayed pretty positive about it anyway...

She had a pretty massive 68-question Geography test this week . Whoa! She said, "Why can't you just take my word for it that I know it?" :) She did get to finish painting and labeling her landform salt map this week. I think it turned out great!

For science she finished her study of "the sun" and had a lovely test on that subject as well. And we ate lots of candy corn.

She's plugging her way through her chosen American History text. I get dry-mouth just looking at it, and I think now she understands why. History's never really been her "thing" anyway, but I think adding a dry textbook to it makes it really not her thing. This summer we read some of the Hakim "History of US" books together (which she liked) so I'd love for her to transition over to those or join her brother and I in the Story of the World book. Another week of textbook assignments and she just might be there... The point, for me, is how much she is retaining and actually learning, so next week I plan to sit down with her and see what she "knows" (probably a "narration" of sorts) and we'll go from there.

Chinese is going great for her. The combination of curriculum we've chosen seems to really be working, aided by her great enthusiasm for it. She has some Chinese music ("pop" music) in her iPod, and last week she came bounding out of her room exclaiming, "I know what she's saying!!!!" (By the way, she was saying "You don't love me, You don't love me, You don't love me..." which is kind of funny, since the music is really upbeat and danc-y. Apparently Chinese pop music is just as sad and desperate as American pop music, LOL. I told her if she ever figures out it's saying something inappropriate, it's leaving our iTunes! ;) She also found a website that translates the Bible into pin yin, so she's been memorizing scripture as well. Very, very fun.

Grade 6

What can you say about a very active 11-year-old boy with a locker full of school and beautiful fall weather outside? This week was a good school week, but he longed to be outside. Which we did, especially at the end of the week. He has hung in there for a good first six weeks. He's becoming more and more disciplined in his work, and that is an answer to prayer.

Math- He finished up chapter two of his Pre Algebra and took the test this week. He likes test days because it's not a lesson and practice problems... it's tell-all-you-know and then get on with things!

We got behind last week in Geography, so this week was a bit of catch up. He finished New York and New Jersey. He did an interesting report on Niagra Falls, and I learned some new things, too. There sure have been lots of folks brave enough to go over it! Including one guy who was trying to retrieve his cell phone. Hello???? And guess who owns Niagra Falls? I didn't know! (I'll let you discover it on your own... I don't want to ruin the surprise...)

Here is his finished landform salt map, which he painted and labeled this week:

For Science he finished up his chapter on weathering and erosion, and moved on to natural resources. He is really enjoying science, as he always has. Of course, he really likes doing the experiments and demonstrations:

Here he is analyzing soil samples. My little "pedologist."

This week we also studied the Civil War. Here is the beginning of his Civil War lapbook.

I downloaded the template from Knowledge Box Central, and we are adapting it. He is very process-oriented rather than product-oriented. (Which is a good thing, really!) But, the upshot is that the final product isn't always the most snazzy. I've seen some lapbooks out there that are UNbelievable! Ours will be very... believable. :) We're going to continue making the lapbook next week and perhaps the following week if we are enjoying it.

In Literature he finished reading Perilous Road and began Powder Keg, another Civil War book.

For Spanish, (since he had a brief foray into French last year) we have been reviewing the first two levels of La Clase Divertida, before we begin level 3. He is a third of the way through Level 2 right now, and really retaining more than I thought he would. (We did the first two levels when he was in 1st grade through about 4th grade). I'm very pleased, and he seems very motivated to learn Spanish. Level 3 teaches them how to share the gospel in Spanish, which he is very excited about (and I am too, as our family is looking at a possible mission trip to Mexico.)

He is enjoying Switched on Schoolhouse Language (which combines English grammar with Spelling). It's a change of pace for him, not book-workish, and just the right amount per lesson. Next year I'm sure we'll switch back to either Abeka or BJU, which I think are very strong grammar programs, but this year it's been nice to have something different.

Combined Subjects

Music- My mom came over for another wonderful music co-op this week with our friends. The kids are continuing to practice the Solfege scale and read music using the hand signs. Very, very cool. Their hymn for this month is "A Mighty Fortress," and we had a glorious time around the piano while my mom played it wonderfully and we all sang. Every word. Every stanza. Loved it! Perfect for the month of Reformation Day! She is also teaching them the sign language for the song "Shine on Us." SO beautiful. So worshipful.

I gave us a break in Latin this week. They rose up and called me blessed.

Our current mission study is Mary Slessor, a biography we have read before but are thoroughly enjoying again through the eyes of a different author. I just love, love, LOVE studying about great heroes of the faith. Slessor is such an inspiration to us, and since she worked in West Africa, and she and my son share the same hero (David Livingstone), we feel a "bond." It's a neat study. Besides, we've been to Nigeria. (Okay, for one hour. Sitting on the runway at the airport. But still. LOL.)

Bible- Besides their own Awana work, we have been reading through The Jesus Storybook Bible, which I highly recommend. It wasn't around when my kids were small, but it's so good I want them to hear it. Lloyd-Jones does a masterful job of weaving Jesus into every story in the Bible. Every story does "whisper His name!" Oh, it's so good. We've had some great discussions. We also listened to some John MacArthur this week and some PodTask podcasts (produced by the IMB.)

Thursday the weather was so pretty we couldn't stand it, so we loaded up our books and did school at the park, then we enjoyed a picnic and the kids fished. Some other friends joined us and it was a great afternoon!

(The fish is turned sideways, but he's there. Just skinny. And small.)

Friday after we finished our school, we played at another park with some other fun friends. I have found that even though my kids are older, they still enjoy play dates at the park. (We just don't call it that!) And they need the fresh air and sunshine just as much.

Well, that's our week! I hope you've had a great week, too (and I apologize if you spent it reading this post. I know it was long!)

Have a great weekend!

TGIFunny

2007-10-05T10:23:00.000-05:00

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

Keeping them Thinking

2007-10-05T09:58:00.000-05:00

...Or at least guessing!

You can take the teacher out of the classroom, but sometimes you can't take the classroom out of the teacher. For a homeschooler, that can be good and bad I suppose!

One thing I used to do as a ps teacher, and have continued to do at home, is to have a board in my classroom where I would have various things to "make them think." When I started homeschooling I wanted to continue this idea, and I came across E.D. Hirsch's Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. It contains all kinds of facts (which are interesting in and of themselves) but two things it has are comprehensive lists of English idioms ("get up on the wrong side of the bed", "as the crow flies," etc.) as well as proverbs ("Don't look a gift horse in the mouth", "Don't count your chickens before they hatch", etc) along with the explanations of each. When I came across this, I thought it would be fun to put those in the school room to see if they can guess what they mean, making it a fun way to learn the meanings and be "culturally literate." Another thing I found a couple of years ago is Object Mysteries, cards with pictures of random items that they have to guess. My son, especially, loves to guess what these are. I change them out as they figure out what the sayings mean, or figure out the mystery object... or if they finally give up. :)

It's been a fun way to keep us all thinking!

Friday...

2007-10-05T07:51:00.000-05:00

... seems to be my "posting day" lately! I just posted on my other blog about our family events and our 80's party (TOO fun), but I thought I'd post some school updates over here.

We are ending another great week of school. We haven't had as many projects this week, and much of what we have been doing is with our noses in books, but it's been fun. My son started Perilous Road for literature this week, and is absolutely devouring it. We hit the Civil War in our Story of the World book this week, so we will be taking a week or so to camp out there. I downloaded the Civil War lapbook (in ebook format) from Knowledge Box Central, and we'll be working on that next week.

One of my daughter's favorite subjects this year is World Geography. Today she will be painting the landform salt map she did last week, but one project she enjoyed this week was making a collage of the "climates of the world" on the computer. She loves exploring with different fonts and wordart, so researching pictures on the internet of the different world climates was a fun way for her to be techno-artsy. And, now it's posted in the schoolroom for a "learning chart" of sorts for us to all enjoy.

We are also still working slowly through Chosen By God in her Omnibus I. It is so, so good. This week she had some outside commitments and needed to get caught up in some of her other subjects, I had her pause in her reading and copy the chapter summaries and some of the diagrams in her notebook. This book is fostering some great discussions. I haven't decided if I am going to go straight into Till We Have Faces immediately following this, or choose something off of the Sonlight 100 list. I'm leaning toward letting her read something a little "lighter" for a few weeks. ("Son"lighter, as it were, LOL. Oh, I think I need more coffee. Or maybe less.)

In science this week she's been studying the sun. She is SO my child. We were reading together earlier in the week, studying the up-close pictures of the sun and discussing the "granules" that make up its surface (see picture). She looked at it while I talked about it, then opened her mouth to say what I supposed was going to be a thoughtful observation about what we had just read. She said, "Hm. I'm in the mood for some candy corn." I looked at the picture and knew just what she meant, and suddenly I was in the mood for some, too. And just in time for October! So, I've got "candy corn" on my grocery list for next week... And we just might use some to make a collage of the sun!

It's hard to believe we're ending our first six weeks next week. Time flies when you're having fun!

I hope you have had a fun week, too. Have a blessed weekend!

TGIFunny

2007-09-28T08:32:00.000-05:00

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

Making Maple Candy

2007-09-28T07:49:00.000-05:00

Last Friday we enjoyed making maple candy, to correspond with our study of Vermont. We made it according to the recipe found in Eat Your Way Through The USA by Lori Pettit. We've really been enjoying the recipes in this book! I highly recommend this as a resource if you are studying US Geography.

We started with a bottle of Grade A Medium Amber Maple Syrup. Then we boiled some water with the candy thermometer in it, so we would know the boiling point (which varies at different altitudes.)

We poured the syrup into a tall pot, because I wasn't sure how high it would boil up.

It didn't boil as high as we thought it would, so I could've used a smaller pot and perhaps gotten a more accurate reading on the candy thermometer. We buttered the top of the pot in case it boiled up to that point. We boiled it until it was 28 degrees above the boiling point of the water.

We removed it from the heat after boiled, and let it cool for about 5 minutes. Then we stirred it until it became opaque.

It was easy to tell when it started to "set up" and our time was limited to pour it off. I didn't have any candy molds, so...

we just poured it onto a cookie pan and let it harden into a not-so-pretty lump.

After a few hourse we broke it up, wrapped each piece individually, and put it in a pretty fall basket. Presentation is everything, you know!

It was a yummy, fun, and easy project. Maybe you could try it for part of your "fall" study, to correspond with the changing fall leaves. (Perhaps that's a stretch, but any excuse to eat straight sugar is good enough for me...)

"We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled School Week...

2007-09-28T07:43:00.000-05:00

for... a birthday!

This week was a fun week, but one with a few "interruptions." Isn't that what homeschooling is about, though? I've found that if we stay on track as much as we can (by God's grace!) then we have some margin for a nutty week now and then. And that's what we had this week.

When we first started homeschooling and I sat down to plan our calendar that first year, I took a look at the school district's calendar (off of the internet) and loosely planned ours accordingly- simply so that when we have breaks in Awana or other activities that correspond to the school calendar, or when the friends and cousins who go to PS are out, we would be, too. But, what to do with those "teacher inservice days?" I converted those days to our "birthday days". In our house, when anyone (students or staff) are celebrating a birthday, we all have a day off. I have loved that "attendance policy" over the years! So, this week we had Tuesday "off" (even though as busy as it was, it felt quite "on" to me! But, why should the birthday be that different from the "birth" day was 14 years ago? It started out as a day of labor!)

They had a very productive day Monday, hard at work... nose-to-the-grindstone, as it were... with Tuesday in full view. Tuesday morning we got up, went to the donut shop and then headed to the Palace of Wax and Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum. Here are some pictures from our day:

Bethany got a special birthday greeting by Jay L*eno

Kyle, ever the crack-up, got to entertain David L*etterman with a joke. I can tell Dave thought he was pretty witty.

I finally got to tell O*prah some of my thoughts. (And boy, do I have some...) She seemed pretty receptive.

We got to hear the Sermon on the Mount,

and meet all of the presidents (Since we were the only ones there, I made them say each of their names, in order. Ever the teacher...)

Then we followed the yellow brick road!

It felt like we really did, because in the Ripley's museum there was even a tornado simulator you could go into! It was a fun, fun morning, and then the best treat of all:

Dad met us for lunch! (You can see their wax hands that they made at the museum. We brought them in so they wouldn't melt in the car.)

It was a great morning. Then we came home where I put the final touches on a chicken enchilada dinner and we were joined by our dear friends who are missionaries in China (the family that Bethany lived with for part of the summer of '06) who are stateside for a few months. I have found (at least in my part of the country) that if you really want to love on folks who have been living abroad, feed them some good Tex Mex! We had a wonderful celebration!

And, now, from the "if-I-post-it-on-my-blog-you-can-know-it's-true" department...

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about how my mom was coming over to teach my kids music lessons. Last week, I got a call from a sweet, fun friend of mine who faithfully reads my blog (:::waving to S.::::). She asked if it would be at all possible for she and her kids to come every other week and join the fun. How could she have known that the first week, though we enjoyed it immensely, I was sitting there thinking "Wow, this would be even more fun with a few other people!" SO, we now have ourselves a little "music co-op" of sorts! We met Wednesday morning for an hour, where my mom continued to teach the Solfege scale, we read through some music, and learned a hymn, which we are going to do each month. Fun!

Later that afternoon, after we got as much school done as we could, my daughter got to go with some friends and volunteer at the Shohanna's Hope booth at the Stephen Curtis Chapman concert. They collected "change for orphans" and were able to collect thousands of dollars that evening, which was given as a grant to a family to help them fund their upcoming adoption. Isn't that great? And, oh, the concert was SO good. How do I know? During the last four songs she called me on her cell and left it on so I could hear it. I put it on speaker and jammed while I sorted laundry and washed my face for bed (ever the multi-tasker!) It was another wonderful day!

Yesterday we finished our George Muller book and finished a few projects that we had going, and today we are taking what we've done over to a friend's house where the kids will be assembling George Muller lapbooks. I currently have oatmeal cookies in the oven (because oatmeal is what they would have for breakfast in the orphan houses.)

It's been a great week! I'm looking forward to a bit of a more "normal" schedule around here next week, but what's that, right?

I hope this has been a wonderful week at your house, and I can't wait to catch up with some of you on your blogs to see what you've been up to.

TGIF!

Daily Folders

2007-09-28T07:40:00.000-05:00

While I was posting today I thought I'd post something that I've found that helps in my weekly planning... a file folder for each day.

I used to have just one set of folders, but now that my kids are each doing more of their own thing, I have two sets. (The cute zebra ones with the pink labels are my daughter's, and the plain colored ones are for my son.) When I'm doing my planning for the upcoming week, I put their assignment sheets or any copies I've made for them for that day into the appropriate folder. Since our combined subjects are on Friday, I just have one Friday folder into which I put our God's World News, mission study pages, Latin puzzles or other things we will be doing together on Fridays. This way, things are easy to get to and they don't have to wait for me to find our copies for that day. Nothing puts the brakes on good school-day-momentum than mom scrambling around looking for stuff!

This has been a simple step that has helped me tremendously!

TGIFunny

2007-09-21T07:37:00.000-05:00

Isn't this what it feels like some days???

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

School Update

2007-09-21T07:28:00.000-05:00

Well, we're at the end of our third week. As I visit around some of the other blogs and they are reflecting on week 5, 7, or 8 it makes me feel somewhat behind, but I must remind myself that I've got 35 strong weeks planned and we're getting a lot done! Somehow for me it seems like the end of the first six weeks. I wonder how that works? I think we've packed a lot into our days. Now that I just have one middle schooler and one doing mostly ninth grade level stuff (so, effectively a "high schooler") I am seeing that they are seeing the "big picture" more and more, realizing that if they don't get something done one day, they will see it the next day, and if we have enough days like that we'll be sitting here all summer. I think that's a good thing on one hand, but on the other hand I see them being sort of slaves to their assignment sheets on certain days, so I'm working to help them find a balance, as I also try to keep one! It's always been a struggle for me to make sure that my curriculum and plans work for me and not the other way around!

Our days have settled into a good routine. Mondays through Thursdays their alarms go off a little before 7:30 and they come down for breakfast. We've been finishing up breakfast with a chapter out of Live Like A Jesus Freak or our George Muller biography, then they do their morning routine in time to be down in the schoolroom by 9:00. The past few days my daughter has adjusted her morning schedule to be able to start her schoolwork at 8:30. The rest of the day is spent going through the assignments on their assignment sheets with my help when necessary. If it's a lesson I want to teach or discussion questions (like for Omnibus) I put the words "with Mom" on their assignment. Otherwise they can just do things in the order they like. I suggest they start with their least favorites so they can get things overwith and they won't be tempted to procrastinate. The afternoons can be l-o-o-o-n-g for all of us if we're slogging through things that they didn't particularly like anyway and none of us has fresh energy. I'm all about "delight-led learning" but sometimes there are things in which one doesn't particularly "delight" that simply need to be learned. That's life. :)

On Fridays (like today!) they may sleep a little later and we'll do all our subjects together. On Fridays we do our missionary study. We've been reading chapters from the biography during the week, but we'll do some projects on Fridays. Right now we're studying George Muller. Also on Fridays is Latin, which we're picking back up today. We've been s-l-o-w-l-y going through Latina Christiana using the DVD course. The teacher herself says "there's no reason to rush through Latin." Alrighty, then! We're certainly not rushing! We've taken two years to go through LC level 1! We'll also do an art project on Fridays. Last Friday we painted their back-to-school flower pots and today we'll do a yet-to-be-determined art project for our mission study. (We're in a small mission study co-op and we're assembling George Muller lapbooks next week, so we need some more items for those). Also on Fridays is music- either theory or appreciation. Today is music appreciation, listening to some of the music from George Muller's time period. (The Timetables of History by Grun is an excellent resource for finding what was going on in all the time periods.)

Anyway, that's what our typical weeks are shaping up to be like. Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to:

My son is enjoying Trail Guide to US Geography. We are in the New England states right now and we are both learning lots of facts we didn't know!

Have you seen one of these wire book-propper-uppers? We found these last year at our local Mardel store and it is really handy for copywork. I'm not sure what they are called (as I'm sure my term isn't exactly technical) but we've really found them helpful!

We've been doing lots of short science demos. I used to do so much of this when they were younger, but now they are having lots of "lightbulb moments," and things are really clicking like never before. I can see how in the logic/beginning rhetoric stage concepts really start to synthesize for them and they make new connections between old and new material. I've also learned that just because they were taught something in 4th grade doesn't mean they will remember it in 8th. (I remember it SO clearly because I taught it, but they have lived a proportionately bigger percentage of their lives since then!) So we've been reviewing basic concepts.
Here's Kyle building a structure that would withstand an earthquake.

We had so much fun with salt maps last year that I had Bethany do a salt map of the landforms in her BJU Geography 9 book. There were 20 landforms that she had to include in her map. I've "refined" our salt dough recipe to simply: equal parts flour and salt, then slowly add warm water until it's the consistency you can work with. Simple. The mountains are pretty thick, so they are upstairs drying until next week when she can paint it.

She's learning about stars in her Earth and Space science, so this week I had her choose 5 constellations to "punch" onto black paper. They are in the window above her desk now, so she can study the stars, even in the daytime. They turned out pretty cool!

Here's Kyle doing a simple science experiment from his BJU text, simply to predict the outcome and practice writing scientific data. In this one he had to predict how many pennies in the styrofoam cup would break the fettucine on which it was hanging. This was good to make him slow down and record data and not just blaze through an experiment (which both of us are prone to doing, I must admit).

We've been really enjoying the book Eat Your Way Through the USA. Last week we had a lobster dish (Maine) and a Boston Cream Pie (Massachusetts). This week we had a wonderful corn chowder and an orange cake (above) for New Hampshire and today we are making some maple candy (Vermont.) Geography can be yummy!

We've also settled into our outside activities: drum lessons, gymnastics classes, Bible study, and Awana. It's just enough that we don't feel "gone" all the time, but some great enrichment. God has faithfully helped us establish a schedule that helps us keep our priorities where they should be.

Well, I can't wait to have a Friday afternoon break and head on over to some of your blogs to see how your school year is going. I need to get caught up with everyone! Thank you so much for stopping by our school blog and visiting us. Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed week next week!

TGIFunny

2007-09-14T07:48:00.000-05:00

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

Works-for-me Wednesday: Daily Assignment Sheets

2007-09-12T10:37:00.000-05:00

I posted a WFMW this morning on my other blog about killing ants, but later as I headed into our school room I saw something else that works for me, so I thought I'd share that here today.

As I've posted before, I do my planning on my computer using Excel spreadsheets. This has been a lifesaver for me, and has really helped cut down on my arrows, erasing, and frustration because I can simply copy, paste, drag and move things and it always stays neat.

The kids like to have a daily assignment sheet rather than a whole week-at-a-glance (which seems kind of overwhelming, I must admit). Since my plan sheets are a week at a time, though, I came up with a way to not have to rewrite the sheets or create additional work for myself, but still have it in the format they prefer.

I simply go to my plan for that week, copy the cells (including the subject headers), open Microsoft Word, make the page format "landscape", paste the cells, and if it's not Monday, delete the cells for the previous day, which makes the current day shift up.
I then post their day's assignments on the front of their lockers with a magnetic clip. Here's what they see in the mornings:

(You can click on the pictures to see the sheets better.) I have the template for my lesson plan book to view or download here, but there are some great forms at Donna Young's site and others. Oh, and I bought these lockers years ago from a catalog which doesn't offer them anymore, but I there are cute ones here and all over the internet...

A quick way to get their assignments to them each day... works for me!

Hope you're having a wonderful week in school! For more ideas or to link your own, visit Shannon.

The "Real World"

2007-09-11T08:33:00.000-05:00

"What will happen when your kids (meaning, homeschoolers) have to encounter the 'real world' someday?"

That's a question I've heard often during my years of homeschooling. It's usually a sincere question, but one that indicates that the person asking it doesn't feel that being at home is being part of the "real world." It's actually a mindset that I, myself, had before I left the classroom to be a full time stay-at-home mom.

I remember very, very well what we were doing the morning of September 11, 2001. We were living in an apartment, having sold our house and in the process of building another one in a neighboring community. My husband traveled and was not home, and would be sitting in a board room in Corpus Christi, TX for most of the day. My children (kindergarten and 2nd grade at the time) and I were sitting at our little dining table in that small, third-floor apartment finishing breakfast and prayer time and beginning our schoolwork. The phone rang, and it was a friend who knew I wouldn't have the TV on, telling me I'd better turn it on. I watched in horror as I saw what had happened to the first tower. Then I saw it happen to the second tower. In the meantime the report came on about the Pentagon. It was horrific and surreal. But it was real. It was happening. It was something that would impact all of us, and it was unfolding at that very moment.

I remember being so glad my kids were there with me that day. We were able to discuss what was going on and to immediately go to our knees in prayer. I didn't have to wonder if I should go get them at school. (I know many who wanted their kids with them, and rightly so.) We were able to discuss that no, we were not in danger of a plane being flown into our apartment even though we were on the third floor (a very real concern to a 5 year old, who thought three flights of stairs was a skyscraper!) They were able to talk to their father on the phone, who was getting one of the last rental cars available in the city where he was, and to pray while he drove home. They processed what was going on in the way their minds could comprehend it, all the while being reminded that God is in control and being comforted by their mother. I remember that God gave me the hymn "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" that day. I tried to help the three of us keep our eyes on Jesus, especially given what was in front of our eyes on the news.

Meanwhile, the kids in the elementary school near us knew nothing about what was going on (not that they should've told them in that setting). Since it was not known if schools were a target, the administration made the (wise) decision not to allow them to go outside for recess, and they were told it was because of an "ozone warning." The horror-stricken teachers had to slip out of their classes and go down to the office or teacher's lounge to catch snippets of what had happened, all the while not letting on to their students that one of the most historic events to happen in our country in their lifetime was unfolding. The students continued doing their work as if everything was fine, and the teachers had to stay in their classrooms, largely uninformed.

Who was experiencing the "real world" that day? My kids or those kids? Those of us who knew what was going on or the ones who were sequestered away from it? I don't get into the "public school vs. homeschool" debates, and I don't think homeschooling is always superior for every child, but I do tire of the argument that homeschoolers aren't in the "real world."

It's days like this that remind me that yes, they are.

A (First) Day In The Life...

2007-09-07T16:19:00.000-05:00

I hope you have had a good week! As I posted Wednesday, we finally got started this week. Since my blog has become sort of a "digital journal" for me (since I don't *gasp* scrapbook or rarely even get pictures developed!) I decided to snap some pictures during our first day...

The kids loved their back-to-school flowerpots. Once they had checked out the schoolroom, which is sort of like Christmas morning (in the "let's-go-see-what-we-got" sense... not that the first day of school is a holy moment here or anything, LOL) we headed to the kitchen.

We enjoyed a back-to-school breakfast of sausage balls and muffins. We lingered at the breakfast table and read part of Live Like A Jesus Freak (a Sonlight book from last year's list that we didn't get to.)

Once they got dressed and did their "morning routine" (list of what to do in each morning... I'll post those sometime!) they came downstairs to the schoolroom.

Kyle got right to his math. It's his least favorite subject, so he wanted to get it out of the way. I've decided to start him in Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, even though he's not through Math U See: Zeta yet. The Zeta book focuses on decimals and fractions, so when he gets to that chapter in TT Pre-Algebra, we're taking a MUS break to solidify those skills before he gets back to the Pre-Algebra. It may take longer, but that's okay. He really liked his first lesson, and he likes that format. He didn't know, though, NOT to write in the book. After me erasing it as well as I can and remaining cheerful (while hoping it won't affect the resale value) I decided to photocopy the practice set pages for him, for now...

It looks dark outside, doesn't it? That's because it was pouring down rain! Here Bethany is checking her assignment sheet for the day, deciding what she wants to work on first. She decided to do her Chinese lesson.

She headed to the family room so she could use the Pimsleur cd's with the cd player. Each day she is doing two of three things for Chinese: Pimsleur cd's (audio), Rosetta Stone (visual), and Chinese in 10 Minutes a Day (written). Today was Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone, 15 minutes of each. (I may increase it to 20 or 30 minutes each.) I had carefully loaded her Rosetta Stone on the school laptop, but of course I couldn't remember the password or find where I had written it. I ended up having to uninstall and reinstall it. There is now a sticky note in the instructions, reminding me of what it is. I shared that with you in case our school days come off as looking "perfect" or in case you think I really have it all together... I assure you that is not the case! My son's Switched on Schoolhouse Language was the same way! I thought I had it all ready to go, but I had to go into the "teacher" application and finagle it, too. These are things I prepared back in July! Oh, well...

After working for awhile, my sweet mom came over to visit and have a music lesson. While watching "The Sound of Music" lately I realized that I had never taught my kids the "Do-Re-Mi" (Solfege) scales and the accompanying handsigns. She's only taught that to thousands of kids in her 35+ years of teaching, so I asked her to come bless us with her expertise. We had a great music class! Here she is using the book Patterns of Sound: A Practical Sight-Singing Course for Young Voices. (You can find it here. You scroll down the page and it's on the right.)

Our school mascot, Zacchaeus-the-weenie-dog "chilled out" during music class. He can't do the hand signs because he doesn't have opposable thumbs, so he just listened...

Then, of course, they ended up at the piano. Here she is teaching them about the pentatonic scale (five-note rather than eight-note scale.) Did you know you can play "Amazing Grace" on all black keys? Try it! (Start on C-sharp) In all my years of music study, I had never heard this.

After Gram left, they got back to their books for awhile, and then it was time for lunch. I have decided to have a certain thing for lunch each day (except Fridays) to help streamline lunchtime. They both were glad about this. (I wasn't sure if they would think I was taking away a freedom!) That day was make-your-own-pizza day (with English muffins, pizza sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella and a toaster oven.) They thought that was fun!

After their lunch break I worked with one and then the other on different subjects. At one point I came into the schoolroom to see Kyle helping Bethany with her Word Roots. The first lesson was a pretest on your existing knowledge of word meanings (to show the need to learn the roots, I suppose.) She was baffled by words like "synchronous" and "mesocracy." Here came Kyle to the rescue. He has an uncanny way of figuring out terms like that (he does very well in Latin) so between his brain and her electronic thesaurus, she got some of them.

A fun surprise! Dad came home during the middle of the afternoon! With the storms in the area, some of their jobs were rained out. He and Kyle enjoyed reading some science together.

Then, for some "first day fun" Kyle got made a "concoction" of his choice from one of our most-used resources, The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions. He chose to make a volcano. We've done this on numerous occasions, but I suppose one can never tire of combining baking soda and vinegar and making it spew. Especially if one is an eleven year old boy.

Not quite as "concoction-oriented" as her brother, here is Bethany reading her science. Her science experiments start next week. I have always, always, always combined as much as possible, especially science and history. Last year for seventh grade, she wanted to go more "textbooky" so she branched off (as well as did a small science co-op with a friend.) I still try to combine as much as possible, even though they both like to do their own things. Since we're not doing any co-ops this year, for all of the earth and space experiments and demos I will be combining them, since those are two chapters in Kyle's book as well. I love it when we're all together, and if I'm going to set up a big ole solar system or make something explode, it might as well be for all of us! I'm looking forward to getting into their science this year.

They worked hard this week, and it feels good to be back into a routine! I'm tired, though, and it's only been three days! But it's a good tired. I think it's going to be a great school year. I love, love, love teaching my children at home. Even on hard days, there is such a comfort knowing we are doing just what we are supposed to be doing, and they are right where they need to be. Every single year I feel like God has given us a gift.

I hope your school year has gotten off to a great start. Thanks so much for stopping by!

The First Day Of School!

2007-09-05T06:56:00.001-05:00

First I just thought I'd share this fun picture of what you get when you sequester yourself in the school room to work on school plans and give your 11 year old son permission to watch a show about "robot warriors" on Discovery Channel. Our dachshund doesn't appreciate this particular type of radio-controlled technology! I heard a "ruckus" and this is what I found.

I counted it for science. So we're good. Ahead, even. ;)

It's back-to-school day! Here are their back-to-school treats. Last year I found these baskets at Dollar Tree. It worked out so perfect to do them in their colors. I wasn't sure what I'd find this year, but it worked out more perfect than I thought! We are going to paint flower pots Friday for art, to decorate our school room porch, and I found these at Walmart in their "colors!" I was so excited! They are ceramic, and I bought paint that will adhere to ceramic and is weather resistant. I wrote on these with a dry erase marker, which will come right off when it's time to paint Friday. Fun!

Inside I put some things I found at Walmart that are treats but also useful for school. A pencil box, some new glue and a scented eraser. (Hers is blueberry and his is green apple. Again with the colors!) I got them each some silly putty because they've always loved to play with clay or some other type of manipulative while I read. And read. And read. They love for me to read a lot, but they like to have something to do with their hands! I also found correction tape in dispensers with their colors, because I really want to work on neatness this year. I also threw in some fun candy "just because." Gum is allowed in our school!

We will have our back-to-school breakfast of muffins and sausage balls, have a time of Bible reading, then get into our assignments. My mom, who taught music in public and private schools for over 30 years is now retired. She is stopping by to begin music lessons with them each week (or biweekly) starting today. Having Gram drop by will be a treat!

Other than that, our fine arts and combined studies (art, music, Latin, missionary study, and Colonial Life unit) will be on Fridays. Their individual subjects will be Monday through Thursday for now. Each day they will have the following subjects: (Links to our specific curriculum are in the sidebar.)

8th grade
Omnibus
English/ Word Roots
Geography
History
Math
Science
Chinese

6th grade
Literature
Geography
Math
Science
Language
History
Spanish

I've opted not to schedule specific subjects by time-slot yet, since we have a school laptop and a desktop computer for them to each use, so we're not trying to stagger computer time as in years past. I do ask them to start with their least favorite subjects first, usually. This year, Kyle will be doing activities from the Enchanted Learning Monthly Activity Calendar as a warm-up most mornings, too. I will have blocks of time available for each of them and try to have the other one working on something that I know will be independent, so I can fully focus on the other one during that time. This week and next week we'll be "finding the junk drawer." I'll post more about what words and doesn't now that we're in full "school mode." I'm ready for routine!

I hope your school year is clicking along great! I can't wait to stop by your blogs and see what you're up to!

Math Is Not Neutral

2007-08-30T09:13:00.001-05:00

As a Christian homeschooler, I've found that there is so much to consider when planning my kids' education. It didn't take long once I started browsing curriculum fairs, attending conferences, talking with other homeschoolers or reading blogs before I found myself caught up in the young earth/old earth and creationist/evolutionist debates, wondering which account of American History is accurate, and how much should I really focus on America that much at all in the whole scheme of world history, anyway? And for goodness sakes, is it okay to read Greek myths with my children??? Whew! By the time I wrestled with all of that, frankly I didn't have time to consider math. It just... is, right? How can you argue with it? How can it be secular vs. Christian? Is just is what it is. Numbers.

Or is it more?

Last week I came across an interesting e-book called "Beyond Numbers," written by Katherine Loop. I really enjoyed it. I hadn't realized it, but I needed to look at math in a new way! Did you know that the very existence of math is a testimony of God's faithfulness, and is a testimony to His character? Math is not neutral! Nor is math curriculum which simply has Bible verses on the bottom of the page a "Christian Math Curriculum." You can download the e-book or order the book here.

She and her family also have a blog that I just found and it looks great!

I just wanted to pass this along to you today and encourage you to start your new school year with a fresh perspective on math. It's all for His glory!

Where Does It All Go??

2007-08-29T08:20:00.000-05:00

Papers, projects, old curriculum, new curriculum, books-to-be-read, books-that-have-been read.

Reference materials, manipulatives, curriculum we're never going to use but is just waiting for me to admit it...

Whew! That's a lot of stuff! "Stuff management" is definitely something to consider as a homeschooler, no matter how simple you keep your school and how organized your home. Kids and "stuff" seem to go together!

Here are some solutions I've found. They may not work for everyone, but they, well, "work for me!"

Filing Cabinets

Early on in our homeschooling career, my husband came home from work one day and mentioned that his office was getting rid of some old filing cabinets, and asked me if I thought we could use one. From underneath a pile of books, behind a tower of papers and folders I managed to squeak out, "Yes!"

He brought home two, and it changed my life! We put them in the garage since they were, well, old and metal, and there it started. I arranged one cabinet into drawers according to time period (the same time periods in The Well-Trained Mind):

Ancients (5000B.C.-A.D. 400)
Medieval - Early Renaissance (400-1600)
Late Renaissance - Early Modern (1600-1850)
Modern (1850-Present)

Since TWTM organizes science to correspond with history periods, I store science materials in the corresponding drawers as well:

Ancients-- Life Science (people and animals), Biology
Medieval/ Early Ren.-- Earth Science and Astronomy
Late Ren./Early Modern-- chemistry
Modern-- physical science/ physics

I was amazed at how just that step really helped get my books, materials, files and ideas where I could find them when I needed them each year! It took a bit of thinking as I sorted them ("When were the Vikings? The colonists? Texas History?) but once I got it all categorized according to those time periods it became very, very handy!

Since that was a 5 drawer filing cabinet, I used the bottom four drawers for my time periods and the top drawer for my monthly files. I made a file folder for each month of the year and put holiday activities, art books, etc. according to the season or month. At the back of that drawer I keep my plan books for each year.

The other cabinet I arranged according to subject areas:

Math
English/Language Arts (all grammar and reading materials/workbooks)
Foreign Language
Art/Music/ Bible
Completed Work

I've been able to use those file drawers to store not only curriculum and files, but also books and manipulatives as well. I can't believe how much will fit in those drawers! A couple of years ago, my husband was able to snag another old file cabinet, expanding my storage even further! This one was a four drawer one, so I moved my time period files to that one. Now Bible has a drawer of it's own and I have three more drawers of our completed binders and work. I'll be culling through those over the next year, deciding what to keep.

Art Portfolios

When we began our current art curriculum a few years ago, we began having really nice paintings and sketches that I wanted to be sure to preserve. So I went to our local craft store and purchased two 21"x 26" portfolios. I store these behind the shelf (pictured) between the shelf and the wall. It's a great, out of the way space to keep their (flat) art, and easy to get to when we need to store something new. If you don't want the expense of these types of portfolios or don't have access to them, you could use two poster boards stapled together. I used to store bulletin board materials that way when I taught school.

Rubbermaid (Plastic) Drawers

I did a WFMW post almost a year ago on my love of Rubbermaid drawers. All sizes. (And not necessarily "Rubbermaid" but whatever happens to be a Walmart and the dollar store!) In my post last year I mentioned the various ways I use them around the house, but for school I use them by the kid's school desks. We covered them in chalkboard Contact paper so we can label what's inside. The kids have fun decorating the front and updating them.

I also have found them indispensable in the school closet (which by the way, is the linen closet in the half bath by our schoolroom).

In the bottom of this closet, I have a large one to store clay projects, larger papers, and miscellaneous work. It usually takes a couple of years to fill one up, at which point I put it in the attic. Like the file drawers of their work, I will be going through these in the next year to see what we will want to keep. I'll be armed with my digital camera so I can take photos of what we're getting rid of. But... that's another post for another day!

I also use them to store their assigned reading books for the year, to make sure they don't get mixed in with the other books on our shelves and so I can readily check and see if we have the ones we need.

Book Shelves

My camera battery ran out before I could snap a picture this morning, and that's too bad because I wanted to show you my bookshelves! Most of the homeschoolers I know have as many bookshelves as they can, and we are no different. But, I wanted to show you that they don't have to cost a lot of money! My dad rescued a couple of sets of shelves from someone's trash awhile back and was kind enough to give them to us. The kids painted them black, and with a clear coat on top they look gorgeous and totally match our "Africa room." We have those two sets of shelves, along with a large (relatively) inexpensive bookcase from Sam's Club. This summer I worked to categorize and alphabetize our books. I thought that sounded kind of nutty when I started, but after the shelves were painted it just felt wrong to just pile books on them without any sort of order. I can't tell you how helpful it's been for me to run upstairs and look to see if we have a certain book and not have to dig and dig. For instance, last week I was seeing if we have Red Badge of Courage, and I simply had to go look for "Crane." Oh, my word! Hard back picture books are all together, paper back picture books are another category (there were too many to alphabetize these, though.) History, Science, Biography, and missionary books are in categories. Everyone else but me may already have their books this way but this is new to us and it is really helping me know (and USE) what we already have and know what I need to buy or check out from the library. Love it, love it.

Well, I certainly haven't cornered the market on organization, and it's certainly a work in progress day by day, but these are a few things that work for me!

To read more of what works for other moms, be sure to stop by Rocks In My Dryer.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and a super school year!

My Annual Pep Talk

2007-08-24T09:36:00.000-05:00

This week I had my pep rally. It was time for my yearly back-to-school pep talk, so I turned to my well-worn, highlighted, written-in, coffee-stained copy of Educating the WholeHearted Child by Sally Clarkson (did you know she has an awesome blog?!) I flipped the book open to page one, and reread words that have ministered to and motivated me for the past 9 years. I thought I'd share them with you today:

"Home schooling is the right thing to do. No matter what mulititude of reasons may have initially influenced your decision to bring your children home, in the end the only reason that really matters is that it is the right thing to do. In your heart, God moved you toward the decision, confirming through a variety of sources that you were doing the right thing. And in your heart, you made the step of faith to do what you knew was right- to bring your children home to disciple and educate them as a family.

That decision, though, was not an uninformed or blind leap of faith. It was guided by conviction, born out of much consideration and research, and shaped in your heart and mind by the Holy Spirit. You have good reasons why home schooling is the right thing to do. You home school because it is right to guard your children against the aggressive secular, humanisitic worldview of the public school. You home school because it is right to shield your children from the immorality that permeates the public school, both the student body and the faculty. You home school because it is right to protect your children from the violence and wickedness that inflicts so many public schools. You home school because it is right to want your children to receive a better education under your loving guidance than the average public school is providing. You home school because it is right for parents to control what their children are studying and are being exposed to without being labeled intolerant and narrow-minded. You home school because it is right to decide that learning at home is better stewardship than spending thousands of dollars for a private school. You home school because it is right to follow God's design for family not just in living, but in learning as well. You home school because it is right to guide your children's Christian character development at home rather than allow them to be "socialized" by secular, untrained, unsupervised schoolmates. You home school because it is right to keep your children under your authority until they are grown, rather than place them under other unknown authorities at a school. You home school because it is right to love your children and want to be with them every day of their lives until they are grown- that is what God intended."

Whether you are embarking on your first year of homeschooling or your ninth year... doesn't it feel great to have someone cheer you on? To tell you that what you are doing, how you are feeling, and the choice you have made for your family is right? This was so affirming to me when we first started, when I was doubting my abilities, thinking I might be crazy or perhaps overprotective for not simply enrolling my daughter in the nice school down the street. All these years later, it still feels good to be told, "it is right."

I feel like I must say at this point that if you are reading this and are not a homeschooler, the flipside of this is not "you are wrong." That's not my intent at all, nor the intent of the author I am sure. But those who are going the more traditional route already have society as a whole directly and indirectly affirming that decision (as well as directly and indirectly questioning the validity of homeschooling). What is right for one family may not be right for another. For us, homeschooling is right.

And I'm pepped up for another year.

Home School Musical

2007-08-18T08:37:00.000-05:00

So, last night the kids and I joined some friends for a "High School Musical 2" party, of sorts. The girls dressed in their red and white and we all be-bopped along with Troy, Gabriella and Sharpay as they danced their way into summer and we boogie our way into another school year.

Which gave me an idea....

Come join me at "The Well Drained Mind" where I share my idea for a blockbuster new musical, "Home School Musical."

I just know it would be a hit!

A Wise Woman Once Said...

2007-08-15T07:28:00.000-05:00

"To those who wonder if they could possibly teach their children at home, I want to say, 'The Lord God will help me; therefore I shall not be confounded: therefore I have set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed.' (Isaiah 50:7) "
~Elisabeth Elliot in the foreword to The Heart of Homeschooling

The Fun Parts:

2007-08-14T14:19:00.000-05:00

Shopping, and planning it all out! Where it gets sticky is actually implementing all of my wonderful plans, but I'm not going to burden myself worrying about that just now... ;)

Yesterday we finished buying all of our school supplies. We started with a trip to our new Supertarget a couple of weeks ago, which I posted about on my other blog. Yesterday we went to Officemax and back to Supertarget to get everything else we "needed."

You'll see below why I put the word "needed" in quotations:

I mean, does anyone really need a ruler that bends up like an accordion? Or big, bubbly calculators? (Which are, by the way, color-coded by child.) Or lots of pens in funky colors? Well... hyeah!

In case you're interested in what's what, my son's stuff is on the right, mine is in the middle, and my daughter's is on the left. (And if you're really interested, you can click on the picture to make it larger!) She got a cute, striped clipboard at Target because she likes to doodle, draw, take notes, etc. while I'm reading and notebooks can be floppy. She also chose a cute planner (which I'm going to insist that both of them write in daily/weekly this year) from Target, while my son found a digital camo/army one with a pocket on the front at Officemax. He also had to have those Crayola Total Tools, which I have to admit are pretty cool!

The kids both alerted me to the fact that they wish I would refrain from grading/marking up their papers with plain, red pen, which apparently hurts their ::cough::: self esteem. I will henceforth be using fun, neon colored pens. (Which, in my defense, I've been using pretty frequently because I've usually got a highlighter within arm's reach even when I can't find a pen to save my life.) But, apparently I've been pretty free with the red ink.

As you can see, I'm a fan of Post-it Notes. I restocked my supply of various sizes, and I'm not sure if you can tell how HUGE those pink ones are, but I'm pumped about those. Sometimes I need to write a note that CANNOT! BE! MISSED! and I think those might fill the bill.
You can also see my son's new Trapper Keeper, which he is excited about not only because it will hold all of his "stuff" but because they are outlawed at the local public school (according to their supply list) so it feels like contraband. That's the way to rebel. With a Trapper Keeper.

Oh, and check out his new backpack! He found it in the Cabela's catalog, which he reads with great anticipation each time a new one arrives. It's a Surplus German Military Rucksack. It fits his contraband Trapper Keeper just fine. ("Mom! It'll hold more than 25 kilos!") That's a lot of sixth grade work!

As for the planning, I'm doing as I described last year and putting the puzzle together at the moment. I've got my spreadsheets for the year made and am plugging our subjects/curricula in to see how to best spread it out. We may not stick to it as specifically as I'm listing it, but it does help to know what months we'll be in which time period, or when we'll be hitting certain projects for geography, etc. I like to see it all laid out together so I can move things around if I see that certain subjects will be heavier than others at certain times.

One resource I'm having fun planning is the Colonial Life unit from Homeschool In The Woods. It's a cd rom that is just packed with resources. I ordered it a few weeks ago and had no idea how pleased I would be with it. I would encourage you to check it out if you're in Colonial period this year in history.

Another resource I just received is The Cambridge Music Guide. I don't use a music "curriculum" but we have been going through the Usborne Internet-Linked Music book together slowly over the past couple of years (when I think about it, frankly!). I wanted to more coherently focus on American composers and modern era music this year, and I find that this book has such comprehensive biographies and wonderful listening notes, I wish I would have been using it all along! I probably won't read it aloud to them straight from the text, but will use it as a guide for myself and pull selections from it, using the listening notes for pieces I get from iTunes (another invaluable resource!)

One thing that is HUGE that I gave myself, which incidentally is not available at Target, Officemax, or on any online catalog... is T-I-M-E. I found myself getting bogged down with planning school as well as orchestrating the beginning of our Awana club year (which my husband and I coordinate together). One day I was feeling particularly burdened trying to get it all done and I felt a gentle nudge in my spirit asking me, "Why?" So I asked myself, "Why am I trying to start school on the 13th? Or even the 20th or the 27th? Just because those days work best for other homeschoolers or school districts? They aren't me!" So, I sat down with our calendar and adjusted our start date to the day after Labor Day (which just happens to be the day after I turn the big 4-0) and it's all falling together. We can still be done by the end of May/ first of June. Life is good. I have more time. And the kids have 2+ more weeks to squeeze all the fun they can out of summer.

I hope your school planning and starting is exciting as well!

Yes. Through high school.

2007-08-09T07:12:00.000-05:00

One of the most common questions I'm asked about homeschooling, second only to the "socialization" question (which, ironically, is usually asked at an event where my kids are, well, socializing) is "Are you planning to homeschool all the way through high school?" To which I used to reply: "I don't know. We're taking it year by year."

But that's not my answer anymore.

When I used to have my "year-by-year" state of mind, I questioned homeschooling every summer, like clockwork. In February I would have my regularly scheduled breakdown, stuff my feelings, plow through spring, and then in the summer I would revisit my February freakout and wonder if I should homeschool the next year. In the back of my mind, I knew I would, or at least knew I wanted to. At least I wanted to want to. I would allow myself to imagine what a better experience they would have at school. I would imagine the perfect teacher, always well-dressed and friendly, daily challenging them with imaginative and thought-provoking lessons. Then I would imagine myself in my cute tennis outfit, cheerfully picking them up from school. (No, I don't play tennis. But I might, right?)

One summer, I settled it. With myself, and with God. I prayed, "God if you mean for me to quit homeschooling, I will expect You to reveal it to me through your Word and through my husband. Not my feelings of inadequacy, not my kids' attitudes, not the world's standards of what's "normal," and not my desire to do something easier. I commit to homeschooling all the way through high school, and fully rely on You to enable me to do so. I believe that You called me to this, and that you will equip me for it. Thank You that I have reached the end of myself so quickly so that I will more readily rely on Your strength and wisdom." I told my husband, "I'm in." (Bless his heart! I don't think he ever knew I was "out!") I said, "If we are ever to stop homeschooling, I will expect you to be the one to tell me, knowing full well that you are the one most accountable to God for how we raise these children." (He's been 100% in favor of homeschooling since the beginning, and has never entertained one thought of doing otherwise.)

I wish I could say that since I "settled it" I've never had one bad day of homeschooling or one moment of feeling overwhelmed. But I can't. What I can say is that since I "settled it" and committed to homeschool through high school, I haven't had my semiannual moments of thinking homeschooling isn't for us. I may wonder what I can change, or how to do things better, but I don't entertain ideas of quitting homeschooling altogether. Because I firmly believe this is what we are supposed to do, for many, many reasons (which are a whole 'nother post!) God has graciously given me JOY in homeschooling, even on the toughest days. Not the "holy jollies" but the deep abiding joy and peace that comes from doing what He's asked me to do. I love it.

Yesterday at the library, while the kids were perusing books, I sat with my laptop and typed up our high school checklist. I adapted it from our state's graduation requirements. (For my daughter's upcoming 8th grade year, we are doing a few credits that will count for her high school transcript and I want to be sure I begin my documentation now.) I found that as I typed words like "chemistry" and "physics," I was amazingly calm! I didn't flinch! I even felt a sense of excitement. And I KNOW it's not coming from my own self-assuredness in those subjects. I know it will be challenging, but not for God. He can do anything. And through Him, I can, too. "By my God, I can leap over a wall" (Psalm 18:29) even if that "wall" is helping my kids through a difficult school subject, or all of high school! He can give my children (and me) "learning and skill in all literature and wisdom." (Daniel 1:17) Including calculus! My confidence is in Him, and that's where it should stay! The glory's all His.

It's with confidence in my calling and in my God- NOT in myself, that I can boldly answer:

"Yes. Through high school."

Tax-Free Shopping, TAKS-Free Teaching

2007-08-05T08:21:00.000-05:00

***I originally posted this one year ago this weekend. Since it is once again approaching "tax-free weekend" I thought I'd repost it today because it was on my mind again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's the m-o-o-o-st wonderful time of the ye-e-ear!" I remember that Staples commercial a couple of years ago, where the parent danced through the aisles buying school supplies while the glum-faced kids stood looking on... Well, to me this is one of the most wonderful times of the year. Ecclesiastes says there's a "time to gather." Well, this is it! Tax-free weekend! Back-to-school sales! ::::sigh:::: Folders! Paper! Jeans! Socks! Fun!

As we're preparing for an afternoon of gathering certain items tax-free, I've been thinking of the other spelling of the word: TAKS. For those of you not in Texas, the TAKS are the state-wide achievement tests, which have (unfortunately) increasingly begun to govern what teachers are able to teach. I haven't been in the classroom for some time now, but how well I remember that feeling of having a great teaching idea, or coming across a fun activity I'd love to do, only to realize that I really shouldn't because it didn't have test objective tied to it (especially in the spring). Every spring, CPA's have their "tax season," well Texas Public Educators have their "TAKS season" at the same time. (I never noticed the correlation until today!) It took me several years after I quit teaching to not have the test dates firmly implanted in my mind. (In our state, homeschools and private schools do not take the TAKS.) Ahhhh, freedom!

This weekend we have the freedom of shopping for clothes without the added burden of state sales tax. It's not that we don't have to pay for what we're buying, or that we don't have to pay taxes on anything, but eliminating the extra cost of the tax on certain items is... nice. As a homeschooler, I have enormous responsibility in teaching my kids, but eliminating the extra requirement of state testing is... nice. In fact, it's wonderful. Now, the TAKS isn't all bad, just like taxes aren't all bad, both accomplish a measure of common good. Extreme taxation, though, is stifling (just ask our founding fathers!) and many schools suffer from extreme TAKSation. I'm glad to be free from both. Just like our nation still seeks a way to balance taxation, there are many schools and teachers, I'm sure, who have found a way preserve the joy of learning amid the test requirements.

This isn't an "in-your-face" nya-nya to anyone, but just the observation of one lil' ole homeschooler from "deep in the heart," who's gearing up for another year of TAKS-free teaching and heading out for an afternoon of tax-free shopping.

Yee-haw!

TGIFunny

2007-08-03T11:04:00.001-05:00

Don't think this hasn't crossed my mind...

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons www.familymanweb.com

It's the mo-o-o-ost wond-er-ful t-i-i-i-me of the y-e-e-e-a-r!

2007-07-31T07:33:00.000-05:00

When doorbells are ringing and UPS men are bringing new books for our school ye-e-e-a-r!

These are what came yesterday. Over the next few days, more goodies will be arriving. I'm so happy to see that big brown truck stop in front of my house every few days!

Here's some of what I've ordered, and what I'm currently "piecing together" for our upcoming schoolyear. (I've put a complete list of links by grade in my sidebar.)

Besides some of the novel studies he'll be doing this year, I've decided to incorporate some more "fun" things for literature for my sixth grade son this year. When I was in China in the spring, he stayed with a friend and made a wonderful Lewis and Clark lapbook. I could tell by the way he showed it to me (and in fact, he wanted to get it out yesterday and look through it again) that he really enjoyed making it and learned a lot from doing it. We've done similar projects before, but when he was really young, like first grade. And he doesn't even remember doing it! So, why not do more things like that now, when he's got even greater dexterity and art skills,can do more of it on his own, and will remember more? Veritas Press recommends History Pockets: Moving West book for a history supplement. Since it seems sort of "lapbooky" I decided to pick it up. While I was shopping on Amazon for that, I looked through a few of the Literature Pockets, which I thought looked like fun. I picked up the Non-fiction one, as well as Fiction, Tall Tales, and I already had Caldecott Winners in my filing cabinet. So, for literature this year, in addition to the novel studies he's going to do, I'll incorporate some of the Literature Pockets. The Veritas novel studies he's doing include: Fahrenheit 451, Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. We will also be reading aloud as many of the other Veritas Press grade 6 literature and history selections as we can. They are all so good! My daughter will be reading the secondary books for Omnibus I (semester 1 and semester 2). If we begin to get bogged down, I'm planning to bring in some of these Sonlight titles, too. So many books, so little time!!

For history, we're coming to America this year! We are continuing with the Story of the World series because my son really loves not only the way it's written, but the mapwork and activities as well. (I found a chart which combines SOTW 4 with the History of US books here. With my added focus on American History, I decided to order the Drive-Through History: America DVD's which I thought looked like fun, and I like that they focus on character. I decided, since he loved the lapbook so much, that I'd do some of those this year with both of them. I figured if my son liked it, then my scrapbook-happy daughter might get a lot out that type of project, too! I ordered the Colonial Life project pack from Homeschool in the Woods to get us started. As soon as the Revolutionary War Pack is available, I plan to order that as well. I also want to do lapbooks for the Civil War and World Wars I & II, too, but I'm deciding if I want to order those or make them up myself... Bethany (my textbook lover) has chosen Holt's Call to Freedom as her main history text, which I will be supplementing with Hakim's books and Veritas if I feel it's called for, and of course the lapbook/unit studies will help to get the textbooky taste out of my mouth!

I know. It's a lot. That's how it is for me every year. "Oh THAT looks like fun, and wouldn't we enjoy that? And, we've always done this, so I want to continue with it..." It's fun to get it all out and see how it all fits together! So far I've done our school calendar, deciding when our days/weeks off will be (that I know of!) and dividing the main books/spines out evenly over the 36 weeks. Now I'm looking specifically at when we'll try to do certain units and I'll begin writing lesson plans after that. But more on that later. Today was my link-fest. :)

Enjoy the season!

Oh, yeah...

2007-07-29T11:22:00.000-05:00

It worked!

What a fun, sticky, mess!

The kids all wore swim suits, while my white-shorts-wearin' self stood a safe distance away and used my zoom to snap pictures:

Afterward, everyone ran through the sprinklers and rinsed off. It was great afternoon of ~~silliness~~ ~~stickiness~~ ~~summer fun~~ science!

Cool, carbonated...

2007-07-24T13:41:00.000-05:00

explosive! Diet Coke and Mentos!

We're on our way to a friend's house to do this:

(If you can't see the video click here.) Doesn't that look like way too much fun??

I'll let you know how it goes!

TGIFunny

2007-07-20T07:37:00.000-05:00