Someone recommended SafeSide: Stranger Safety (John Walsh) DVD recently.  I got it from Blockbuster Online and it is great!  Teaching an important lesson in a fun way that is serious and doesn't frighten, this DVD was a hit with my 7 and 3 year olds.  Both watched it numerous times and, more importantly, have already used the teaching points. 

As we venture out to an amusement park tomorrow, I'm a *bit* more relieved that they have had these lessons that I'd already taught my way, reinforced in another way.  So even if you don't think you're children need to hear this info, review it yourself and I think you'll be surprised. 

On the heels of deciding I've had just about enough of the Disney videos, I picked up a couple of new DVD's at the homeschool convention.  YWAM (Youth With A Mission) was selling The Torchlighters: Heroes of the Faith DVD's.  The William Tyndale Story and The John Bunyan Story, to start with.  The Jim Elliot Story is also available.

Since we have studied all of these heroes of our faith in our Bible/HIStory time, we were familiar with the stories.  We didn't expect to be so awed by seeing the events, however.  Even though animated, these stories are full of truth, HIStory and inspiration.  I saw Voice of the Martyrs mentioned in the credits, and know that organization to be a wonderful one, however it's Wycliffe Bible Translators that has seemed to find a place in our hearts. 

Throughout my growing up years, I was introduced to one missionary after another--many with Wycliffe--but now I GET IT!  I'm so overwhelmed to think how we take God's Word for granted.  I have at least a dozen Bibles laying around the house, not to mention online copies.  Yet there are still 370,000,000 (yes! that's million!) people throughout the world who do not have a Bible in their own language.  The world may seem to revolve around us, but we are not all there are in the world.

When we finished watching The William Tyndale Story, the children ran to get there Dad and beg him to watch it over with them! 

These DVD's are worth investing in.  They are worth watching over and over, and they do glorify God with their message.  Throw the Disney out, buy Torchlighters!

I just completed a very thorough go through of The Well-Trained Mind, by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer.  Notice that I said "go through" and not "read".  I could not get very far in this material because something seemed to be missing. 

I suppose I was curious about this book because of hearing it mentioned for years and also hearing Wise-Bauer's name mentioned as author of the Story of the World books.  Then there is also the fact that she is speaking at the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention.

Here is what I discovered in the book that is often compared to Teaching the Trivium, by the Bluedorns (which I couldn't put down!).  There is no comparison!  The most important thing I can say about The Well-Trained Mind is that it does not mention God even once.  There is absolutely no Biblical perspective, or any other spiritual thing, mentioned.  There is one brief mention of a possible History addition to your studies by looking at the Old Testament.  That's it. 

I've understood from the many people that I've heard discuss the history curriculum Story of the World, that the lack of Biblical viewpoint is why many try it, but many move on to other things.

Teaching the Trivium, on the other hand, is specifically directing us in the teaching of our children toward things of God.  All toward building their Biblical perspective, foundation and relationship with Christ.  Both would be considered classical education. 

I'm very thankful that the Lord gives those who seek Him the ability to discern His presence--even in curriculum.  I'm not exactly sure why this author is a top featured speaker at a Christian convention.  Maybe that tells me it's not a Christian convention.  Maybe I don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

What I do know is that without Biblical principles, we do not know God.  Without teaching them to our children, we can not see them know God.  This is not a little thing to be left out of a curriculum.  There is a purpose in it being left out.  The purpose is to leave God out of education.  Sound familiar?

If you are gearing up for curriculum buying or convention going, think upon the things of God and rest in Him.  I'm pretty sure the decision making will then be made easy.  Be careful, though, what you hear (like the little song?) and in the moment or enthusiasm of those surrounding you, forget your purposes set forth by the Creator.  Stick to the things of God--all else will pass away.

"Our Young Folks' Josephus", by William Shepard, was first published in 1884. 

Description: A simplified retelling of Josephus' great history of Israel. Covers from the time of Abraham until the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

This "now out of print" title was recommended by Jeannie Fulbright in her newsletter last year.  I've looked for it off and on.  It's now available in PDF form free!

We've just completed our Holy Week lessons with our Judah Bible Curriculum outline.  I debated doing them early, but we went for it and I'm glad!  Here are a few of the highlights we covered:

• Jesus' triumphant entry was through the Sheep Gate--not the Kingly Gate. 
• Jesus said that if the people did not cry out in Hallelujah, then the very rocks would cry out.  That could possibly refer to, or correlate with, the earthquake at the time of His death.
• Jesus spoke to the Jews in His lament as the end of Him being just for the Jew--from then on, He was for all men and the Jew, too, would have to acknowledge Him as Savior and Lord.
• A character study on mockery was appropriate.  We carefully considered it then (His suffering) and how it happens now regarding Jesus.  Also, how we can keep from allowing this sin in our lives.  
• We also talked about crowd behavior and how people will often follow the loudest, whether they speak the truth or not.
• The counsel of Pharisees seemed evil for what they did.  We talked about Joseph of Arimethea and that his being on the counsel did not make him bad because he was right with God.
• We covered the cross (God's plan of redemption) and the resurrection (the conquering of death)which you can read about in my earlier post.
• The walk to Emmaus was an awesome lesson as we brought back to mind lessons of Manna in the wilderness and how Jesus is the Bread of Life.  We saw how He was only revealed to the two men upon the breaking of the bread.  We also went over communion for the first time and really examined the importance of remembrance.  This has also been a ongoing theme for us throughout this year's lessons with JBC.  Son will now take communion with us.

We made a Holy Week timeline for son's notebook.  This was a good visual.  Then, we watched the Passion of the Christ together (the cut version).  It's very powerful and overwhelming.  I'm not sure that we made the right decision to let him watch (he cried, of course) but, we covered him with prayer that God would use it to help make real what he knows.  I don't believe that I'll let him watch it again for two or three years.  It is not a movie I would like to see (or have my kids see) on a regular basis, though it does have a purpose and place. 

We still have to cover Pentecost. 

You may have noticed that I do not refer to Holy Week as Easter.  We have decided as a family to not use the term which is not only not Biblical, but also has origins from p*gan worship (Astarte [sp?] The worship of N*mrod's "rebirth" through his son, etc.)  For the first time, we will have no bunnies or eggs or baskets (also originating with N*mrod's wife's pag*n worship).  This is harder on the Mama to adjust to, than the kids!

We will celebrate, for the first time, a Shepherd's Supper on Wednesday of Holy Week, to remember the Last Supper that Jesus shared with the disciples.  We will have a time of communion and reflection.

After struggling for quite a while with unfinished assignments, I finally came up with a workable solution. 

On a small stack of index cards I wrote the name of the common assignments given.  For instance, Math Worksheet, Bible Notebook Page, or Read Chapter(s).  Now when we have completed our time together, I select the appropriate "Que" cards and set them out in a central area of our house--one he will walk by many times throughout the day.  When he completes an assignment, he turns the card over telling me what kind of progress he is making.  This way neither one of us forgets what was to be done.  When he is to work on specific words for spelling, etc., I use a post it note on the card. 

This is working out really well!  It puts the responsiblity on the boy to follow through, and relieves me of having to continually badger him.  If he self-governs his time, he will complete his assignments in a timely manner.  If not, we review how time was spent and what would have worked better to get his "job" done.  (We often call "school" his "job"--as in, God has given him a special job to do at this time and that is to learn and use his gifts to do his learning the most excellent way he can.)

We have been moving along rather well in our Truthquest AHYSI book (American History for Young Students I) this year.  In fact, I had my Wow! moment today when I realized that we are very close to being done!  As in about one more month.  This was surprising to me because in my planning at the beginning of the year, it was going to be a tight squeeze to get it all in.  Also, there have been many delays as we have taken more time to read certain books than I had previously planned on.

Using Truthquest has been such a great learning experience apart from the actual history we've learned.  I've learned all the things I love and disdain about public libraries.  I've learned how to manuever through a good book sale. I've learned the really great history writers for children, and the not so great!

But what I've learned about my son has been the neatest.  He really, really loves to read.  He never says no to reading.  He has never said a book was bad (of course, I'm very choosy what I hand him!).  He really and truly loves history--including biographies, and he narrates better than Charlotte Mason on a good day.  In fact, I've recently determined that it's not a good idea for me to be in the same room with him when he's reading because he stops to tell me every good point, he gets so excited!  This is so funny to me and I rejoice!

He also reads fast, and like I alluded to earlier, he retains it all.  I've also discovered that when I read to him, he doesn't ALWAYS retain as much.  Sigh.  This could mean a change in what he's doing while I read.  I'll have to work on this.  Oh, and he also loves to read in the car.

I have to say that there have been rough patches as I've learned to use Truthquest, but overall I'm so pleased with it that I plan to continue with all the guides.  I have considered adding additional helps, such as Mystery of History.  I'll have to see how it goes.  But economically and for the gross amount of information provided, it can't be beat. 

Then I had a revelation...as I looked ahead to buying the next book in the series, I perused their website and realized (even came to terms with) the fact that my son and daughter will never  be on the same page with their history lessons.  With four years between them, he will be in Ancient Egypt when she is ready to start.  I'm thoroughly and completely opposed to starting ancient history with my children that young (early elementary).  I know many aren't--especially classic education proponents, but spiritually it doesn't work for me.  You can read this wonderful article to understand a bit of my point of view on that.

I know this is a huge thing to accept, and wouldn't work for everyone, but with just my two, it will do.  I know they will have many other things which they will study together.

Here's a gem of a website!  Whether you are a classical educator or not, there are some fabulous finds here.  Frustrated with how the ole memorization is going?  Read this!  What about narration.  Need to spice it up?  Try this!    I need "systems" to help me along this journey.  This website offers great ideas.

I desperately needed help finding pre-made notebook pages.  Do I dare "google" it?  You bet ya!

http://www.notebookingpages.com/index.html

They have wonderful FREE Bible notebooking pages, as well as many more! You just gotta love homeschooling!  AND...whatever you need, you can bet some mom is ON it! 

Throughout our first year of studying American History with Truthquest, I've kept my eyes and ears pealed for extra resources.  This unusual source has been a rather pleasant surprise:  This is America, Charlie Brown. 

It's a two DVD set that we "rented" from Blockbuster.com  God is mentioned in several of the 8 episodes.  They seem very factually acurate and have caused both my 3 & 7 year olds to fall in love with Charlie Brown, Snoopy and even Lucy!  They've been so sheltered.  Snicker, snicker!!

Today was our first attempt in Nature Journaling.  We had our paper and pencils ready--after some serious grumbling about the type of pencil boy wanted to "find" to use! 

I explained that we were going to check out all the windows, looking into our newly snowed on yard, and find something that God made to observe and then draw.  Man!  You would have thought I'd asked boy to climb Mt. Everest!  Crying fits of "I don't want to". 

After a bit of coaxing and explaining that this didn't need to be perfect, and was just a little drawing, he sat down at a living room window to draw a very frozen stem of a butterfly bush.  After ten minutes, he was hooked.  After 30, I could barely pull him away and he was begging for more!  What is that? I had to laugh.  He later did the same thing during math lessons (new concept)!  Oh well! 

I have to say, as I was drawing right next to him, that *I* thorougly enjoyed the experience.  Thoughts of my own Mama and all her drawings, popped into my head.  I used to love drawing with her when I was little, but I haven't thought of that specific time much since she died.  It was a nice memory!

I suppose I'm at that point in our homeschool journey where I'm more trusting of respected names and have learned enough to be okay with and accept things certain folk tell me.  For instance:  book lists.

We all know there are a blue-million book lists out there!  At least!  Up until recently, with "just" two children, I've relied on myself to search out and discover every title.  Especially for my preschooler.  With my first born I kept diligent lists of every book we read that made us laugh or cry.  I've used it, thank you very much--however, we moved.  New library system--uggh.

I decided to get out a favorite, "Honey For A Child's Heart".  And see how the list for daughter's age looked.  We've acquired many of the titles already, but there are a few that are leaving a decided "gap" in her precious education!  :)  Reserving them works wonders!  No digging through shelves! 

I'll be happy to see her eyes delight on such well-chosen books.  I can breathe a sigh of relief, that she won't suffer from lack!

With son, we are so thoroughly enjoying the book lists of Michelle Miller & Truthquest History, as well as "Honey..." and Jan Bloom--"Who Shall We Then Read". 

You gotta love a good book....or two....or three...or a hundred!  :)

A few months back I told you how very excited I was about our new days of the week preschool boxes.  These boxes, with carefully chosen themes, labeled and made available for the three year old, would hopefully keep her busy, learning and hold her interest.

They did all those things!  Until...I didn't have time to change them...or replace missing parts...or argue with her over which day she wanted to play with!

After coming to a few profound conclusion, such as...

1.  She keeps busy enough.

2.  She is interested in everything!

3.  She is self-motivating, creative and messy (these must go together!)

...I determined to come up with a workable plan that did not involve the idea:  "free-for-all"!

So, this is what I came up with, and you will have to wait to a) never hear about it again and thus know it was a huge success.  Or, b) hear that I am once more sorting the free-for-all piles (and piles, and piles, that she makes!)

After clearing the bottom two shelves in our school room, and the floor underneath, I began arranging all of her "activities", preschool games, crafts, etc.  One after another I lined them up on the shelf with the idea that they would be neat and tidy--everything having it's own place.  Next, I cut 3x5 cards in half and wrote large numbers, in different colors, on them.  Ours happened to be 1-16.  I then numbered each item on and under the shelf (in order).  The plan is that she will learn her numbers by either being assigned, maybe drawing a number (as in from a hat), or choosing a number herself and telling me that number, in order to play with that item!

She just saw the bright numbers and loves them.  As usual, we shall see..

We've recently begun using some resources that bare mentioning:

1.  The Book of Jesus and The Book of Jesus For Families.  Last Christmas, my Dad gave me The Book of Jesus, edited and compiled by Calvin Miller.  I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout the whole Christmas season, though there is much more in it than just Christmas readings.  As I searched for it again this year (Barnes and Noble) I came across The Book of Jesus For Families (CBD special $2.99!!!)  I ordered several copies and we are enjoying the easy readings about Jesus, starting, of course, with the section on Jesus' birth. 

2.  Focus on the Family Radio Theater drama The Luke Reports I: Child of the Promise.  I have yet to hear anything from this series (FOF Radio Theater) that is bad.  We really love them all and this one on the book of Luke, is no exception!  We are using it along with our Judah Bible lessons on Luke chapters 1 & 2. 

3.  Child of the Promise music CD.  This musical type presentation of the Christmas story is fabulously done!  I believe it is written and produced by Michael Omartian.  You will recognize many familiar voices, as it is an all-star cast.  I'd love to see it on stage!

After completing my first reading of Teaching the Trivium, I'm certain that God brought this book to us for such a time as this.  The ideas concerning what to do before the age of ten, have my brain in overdrive and I'm eager to make the necessary changes in our family and school time to better achieve the "desired results"--love for the Lord and His Word, a love of learning, well-disciplined (self-governed), and a strong foundation in language. 

After much prayer and discussion with the husband, there are a few areas we are bringing to the forefront and a few major changes in activities:

1. The first thing is we are further limiting TV and computer time.  Both children will be limited to 1 time per week on the computer (1 hr for son 7, and 1/2 hr for daughter 3--she begs for it more than her brother!).  TV will be limited to family movie night and the occassional school subject related program. 

2. Since son's Bible just arrived (his ESV Children's Bible--which is NOT a "children's" version, but the full adult version in larger print with pictures), he will now be able to do his reading out loud during our Bible/Worship time.  He will also be reading daily to his sister, starting with whatever Arch book follows along with our lesson (I just picked up 50 at the library sale for .25/ea!). 

3. We are expanding and concentrating more on our memorization, and are actually setting aside time to work on just that.  We will be adding to his current weekly Bible memorization, poetry, and other worthwhile things.  Included in this will be the Greek and Hebrew alphabets, when my Bluedorn books arrive.  The husband has been studying the Greek and Hebrew this year in his own Bible study time and we are thus inspired!  It is nice to see the best application possible for such studies--learning and understanding God's Word!  (If you have ideas for memorization that are appropriate for a 7 year old, and maybe a 3 year old, please let me know!)

4. We have one chapter left in our Astronomy book, and though we have absolutely loved it, once we have completed it, we will be putting further in-depth science studies on hold for a wee bit.  This goes for Geography as well.

5. Art!  Well, I've tried a couple of art programs to no avail (Teaching Children to Draw--hahahahaha!!! and a couple of others with art appreciation as the emphasis.)  Teaching the Trivium recomments How Great Thou Art.  I know I've seen it at the conventions and never thought much of it, but I liked the samples on their website, so we're giving it a try.  Plus, both children can enjoy it--two different books, however.  This are has been a sore spot with me.  I love it, appreciate it, value it highly, but am CLUELESS as to how to approach it.  I hold out hope!

6. That goes for music, too.  I figure I cannot teach my children discipline, if I cannot even be disciplined enough to stick with their piano lessons.  Much prayer will be behind this one!

7. Till now, we've read mostly throughout our subjects.  Our night-time reading has all but ceased, simply because that has turned into Daddy time.  We've decided to have a "reading" time as part of our daily routine, which will include expanded history reading (some of the selections are much too long for one or two days) and "literature", or good quality family reading selections.

I love how the Bluedorns explain "fast-food books" and how such selections have no value in a time when everything they do should be of value!  We will be extra careful with what we are reading.  No more Magic Tree House and Hardy Boys can wait till he's much older--if he even wants to read them then! 

8. I'm convinced and convicted that we need to do more in the area of field trips.  I've stayed within my comfort zone on this topic, and am willing to start by scheduling regular trips and branching out more.

9. We are praying about the area of service and seeking a direction in this area, which is also sadly lacking, but, we agree, valuable.

10. The biggest area we will be concentrating on, is discipline.  We now have goals.  First time response is the biggest.  Showing respect (son's been sassy, rolling those eyes lately), treatment of baby sister, and also idleness (thank you, Belinda!).  It feels great to be able to have these goals before us to continue with better purpose and direction!

I feel a real peace about these obectives and goals and the Lord's blessings upon them.  We'll be praying for His constant presence and direction as we grow and change (daily!) and seek Him. 

I finely got the book "Teaching the Trivium" by the Bluedorns.  Now I get why everyone thinks so highly of them!  Wow! 

I do have to tell you that I probably would not have gotten this book at this point in my life if it hadn't been for the influence of friends.  One had it and was willing to lend it (ending w/me having to have my own copy 'cause it's so good!) and the other who hasn't been homeschooling as long as I, who got it and was going to read it first.  No way THAT was going to happen without me!  :)

If you are now expecting a full out review, here it is:  get it, and read it quick!  There you have it!

If you really want to know my thoughts on what I read, here are just a couple (so as not to bog you down and wear out my computer, at the same time!):

I have been very confused with the hype and whispers regarding "classical" education.  Most homeschoolers are the worst!  To me, classical was not really a good thing--it was incorporating humanistic history and well...filth.  I've struggled with my shock of trying to re-program my brain to understand that this couldn't possibly mean what dear homeschoolers were talking about, and yet Charlotte Mason type stuff seemed to point that way.  Greek mythology (totally contrary to Biblical understanding, among others--eeeww!)  Then I read this book.  Hello!!!  Teaching the Trivium is teaching classical style from a Biblical perspective.  Got it! Finally...

I never understood the whole grammar, dialectic, rhetoric thing.  As they re-define it using Biblical terms:  knowledge, wisdom and understanding, I get it finally (of course my horrid ps education translates this elementary, middle school, and high school--though not accurately---bad, bad Mommy!)  And their use of scripture--a LOT of scripture--was very exciting to me.  It was as though the Bible was the text and answers, and they were filling in the questions.  Hey wait...isn't that what we are supposed to be doing with ALL our studies??!!

A couple of details immediately popped out to me.  One is that we really need to focus more on character (Bible) and discipline (hello?) before age 10.  In the companion seminar (downloadable from their website for free) she asked certain questions that went something like this:  Are you pleased with the discipline of your children?  Do they respond the first time they are asked?  Etc.  Sorry I don't remember them all.  Then she went on to say, that if you can answer no to any one of these questions (as I would to both the above), you have more work to do in this area.

Time does run out.  The mold 'em age is generally before age 10.  The big plus, plus, plus for us is the no TV thing for the past year and a half.  Now we need to curb the videos!  The attitude and response to requests needs a bit of fine tuning and the understanding of responsibility needs to be put more into practice.  I'm sure I'll think of more later!

Another thing that flat out hit me was the selection of books to read.  I've often gone by (and thought I was doing SO great with it) the notion that anything old, or well-written, with no crud, bad attitudes, etc., was worthwhile.  For instance, the Hardy Boys.  I've collected these for my son and I've thought them to be classics. Well, I'm not so sure now that an abundance of these does anything for his thinking, reasoning, and understanding of Biblical things (HIStory!).  Maybe in moderation.  But then, we're at that point where son enjoys reading and is selecting his own books.  I'm seeing more a need to limit his selection. 

They also introduced the idea of teaching the classical languages: Latin, Greek and Hebrew.  Before I would have run screaming from the room, with my hair on fire and my fingers in my ears, and with much weeping and gnashing of teeth!  Now I get it and I'm EXCITED about it!!!  You heard me right!  Me, who attempted to teach my kindergartner a worthless language like French, that he would more than likely never use and is just yucky, want's to teach Latin, Greek and Hebrew (and learn them myself!).  Of course, not all at once!

Lastly (for now!), I was a bit surprised (and I'm still not quite so sure how I feel) about not teaching subjects (other than grammar--phonics, reading--and the Bible) before age 10.  They say children can't handle the info and it's a waste of time because it will have to be re-taught, or is better taught when they are of a stronger age for understanding.  I believe they are talking about things like science, geography, and MATH! 

They shared on the tape that their son, whom they started with math at age 5, struggled with it till 10, then got it all right away.  Now, my son started at 5 and has had times of struggle, but he's definately getting it and benefiting from it, so I don't know about that.  Also, he really loves history.  Then there's science--we're near to finishing Astronomy and he has enjoyed it and done well, but whethen he's really retained all he should is questionable.  I figured we definately would do it again sometime.  So does that mean we wasted our time?  They seem to say yes, only because there are other things that our time would be better spent doing.  Like art and music.

I'm sooooo arts and crafts deficient.  I don't enjoy the mess and I try to control things too much.   I would love for them to have music lessons, but they are expensive (though I can teach piano, I don't enjoy it and haven't made it a priority--sorry Dad!).  Oh boy!  Re-thinking my teaching plans is hard! 

I do agree with just about everything they say.  A lot of it (like the logic stuff) went right over my ps pee-brain, but I have hopes that with further reading I can rectify that. 

Sometimes all this homeschooling stuff is overwhelming, but mostly it's just amazing!  God always gives us what we need, when we need it, including introducing new concepts and ideas about how and what we teach!  I'm listening and praying--taking the initiative and leaving the results to God!

Oh, and I'm not completely done with the book yet.  More to come!

Finding activities to stimulate, distract and yes, even educate our toddlers, can sometimes be a fearsome challenge. 

I was encouraged, awhile back, reading a post by Jeannie Fulbright (Apologia Elementary Science) regarding this subject.  One of the ideas listed in the article discusses the idea of having "days of the week" boxes with different and varying activities in them.  As they are rotated, the child's focus moves from different activities in hopes of keeping them busy while they are challenged and learn something new.  The emphasis for the boxes, is on things they can do by themselves. 

My intitial thoughts on this were that it was a fantastic idea, but my special little three year old was too adventurous to be "detained" by the contents of a box!  As our school time has progressed and she is more and more demanding of my time and attention, I see more the need to have structured activities for her alone time and scheduled time for the two of us.  So I began to plan the boxes.

Here is my first attempt:

Monday:  Emphasis on ABC's. 

ABC lift the flap book.

ABC Laurie puzzle.

My first LeapPad with ABC book.

Playdoh with cookie cutter shapes (my abc jello molds are on the way!)

Tuesday: Emphasis on writing.

Write on Wipe off book, "Before I Print"

Pipecleaners and large beads

Drawing pencils and paper.

ABC rubber stamps and ink pad with paper. (I would have put this in with Monday, but I'm trying to stick with one "messy" craft per day!)

Wednesday: Emphasis on farm animals.

Farm animal book.

Little People farm animals

Farm life magnetic scene

Octopus Dominoes (color matching)

Thursday:  Emphasis on building and art

Legos

Blocks

Paints (new brushes loaded with paint--we will see!)

Eric Carle's "From Head to Toe" (wonderful fun colored animals)

Baby Einstein's "ABC's of Art" (colorful masterpieces)

Friday: Emphasis on Madeline

Madeline Feltkins

Cutting pages from Kumon cutting book & scissors

Madeline Jigsaw puzzle

Madeline doll with removable clothes

This has been a great experiment so far.  She is enjoying opening the box each day--though she does often want something from another box--but she is getting the idea!  I did leave the playdoh out (newly made by yours truly and much better than store bought, if I do say so myself!) because she's enjoying it immensely. 

I'm sure we will both tire of this, or the well of ideas will run dry when it comes to changing the box contents.  Either way, I'm sure we'll be ready for the next stage when that time comes.  Already she is coming to the table more and more to "draw near" and hear what is being discussed or read aloud.  Love that!

Playdoh Recipe: NOT sticky & doesn't dry out fast!!!

1 c flour

1/2 c salt

1 T oil

2 T cream of tartar

1 c boiling water

A few drops of smelly extract (we used orange!)

Food coloring (more than you think!)

I've written before about the incredible progress and language foundation that is occuring in my son through using the Spell to Write and Read program by Wanda Sanseri. 

One of the principles employed by this incredible phonics, learn-to-read and spell program is that we not allow our children to miss-spell a word at anytime--even during spelling tests.

My first thoughts upon reading about this particular part of the method was "their nuts!"  Kids are going to miss words on a spelling test, right?  How is this supposed to work?  The answers were simple to implement, but took a bit longer to grasp (for me), but the results are awesome!

Here's how it works:  After you initially introduce words, with the use of phonograms and spelling rules (with very few exceptions, which is great, and somewhat rare in most phonics programs), you have a series of opportunities for the child to practice the words before a week-end "test".  Practice may include such things as practice tests, grammar exercises where they are writing the words, sentence creation and/or dictation, and many more!  Whenever the child starts to write the word incorrectly, you cue them to the fact they are missing something, or not "thinking to spell".  Amazingly, because of the solid foundation of mastery of the phonograms, the child will be able to re-think their choice and correct their attempt. 

The point is that each time they write it wrong, it becomes right to them.  If they never write it wrong, only right, they become a fabulous speller!  And it works!

So, you're cues may be saying, "Stop and think to spell", or a simple clearing of the voice.  Whatever you and your child understand together!  When it comes to test time, you keep track of the missed (or "almost" missed words), and you can continue to work on those words as new words are added, until mastery is achieved. 

Recently, I was reading an article from Family Education (which is a public school based site) on what my 2nd grader would be doing in public school for language arts.  In tiny print I read, "The teacher continues to support invented or transitional spelling in order to encourage children to put their ideas on paper." (emphasis mine)   What that means to me is "we'll encourage your kids to do it wrong so they won't be out of place or feel bad and will want to write."  Interesting."

Spell to Write and Read has been a fabulous program for us.  If you wish to read about it further, check out this site with lots of info.

Gotta love those freebies!  If you haven't seen this website, you're missing out!  Be sure to check out each topic because there are cross-over items.  For instance, a first lunar landing model in the "kids" area.  The "science" category really has some neat projects. 

These are great "let 'em whirl" projects! 

I recommend printing them out on 80lb paper.  Have fun!  We are!

Thought I would let you in on a couple of freebies I found from Hold That Thought. 

One is an Easter project that looks really neat (click on the title), an Easter notebook project (click below paragraph).

Also a great compilation of historical quotations.  If you select copy all, then paste into Excel, it is easy to print.

Despite all my previous good intentions regarding "Literature" as a subject, I have been having a terrible time with this topic mentally. 

According to one idea, teaching great literature involves understanding that there are different types of literature--and what they are.  Then understanding the various elements of literature such as setting, plot, theme, characterization, etc.

With self-proclaimed perfect lesson plan in hand, we started off our literature studies with "Pocahontas" by the D'Aulaires.  Beautiful book.  Great read.  All that.  We did our notebook page/charts for all the literary elements.  Finished the book and prepared to move on to the next one....

Can you say, "boring"???  It was so boring!  What a waste of time!--and a good book!  This got me a bit down and a bit aggrevated.  There has to be more to the topic of literature than this.  I began "looking" into things (curriculum, etc) marked "Literature".  Most publishers and catalogs point to some sort of unit study on fine works of literature.  That is great and well and good and all, but we are not able to incorporate unit studies at this time.  Too many other wonderful things happening with other subjects.  So...

I began to feel like scrapping the whole idea.  After all, we are reading TONS of classic literature of all types.  Son understands the differences and elements because we have LOTS of dialogue.  Good homeschooling, right?  Still it's bothered me.

Then I had a conversation with one of my best friends (who also happens to be a book lover/fiend).  I was telling her about this incredible two pages we read in "Bambi" recently.  It's a whole dialogue between two leaves who have watched the other leaves fall and are preparing to fall themselves.  It is wonderful!  I was reading it aloud and thinking I'd never read anything written like that before!  As my friend and I were talking, I exclaimed that it would make a great "literature exercise"--You know, find two things in nature that are having a conversation about what is happening around them.  I began to get so excited, but was bugged that I didn't know  about it before I read it.  If only we could read everything ahead of time and write wonderful lesson plans off the tops of our heads, too!  Anyhow....

Today, someone shared a website with me that had various "education and other" guidelines by age.  Total public school, but I looked and saw something entitled "Language Arts".  Of course, I've seen Language Arts books before (hs convention, for one), but it didn't really click--I guess I was thinking english, grammar, etc.  As I looked it over, I began to see that much of it was what I had been told was "Literature" as a subject, and yet there was more that I hadn't thought of.  Especially considering that I've just got a 2nd grader.  So....

This has me continuing my thoughts and worries over "Literature".  

Getting back to my original plan...one thing that keeps jumping out at me is poetry.  Sorely neglected thus far, though boy did memorize a Christina Rossetti poem in Kindergarten.  I've collected various poetry books of different styles, periods, etc.  The more I think about it, the more I think I could spend a whole year on it!  Surely Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry Wordsworth Longfellow are worth a semester!  Of course, I haven't the foggiest idea where to really start...

One thing to be sure of...the reading will continue and if nothing else, son will know all the classics by their stories!

Recently on the Truthquest History Yahoo loop, the question of combining Truthquest with the Principle Approach was asked.  Does anyone do this?  How do you do this?  Etc.

Having started with Principle Approach and later deciding to switch from Noah to Truthquest for history, I was anxious to not only find it compatable, but be happy that we had made a good choice all the way around. 

I can happily report success!  Here's what I found:

If you are unfamiliar with Truthquest, it offers a somewhat chronological and more complete history than I had seen to date.  This program that emphasized the use of living books and reading together, caught my attention right off the bat!  It also boasts (truthfully!) of a wonderful Biblical perspective in the narration.  My only question at the time I was deciding, was that with Principle Approach, I had been taught to teach each of the 9 (or 10!) links on the Chain of Christianity (COC) each year. 

Initially, I liked this idea--I still do.  However, when I began to compare the scope and sequence of Noah vs Truthquest, I saw a startling lack in the Noah, of anything other than "main" events, people, etc.  I truly want to give a broader teaching of the subject so I sacrificed the "once a year" idea.  I also saw that from other subjects, such as Bible, literature and geography, we could cover multiple, if not all of the links on the COC, so that need not be an issue!

Now, if you are new to Principle Approach, the idea of teaching all subjects from a Biblical worldview with the understanding that God created all subjects, has a plan for each thing, person, etc. that He has created and teaching Biblical character through a series of scriptural principles, is better than ice cream! 

So, how to combine the two. 

First off, the Chain of Christianity.  Each week, usually on a Friday, we spend the lesson time with our timeline figures, remembering what we've learned and putting the figures up on the wall and in our timeline notebook.  This has been great reinforcement and helps us to solidify that we are looking at God's providence/story, not someone elses!  Very simple and rewarding.

Another thing we use is a chart I came up with that records each of the five P's of God's providence:  His purpose (call), promise, preparation, provision, and protection.  Son will fill it in, or occassionally we'll do this orally, as son is 2nd grade and doesn't always enjoy lots of writing.  I will also write his narration for him. 

We also like the T chart that shows internal vs external character, and use it frequently.  This is a shorter version of the Katherine Dang Key Charts for key individuals, key events, and key documents.  I plan to use these more as we grow and writing becomes less of an ordeal!  They are available in the files section of the PA loop. 

The biggest threat to PA with Truthquest has been lack of focus on what we're really trying to convey-- God!  It's so easy with all the wonderful books, subjects, etc. to not stop and acknowledge Him and His providence throughout.  At first, we truly had to "force" ourselves to remember, which sounds bad but made us appreciate our history time all the more!

I find it helpful to remember, for those already teaching PA, what Katherine Dang teaches about focusing on One idea, per subject, per day.  Then, you're not trying to cram too much in! 

We are totally loving Truthquest and are glad we made the change, but I would not sacrifice teaching Principle Approach.  It's so incredibly valuable!

Well, I hope this look into our history time is helpful. Be sure to let me know if I haven't answered a specific question!