• Dec. 4, 2008
Secrets of the Bulging Book Cases...read on to find out...

I've told you about my bulging book cases before...
well, I've NEVER SHARED THE SECRETS they contain!
I have some of the most wonderful books for children and adults
ever written, and we are so blessed!

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• Nov. 29, 2008
GIRL THING ONE'S...B'DAY!! HAPPY*happy*HAPPY*happy*HAPPY*

                                                                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                                                                   

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• Nov. 29, 2008
WHAT we do around here...

If I've learned anything about homeschooling it's that it is a unique opportunity for families to do and be just what will meet their needs and beliefs concerning all things family and education.  With each and every family I get to meet, I can see true individuality for all in the fact that home schoolers can tailor any and everything to fit into their lives AND will if we see value to it!  I've met families who academics are a major priority...college prep...with lots of reading in a classical style would be their chosen path, while another family I know right now having just pulled the last of the kids from public school while doing lessons, is focusing more on an unschooling approach to life together by doing fun projects like sewing, community service and home organization (is that fun??) rather than a rigid schedule of up by the hour...study this by this time, do this-do that kind of routine...freedom would be the hallmark of this family.  I've met some who use DVD instruction and others who want nothing to do with that kind of thing...even a family who for their preschoolers wanted very simple black-gray scale pictures for their readers while others were gungho for colorful bright books with engaging pictures.  There is certainly a diversity among us, and it occurred to me that I've never shared with you just exactly what we do here in our little school.  I guess as an overall simple statement we are rather structured as I am hoping to have college prepped my children~our daughter really loves her work while our son has continued to "hate" anything academic EXCEPT math and sometimes me reading to him.  So what do we do?  I'd like to discuss our current curriculum with you and then a bit about our routine.

We use an eclectic mix of various resources for history.  You could say in a way that it is somewhat classical in method, but then again...maybe more unit study...You can decide on which way it fits best.

History has been our spine for much of what we have done...we are in a four year loop of studying World History having completed one solid rotation, this year doing a complete review before high school (next year) where we will begin AGAIN in the Ancient World.  In our review we are moving quickly to cover Creation to the present, about every 9 weeks we are completing a time period.

1st  Ancient World  Creation to Greeks
2nd Romans through 1450 Guttenberg Press
3rd  Age of Exploration through 1800
4th  Modern Era 

Included in this format and schedule, we journal and notebook, do projects, field trips and read lots of books to cover the various people and events of the eras.  Now since we are doing this ALL this year in one fowelswoop it will be abbreviated in a review format with the use of the Veritas Press History cards and some notebooking, but continuing to read about one historic fiction book per time period for literature...and read  varying resources to cover the materials.

This has been a difficult year of picking and choosing which materials to use and NOT use because time has only permitted us a brief overview, but I have used many things such as in studying the Bible and creation, the Children's Bible  and the Hands On Children's Bible.  I have the Abeka World History text book and have used it, the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia and other resources to round out the study.

The literature readings have been interesting as we have several resources, but since this is an overview year, I wanted to use some fun and interesting books of good quality.

Ancient World: The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Middle Ages:    Glaucia the Greek Slave by Emma Leslie (you can read my upcoming review here: @http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SisterTipster/627827/
Exploration to America:  The American Twins of the Revolution by Lucy Fitch Perkins ( read my review above!)
Modern Age: To be decided...but we have already read Jack London/Dickens-Oliver Twist by this point...also read Missing Link~Found by Christina and Felice Gerwitz (review is here @http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SisterTipster/620304/).

We notebook which means we write about the events we are studying usually just a summary statement containing a few sentences.  When they were younger, we used Hold That Thought notebooking pages that had beautifully illustrated notebooking pages that they would use colored pencils to color, but since they are older they prefer just to write.  We do use Spears Art teaching plans for art appreciation and to round out our lessons weekly to add some creativity into the mix.  At the middle school age, they prefer to draw their own art rather than color someone elseses. 

History is HUGE in our homeschool as you can see in that we use it a a launch for many of the tasks of learning such as reading-we do read alouds  together.  I usually do most of the reading, but often I will have each of my kids take a turn.  This keeps us moving along and helps us in our retention of the materials.  But I do STILL read to them because I believe it is the great way to model tone and voice inflection and gives me a personal way to stay connected to their learning.  Since we aren't "playing" much in school now, the reading together has taken on a sweetness, and I can assess for retention and interest too.  I ask questions from the reading as I go for orderly oral answers.  Sometimes they write about what we just read...it's rather flexible but always a priority to read good quality books and materials to reinforce our topics in our history studies. I have heard that using this approach called "living history," and I suppose that while I do use some historic fiction, this is just what it is because we will research through varying resources such as the public library, our library (are your shelves bulging like mine??-It's the red badge of homeschooling I think!)  or the internet.  I try not to have them do as much internet research as it's not as reliable as documented sources from printed media (THIS IS OLD school, I know...but while quite acceptable, and we use it, it's not my preference at this time...I want them to PRACTICE the other forms more for NOW...then they can internet research exclusively because that is what they want to do now!).  It's training them to do research too that I keep in mind.  While we are not writing research papers, YET...we will be, and this is setting the stage for it a little later.

Math-For years, we used Abeka math and found it to be very good for laying the necessary groundwork of skills, but when an area was weak, I had to go to outside the curriculum resources to find extra practice...such as long division.  I wrote many many worksheets to accompany this skill at the time because while there are practice sheets for extra work in the back, it was not enough in some of the sill areas.  I created my own.  Today we use Teaching Textbooks which is working out very well.  We are in our second year of using it.  I like it too, because it does give the children independence but I can monitor for areas of need.  Our daughter is doing pre-algebra and our son the 7th grade curriculum.  They like to too, which is always a plus!

Science-For about 4 years, we have studied science related to creation...Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day the Jeanne Fulbright and Swimming Creatures, Botony and more...Considering God's Creation as a spine for science launching into reading other books concerning the topics covered in this science curriculum.  This year as we are advancing our notion of more science than ever, my husband for the first nine weeks used a format of creating his own collection of resources for teaching physics and has launched into teaching chemistry through Friendly Chemistry.  (You will be able to read my review in early spring so you can see what we've done and get yours for next year!)

Spelling-We have used the list on Monday, read-spell-read formula which for one child was somewhat effective because while they could test, they weren't really using good spelling in all of their writing.  Given the opportunity to use All About Spelling has given us the opportunity to renavigate  the early spelling rules of phonomes and digraphs so that they are able to pick and know which letter comes where in a given word they need to spell.  This program uses a multi-sensory approach with lots of review which is pushing my middle schoolers to move quickly but with mastery through the beginning books of the program, but as we are moving I have found gaps in their learning and we are gaining those skills not previously acquired!  (COMING very soon is my review of AAS!!)  They don't mind going back over some of what they KNOW and have been amazed to SEE what they didn't know!  Check back to see how this is coming along in the review!

Grammar/Latin-We have used several resources through the years to teach language arts which included spelling, grammar, composition, and more!  While we continue to use journal writing with Daily Journal~Monthly English, we are using Bridge to the Latin Road which is preparing us for an in depth study of Latin beginning next year.  We have been using vocabulary words from Roots and Fruits to build skills and word use using prefix and root words with work on definitions.  While we continue to build our vocabulary in this way, Bridge to the Latin Road is giving us beginning with the elementary structures to be able to adequately diagram and use the English language with its many Latin roots.  (you can read my review coming soon!!)

Bible-We study the Bible as part of history and for inspiration.  We attend AWANA, and I am commander of our church's ministry so my kids work hard...not that I push them, but because they are encouraged to do so by the challenges offered within the ministry for memorization and study.  I read to them from varying children's Bible versions as well as the KJV and other translations.  I particularly like the NLT (new living translation) for our read aloud time.  We also use the Chronological Bible in history  and reading.

Music-Our children play instruments...they started with piano both taking lessons, and today they are taking lessons from their dad who is a former band instrument repairman.  Our son plays trumpet and our daughter the double bass.  They play in the homeschool co-operative's band and strings groups.  Through the years they have sung in children's choirs and have done special church music.  We began teaching musical concept at church with Music Time which taught in a fun way musical concepts of rhythm and pitch, tone and more...We are looking at Kinderbach now which is an internet based video program of musical study which is fun and engaging for the young child...You can read my review of this one too..coming soon!

Homemaking skills-Through the years into the present we have taught our children various homemaking skills such as dish washing, laundry, vaccuming, dusting, organizational skills-the pantry/closets, bookshelves, dressers and more, pet care, cooking-everything from bread baking, pie making, pancake making, cooking, cleaning, wallpaper stripping, painting, furniture refinishing, working with tools of all kinds-taking off and replacing switch plates, just about anytime we need something fixed our son and daughter have the first dibs at it...then dad steps in to show the way if they don't figure it out...they know how to rake, gardening: pull weeds, plant, harvest, prune, and pick fruit without damage...We are teaching them sewing, knitting, crochet, mopping, ALL kinds of homemaking including furniture placement, color pallet, and decor.  Since we have moved some since homeschooling, this gives our children often opportunities to learn skills and then to practice them along with us as we go...they are hard workers who take pride in their home as much as we do.  They share the investment of our home and environment.  Did I say laundry?? We were challenged without a dryer (glitch for a time) and learned how to hang clothes on a clothesline...HEY! This is a good skills to KNOW even if you do have a dryer all the time that works...it's certainly economical.  Another thing we focus on is financial responsibility.  We practice partly out of conviction and partly from necessity a lifestyle of thriftiness.  I have taught them bargain hunting and thrift buying on every level from sales at markdown prices in the malls...but we only pay what we think something is worth to the best of our ability.  I am working on this as well because often so much is "marked down" but is still overpriced...perception and willingness to pay is the key here.  I am teaching them to look at real value such as needs and wants.  NOT that wants aren't necessary for good living, but often we shop the secondary market ( used) to find what we want...hey in a bit it's going to be used anyway, and if in good shape to start with...money is saved! 

Now I've shard WHAT we USE...NEXT TIME I will share our schedule...Oh it's not too bad...but then again, ask my kids...they like the computer for games and movie making and other projects...another skill we have taught...they have learned to type too...which is necessary for college!

HOPE your homeschooling is going well...we struggle sometimes...as we all do I'm sure.  But God is so good to keep us together growing and learning!

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• Nov. 26, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!

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• Nov. 24, 2008
The Little Man in the Map to Learn the US States Geography

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