I can't believe it's the end of Novemeber.  Our family made it through all the Thanksgiving dinners with full and very grateful tummies.  We enjoyed time with my parents and my brother, Bryan, and his wife, Lisa, who live in Pennsylvania.  Bryan is the Worship Arts Director at Lititz Grace Brethren Church in Lititz, Pennsylvania.  If you and your family are in the Lancaster County area, check them out,  http://www.lgbc.org  They are planning a fantastic Christmas walk through program with various rooms dedicated to different eras filled with music and actors celebrating Christmas.   If you do, take extra care for me, because we won't be able to get out there for Christmas. 

My other brother, Mark was not in attendance at our family dinner.  We did get to make our holiday phone call to he and his wife Ayuna though.  Since they live in Russia, we have to make arrangements ahead of time to call them.  Although we called them at 8:15 in the evening, it was already Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving,  in Russia.  It's always a blessing to talk to them.  Daily, I am thankful for email and the internet that allows us to stay in touch across the many miles.  Even a few years ago, I'm sure we wouldn't hear from them as often.  The internet is a wonderful thing.  If you're interested in what it might be like to live in Russia, check out Mark's blog at http://www.trailremarks.blogspot.com 

Finally, Saturday was filled with Kent's family.  Dinner was delicious!  Kent's mom has the process of serving a crowd down to a science.  Even with three families missing, (Kent is one of nine kids - three of the kids and their families were elsewhere) we still number over 25 people strong.  His family is a close one, and we love getting together over the holidays. 

Now, it's back to homeschooling for this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We begin our advent readings and celebrate the season.  This year, we're finishing up reading Tabitha's Travels: A Family Story for Advent by Arnold Ytreeide.  Arnold Ytreeide has also written Jotham's Journey and Bartholomew's Passage.  Each of these books follows the adventures of a child (each child appears in all of the books) leading up to the birth of Christ.  A portion of the story is read each day during the advent season. 

Some of the other books that I pack away each year to take out and enjoy only at Christmas time are

One Wintery Night by Ruth Bell Graham

This story is one of my favorites.  When a young boy gets caught in a snow storm and takes refuge in a mountain cabin, the woman living there tends his sprained ankle and captivates him by telling the Christmas story to pass the time.  She begins with the story of creation and climaxes in the resurrection.  This story really captures the true meaning of Christmas, not that Jesus came to earth as a baby, but that he came to die and rise again. 

The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado

This is the story of a lamb named Joshua who learns that God has a special place for him, especially on Christmas night. 

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg 

An Amish Christmas by Richard Ammon

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

At our homeschool group meeting we spend time sharing websites that we find that are neat or interesting.  One of the ones from yesterday was especially good.  http://www.budget101.com  This site is filled with frugal ideas about groceries, cooking, gift ideas and other tips.  I can't wait to cozy up with a steaming cup of Almond Butter Beverage Mix or Hot Caramel Milk.  They sound so yummy! Our fall and winter read alouds will be so much nicer when we cuddle up and read

What I am reading aloud  

With Lee in Virginia by G.A. Henty

The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

The New International Version of the Bible

The Message Bible

 

What am I reading

History of the American People by

The New International Version

 

I love the way the light looks at this time of year at this time of the afternoon.  The sun is just barely shining over the stands of pine trees behind our house to the west.  The kids are outside playing.  The boys are playing with Ben’s new red kickball - the older teaching the younger.  The girls have gone across the road to play in the “sand dunes.”  We don’t really have any sand dunes here in our part of the state, but our soil is about the sandiest I’ve seen.   Shortly after we moved out here from the city and after the first rain, we couldn’t help but comment that our yard smelled like a wet beach.  The girls love digging down into the sand to make forts. 

Colors of Autumn

September light, so low

It glows in the near night.

A dusty haze suspends

Creamy gold across the fields.

Smell of autumn and wind

Leaves wait green, apples red

Until colors change again.

Burnt umber and cocoa.

After reading Homeschooling the Easy Way by Cindy Rushton, I decided to try copywork with my children this year.   Instead of using grammar workbooks and textbooks, each day I allow the children to copy from a piece of writing that delights them.  I am so pleased with the results!  I cannot begin to rave enough about the change in my children.  They are filled with so much more joy and anticipation.   

My children’s attitudes toward “school” had ranged from my oldest son’s indifference, to Abigail’s attitude which was one of, “I’m going to get this done as fast as possible,” to a very vocal displeasure from Talor.   Grammar and writing were becoming chores.  Now, I know that sometimes children “need” to do things that they do not necessarily “want” to do.  The ability to tackle even the most unpleasant task is part of becoming a mature adult, but even I could not really identify why we were continuing to struggle. If one of my goals as a homeschooling parent is to train my children to be writers and to be able to express themselves in a way that brings glory to God and impacts the world around them, then I needed to find a way to light that spark of excitement and meaning.

What has set their hearts ablaze?  Copywork!  It’s so personal.  Allowing them to choose their own model: prose, poetry, scripture, instructions, definitions, or whatever inspires them means that they truly care about the passages.

Although copywork is a great way for us to practice handwriting, there are so many other benefits.  We’ve had opportunities to discuss grammar, literature, poetry and science just to name a few; all in a totally painless way.  Cindy Rushton was so right, easy, easy, easy!

Since I’m always interested in how other people implement ideas in their own family, I am going to post updates on what they are copying.  Maybe you’ll be able to use some of these ideas in your own home.  Remember, these are the things that they’ve chosen to work on.  Just take a look at what they are learning.

Benjamin – 6 years old

Benjamin is a brand new six year old, and he is just beginning to learn how to read and write.    He is creating an animal alphabet copywork book.  First, we discuss the letter of the alphabet and the sound it makes, coming up with ideas for animals that begin with that letter (A – Alligator, B – Bee, C – Cow, D – Dolphin, and E – Eagle).  Once he has picked an animal, we read about that animal in The Usborne Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Natural World edited by Lisa Watts.  Then, I will go to the internet and find a picture of the animal to print off for him to color.  Ben will color the picture, cut it out, and paste it on a sheet of handwriting paper.   Finally, Ben will practice printing the letter.  

He is also copying simple sentences based on something he learned about the animal from our reading.  We’ve used one poem too.  Line by line, he’s copying “The Cow” by Robert Lewis Stevenson from A Children’s Garden of Verses.  I am so excited about copywork, especially with Ben, because he will truly reap the benefits of this approach all the way through.

Yesterday, Ben chose to color a picture of George Washington.  Yup, guess what, we deviated from working on the alphabet book.  No problem, copywork is so flexible!  I didn’t need to get grumpy because we weren’t following the “lesson plans,” and Ben got to learn about George Washington.  By the way, he was so interested! J 

Talor – 9 years old

Talor chose poetry from a book entitled The Children’s Calendar with poems by John Updike.  In this book, there is a poem for each month.  So far, she has copied the poems for May and January.  At first, Talor didn’t understand that the way a poem is indented is important.  My sister-in-law told me that her professors used to call this “crafting white space.” Talor’s choice gave us an opportunity to discuss this aspect of poetry as well as the poems particular rhyme scheme.  Talor also likes to copy scripture.   It’s like she’s giving me a window into her soul as I get to enjoy what she chooses.

Abigail – 10 years old

Abigail chose to copy a short story from a book she received as a gift entitled Kate’s Choice.  It’s an anthology of three stories written by Louisa May Alcott and edited by Stephen W. Hines.   Her passage, filled with dialogue, was a great selection for discussing quotations.  Abigail is learning the proper usage of quotation marks, commas and indentation in written dialogue by copying from a great author.  Copywork has also forced her to slow down and really look at what she’s doing, which is extremely beneficial. 

Yup, Abigail decided on something different yesterday too.  She had just gotten back from riding a horse with a friend and cantering for the first time.  She wanted to know about a horse’s different gaits, so we looked up horses in the encyclopedia and she began copying the definitions of walking, trotting, and cantering into her notebook.  Once again, copywork creates a completely personal “curriculum.”

Cameron – 13 years old

Cameron has chosen to copy from two books.

When Cameron was about ten years old, my husband and I encouraged him to read the Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkein.  We made a deal with him that we would take him to see the movies as they came out, but only if he read the books first.  Therefore, he’s has been living with these books for the last three years and has become the resident expert on all things Tolkein.  He chose to copy from both The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkein and 2010: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke.  While he was reading, Cameron came across a passage in 2010 that alluded to another in Return of the King.  He’s copying both.  I am amazed that he identified the connection, and it gave us a great opportunity to discuss literary allusion.

Even I copy something that I absolutely love.  This gives the children an opportunity to see me pursuing something that is interesting to me.  They see me making mistakes and beginning again, (I think the first day we did this, I must have started afresh on three sheets of paper before I could get it right).  What a tremendous encouragement to them to see that even Mom has to go back and redo something once in awhile.  So, what am I copying -- one of my favorite passages from Educating the WholeHearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson.  Fantastic!

We are reaping other benefits from copywork besides just handwriting practice.  Since copywork doesn’t take anywhere near as long as their individual grammar lessons did, I have more time to help them.  I can watch Ben as he forms his letters and make sure that he’s doing them right until he can do them on his own.  I can observe Abigail and help her learn to proofread her own work.  We can discuss why we’ve chosen the passages we have and why we think they are personal treasures.  We’ve also been able to discuss what makes something a piece of quality literature.   So, what are they learning?

            Penmanship – Manuscript and Cursive

How to appreciate great poetry

How a poet crafts white space within poetry

            Rhyme Schemes

            How to punctuate and indent quotations

            What a semicolon is and how to use it

            What the  gaits of a horse are: walk, trot, canter, gallop

            What a literary allusion is and how to identify it

            How to choose quality literature

I can't wait to look back at the end of the year and look at all the children have learned.  Let me encourage you to try copywork in your family too.  It’s so exciting! 

2. ) Large Magazine Holders

Each child gets a magazine holder that houses their current materials: the books that they are reading and copying from, their math books, and any miscellaneous folders etc.  Even Mom gets a magazine holder that houses the phonics book that I’m using with my littlest one, the read alouds that we're using as a family and my homeschool journal.   I’m still working on getting them to consistently put their materials back in these holders when they are done.  When they do, everything runs so much more smoothly.  I’ve found that one of the biggest time wasters at our house is that book that they used yesterday that we can’t find today, and wonder of wonders, they can’t remember where they put it.  Uugh!!  

 3.) Over the door shoe holders - Hint:  We don't use them for shoes

This is the first year I've used this, and I love it!.   Like most homeschooling families, we seem to collect dozens of odds and ends that never seem to have a home.  I've tried boxes with lids, zip top baggies, and all sorts of other ways to contain them. This is by far the best way yet.  I purchased the over the door shoe holder at Walmart and couldn't wait to get it home to fill it up.  The one I bought is of heavy canvas and has 24 mesh pockets, 4 across and 6 down.  I decided on the mesh pockets instead of the canvas ones because the mesh allows me to see through it and know what is in each pocket at a glance.  I hung it in the closet that is closest to where we do our work.  Here is a list of the items that we have stored in it.  I can imagine that it might be worth having more than one.

• pair of walkie talkies for the kids
• pair of better walkie talkies for the adults with their recharging base
• headphones
• hand held cassette player
• glue sticks
• highlighters
• phonics flash cards
• write-on-wipe-off markers
• unsharpened pencils
• calligraphy/scrapbooking pens
• Uno cards
• regular playing cards
• math flashcards
• magnifying glass
• Rummy Roots card game
• small post it notes
• compass
• push pins
• Go Fish/Old Maid
• Matching game
• A homemade game the kids created
• rulers
• scissors
• Magnetix (these are heavy and we don't have many)

As you can see, it didn't take us very long to fill it up.  Stay tuned for more organizational ideas. 

Now comes the fun part, setting up your filing cabinet for maximum benefit.  I use the same cabinet for both our personal and our homeschool files.  The top two drawers are for all the important household information, and the bottom two drawers are for homeschool imformation and materials.

Steps for setting up your cabinet:

• Choose your folder style - 1/3 cut or 1/5 cut

The cut of the folder determines how many tabs fit across the back of the folder, three across or five across.  Each letter of the alphabet gets it’s own cut.  For fifth cut folders (which is what we have) the tab for any folder with a category “A” title goes in the first slot, "B" in the second, "C" in the third, "D" in the fourth, and "E" in the fifth.  Then it’s back to the first cut for "F", and so on.  This makes your filing cabinet look very organized and neat.

• Divide your personal information into categories and then into subcategories. 

By dividing your information into categories first, this keeps all the similar files together.  It's easier to remember that all the car infomation is in one spot and then look for the more specific information. The following are some of the categories in our personal filing cabinet: (I’ve listed the category first and then the subcategories I use.  The folders are labeled as follows -- Banking - Checking Account, Banking - Savings Account, Car - Chevy Van, Car - Toyota Camry, Car - Toyota Sienna, etc.) 

Banking – Checking Account, Savings Account (statements, passbooks, atm cards)

Car – one for each vehicle (purchase  and maintenance information, receipts)

Credit Cards – separate folder for each credit card (statements, card agreements)

Dentist - (bills, recommendations)

Employment – a folder for each job (pay stubs, employee handbooks) 

Family – each child has a folder that contains anything specific to them (shot records, kid id cards, gift certificates or savings bonds), a separate file contains social security cards, birth certificates, passports, and our marriage license. 

Home – Improvement ideas, Improvement Receipts, Loan

Insurance – Auto, Health, Homeowner’s, Life

Investments – a folder for each investment

Medical – place for bills paid

Resume

Scrapbook – folder for each person

Taxes – I subdivide this category using manila folders, but they are corralled here.  Each tax year has it’s own folder.  When I finish doing the taxes for one year, I immediately begin a new folder for the current year.  In this folder, I put all the deductible receipts and new tax information throughout the year. 

Travel and Recreation – folder for travel and recreation ideas

Utilities – Electricity, Propane, Satellite TV, Telephone

Wills

Warranties and Instruction Manuals

•  Divide the school drawers into subject and further divide them into parts of a subject.

Art – crafts, Drawing with Children

Foreign Language – Spanish, Rosetta Stone, Russian

History – Ancient, American, International, Middle Ages, State

Holidays

Homeschool – Miscellaneous, receipts, state information,

Ideas – each subject has a folder this is where I put ideas that I want to use 

Logic

Maps

Math

Phonics

Schedules

Science –  Animals, Apologia, Astonomy, Considering God’s Creation. Earth

• Label your folders and insert tabs
• File alphabetically
• Set up two indespensible additional folders -- To File and To Do

Finally, I have a couple folders that I find are indispensable to this system 

 

To File – contains all papers that need filing, and when I have a spare minute, I can quickly file them.  This folder doesn’t get very full because most of the time I file them right away.  Once in awhile when I can’t do it immediately, I can stick papers in this folder and walk away without them becoming scattered.  Then, when I have a spare minute, I can easily grab the folder and file them.   

 

To Do – I have two folders in the "To do" category, one for my husband and one for myself.  I put anything that we need to take action on in this folder.  Permission slips, our dog's rabies tag (until put on her collar), vehicle registration tags (until put on license plate), etc. 

 

• Periodically go through and update your cabinet.  

Life changes throughout the course of a year, needs change, children are added, interests change,  files get full.  About once a year, I go through and remove obsolete files and insert other files as needed.  Only our most current files are in this cabinet.  The others are in storage in file boxes. 

 

 

Filing Cabinet - a four-drawer filing cabinet designed for hanging folders with full suspension

It almost sounds like I'm a car fanatic talking about the latest model doesn't it, but I love this organizational tool! 

 

When my husband and I were first married, he brought a two-drawer filing cabinet with him (he's a somewhat organized fellow).  It did not take long to fill it with all the papers of married life.  This filing cabinet was the simple manila folder style, and boy were those folders slippery.  They would sink and slouch as if they had a mind of their own.  They simply would not behave!   When we began homeschooling, we finally graduated to a four-drawer cabinet, a Cadillac of cabinets.  This time, we went all out and purchased one with high sides that was designed for hanging file folders.  Yippy!  Hanging folders have simplified things immensely, no more papers or folders playing hide-and-seek.  Another plus with this style is that the folders themselves are reusable -- a great feature.  They come with detachable tabs, so it's easy to re-label and reorganize the folders as needed.  We've found that a full suspension cabinet is a must as well.  This means that the drawers can open to their full length wthout dumping the contents all over the floor.  It also allows for easy access to all the files, even the ones at the back of the cabinet.  It's worth paying a little extra to have this feature.

 

I checked at one of the local office supply stores, and this kind of cabinet is going for around $160.00.  Watch for a sale, and you could get an even better deal!

 

Check back tomorrow for some simple tips for setting up your filing cabinet. 

the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.  Genesis 2:7

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  Ezekiel 36:25, 26

Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth.  Psalm 96:1

Fall is when we take the time to breathe new life into our home by cleaning up, cleaning out, and reorganizing.  We clean out drawers and desks, closets and cupboards, and freshen up the house to make family life and homeschooling easier.  For us, this means finding a way to contain all the "stuff"  that four children, two adults, one dog, one cat and our latest additions, five chickens, need to make this house a home.  Throughout the year, I can see the stuff that begins to overtake us.  Gradually, the books creep off the bookshelf and pile up on the floor by someone's bed where they cuddled up to read a story.  Paper drifts off the desks and the kitchen table where most of our written work takes place and accumulates under the couch.  Markers, colored pencils and crayons roll under beds from that spot on the floor where art happened.  Homeschooling families generate even more stuff than the average family.  Although I tell my kids that "we don't do school, we do life," I still feel the need to begin afresh somewhere.  Maybe it's a carry over from my public school days, when cooler weather and shortening days meant new notebooks and crisp clean folders all ready for new thoughts and ideas.  Fall is a great time to begin afresh and get those organizational projects done before colder weather coops us up in the house. 

I am always dreaming of adding new organizational elements to make storing our materials easier.  This fall's organizational project was putting shelves in the front hall closet.  When we moved in, the closet had a rod for coats, but we never really used it for that kind of thing.  This year, I convinced my husband that we needed shelving in there.  I am so grateful that he took the time to put them in for me.  There is enough room in there to store all his audio equipment for the band Restored (he plays keyboard and runs the sound) as well as some of the board games and school materials we use frequently.  After eight years of homeschooling, it's taken some time, but I have figured out what my favorite organizational tools are.  Check back often, I'll be posting them soon. 

I would also love to hear what you do to make your home run smoothly!  Maybe that will be my project for next fall.

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs."  Psalm 100 : 1,2

I am both excited and terrified at the same time to begin this weblog.  I'm not a writer per se.  I am a perfectionist though, and I have a terrible time letting the words go from my mind to the paper, or in this case, the computer, without analyzing them to the point of destraction.  I'm excited to have a place to post musings about the treasures of faith, family, wisdom, tradition, home and hearth.  After eight years of homeschooling, I am still a work in progress and am learning all the time.