Saturday, August 22, 2009 - Truth for Patriots- Free American History/ Culture Class
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As a side project to go with our study of American History with ANWOA, we will be reading the parts of Toby Mac and Michael Tait's book Under God that pertain to our subject matter. While looking for a study guide ( because I would like to use this book in chronological order, and the book is not written in that order), I found a website called Truth for Patriots, a site dedicated to restoring America's godly heritage.
They have a Free Class about the founding of our nation and our moral decline in PDF Format available.. I think I will save this for a summer class. looks very good.
ENJOY! |
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Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - Annual Monarch Migration lessons
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Well if you have ever been to my actual blog here instead of just getting my posts on Facebook, you know that I adore butterflies:) I guess it started when my daughter Petra was in the hospital- we used them to decorate her crib and later her window., and she seemed drawn to their beautiful colors.
Then, after she went home to the Lord, they became a symbol of eternal life and her new body in Heaven... Not long after I became a Christian, they became the symbol of being born again for me.In the following years, I realized that I was changing on the inside, where people could not see it, and that Jesus' new life was growing inside of my spirit. Like a butterfly's chrysalis, miracles were taking place where only God could attest to their impact. That became my blog's theme and also my new name online.
So anyway.... with ANWOA, we will be studying insects... of course I don't know where the heck the author lives that she would begin the school year with this study... but there it was. I could not resist the urge to incorporate butterflies into our school year.... and guess what? the MONARCH BUTTERFLIES migrate in the fall, right through our lovely state of IL.... perfect!
The Journey North is a website dedicated to the migration of many more creatures than just monarch butterflies. It has free lessons and multi- media that anyone can use. There are also projects such as helping research the migratory path and also a Symbolic Monarch Migration that is in its 14th year now. Anyone can participate in this project too, including homeschoolers, even if they have only 1-2 students!
We are certainly going to get in on the action! I have invited my local homeschool group to participate also... proof of God's work in me, as I would never have even considered doing THAT before. I may even end up teaching the lessons to the whole group for a day or 2, who knows? I'm excited!
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - I found GOODIES!!!!!
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Amber J. recently let me know that this blog was chosen to be included in her article " 100 Best Blogs for Homeschooling Moms", in the "Blogs on Getting Cheap Educational Resources" section . ( yes our name is actually Wild At Home now... gotta change my banner!) WOW how cool!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~Thanks Amber!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, I gotta let you know- you really should take a look at that list! There are some pretty nifty blogs out there, and I will be spending some time browsing there as well:)
Looking for some worksheets/notebooking pages to go with the boys' curriculum this year, I decided to take another peek through one of my favorite places to shop-- Currclick. I found All These Freebies listed and several that I can use with either A New World of Adventure or Training Our Daughters...
Cha-Ching-Cha-Ching Cha-Ching!!!
Whatever The Weather is a Teacher's Bookbag freebie that has some cute weather graphics and some weather words that I plan to use with Rowan (8) I also found a . My Weather Journal that might be more to your liking
For Trinity, who will be studying family celebrations, I found items for holidays such as Valentine's Day Notebooking pages and cards, A Passover For Christian Families unit study a Thanksgiving Notebooking Set and Easter Cards
Ok... well Popcorn may not be a part of our unit studies, but wouldn't it be cool to do a unit study on popcorn? they HAVE ONE! (Homeschool-Aholic's Anonymous!)
And, I had to download the free audio file of Much Ado About Nothing just for myself because It is one of my favorite of Shakespeare's works.
One More Thing.....
Forgot to tell you about the Yahoo Groups for ANWOA and Training Our Daughters. they have uploaded files and templates notebooking pages, etc to go with those curricula, and the subjects covered in them.
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Saturday, May 9, 2009 - Review of Kent Hovind's Creation Series
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I really like Netflix. It is a wonderful way to rent movies and There are many side benefits, such as being able to watch things instantly and also access to documentaries that arre relevant to what I am teaching in our school.
I saw Kent Hovind's Creation series and thought it would be a great series to watch, because we believe in creation. Kent is a cynical smart-aleck, whose low opinion of everything not " Baptist" bleeds through. He has lots of useful information, and while he is entertaining to watch, I think someone else may have done a better job.
Kent does a lot of name-calling, and his ultra conservative lifestyle, represented by his opinions of fashion, namely, long hair, tattoos and body piercing, are insulting to those of us who do not share his viewpoint.
Hovind is fond of saying that the scientists, teachers and politicians are lying to us, or at the very least covering up the truth... This is a fact---but then, he puts excerpts from books on the screen, highlighting the points he is trying to make and doesn't leave them there long enough for you to see that he has taken things out of context and twisted them. He has done the same with scripture. I regularly paused the DVD playerr in order to read those things he posted on the screen, fully.
My husband- ever the visionary man who can spot a hypocrite from miles away was fed up with him after the first DVD. I figured we should test everything and hold onto the good... the 5th of 6 seminars was full of conspiracy theories about the government poisoning us and changing the weather, water and food supply to take over the world. I don't doubt that some of the information was true, but the conclusions he jumped to were outlandish. (chem trails, genetically modified food)
I didn't find him to be a very good example for my children and was dissappointed in that.
I did, however, get a good explaination of the dinosaurs and the flood from the 3rd and 4th DVD's,whitch were excellent.
I looked him up on the internet and found that both he and his wife are serving prison time for refusal to pay their taxes, saying that they work for God and therefore do not have to pay those. Sorry, Kent, Jesus told his followers to pay their taxes and even performed a miracle so that his disciple could pay his.
With friends like these, who needs enemies?
When the worlld looks at this guy, it's no wonder they label us all crazy right-wing fundimentalist bigots!
Case for a Creator and Expelled were infinately better, with less off topic and irrelevant information.
Is there smeone out there who can reccomend a good film for this subject?
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Wednesday, March 5, 2008 - Down Time
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I sometimes get sidetracked during school time..... OK I get sidetracked A LOT......
And then I run into the problem of my kids, who I hoped would be finding something CONSTRUCTIVE or EDUCATIONAL( to occupy them for the half hour or so I spend answering email, going over finances, helping a friend,locating lost items.... planning meals... etc.....) doing all kind of things I would not call "school" for the most part. I believe in child-led education and unschooling principles, BUT I firmly believe that MY CHILDREN need structure. They also needed something to do when , for instance they were done with their work for a particular subject but I was busy helping a sibling and could not get them started on the next topic....because they tend to get into trouble otherwise.....
Usually the sound of bickering, goofing off and video gaming meet my ears from another room.... It annoys me when I am busy trying to accomplish something myself and I can't think.
So I have had to institute rules for downtimes. (I wish I could be more focused and less forgetful, but this is just me- I'm a scatterbrain and I always have been. I blame in on my grandma Bates, who is the same way- but she had 9 kids to drive her to distraction......)
ANYWAY..... So I compiled a list of acceptable downtime activities.
Here is my list of things they could do to occupy themselves for short times when they were not working on their schoolwork during the school day.....
1.- Work on something in the FACT FILE that you need to learn more about
( my "fact file" is what I call 2 small baskets filled with things like flash cards, wrap ups, trivia cards, file folder games, writing and math improvement books, and other educational booklets and activities that are quiet and good for self-teaching.) Here is a picture:
 2. Do some cleaning in your room
4.Read silently a book related to your unit study topic.
5.pick a chore on your spin list ( see my past article about the Better Behavior Wheel
and the following one called Better Behavior Wheel is Working)
6.Draw or color
7.work ahead in one of your classes
8.see a mess and clean it up
9.Pray/spend time with God read your Bible.
10 Write something creative.
11.Write a letter ( or email)
12.Try some exercises in the Homeschool PE book.
13.Take your shower/bath if you have 30 minutes to spare.
14.Play on the computer on your day
15. Play outside.
This seemed to work for a day or two until they figured out that drawing and coloring were ok..... Then we had drawing and coloring CONSTANTLY... not what I had hoped 2 JR Highers and one 1st grader would do.....
So I had to resort to limiting how many times in a given week they could do each activity.
I had each of the kids use paper plates to make "pockets" to hang on the wall.
Then I used a flashcard making website ( can't remember which) to make cards with the down time activities on them. I had each child use 2 of their favorite colors to color the pockets and their own set of cards, so that I could tell them apart. Then I made a pocket for turning them in. Each time any of them has some downtime, they can choose a card and drop it into my pocket, then go and do that activity. At the end of the week, I give their cards back to them.This is much better and the kidlets seem excited about it.
The other day, I let the kids paint the "kitty box" - a press board box I have had since my 11th birthday that is looking rather old and ugly. It holds coloring books art, music and game books.
Rowan's- He calls it " Black Blood"
Harley's "Winged Eyeball"
and Trinity's "Fishtank".
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Sunday, February 17, 2008 - Whose birthday is it? Oh and here are freebies...
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Freebies...
The subject this time is unit studies.
I have been looking through my link vault and I have just discovered that I have a TON of unit studies sites.
I don't even know what all is on all of them. TIP- if you happen to go to a link and it gives you that "404 file not found" business, there is a way to get to it anyway:) try the internet wayback machine!
( Firefox users, there is actually an extension here that you can use with Firefox that will do this automatically. I LOVE Firefox!)
Lesson Planz has a list of some unit activity ideas, made for ps kids, but useful with some discernment.
If anyone is doing a unit on presidents,here is a site with lots of ideas and info.)
Alphabet souphas some good thematic ideas too.
Here is a list of printables and worksheets.
I you would rather plan your own unit study, check this out.
Side note- I told Trinity that the other day was Lincoln's birthday, and she said to me, "OH! If I had known that earlier, I would have worn something more presidential!" Silly goose!
Speaking of birthdays----
Harley is turning 12 tomorrow!!!!
Zingerbug on imikimi - Customize Your World |
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About Me
Well, I'm a Mom, a Medical Assistant, a knitter, kite flyer, nature lover...Around here we have special needs, ( Asperger's, ADHD, Bi-polar) a few animal pals, some tattoos and a homeschool. It's our 6th year. This is my 16th year of marriage to a Mr. Visionary who happens to be a walking miracle.
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