We are using Geo Matters "Trail Guide to World Geography" and absolutely love it.   It is an interesting, simple and repetitive course with one or two daily questions and end of the week activities.  This guide also has different levels so is good for  three years or more.   It has really made geography interesting and fun for the girls and it goes well with The Mystery of History which Sage adores.  Everyday she ask can we do Mystery of History?   wow.

While most take a break for the summer we don't!  We actually enjoy schooling all year around.  We do take more field trips however and spend much more time out doors.  I have already gotten most of our curriculum together for this year and am excited about getting started!  Piper will have a larger course load as she will be four soon.    She loves to read and enjoys hands on activities.  I found this wonderful site @ Early Childhood Printables and she  is already having fun with some of the folder games and activities.    I will also be using the curriculum Little Hands Toward Heaven by Carrie Austin, Heart of Dakota Publishing.  It is a delightful biblically based program.  Piper is not as advanced as Sage was at age four and this is right up her alley.  If she progresses quickly she can go on to Sonlight.  she will also be participating in The Mystery of History with Sage as well.     Speaking of the Mystery of History --- this is one of the things we will be using with Sage for 1st grade.  She will also be using the Journal and Language Arts Program from Love to Learn, Inc.   This is an amazing program and has a strong writing program.  We will also still be doing Classical Conversations.  This was such a blessing to Sage and me last year!!  Thank you so much Julianna!  You're amazing.  We are using Pathway readers and workbooks and when Sage is finished with her math she will be moving on to Saxon.  As for science, I am not sure yet what we will be dong but for now we  having plenty of Earth Science activities and books to learn from such as the Christian Liberty Nature books.   A few other things :  A Reason for Handwriting, Draw Write Now, and tons of games.  Sage is also doing an on line program called Time 4 Learning.  This helps her learn computer skills while learning math, language arts, science and social studies.  Sage also helped me with a CD called Chinese Children's Stories and Proverbs which will hopefully be released by August.  (more on that later...)   I am just thrilled to be blessed with such a rich life! 

Elise, Wee Baby calf, Piper and Sage

We went on a field trip with some other home schoolers to a vet clinic and a cattle farm.  It was rainy and muddy but the students were able to meet an little calf who was being bottle raised.  The vet also let the high school age students observe an operation on a dog.  Welllll  anyone who knows Sage knows she loves all things medical.  She kept asking to go back to view the surgery but one of the assistants said  "Oh honey you too young"  finally she relented and said she'd go back with her and see how she did.  A few seconds later she returned and said "Your right, she's lovin' it and is fine!"  So my little five year old stood with the high schoolers watching with great interest and thoroughly delighting in being able to observe another surgical procedure.

Sage M.D.  with patient patient Puff.

I find it  hard this time of the year to stay on track.  We seem to slack off  and get behind....  I am trying to nip it in the bud early this time by staying on track with the three R's which are the staples of learning.    Each day we do reading, arithmetic, writing and of course Bible stories and discussion. Then each day of the week has one of the other subjects assigned.  Monday- History, Tuesday-our day out with Classical Conversations, Violin and Dance, Wednesday - Science, Thursday- Art and Friday-Music.  We may not always cover everything and sometimes only the basics, but as long as we are covering those three R's and Bible, I feel we have accomplished much.  Of course we also do other things such as last week when we did book binding, bread making (which we do weekly), card making - for Valentines and Chinese New Year etc.    Character training is a part of daily life., being implemented in daily tasks.    Accountability is essential in homeschooling.  One must diligent to do their best in everything they do so as to glorify the Lord.  I pray I can do better this year as it shows in our witness to others.

Christmas and the Holidays are busy with all the hustling and bustling, visiting, parities, shopping, events, music, food and festivities.  Our lives can become quite chaotic during this time of  year so much so that I actually begin to crave the sense of security our regular routine brings.  I  miss the monotony of a regular day and the normalcy it brings.  We are all looking forward to this week when we get back on track.  The Lord needs to be able to trust us in the small things of everyday life.  Mothering, laundry, teaching, praying, even doing the dishes.  This is what keeps the world going.  So welcome to the New Year of 2007.  I am glad you are here and look forward to getting back to our everyday normal day in and day out life.

Piper doing a bit of reading

Psalm 102:6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.

In Classical  Conversations Sage dissected an Owl Pellet.  Do you know what an Owl pellet is?  Nope.  It's not poo.  An owl hunts small mammals like rodents, birds and invertebrates. They cannot digest bones, teeth, fur, feather, scales or insect skeletons but only  the soft muscles and organs of their prey they swallow their prey whole.  But what happens to the parts they cannot digest?  This material is formed into a pellet by the gizzard muscles and passed back up the esophagus about 10 hours later.... in other words they regurgitate it.  Thus you have the Owl pellet.  These pellets can be found at the bottom of a tree which the owl has perched and provides scientists information about owl diet and habits.  Sage's Owl  appeared to have eaten a small bird and rodent.  Scientists can determine what owls are eating at different times and locations. So interesting!  The girls also made paper plate Owls.  You can find virtual owl pellet disecction at Kid Wings.  You can also purchase them for about $3.00 each.

Sage is learning about plants and how they grow as well as the names of the parts of a plant.  How amazing it is for a young child to see God's hand at work in nature.

    For information on growing your own bean like Sage visit Lifecycle of A Bean!

This month the girls began Classical Conversations classes which are held once a week.  Although only Sage is really enrolled her teacher, Mrs. Burgess, kindly allows Piper to participate.  Mrs. Burgess is absolutely wonderful and the girls love her!  Sage is in the Foundations Program for K-6th grades which provides classes based on the Classical education.  They meet once a week and learn about History, Geography, Math, Science, Latin and Grammar.  Memory work is used to help these young ones learn facts about subjects.  they also have fine arts and science projects and give an oral presentation on a pre determined subject each week.

We having been thrilled with these classes and look forward to them each week.

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much speak little. --- Rosseau

Sage was too excited to wait for kindergarten to begin so we went ahead and started.  We are really enjoying the Sonlight curriculum this year.  Of course we have already read through the entire BoxCar Children #1 book which was suppose to last more than a couple weeks.....  I am thankful she loves reading. 

Her first spelling test included the words:  sat, mat, cat, hat and the bonus word "is".   I let her use a small dry erase board because it is more fun.  I don't worry about lines on this board right now.  I was actually shocked she could spell these -- she wanted to keep going. Dream child..... 

Boy, have things changed since when my boys were young and homeschooled.  The choices were few when it came to curriculum.  BJU was one of the most obtainable.

But now....now... there are so many educationally rich materials available it can be quite overwhelming!  I must say, I am in heaven.  I just want to order everything and try it! 

When someone is interested in homeschooling one of the first things they ask is "What curriculum do you use?"  In the past we used mostly BJU (Bob Jones University Press) and Saxon math.  But as I realized each child has a different learning style we had to change because what worked for one, did not work well for the other.  Besides BJUP, we've used Abeka, Konos, Key to series, Saxon (which my sons absolutely loathed so we switched to BJU Math), Video Text Algebra (we were one of the first to use this!), LLATL, Unit Studies, college courses, Easy way to Grammar, Veritas Press, Teach your child to read in 100 days, various Bible studies .... the list just goes on and on.

I had been implementing preschool activities with my daughter since she was two but soon Sage was hungry to learn more.  So, I scoured the catalogs and Internet for a fun educational program and ended up buying Sing, Spell, Read and Write.  As we got into it I found that it just wasn't enough for my progressive, eager to learn little student.  (Please note I am in no way saying it is a bad choice!  I actually liked much of it.)  I decided to add Sonlight's K4 program which she devoured since she is a child who absolutely loves to read (& be read to) but the K4 wasn't advanced enough for her so I included Abeka K4 to get her started with phonics. But, the Abeka K4 was so classroom structured it just didn't work well for us.  

I also used various workbooks and really started implementing the Charlotte Mason approach with her as I began to realize the type of learner she is.  I've read much of her stuff in the past and really feel this is the most well rounded, fun way of learning for a child.  Real books!!  There is an online group called Ambleside Online which is a free curriculum based on the Charlotte Mason method of teaching.  I gleaned much information from this site and list! 

Thursday we got our official kindergarten curriculum in from Sonlight.  After looking through everything available I again felt this was the best choice-- I just went with advanced readers this time!  Sonlight is rich in literature and history.  My 71 year old mother happened to be here when we were opening the boxes --- oh what fun that is!!--- when she commented "Well goodness, these are books I would be interested in reading."  Sage, my parents and I excitedly pulled out book after real book.  Even Piper grabbed on to a nature book and scurried up into my father's lap.  

I chose Songlight's K5 program but used the Level 1 advanced readers.  Sonlight is rich in real books, adventure in learning through reading and can be personalized to suit your child (example: choosing level 1 readers instead of K readers) You can also chose your own math and handwriting programs etc... and all this is laid out for you!  I really felt I needed this as it takes so much time to plan everything out.  With Sonlight you choose a four or five day course of study and they have it all written out for you.  You just open a page for Week 1 and start.  Art and PE are also included.  It also came with a calender and historical time-line.  Even the science course has the supplies we need in a nice box as well as the math manipulative's which came in a plastic storage case.  sigh...  I'm a happy girl and Sage is excited!  There are just too many advantages to this program to list here but you can visit them at  www.sonlight.com and either scour the site or order a catalog.   Now, they are pricey, but you get what you pay for.  

Other resource books  and reading books we use are McGuffey readers, notebooking, Handbook of Nature Study,  Christian Liberty Nature Readers, What your _____ needs to know - series,  Excel Math, Horizon Math & Singapore Math (Sage is good at math),  Explore the Code & Mind Benders.  

Sage also takes dance as well as violin lessons

There is so much available out there now.  It can be a bit overwhelming but once you discover your child's learning style everything will fall into place.  A child should enjoy learning and want to get up in the morning and "do school work" as Sage says.  

If a child begins to dread learning everyday something needs to change.

I recently purchased The Burgess Bird Book For Children by Thornton W. Burgess thinking this would be a good way to glean some facts about wild birds --  an area in which I sorely lack knowledge.  What a surprise when I began reading a chapter to my girls.  This is a delightful book for young ones!  Instead of just giving a bunch of facts - which younger children don't enjoy listening to-- this book teaches gentle lessons of birds and wildlife.

Mr. Burgess has given life to the wildlife in an interesting dialog of conversation.  For example, in chapter 5 Peter Rabbit learns something new about Winsome Bluebird and Welcome Robin.  Winsome Bluebird has arrived to welcome in Mistress Spring.  Peter adores his two bird friends and is quite surprised when Jenny Wren mentions how much the cousins look alike.  Peter didn't realize Winsome and Welcome are cousins, both part of the thrush family!  "Tut, tut, tut Peter!" exclaims Jenny Wren.   Peter still doubtful goes to ask his two friends if this is true.  "Yes" Winsome chuckles.  "Welcome and I may not look much alike, but we are cousins just the same.  Don't' you think Welcome is looking unusually fine this spring?" 

"Not a bit finer than yourself, Winsome," replies Peter....

And so the story continues with an absolutely delightful dialog of these characters.  This book is rich in real information and I can't wait to purchase others by Mr. Burgess.

Yesterday we read "Laura's Ma" by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Ma had a specific chore assigned to each day of the week.  Laura's favorite was butter making day when Ma would take fresh milk and turn it into delicious creamy butter by hand churning it with a dash in a crock.  We decided we just had to make butter!  The girls were vigilant in shaking their jars... well Sage was.     I admit I cheated by using the Kitchen Aid.  We also just had to make homemade bread to go with it.  What a delight to have little girls.

    Piper & Sage with homemade butter and bread

Sage kneading the dough

Mom! You cheated by using the Kitchen Aid!

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

I John 2:15.

Have you ever wondered why the majority of homeschoolers are Christians?  For many of us it is because we have chosen to be set apart from the world.  Not meaning necessarily to dissociate from the world but to not live in the world or love the things of this world.  This is difficult for non-believers to understand as they have not been given insight from Holy Spirit.  Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn't talk to you as I would to mature Christians. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. 1 Corinthians 3:1.  So many times we hear the remark "But how will you children ever learn how to live in the real world!?"   Just as you wouldn't take a preschooler and place him in a high school class so he could learn to live in the real world we don't want to place our children in certain environments until they are spiritually mature enough.   I had to feed you with milk and not with solid food, because you couldn't handle anything stronger. 1 Corinthians 3:2. 

We have chosen to raise up our children to glorify the Lord,  to love Him and put Him first. And as with other Christian homeschool families our children will go out into the world prepared with the shield of God.