Posted in Homeschool

Great news!  We wrapped up 6th grade this morning with 5 Daily Grams (yeah, yeah, I know it isn't supposed to be 5 a day, but it was all we had left!), a final exam in Botany (Bean got 100%!  WOOHOO!), a completed IEW composition and the last few chapters of The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis.

 Her composition was one where she had to try taking notes out of her own head.  She chose Irish Dance as her topic and did two paragraphs:  one about how frustrating it can be and one about how much fun it is in spite of the frustration.  I thought she did great!! 

TTFN!

Posted in Homeschool

The good news is that Bean apparently didn't inherit my black thumbs, but did inherit my mom's green thumbs!!  WOOHOO!!  Her light hut experiment for Botany worked out so well!!  The peppermint never did come up, but the dill and the basil are doing great!!  And, I've heard, that basil is supposed to be hard to grow.  Way to go, Bean!!  This week, the dill finally got too tall for the light hut and had to be moved outside.  I think Bean will need to repot it to a larger pot before we leave for Texas.  Hopefully, dh will not forget to water it!!

Bean says she wants to grow some more herbs in the light hut.  I think we'll try to get some new peppermint seeds while we are at home and plant them when we get back.

TTFN!

Posted in Homeschool

For the past four weeks, Bean has been participating in a homeschool book club run by one of the other moms in our local homeschool group.  The first book she chose for them to read was Island of the Blue Dolphins.  One of the things I love about this club is that the leader assigns each kid a project to do based on the book.  Bean's project was to write a report about a real-life survival story.  She chose to write about Bethany Hamilton.

Soul Surfer

Posted in Homeschool

Okay, I think I'm done narrowing down all of our subjects for next year. 

History:  I thought was going to go with History Odyssey for history, but after seeing many reviews mentioning its "secularness", I finally went back to look at Tapestry of Grace again.  The Lord granted me such peace with my decision as I realized that TOG is everything I never knew I always wanted!  LOL  I love how it ties together the history and the literature and the art and the bible and the writing and the geography (and, at the Rhetoric level, the government and the philosophy).  I'm SO excited!!

Bible Devotions:  TOG includes Bible reading and study within its scope, but Bean really enjoys doing a separate devotional program.  I found one written by Bethany Hamilton called Rise Above.  Bethany wrote it to "share with young girls her courage and enthusiasm for God, inspiring them to face life headon and stand strong in their faith."  Her story is so inspiring and I can't think of a better role model for Bean.

Math:  Bean wants to be an Imagineer for The Mouse and wants to major in Engineering in college.  I know that choosing the proper maths and science progression for her will be super important.  We have used Math-U-See for the past five years, but there is no Calculus level for that program.  And, since I know nothing about Calculus (except that somehow imaginary numbers are involved at the beginning!), I was terrified at the idea that we'd be "thrown to the wolves" (aka have to switch to Saxon) at the Calculus level.  Can you believe I was having nightmares about it already??  After visiting my most trusted source for homeschool advice (The Well-Trained Mind Boards) and looking at loads of samples of curriculum, we've decide to make the switch now to Chalkdust.  I had Bean watch the sample video on their site and she felt very comfortable with "Uncle Buck".  I love that we can email them any time we run into trouble!  We can't wait to get started with their Pre-Algebra in the fall (I just have to save up the money first!)

Literature:  Even though TOG has a literature component, I really wanted to do a dedicated Lit program with Bean for next year (must be the English major in me!).  I went back to the WTM boards and checked out their thoughts on the subject.  I saw many, many recommendations for Lightning Literature.  I checked it out and it seems perfect for us!  We are going to use level 7 for next year.  The book selections are great and Bean is very excited to get to study this.

Vocabulary:  We tried out the sample pages of Vocabulary from Classical Roots and Bean thought they were very fun, so we're going to do Book A, along with any TOG vocabulary we need to cover.

Science:  Bean is very excited to begin her upper-level science adventures with Apologia.  In the fall, we'll begin their General Science.  This will allow Bean to complete the following schedule of maths & science by the time she graduates:

7th grade: Gen Science and Pre-Algebra
8th grade: Physical Science and Algebra I
9th grade: Biology and Geometry
10th grade:  Chemistry and Algebra II
11th grade:  Physics and Pre-Calculus
12th grade:  Adv. Physics and Calculus

I love this time of year!!  I love planning our educational journey together and I love seeing Bean get so excited about learning new things. 

TTFN!

Posted in Homeschool

Hi everyone!

Bean and I are SO excited!!  We finally have managed to get started on a major science project!! WOOHOO!!

We recently finished up our Christian Kids Explore Earth & Space curriculum and were at loose ends about what to do for the rest of the year.  As we were driving around and noticing all the spring flowers peeking out, Bean said, "It's too bad there isn't a science curriculum that just focuses on plants."  I told her that I know of one.  We went right home and ordered Apologia's Exploring Creation with Botany and all the supplies from Home Science Tools.  The kit they sent us was lovely, BUT our electricity here is not 110v.  I had to come up with a 220v way to do the light source for the light hut.  Off we went to Praktiker (kind of like a Home Depot) where I was told that having a light bulb socket on a cord was not how things are done here.  Luckily, another homeschool friend had hit another home improvement store and received much more useful advice.  I bought what she said to (the light bulb was almost 13€!  Yikes!) and actually had to assemble the connection between the cord and the socket myself (yay me!).  Now that I knew we were going to get this thing built, I started looking for pots and saucers.  With that accomplished, Bean and I built our Light Hut today and she planted Dill, Peppermint and Basil.

Now comes the really hard part:  keeping my black thumbs out of the project!! 

Posted in Homeschool

Aloha!!  We just wrapped up the Luau that we held to celebrate the finish of our studies of the Pacific Islands.  Everything turned out great!!  Okay, Bean didn't get to make the Macadamia Nut Cream Pie because I'd never scalded milk before and didn't know how to do it.  Both of my cooking mentors (Hi Mom! Hi Carla!) were in time zones where they wouldn't appreciate me calling them to ask how to scald milk, so we skipped that recipe. 

All the other recipes turned out wonderfully and Bean learned a lot about cooking that she didn't know already (like how to skin tomatoes by dunking them into boiling water--why can't I remember what that is called?  I knew it earlier!)  Of course, I mostly forgot to take pictures during the actual feasting, but I did get pictures of Bean cooking and of her mask. I'll try to get the girls to do the hula again in the morning for me.

We got great news today!!  The cat that we have been fostering while her family was back in the states for four months is now a permanent member of OUR family!!!  WOOHOO!!  She is such a great cat!  Her name is Belle and she's a nine-year old gray tabby cat.  When she came to stay with us, she just moved in like she was already part of the family.  Her family realized that, due to the ages of their kids, it might be better for Belle to stay with us permanently, so they offered her to us.  I had been secretly praying for this for the past couple of months, so I am completely THRILLED!  I'll post a picture of her when I get the camera back upstairs.

Posted in Homeschool

Bean has been working SO hard to get everything ready for the luau tomorrow.  Some very good friends are coming over to enjoy the feast and then the two girls are spending the night.  It will be so fun!!

Here's the menu:

Lomi Lomi Salmon, Teriyaki Beef Sticks and other assorted pupus (we couldn't find any fresh pineapple and, ever since we lived in Hawai'i, I just can't eat canned!  Bleh!)

Ka Lua Pig

Chicken Adobo

Aloha Sweet Potatoes

Pineapple Macadamia Bread

Macadamia Nut Cream Pie

Mmmmm, it all sounds so yummy!!  I didn't even try to steer her toward recipes that I would be able to eat and there is still stuff on the menu I can have (well, at least the pig and chicken).

She's almost done with her mask and it looks great.  I can't wait to hang it on our schoolroom wall. 

I'll try to post pics next week (but if I don't get it done before my parents get here, I'll post them after 9/8). 

Posted in Homeschool

Everything went so well this week!!  Bean is super excited about learning everything she can about the Eastern Hemisphere.  As I type this, she is off making a Maori mask out of Model Magic to hang up at our Pacific Islands Feast she is making next Friday.  I can see her from here and she is concentrating SO hard.  I'll post pictures after she paints it next week.  I love, love, love, love, LOVE how the Choose Your Adventure projects will help her to learn how to plan out a project, doing a little each day, so that she doesn't wait until the last minute to try to get it done.  So far for her Feast she has 1) found a mask design to inspire her, 2) found recipes and created a shopping list, 3) found hula music and directions on how to hula, and 4) is working on her mask.  She has little parts of the project planned for each day next week culminating with 8) shopping for the feast and 9) cooking the feast.  I love it!!

Posted in Homeschool

Okay, our toe is officially wet!  WOOHOO!!

Bean and I got started with Sonlight's Eastern Hemisphere Explorer today.  I showed her how I was going to highlight each day's reading assignment for her and then showed her how she may have to leave the main article to find some of the answers needed.  We had a great time drawing the flags for Vanuatu, Nauru and New Zealand.  She decided we should have a luau for her first "Choose Your Adventure" project.  She's going to research recipes, make up the shopping list and make sure we get everything when we go grocery shopping.  She's also planning to make a mask out of Model Magic, although as I don't recall the Hawai'ians having masks, I think she's going to do a Maori one instead.  Now our biggest task will be to figure out where the Hawai'ian Luau music CD is since it's been two moves since the last time anyone saw it.  Ruh-roh, Shaggy!

All in all, a GREAT day!  I love easing into the year this way!

Posted in Homeschool

Oh, I am so very proud of my Bean!!!  She took her final exam for MUS Epsilon today and scored 100%!!  The only one she even came close to missing was as super easy one from a lesson WAY back at the beginning of the year that she thought was WAY too easy to be on the final.    WAY TO GO, BEAN!!!

We leave tomorrow for Scotland.   I am so excited!  This has been a dream of mine for most of my life and I can't believe it's really happening.  Did I mention that we are getting to do this trip so Hubby can run in his first marathon?  He's so excited about that.  Our guest house includes breakfast every day and they serve haggis as a part of it.  I'm definitely going to try it (I think).   I would feel terrible if I made my once-in-a-lifetime trip to Scotland and didn't even *try* haggis.  I would certainly never order it as my main meal, but if it's on the breakfast buffet, I can at least try a bite, right?

Posted in Homeschool

You can read my answer here. 

Posted in Homeschool

Wow!  I'm not sure what I'm more excited about:  (1) Bean is finishing up MUS Epsilon tomorrow OR (2) we are leaving for Scotland on Thursday!!  Okay, I admit the Scotland thing probably has the upper hand, but I am SO proud of Bean's effort in getting through with Math before we leave on our trip.

I had never realized how much her frustrations in Math were damping down her fire for learning, but suddenly since Math is coming SO easily for her now (using her "Momma Pencil"), she's just completely nuts about learning stuff.  All I had planned to do this summer was to get through Memoria Press' Famous Men of Rome (there was no room in the "regular" school year and I really wanted us to have a strong historical background before we went to Italy next spring).  Now Bean is begging me to let her try her hand at lapbooking.  I was poking around the net the other night and found Homeschool in the Woods new Time Travelers History Series.  Their first one is about Pirates & Explorers.  Well, with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest coming out next month, Bean was all over that.  So, I placed that order today.  I just can't believe she's willing to do "school stuff" over the summer.

Today I also placed our order with Sonlight for Core 5.  I got a nice little reminder email from them telling me my Club membership is about to expire, so I decided I'd better bite the bullet and click that "order" button.  My best buddy, Carla, has already typed up all the reader questions for us, so all I have to do is get the stuff entered into Edu-Track, plug in the timeline and mapping assignments onto the reader question pages and we'll be all set for that.

The next step is to save enough money to get The Easy French.  Bean has been begging me for YEARS to let her learn French and now I think I've finally found the right program for us.  The step after that involves praying that Christian Kids Explore Earth & Space gets printed in time for us to use it this year.  After that, it's just a matter of subscribing to The Boomerang and saving up the money to get IEW.  THEN, I think we'll be all set for a while.  The Easy French and IEW are both multi-year programs, so while their expense is high, it will amortize (oh my goodness, am I using that correctly?  It's been WAY too long since I took accounting in college!) over several years.

Hmmm, looking back over this I think I can see that Bean isn't the only one on fire for homeschooling (and it looks like my checkbook will be the next thing on fire!  LOL)