Mar. 3, 2009
Books, books, books
We're still plugging away at Explorers...................slowly. I'll have to do another post soon about where we're at. I unpacked more books from the basement and got them on the shelves! Now the kids have almost all their books on their own bookshelf.   |
Feb. 18, 2009
pictures from my bookshelf
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My favorite children's book ever: The Riverside Anthology of Children's Literature  up up up up up!!! I love it. I can't even reach the top shelf without a chair! The shelves stop 6 inches away from the ceiling!  my favorite part of my bookshelf - the coloring books! I want to eventually own almost all of Dover's coloring books, LOL. I have a decent selection so far.....these aren't for the kids to color in; I use them to make copies. And no one yell at me  I have 5 kids, I'm not going to buy 5 copies of each coloring book when we only use a couple pages out of each one   |
Feb. 18, 2009
Trying to be more disciplined
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I really am trying to post regularly on this thing and be disciplined about recording what we're doing....2 steps forward, 1 step back, I guess. We've taken a few weeks off because of a wonderful distraction. I always feel bad when we get way off schedule but I suppose with so many littles, and then life on top of it, I suppose it's ok to cut myself a little slack, but it's hard. Anyway. Before:  After:  We have since added some trim and other decorations to the doors; we still have a little more finishing work to do and then when it's done done done, I'll post another picture. I'm so proud of my dh! He designed it and built it and it looks great! I combined 3 bookshelves into this one, and also moved the terribly crowded game closet into the cabinet......and now I have a place for all my school books and a desk where I can do my lesson planning and other things. I love it! |
Jan. 14, 2009
Books and Movies for Explorers
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Books: I like reading good adult books on topics that the kids are learning about, to refresh my mind and give more details that I can throw in to the kids when we're discussing things. There are a few books I have read recently that are about the age of Exploration, that I really enjoyed. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War America's Hidden History - Kenneth C. Davis A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World The author of A Voyage Long and Strange, Tony Horwitz also has another book called Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, that looks really good. I'm going to check that out of the library this weekend. A Voyage Long and Strange was my favorite book out of those - it was amazing. It fills in the gap that occurs in our traditional American history education between Columbus and the Mayflower. He actually goes back and starts with the Vikings discovering America, and then goes through Columbus and all the other explorers before the Mayflower lands. It is fascinating, and very well done. Movies: I don't know if these links will work; they go to netflix. Magnificent Voyage of Christopher Columbus This is a 2 hour 2007 documentary, where they re-enact Columbus' voyage. It was a tad boring for the kids, but they watched a fair amount of it; I thought it was interesting. Columbus: The Lost Voyage - this is in our queue; I'll put a review up after we watch it. Discovery Atlas: Italy Revealed - this is in our queue; I'll put a review up after we watch it. Empires: The Medici, Godfathers of the Renaissance - this is in our queue; I'll put a review up after we watch it. Rick Steves: Spain & Portugal - I watched this the other night on PBS and it was really good. I want to get some of his Italian ones, too. The Agony and the Ecstasy - I've heard this is a good movie; we'll see if the kids agree! |
Jan. 13, 2009
Copywork
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Here is a list of what copywork I have so far for the Explorers/Renaissance time periods. There are also copywork sentences given in Time Traveler's as well, that we're using. They are basically one sentence biographies for the various explorers. Since I am trying to have dd write one sentence a day, I went looking for more copywork sentences. Some of these I've borrowed from other people's lists - Trivium Academy comes to mind. Explorers/Spain “I believe that this is a very great continent which until today has been unknown.”
"We are on a crusade. We are marching as Christians into a land of infidels. We seek not only to subdue boundless territory in the name of our Emperor Don Carlos, but to win millions of unsalvaged souls to the True Faith." – Hernando Cortes
Reformation “All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.”
Renaissance “It is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams...Through it, God will spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men. - Johann Gutenberg The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves. - Leonardo Da Vinci The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding. - Leonardo Da Vinci Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. - Leonardo Da Vinci In questions of science the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. - Galileo Galilei I've loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night. - Galileo Galilei “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of
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Jan. 11, 2009
First week with Time Traveler's
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Well I think I can count this week as basically a success, considering we still had sick kids and a tired momma! I was able to get up early 2 days this week; eventually I'd like it to be every day. It's hard getting up so early with the baby still waking up during the night. And we accomplished almost everything on our school schedule; very unusual! Usually we have several items that keep getting bumped back. This week started our Time Traveler's New World Explorers unit. We are not doing every single lesson. We are also using Trail Guide to World Geography and I've lined up some of those lessons to coincide with our history. We do history 3 days a week. So, this week we did lesson 1,3, and 4, covering the why's of exploration and about the ships. We also did ch. 28 of Story of the World volume 2. We have been using SOTW as our history, and will keep using it alongside TT. For geography, we did week 1, world geography. About Time Traveler's: So far, I love it. The one thing I would recommend, and I did it because I found it recommended elsewhere, is to do all the copying ahead of time. There is a lot of printing/copying that needs to be done. I actually did it in 2 big batches. When I first got the cd, I was so excited that I went and printed out all of the text pages and a lot of the masters and put it all in a nice binder. Last week when I sat down to do my detailed planning, I printed out the rest of the masters and the things that needed to be put on cardstock. It is quite a lengthy ordeal. But it looks great, and once that is done, it won't need to be done again and is easy to use. The projects in TT are great. They seem to be varied for ages, so I think when we go back through this again in a few years, there will still be stuff for the olders and the youngers to do. I went to the library and got some books to go along with what we're learning: Ships - Philip Wilkinson 387.2 DK Eyewitness Boat 623.8 A 16th centry Galleon - Richard Humble, Peter Bedrick 623.822 Exploring the World - Fiona Macdonald 910.9 In 1492 - Jean Marzollo E M Around the World in a Hundred Years - Jean Fritz 910.922 Here are some pictures of some projects from New World Explorers that we did this week: 5 reasons for exploration, and anatomy of the ship. There are fold up boxes that show the answer to what part of the ship it is.  We weren't going to do the 'build a ship' project because of time and space, so on her own - before we even started the unit, actually, my dd drew up blueprints of her ship, and then proceeded to color it, make the flag, and get her dad to help her build it. I was very impressed.     |
Jan. 2, 2009
Schedule
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I'm getting excited about getting back into the swing of things full time on Monday. We are going to be on Week 15. I don't even know how far behind that would be from everyone else, LOL. I know we're a little behind on some things from where I'd like to be, but oh well. Onward we march! Weeks 15-27 are roughly planned out, with weeks 15-21 detailed and everything is printed and copied and in a binder so I can just pick up and go each week. Week 27 ends on April 3rd and I'm tentatively planning on Spring Break the following week. That ends with us finishing up Paddle to the Sea, but I think I might push Spring Break back another week and extend Paddle into a 2 week unit. And then after spring break we will do the New World and Pilgirms. Week 26 is pirates and the finishing up of the Time Traveler's New World Explorers. So that will be a 12 week unit that we are about to begin. The next few entries will hopefully be schedules and links of what I want to do. |