I have ever been in search of a way to make good home-made pizza. I haven't tried this one yet, but I have finally found a recipe that might, at last, enable me to enjoy pizza at home. (The crust has ever been eluding me. I learned long ago how to make a good French bread pizza, but wanted a good crusted pizza. Now I think I have one.) I'll try to post, later, how I like it, after I try it. (Right now I'm following Weight Watchers and am seriously trying to crank up my weight loss, so won't be trying this for awhile.)
2 t yeast
¼ c warm water
2 to 2 ½ cups whole wheat bread flour
2T gluten flour (or vital wheat gluten)
½ c warm water
1 t salt
1 ½ T olive oil
In a mixer such as a Bosch or a Kitchen Aid add yeast and warm water. Let it sit for a few minutes to dissolve and activate. Add 2 cups of flour and all remaining ingredients. Mix dough well adding the extra flour until the dough will not stick to the sides of the bowl. Knead for about 4 minutes in the Bosch and 6 to 8 in the Kitchen Aid.
If you made this dough in a Kitchen Aid then let the dough rise for 1 hour. If made in a Bosch, skip this step.
Punch down dough and shape into a ball and roll out to fit a 14 inch pizza pan.
Add sauce and toppings and bake in a 475 oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
Makes 3 crusts
2 Tbs yeast
¾ c warm water
6 to 7 ½ cups whole wheat bread flour
6T gluten flour (or vital wheat gluten)
1 ½ c warm water
1 TBS salt
4 ½ T olive oil
Follow directions above only dividing dough to make 3 crusts
3- 8oz cans tomato sauce 1- 6oz can tomato paste 1T Italian seasonings 1t minced garlic, heaping 1t salt pinch or two of cane juice crystals (or sugar) - according to your own tastes
I heated this up on the stove on low until it was hot.
Okay, so I know it's been a long time since I blogged. I had to, pretty much, take the summer off. Hopefully, now that some things are getting wrapped up in my life, I can get back to a regular schedule of blogging.
[My dad passed away in 2006, and I was executrix for his estate; his estate finally wrapped up in 2009. My step-dad passed away months after my dad. My mom passed away in 2007, and I was executrix for her estate and trustee for her trust. Resolving her estate involved becoming executrix for my step-dad's estate, since she had never done anything formal, and some of "her" belongings were legally in his name. Estate is resolved, but trust is still outstanding; house I had to empty, repair and fix up is currently under contract... We'll see how that goes. After that, there is still three years of paperwork to get ducks in order (which I should have done already but haven't), at which time I distribute to heirs and am finally free, free, free from these beyond normal responsibilities...]
Anyway, am way behind on reading emails, and finally read this one about comments from a college professor critiquing homeschoolers who go on to college. It was good, and I wanted to share it:
This article may be published on web sites and
in publications as long as it's reproduced in
its entirety, including the resource box at the end
of the article. Thanks!
College Professor Critiques Homeschoolers
copyright 2009 by Greg Landry, M.S.
I teach sophomore through senior level college
students - most of them are "pre-professional"
students. They are preparing to go to medical
school, dental school, physical therapy school,
etc.
As a generalization, I've noticed certain
characteristics common in my students who were
homeschooled. Some of these are desirable,
some not.
Desirable characteristics:
1. They are independent learners and do a great
job of taking initiative and being responsible
for learning. They don't have to be "spoon fed"
as many students do. This gives them an advantage
at two specific points in their education;
early in college and in graduate education.
2. They handle classroom social situations
(interactions with their peers and professors)
very well. In general, my homeschooled students
are a pleasure to have in class. They greet me
when the enter the class, initiate conversations
when appropriate, and they don't hesitate to
ask good questions. Most of my students do
none of these.
3. They are serious about their education and
that's very obvious in their attitude, preparedness,
and grades.
Areas where homeschooled students can improve:
1. They come to college less prepared in the
sciences than their schooled counterparts -
sometimes far less prepared. This can be
especially troublesome for pre-professional
students who need to maintain a high grade
point average from the very beginning.
2. They come to college without sufficient
test-taking experience, particularly with
timed tests. Many homeschooled students have a
high level of anxiety when it comes to taking
timed tests.
3. Many homeschooled students have problems
meeting deadlines and have to adjust to that in
college. That adjustment time in their freshman
year can be costly in terms of the way it affects
their grades.
My advice to homeschooling parents:
1. If your child is even possibly college
bound and interested in the sciences, make
sure that they have a solid foundation of
science in the high school years.
2. Begin giving timed tests by 7th or 8th grade.
I'm referring to all tests that students take, not
just national, standardized tests.
I think it is a disservice to not give students
timed tests. They tend to focus better and score
higher on timed tests, and, they are far better
prepared for college and graduate education if
they've taken timed tests throughout the high
school years.
In the earlier years the timed tests should allow
ample time to complete the test as long as the
student is working steadily. The objective is for
them to know it's timed yet not to feel a time
pressure. This helps students to be comfortable
taking timed tests and develops confidence in
their test-taking abilities.
3. Give your students real deadlines to meet in
the high school years. If it's difficult for students
to meet these deadlines because they're
coming from mom or dad, have them take
"outside" classes; online, co-op, or community
college.
_______________________________
Greg Landry is a 14 year veteran homeschool dad
and college professor. He also teaches one and
two semester online science classes, and offers
free 45 minute online seminars..
http://www.HomeschoolScienceAcademy.com
I love art. I enjoy all sorts of art. I enjoy doing the art myself, and when I plan it in advance, I don't even mind that "doing art" with kids often means I'll have a mess to clean up.
I've had the opportunity to do all sorts of art with my older two kids, and to let them experience certain types of art in classes when I couldn't do it with them myself: watercolor; tempera paint; acrylic paint; metal etching; silk screening; clay; soap stone carving; weaving; papier mache; print block; mozaics, collages, rubbings.... you get the idea. Like I said, I love art.
So, now, I am really perplexed by my up and coming #3 child because, for the most part, he doesn't seem to like doing art. I admit that I have found it very easy to neglect art so far in his childhood. Very early in life he made it clear to us that he didn't like to color, but he does like to draw. Add to that he also likes play doh, clay, and things involving chenille wire and pony beads. Believe it or not, he even likes knitting on looms. He also enjoys looking at art. I have lots of art books in our homeschool supplies, and he willingly looks at pieces of classic art and discusses them with me (which is part of our Ambleside Online curriculum plan). But, even at age 9, it is clear that he has ulterior motives... ever is he trying to flip the page to find the paintings of those Rennaisance women, scantily clad, or clad not at all...
But when it comes to doing art, he is very rigid.
I was very pleased this year to have the opportunity to receive, to review, a copy of Artistic Pursuits for grades K-3.
I got real excited to try this new art program. It is bright, on a plastic binder, with "jelly-proof" (or paint-proof) plastic cover over it. I glanced through the introduction and the beginning, and got real excited to start.
So, like any good homeschooling mommy (har! har!), on Friday morning I opened the book to see what we needed for materials for art lesson 1 that afternoon. ::sigh:: I keep a fairly well-stocked art supply bin, but it was calling for things I did not have. So, that afternoon found us, instead of doing art, driving to our local art supply store to buy art supplies. Now, mind you, I was very single-mindedly buying what I needed for Lesson 1. [Foreshadowing here...] Ebony pencils. Store 1 didn't have them. (Had to actually go out again on Saturday to a different store to finally find them. Since I was there, I went along and purchased a pad of art paper and a new pink eraser, as recommended in the curriculum for the lesson, even though I already have some art paper and a old pink eraser at home somewhere, but don't know where it is...)
Got home, now time to make dinner, and Art Lesson 1 did not get done. Weekend, and art-hating child says he isn't going to do "school work", it's the week-end. (My girls would NEVER have called art "school work"!) Monday comes, and the schedule's so tight during the week that I can't turn my attention to art until Friday again, when I have it scheduled.
So, Friday comes around again, and we finally do lesson 1. DS (Dear Son) does well as I work my way through the lesson, sits with me and studies the nice painting, listens while I talk about aspects of the art. The I turn the page and get to the hands-on stuff, and he balks. "I'm not going to do that. Can I just draw what I want?" ::sigh:: Okay, I do a drawing like the assignment, and he draws a cartoon. I figure, okay, at least he's doing art.
Lesson 2. As per Lesson 1, Friday morning I open the book to preview the lesson. As per the above-mentioned foreshadowing, I read it only to find that it calls for another art supply that I do not own. Too busy to go to the store Friday. No art lesson. Shop on Saturday, this time to purchase water-color pencils. While I'm at it, I purchase some other stuff too. (Are you seeing a pattern here? Every lesson is taking me two weeks to get done. Plus, I'm going to the art store once for each lesson, buying stuff I would not have purchased had I not gone, all because I thought I'd be better off not buying the supplies for the art curriculum all at once. For me that was a big mistake!)
So week 4 now finds me doing art Lesson 2. Same deal -- we really do well as we work our way through the first page(s), studying the artwork and such. Then, flip the page to the hands-on section. "I'm not doing that. Can't I just draw what I want?" ::sigh:: Back to this again. So, DS draws a comic strip while I try to draw a nice picture worthy of water color. Now that I think of it, this lesson must seem to my son a lot like colorig, which I already stated, he doesn't like to do...
*****************************************************************************************************
Anyway, overview: The good, the bad, the ugly...
Good things about this curriculum:
It is very Charlotte Mason-ish, which fits with the curriculum I am using right now (Ambleside Online).
It has you study classical paintings and talk about them, then implement some aspect of the art topic into a project or a new skill.
It's instructions are very good. It walks the teacher through what to say, and there is a way or the homeschooling mom to interact with the child, introducepaintings, discuss aspects about it.
The lesson applies something related to the painting the child examined.
Disadvantages:
Now, don't chop my head off, but it called for uniquely different art supplies, which was a pain, but okay I guess. I still want to get to projects further along in the book.
Really, that's about it. All the other disadvantages have nothing to do with the curriculum, sugh as "Needs some preparation (such as to the local Art/Craft sign on...) which is to be expected.
The other issues are all "user error", like not reading the lessons in advance, and not buying the supplies in advance, or like not purchasing the necessary supplies in advance. The curriculum certainly can't be blamed for that...
So, from this mom and this son, this product gets two thumbs up, and two thumbs down (from my son, who just wants to draw cartoons right now, and nothing else...)
I'd hint that maybe he has a future as a cartoonist, but frankly, he's really not all that great. Not entirely out of the question, since he has time to work on it, but for now it's not going to make it into the Sunday Funnies.
So, summer stretches out before me, and I want to do more art with this guy, and create a box full of art projects he can enter in the county fair in August. And he will probably balk all summer, declaring that he doesn't want to "do school" during summer break. ::sigh:: So, maybe I'll work with him on this in the fall, too, even though it says it is for K-3, and he'll be in 4th then. I do really love the art pages and art-study that guides the parent through it. So, that's it for now. Thanks for reading.
When I first received a box in the mail containing Schleich figurines, I thought, "How cool!" These figurines are amazing -- they have accuracy in shape and color to the finest detail.
When my kids began pulling the figurines out of the box, we "Oooooo"ed and "Ahhhhhh"ed over each individual piece. Then my daughter found the goldmine, the Schleich catelog, and began flipping through its pages as well.
These animals are just adorable! They are so lifelike. They really shouldn't be called "toys" -- they are pieces of art; miniatures.
We first experienced Schleich figurines in 2006. At that time, we didn't know them by brand name. What we knew was that my 16 year old daughter found them in Europe when her home school co-op went on a field trip culminate their four-years of studying Tapestry of Grace. While in Europe my daughter bought a beautiful, life-like dragon as a souvineer for her 6-year-old brother.
Not knowing it as Schleich, it reminded us of the story in the Chronicles of Narnia where Eustace turns into a dragon (with a gold band on his arm), and Edmund (I think) is prepared to fight in full armor when he realizes it is no ordinary dragon. The following Christmas big sister was surprised and delighted to find a similar figurine that seemed to go with the dragon, and she bought the mounted knight set for her brother for Christmas.
Then, when the Schleich figurines came in the mail, we finally discovered that it was Schleich that we'd been loving all these years and we just didn't know it! My daughter found the well-loved figurines in their catelog. And, we figured out that the cute figurines that our local novelty toy store carries are all Schleich as well! And we've loved those figurines from long before we owned any!
Schleich carries a wide variety of types of figurines, from farm animals to wild animals, from smurfs to people, from Medieval figurines to prehistoric figurines. Follow the links and consider buying some from your local specialty store. You can't go wrong.
I have been homeschooling since 1992. During those years of homeschooling, there has been no one homeschooling curriculum I have, so far, used Tapestry of Grace for eight consecutive years.
That being said, at present I have not been using Tapestry for going-on four years.
It was with trepidation and delight that I received my Year 2 Unit 3 Digital Edition of the Revised Tapestry curriculum. After struggling through some difficult download instructions (which has since been streamlined), I had my Unit 3 on my computer ready and waiting for my perusal.
Opening the pages of this new version of Year 2, I felt like a piano student who learned to play Chop Sticks without looking at music. Now the student has been handed the printed version of the music to Handel’s Messiah, and requested to play it and review it in two weeks. An impossible task to do adequately! Not even in six weeks! (Especially not when you are also reviewing ten other curriculums simultaneously, and also, by the way, have surgery and are unable to type for six weeks…)
Anyway, that being said, I here begins my review of this amazing product .
WEEK 1
First, I had struggles with opening the documents I had saved to my computer. I don’t understand exactly how the TOG digital software works. I know that we received an email that the download process has been streamlined. I don’t know if this means I need to reload it to my computer, or if it doesn’t make any difference for me since I already have it on my computer. All things told, it took me a full 20 minutes to get the introduction opened up on my computer this first time. Don’t know how much of this is because of user unfamiliarity vs. product issues or even issues with my computer being slow. Anyway, it shouldn’t have to take this long. I’ll keep track of that and comment on it again later. Day after day I struggled with locating the files to open. I thought I saved them to my desktop, but I didn’t. I need to move them.
The first feeling of being overwhelmed comes when the Unit Introduction has been opened and one sees that it is 14 pages long. Now, as one who is familiar with this product, I have to tell you not to panic. Hang with it. This is a rich curriculum. You really don’t need to read every page of every section word for word, unless you want to. There are sections that apply to me and sections that don’t. The best approach advice I could give to a new purchaser of Tapestry would be: 1) Try to buy the curriculum in the Spring so that you have the entire summer to look it over; learn from it. 2) Savor it. 3) Collect the supplemental books you will need (or find out what books your public library has), 4) Take plenty of time to prepare to use it in the fall.
So many wonderful advantages to having this in digital form. The disadvantage? Sadly, I believe we all want it in printed form. Print it ourselves? Well, not likely. First, my ink runs if it gets wet (my printouts would get ruined if splashed with water). Second, it would cost me way more to print at home, at my cost per ink cartridge, than it would cost to print for $25/unit by the arrangement Tapestry has to offer us. So, I am destined to take them up on this offer. For what I own digitally so far, that means another $125 to spend. At least I can space those payments out.
In reading the Unit Introduction, I am reminded that Tapestry is a very cerebral curriculum. Using Tapestry we will be teaching our children at a level higher than what we ourselves were taught. We will have to think deep thoughts as we lead our maturing children to think deep thoughts. We parents, the teachers, will ourselves be challenged to learn and grow as we teach. I myself personally like that. But it also means that we need to plan to take the time to prepare to teach, something not all home school teachers do. Part of the reason I have not used Tapestry for the past four years has been an inability on my part to take that kind of time to prepare for my home schooling.
So, that leads me to another point I should mention about using Tapestry. BENEFIT: One of the reasons I used it previously was that I was teaching more than one child. I am currently using a curriculum that has a different reading plan and subject list for each different grade level. One of the beauties of Tapestry is its goal to enable families to study the same subject matter, the same historical era, at the same time. So I recommend Tapestry every time I get into a conversation with another mom home schooling more than one grade level using the curriculum I am currently using. I like this other curriculum, but I would never survive teaching it at more than one grade level concurrently. With Tapestry everyone is on the “same page” in History, and the other subjects flow from that (literature, composition, geography, art, music, and to a certain extent even science).
WEEK 2
I am preparing to use the curriculum. Each Unit begins with an Introduction which is separate unto itself. I familiarized myself with the introduction, during Week 1 (above), and looked over the “Threads” section for each week. Ideally, I would have liked to have gotten further in my first week, but life is real, and I got busy and bogged down.
I am now perusing each week’s Reading Assignments. I am homeschooling a 3rd grader who, in my opinion, falls right between the levels Lower Grammar and Upper Grammar. I will be using my library extensively, rather than purchasing books. I do this 1) to save money, and 2) because I won’t need the books again, because I don’t have any more children coming along after him, and 3) because I don’t currently have space in my home for more books.
Before printing out any other pages in each unit, I printed out the Reading Assignment pages, one page per sheet (not double sided). I hole punched the pages and put them in a 3-ring binder, page 4 facing page 5 for each week’s pages.
With my notebook in hand, I went downstairs to my own home school library to see what books I have (or can substitute) on the lists. I like highlighting my pages, and I like color-coding my highlighting. With my light-blue highlighter, I highlighted all the titles listed that I already own. (I also keep these books filed a certain way: Year 1 books on the top shelf, Year 2 on the 2nd shelf, etc. I put a different color sticky dot on the spine of each book, different color for each year, and mark on the dot what week the book is for, such as 2-21 for Year 2, Week 21. Then I tape over the dot, with packaging tape, to hold it on the book better.) If I have a book that I want to use as a substitute title, I highlight my Reading Assignment page in pink, and write the substitute title in where it will fit, with an arrow to the replaced assignment, which I circle.
When I was done looking over my personal library, I got onto the Internet and went to my favorite online sources for public domain titles. I searched Books.Google.com and Bartleby.com for titles.
Next I went to my library’s database online. I searched for the titles that are assigned. I highlighted titles I needed that the library has in light green. I immediately put a “Hold” on the library titles for weeks 1, 2, and 3. My library system will ship the book to my local library, where I can walk in and pick it up off the “Hold” shelves.
Now, I let my library work for the rest of the week getting my titles to me, while I read up on Week 1 Teacher’s Notes and all other pertinent material. If it is summer break when you do this, it is wonderful to be able to go to the local swimming pool and have your swimming age kids play in the pool while you sit in the shade reading your PRINTED copy of the Year Plan. (::sigh::) So, I guess now is when you print out week 1 (using the back-sides of pages 4 and 5 of the Reading Assignment pages), hole punch your copy and put into your notebook so you can read at the pool.
Week 3
Well, actually I am going to start this on Saturday, if I can. First, I went on line to my library’s database and ordered the titles needed for Week 4. I always order books three weeks in advance to allow for lag-time. Sometimes I need a book that has a waiting list. Sometimes I get the book right away. It can take 7-10 days for the book to arrive, and then it can be held at the library for 7 days before they reshelve it. That “buys” me two weeks of time where I haven’t checked the book out yet, if I want to check it out closer to the time I will be using it.
I like to keep a certain shelf on the bookshelf, or a milk crate, or a basket where I keep Tapestry-related books that are checked out from the library. That makes it easier to find them when it’s time to do the assignment.
Next I ask hubby to watch my boy while I take a trip to the library to pick up my library books. Now, whether you go with kids or without is entirely up to you, but I am in a season where I go alone. Son is a reader, but when we get to the library he goes directly to the video/dvd shelves trying to find movies to beg me to let him watch. I don’t like to offer him that opportunity too frequently.
Now is the time to make sure you are finished reading through all the notes for the week. On Saturday I also like to finalize any plans for hands-on activities. I might need to make copies of maps, purchase art material, or get materials all to a central spot so that when it comes time to hand-dip candles, for instance, I am not hopping in the car to buy parafin and wick, for example.
I am actually planning to begin implementing the curriculum in Week 4. I spend the rest of Week 3 becoming very familiar with the Week Plan that I will be covering next week. I also quickly glance over as much of the rest of the unit as I can.
I like to keep a Daily Lesson Plan book. For me, it is my home school’s accountability partner. It helps me to comply with State Law, which in my state requires that I teach regularly and diligently in eight subject areas (Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Art, Music, P.E., and Health, and my “Umbrella” requires Bible). So, Week 3 is when I plot out my Daily Lesson Planner, and make sure that I am covering all my required subject areas, instead of doing ONLY Tapestry assignments, which I could very easily slide into.
Week 4
The “Big Day” is finally here! We started our day with prayer, a Bible Reading, working on a memory verse, and singing a hymn. Then we snuggled down on the couch and began reading about Jamestown (Social Studies). Being right on the hinge between Lower Grammar and Upper Grammar, I selected books from both sections. If I find an UG title too difficult for my son, I don’t just “forge on ahead”, but rather I close the book and pick up a LG book for him instead.
Each day of the week we read an installment from William Bradford, Pilgrim Boy. JD was slow to warm up to this book, but by the time it ended he wanted more chapters, or to start over and read it again. Now, I won’t keep him from reading it again himself if he wishes, but I won’t be reading it out loud to him again. I just can’t manage that.
The Core titles for this week were difficult for me. The New Americans seemed slightly below JD’s level. From the UG titles, The Awakening of Europe was not available at the library or free on the Internet, and I didn’t wish to purchase a copy. Making Thirteen Colonies doesn’t do real well as a read-aloud, and my son’s reading level is just not quite there yet for him to read it by himself. So I worked for substituting. The Title for this week (Week 20, Year 2) is “Early New World Colonies and Eastern Europe.” I found in my personal library a book called The Thirteen Colonies, and that was a good fit for us!
For In Depth, we read The Jamestown Colony (LG), and did some readings from Colonial Living.
I picked up, from the library, suggested titles on Gallileo, but we did not get to them.
Wanting to do something “Hands-On” next, I looked at the week’s suggestions for activites. Well, Week 20’s ideas didn’t look too appealing for a little boy: work on a long-term project (not sure yet where the ideas for this are…), make a doll, or draw a picture of Pocahontas… So, I pulled out Colonial Living to get ideas. For a long-term project, I’d love for us (him) to make a miniature model or diorama of either a Colonial settlement or house, or of an Indian Long House or something, but not ready to start that yet. I decided to give him the opportunity to make butter from cream, by shaking it in a small jelly jar (baby food jar, if you have one). It was a big hit. We also made home-made cornbread for him to spread the butter on. It wasn’t very appealing, and I like to think it gave him a new perspective on how tasteless and bland some of the colonial food must have been. (They didn’t have the luxurious quantites we have of things like salt and brown sugar, which is in the corn bread we are accustomed to buying at a favorite fast food store…)
We made a salt map of North America, and began memorizing the original 13 colonies. We are not finished; we will work on it some more in Week 2.
I really need to get started with working on my son in the area of Writing Assignments, but I opted not to start that this week. With everything so new for him, and my introducing so many new things, I decided that one subject could be ramped into on a different week.
SUMMARY:
In case you haven’t picked this up, or I haven’t said it before, I am biased and totally love Tapestry of Grace.
That point aside, here are my summary points about Tapestry of Grace DE:
It is definitely overwhelming to open up material this massive, and try to find your way around.
You absolutely have to allow yourself time for a “Learning Curve”, if you are decided that this is the curriculum you want to use. Don’t beat yourself up for the things you don’t get to. Don’t feel like you’re not using the curriculum to its fullest when you decide not to do something within the materials.
Curriculum is a tool, not a slave-master. Begin with the material provided as a spring-board, but allow yourself freedom to make changes. Remember, I had my 9-year-old boy make butter instead of making a doll. I may have robbed myself of a future-suggested-activity by doing that. If so, later I will make another substitution, like I might have my son carve (whittle) a pine boat or a soap duck when the curriculum says to have him make butter…
Count the cost. The material is highly cost-effective over the long run, especially for a large family. Decide on your personal approach. Some families have a school room larger than my living room, and plenty of space and funds to purchase every book suggested, and store them where they will be able to get to them when they want them. I find it easiest when my library owns the titles I want to use. I can’t tell you how frustrating it has been on weeks when there was an assigned title I knew I had purchased, but I could not find it when it was needed. (Like a little pamphlet by Jonathan Edwards called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, which was so small that I just couldn’t find it. We had to scurry to get our hands on some other copy of something I knew I owned but could not find. What a waste of time and effort. But now my bias toward library use is showing again, and I know not everyone feels that way…
Allow time to plan. This is not a curriculum that you can decide on Sunday, “Oh, I think I’ll start using my Tapestry tomorrow!” At least, I’ve never met a person who could pull that off! If you are going to use this material, it is best to allow yourself about a month to get up and running, if you can. If not, at least a week, at a minimum!
Try to find support. I didn’t mention this in my review, because I didn’t get support myself. I’ve used this curriculum before, for eight consecutive years, so I am my own support, so to speak. But for most users, it will be really helpful to get outside support. There are many Yahoo groups available. There is also a forum, accessible through the Tapestry of Grace website. There is the Tapestry Loom. You can form a co-op with other families. This can help you stay on track. I found it helpful, because my kids were required to have their assignments completed or they were not allowed to attend class. This is reverse to most situations, because home-schooled kids WANT to go to class, because they yearn for the social setting. It was true motivation for my kids to scramble to finish their assignments.
The negative that I see to the Digital Edition is that we still want out copy in print. I DO like the DE, and how easy it is to get around in. I like knowing I can search quickly to find things. But I still want a print copy.
Another thing you will always come back to is the cost of curriculum plus the cost of books, if you decide to buy all the books. However, if you are starting with a young child, the cost is very incremental. The first four years you would buy Lower Grammar for Years 1-4 (K-3). The second four years you might have three children using the program, buying UG books for the oldest, and reusing the LG books with the younger ones. Depending upon ages and abilities, you might have a point where you are buying Dialectic books and Upper Grammar books one or two years. Then finally, the four years of High School you are only buying Rhetoric books, and your library is complete, and you own the books for all of your kids at all levels.
So, I am a lover of Tapestry of Grace. I am still not sure, yet, if I am plunging into it with both feet in the Fall or not. I do know that I will eventually be back with it, though. I know from my other two children, both graduated out of home school, that the high school level of Tapestry provides an excellent college-preparatory education. Both of my graduates got into the colleges of their choice, and had no difficulty transferring when they decided to. There has also been an amazement at the number of college students encountered who knew so little of history and had read so little classic literature. So, I love Tapestry and will be back with it soon, whether this year or next. It’s coming.
******************************************************************************************* Tapestry of Grace has some really sweet offerings for people considering their curriculum. They offer a free 3-week on-line sample of Years 1 and 2. Years 3 and 4 do not currently have free samples.
Their curriculum is broken down into four separate year plans that cover creation to present day. Year 1 - covers the history of the world from the Creation to the Fall of Rome in 450 A.D.; Year 2 - covers the history of the world from the Fall of Rome in A.D. 450 to the signing of the American Constitution; Year 3 - covers the history of the world during the 1800's; Year 4 - covers the history of the world during the Twentieth Century and into the present.
Each year plan has assignment material for all grades, K-12. You cycle through the material three times per student. If my son, does Tapestry Year 1 next year as a 4th grader, he will do it again in 7th grade at the Dialectic level and again in 11th grade at the Rhetoric level. (So, a child starting K would actually do one year 4 times.)
You can sample Year 1 or Year 2. Or to purchase, Digital Editions are just $45 per Unit (approximately 9 weeks), or $180 per Year Plan.
I'm left trying to decide whether to purchase Year 2, Unit 4, or to skip it and move on to Year 3, which I own. I truly hope you will give this program a try. It offers an amazing education to students, and to mom as well!
Hello, everyone. Sorry I haven't been posting much. I am finally typing well enough that I thought I would take a few minutes to bring everyone up to speed.
Troubles began at least a year or two ago. My body is aging, and I was getting physical therapy for my left shoulder. We finally figured out that my shoulder has a bone spur. They wanted to remove it surgically, but it stopped bothering me, so I didn't get it done. I knew, at the time, that my other shoulder was bothering me as well, but it wasn't as bad (the squeeky wheel gets the grease), so I wasn't seeing the doctor about my right shoulder.
Fast forward, with gradual continued difficulty, to November, '08. Last mow of the season, last nice day of weather predicted, and the lawn mower wouldn't start. Spark plug didn't seem to have any spark, but I did NOT want to let that mower win! I fought and I fought to get that thing to start, over and over and over pulling that rope. No dice.
So, net effect, I put the mower away knowing that I had really messed up my shoulder now. I was in the process of switching doctors, and there was Thanksgiving, ... net effect was that I saw my primary care doctor about the shoulder on December 9th. She said it looked like a torn rotator cuff, go to the specialist and get an MRI done. Made appointment with specialist, saw specialist on 12/18. He said get special MRI with contrast, available at these places. Went home, started making phone calls. With 13 days left in the year, subtract weekends and holidays, I could not get in in December. I also could not schedule for January, because my insurance was changing and they would not schedule me until I had my new insurance information.
Weeks went by, and finally I had my new insurance information. I called and schedule MRI for mid-January. Well, that MRI got cancelled because there was a mix-up in who does what to get the pre-authorization cleared with the insurance company to get the MRI done, so it was rescheduled for the end of January. 1/30 I had my MRI done (1/31?). Made appointment to see specialist with MRI. 2/6 saw specialist. He said significant tear, needing surgery, could be two ligaments, could be completely torn by the time I got to surgery. Scheduled surgery.
Leading up to surgery my ability to type and make blog entries was already extremely reduced.
3/3 Surgery day finally arrived. Surgery done, I was now in a sling for six weeks, typing one handed! I have all these reviews that were due in February, March and April hanging over my head and I could not do them. I could barely keep up with my physical therapy schedule, could hardly keep up with homeschooling or the house, and certainly could not keep up, let alone catch up with the reviews.
So, now I am unslung. I am finally typing two handed again, but after this blog entry my shoulder is already aching. I need to go to my morning physical therapy exercises, and then shower and do school. I have reviews a-comin', but they'll have to come when they come... I can only do what I can do.
Thank you for reading! If your lawn mower won't start, I highly advise you find the nearest strong guy and have him try to start it (or rip out his rotator cuff) rather than fighting with the mower yourself. My two cents.
Today I want to tell you about a company whose products are changing my homeschool in a positive way!
Heads Up! is a company designed to provide expert information and products for special needs children. I have a son who is, we believe, ADHD (haven’t done testing yet), so I thought these products would be a wonderful line for us to review. The company extended to us the opportunity to review their products called "Frames"
Does my son just love these products? Have they transformed his schooling? Focused him in is squiggles and wiggles? Helped him to stay focused in his reading and moved up levels above where we were?
Well, no actually! Actually he has been using them more often as bookmarks than use them in the way they were intended. I'm not sure if he has used them in the intended way at all.
Then how and why have these products transormed our homeschooling? Why am I here to rave about them?
Well, surprise, surprise, it turns out that I MYSELF am the one who is benefitting from these products. I have long known I had trouble following a line when I was reading. When I was younger and worked as a secretary, I could skip entire paragraphs in my typing and not even realize it. My boss was amazed that I didn't notice the context didn't flow, but I didn't notice. I had my eyes checked and got glasses for reading. Ithought that had solved the problem, but while it helped, I still had the problem.
This problem is particularly pronounced when this 50 year old homeschool mom tries to do read-alouds in the afternoon, when all the blood leaves my head and rushes to assist in digesting my lunch. If I'm not falling asleep and loosing my place, I'm just loosing my place, and read-alouds take forever, and who knows how difficult it is for my son to follow the context when I'm not even sure if I read all the words, or if I re-read sections three times, or skipped other sections entirely...
Now I use theseHeads Up! tools interchangeably, whichever product is the first one I find. The one that really works best for my reading issues is their Top of the Line product, but I can use the other two can work as if they are Top of the Line. I personally don't need the color strip, to the best that I can tell, as long as I have some sort of strip to use. But I like the color strips, and I like the grey that contrasts the color. Everyone who uses these products tends to settle on one color that they prefer or that works best for them, and for me it is the blue, but I will use whichever color is at hand when I start reading because I absolutely prefer to do my reading with these strips, now,to keep me tracking well.
I would like Heads Up! to consider making one addition to their product line that would help my son do math with his ADHD issues, and would have helped his ADHD sister before him. I would like to see them create a line of "Frame"s specifically for math, that would have the frame around the outside, but that would have a cut-out section in the center so that the child could do math through the frame and not be distracted by the rest of the page. These frames would be good in the same sizes that are currently offered, small and large, so that you could use the larger frames for page-size word problems that read right-to left, and the smaller size frames for focusing on one, or several individual math problems. My ADHD kids easily become overwhelmed when they have to look at an entire page, front and back, of math problems. They can't focus on one problem at a time. All they can see is, "I have to do ALL THESE PROBLEMS!? I can't!!! I can't!!!!" By framing one problem at a time, they would be better able to cope and focus.
Heads Up! has other products that I would like the opportunity to try out, if my finances can manage it sometime. I would love to try their weighted turtle:
The hyperactive child holds the turtle in the lap. "When placed on the lap, the deep pressure provides a relaxing sensation while maintaining a constant tactile reminder when it's time to sit still. If a child begins to stand up, the turtle begins to slide and the child has an instant nonverbal reminder to remain seated." (From theit website.)
I also think he would benefit from one of the Cushion Disks
:
This might help him in his schoolwork, but it might also help him learn to sit still at the dinner table, and maybe I'd use it in combination with the weighted turtle, in the hopes that one day we can actually go eat at restaurants again as a family... Description from their website: "These sturdy, portable air cushion disks fit on top of a chair and allow for comfort and in-seat movements. Great for the child who needs to wiggle around yet remain seated in a designated spot. The degree of inflation can be adjusted for personal preference to allow for greater disk firmness or flexibility. Can also be used to improve balance or for a short exercise break. "
Heads Up Helping!! is the story of a mother's journey as she observes her son's special learning challenges and responds with love and dedication. Drawing on her years of experience as a speech pathologist, Melinda begins her pursuit of educational methods and materials that will help her son achieve the potential she is convinced exists. With fierce determination, Melinda sought information to help her son Joshua both accept himself and find areas in which he could excel despite his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), social difficulties, and sensory issues.
Over time, and with much experimentation, Melinda recognized which strategies, materials, and instructional approaches were most effective for her son and daughters. By becoming an astute observer and student herself, she gradually distinguished those techniques that worked most frequently out of the multitude of ideas she tried and those successes are shared in depth throughout her book.
In addition to all the wonderful products Head's Up has to offer, and some wonderful titles it makes available, it is also chocked-full of informational articles and ideas for coping with and helping your special learner.
I am so happy to have found this company and their website. I know I will be visiting Head's Up and using their products for years to come. I also found the Head's Up blog, and plan to be a reguIar reader there as well. I think there are many other parents who are educating children who would benefit from these products. If you are one of them, trust me, having specially developed tools really helps special learners thrive and grow in their ability to break through and acquire their education. If you are where I once was, banging your head against the wall alternated with pulling your hair out, then look over this website and try to purchase some of their specialty products that seem suited to your child's particular bent. You won't regret it.
Today I want to tell you about a product I had the privilege to review called The Bridge to the Latin Road. I had been wanting an opportunity to try this product, and was so grateful the company permitted me to review it for them!
The Bridge to the Latin Road is book two in a series of books created by a company called Schola Publications. The product they provide for the youngest students is called The Phonics Road, which gives the students a grounding in phonics, to provide the foundation for their further learning. The second book, The Bridge to the Latin Road, provides the framework for the "Journeyman, framing the structure. The student, who has laid the foundation in The Bridge to Phonics, is ready to learn to build the English language the way a builder builds a house.
This study begins with the rough framing, an introduction to various parts of speech and parts of a sentence with Grammar Rule Tunes. These simple tunes help the students remember various sentence components. Some of the students may have already been introduced to the various parts of grammar, so there may be some review in the early weeks. Students who have had very little Grammar will be very quickly be brought up to speed, with plenty of opportunity to practice.
The creater, Barbara Beers, communicates in the program that a word is not a part of speech unless it is used in a sentence, so the students will look at words in the context of sentences, and how the various words within the sentence relate to one another.
The program emphasizes dictation, which provides a great opportunity for the student to coordinate his spelling, writing, and thinking skills with each phrase or sentence he writes. For the student new to dictation, writing from dictation may take some practice. His ears will need to have time to take in the information, his mind to think about what to write, his hand to form the letters. Then his eyes will interpret the formations as he speaks the words back to himself. This excercise creates a tremendous coordination within the mind. With practice, the student's mind begins to see the word phrases as units which are used together to express a thought.
DVDs provided walk the parent through the steps required to use The Bridge to the Latin Road. Specific instructions are given to assist the parent who is new to dictating. Lessons are described for the parent/teacher on six DVDs that are included in the Teacher's Guide. The lessons are spelled out week by week, day by day.
The first ten weeks lay a gramatical framework, after which Latin roots begin to be introduced. The building analogy continues, as this year the student is called the "Journeyman", and the skills they acquire are referred to as their building on their foundation as you challenge him to "add roofing support and framing design to his building. This year we begin to add the beams, girders, and struts that support our structure through the building structure with scaffolding", which is referring to sentence diagramming.
In addition to continuing practice work in grammar with Grammar Tunes and Framing Keys, they will learn designing keys this year through what is being called "Designing Codes", which refers to learning the meanings and functions of the common prefixes and suffixes which are added to base words. And the first finishing instruction begins as we learn the Latin meanings of many base words and add our prefixes and suffixes to them.
These key components expand the students ability to spell more complicated English words. Students are introduced to the importance of a good English dictionary, which includes the Latin roots to words they will be using in their sentences. This is the year for your student to become comfortable using his dictionary. The parent is walked through the process, to be equipped to explain the various parts of the dicitonary entries.
The CD series has a substantial introduction section, followed by weekly instructions on the day by day activity for the teacher to walk the student through. Do not be deceived; this is a teacher-intensive program. That being said, I believe that, while being extemely cerebral, this is a program that a willing parent can tackle, and walk their student through, thus giving them an excellent foundation to prepare them for higher education. [An added benefit is that an education in Latin is an excellent background to equip a student to score well on SAT testing for college!]
I believe that any parent who wants to can utilize this excellent program. While it will be a little challenging, because the parent will need to prepare each week by watching the dvd for the week, it does not require an excessive amount of daily work. It is, in that respect, Charlotte Mason friendly, because it is little by little, step by step, incrementally building a foundation towards an education in Latin, which Charlotte Mason recommends, as do many classical programs.
Because of family life issues right now, I haven't introduced this program to my son's schedule yet, but I am looking foward to implementing it when things settle down a bit. What things, you may ask?... Well, that will have to be a completely different entry sometime in the future...
This month I had the opportunity to review a Complete 3rd Grade curriculum by Math Mammoth.
Math Mammoth is an extensive program developed by Maria Miller, who was a Math tutor when she noticed that homeschooling parents were finding it difficult to explain Math concepts to their children. She developed this comprehensive program, not only helps the parents explain the concepts, but also gives the students more time to practice concepts before they move on to new material.
Not only does Math Mammoth provide curriculum plans for Grades 1 through Algebra, but it also has games to reinforce the math concepts. In addition to the curriculum itself, there are hundreds of pages of supporting, reinforcing practice pages for the parent/teacher to choose from to give appropriate, additional practice to struggling learners.
The purchase of the Math Mammoth Grade 3 complete curriculum comes Worktexts 3A and 3B, Answer Kety books for 3A and 3B, extra worksheets, cutouts for fractions and 3-D shapes, Grade 3 Tests and Test Answer Key, and software called "Soft-Pak" that is chock full of learning materials for not only Math, but also Language Arts, plus Test Maker and Test Master software.
I liked what I saw in the Math Mammoth program. The material is presented in a way that the student does not always need the parent to do presentation, such that the explanation often is sufficient for the student to understand what the assignment is calling for. I like this in the material, but my son did not, because the explanation caused each lesson to be three pages instead of two. My son has, for three years now, done math that took only one page, front and back, and he doesn't receive "change" well. We also suspect he may be ADHD, because he frequently becomes overwhelmed and shuts down when he sees what seems to be more than he thinks he can handle. I know this curriculum can be used with ADHD kids but will be more teacher intensive than it would be by a student who doesn't have this struggle. (Every curriculum requires more teacher involvement with an AHD child. ::sigh::)
I continue to hold out hope, though, that my son will receive something from this program that will benefit him. I intend to be subtle, gentle, and carefully interject things into our day to see how they go over. Today I tried opening some of the soft pack activities with him, but I hadn't read them myself so I didn't know what I was doing. By the time I knew what I needed to do, he was already reading a novel. He's nine. Reading a novel is an incredible thing for him to be doing, so I closed the Math for today and will try again another day.
Math Mammoth is colorful. It is sequential, and it is affordable. As with any program, I remind you that not every program fits every child. That is why it is wonderful that the Math Mammoth website has so many freebies to offer. If you want to "test drive" this curriculum, go there and try some of the material with your child, and see how it works for you!
Go check out their website, and then let me know what you think. I, personally, look forward to utilizing her HomeschoolMath.net website soon, and in years to come! Please leave comments below.
Story Builders is a unique program developed by Write Shop. This month I had the opportunity to try out People StoryBuilders. In People StoryBuilders, there are two sets of word cards. The first set is printed in black letters, in case you want to print it out on specific colored papers; the second set is words printed in color letters, if you want to print them out on white paper. All I had was white paper, so I used the second set of word cards.
The word cards are broken up into four types of words (or groups of words). Each type of words is correlated with a different color. For example, Character Cards (or subject cards) are on blue cards or paper, or printed in blue letters; Character Trait Cards (or adjective cards) are on salmon cards/paper or printed in salmon (amber/yellow) letters; Setting Cards are on green cards/paper or in green letters; and Plot Cards are on lavendar cards/paper or in lavendar/purple letters.
Write Shop then gives easy-to-follow guidelines for helping your student begin learning to write. For instance, you might start by selecting, yourself, the subject and plot cards, and then ask your child to write a sentence using the words you are providing. It might end up being a sentence like, "The fireman climbed a tall mountain." There are many ways suggested for determining cards to use. Keeping the four card types separated, you can random draw from each stack, or toss the dice and select 1 to 6 from each stack and pick which one you want, or mom can just pick. I thought of another possibility... You could play a game where you and all the kids sit around the table, like when you play a card game, and as each person's turn comes up, select one to four cards (decide in advance or let the child decide how many they want to select), and make a sentence from the card(s) you drew.
More ideas for how to use the cards included a "Round Robin" game where you set the timer for 2-3 minutes, and each person writes something using the cards they drew or were given, and then each person passes their writing to the person to their right or left to read out loud. Or, you can assign the student to write poetry using the Story Builders cards.
The parent/teacher is reminded that, while the writing assignments can be graded, if grades are required for portfolio review or something, it is also good to give the student times when he/she can write just for the pure fun, love, and joy of writing.
Products like this are good, in my opinion, for getting the creative juices flowing. Also, products like this, with the instructions and ideas they are giving, are good for helping the parent/teacher to keep things fresh, to think outside the box, to work to make learning fun for the student.
Story Builders gets two thumbs up in my review. From my son it gets a one up and two down. (Okay, he just doesn't like any schoolwork at all. He'd rather have a shovel and a hole to dig...)
Just for fun, I recorded a real-life in-homeschool event of using Story Builders. Here is how it went.
We finally cut up the word cards and started making stories. My student was a little reluctant to work today, so I asked him to pick one story card per card-type for me, and I would create the first little story. So, here's my first effort:
The rudemountain climber left the ski lodge in a huff. He was angry. He decided to climb the tallest mountain he could find. He started hiking up a very tall mountain, many miles from the lodge. When he finally got to the top, he found that his mountain was actually a volcano. Coming over the top ridge quite suddenly, he falls into a deep hole. As you can imagine, this was actually the center of the volcano. Fortunately, the volcano was not active, and he was able to climb his way out.
Well, I almost never get to do this, because I'm not very tech-y! But a friend took my son to the creek with her kids and send me photos! So, here they are:
I have no idea what his lovely "discovery" was! I'll have to ask him what he was holding in the photo. A lot of times he comes home with minnows, but not yesterday.
But, on an exciting note, he was looking in our fish tank at home last night and he is the one that discovered BABY FISH swimming around in the tank. He first spotted one, and then I spotted more. We located that baby tank (a little box that floats in the big tank to keep the mama from eating the babies), and started catching the babies. It's hard to count, but we think we have 19 babies. There were a couple that didn't make it, and a couple that mama ate before we could separate her from them, but we are thinking 19 babies is wonderful. Hopefully many of them will survive and grow.
I'd take a photo, but, like I said, I'm not very tech'y. Besides, I don't have a zoom lense, and these babies are hard to see with the naked eye, let alone in a photograph without being enlarged...
