If you are nauseously pregnant and have asthma be sure your children warn you before starting to dissect in the kitchen.  Ahem...

Holly and Abby, otherwise known as Colonial Ladies, thought it was fascinating.  "Open it wider, Sarah!"  I, however, decreed that all further dissection take place outdoors. 

Abby is learning to read! 

He can teach Sarah algebra with ease. 

Abby does calendar and a weather sticker followed by a bit of math.  I love the Common Sense Math for Kindy. at age four, but I'm not sure that it's still available.  It's comprised of hands on games that help them begin their journey in mathematical thinking without requiring them to write.  It's a fun prep. for first grade math.  The other workbook is for fun and practice writing. 

Read Aloud time is a big part of preschool time.  I keep a fun book going (Milly Molly Mandy is a favorite), read from a Classic Children's Treasury, and rotate interesting history and science books.  Here's what's in the book basket at the moment.

This pregnancy is playing out like a few of my others  -  my bowl is my friend  - so I've had to delegate Bible to the care of older sisters.  Hannah has taken hold of the task and I'm thrilled with what she's sharing with her younger sisters.  Holly and Hannah take turns reading through a Bible story book and Hannah makes coloring pages or paper doll figures for the younger girls to color or cut.  It's been great fun for them and is the highlight of Abby's days at the moment. 

Their Easter project was a scroll.  All of them were different.  This was the one Abby made with a bit of help from Hannah.

Abby is coming along well with her reading.  We start by learning our sounds with a fun program called Jolly Phonics.  She learns the sound with a story and an action, traces it on a coloring page, makes her own sound book, and does some tracing (early copywork)  in her composition book.  She's finishing Book 6 now. 

Once the Jolly Phonics sounds are easy, we start sounding out words.  I usually group them by vowel at this point.  These words are from a program I used when Sarah learned to read.  I have other lists from Jolly Phonics that match up with pictures that are fun to use as well. 

While working on sounding out words, we play the fast vowel game a lot!  The vowel sounds are obvious.  The music notes are for a quick singing of the beginning of Twinkle and the stick figure is for fast jumping jacks. 

From there, we start Phonics Pathways at the page with the vowels in a box and enjoy our many early reader books one day at a time. 

This book has become precious to me - so many memories of learning to read with three big girls and now Abby has joined the fun! 

in the school room.  It's crazy, but fun being together!

Abby's finally getting her turn with our preschool math kit. 

I've heard I have one. 

Welcome to my new school room.

Mostly cosmetic, but still...

I've always wanted to post a chart.  I'm so proud. 

The yellow is four days a week and the blue is one day a week.  I use this for figuring out the puzzle of our days.  Scheduling four piano practices, four string instrument practices, and a zillion school subjects, chores, routines, laundry, and the all important meals definitely requires a grid.  I saved this before I made a few additions.  I forgot our cats initially.  Sarah will tend to them while H. and H  clean the kitchen after breakfast.  The girls can play with the cats or game table after lunch while I clean the kitchen.  I've also added that to our list of choices for the late afternoon.  Also, I use the times as guidelines.  We do well if we eat at 7:00 and start school stuff at 7:30.  Lunch is generally at 11:00 so that we can get to Tapestry as we have activities at 1 pm three days a week.  The rest of the afternoon functions more like a list as we're in and out and not everyone is always at home.  I've found that five mornings on top of our game gives us a lot of freedom in the afternoons.  Oh, and this is the realistic schedule, not the one in my head that wouldn't actually work. 

The code:

Ind. Work is independent work - math drill, handwriting, copywork, spelling workbook, and independent reading if time.

School Shelves will be Montessori or center type activities in Abby's area of the school room.

Abby's school includes phonics, math game, a bit of seat stuff, and her read alouds. 

Latin/Science for H. and H. means Science one day a week and Latin the other three days.   Doing both everyday would land me in the looney bin.

Toy Table for Abby is a table with creative play in our living room near where her sisters practice.

Video is an option that could be replaced with book time depending on her energy level.  I think she'll need a break. 

We have a set Tapestry routine.

Oral R. is oral reading done by the older girls.

HandiC. is handicrafts or kitchen crafts. 

Afternoon choices are so I don't get stuck.  Typically, we do what we want. 

Contact with original sources should be a habit of historical study.  There's no need to tread water until age fifteen or seventeen or twenty.  Children benefit from a combination of narrative and investigation.  This site, that I've shared previously, provides both.  This entry on the Pilgrims caught my eye recently.  http://www.awesomestories.com/history/pilgrims_america/pilgrims_america_ch1.htm 

The password is homeschool for those who educate at home. 

The girls did school at a friend's home on Friday while I had a series of tests at the hospitol.  They looked so cute on the driveway and had a great day doing school with a friend despite the fact that  "school is SO heavy!"

A fall theme and an assortment of ABC, 123 books fill Abby's basket this month. 

I might have shared these resources previously.  Now that my oldest is in the dialectic stage we're using them with more frequency. 

You might have to sign up to see more than the samples here.  We've been pouring over the artwork in this "story" about Medieval Illuminations.   http://www.awesomestories.com/history/illuminated_manuscripts/illuminated_manuscripts_ch1.htm

If that link doesn't work without a membership, go to http://awesomestories.com to view a sample. 

Another excellent resource for primary documents is the National Archives.  http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/ 

The study of music history provides another dimension to our contact with original sources.  For all of my interest and experience in this area, I find that I'm quite lazy.  We have a large Encyclopedia of Music History that I picked up at a calendar stall in a mall (of all places!) and then there's http://www.ipl.org/div/mushist/ .  We study art in a similar manner, but some things are on hold while we live in a construction zone. 

Speaking of construction, the plumbing is done and we had our electrical and landscaping run throughs this evening.  Electric will be put in tomorrow and we should get word on the final placement/configuration of a new furnace soon.  The drywall guy was here measuring as well.  It's been a quiet week here.  Last week was definitely the low point.  BuilderDan (as opposed to MyDan) said that it would be and it's a relief to be on the other side. 

Hannah, Holly, and Abby helped me make snowflake shaped borax crystals.  It was interesting to see how the size of the crystal varied in relation to saturation.  This was an overnight project - much better than the sugar and salt crystals Sarah and I grew when she was in 2nd grade. 

Our school days actually look like this (schedules are always nice in theory). 

6:00 Sarah wakes up and gets ready.

6:30 Sarah starts piano.  Hannah and Holly wake to their alarms and start their chorepacks.  Abby finishes snuggling with us and starts her chorepack.    Sarah puts clean kitchen items away when she's done with piano and starts cooking breakfast.

7:00ish Holly goes to the piano.  Hannah, Abby, and I help get breakfast ready.  Abby and I practice her piano together once she's done eating.  If Hannah's done first, she has her turn before Abby. 

7:30 ish Hannah and Holly start Bible and Language Arts.  Sarah does Bible.  Abby plays in her room.

8:00 Holly finishes L. Arts and starts Math.  Sarah starts Math.  Hannah finishes Bible and starts L. Arts.

9:00 Holly and Abby play together.  Sarah starts L. Arts.  I go over Hannah's math, get my coffee, work to recall why I home school my children. 

While Sarah and Hannah continue working, I read aloud to the little girls from Abby's book basket.  Then, Holly reads to me from her Pathway Reader.  Abby grabs legos and sits by me while Holly practices violin. 

10:00ish The girls grab a snack and start Latin.  Holly and Hannah review their vocab. and chants each day on their own while I pull up their program on my computer.  We do one page in their book together after that - a little bit every day is plenty. 

10:30 Abby watches a video and rests on the couch.  Hannah and Holly do science with me on Monday, independent research on Tuesday.  Hannah practices cello after science on M and T and during this time on W and Th. 

11:00 Lunch, Kitchen cleanup (hard to be outside much with construction workers around, but we try). 

11:30 Tapestry of Grace Intro., Read Aloud, Worksheets, Writing, or Project

12:30 rest time, housework, get to Sarah's violin, or make sure someone gets to music class or ballet. 

It's wonderful accomplishing so much in the morning without feeling rushed or pushed.  The rest of the day is wonderful too, but much less scheduled! 

Rocks and Minerals

http://sciencehack.com/ 

The girls and I are heading to my parent's for a few days so our school week was three days instead of four or five. 

Math, L. Arts, Latin, Bible - nothing extraordinary to report or manage.

Science - the younger girls explored earthquakes, volcanoes, and geysers this week.  That included a trip to the library for several non fiction videos and books. 

Tapestry of Grace - We studied the Byzantine Empire.  We read about Justinian the Great and the Code of Justinian, Gregory the Great and Gregorian Chant (Music Mom had fun with that one), and dove into Benedictine Monasteries.  It was a fascinating study for all and held my attention as well.    History books will travel across the state.  Writing assignments will wait until next week. 

Music - Instruments will travel too.  We're all anxious to start lessons in a couple of weeks. 

Art - waiting on the remodel before we tackle that.  Most of our history projects are included in Artistic Pursuits.  We might lump them over Christmas break for fun. 

Overall, school is going well.  Dan is going to tutor Hannah in a couple of subjects in the evenings.  It seems that a bit of reinforcement from Dad will help with the idea that school is Mom's invention.  LOL! 

A lot of school happening on the floor so far this year...  That makes keeping the marker board neat an even greater challenge. 

I love the note on the bottom. 

"I love mom.  Mom is great.  I hope she will taste and smell."   

The last part is probably in reference to my cooking skills which are starting to decline. 

Our first week of school has gone fairly well, though the first day made me want to run far, far away.

Math is going well.  One daughter needs more help and support than I'd like, but she'll likely come around once we get going.  Place value and renaming numbers is not her thing.

L. Arts might need some tweaking.  I'm not sure Rod and Staff is a good fit for Hannah and am thinking of using worksheets only next week.  She did that last year and it worked well.  Right now, remembering the directions seems to be more difficult than the material at hand!  I have Wynston Grammar downstairs and have always thought it would be a good fit for her.  I might have her copy a few correct examples from Rod and Staff as reinforcement while using the other as her main grammar program.  We'll see.  Sarah and Holly are all set for now. 

Voyages Bible - love the way the lessons give application for normal life.  Maybe the fact that it's designed for class use is a good thing in this case.

Latin - love, love, love Lively Latin for H. and H.  We've had a mini study in linguistics, history reinforcement, and basic grammar review in an interactive and engaging format.  (My good friends know those are my key words for describing materials that I like for our family).  Sarah's doing well with Latin for the Christian Trivium too.  I love the organization.  Both programs provide a lot more teaching than Latina Christiana, in my most humble opinion.  :)

Science - I have no idea what Sarah is doing as Rainbow is written directly to the student.  I know she's working through the rest of a chemistry unit she started last year.  Hannah and Holly (with tag along Abby) started learning about our planet this week.  Continental drift, tectonic plates, mantle, crust, core, etc... were all on the list of topics.  We still love our original set of Montessori task cards and all seemed to enjoy making a continent puzzle Tuesday morning.

Tapestry - Other than the fact that we're doing history on the floor in the guest room, this went very well.  Week one covered the Twilight of the Roman Era.   I read selections from The Story of the World and Famous Men from the Middle Ages.  Sarah outlined an encyclopedia article, did mapwork, posted on our timeline, read a bunch of books, and did a historical figure report on Constantine.  Hannah read an encyclopedia article and wrote a summary of it, did mapwork, read literature, and finished a vocab. sheet of words for King Arthur.  Holly looked through an encyclopedia article with me, colored and captioned a picture of Augustine, did mapwork, listened to a tape of King Arthur, and put pictures of several key figures in order for a cute timeline of the fall of Rome.  Of course, I loved how this reinforced and dovetailed with what the girls are learning in Latin.  There was much talk of the barbarians as we covered the Angles, Saxons, Vandals, Huns, Goths, etc...  I enjoyed hearing Hannah call us barbarians after making the connection between our English language and our Angle/Saxon heritage (something we covered in Latin). 

Music - I think my children are charming when they play for me.  :)

All in all, a pretty good week after a terribly rocky start.  The best part?  I still have plenty of time to just be.  We're done with all of our school except Sarah's violin and independent reading at 12:30 - love that!  I will miss teaching a full studio, but for this season of life it was a good decision. 

No time for a beautiful chart...

6:30      Sarah practices piano and puts clean dishes away.

               I wake other girls.

7:00      Breakfast

              Older Three clean kitchen while I practice piano with Abby.

7:30(ish)  Sarah and Hannah Bible

               Holly practice piano then do Bible

               Abby play alone

               Mom have coffee

8:00       L. Arts for all.  Sarah does hers independently.  I start Hannah while the little girls play.

               Once Hannah is started I work with Holly and move to phoncis with Abby.

9:00       Math for all (done the same as L. Arts). 

              Practice violin with Holly at the end of this hour.

10:00    Latin for all.  Abby has Latin story tapes in her room.  Sarah works independently.

              Hannah and Holly are with me for Latin.

10:30     Science for all.  Abby joins Hannah and Holly.  Sarah works independently.

               Do cello with Hannah and let Holly and Abby watch Richard Scarry when science is

               done for the week.

11:00      Lunch.  I clean kitchen while they play outside. 

11:30 - 12:30  Tapestry of Grace

                We're together for most of Monday and some of Tuesday.  After that, I go from one girl to the

                next for individual discussion, worksheet help, literature assignments, etc...

12:30     Room time

                Sarah does violin by me while I do paper or computer work.

Afternoons are taken up with activities, free time, play, errands, projects, cooking.  Every day is different, but we aren't *too* busy.  We pick up the house at some point, usually before dinner.  Everyone is responsible for their room and one level of the house.  We do organizing jobs on Friday and are blessed with outside help in the deep cleaning department so that I have time to teach them piano and art on Fridays when we don't do regular schoolwork.  Flex Fridays also give me a day just to be and not do so much!

Our cousins have come and gone and come and gone again.  We're feeling *home* from Steven's Point and took the opportunity to start school on Monday.  On the desks this year...

Sarah, Sixth Grade (really?!?!?!?)

Voyages Bible Curriculum Day School Version (LCMS Concordia Publishing House)

Calvert Math 6

Zaner Bloser Handwriting 6

A Daily Reading Skill Sheet

Spelling Workout E

Rod and Staff English 6

Latin for the Christian Trivium, year one

Rainbow Science, year two

Tapestry of Grace (history, literature, geography, writing) Year Two Dialectic

Artistic Pursuits

Theory Time grade 4

Faber Piano level 3B

Suzuki Violin Bk. 6

Hannah Grade 4

Voyages Bible

Calvert Math 4

Zaner Bloser Handwriting 4

Daily Reading Skill Sheet

Spelling Workout D

Rod and Staff English 4

Lively Latin

Earth, Space, Astronomy (Well Trained Mind/Montessori style)

Tapestry of Grace Year Two (History, Geography, Literature, Writing) Upper Grammar

Artistic Pursuits

Theory Time

Faber Piano 2

Suzuki Cello Bk. 2

Holly First (Second?) Grade

Voyages Bible 2

Zaner Bloser Handwriting 2

Memoria Press Copybook II

Spelling Workout A/B

Climbing to Good English

First Language Lessons

Calvert Math 2

Lively Latin

Earth, Space, Astronomy

Tapestry of Grace Year Two Lower Grammar

Artistic Pursuits

Theory Time

Faber Piano 2

Suzuki Violin Bk. 3

Abby 4 year old preschool

Jolly Phonics

Common Sense Math for K.

Usborne and critical thinking press interactive workbooks

Sonlight preschool read alouds

Brighter Vision 4 year old once a month shipment

Montessori etc...

Early Childhood Piano lessons

Pardon my Norweigian...

Our bags are packed (yeah!), the van will be loaded this evening, and we will be on the road to Washington D.C. tomorrow.  We'll be there for several days before heading to Williamsburg, VA for a full week.  While there we'll visit Jamestown, Yorktown, and several fun-for-kids museums and parks.  Hopefully, we'll squeeze in a day at Mt. Vernon as well.  The weather forecast looks promising.  We'll be in D.C. just in time to see the cherry blossoms in bloom. 

I've turned into a sneaky Mama.  The girls travel bags are packed with Piano Camp workbooks - a little theory review should be fun for them while we're on the road!  I also managed to make "To Williamsburg and Back" notebooks for each of them.  I printed out maps and state information pages for each segment of our journey.  Hopefully, they'll enjoy charting our progress, taping in ticket stubs and brochure pictures, and choosing pictures to print and paste upon our return.  This will flow well into our unit on the States that I'm planning for spring.  Hmmm... maybe I should run pick up a CD with a states and capitols song this afternoon! 

Sarah - 4th Grade

Dictation with Mom

Spelling Workout

Rod and Staff English 4

McGuffy reader for reading aloud and discussion

Math drill and Calvert 4 Math

Physics - The Way Things Work (read, research, summarize and sketch)

Latina Christiana (just finsihed Prima Latina)

Modern History (a la WTM using Sonlight books, Winter Promise Activity Pages)

Bible - Wisdom

Memory - Catechism, selected poetry

Piano - Faber 2b plus repertoire

Violin - Bach double Violin Concerto, Irish fiddling

Activity - ballet

Fitness - ice skating

Hannah - 2nd Grade

Memoria Press Copybook

Spelling Workout

Rod and Staff English 2

Dictation with Mom

McGuffy reader for reading aloud and discussion

Math drill and Calvert Math 2

Physics - Simple Machines, Light, Color, Why books (read, narrate, sketch)

Latin Readers with CD

Modern History (focusing on early reader literature, Sonlight read alouds, biography and inventions, Winter Promise activity pages)

Bible - Wisdom

Memory - Catechism, selected poems

Piano - Faber 1, repertoire

Violin - Suzuki finish Book 1 to graduate, start P. Canon

Activity - acting

Fitness - ice skating

Holly - K 4-5 (November birthday!)

Memoria Press Copybook

Copying with Mom (relate to reading lesson)

Phonics Pathways and various readers

First Language Lessons with Mom (includes memory)

Math drill, Saxon 1

K. Activity packs (hands on K. materials)

Montessori shelves

Listen in on History and Bible

Piano - Bastien's Very Young Pianist Bk. 2, Faber Primer, Suzuki repertoire

Violin - Suzuki Book 1, P. Canon

Activity - music class

Fitness - ice skating

Abby - 3

Montessori shelves

Coloring

Start Jolly Phonics Book 1

Sonlight Preschool read alouds

Flex Day:

Drawing with Children

How to Teach Art to Children

Come, Look with Me

Composer of the month...

Poetry "read and respond" time

Yet another post for my own benefit.  We've settled into a nice routine and I don't want to forget it! 

Daily Routine:

- Ready routines, upstairs neat

- Breakfast, Kitchen

- Music and Academics

- Main meal, Kitchen

- Rest time for girls, A.K. daily focus

- 2:00 "Together School"

- Snack, lessons, activities, project, play, games

- Dinner, Kitchen, Shower routine, Read Aloud, Prayers, Bed

- Couple time, food check, laundry check

Weekly Routine:

Sunday - Worship, rest, family walk, laundry started at bedtime, weekly planning before bed

Monday - Mop kitchen, fold laundry

Tuesday - Lesson prep. (for my music students)

Wednesday - Baking day

Thursday - School organization

Friday - Cleaning day, Flex day, plan meals and errands, Movie night

Saturday - Groceries, cooking, projects, family fun, Lord's Day prep. meal and evening

I can see it in my mind's eye - busy, productive days at home.  This has been a long break - rare for our family.  Lordwilling, we will be back on track this Monday.  I am longing to see my girls busily working through their days.  

This past week has given me a glimpse into the importance of helping my daughters as they "make ready" for their future lives.  This challenging time has also given me the opportunity to see their strengths and weaknesses clearly.  It is evident to me that the routine I planned during our break is what the Lord would have us do.  I am thankful for the time to think about how to put the things that are in my heart into action.  I guess some things can only be learned while lying down on the job!

Six years ago I made a folder I called "Goals 2000."  Dan found it amusing at the time, but later agreed that it had been an instrumental tug on the boot straps of this Mom who was suffering from her third round with severe post baby depression.  It is a habit that I have kept in the years since that time. 

My goals for the years 2000 and 2001 focused on getting work done - keeping our home.  2002 and 2003 saw my focus shift toward schooling another child and managing a new baby.  Last year's major goal was developing the habit of daily meal preparation.  I am thankful today that my home runs smoothly.  We have  developed the daily discipline of study at home.  Now that those things are established I am turning my attention to the atmosphere in our home.  I desire our focus this year to be on relationships with each other and with the Lord.   

This morning I wrote out some of my ideas and this afternoon I will be working on our schedule to see how we can fit these goals into our days. 

Goals 2006:

-Prayer commiting the day to the Lord when waking the girls.

-Morning Bible time every day after breakfast (we've been scattered in this area).  This will include our Study in Wisdom, the girls' catechism questions, prayer, and a hymn. 

-Encouragement to work unto the Lord during school and music time.

-Roomtime for the older girls encouraged to include a time of fellowship with the Lord (Taste and see that the Lord is good).

-Roomtime, overall, to be shortened to allow for quiet time together in the afternoons before history. (I envision a time where the girls and I are knitting or weaving.  Abby can play on the rug with Little People or something similar.  If she is struggling to be quiet she can continue her roomtime.  We might have some quiet directed conversation at that time.

-Love our neighbors.  Being light in the world.  Find ways to be friendly to our neighbors. 

-Evening Devotion topics for the year: Ten Commandments, God's plan for salvation, family and gender roles - including our modesty/femininity/neatness standards and a further intro. to the idea of courtship and following God's ways in daily life.  Further orienting our family holidays to the Lord and discussion on sanctification. 

-Couple Devotions: Go through the constitution of the church we are attending and look up the scriptural supports.  Read through booklets from this same church.