Deuteronomy 6:5-8
* Prince T - Class of 2013 * Princess C - Class of 2015 * Sir C - Class of 2020 * Lady M - Class of 2021*
Aug. 27, 2007 - Perhaps it's just me...
Schooling Adventures
...but i simply DO NOT get all the hype about dictation. I am sure there are daggers flying my direction from all over the homeschooling community as they read this- or at least from teh 2-3 people who read this post. At least I am being honest. I struggle with it for a few weeks every year just knowing that this will be the year I finally understand why I do it. Instead I am on my 4th year of scratching my head wondering why I waste our time.
Clearly there must be some benefits that I am missing because Sonlight uses it and even after revamping their LA program, it is still on the schedule for once per week. And now here I sit again beginning week four of school, once again scratching myself on the head asking WHY, WHY, WHY???
I just feel like any benefit I can get from dictation, such as spelling and handwriting skills, I can get from creative writing or science. Is there anyone else out there with me on this or have I COMPLETELY missed the mark on the purpose of dictation all together?
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May. 29, 2007 - School is Out!!
Schooling Adventures
Well, we have finished up the official school year. I am now grading papers and entering everything into Home School Tracker. After I get that done I will begin working on next years lesson plans.
For the summer we will focus on Character Training and Household skills. We also hope to do a lot of camping this summer as well.
I am looking forward to enjoying a fun, relaxing summer.
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Apr. 9, 2007 - Planning for 2007-2008 school year
Schooling Adventures
Well, we only have 6 weeks of school left this year and I am glad to be drawing to a close. We have already completed several areas of study but there are still several more to go. We got a bit behind in Zoology 1 this year so I am a bit nervous about getting it done. But even if we don't finish before our official last day of school we will carry this one over into summer because we love it so much.
But next year I and reaching a very unique time in my children's schooling. Prince "T" will be entering junior high, Princess "C" will be in 5th grade, then Sir "C" will be officially in Kindergarten and finally Lady "M" will be pre-k. I think Prince "T" starting junior high is the most pressure I have felt homeschooling since our journey officially began in fall 2000.
Here is what we have decided on so far:
Bible:
Sonlight's Bible scheduled reading. But for Bible study the oldest two will use the Kay Arthur's precepts Bible studies for kids.
History/Geography:
Will definitely stick with Sonlight for our core history. The kids love it and so do I. While I have been a bit apprehensive about doing Core 5, I finally have come to realize this will be very good for us because it is so far removed from anything we know. And the funny thing is when we did intro to world history and read Window on the World, the cultures we were the most fascinated with were the Eastern cultures. Go figure...
Language Arts:
Well, after another cumbersome and exhausting year with Sonlight's LA program I decided to chunk it and go another direction. THEN I get this fascinating letter in the mail explaining how they have COMPLETELY REVAMPED their language arts programs, through the suggestions of Ruth Beechick! The more I read the more excited I was. It seemed they were changing the very things I had issues with. Now it looks like I will stick it out with Sonlight's LA program for one more year and see if we can make a go of it.
Foreign Language:
We will continue to work on our Rosetta Stone programs that we use free through a library in the area. I am hoping with Prince "T" we will move to a more focused schedule to prepare him for high school and CLEP testing.
MATH:
We will be hitting a new area in math. Prince "T" used Horizons math 1-6 and I spent several months struggling with what to do. I finally stopped worrying and handed it over to the Lord and this is what he handed me: Teaching Textbooks. I LOVE this program so far. Prince "T took the placement test and easily passed the Pre-Algebra minimum requirements. SO now I just have to invest in this great program.
I also tested Princess "C" and was rather surprised with her results. She easily passed the minimum requirements to start their year 7 program. We are still undecided with what to do for her next year. I am not sure I want her two years ahead in math. Since taking the 7th year test they have also added 5th and th grade so I may look at the 6th grade program and see if it might be a bit more appropriate. She fights me really hard with her Horizons math and is constantly getting behind- not because she doesn't get it but rather because she just doesn't like it. Then she turns around and breezes through this placement test and actually goes through some of the year 7 sample lessons and seems to really like it.
Spelling:
Well, I have YET to find a spelling program that I really like so for next year I am going to use a more natural Charlotte Mason approach. This will require that I stay caught up on the kids grading, bu tI plan to take the words they misspell one week and use those as the spelling words for the following week. This will certainly make them pay greater attention to their LA assignments and provide a spelling curriculum that is relevant to their lives and schooling.
Science:
Prince "T" will be stepping up to Apologia General Science. I am very excited about it and can't wait. Princess "C" has asked to do Zoology 3 which should be in print by the fall. She wants to be a veterinarian at this point so it doesn't surprise me that she wants to study mammals.
Handwriting:
Princess "C" will continue the Reason for writing series so she can continue to work on her cursive. Sir "C" and Lady "M" will use sheets I create from the Start Write program I have. I will mainly focus on their names with this program. Then I will also get Readywriter as well because I used it with Carson and think it is a great pre-writing program. The "Littles" are both lefties so that may prove to be a bit interesting.
For the rest of the "Littles" curriculum I am going to be using Sonlight pre-K. I am going to stay on the core for the youngest of the two like i have done with the oldest. While I used Five in a Row with the older two at this age I just felt for this time in our family's lives this would be a better match for us.
I think that wraps it up. What plans have you made so far?
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Aug. 10, 2006 - Long time no blog
Schooling Adventures
Well, I noticed that the tumble weeds were starting to roll through my blog so I thought I better check in or people would start to think I abandoned this place. Wait, that would insinuate that people besides me actually read this thing!
We started school this week. It has been a blast. At the same time of course we started up our school year schedule. I base my schedule from the wonderful tool Managers of Their Home. The school week has gone really well. I was worried how it would all work out teaching two different ages groups. I shouldn't have worried- God had it all worked out. I had committed it to enough prayer that He had it all under control. Now I just have to follow His will.
I have missed blogging and I hope that as we settle into a new routine that I will pick back up on my posts. Prince "T" and Princess "C" are posting every Tuesday and Thursday as part of their typing program so be sure and check out their latest entries. The other thing they are doing for typing is the BBC: Dance Mat Typing free typing program. They seem to really be enjoying it.
In other news I spent 2 hours and 1 minute on the phone yesterday with my best girlfriend!!! It was so wonderful to be able to catch up with her. I chatted with her during my scheduled hobby/special project time. We are making plans for a wonderful, fun filled camping trip to Fort Richardson State Park, Historic Site
& Lost Creek Reservoir State Trailway . I am getting so excited as this will be the first time our family has gone camping.
I have lots more to say so I better split this into multiple posts. Glad to be back and can't wait to hear from all my Bliends.
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Jul. 8, 2006 - finalizing 2006/2007 curriculum & schedule
Schooling Adventures
Here is how I go about planning my year. And I mean even down to the days I teach. I know this will be WAY too anal for you unschoolers, but for those who thrive on schedules or for those trying to figure out why they can't seem to get all of their work complete before the end of their school year then here is a possible solution.
1) print out blank calendars for school months (for me it is Aug- May)
2) know how many days/weeks you need to complete your curriculum (I know that we need 36 weeks to complete our curriculum since we use Sonlight)
3) pick the week you want to start school and write school across it and do the same for the week you would like to finish for each semester (we do 18 weeks each semester)
4) then write school across all the weeks that you know you will not be taking any breaks (for us that is August, October, February, & March)
5) I automatically block the week of Thanksgiving, CHRISTmas and New Years as vacation.
6) At this point start looking at all the blank places on your calendar and fill in weeks of school in the remaining months (I do this until I have 18 weeks for each semester. I usually end up with the week of thanksgiving and 3 weeks for CHRISTmas/New Years, 1 week in March off)
7) Now I do have to interject at this point that we only do school 4 days/week so each Friday is used for field trips, make up days or sick days (yes, I DO ALLOW MY CHILDREN TO BE SICK, and sometimes we take a day off to go do something FUN!- had to put that in there for all you unschoolers- he-he!!!)
Now that you have your school calendar set you can begin scheduling your curriculum. I always start with the easy things first
1) on each week I write down the following "SL 1", "SL 2", etc. This way I know what week of Sonlight I should be on - you could do the same thing if you use a scheduled core curriculum (Ambleside Online, MFW, TOG, etc.) For us Sonlight schedules the following- Bible, History, Geography, Read-Alouds, Grammar, reading, spelling
2) Next schedule your math. (We use Horizon's math so we schedule 1 lesson/day with 1 lesson for "homework*" on the weekend(expect for holiday weekends)
3) schedule handwriting/copy work lessons
4) Now schedule your science (we do science 2 days/week- Tuesday and Thursday). Science may not take 36 weeks so you could leave extra time at the end of each semester.
5) Now schedule arts (we do art 2 days/week- Monday & Wednesday) You could use this time to schedule any types of arts music, music appreciation, art, art appreciation, crafts, sewing, etc.
6) Next schedule remaining extra curricular subject (For us it includes- Spanish, Typing and this year Blogging/Journaling)
Once you have your rough draft done you can either transfer your schedule into a record book or you can type it into Homeschool Tracker
After that is done I give copies of the schedule to each of kids so they can see where we are at in the year, mark of days complete, check off completed work, etc
In my next few blogs I will talk about all the curriculum I am using for the 2006/2007 school year
*The reason I give my kids "homework"- I have two options with some of my curriculum since we do a 4 day schedule. I can either double up on one day (the easiest option) or I can hand the kids their "homework" on Thursday and tell them it needs to be handed in complete on the next school day (Monday). If they turn it in on time and complete they get a prize out of the treasure test. If it is LATE then they get 5 points marked off their paper for each day it is late. I have opted for the second option as a lesson in responsibility.
© Brandi M Webster Lone Star Academy 2006
Related Tags: Home School, Schedule, Lesson Plans, Sonlight, Homeschool Tracker
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Jul. 8, 2006 - new find
Schooling Adventures
I was checking out new blog entries on homepage and came across a great website over at Peakmore Academy
I am already a HUGE fan of Living Books for the Ears
and now I am blessed to find this great site over at Kiddie Records Weekly
It looks like I need to go buy some more cds and get busy burning. I hope you enjoy these sites as well!
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Jul. 7, 2006 - I'm a winner
Schooling Adventures
OK, I practically NEVER EVER WHATSOEVER win anything....
BUT....
while gone on vacation I received notification from Maria at Home School Math
That I won one of her ebooks!!!
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Jun. 19, 2006 - Art Curriculum: Artistic Pursuits
Schooling Adventures
I have finally found an art curriculum to use for the fall!! This looks like the perfect thing to teach the kids very specific techniques yet allow them the artistic freedom to decide what exactly to draw. I love that they divide all the upper levels into two sections. The first book is artistic element and composition and the second book is color theory. Each book is designed to take a year to complete if you do art 2x/week.
In the past we have been involved in co-ops where the children had wonderful art teachers and I really didn't have to worry about art. In the early elementary years we studied and played around with different art mediums as we used our Five in a Row Curriculum. The kids love art, but with my lack of experience I had to choose just the right curriculum. Oh, did I mention this also includes a certain level of art appreciation with every unit!
I have never had any formal art training and all the artistic elements I have learned was through scrapbooking. I am so excited about the curriculum I am going to buy myself a set of art supplies and learn right along with the kids!
© Brandi M Webster Lone Star Academy 2006
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Apr. 30, 2006 - October Sky
Schooling Adventures
This week we finished up our Astronomy Book. On Friday the kids finished their Astronomy Notebooks. Our last chapter of Astronomy was on space travel. We talked about everything from the launch of the Russian satalite Sputnik to the International Space Station. The kids were fascinated with life on the space station. Sadly they are in a potty humor phase and couldn't stop laughing about how they had to use the restroom.
To celebrate our unit on space travel we watched October Sky tonight which is based on the true story of Homer Hickam. This movie does have some bad language and child abuse scene. We used our Clear Play DVD player to take care of the bad language. As far as handling the abuse with our children we didn't have to stop and explain this particular scene because we were recently foster parents and have thoroughly addressed abuse with our children. I do recommend this movie but not without a filtering system for the language and not without explaining the abuse scene. Overall, this movie is a very inspiring story about a boy and his dream. A dream to accomplish something with his life.
Next week the kids will work on their final science project. They will be doing a team project of building a model of the International Space Station. They are very excited to get started. I will be sure to post pictures once they finish. We are sad to be wrapping up our science program but I am already looking forward to starting Zoology I next year.
Until we meet again...
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Apr. 26, 2006 - More science adventures
Schooling Adventures
I meant to get this added lst Friday and it just didn't happen. On Friday we finished up another chapter of science which included rapping up our notebooks for the chapter. We were studying stars and galaxies. The kids learned that Earth is in the Milky Way Galaxy. There are 4 different shapes of galaxies and the Milky Way Galaxy is in a spiral shaped galaxy. This roughly looked like the eye of a hurricane in the kids opinion. Thee outside "layers" of the galaxy are like "fingers". Our Solar System is in one of the "fingers" of the Milky Way Galaxy. I happened across the perfect notebooking activity on a spiral galaxy. Take a look at what the kids created.
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