Lifelong Learning - Homeschool Blogger

Goals for 2008

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:23:00 -0600

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been reading everyone's goals and resolutions for 2008. These have made me stop and think about what I really want to achieve this year. What has become clear to me is that I have many things I want to do and learn ... too many in fact. So this year I am taking my goals seriously and prioritizing them. My goals fall into a couple of areas. The first group are goals which I have been putting off but which I feel will change the quality of our lives if I achieve them. They are:

Get my driver's license.
- I have already started on this goal by making a booking for the knowledge test.
Declutter and organize my home. This consists of the following sub-goals:
- Declutter children's bedrooms
- Declutter my bedroom
- Declutter living room
- Declutter school area
- Declutter computer: I have so many programs installed which I don't use and stray files everywhere. I use my computer for everything and having it organised with make me more efficient.
Complete my Homekeeping Binder. This will also consist of us getting into a routine with household tasks and school work.
Have lessons and materials prepared ahead of time.

On a more personal level, I would like to:

Take more photos, journal, and scrapbook. For Christmas I received a digital camera and this allows me to take as many photos as I please. Twelve years ago, when Munchkin was born, I didn't have that luxury. I look at the few photos that I do have of her and I wish I had more. So now I will take many more photos of both Munchkin and Teddy Bear and store those memories by journaling and scrapbooking.
Live rather than just survive. I was having a conversation with a friend the other day and she made this statement. It really struck a chord in me and made me aware of the fact that there are many days where I just get by or survive. This is not how I want to live my life. I want to make each day count.
Read more. Read more books aloud to my children and read more books for myself.
Cook more. Cook more with my daughter and try more recipes on my own.

Looking at this list its become clear that my goals are very ~~boring~~ basic. But, I truly believe that you can't achieve much if the basics are not covered. I hope that by putting this list up on my blog I will be more likely to follow through on these goals. I no longer want to be thinking that I made it through the day...

Plans for 2008 - Language Arts Part II

Sun, 6 Jan 2008 02:17:00 -0600

In my post Plans for 2008 - Language Arts Part I, I outlined our reading approach for this year. We have already started reading books from this list and Munchkin has already read Bears on Hemlock Mountain. In addition to this reading list, Munchkin will continue with the reading that is assigned in her history and science lessons.

For the remaining Language Arts areas, these are the plans:

Writing

This year we are going to begin using the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style program from the Institute for Excellence in Writing Company. The actual lessons themselves will be integrated with our history and science lessons.

In the past, I have wanted to adopt a classical writing approach in our homeschooling. I have even gone so far as to try and implement the progymnasmata approach. I still like this approach, but as Munchkin is a reluctant writer, I feel that the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style program will be less work for me. It is outlined and I know I will be on the right track by following the syllabus. We will also continue with narrations.

Spelling and Word Study

Last year Munchkin began using the Mega Words books. This has helped her immensely with decoding multisyllable words. We will continue using these books this year. However, we are also going to begin a formal spelling program. At the moment I am still trying to decide between Sequential Spelling and Phonetic Zoo. At the moment I am leaning towards Sequential Spelling.

Grammar

To be quite honest, Grammar has never been consistently studied at our home. This is partly due to the fact that I have been putting more emphasis on areas such as reading. However, at the end of last year, Munchkin began the Lively Language Lessons at Serendipity. She now actually asks for a grammar lesson and really enjoys doing the drawings. So, for Grammar this is what we will continue to use until we have covered the basics.

This covers Language Arts. Over the next couple of days I will post our plans for the remaining subjects.

Wishing You

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 16:34:00 -0600

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Weekly Report

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 22:46:00 -0600

Another busy week...

Even so, we still managed to bake some gingerbread men.

The smaller gingerbread men took a dip in some milk.

For our Advent and Christmas Unit, we read Jingle, The Christmas Clown, The Clown of God and The Night of Los Posadas.

For our standard lessons, in Ancient History Munchkin read about Roman Gods and a few more chapters from the Roman Mysteries book Pirates of Pompeii. She also watched a video on Roman Myths and Legends and Horrible Histories: The Rotten Romans. For Australian History, we read about how Governor Arthur Phillip dealt with the food shortages in Sydney. Munchkin used several paragraphs from this chapter for her copywork.

In Science, we continued with our look at Mammals. Munchkin began reading The Story of Russ the Australian Tree Kangaroo by Leslie Rees. Also, Munchkin will be doing a report on a mammal. Her chosen animal is the Red Panda. We discussed what sort of information she should include in her report and she came up with sub-topics such as Anatomy, Diet, Habitat and Lifecycle. To refresh her knowledge of lifecycles, I had Munchkin read Which Came First? by Freddie McKeown.

Finally, in Maths we continued working on unit conversions and long division.

During all our hard work Teddy managed to keep himself occupied by playing

and sleeping.

Shopping Masterlist for Homekeeping Binder

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:39:00 -0600

A while ago I started working on my homekeeping binder. The latest addition to the binder is my shopping masterlist. My intention is to have a few of these lists printed and on hand, so that when I notice an item that we need, I simply tick the checkbox on the list. Hopefully this will get rid of the bits of paper floating around the house on which I write items as we need them.

You can view the shopping masterlist here. (The original document has checkboxes beside the grocery item. However, when I upload it, these checkboxes are edited out).

Plans for 2008 - Language Arts Part I

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:20:00 -0600

One of the biggest challenges in our homeschooling journey to date has been Munchkin's difficulty in learning to read. It has taken a while for her to learn decoding multisyllable words. I've tried to supplement by reading books to her aloud. This has been only partly successful as her language receptive disorder makes it difficult for her to fully comprehend spoken language. Also, these learning difficulties have resulted in Munchkin disliking reading.

I would really like to change Munchkin's attitude towards reading and I know that the only way to achieve this is by increasing her comprehension and reading skills. More importantly, I need to remember to provide material to her which is at her ability level. This is one of the reasons we have simplified our history plans. The frustration we experienced trying to use more advanced books has resulted in both of us disliking certain lessons. I want to bring back the love of learning and the only way to do this is by making lessons easy and fun. I will continue to challenge her but at an appropriate level; one which doesn't result in frustrating us.

So, the first thing which is going to be implemented in the New Year is Munchkin's new Reading List. Basically, I have collated a list of books which I would like Munchkin to read. This list is ordered by the book's lexile level. We will begin with the easiest book to read, spending a minimum of 30 minutes reading a day, and move on from there. My initial list is available below. I will continue adding the books to this list beginning with My Recommended Books Lists (right-hand menu). If you would like to check the lexile level of any book, you can do this at the Find a Book with Lexiles webpage.

The following resources provide information on how the lexile levels correspond to grade levels:

Book List by Lexile Level

Book with titles in italics have been read by Munchkin

370L Freckle Juice

460L Sideways Stories from Wayside School

460L The Littles

490L Bears on Hemlock Mountain

550L Stone Fox

560L Sarah, Plain and Tall

590L Are You There God its me Margaret?

610L The Courage of Sarah Noble

650L Strawberry Girl

660L Dr Dolittle Series

670L Lon Po Po

670L Number the Stars

670L The Tale of Despereaux

680L The Family under the Bridge

700L The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

700L Where the Red Fern Grows

720L Freedom Crossing

730L In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

740L A Wrinkle in Time

750L All of a Kind Family

750L Misty of Chincoteague

750L The Westing Game

750L Trumpet of the Swan

760L Good Night Mr Tom

770L The Book of Three

780L Cricket in Times Square

780L The Borrowers

780L The Indian in the Cupboard

790L – 970L Chronicles of Narnia

790L Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh

790L The Year of Miss Agnes

800L Redwall

810L My Side of the Mountain

820L Maniac Magee

830L King of the Wind

830L The Summer of the Swans

840L Johnny Tremain

840L Year of Impossible Goodbyes

850L Anne of Green Gables Series

850L Witch of Blackbird Pond

860L Julie of the Wolves

860L Ramona Quimby

870L Pippi Longstockin

890L Caddie Woodlawn

890L Cheaper by the Dozen

890L Shiloh

910L Dear Mr Henshaw

910L Mr Popper’s Penguins

920L Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry

920L Stuart Little by E. B. White

930L Little House in the Big Woods

950L The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

970L White Fang

990L Ginger Pye

990L My Father’s Dragon

1000L Homer Price

1000L The Island of the Blue Dolphins

1000L The Phantom Tollbooth

1010L Black Beauty

1010L The Egypt Game

1020L Wolves of Willoughby Chase

1070L Twenty One Balloons

Christmas Meme

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:45:00 -0600

I have been tagged by Erin from Seven Little Australians.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Depends on the gift. However, I do have a preference for wrapping paper with a nice ribbon

2. Real tree or artificial?
Artificial.

3. When do you put up the tree?
When we are organized I try and have the Christmas tree up beginning of December. .

4. When do you take the tree down?
After the New Year.

5. Do you like eggnog?
I've never had it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
I don't actually remember a specific gift. However, I do remember the last Christmas I spent as a child with my family in Poland before we moved to Australia. It was the last time I had a 'White' Christmas with snow.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene?
Have had a few. Always looking at new ones available in stores at Christmas

8. Hardest person to buy for?
My other half and his parents. Gifts are not a priority (spending time together is the priority) and often we settle for small gifts knowing we have everything we need.

9. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Can't recall any particular gift which I would consider as bad.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I prefer email. The thought is appreciated without paper being wasted. Although, its nice to have old Christmas cards for some craft activities.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Don't really have one.

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
End of October through to December.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
No.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Prawns.

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Both.

16. Favorite Christmas song?
Silent Night

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Stay at home.

18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Not without cheating and looking them up on the internet.

19. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star.

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Used do it Christmas Eve with my parents. Now we do it Christmas morning.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The crowds.

22. Best thing about this time of year?
Being together with family.

I tagg Leonie from Living Without School.

Weekly Report

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 04:49:00 -0600

Here is a snapshot of our past week:

We continued with our Advent and Christmas Unit by reading The Legend of the Poinsettia, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and The Legend of the Candy Cane.

Other activities included making a God's Eye and

enjoying some Mexican Hot Chocolate.

Also, Munchkin finished learning about Alexander the Great and we began our Ancient Rome studies. We began with the Romulus and Remus myth and Munchkin completed a written narration. She also began reading the Pirates of Pompeii and I began reading to her The Bronze Bow.

For Science, we examined the difference between Vertebrates and Invertebrates. Then we moved onto Mammals by watching a documentary and identifying the characteristics of Mammals. Munchkin composed a paragraph explaining the characteristics of Mammals and created a page about Extreme Mammals (the fastest, the slowest, the biggest, the tallest, and the stinkiest mammal). We also began listening to the Burgess Animal Book for Children.

We also attended Group Learning, continued learning about unit conversion in Maths, looked at Collective Nouns in grammar, and baked an Apple Pie.

Monday Meanderings

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 23:49:00 -0600

1. Must Do

Book Driver's Knowledge Test

Continue Working on Homekeeping Binder

~~Master Pantry List~~

~~2008 Calendar: Add Holidays and Celebrations~~

Finalise Christmas Menu and Shopping.

2. Zone

Although last week my zone was to complete the Kitchen, I didn't actually get around to it. So this week I need to finish the following kitchen cleaning and organizing tasks:

~~Clean Fridge~~

~~Clean and Organize Cupboard with Mugs~~

~~Clean and Organize Cupboard with Glasses~~

3. Train Them Up

Continue with Self Initiative (I think we will be working on this for the rest of the year)

4. Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Chicken with Potatoe Salad and Fresh Salad
Tuesday: Beef Stroganoff
Wednesday: Fish Fillets with Potatoes and Vegies
Thursday: Chicken Fried Rice
Friday: Hamburgers
Saturday: Chicken Kiev with Sour Cream and Chives Potatoes and Vegies
Sunday: Spaghetti Bolognaise

The Beauty of Toymaking Fair for December

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:53:00 -0600

This month's Beauty of Toymaking Fair has been posted at Footprints on the Fridge. There are lovely ideas for Christmas and other Celebrations.