Day By Day - Homeschool Blogger

J2's Blog

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:50:00 -0500

J2 and I are working on a daily (we hope!) blog to record something about his 'school' each day. Please visit him!! :-)

Time for School!

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:33:00 -0500

Tomorrow is the first day of school! DH will be teaching 4th grade again at Neighborhood Christian School where J1 will be in 6th grade and J3 will be in 1st grade. J2 and I will persevere at home.

J2 will be in 4th grade - with the exception of the subjects that are directly affected by learning disabilities. Here is what we are planning to do for our school this year:

Bible - we will be listening to an audiobook format of the Bible and then J2 will narrate (ala Charlotte Mason) daily.

Math - at recommendation of our consultant Sharon we are not proceeding with Saxon math this year. J2 loves math - and likes to do it independently - but Saxon math requires more and more reading. Which means that he would need me to read it to him. So, we are going to use Modern Curriculum Press’s mathematics this year.

Science - Elementary Apologia’s “Exploring Creationg with Astronomy”

History - California History with Beautiful Feet and field trips with Daddy’s class. Beautiful feet is a literature-based approach to history.
Language Arts - This is where J2’s learning disabilities hit us the hardest. We are using some older curriculum and going as slowly as necessary. We are going to create games using flashcards of our hardest words and steadily work our way through it. J2 is still writing a book about pirates and he’s eager to get back to it. When I say ‘writing’ I mean that he tells me what happens and we develop those ideas into complete sentences and thoughts on our whiteboard. He copies it down into his notebook and illustrates the section.

That’s pretty much the bones of our education this next year. I look forward to it and dread it at the same time.

Neglected

Tue, 2 Jan 2007 12:44:00 -0600

This poor blog has been neglected and it probably will continue to be for awhile! But I'm posting on my personal blog - come visit friends!!

Technological Fun!

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:20:00 -0600

My sweet hubby came home from the store with a gift to support my new workout schedule - well, the out of water part of it! ;) A small MP3 player! I want to download a book or two at http://www.audible.com but all of a sudden, I'm not sure what I want to listen to! I'm thinking a classic - but I'm more of a cozy mystery or historical romance type of gal. So, tell me what you'd download if you were in my shoes!! Help! I need ideas! :)

This can be considered homeschooling if it's educating myself - right? lol

Cleaning House

Sun, 5 Nov 2006 10:44:00 -0600

After today, I'm going to try and keep my homeschooling blog and my personal blog seprarate. I thought to move all posts not schooling related (knitting, grief, etc) to my other blog: Journaling Back to Joy at http://www.osbornz.net/amy but that task is a little daunting! lol

But from this day forward - I hope you will come read about the other parts of our life there. :)

Also, check out http://cornerstoneacademy.osbornz.net for more of our favorite homeschool links.

Special Education: Writing

Sun, 5 Nov 2006 10:24:00 -0600

I�ve been meaning to tell you all about the meeting I went to last month in San Jose. It�s a monthly meeting for parents who are homeschooling kids who have been diagnosed with special education needs. The director of the group is Sharon Hensley who wrote �Home Schooling Children With Special Needs�.

Last month our meeting was about writing. We spent most of the evening talking about handwriting and a bit about composition.

First she challenged us to consider why we teach handwriting. In fact, she asked �Why are homeschoolers so worried about handwriting?� There was much discussion�and it boiled down for many of us that we recognize that our children (and thus us) are judged by their handwriting. But in this technological age � is it dying? What is more important? Getting ideas out in a reasonable manner or have it be nice looking?

For many students this isn�t an either/or matter. But for children with special needs, it can be. Many moms shared that they are only teaching cursive in order for their children to (1) be able to read it themselves and (2) to be able to sign their names. Other moms shared that they had success moving to typing.

After an exercise meant to show us how many of our children felt when we ask them to write and then hover over them, we came up with the following actions to help us:

1) Provide time (without nagging, but not to waste of course)

2) Find something to praise (every day/assignment)

3) Balance (to be honest � I can�t remember what this meant lol)

4) Move towards typing as he gets older

5) Flexible � fit your student, not the curriculum

6) Coloring is good practice for manual strengthening

Then we moved to composition � my biggest concern. Sharon explained that our students learn what a sentence is by copying, then dictation before they can compose a sentence of their own. And she suggested we ask them to compose less than a sentence to start. **Remember if you are not dealing with a child with special needs, your child might do this in a matter of minutes as opposed to days/months/etc**

After they can write a good sentence, then you can go to paragraphs then more complex paragraphs and then essays.

A few products she recommended to help us:

Apple Tree � I�ve started to use this with J2. His disabilities are all in the language arena. He loves it and I do too! It�s taking the steps of creating a sentence and breaking them into smaller steps. First he�s adding the correct word, then phrase and finally he�s doing the sentence. Here is a link: http://www.proedinc.com/Scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=1559

When it�s time to move onto paragaphs, she recommends a product called FourSquare.(I think this link is it: http://www.teachinglearning.com/foursquare/writing_method.php) As my student isn�t that far along � I didn�t take many notes on it.

Hope this helps someone!

Knitting Projects

Fri, 6 Oct 2006 14:39:00 -0500

Thought it was time to share a bit about my knitting. I like to have several projects going at once in case I get bored or frustrated! ;-)

1) Here is my progress on my never ending sweater!

The back is done and one side is about 2/3 done. I've unknit quite a bit lately so this is now at the bottom of my knitting bad! Bad Yarn!! :-) I'm starting to worry that it might be too small! I'm doing my best to ignore that little fear though.

A couple of things I'm learning from this experience - stockinette sweaters are BORING. Just because the pattern says to knit one thing and then the next...there is no reason I can't knit them both at the same time! I'm seriously considering the sleeves in magic loop - maybe even two at a time - to speed this up! I want this done before Christmas!

2) Here is a cable scarf I found here - the Irish Hiking Scarf - I'm doing it in Black Lion Brand Microspun. Very Soft! I'm just knitting in a rib pattern around the neck area so it will hang better. Wish you could see the detail!

3) The 2nd baby kimono (from Mason Dixon Knitting book) - this one is in stockinette. Since I worked on it yesterday when I was coming down with this cold/flu/ickiness I now have to frog about 3 rows...sigh...

4) I pulled this one out of the drawer - the Lost Points Shawl - I looooove these colors:

5) Finally, even though I am sick today - my friend Ruth asked to use my washing machine to felt her bag. I decided the worse thing to happen wasn't going to be as bad as never felting the
two I had done. So here is our results -

Mine are the two in back - the purple one turned out so nice that I think I'm going to give it to my niece - I hope she likes it because I really want to keep it!

Our School Seal

Tue, 3 Oct 2006 13:02:00 -0500

Found this neat resource at The Prattling Pastor's Wife:

http://www.says-it.com/seal/index.php

Bulk Cooking

Tue, 3 Oct 2006 12:50:00 -0500

I'm trying to get back into bulk cooking. Collecting some links and thought someone else might benefit from these too! Note: I don't do Once a Month Cooking (OAMC) because I never seem to have a day when I can do all that work. But if I'm making chili - why not make 4 batches?? :-) Anyway, here are links that might be helpful!

http://www.menus4moms.com/bulk/beef_plan.php

Once a Month Cooking - Two Plans

The Well-Stocked Pantry

Robin's Friendly Freezer - I was tickled to find this site again - it's one I used many years ago when I was still doing Bulk Cooking

Another helpful site

Cub scouts

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:06:00 -0500

After reading Jay Ryan's article in the Spring 2006 copy of TOS "Boy Scounting and the Homeschool" (pg 96-101) I started to consider this option for my boys...mainly for the one I homeschool.
Last week was our first den meeting - a tour of the local police station. Below you will find pictures of our day.
I can't tell you how excited I am about scouting! It will really enhance our homeschooling! I hope to share more about it in the next few weeks! If you are wondering about scouting and homeschooling - check our Jay's article or check back here for more about our experience!

Listening well

A real jail!

Scouts gone bad? Nah, just having fun! :-)

Great listening J2!

Posing with the Chief

Meeting the local K9 unit - not getting too close though!