Sharing Principle Approach ideas and help. Blazing a trail in the Pacific. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:22:00 -0500 Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:22:00 -0500 I'd love to offer my thoughts while I am still on summer break and you can take them for what they're worth. I think one of the things that new people try to do is wrap their mind around the whole thing, but that's what leads to becoming overwhelmed. Here are my suggestions. Take the subject of history (start with one subject) and chose one topic, like the Pilgrims, in preparation for Thanksgiving. Buy the $5 book The Landing of the Pilgrims (great Landmark book that is historically accurate and contains implicit Biblical principles). Read aloud a chapter while all your children are sitting comfortably where ever with a snack or drink or anything to settle them. As you read for about 20 minutes and they listen, make sure to have them monitor their comprehension and explain any words/phrases they don't understand (keep track of words they don't know so you can use that for vocabulary lesson later). Along the way, have them stop you when they hear something about the character of the people, or a description of the setting, or a major event. Tell them in advance that they need to stop you when they hear setting, character, or plot and discuss those things with them. If possible have a separate piece of paper nearby to document those things in the author's words. You or an older child can write it down along the way. When you're done make your way to the table for a 15-30 min session of reasoning and writing. Have younger students copy your notes (only as much as they can handle-one sentence or so) and draw pictures to go along with that, either for setting, character, or plot. Then, look up and define, on a page entitled "Vocabulary," a word that they didn't understand. Have the older students write down (younger do it orally) a sentence using that word. As a further reasoning assignment for the same day or another, have them look up words in a Bible concordance that you encountered in your reading that describes a character or idea, like "care" or "freedom," and write down 1-3 verses that explain more about what the Bible says about that topic and possible write down a principle or truth from what was learned in that word study. Also, after reading a certain number of chapters, try to have them deduce various themes, like brotherly love, endurance, wisdom, conscience was sacred, friendship individuality, free enterprise, etc. Have them write the theme in a sentence on a separate paper entitled "Theme." Another hands-on way to enrich a study about the Pilgrims would be to go to the library and find books about colonial life. Cook, play games, make things, or dress in that period. You could also draw/color maps or their home in Holland or Cape Code, make a Massachusetts flag, etc. When you are all finished with this study you have a notebook or assignments the children did together with you and a memory of fun ways that you enriched their understanding of the Pilgrims. You could do this with any study: Columbus, G Washington, Abe Lincoln, or any event centered around their time. PA is a simple process of researching/reading, reasoning, relating, and recording. It's not a workbook approach or even a test driven approach. If you together with your children do the 4 R's in any subject, you'll be a PA teacher. If you want more help in the one subject you're using PA or want to see it modeled, The Noah Plan Lessons, The Mighty Works of God (pilgriminstitute.com) or a unit from AMO Program (amoprogram.com) can help. These are all wonderful models of PA thinking. Learn from them and then try to do it on your own. I had full training in the PA and I still take this exact process. Year after year you learn more and more. Each year you'll be surprised what you've learned (not how much you know). Half of what you learn is along side your kids in their school time. Lastly, when we were getting ready to start teaching the American Revolution with my kids I knew nothing. I first started formulating questions in my mind of things I wanted to know. When did it start? How did it end? How and why did Washington get to lead? Why did it start? Why did the colonists want to become independent? How did they unify themselves? What the big deal about the Boston tea party? How do all the details fit into God's plan? etc. Pre-thinking is important before studying anything. It prepares your mind and when you do read/research, your questions will begin to be answered and these are things that you're going to want your children to focus on in their learning because it's what you learned. Teach them to ask questions of things they might want to know about. Teach them to write down what they learn. The end. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/721704/ Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:22:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/721704/ I'm starting Sep 14th so I'm still in the middle of my vacation and enjoying it. I prepare for the year during this time. I love lesson planning. I do it for fun. I'm most excited about 2 things: Analytical Grammar and The Civil War. I just found out about analytical grammar from a homeschool conf I went to in California this past July (I live in Hawaii so this was awesome for me). I have been teaching my kids (now 5th & 6th) these past years the sentence patterns from what I learned from the NP English Curr Guide and have been nervous about teaching sentence diagramming. Well, at the conference I was looking for a good program to teach that because I was nervous about teaching it. I've tried to teach myself but felt like I was in the dark. Well, the one workshop I went to besides the main sessions was Analytical Grammar and I learned more in 40 min than I've learned my whole life. Every question I had got answered and it all made sense to me. And the best part was that you don't teach it everyday. I love that because grammar can be tedious and mundane. Now I feel empowered and balanced, meaning I'll be teaching it as much as I thought it should be taught. I had heard that grammar is like math but never understood how. I love math and now I can see exactly how it works mathematically. :) Ok, now for civil war. Growing up in public school I remember studying the wars and wondered why we had to learn them and why they are important. I hated history. Since learning the Principle Approach and Providential History it all makes sense now. So, going into it as a teacher I've been very excited about 4Ring each war and finding out what makes these wars so significant. I loved having all my questions answered. For example, I was getting ready to read about Ulysses S. Grant. I had always read about key individuals in America's founding through some amazing PA books, but FACE doesn't have much about the civil war. So, the one book I do have (The Everything Civil War Book) I wanted to know what was so special about this guy and what made him so favored. How does his story compare to that of G. Washington when he was commander of the Am Rev? I learned Ulysses' mother was a devout Christian (and this was from a secular book). I also realized he became a president too. He failed at almost everything he attempted and consistently made mediocre grades in school. Prior to becoming the leader of the Union Army, he drank heavily and resigned from the army after getting reprimanded and failed at numerous occupations. He even had a hard time getting back in the army when the Civil War started. He even ended his life broke and discouraged from numerous ventures not too mention scandal as a president. BUT, he was the savior of the civil war (so to speak). I think that's incredible and amazing! I'm so excited to teach this to my kids. We're going to have a Civil War Day and invite all the HSers in my island. For the first time, I'll be teaching separate science and literature. My son is doing a year-long independent physical science program with the use of the computer building things. It's called Exploration Education. He keeps asking me when we're going to start it. Also for literature I'm going to use a children's version of Pilgrim's Progress and combine it with reading comprehension and vocabulary. The book is called Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrims Progress. It has short chapters and lots of pictures (that's what I wanted). There's also a dvd that has been made just from this book. He's a slow reader so we're going to take all year if we have to and focus on a deep study of it. I'm also veering from The Writing Road to Reading for my son because I want to try a different method with him to see if he can do better. I'm a Writing Road loyalist, but I've heard good things about this program and it's different. He might just be bored with Writing Road. We've been doing it for 5 years. For my daughter, we're going to be studying Little Women, Trail Blazer of the Seas, and Shakespeare's Macbeth. I'm not looking forward to reading Little Women, but really feel the Lord wants me to. I've been doing my research and study, but my prayer is that God will work through me to teach and inspire us. I usually keep my negatives feelings to myself. I don't want her to pick up on that. I've never read a novel this big. Heidi was hard but fun. I'm usually a sprinter, not a marathon reader. I like reading philosophy any day. Anyway, I'll be using mostly Landmark books for history (Landing of the Pilgrims and Gettysburg). For science I'll be doing Real Science-4-Kids Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. By the way, Trail Blazer of the Seas is a NP 5th grade recommendation written by Jean Lee Latham about Matthew Maury. This book changed my life when I read it, but it's out of print and if you look for it on amazon it's around $50 or more. Well, just a couple months ago I found it on google books. Now anyone can read it. You can even download the pdf. Awesome! Oh, math...we finally finished all the main levels of RightStart Math and will be venturing into new territory. My kids are on the same level. I'm using MathScape by Glencoe Mon-Thu and RightStart Geometry on Fridays. The MathScape one is teaching students how to think mathematically. It's not your typical layout of numerous problems. It's more practical/project based. I'm actually excited to learn a new math program because all the ones I've used before were so traditional and middle school math is my absolute favorite subject of all (I taught and tutored middle school math for a few years).  Another thing I'm excited about is this class I want to have on Fridays that involves entrepeneurship and economics. I want my kids to make things they can sell and learn how to manage money. We've paid them for chores and taught them to give, save, and spend but this is more like starting a business. Anyone watch Shark Tank on NBC? Amazing what you learn! I want to also incorporate elocution and film (because my kids aren't big talkers), and computer graphics (making flyers and stuff). Ever see Everyday News from Vision Forum? I get the podcast and it's amazing what those kids do. I also want to spend time worshipping the Lord more with my kids. I hope to follow through on that. I'm not excited about teaching Bible as a curriculum. I will use AMO program which is wonderful but I haven't solidified how to make the actually study of the Bible more relate-able, practical, and heart-felt. You know...like when I read and study the Bible for myself, I always apply it and God speaks to me about whatever. Maybe my kids are still too young for that. I want them to hear God's voice for themselves. That's my prayer. Thanks for reading. Raquel Werk http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/720448/ Tue, 25 Aug 2009 05:40:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/720448/ We just had Italy Day and invited lots of homeschool kids and their families. The moms brought the spaghetti and some supplies for the activities and I organized the whole thing. I'm becoming quite the spray paint mural expert. My husband helped me think through the lines and perspective. Here's our schedule: 1.    1:30 Arrival/Passport Stamping 2.    1:50 Story Time Presentation 3.    2:10 Flag Craft 4.    2:30 Sistine Chapel Painting Project 5.    3:00 Pasta Making Activity 6.    3:15 Taste of Italy Food Contest 7.    3:45 Puppet Demonstration and Construction 8.    4:30 Grape Stomping Experiment 9.    5:00 Dinner – Spaghetti & Meatballs 10.    5:30 Disney Movie & Dessert – Gellato Purpose ·         Enrich your study of Pinocchio! ·         Learn about author Carlo Collodi ·         Discover Italy’s contribution to Christian history   A full day of fun! see my other blog too http://principledpacific.homeschooljournal.net/ Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98418751@N00/ Raquel Werk http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/704383/ Thu, 2 Jul 2009 04:54:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/704383/ Vowel Detective Game ~ All About Syllables ~ Grades 1-4   Instructions 1.    Spend a week writing three letter words with short vowel sounds; think of as many as you can (sample words: bag, beg, big, bog, bug). 2.   Spend a couple days writing four letter words with long vowel sounds and silent final e; think of as many as you can (sample words: bake, kite, cute) 3.   Spend one day writing the following notes on syllables. a.   Open Syllables (v•cv)                                          i.    Vowel is at the end of a syllable (r.4, 5)                                        ii.    Vowel says its long sound (ba•by, mu•sic, o•pen, si•lent) b.   Closed Syllables (vc•cv)                                          i.    Vowel is not at the end of a syllable                                        ii.    Vowel says its short sound (af•ter, nev•er, un•der, win•dow, pop•corn) c.   Ask, “Now that I taught you what’s different about open and closed syllables, what is the same about them?” After they guess the answer, write it: Every syllable must have a vowel. 4.   Play Vowel Detective Game to understand how vowels rule the kingdom of words. They are the kings of the alphabet. They dictate how a word is spelled and pronounced. They have the keys to unlock your greatest potential as a speller and reader. Watch their placement for clues. a.   Write 5-10 (depending on how many kids you have) open syllable words and 5-10 closed syllable words on index cards. They have to be words with two syllables. b.   Hide them throughout the house. c.   Have some children look for open syllable words and other children look for closed syllable words. If they find words that aren’t the ones they’re supposed to find, they must leave them in their place. d.   Whoever finds the most of their kind wins. 5.   Have children answer the following questions to assess their understanding. a.   What is an open syllable? or What kind of syllable has a long vowel at the end? b.   What is a closed syllable? or What kind of syllable has a short vowel not at the end? c.   What’s similar about open and closed syllables? or What must every syllable have? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/397530/ Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:47:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/397530/ Literature is hard for me to think principly, but there are a few things that I do know. The Principle Approach selected read aloud texts are chosen based on God's providential history (as such "The Handmaid of History"). God used people in key nations to elevate other's understanding of their culture and individuality through the literature that they have written. As far as reading the texts, the principles I always try to point out are character and government. What motivates people to act certain ways? How to people's actions affect other people and circumstances? Lit is not just reading entertaining stories but tools for "learning" (the actual definition) about the world and how God governs us. A secondary and overarching principle is that literature is an excellent tool for being exposed to how language is used effectively; learning prosody and style; something to be emulated. Lit is a way to draw in your emotions. One day long ago, growing in my understanding of teaching principly in every subject, I asked Rosalie Slater (PA Architect), "So what is the purpose of literature anyway?" She simply replied, "To touch your emotions." I guess that's why they say one of the qualities of great literature is emotional appeal. Raquel Werk http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/397141/ Tue, 25 Sep 2007 04:36:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/397141/ My guide is the Chain of Christianity. I usually teach each link throughout the year (in order, except for this year which I've decided to teach according to US holidays). I spend more time on the last three links. I've collected books over the years that I want to use to teach. So, I see which book I want to use then think of an activity to do. I usually do the notebook work for my kids. As far as activities, I just rely on Jesus or internet for ideas. Some I've gotten from the FACE resources. All in all, I think teaching all the links each year is based on a principle that history should be taught as seen in light of God's big picture-how He's used and is using character of men, the causes, purposes, and impact of events, and the individuality of nations to further his kingdom. The second principle that guides the way I teach is that more emphasis is placed on America in the early grades because they should be grounded in their understanding of their nation before getting to in-depth into other nations, although that is covered in literature and geography. One of my other main principles that guide my focus when I read a book aloud or plan an activity is thinking governmentally. Who or what is governing actions, events, etc. I try to mix teaching methods like word study, key charts, and outlines for the reasoning part of our study and I ask lots of questions for comprehension. The goal for me is that they understand why things happen and why people are the way they are (besides using words to identify and describe those things). History is mainly a story that gives the purpose and meaning for life. That's a big question we all have and history is a great way to learn that. This year's plan: Wks 1-2 we colored pictures for a new timeline. Wks 3-5 we will build a ship (not sure how yet) and discuss causes, purposes, and impact of exploration through the study effect of Columbus' voyage using Ch 4-5, 9-19 of Meet Christopher Columbus (short chapter book) by James T. de Kay and ending with Peter Marshall's The Light and the Glory Ch 2. I'll also do one science experiment comparing magnetic north and true north from Janice Van Cleave's Science Around the Year p.12. For wks 6-9 we'll read The Pilgrims at Plymouth and practice and perform a drama for homeschool kids (one of my loves) (focus on individual enterprise v. socialism. For Quarter 2 wks 1-2 Biblical Foundations of History (mostly notetaking); wks 3 Moses and Jesus (mosaic of Christian symbols); Wks 4-9 read America in the Time of George Washington and end with a patriotic oration (try to have other homeschoolers join us) (focus on becomeing familiar with events that led to independence). Quarter 3 wks 1-3 read Mighty Works of God Divine Providence Ch 14-19, 25-27 (focus on Rev War providential events); wks 4-5 read The Story of the Constitution and focus on key document and underlying principles; wks 6-9 reformation from America's Providential History focus on literacy and impact of God's word. Quarter 4 wks 1-5 focus on our form of government using pictures books from White House trip we did in 2005; wks 6-presidents and states overview (some history of how we got the states and contributions each state has made to the Chain of Christianity); wk 7-New York/Jedediah Smith from Mighty Works of God Liberty and Justice ch19; wk8-California same book Ch 20-21; Wk 9 Hawaii read Attack on Pearl Harbor (focus on Queen's conversion to Christianity and impact on Hawaiian culture/literacy). Thanks for reading, Raquel Werk http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/396297/ Sun, 23 Sep 2007 19:21:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/396297/ This was exactly what I was looking for. I can't believe I found something this thorough. Find it at http://www.coreknowledge.org/CK/resrcs/teacher%20guides/Treasure%20Island%20TG.pdf or do a google search for Treasure Island Teaching Guide and click on the pdf version from coreknoweldge.org. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/389684/ Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:37:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/389684/ Isn’t God amazing; the way He inspires? I walk in constant search of inspiration. Today we started reading Treasure Island and I wasn’t intimidated for once with reading a big book (to me), but after I read the first line, I thought to myself, oh Lord, please help me understand this. I have the Dover coloring book version that is helping me. I know Great Britain (key nation of individuality) is important in the Chain of Christianity and Robert L Stevenson is a key individual used of God, but how in the world is this book going to inspire me. I wait in anticipation. As a kid, I always wondered what this book was about. I sure wish there was a FACE syllabus (www.face.net) that could guide me to think principly. All I have is the overview in the Noah Plan Literature Curriculum Guide 4th grade overview. All that to say, that I trust the Lord is going to meet me. The kids enjoyed it and my daughter helps me understand it when I have difficulty. That’s fun!! Raquel Werk http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/389530/ Tue, 11 Sep 2007 21:12:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/389530/ Aloha everyone! I'm finally back and settled in our new home in Maui. I've finished (for the most part) doing all the planning for the quarter or year of home school. We start tomorrow, so I thought I'd give my input to this discussion. I'm excited this year because I've finished using the Noah Plan Lessons and am excited to be more free to use the curriculum guides and resources I've collected over the years. My kids also need some more focus on certain areas (math and writing). As I prepare for a new year and reflect on 1) what I've done, 2) what I've learned to do, and 3) what I need to study before I teach, I'm amazed at how God helps me all along the way. Setting goals and not feeling bad for where you're at is freeing. I know I'm learning. I know the kids are further along in certain things than they were before, even if it's not as far as I think they should be. Learning is fun for me and I hope to instill a greater sense of that excitement to my kids this year. My own goals for this year are to learn how to teach poetry better (a subject I still have no clue how to teach, much less find the right poems to teach; I need to renew my mind there); to get my kids to write and read better (mechanics and fluency are horrible right now; sometimes I think they're still in 1st grade); to build a network of people in my town who want to learn how to teach by principles (get other excited about teaching principly); and accomplish more of what is in my schedule than before (so far I probably get to 80% of it, but I'd like to try to do 90%; kids are a little older and I feel more confident in running a more thriving learning environment). I've tried to make my lesson plans more the way I see things, which means I break it down into three things (content, book, assignment). Making the assignments more principled (which I want to practice on my own outside of lesson plans I did not write) for me is making sure we use the 1828 every week and reasoning from causes and purposes more than facts (fine balance I and the kids are still learning). I tend to get more detailed than I think the kids are able to do and instead I want to discuss the big picture and make sure they understand and can articulate that. During specific writing lessons we focus more on mechanics than content; so that's different than understanding the big picture in Bible, Literature, History, Science, and even math. I'm also excited to start teaching computer/typing (keyboard) skills this year and being more intentional in economics (how to manage the money they earn for working at home). I've tried to make my schedule more fluid in the sense of teaching the basics 3 times a week (used to be 4) and everything else 2 times a week (was 1). I've added a few small things like fluency testing, more field trips throughout (we did that all at the end of the year for 2 weeks), and teaching Literature, History, and Science all in one week instead of rotating them from unit to unit (M-W>Lit; Th>Sci; Fr/His). I'm planning 4 special days (Treasure Island Celebration, Pilgrim Drama, Patriotic Orations Day, and Reformation Day) where I hope to incorporate more people in my town. For Bible I'm using Walking with Jesus (FACE), for Literature> 4th grade books from the NPLG (FACE), for History> Columbus by Pollard (Pilgrim Institute), The Pilgrims at Plymouth (Landmark picture book), America in the Time of George Washington (picture book), Mighty Works of God Divine Providence Ch 14-27(Pilgrim Institute), The Story of the Constitution (picture book), Foxes book of Martyrs for Reformation, and picture books I bought in DC 3 summers ago about the senate, judiciary, presidency, white house, the US flag, and 50 states. For Science I'm using a weather station kit from teacher store, Tools of Navigation (library), The Ocean Book (?), and Real Science-4-kids Chemistry and Physics (Gravitas). For language I'm still using Writing Road to Reading (I might incorporate How to Teach Spelling too) and McCall-Crabbs Test Lessons in Reading. I still use other subjects to find sentences for syntax and etymology. I also use the Bookworm Report in the NP Reading Curr Guide for writing/composition (my kids have trouble just with that). When I gave the kids the SAT this year, my son bombed the part where he had to correct the grammatical mistakes in the paragraph, so I'm going to have them 1x a week use Evan-Moor Paragraph Editing and periodically, some Abeka Language 3 worksheets (only as supplements to help with SAT skills). We also used Evan-Moor Daily Geography Drills. They're fun and the kids get some formal geography set at state standards. I have not taught much geography principly other than enjoying the atlas from time to time. I'm not worried about that. One thing I'm doing for reading and spelling the first few weeks to get them reading better is take most phonograms and find as many words as we can with that phonogram, especially the vowels and how they work differently. I think they'll think it's fun. My spelling lessons have been pretty rigorous, but I'd have to say their spelling is the highest score they get on SATs (woohoo!). I hope my kids enjoy school more because one of the main changes I'm making is to shorten the rigorous routines and enrich the knowledge based subjects more. I was more rigorous with skill and less enriched with knowledge. Maybe they'll enjoy it more. Hey if they were in high school, we'd have a great time (ha, ha). My kids are only 8 & 9. Still young and love to play. I also want to work on being more joyful at home. I don't want to get as frustrated or impatient. I want God to make me more like Him. I want my constant happy attitude (that's the goal) to rub off on them. When I'm not happy everything is a chore for everybody. Thank God I'm settled. I'm even loosing weight here without much extra effort. I don't want to move again. If you want a hard copy of my lesson plans, schedule, and overviews, email at kahuahana@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading! Raquel Werk http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/388194/ Sun, 9 Sep 2007 19:57:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/388194/ God is so good to me. You would not believe how blessed I am right now. We're moving back home (Maui) after being on Oahu for 4 years. I am excited about leaving the Noah Plan Lessons because I've used them all and really enjoying developing my own lessons. Maybe the level of the joy of learning will be increased. Come August 30, I should have almost all year planned for Lit, Hist, Science, Geo, and other ancillary subjects. I'm also excited to get into my last year with the Writing Road to Reading and RightStart Math. If you're reading this, pray for me. The Lord gave me a vision to start a Principle Approach (PA) school in Maui seven years ago. I might be on the threshold of developing a team of parents who have the same vision. We'll see. I'll post my lesson plans once I finish them. anyone want to do 4th grade PA curriculum with me? Email me. Raquel Werk http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/349333/ Fri, 29 Jun 2007 03:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Raquel/349333/