http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:24:00 -0500 Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:24:00 -0500 I have started a new blog at Blogspot. I am moving all my favorite craft projects and recipes from this blog over to that one, as well as adding new content. I will continue posting Monday Memories and things of a more personal nature here. I just felt a need to become more organized in my blogging, to compartmentalized my interests more.   The new blog's address is: Over the Crescent Moon http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/604456/ Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:24:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/604456/ The group of middle-school boys I work with for language arts are working on a writing assignment based on this website: The day I was born They will be writing a report that includes what was happening the day they were born, as well as what important things happened on that day during other years. It will also include prices, music, and trends from the year of their birth.    The cover page will include photographs of the child as a baby and how he looks now.   I have been having so much fun helping them to do the research that I thought other people might enjoy this project as well. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/603549/ Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:15:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/603549/      I had a question asked in my comments from my last post that I'm going to try to answer, although I don't pretend to be an expert on the various homeschool philosophies.       During the late 1800's and early 1900's there were a lot of new ideas coming out about education. Some of the educational movements that are still spreading today were started then, Maria Montessori was in Italy working with children from low income families to teach them life skills, nutrition, and more hands-on ways of doing regular school subjects. She did not believe in exposing young children to fantasy books, because the young mind cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality, so the two Montessori preschools I have worked in had no fairy tale books, only books about people doing plausible things and non-fiction. This is the part of Montessori's philosophy that I disagree with. Many of the other ideas I really like. The life skills and handwork are helpful and she had some great ideas about teaching geometry.     Also at this time, Rudolf Steiner was in Germany coming up with his ideas for education, which is called Waldorf Education. I have never worked in a Waldorf school, although I did help out in a Waldorf art class at the school where I work now. I do use a lot of Waldorf supplies in my own homeschooling (and did so when the girls were little, even though I didn't know what Waldorf was back then). Children under the age of 7 are not pushed to read, because they are not considered to be mature enough for that extra stress. They are encouraged to explore nature and express themselves through art and creative play. To help foster a link between children and nature and to give the children different textures to experience, toys are made only out of natural materials, wood, wool, cotton, and silk mostly. The art supplies are also made of natural materials, beeswax crayons, water color paints, colored pencils, and clay. The pictures that the children were able to create with the block shaped crayons in that class I was in were just amazing (many of these children didn't believe they could draw before they took this class).     In England at this same time, Charlotte Mason was coming up with her ideas. Her ideas were specifically for private schools and home schooling. Her teaching method is literature based and avoids workbooks and text books. Children are encouraged to tell stories back to their parents as a way of checking for understanding. Once a child can write, copy work and journaling is part of the school day. In those ways, Waldorf and Charlotte Mason are very similar, because notebooks with the child writing about what they have learned and drawing an accompanying picture, is also part of Waldorf.      Nature study and keeping a nature journal is part of Charloote Mason's plan. Excersize is also important, even if you are staying inside.      The lesson plans take quite a bit of planning, because every aspect (math, launguage arts, science, history, art, and anything else) should be incorporated in what you are studying. Sort of like doing themes for unit studies, but without separating out math time or English.     Charlotte Mason is actually the one I have least read about out of these 3 philosophers. I have noticed that many of the homeschool moms on here follow her teachings, though.     I don't really follow any one philosophy. I read as much as I can and take what works for us.     We lean towards Waldorf for art and toys. I also think fairy tales are culturally important, so we read those along with non-fiction. We do occationally read something out of a text book, although not often. We use Math*U*See for math and I have been very happy with the program.    http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/603138/ Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:36:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/603138/ I'm going to be up late. I just put Blaze's bedding in the washing machine after he threw up all over his sheets and pillow.    He was complaining about a bad head ache, so I gave him his medicine and put him to bed early. He had only been in bed about twenty minutes before he vomited. I don't really know if he had a seizure or just a bad migraine headache.    What leads me to think that it was just a migraine was that he was still awake when I got back from the laundry room. Usually after a seizure he's "out cold" pretty quick.    The neurologist told me that migraines are pretty common with epileptic children. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/601980/ Wed, 8 Oct 2008 19:42:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/601980/   We went to the Florida Museum of Natural History today to see their new exhibit, Grossology, based on the children's books about the more discusting parts of human anatomy.      Blaze had a blast! the barf machine the urine game THE END        While we were at the museum, we also went to see the local Native American exhibits. house on a shell midden Seminole patchwork   We also made a short stop at the Harn art museum, which is right next door to the natural history museum, so we could see the exhibit "Almost Alice".   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/600130/ Sat, 4 Oct 2008 18:51:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/600130/       Yesterday afternoon we went to the Fall program for kids at the small branch library near the school.     A Fairy named Raven Moondance read farm and pumpkin related stories to the children and led them in songs. Then she carved a pumpkin and let all the children take home some of the seeds to plant. It took some convincing to get Blaze to put his hand in a slimy pumpkin to get seeds. She also let the children each pick out a stuffed animal to play with during the program. Blaze chose this very cute little mouse in a shoe puppet, which was perfect for him yesterday, because he was acting shy, too.      While we were at the library, we also read several books including one about how tadpoles develop into frogs: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/598724/ Thu, 2 Oct 2008 05:39:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/598724/         One of the boys at the school gave me 4 tadpole yesterday. Only three made it home alive, but those three are doing well so far. We put them in water from the lake and they are now living in Blaze's room, so he can watch them develop into frogs.     We are finishing up our study of the Inuit and getting ready to move on to other Native American tribes.     On Monday, we made little arctic figures out of white clay, to use as game pieces.        The game is to pick up all the figures and shake them up. Then gently toss them down. The player gets one point for every figure that lands right side up (they all have flat bottoms for this purpose). The first player to reach 20 points wins.      Our pieces are finally dry, so we should be able to play today.      We have also started getting ready for Halloween. Blaze wants to be Robin Hood this year. Over the weekend I found a pair of dark green legging for him at Goodwill for $1. Then Monday I finished making the hat.      We have also put up a count down calendar for Halloween. Each day has a riddle. Then you open the little door on the picture to see if you answer to the riddle is correct. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/598045/ Wed, 1 Oct 2008 05:57:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/598045/     It's still hot here, but not as hot as it was all summer. We've been able to turn off the air conditioner and open the windows. We have also been able to spend more time outside.      Saturday, Blaze and I talked about Fall colors and leaves swirling in the breeze. Then we made wet-on-wet water color paintings using the colors we had talked about. we decided afterwords that the one above looked like an abstract Mickey Mouse.     Blaze has also been spending a lot of time on his favorite activity, making bubbles. We found a never-before-opened set for making large bubbles at the Hospice Resale Shop for 49 cents.     I spent some time over the weekend cleaning out the garden and preparing it for Fall/Winter planting.     It's a desolate wasteland now, But, hope springs eternal:    The only plants that are still thriving in the garden are the lemon grass and the sesame. I have been particularly interested in what the sesame is doing, because I never knew how sesame seeds grew before. Here are the flowers: And here are what the pods look like that the seeds will come from:          More Fall foliage in Florida: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/597505/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:51:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/597505/     I had told Blaze that for the first day of Fall we would take a nature walk to look for signs of the changing season, but it rained on the first day of Fall and again on the second day. So, yesterday, we finally got to spend some time outdoors.     First we went out to the garden for a while. All traces of the bamboo house have been completely removed now and I started cleaning out all the dead summer plants. Then, after going home and drinking a lot of lemonade, we went for a walk around the lake.    The browning of the water grass is really the most noticeable sign that the seasons are changing. This little guy just sat there in the water and let me take his picture. pretending to fish We were able to find a few leaves that were changing colors We sat in a clearing and made this crown of leaves and Blaze pretended to build a campfire. Here I am wearing the crown while Blaze took my picture Blaze crossing the creek We took a tiny side-path we had never noticed before and found all these lovely wildflowers.    We returned home just as sunset was beginning. There were a few dark clouds that made it look like it might rain again, but that just increased the number of colors in the sky. Watching colorful clouds was the perfect ending for our little outing.      We continued our Fall activities once we got in the apartment, by learning some new Fall themed songs from Sing a Song of Seasons     and then reading The Story of the Root Children as a bedtime story.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/595232/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:09:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/595232/        Many of you may already know about this site, but every day for the past couple weeks, I've been checking to see what new thing will be offered. Each freebie is only offered for that one day and every day is different. For instance, today it's sewing tips for making modest clothes, one day last week it was an 18th century alphabet book.     Here is the link: Homeschool Freebie of the Day http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/594666/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:13:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crescentmoon/594666/