This blog is a look into our homeschooling journey as we use Tapestry of Grace. You'll also find stories from various books I have collected that are now in the public domain and real life slipping in occasionally. Most posts from the public domain books have a pdf that you may download and print. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Fri, 1 May 2009 12:52:00 -0500 Fri, 1 May 2009 12:52:00 -0500 My life has been really busy the last 4 months. Most important of all my dad has been going back and forth between the hospital and rehab since February 11. He had a very serious bowel obstruction with leakage and it has been an ordeal. Please pray for him, his name is Richard. Right now he is back in rehab and discouraged. Pray that he will gain strength and listen to his PTs, dietitians, and doctors. He's more than a little stubborn. We are especially praying that he will not spend the remainder of his days in a nursing home, unfortunately he's on the road to do just that. On a lighter note, we've also been busy with 2 co-ops, one of them a TOG co-op, and all three boys were in a production of the Wizard of Oz. Ben played Uncle Henry and Verdo: Zach played a member of the Winkie Guard (bottom left): And Ethan was a Munchkin (back row, right side): The direction and production were fabulous. All three boys all had a great time. A few people have emailed me asking if I was going to continue blogging Year 3. I will. Despite the busyness of the past few months we did get some work done. I think to catch up rather than posting all the weeks separately I will group them together based on subject matter. By His Grace, Karen http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/684795/ Fri, 1 May 2009 12:52:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/684795/ The New Colossus a sonnet by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) written in 1883 Grammar Stage Paper sculpture of the Statue of Liberty to color, cut, and glue. Statue of Liberty Facts worksheet Ellis Island Facts worksheet Grover Cleveland President card (Included with Chester A. Arthur) Statue of Liberty coloring page with Grover Cleveland Quote Ethan's Facts to Know: Grover Cleveland was the only president married in the White House. Grover Cleveland was the first Democrat to become president since Buchanan before the Civil War. Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty. Gustave Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower, was the Structural Engineer. Joseph Pulitzer raised much of the money needed for building the pedestal. Dialectic I had my dialectic son complete the Ellis Island booklet provided by the NPS. Some information he filled in via web searches. Rhetoric Read Crime and Punishment with your rhetoric student if at all possible. It is available on Librivox.org if you prefer audio, although I find the reader for the first 7 chapters is difficult to listen to. I went with audible.com. All Levels We downloaded and watched Modern Marvels: The Statue of Liberty from iTunes ($1.99) We all read The New Colossus. I've included a picture of the Statue of Liberty and the Colossus of Rhodes on the sheet I formatted. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/682402/ Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/682402/ Lower Grammar We learned a little Swahili. I found a lovely book called We All Went on Safari:  A Counting Journey Through Tanzania by Laurie Krebs. Ethan memorized the story which helped him learn to count to ten in Swahili. PBSKids has a decent site about Africa. There is video of a Dogon dance, masks to print (they are on the smallish side), music, and audio of a Swahili folktale. We made mini-books about African animals. Ethan colored the pictures, cut them apart, mounted them on the cover of the folded card stock, and then wrote 3 facts inside each card. We might glue these books onto a file folder. (weeks 28-30) National Geographic Kids is a wonderful resource for weeks 28-30. I've linked the site map. Ethan enjoyed taking the African Brain Teaser Quiz. The animals listed in the left column each have sites that include lots of information and video, plus you can print off picture and facts. This site also has masks for students to print out and they can color them. (week 28) Pete's Pond is a wonderful webcam of a watering hole in Botswana. No time for us to make a drum, but we watched this video on how to make a Djembe Drum. I did find a site that gives instructions on how to make a drum out of disposable cups. (Week 29) We made some tasty African treats. They are from the menu of Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Walt Disney World.  (Week 29) President Cards for Rutherford B. Hayes and James Garfield. (Week 29) President Card for Chester A. Arthur (Week 30) African Folk Tales: Anansi Tries to Steal All the Wisdom in the World Anansi and the Turtle Anansi and the Firefly The Jackal and the Leopard Writing Assignment: We wrote a friendly letter to an MTW missionary serving in Ethiopia. She is a nurse who is ministering to the community of Addis Ababa, especially the many families and orphans affected by HIV/AIDS. Ethan's Facts to Know: Africa is the second largest continent in the world. Only Asia is bigger. There are over 1,000 different languages in Africa. Kilimanjaro, one of the world's largest mountains, is actually a volcano. Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. There are 53 countries in Africa. A folktale is a story that is passed down through generations by word of mouth, they often teach a moral, or lesson. Myths, tall tales, legends, fables, and fairy tales are all folktales. More than 1,000,000 children in Africa have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Dialectic Wonderful African mask site for older students. Truly a work of art. I highly recommend completing this project. Rhetoric Peter Kreeft has an article on Nietzsche from his Pillars of Unbelief series. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/676819/ Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:32:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/676819/ This essay is often attributed to Mark Twain, but that is disputed; some say it originally appeared as a letter written by MJ Shields in The Economist. In any case I thought it was funny. In year 1, that useless letter ‘c’ would be dropped to be replased either by ‘k’ or ‘s’, and likewise ‘x’ would no longer be a part of the alphabet.  The only kase in which ‘c’ would retained would be the ‘ch’ formation, which will be dealt with later.   Year 2 might reform ‘w’ spelling, so that ‘which’ and ‘one’ would take the same konsonant, wil Year 3 might well abolish ‘y’ replasing it with ‘I’ and Iear 4 might fiks the ‘g/j’ anomali wonse and for all. Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant leterz ‘c,’ ‘y,’ and ‘x’ == bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez-- tu riplais ‘ch,’ ‘sh,’ and ‘th’ rispektivli. Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iears ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.”    http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/647430/ Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:27:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/647430/ I got a couple of gifts from Levenger for Christmas that I want to share because I love them so. The first is a gift I bought as stocking-stuffers for the kids and me. Am I the only one who buys herself gifts as she Christmas shops? It's a book bungie. I'm always throwing books in my bag and the book bungie not only keeps my place, but also keeps the book closed, no more unintentionally dog-eared pages. The set of 5 featured above is on sale for $20, it really is a great gift, be sure to save one for yourself. My husband gave me a Levenger gift card and I purchased a new Circa dodad that I've had my eye on, the Circa Deluxe Shell: They are like a Circa binder! It stands up beautifully, you can label the spine, and it has a bungie to keep it closed. Right now it's being featured in Levenger's "Stock-up and Save sale." Sale ends on January 26, 2009.  The set includes two shells and twenty-two 1" disks. What a deal right? I also got a great deal on unpunched lined paper, why spend $38 for 300 sheets of punched when you can spend $9.95 for 300 sheets of unpunched and use your own punch. All white paper is an option if your prefer (I do.) I also have a code for 20% off any purchase - SPCHG1 - I'm not sure when it expires. I am not an affiliate for Levenger, I just love their products. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/646746/ Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:45:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/646746/ I love TOG's rhetoric level literature, there is really nothing that I don't love about TOG at the rhetoric level, but I REALLY love the lit. Christy Somerville has done an amazing job, amazing. The Frameworks and Poetics documents are incredible. But, but, we've been faltering. In a perfect world my morning coffee wouldn't be bitter, my dog's hair would stay on his body, and my 15 yo son would be able to comb through multiple books and digital documents a week on his own to complete his literature assignments. Lately the first and the third have been hit or miss and I'm wondering if a shaved Golden would look weird. As I was drinking my slightly bitter coffee one morning I had a Eureka moment, why not make my own TOG literature guides? So I do. And things have been going so much better. I only make guides when a literature assignment is spread over two weeks or more. Here is a list of what is included in the guides: All the Literary Introduction notes from the SAPs are cut and pasted one after the other. All the Poetics readings (all together, except author bio) All the Frameworks readings (all together) Author Biography Literary Terms Questions - I do not add space when I format the questions because I don't want to limit Ben's answer to my arbitrary decision on how much space to provide. We use the Circe notebooks and he adds pages as needed for his answers. Literary supplements I began using this system with Les Mis and it worked really well, we are now using one for The Scarlett Letter. Ben is happy and getting more work done more quickly and I am learning more as well as I cut and paste, but also because the guide is so portable and easy to pick up at any time and read I find myself doing just that. Hope this helps. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/645266/ Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/645266/ Lower Grammar Alamo Coloring pages Ethan's Facts to Know: Santa Anna was a general and president of Mexico.* Santa Ana's army destroyed the Alamo in 1836 "Remember the Alamo!" was the battle cry used by Sam Houston's army as the fought for the independence of Texas. Sam Houston was the 1st president of the Republic of Texas.* *Copywork available by clinking on link above. Dialectic I downloaded lesson plans on the Alamo that include mini bios and other helpful items from thealamo.org. We read some 1st hand accounts of the Battle. Zach really enjoyed reading the book on George Muller. He was inspired by Muller's faith and prayer life. We watched this YouTube version of the Ballad of Davy Crockett. It contains a lot of extra information via type on the screen. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/638702/ Wed, 3 Dec 2008 07:45:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/638702/ Lower Grammar We are in a terrific co-op with gifted lower grammar teachers and Ethan has made some great crafts. This week instead of using paper bags to make Indian vests, they used pillow cases with fabric paint. They hold up much better than paper bags. Here is a president card for Andrew Jackson, Van Buren is included to save paper. We learned some words in Cherokee. We looked at pictures of the Great Smoky Mountains and learned why they are smoky. Ethan has been building his word bank in writing, he uses a different colored card for each part of speech. I found this great sentence pocket holding at Lakeshore Learning. We have a local store in Cherry Hill, NJ, but you can probably find something similar in your local teacher supply store or order it online. Ethan's Facts to Know: Andrew Jackson was the 7th president. Before becoming president, Andrew Jackson was a war hero. He won the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. Andrew Jackson's nickname is Old Hickory.* The Five Civilized Tribes included the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole. Sequoyah created a writing system for the Cherokee language.* *Copywork available by clinking on link above. Dialectic & Rhetoric We looked more closely at election of 1828, including changes to the political system, voting, and mud slinging. It wasn't pretty. The site linked has lots of great information and links, be sure to look around. iTunes has an audio version of the Biography Channel's episode on Andrew Jackson for only .95¢. Regarding the nullification act, we read portion of Chapter XVI from "Building the Nation" by Charles Carleton Coffin ©1883. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/638701/ Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:44:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/638701/ Stuart Townend wrote two of my favorite hymns, How Deep the Father’s Love and this one, In Christ Alone (co-written with Keith Getty.)  I love how poetic and theologically deep his songs are. May these words be a blessing to you. In Christ alone my hope is found He is my light my strength my song This Cornerstone this solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm What heights of love what depths of peace When fears are stilled when strivings cease My Comforter my all in all Here in the love of Christ I stand In Christ alone who took on flesh Fullness of God in helpless Babe This gift of love and righteousness Scorned by the ones He came to save 'Til on that cross as Jesus died The wrath of God was satisfied For ev'ry sin on Him was laid Here in the death of Christ I live There in the ground His body lay Light of the world by darkness slain Then bursting forth in glorious day Up from the grave He rose again And as He stands in victory Sin's curse has lost its grip on me For I am His and He is mine Bought with the precious blood of Christ No guilt in life no fear in death This is the pow'r of Christ in me From life's first cry to final breath Jesus commands my destiny No pow'r of hell no scheme of man Can ever pluck me from His hand 'Til He returns or calls me home Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/628730/ Sat, 6 Dec 2008 10:43:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/628730/ Lower Grammar Here's a site with the words and music of the Erie Canal song, "Low Bridge, Everybody Down." Coloring sheet of the Erie Canal. Presidential card for John Quincy Adams. You may have downloaded it last week with Madison. Enchanted Learning has some Audubon coloring pages. Ethan colored one while listening to be read this week's literature selection. Ethan's Facts to Know: John James Audubon was an American artist and naturalist* A naturalist is one who studies natural history by observing nature. De Witt Clinton is the father of the Erie Canal.* People made fun of the Erie Canal while it was being built and called it "Clinton's Big Ditch." *Copywork available by clinking on link above. Rhetoric There is a podcast called "New York City History: The Bowery Boys." We listened to one on De Witt Clinton and the Erie Canal. You can find it on iTunes for download or listen on the Bowery Boys web site.  Very conversational tone, I recommend for parents or rhetoric students. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/618168/ Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:33:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/karenciavo/618168/