A Day in the Life - Homeschool Blogger

Weekly Wrap Up (11/20/09)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:47:00 -0600

What a week this has been. Certainly far from typical.

Monday was my birthday, so we took off school and I went to a day spa.

Well, not quite. We had a somewhat typical school day except that during the day I made myself a coconut cake and helped my children finish preparing for their book club presentations which were on...

Tuesday.
This month each family presented on one of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We chose By the Shores of Silver Lake. We chose it mainly because we had started it last February and never finished it. We actually finished the book. (That's got to be some kind of record!) My son wrote his report on the book in general and included a little information about the Homestead Act. My daughter wrote about her favorite part of the book which was Christmas and made a display of the different types of birds mentioned in the book. We also made sourdough biscuits to share with the club. After book club we came home briefly before violin lessons. After violin, I rushed home, made a quick dinner of spaghetti then my husband took my son to basketball practice at 6:30. That was a long day.

Wednesday
Nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened during the day. We did finally finish a game of Life on the Farm (review coming soon.)

After dinner my husband and I began moving all this furniture

away from the walls in our living room so that on...

Thursday
I could start painting.

At this point I was feeling a bit concerned about my color choice.

What a long day! I managed to get 2 coats of paint done and fell into bed exhausted.

Friday
I painted the trim in the living room and began to try to catch up on laundry. It feels great to be finished. Of course I still have to move all the furniture back!

Visit Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to read more Weekly Wrap-ups.
Visit A High and Noble Calling to read more Homemakers Haven posts.

The Well-Educated Mind

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:30:00 -0600

The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had By Susan Wise Bauer

I have a small confession to make. One of the reasons I homeschool is pretty selfish. I want to homeschool because it gives me the opportunity to learn so many things that I didn't learn in my own years of formal education. Although I have always loved to read, I didn't study many of the classics. I love history now, but learned very little about history in my school days. Foreign language? Let's not even go there.

Trying to give my children a classical education without having one myself is both exciting and scary. So far, I've done a lot of learning alongside my kids. But that's going to be harder to do as my children get older. That's one of the reasons that a few years ago I purchased a copy of The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. The sub-title is A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had. That's exactly what I need.

You can read the rest of my review at The Curriculum Choice. And by the way, The Curriculum Choice is up for 2 awards at The Homeschool Post. We would really appreciate your vote in The Best Family or Group Blog and The Best Curriculum or Business Blog. Voting ends tomorrow, so don't wait! Thanks.

Difficult Subjects to Teach

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:10:00 -0600

We spent a lot of yesterday trying to get our book reports written for our monthly book club. It is a task that I don't particularly enjoy. I struggle to figure out how to teach my children to write without just telling them what to write. Writing is the hardest subject for me to teach.

What are your most difficult subjects to teach? Have you found a curriculum that has helps you teach a subject you struggle with?

Exploramania

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0600

Exploramania is an educational company that is committed to developing products that engage children both mentally and physically. They use a multiple sensory approach to learning. I received a unique product called Gymathics to review.

Gymathics is a DVD that combines exercise with learning mathematical concepts. During different portions of the exercise routine, different types of math are taught. For example, during the stretching portion, shapes, angles, parallel lines and other similar concepts are demonstrated. During a cardio-vascular workout, there are counting and various skip-counting sections.

There is a short sample of the video available on their website. In addition, the product page has a detailed list of all the topics covered on the DVD.

This product gets mixed reviews in our family. My two older children (11 and 9) do not like the video. My younger son (7) likes to watch it, but doesn't do the exercises. Since the exercise is a vital component to the program, it's really not useful for us. It seems that there is a mismatch between the difficulty of the math concepts and the age that is likely to enjoy this type of video. The geometry concepts are more suited to middle to late elementary aged students, but those students are old enough to feel "silly" using the video. Younger students are more likely to find it fun, except they have more difficulty in keeping up with the exercise routine and are less likely to understand any of the math except for the skip counting. I think the skip counting portion could be extremely beneficial and I do plan to encourage my 7 year old to try that section again.

Gymathics and other products by Exploramania are available on their website. The DVD is $24.99. To read more reviews of Gymathics, visit the Homeschool Crew blog.

Disclosure: This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew. Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.

Wesley Movie

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:45:00 -0600

Tomorrow is my birthday. I mention it for a couple of reasons. First, I'm not planning on celebrating any more birthdays after this one. Second, last night I actually got to go out on a date. This is unfortunately not a frequent occurrence in our house. After a nice dinner and a little bit of window shopping, we headed downtown for a movie premiere!

Yes, you read that right. I don't live in California but I went to a movie premier last night. Wesley is the story of John Wesley's early ministry. It was filmed here using a lot of local actors (hence the location of the premiere). The lead was played by Burgess Jenkins, who happens to be a friend of my husband. (Well actually my husband is better friends with his older brother, but why quibble?)

I confess, I was a bit skeptical about how good this independent, low-budget film could turn out. I was pleasantly surprised. The script was good, the story interesting, and the acting, while not Oscar-winning, was WAY above what I've seen in many of the Christian films. (I'm not trying to be cruel, but I've found some of them painful to watch.)

And most exciting was the message that the film conveyed. John Wesley was an Anglican priest who had no understanding of the gospel. He was working hard to earn his salvation, but he had no assurance of his own salvation. It was a failed missionary journey to Georgia, meeting with the Moravians, and other influences that led him to true faith in Christ and an understanding that justification is by faith in Christ, not our works.

After seeing the movie, I am very interested in learning more about John Wesley's life and ministry. I know that I will have disagreements with some of his theology, but I think that there may be fewer than I previously thought. I'll try to mention any good resources for studying John and Charles Wesley that I discover.

I've got a plan!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:52:00 -0600

I've been feeling kind of blah this year. I've tried not to complain here too much for a couple of reasons. First, I strive to not complain in general (though fail miserably) and second, who wants to read a bunch of whiny "I'm depressed" posts. This school year has been tough. We aren't accomplishing everything that I want to or think that we need to. I don't really have a plan for fixing that exactly. But I do have a plan to cheer myself up.

Next week we're taking 2 days off of school so I can paint my living room!

Maybe this sounds ridiculous, but I haven't been this excited about anything for quite a while. I bought the paint at the end of the summer but ran out of time before starting school. I had resigned myself to waiting for spring, but thanks to Heidi, I realized that I could do it now, before Thanksgiving. She's a whole lot busier than I am and she's painting. So I decided to go for it.

I'm looking forward to a freshly painted living room to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. Plus the extra school break will do me good.

Life of Fred Pre-Algebra

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:40:00 -0600

I got a notification that Life of Fred Pre-Algebra is available from Polka Dot Publishing. I just checked the website and he hasn't even had a chance to add the description. But, it is on the order page. Here's the description:

Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology
Definition of Life, Sets, Fractions, Germination of Seeds, Area of a Rectangle, Volume of a Cube, Ordinal Numbers, Diameter and Circumference of a Circle, Definition of B, 2% of 500, Four Ways Plants Make New Plants, d = rt, 20% Discount, the Five Kingdoms, Phyla, Classes, Orders, Families, Genera, Species, Your Brain, Conversion Factors, Where the Non-Water Mass of a Plant Comes From—Plants Don’t Eat Dirt, Subsets of Sets, Digestion, Eyes, Negative Numbers, Dominant Genes, Genotypes, Phenotypes, Blood, Staying Alive, Solving Algebraic Equations,
Volume of a Cylinder, Word Problems, Breathing, Chlorophyll vs. Hemoglobin vs. Hemocyanin, Avogadro’s Number, Stoichiometry, the Whole Numbers, a Proof that Division by Zero is Not Permitted, Bones, the Integumentary System, Epidermis and Dermis, Meiosis and Mitosis, Chromosomes, DNA, Alleles, Changing Your Phenotype.
ISBN: 978-0-9791072-2-1, hardback, 288 pages. $29

My son has really enjoyed the Fractions book and is working through Decimals and Percents. He has finally stopped complaining about math! I'm looking forward to the Pre-Algebra book.

By the way, I should mention that I have received nothing from Stanley Schmidt, the author of Life of Fred. I just like the books, think the author has marvelous customer service, and like to share when I find resources I like.

(Edited to fix author's name. I always want to say his name is Fred because of the books, but it is Stanley.)

Carnival of Homeschooling

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:01:00 -0600

This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up. Be sure to visit janice-campbell.com to find some great new articles.

Christmas Giveaway

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 08:02:00 -0600

Wow, I just found this site, and they are having some really great giveaways this month! Like the ENTIRE Veggie Tales library on DVD. My younger kids would be thrilled.

AVKO

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0600

AVKO is a non-profit, 501(C)3 membership organization that focuses on the development and production of materials and especially techniques to teach reading and spelling, handwriting (manuscript and cursive), and keyboarding. AVKO is dedicated to the teaching everyone how to read and spell, regardless of their mild to moderate learning disabilities, dyslexia, poverty, or opportunity.

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschoool Crew, I received a membership to the AVKO Foundation in order to review its benefits. I had not heard of AVKO before seeing them listed on the Crew vendor list, but I had heard of one of their products: Sequential Spelling.

I've spent some time exploring the website and downloading much of the material that is included with the membership. From a purely financial standpoint, the membership is a good value. The value of the free downloads available to members far exceeds the cost of the membership. The question then is whether you need the material.

If you have children who have no difficulties with reading and are super spellers, then you probably wouldn't be very interested in what AVKO has to offer. If, on the other hand, you have a child that is struggling to learn how to read, especially if you suspect dyslexia, then AVKO is an excellent resource.

A few years ago I would have had absolutely NO interest in this material. My oldest son learned to read at 4 years old. He reads well above his 6th grade level, and spells almost intuitively.

My older daughter, though not as easy to teach to read as my son, does read well. She was about 6 when blending sounds finally clicked, and she hasn't had problems with reading since. Her spelling however, is an entirely different story. I've been looking for help with teaching her spelling. The problem is that I spell like my oldest does. I just know how to spell words. That of course, makes it difficult to teach someone else.

My younger son has had quite a struggle! He is 7-1/2 and we're finally making progress. I think. Sometimes I think we're getting nowhere because there are things he can read, and then the next day (or the next sentence) it's like he hasn't ever seen the word in his life! So, it is with him in mind that I will be looking further at the material from AVKO.

Here are the eBooks that are available for free with a membership to AVKO.

The Reading Teacher's List of over 5,500 Spelling Words
The Patterns of English Spelling Volumes 1-10
To Teach a Dyslexic
The Teaching of Reading and Spelling
The Teaching of Reading and Spelling from Square One

In addition to the eBooks, there are mp3 recordings of seminars as well as some other resources, like dictation sentences and supplemental worksheets. Another benefit of membership is a 25% discount on all printed materials. (Like Sequential Spelling).

A year-long membership is only $25. I recommend that you explore the AVKO website and see if there are resources there that would help you teach reading and spelling to your children. To read more reviews of AVKO, visit the Homeschool Crew Blog.

Disclosure: This product was provided to our family for free as members of the 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Crew. Reviews and opinions expressed in this blog are our own.