Deut. 6:5-9, "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart... And these words…shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them… when thou walkest by the way…" http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Tue, 4 Aug 2009 09:17:00 -0500 Tue, 4 Aug 2009 09:17:00 -0500 I am MOVING!  I've owned a new domain name for my blog for 11 months. Obviously it hasn't been on my to-do top ten list this year. BUT...we have started moving things over and spiffing the place up AND all my new posts will be over there. So... I would love for you to join me at my NEW old blog http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/ I have lots of fun stuff coming up. Right now I'm doing a week long spotlight on Preschool Activity Bags (Simon just loves 'em!). Next week I will start sharing a free preschool program that I have written- Read to Me & ABC!     You can also look forward to some unit ideas for Ancient Egypt as Elijah and I finish up our travels to that mysterious time and place this week.  Hope to see you at the new place! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/714151/ Tue, 4 Aug 2009 09:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/714151/ As we rowed Albert, Elijah completed a backyard bird notebook.   We still have one more bird to add, but I thought I would go ahead and post pictures!  :-) COVER PAGE CARDINAL ROBIN BLUE JAY MOURNING DOVE GOLDFINCH General Bird Information Page Many of the printables for this lap ~n~ notebook came from Homeschool Share. Albert Resoure Page (cardinals) Backyard Birds Page The rest of the printables came from Evan-Moor's Giant Science Resource Book and Enchanted Learning. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/583990/ Tue, 2 Sep 2008 15:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/583990/ The lessons for this book (Albert) also suggest some clay-making.   So, we did!   Due to a recent find in our yard, Elijah decided to mold and make robin eggs instead of cardinal eggs.   I think the end result turned out grand!      Elijah's nest The real nest! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/583974/ Tue, 2 Sep 2008 15:11:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/583974/ We're going to go E-A-S-Y this year with the nature journal.   With young children, it's more about getting outside and exploring than it is recording.   It will be an educational experience; you don't have to try to create one.  (I'm talking to myself in case you are wondering!)   The journal is not necessary.   BUT  I think this is so very simple that I want to share. Take pictures.   Have your student pick one picture each week and print it. Give your student letter stickers and a date stamp. Slip it in to a page protector and smile because you-are-done.  No more lugging the backpack (with pens, colored pencils, and the kitchen sink) outside. No more meltdowns because..."Mom!  I can't draw a squirrel like that!  But I want to!"  Welcome to super simple nature journaling.   Yay! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/572012/ Fri, 8 Aug 2008 21:32:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/572012/ This morning while we were walking, I noticed that Elijah kept saying some really cool things about spring.  I told him when we got home that we'd work on putting his words in a poem.  I gave him prompts such as I smell spring... I see spring... I feel spring... I hear spring... He changed the line to I see some spring.  This was hard for me since every word counts in poetry, and it's best to elminiate (what I call) "wimpy" words, but I decided not to make it in to a battle.   I think, in the end, it worked nicely for him.   I formed his words (mostly his exact words) in to lines since I think lining is a hard concept to grasp, but I may have him copy the poem in his own handwriting, and that will give us a chance to discuss line and why it is important in poetry (it's *usually* best to end on a strong word).  I also added "stealing my brother's hat" -- he was trying to think what to say about the wind, and the wind really did carry Simon's hat away this morning!   The rest are his words.  :)  I think tea time with poetry is really paying off!  He included so many images without any prompting from me! God Made Spring by Elijah I smell some spring fresh like lemons in the sky I see some spring green peaceful grass red buds on trees I feel some spring sun rising on me wind stealing my brother's hat I hear some spring birds singing like an opera in the sky If you decide to do this exercise with your own students, please post and leave me a note in the comments, so I can read their spring poems (Elijah would love that). http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/514772/ Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:46:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/514772/ Our nature walks these past few weeks have revealed one thing-- Spring has finally sprung!  Here is one of my favorite poems about spring (by Gerard Manley Hopkins) NOTHING is so beautiful as spring—   When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;   Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;         The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush   The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.   What is all this juice and all this joy?   A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning         In Eden garden.—Have, get, before it cloy,   Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning, Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,   Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/514594/ Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:01:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/514594/ ...he can do amazing things!   Last week Elijah decided he would like to make a Bear Lapbook.  I told him he was on his own because 1.  It wasn't what I had planned and 2.  I know nothing about all these different bears (that he knows so much about). I told him he was the teacher, boss, and appointed expert.   I gave him my reference lapbook to look at to decide the types of minit books he wanted me to print.  He told me he needed some time to think. LOL! When he was done thinking, he asked me to make a list as he told me some of the things he was going to do. Honestly, he said, "Mom, I need a layer book for eight kinds of bears." I almost fell on the floor when he said, "I need a three flap with cover for brown bears, and I will put three different kinds inside like Kodiak, European Brown Bear, and Himilayan Brown Bear." He did much by himself, but he did have my help for a few things including the following... ~I printed the templates for him as he told me what to print.   He did make the trifold on his own, though. ~I cut out the petal book, but he did the others. ~I helped a LOT with the bear map. ~I googled the names of the bears as he told me (Google images) so he could choose pictures. ~I gave him a page of information to use as he pleased. ~He explained what he wanted for the "What are Bears" minit book.  He told me, "I want people to guess -- birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, or mammals." So I showed him a five flap, and he said, "yes, that's what I want." He wrote yes/no behind each flap. ~I asked questions once in awhile to get him thinking about different things, but I really tried hard to let him be. He kept reminding me, "You said I'm the boss this week, mom." LOL ~I cut out the panda bear. ~I helped with the final lay-out.  He doesn't enjoy that part at all. That's all, folks.  He did the rest.   He brainstormed, made a list, organized information, created minit books, told me if he needed anything...he DID it!   HOORAY! I went to a conference last week where Andrew Pudewa told us that, "children want to do what they think they can do." I also heard Jeannie Fullbright speak, and she gently reminded us that we need to be moving toward independence. So, with both of those ideas in mind, I decided to let him try his own thing. He told me his next lapbook will be Big Cats (one file folder) and Little Cats (another file folder). Oh, and after that... Birds of Prey. ;) So, I'm trying hard to put some of my plans to the side (so, you know, he can *really* learn). http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/511991/ Mon, 7 Apr 2008 11:47:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/511991/ Simon sat at the table and cried last week while Elijah was working on his lapbook.  I asked him, "Do you want to make a lapbook, too."  He nodded and said, "OH!" (which, in Simon language, means YES!) So, here he is.   You can see him pointing and smiling in the first picture.  He was so proud.  If you ask him to get his lapbook for you, he will come and show it off!     I am going to have to make some simple lapbooks for him for school this next year.  He loves being involved. Here he is hard at work-- sticking the bear pictures. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/511978/ Mon, 7 Apr 2008 11:25:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/511978/ Here is another Tops and Bottoms that Elijah did for St. Patrick's Day. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/511971/ Mon, 7 Apr 2008 11:20:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/511971/ Glenn Beck's thoughts on the California ruling are sarcastic and serious.  He says it like no one else. "How many public schools would remain, how many of them would be open today if all we had to do was find one student or a handful of students at any particular school who are academically failing or socially struggling? How many public schools would be open today in America? You know what? If giving parents limited or no say in public schools is such a great idea, then how come so many of our elected leaders decide to send their kids to private school?" "Three-judge panel in California ruled that it is the state, not the parent who has the ultimate decision making power when it comes to how any child will be taught. Well, you know what other state did that? The Soviet state. The German state. The Italian state. The Nazis, the communists, they recognized right off the bat: You control education, you can control the future." Oh, and did you know..."Karl Marx said in his manifesto, free education for all children in public schools...He said it was the intention to destroy the most hallowed of relations and have it replaced with education... This was necessary to Marx, to destroy the most important, most hallowed of relations and that is the relations of the parent, replace them with the relations of the state." Read the entire article HERE.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/497413/ Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/walkingbytheway/497413/