Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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Okay, ,so we're still here and I have most everything planned out. I have things written down and know where I want to go in just about every subject. Now I have to figure out how to document this year. I have the wonderful organizational planner of Home School Tracker (HST), but since I'm in Indiana I don't really need it. I've used it off and on, but I haven't really been disciplined enough to use the assignments section like I could. This year, since I'm trying to be more on schedule, it would seem like a perfect time to schedule out our whole year and actually follow it. =) Only thing is, I have the basic version which doesn't let me do something I love to do. If I had the upgraded Plus version, I'd be straight. So I'm debating whether it's even worth it to try to start planning in HST. I should just get eh Plus version and be set for the rest of our home schooling days...but I can't right now. I think I might be able to get it before the school year ends, so maybe I'll just hold on until then....on the other hand, I do need to learn to keep better records. The children are in 2nd grade now. I'm trying to do everything more official-like...=)=) I have this idea that we've just been playing so far and now it's time to get serious. =) It's absurd since they're doing far better than I would have thought or planned. I guess I'm just still looking at the P.S.'s and comparing ourselves to them in the academic area...I guess I'm just afraid. I'm still afraid people will see our deficiencies and see there is a failure somewhere and accuse me! Or even take our children away because of it!!! Wow...how'd I get this off subject...so that's the underlying fear of all HS Moms I guess. I will just remind myself of Who I'm following and know that He is pleased and that's all that matters.... So did I make a decision?....I'm still contemplating. I have until the 16th (the day before our official start day) to decide I guess. One more wish on this HS Mama's wish list....Homeschool Tracker Plus.....   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in My Musings
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I sometimes forget that simple fact. I was starting to worry about our home school when our family hit upon seemingly hard times. I was tempted to jump to conclusions and believe that our home school was in trouble. I shouldn't have worried, because once again I'm seeing how God is in control. He orchestrates plans and even random happenings so that everything will work together for the good. It's really amazing to see Him pull our home school together in time for next year. My desire is to be more organized with schooling and scheduling and He's meeting me where I'm at! Whatever curr. I didn't think I'd have, He's bringing much more to me for our use. The principle of rejoicing in trials has always eluded me, but as I'm seeing Jesus work out our lateest hiccuup, I'm realizing that believing in His ability to make it all owrk for His good is how we can rejoice in our trials. We have no idea what's going on, what will happen next or how we're going to come out of it, but we do know that as long as we are called according to His purpose (home schooling for His glory definitely counts) He will take care of it all. I think I'm getting used to things and situations looking crazy, but still keeping my peace in God. God is always up to something, so He's not going to leave us in the trouble. He's going to make it okay. So here I sit, with wonderful materials that I couldn't have picked out better myself and I'm thankful. My God has proved Himself to me yet again and my fears have rolled away. =) I'm ready for next year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in My Musings
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I've found a new place to hang out and speak my mind (you don't know how stifled I feel on Facebook)! The place is a Ning network group and it's called The Conservative Homeschooler! A FB friend of mine posted about a group she's in on her wall and I clicked the link and have found a most wonderful atmosphere to have my iron sharpened! =) I also saw that they are having a contest and the winner will receive Child Training 101! This is such a coincidence because I've been wanting to purchase this DVD. I have the books, but there's nothing like seeing it acted out for you to really get the picture. My children need better parenting skills from me if they're going to grow up to be the men and women God wants them to be. So far I've been the gestapo-type Mom - very harsh and very undisciplined myself. They need a better example and I'm hoping this DVD will help me to change that. Ultimately, it has to be a heart change because that is what is lasting (and where the root of the problem is). So, If you wanted a place to talk about your conservative political views in the context of home schooling, then this is the place for you! Come on over by clicking here: The Conservative Homeschooler Ning Social Group ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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So it's been a looooong time since I last posted. I've been scared to post since it's been so long and the update would be huge.....I'm thinking of changing all that. I want to make changes to our home school for next year and I'd like to document it somewhere... We are coming up on the end of our 1st grade year and while they're still ahead in certain areas, I really slacked off in others. I was just lazy. I didn't want to do the same thing day in and out also. Consistent work just makes me bored. I'm praying about this character flaw for next year because our children need more structure to help their learning. So, I managed to veer away from Right Start Level A so much that we STILL have not finished the whole book. That was my text for K. Next year I'm hoping to buy the B book and all the stuff I need to add to the manipulatives. So, since we weren't following the book anymore (in places it seemed to go too slow), I just had an idea to teach them their multiplication tables. Thanks to the book they already knew how to count by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's. All I taught them was their 3's and I used what I used to reinforce my learning when I was learning multiplication...Multiplicatoin Rock! =) I know some Moms disapprove, but for my children (who seem to be auditory learners), this helped them memorize it well. I also found Timez Attack (a free multiplication game) and Tux of Math (another free math game to download but it has addition, subtraction, mult. and division as well as fractions and other stuff) to help them out too. There's other stuff we did, but I just waned to start with that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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SWR = Spell to Write and Read Little by little Jesus is bringing the things I want to use for this next year into our home. Either from EBay or classifieds or the products' main home page. Praise the Lord for His guidance and provision. I've been trying to figure out how to use SWR like it's supposed to. I'm still kinda confused, but I guess the more I go over it the more it'll sink in. It seems like we don't start right out with the spelling words. I think we just do the phonograms which is good since they already know most of them. I just didn't do any spelling rules with them last time. Plus they'll be writing in cursive which is probably going to take a while. That will make the lessons drag and I'm not looking forward to that part. In everything else our home school is shaping up. I keep reminding the children that their summer of fun and doing basically nothing is almost over. I think they'll like the change though because they always seem happier on a schedule. Our new baby is integrated into the schedule by now (those first six weeks he wasn't though) so starting back with school should be easier. I do have a 1yo. as well, but she likes to tag after her brother and sister and do what they do so I'll just give her something that looks like what we're doing and she can still listen in to the lessons. She actually retains a lot of what's going on... So, the year is shaping up. I still need money for new notebooks and pencils and stuff. I don't have anymore printer cartridges to bring into Staples and Office Max for free coupons so I'll be missing those this year. I'll just ask Jesus to provide. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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Anyone else need a revelation of this Word in their lives? My last year of home schooling proved that I need to really study this Word and let it become me. I slacked off little by little by little until we were hardly doing anything at the end of our year. I felt so bad but had gotten into such a rut of doing less that it just continued and snowballed. Man, I felt so bad, but tried to rationalize it and tell myself that they had gotten far so if we slowed down a bit it wasn't bad. I'd really like to have the same amount of stamina and excitement at the end as I did at the beginning. The year just seemed to drag on. We had lots of memorable moments and times that we loved what we were learning, but it was just the sheer consistency of formal learning everyday that wore me out. I'd take breaks in between when I just couldn't stand it anymore, but it still was hard. I wish I were more like this scripture so I'd just find the course and stay it till it's finished having complete confidence and joy in what I'm doing. I know I'm doing right, it's just the right seems to be boring after a while. Anyone else feel like that or is it just me? Maybe it's the way I think about "school". I probably need a new perspective. I guess I just need to learn more discipline too. I tried not to show my drudgery and dreary attitude to my children. They naturally have a dreary attitude when something doesn't look fun, but then they warm up to it. They got through the year okay, it's just me. They probably caught some of my drudgery this year too. I know more is caught than taught so I REALLY need to get this in check....like NOW! Jesus, please help me to be more like You this year. Give me a deeo understanding and desire to not be weary in the well doing of teaching our children this coming school year.Change my heart so that I look forward to everyday of learning and teaching in Jesus' name, amen! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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FACE - Foundation for American Christian Education PA - Principle Approach AiG - Answers in Genesis SWR - Spell to Write and Read It's about that time again. I'm getting things ready for next year. I bought Diana Waring's Ancient History activity book (for the youngins) and her What in the World's Goin On Here? Part 1 CD set. Last year we didn't have much history going on although A is for Adam really helped in laying the foundation of a true biblical worldview of earth history. I also used my knwoeldge from reading Unwrapping the Pharoahs to continue that biblical worldview when watching ancient Egypt movies (like Prince of Egypt). This year I'm hoping to do a bit more and have it be more consistent and dedicated (I'll talk more about that in my next post). Along with Diana Waring's stuff, I'm trying to get the History Through the Ages timeline book and figures for the same time period. I like teaching history chronologically. It helps me understand it better which means I can teach it better. I went to the Homeschool Classifieds website and found a few of the figures books available. Only thing is right now I'm only able to swap stuff since funds are non-existent.  Oh well. Jesus will provide with what we need when we need it. If I don't get it I guess we'll just have to make our own for this year. That'll be real sweet! I'm sure they'll remember it more. It'll make it more fun. I wish I had learned history like that...For science I was trying to decide between Apologia's Astronomy curr. and AiG's science curr. Lo and behold, Jesus blessed me out of the blue with an older version of Considering God's Creation! I had it on my wish list at Paperback Swap (PBS) and someone wanted to swap it. It has all the worksheets and notebook page helps right in the back of the book (I think now you have to buy it separately). So my science curr. for next year is complete! I joined the yahoo group for it and there's a wealth of helps for every lesson in the files section! I'm all set! I even heard of one woman taking 3 years to finish all 36 lessons! I was just thinking we'd do one lesson a week and be finished in a year. I had no idea that curr. is that meaty that you could stretch it out that far! I'm glad about that because if this year goes bad then I can always revisit topics or even re-do the year again and it not get boring. I'm continuing to use Right Start but I'll need book B this year. We didn't finish book A, but we're more than half way through so we'll probably finish before the year ends. That's kinda good because now I don't have to scramble around trying to get everything ready for August 18 when we start back (that is kinda early, but I'm leaving room for week vacations during Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's as well as anything else that might come up). I saw a book B at that classifieds place, but again no money to buy it and the person is not wanting to swap right now... Hmmm....I'm seriously considering swapping some of those big PA books for the things I need this year. Either that or selling them. I'm trying to figure out if I'll ever go back to them. I know the Homeschool Companion I can probably swap or sell with no dire consequences as well as the reading aloud book too. I'm holding onto those couple red books I have because those are really invaluable. I'm trying to decide if I should sell the curr. guides from FACE, but I'll probably need those in the future. They are exactly what they say they are, curr. guides. They guide me in what curr. I should be doing with the children. That's key. One other thing I picked up from PBS was my daughter's new Bible. The FACE catalog has the revised NIV being used for Bible reading. My daughter is a bit advanced in her reading so she used the first grade book during her K year and will use the second grade book for her first grade year. I hope I got the right one. It looks just like a regular Bible with chapters and verses. Her Bible last year was still Bible stories written in language she could read. They were a bit long (longer than the K Bible), but she did well with comprehension and keeping her focus while reading. She's become very fluent as well. I'm hoping she has no problem with the new Bible but for me it looks kinda overwhelming. I'd like her to read through her Bible throughout the school year and I think I saw that plan on some website, but I don't know where. I'll just have to do a google search for it I guess. My son will take her old Bible and use that for his first grade year. That brings us to art. I got the book Joseph the Canada Goose for last year and was kinda disappointed. I wanted something teaching the basics but at the level of my 5 and 4 yr. old. I got something completely different and I'd swap that if I could for the I Can Do All Things book in a heartbeat if someone didn't mind that one page was taken out (my scanner was broken so I had to run the page through the printer to copy it) and one was almost all colored in (I made the mistake of starting to color on the real lesson page instead of the copy). I might put that up in Homeschool Classifieds when I find the page that was torn out. I hope I Can Do All Things can just teach us the basics of drawing and color theory. If not I'll just have to take out those Draw Write Now books and use their step-by-step drawings as well as some nice art books I got out before. My daughter really liked those fun art videos that teach you about the artists' lives. I forgot the name of them, but there's a series of them. She loved Monet's video.... We'll still be using the Premier Pas de Francais this year. It goes up to second grade so I don't have to look for anything until two years from now. I'm hoping to move on to Rosetta Stone. By that time they'll be in third grade and Rosetta I think is for fourth and up (I have to check that). Anyway, I want them to still be learning French till fourth and then we can do Latin like everyone else. I never learned Latin and always wondered what the big deal was and why so many hs'ers were learning it. Now I know what the big deal is and am happy that FACE has decided to introduce the Latin through French for the younger children. I love French and it's been fun re-learning it and reviewing it with them. I'll be asking around about the best way to teach Latin in a few years, but for now I'm in French heaven!  We'll also be continuing with SWR again. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this program and will be using it all up! I probably won't need anything else till fourth grade. I might go straight from this to that ever so popular Institute of Writing program. I wonder if I can do that switch cleanly... Oh well. I'll hop on some hs board and get the skinny on all that. For all the other subjects (P.E., Music and Literature) I'll just be winging it again. Winging it kinda went well. My children are now choreographing steps to the Nutcracker Suite and have good sportsmanship so that went well this past year. I hope to get more into some of the sports they love to play. Maybe I'll do something like during the winter we can read about the sport and get books on the sport and then when Spring comes we'll be able to play with understanding. Music is going to be more listening again and probably get more into different genres. For literature I'm just going to read them classic books and we'll notebook about what we're learning. I really don't think I need any curr. for those subjects. Now Geography is my stumper. I have no clue what to do for this. We already learned about the continents and my children know our 50 states by sight. They have a very good grasp of compass direction so I'm kinda at a loss as to where to go next. I might just get this one book that has all these geographical terms and focus on a few terms at a time and have them notebook them and stuff like that. I could do a unit study on certain terms....yeah...this is looking doable.  So anyway, just wanted to write out a few things about getting prepared. That helps me organize things in my mind a bit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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Well, we're just about done...legally. Here in Indiana we have to school for 180 days to be called a private school. Home schools are called private schools here. I haven't made it to 180 before, but I was determined to do it this time... Now that I'm here I'm thinking we might as well school all year round. I just can't let my children go off and do basically nothing all day just because it's summer so I'm having them read and write (cursive) and review their math (they're up to adding double digit numbers to single digits and they're learning to carry the one to the next column) maybe at least once a week to keep them on their toes. Then when they do nothing I can justify it by saying that they do work hard so it's okay if they play hard. At least that's what my husband says.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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AiG = Answers in Genesis My husband and I have been watching the AiG shows on Direct T.V. (the NRB channel) and we're loving it! It goes along with teaching from a biblical world view. I always said I was saved and stuff, but I didn't really think like a Christian.How could I believe the dinosaurs lived without man around if I believe God created ALL land animals on the sixth day before he rested? My beliefs really didn't line up with my beliefs if that's possible. Now that I have children I'm reevaluating everything I know and have been taught. These shows have been the renewing of our minds that we needed. I'm reminded of that scripture she shall be saved in childbearing. I'm being saved from false ideas because of my childbearing. God is amazing! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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PA = Principle Approach Wow...my blog is still here. I've been wondering if they would just delete it since I haven't posted in here since we began our schooling for K this year in August....well I haven't posted much about our home school anyway... I guess an explanation is in order. I've been trying to reconcile a lot of things in the PA and have come a long way, but still feel somethings fit and some things don't. In our home school we don't really ever leave God out so I will continue to allude to the Bible while we teach and keep learning myself while I teach the littles. I don't teach the principles like they have them laid out although we're always referring to biblical principles while we learn. I also don't do the studies of the words in a certain topic to glean a leading idea. I don't direct the children's thoughts in that way although I do direct them to think about how someone who loves Jesus would act, talk, think, etc. So, I guess I can't call our school PA anymore. I wonder how many qf families are also PA .... Anywhoo, I was thinking of doing their graduation ceremony with the other children in the neighborhood, but I don't want to seem like I'm bragging on them. I don't know.... I'm still undecided. It wouldn't be until July since I just had the baby and I'm still trying to finish up our year. We lost a week when Nana came to visit and two more weeks as they visited Grandma when the baby was born. I'm determined to be legal (180 days) this year. As of today we only have 10 more days left! That's two more weeks! Yeah! Since we're this close to finishing I went shopping for next year. I missed our convention this year since it was so close to my due date I didn't go. I've been looking for a world history program that's young earth minded and biblically based. I finally decided on Diana Waring. I was looking at TOS store and they said the time line figures by Homeschool in the Woods went well with her stuff so I checked up on it and like it! She recently teamed up with AiG to make it better. I bought the elementary activity book of the first series and plan to buy the other books for two more years then I'll move up to the regular student workbook. Along with that I also bought Part 1 of her CD series and Ruth Beechick's history book for myself so I can learn history the right way (looking at it through the eyes of the bible). Next I'll buy another Barry Stebbing program and Apoogia's Astronomy program. I also need to up our Right Start book a level....there may be more to get, but that's all I remember for now. I also bought my son the amusement park gears package. I've been looking foward to getting that for him for a long time. I do hope he likes it. I'll play with him with it. He's s very deep thinker and everyone can see that he'll be an inventor of some kind. I also notice he likes taking things apart. I don't know if there are any things on the market like that for children. So far I'm just letting him do certain things around the house, but I'm at a loss as to how exactly to channel that creativity of his. We don't have many things around here that need to be taken apart....hmmm...I'll be praying and contemplating that. So, for our first year we did kinda good. I still rely heavily on computer games to teach and stuff like that. We notebook a lot and I'm preparing them to write a whole lot more and in cursive for my oldest next year. I did however get really lazy on writing down things. I had lesson plans kinda written out, but realized we don't always follow it and so I reverted to just writing down what we did. Then I got lazy with that too. I really don't like writing lesson plans because I never know where we'll go. I can write a loose plan or just follow the syllabus of the program we have. I do like writing down what worked and what all we did on a particular day so I'll keep doing that... So, first grade here we come! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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PA = The Principle Approach NP = Noah Plan Curriculum We're closing in on our third week with the NPand I'm noticing something. What I see on the surface may or may not be the real deal. Case in point, my daughter and son sometimes ho-hum their way through Bible class. I'm trying to give it my all and bring out some key points that are just so good...then I see my daughter yawning or my son drifting off into la-la land and my bubble deflates. I feel like I'm letting them down in some way and think the lesson is a horrible failure. Five hours later I heard both of them singing a song that they learned in that same Bible class as they go playing around the house!!! My mouth drops open and I'm dumbfounded. Things like this happen ALL THE TIME!!! I guess I should be used to it, but for some reason I am always caught off guard. So, I've explained to my children that they just need to hang in there with Mommy. Even if some parts may not seem all that interesting, it will pay off in the end. Those little moments I'm blessed to catch during the day, encourage me that more is caught then I realize. My hubby says they can't turn their ears off so that'll always be the case. He just reminds me that it's so important to have them hearing the right things so that the right things will come out of them. So, I feel a bit looser in my teaching and a bit more relaxed in our day. I do try to touch on all the subjects everyday, but some days (like today) it just doesn't happen. My children got carried away with magnets today and then my daughter wanted to dance with the Swans (she's hooked on watching and dancing with the ballet Swan Lake) so we hardly finished everything, but I just try to go with the flow and remind myself that this is much more than they'd be getting anywhere else. I will say I still feel like I'm more task oriented than heart oriented, which I think is what the PA is all about. God is giving me more little by little, but I do still feel the tug of adhering to the letter instead of the spirit. As I said, God is moving me from this so I'm not really troubled about where I am right now. I know that He who has begun a good work in me will be able to complete it till the day of Jesus Christ. I also know my Jesus, loves His children and won't let me mess them up, so I'm just going along and giving them what I have when He gives it to me to give. The more I press into Him, the more I have to give. While I have said all that, I am considering changing a few of my ways. We used to do "school" without having a set format. We used to just flow from one interest of theirs to another. I'm thinking of brining this back into practice. I think by nature I'm a by-the-book kind of learner, but once I get used to it I can let my creativity flow a whole lot easier. Starting out these first few weeks I've been by-the-book, but God is expanding me to go outside the box. I'll be praying more about this.... Oh yeah, I just have to tell this one more scenario I was blessed to stumble upon. While my children were getting ready for bed, they decided to do an experiment. For the past few days we'd been studying the scientific method and I thought things were going in one ear and out the other. I come upstairs and my daughter tells me they just finished conducting an experiment to answer the problem, will the bubbles in the sink go away when we apply toothpaste? Being the good home school mother I am (I had to fight this SO hard), I ignored the rant that was welling up in my throat and after hearing more details congratulated them on an experiment well handled. Only after they had revelled in the praise did I even say never, ever, ever again use toothpaste in that way. This comes from two children who supposedly were not the least interested in their science class. All I got to say is, thank You, Jesus, for Your Holy Spirit!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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NP K Lessons = Noah Plan Kindergarten Lessons PA = Principle Approach FACE = Foundation for American Christian Education 1828 = Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary (with biblical references) SWR = Spell to Write and Read by Wanda Sanseri WRR = Writing Road to Reading Yes, we've started our 2007-08 year on the 20th. It's been two weeks and it's going okay. I've had to modify a few things, but we're basically following the Noah Plan K Lessons. Usually change makes me uncomfortable and it seems my daughter is feeling the same way. She told me she wants to go back to our old schedule. I've had to change our schedule so we can incorporate the NP K Lessons. I've talked it over with her and hopefully she understands a bit more. I think she'll be okay with things after a little while. So, we're up and running and I'm pretty happy with the way things are going. I'm excited about the things we're learning and I hope that transfers over to the children. I'm just wondering why, if I'm so excited, do I keep having dreams about a school setting. The first one I had was about a school (I think it was a PA school which is why I was so excited) where my mother, children and I could all be at the same time. My Mom was working as a music instructor, my children were enrolled in the school and I was able to teach and see them every day! When I went outside (it must have been lunchtime or something) I saw my husband coming down the block to where we were and I realized that he worked nearby and we could have lunch together everyday. He also could come and pick us up after school! I was so happy I ran to him and dnaced through the streets! The children in the school were having a celebration of some kind so everyone from the school was out in the street partying! It was such a wonderful experience....then I woke up and realized I am the teacher in our home school and I kinda felt down. I don't know why that is.... The next dream I had just last night/this morning. I had found a place where there was a little storefront school. I sat in with the children for their studies and then the leader of the school had a session with the parents. It seemed like it was a PA school this time too. I remember thinking how I would get the children there everyday. Then I woke up. Each time I dreamed about a PA school I felt so happy that my children would be getting a good education. I've heard about PA schools and I even heard some children give speeches about their education at Stonebridge. I was so impressed! I could tell they had a command of their education. They were ready to go out in the world and change it for Jesus. My friend goes to a church in Illinois that started a PA school. It's even on the list at principleapproach.org. It's not a demonstration school, but at least they're recognized by FACE. We've been to her church to visit a few times and I nearly fell over when I saw a table set up to show people what the school is about. They had the 1828 out and everything! I remember thinking, "So close and yet do far." So I guess my heart is really set on their being educated in a PA school, but I'm not sure I would send them since God put it on my heart to home school them. Maybe when the time came to make that decision He would lead me in that direction. Anyway, for now, I'm just praying for His guidance and pressence. So, how does our "school" look? Since my children can already write and read it doesn't look like your typical K class. We do a notebook page or two most everyday to capture what we're learning in the different subjects. We have eleven subjects that we're supposed to learn about everyday, but we don't always get every subject in. One day my children got stuck on music so we spent the rest of the afternoon learning about that. Even though we have a schedule, I'm still trying to be sensitive to my children's interests and let their delight lead their learning. We tried to make up for the missing subjects the next day. Sometimes we spend 20 minutes or even 5 minutes on a subject. We start around 9 and end about 3. We take snack and lunch breaks in between. Here's a rundown for all their subjects. Bible: It has taken me a while to figure out exactly how this is different from Reading. We use the same book (Bible) for both classes, but they emphasize different things. History: This has been new for me and interesting. The children are able to understand the concepts so far. I still d on't have the Geography/History Guide so I'm kinda going blind in this subject, but I just pray and try to focus on what He tells me. Math: We use Right Start and the children love it! Right now it's going by very fast and sometimes we can even do two lessons in a day since we've already done the first 20 lessons. It's just review for them which takes the pressure off me a bit so I can focus more on other subjects I'm not too familiar with teaching. Geography: My children have just fallen in love with this subject! My son especially is taken by space. So these lessons were supposed to focus on the earth and its place in the galaxy, but his interest took us to explore other planets and happenings in space (asteroids, meteors, etc.). I'm loving using all the resources the library has to help out in this subject. Literature: I always talk about this class to my children in a different tone of voice. English: We use SWR instead of WRRThey're learning cursive (for the second time for my oldest) and they practice on dry erase boards. They like erasing what they wrote so it's still fun. Reading: I had to get my oldest the Bible the NP says to use for a first grader since she already read the Early Reader's Bible. My youngest is reading the Early Reader's Bible. We just follow the lessons here. I'm excited to use the forms for reading comprehension in the Reading Guide. Science: This class is okay. We need a few resources for this as well. Library, here I come! French: I LOVE this class!!! I don't know why most people don't like Mes Premiere Pas de Francais put out by FACE, but I LOVE it! I just happen (thank You Jesus for Your providence) to have an Usbourne French word book that comes in handy as well. We study the word and phrase for the week and then look up other words that relate to it. We practice French by saying easy words like Bonne nuit (Good night) and Merci (Thank you) to each other during the day. Music: This subject is fun too. I come from a musical background so it's kinda easy for me to just jump right in. In the NP lesson overview for music they suggest studying sign language. What sign language has to do with music I have no idea. Instead we're actually studying music. This past week we studied Tchaikovsky (since my son LOVES to listen to the short musical snippets at starfall.com) and got all into his ballets. My oldest wanted to wtach the whole thing (Swan Lake)! She put her tutu on and we started dancing with them, but after about ten seconds I told her my legs were tired. Art: This is a new subject for me and so far the children are doing well in it. My oldest is enjoying coloring in the lines and using appropriate colors for everything. My son is learning how to copy paintings and drawings well. Art is not my strong subject, but it's doing good so far. We're using Barry Stebbing's Joseph the Canada Goose. P.E.: I'm thinking of hijacking this subject and just doing whatever I want here. I'm thinking of teaching them fire drill skills, games, what to do when they're lost, hygiene, healthy eating, etc. For now they've just been acting out the scripture, in Him we live and move and have our being. We have been having wonderful weather! So that's about it for our home school! Since I'm still researching and library hunting, I probably won't be back till the end of our first quarter. Home school teacher and keeper of my home...yeah I'm just a tad bit busy!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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Yes, I am taking a deep breath! Thank You, Jesus!!!! Today He gave me the idea of making a library list beforehand so I can see what books I need to get and when. For some reason that has made the lessons seem less scary! I went through them week by week and saw what was required for each week and I'm thinkin' "That's all?" Some weeks we'll only do that subject one day. WHEW!!! That takes a load of my mind! I guess I was looking everything all at once and not week by week. That's how I work anyway. I usually take one day at a time and go from there. The weekly lessons aren't that bad, but then I have to remember there are other subjects that don't have weekly lessons all planned out. Our art lessons are planned out thanks to Barry Stebbing. I'll be adding in art history lessons and other books from the library on art. Then I have to still do my own lessons for P.E., and Music. It's a challenge, but I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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SWR = Spell to Write and Read 1828 = Webster's 1828 Dictionary NP K lessons = Noah Plan Kindergarten Lessons Yes, that is the panic in my heart that I have to back down with prayer at least 10 times a day. We will be starting on Monday in order to finish up our second quarter before Christmas break. God, in His infinite wisdom, has afforded me these last precious days of summer break to be as easy and calming as possible. My oldest two are away on vacation with Nana in NYC. My youngest gets to sit at my feet and scratch her head wondering why the house is so quiet. I have been planning and getting ready all summer, but it wasn't until last week that I really started kicking it into gear. I am a principle approach (PA) teacher and thus getting my notebook together is highly important. I'm attempting to just jump into using the Noah Plan K lessons with my children. In some areas things are like an old glove (using SWR and Right Start). In other areas (geography, history) I am having to search out new ideas and internalize them so I can teach my children. My study for the new year can be so chaotic at times only because I come across so many great findings while I'm searching scripture (tha's the basis of the PA and the foundation our home school stands on). My purchase of the CD-ROM version of the 1828 has proven to be a most intelligent choice. I love the ease in which I can look words up and cross-reference. I've also been loving e-Sword software that helps me catalog my findings in a neat manner. I can go from the Bible to my notes with just a click! In all of this wonderful study, I do have some downers. I don't have many of the resources required to teach certain subjects. I've just not been able to acquire them. I'm wondering if I should get desperate enough to swap some of my prize belongings to remedy this problem. One answer has come through my favorite swap site (Paperback Swap). I was elated to see an item on my wishlist (The Young Reader's Bible) was available for me to order! Whoo hoo!!! That's one resource acquired (my daughter needs this because she has already read through the Early Reader's Bible (recommended by the NP K lessons) twice). In looking ahead I feel great tepidation as the missing resources will no doubt affect our studies, but I do hope. I hope that Jesus already knows my situation and has provided a way for the children to learn the things they need to this year. I hope that my prayers for my competence as a teacher will be answered exceeding abundantly beyond my request. To sum it up, I hope in Jesus. I need Him to be with us. So, as I start this year, I first and foremost spend time with Him knowing that He is where everything will flow from. He ALWAYS has the best ideas, strategies, methods. He ALONE knows exactly what my children can handle. He alone can inspire them beyond the scope of the lesson so that their interest is kindled and off they go towards making learning their own. He alone is Who I cling to in my times of need. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
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Yes, that's what I'm attempting to do. I have my trusty, rusty Homeschool Tracker (HST) program and my Kindergarten Lesson book from The Foundation for American Christian Education (FACE) and I think I'm all set. I heard one other principle approach (PA) lady ask a question about how she inputs the PA lessons into HST. I've always used it however it best suits me to use it. I have made new subjects just to accommodate our home school. I guess I can afford myself a level of liberty since the children will be only starting K in Sept. No college transcripts to think about just yet. So anyway, I'm going through the lesson book and noticing that we can skip over a few things and add in some more things. I'll probably put in what they have written down and then adjust it when we start. One thing I am disappointed about is the arts and foreign language getting no more than two days a week focus. I think there's way too much to be explored for it to be shoved to the side like that. Of course the history section is chock full of stuff that we'll probably not even be able to get to for lack of time. I'm really surprised that they didn't do more with the arts and foreign language. In contrast, I plan to have the children learning about music, foreign language and art everyday. Even if we only do a little bit, I at least have to give it some attention. I can't just push it to the side. The way the lessons are set up all the heavy subjects are early in the day with breaks in between, then we do the arts and foreign language. I think we'll be able to still follow that schedule. We'll see when we actually get started, but for now, I'm writing it down! It feels so good to be preparing! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
Posted in Violets Education in the Principle Approach
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I LOVE JESUS!!!! He's so cool. He's my hero, seriously. The miracles He performs in people's hearts is just amazing. He has performed a miracle in my heart within a year! I've been struggling with some issues in my preparation for teaching the principle approach (PA) to my children this coming year (starting Sept. 4). Last year, almost nothing was resolved and I was very bitter. I could feel it, but I didn't know what else to do. I kenw it wasn't right and that what the PA teaches is more godly than anything I've been taught, so I set my heart to be reconciled to God over these issues I had. I prayed, read literature from the Foundation for American Christian Education (FACE), talked with other mothers (both from my perspective and another perspective) and it's just now that I'm realizing the work God is doing in my heart. He has used all of these things to give me a new heart concerning those issues!!!! It's amazing. Things that used to bother me about the PA don't bother me anymore! God has given me a new perspective! I just relized the change was occuring when I went back to read some things I had written a year ago! I thought someone else was writing and started correcting them in my head as I read, only to find out that the author was me! How's that for an epiphany? It's been amazing. God has also been so gracious as to allow me to travel this road to deeper understanding with a friend. It's so amazing and wonderful! I'm all excited to start the new year. I'm continuing to study and read and pray. I'm just so thankful that He's put me on the right path. I'm so glad He is working in my heart! I may not be the most popular person because of my newfound perspective, but I have God with me and having His approval is so much sweeter!!!! So, to anyone who's been wondering about the PA, I can vouch for it and say that it does work. I can only imagine the effect on my children if this is what it's doing in me! Praise the Lord for revelation!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Blessings, Violet Blogging here, there and everywhere (incuding here). You've been reading a Schooldaze post. |
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I've been getting audiobooks for the children and I happened upon Peter and the Wolf. Now I'm not sure what to call this. I guess it's an audiobook, but the musical score goes right along with it. It's not a musical perse, but it is more than just the words. Anyway, I want to get more of those. Since I come from a musical background, I appreciate it as part of their education and not just something extra. I do know teh Carnival of the Animals is something similar. In musical terms it's called program music...whatever it is my children are eating it up. They can even play the rhythm of the guns on our little tom-tom! So now I'm scouring the library looking for anymore I can find. |
Posted in Violets Education in the Principle Approach
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This book is wonderful! I received it from Paper Back Swap (PBS). Since I'm about to start teaching from the principle approach, I'm becoming interested in what having a Christian worldview really is. I never heard of that word growing up and I'm just now learning what it is. It's totally different from everything I've learned so far, but it seems like common sense. Actually it's godly common sense. Okay, so back to the book. This book lays it all out. I've learned that big government is not God's way of ruling a nation. Over taxing the rich is not the answer. Our country was founded on godly principles of government. Even the word government is totally different in the godly term than in this worldly term. Government in the godly sense of the word refers to all forms of government: self, family, church, local, statewide and national. I've never head it put so plainly! This book is putting a lot of things into perspective for me. Now that I kow what's the right way to go, my question is what do I do about it. I know our national government is screwed up everywhere so there's no one "right" party to affiliate with....I guess I just decry the lies wherever and whenever I come across them and try to stick as close to God's Word as possible. I recommend this book to everyone! |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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Okay. So, as the title states I have a lot of explaining to do. When I wrote my last post I really thought we had passed our 100th day. It was soon after I posted it that I realized I had made a mistake. Since we only started in January and only have lessons five days a week, it's impossible to accomplish 100 days before May. If anyone realized this and kept it to themselves I thank you for your discretion. After I found out I knew I had to change it. I haven't gotten back on here till now so here it is. I do apologize for the wrong information.... AND NOW WE CAN CELEBRATE THE REAL 100TH DAY!!!! Yes, I have recalculated and can say for a certainty that our 100th day is coming up in about two weeks! I'm going to stop "school" on that day. I was trying to do a regular 180 day year so we could finally be called a private school according to Indiana home school law, but 100 days will have to do for this year. I guess I can count that as my preschool year or something. We did some of what we'll be doing in K next year. My 4 yr. old is right up there with my 5 yr. old so he'll just get the same learning as the older one in Sept.. I have seen him zone out in the math lessons though. He's not into the detail of a lot of the concepts being taught. If I have a question he can answer it and fill in the blanks where his sister falters, but he's not very interested in the "how" to some extent. He's a very interesting little boy. He's analytical and loves to try to figure things out. I can see him now loving science because you have to experiment to come to a conclusion. That's right up his alley. My oldest is more concrete, but is also very dramatic. I tend to think of concrete being the opposite of artistic, but she can do both. They differ, but in some things they're evenly matched. My daughter can do math just as well as my son, it's just that he seems to do it with a lot less effort than she does. She can get the concepts very fast, but she sometimes struggles in implementing them. He hears the concept and just flies with the application. Now that I think of it, he reminds me of Dory in Finding Nemo when she started jumping on the jelly fishes!!! In reading/writing/spelling/grammar (we use Spell To Write and Read (SWR) so all this is done together) they're about the same. I had my youngest just write on plain paper with no lines while the oldest practiced her writing with the dotted middle line and heavy top and bottom lines. Next year I'll try to go back to script with her (that's one solution in SWR for switching "b's and "d"'s) and have my youngest use the manuscript paper to write on. They're both reading very well and just about the same level. Their writing is about the same as well. In this too my son seems to do things a tad bit better. His writing is more concise and his quick thinking mind can turn sounds into words so fast he doesn't need to say the sounds out loud. He can put the word together in his head! We are up to the D list and will probably start the E list before we stop for the summer, but we'll be doing it again next year. That's one thing I love about SWR. You keep going over the same words and concepts. It'll be a bit different in Sept. but I'm sure they'll be fine. Those were the only real subjects we did this "preschool" year. Next year I have a tall order I'd like to fill. I want to start with music training (they already are well acquainted with classical, jazz and rap music... Christian rap of course) on the piano. I received some Music for Little Mozarts curriculum books (from that wonderful place I wrote about called Paper Back Swap) that seems quite good in introducing them to the piano and music in general. I also want to start training in art with that wonderful program I keep hearing about called How Great Thou Art. Another addition is language lessons in the language of love. I LOVE THE FRENCH LANGUAGE!!!! It just sounds so wonderful to me. I'm so excited to get Rosetta Stone (it's about the only world reknowned program that my children can use) and re-learn French (for about the third time for me) with them! Aside from all that, I'll also be doing history. It may seem like a lot, but Sept. is right before winter when we can't go outside, so I think they'll get used to doing all this work and make good use of the time spent inside. I've been prepping them already by getting them into audio books and listening to me tell them stories I'm reading or that I've made up. Sometimes they tell me stories they've made up. It's so cute! Okay, so that's about it for my evaluation. Oh yeah one more thing. I bought my daughter the Early Readers Bible (which was so hard to find as none of the Christian bookstores in my area sold it. I had to get it from Amazon.com) for our K year but decided to let her start reading it now since she can and she loves to read it! She would read it all throughout the day if she could. She just loves the story of Jesus dying on the cross. We act it out she wants me to tell it to her while we're picnicing outside, whenever there's a lull she'll come to me and ask for that story. I try to emphasize that that was the only way for us to be with God and that the best part is that He rose again, but hse still loves the part about Him dying on the cross. I guess she's on to something so I'll just keep telling her all I know and praying for her to understand it all. I have other things to write, but I'll just post them in another post or else this will become a book! |
Posted in Our Home Schooling Journey
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Whooo hooo!!! Okay, today is not the actual 100th day, but we've hit that mark! I'm so excited! I think I can actually continue until the full 180 days. In Indiana I have to mark them as present for 180 days in order for us to say we're officially home schooling. Once I start we have to continue until they're out of school. That's been the scary part for me. I've never known if I could really keep it up and stay consistent for 180 days so I've been just dabbling here and there. I've never made it to the full 180 days. This would be our first year! We just started in January and save for a week off as a birthday celebration to myself, we've been going strong since then. There are times when I feel like I don't want to "do school", but I just grit my teeth and get in there. Once we start it's a whole lot easier to finish everything. I know I need to take breaks and I will. I just don't wnat to make occassion for the flesh to get lazy. I think I feel a celbratory week off for Spring coming on. We could celebrate by being outside more often than not during the day. I think I'll do that for the first promised week of good weather. They've been doing really good for being inside most of the winter. God has blessed us to be able to grow our library with quality God-glorifying material that has enhanced our reading program. God has also been opening their understanding so that they grasp concepts and hold onto them. I find myself looking ahead eagerly anticipating September when we start all over again. I don't like the idea of doing nothing for three months so I'm not entirely sold on the regular school schedule. I think I prefer to school all year round. I like to have them doing something. I also like teaching. Who knew! God bless our little home school. Thank You, Jesus! |
