Jun. 13, 2008
Wrapping Things Up
Posted in How we are using My Father's World Curriculum
I'm so amazed that the school year is over and summer is well underway. Time just seems to get away from me so quickly. Lots of things have been going on with our family and I haven't had even a minute to post to this blog. I'm sure everyone understands those busy times because I know we all have them. I wanted to update you on the things that we were doing the last half of the school year. At this point I'm not sure that I can remember them all. There were so many things that we enjoyed learning about as we were studying Rome to the Reformation. I have worked a little on uploading some pictures of some of the notebook pages the kids did this year.  Last year I did a review of our study Creation to the Greeks. This year I hoped to do the same for Rome to the Reformation, but I'm not certain if I will have the time to do so. I really enjoyed putting the review together last year as it helped me to review what the kids had learned and remember why we chose My Father's World curriculum. It has been a great fit for us. We have tried computer curriculum and a few different workbooks/textbooks and never seemed to find the right fit. The blend of books and activities that My Father's World incorporates plus the notebooking, copywork, narration and dictation have all fit nicely into a very workable and enjoyable education experience for us. I've recently been learning a little about the Principle Approach. It seems that we are already doing some of this in our homeschool, but I am very interested in learning more so that we can blend that approach into our MFW curriculum even more. If you are not familiar with this approach and want to learn more...I'm not the person to ask at all! LOL!...you can learn more about it at The Foundation of American Christian Education. It is definitely something that I want to learn more about. For the coming school year we will be studying from Exploration to 1850. We are all excited about this and the next year's studies as we will be learning about American history in addition to history for other parts of the world during these time periods. Since we began with MFW we haven't studied American history, so the kids are happy to be getting to something they've been hoping to study for a while. I'm very pleased that we have been studying history chronologically. I think it helps to put things in perspective when you learn history from beginning to the present day rather than "chunks" of history from this time period and that. As for this school year I thought I would share our book list with you. I have many of the books on the shelf in the right sidebar, however if you want to see all the books and get some information on what the curriculum covers click here. Exploration to 1850 Book List * Teacher’s Manual * Boy, Have I Got Problems! * Trial and Triumph * Then Sings My Soul * Exploring American History * In God We Trust * Building a City On a Hill * George Washington’s World * The Last 500 Years * The Story of the World, Volume 3 * State Flags Stickers * State Sheets/Cards * Map of the United States/World—placemat size * U.S.A. Wall Map * U.S. Presidents Flashcards * The Animal Kingdom * The World of Animals * Exploring Creation with Botany * Exploring Creation with General Science (7th graders) * Easy Grammar * Writing Strands * Progeny Press Literature Guides for "Amos Fortune, Free Man", "Anne of Greene Gables", and "Johnny Tremain " * State History from a Christian Perspective (last 6 weeks) * Almost Home * Amos Fortune, Free Man * Madeleine Takes Command * William Carey * Mary Jones and Her Bible * Bound for Oregon * Schubert Symphonies (music only) * The Best of Mendelssohn (music only) * The Best of Chopin (music only) * God and the History of Art * American Pioneers and Patriots * North American Indians * Red, White, and Blue * The Fourth of July Story * Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims * The Courage of Sarah Noble * Sarah Whitcher’s Story Items in RED are items I have chosen to add, not items that MFW includes in their curriculum package (though some are suggested by MFW).
I also found a great deal at one of our local libraries. They were cleaning off their shelves and sold me 92 books for 25 cents each! That was the best $23 I've ever spent. I was told by one of the librarians recently (at another local library) that they would be doing the same soon, so I'll look to see what they have as well. This is a great way to get good books for your personal library. The library books I purchased had lots of biographies of famous Americans and other books from early American history in addition to some books from other periods of history. These were all old books that no one will check out because they don't have a new cover or because they have yellowed pages. I find that these are often the best books because they contain historically accurate information, and the author's weren't afraid to include the information that helped build an understanding in the reader of the character and moral integrity of people during that time in our history. These books are so much better than the junk books that so many kids are reading these days. I'm talking about the books that don't teach children anything, but rather fill their minds with fluff. Children need quality books with substance, characters with integrity and moral character....a book that will cause them to walk away thinking about the good in people and how to make wise decisions. I've heard many others recently saying that their libraries were removing good quality books from their shelves in an effort to provide more "entertaining" materials. This is very sad, but if books are not checked out they will be removed. I think this is just another sign of the direction our country is going. Blessings, Missy |
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Jun. 20, 2008 - Untitled Comment
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Posted by Training Hearts
Jun. 29, 2008 - Untitled Comment
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