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Sep. 12, 2009
Things don't always go as planned
Posted in Homeschooling
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Life is an ever changing learning adventure! I seem to keep learning this lesson over and again, and it seems to keep coming up in different areas of life. This time the lesson is related to homeschooling. I thought I had found the curriculum that I would be using with all of my children for the rest of our homeschooling years. I have been very happy with My Father's World curriculum, but because of issues we have encountered due to the lagging economy I've had to make some changes in our homeschool. Now, rather than having the ease of a curriculum that is already planned for me, I'm doing the planning myself. I thought this was going to be an overwhelmingly difficult thing to do, but I'm finding that it isn't as tough as I thought it would be. I already knew that we would be using Apologia science for the two older children, but I wasn't sure what I would do about the youngest. Math was already set as I was able to purchase their Teaching Textbooks packages last spring. Bible was another area that I was unsure about, and Grammar was already in full swing with Easy Grammar. My main concern for the year was how to plan for history. We had been studying through history chronologically, so I knew that we needed to cover from 1850 forward. On the surface that didn't seem to be to difficult to do, but when I really began looking at what that would involve I was a little fearful. I began to pray and ask God to help me to teach the children what He wanted them to learn in school this year. I tried to put aside all of my own thoughts and fears and tried to focus on what He wanted to say to me. What I found was that He gave me a basic plan for half of the year in a period of a few days. That basic plan included books that we already had on our shelves - some purchased and others had been given to us. Some things were of concern to me in that I didn't want to gloss over important events because we didn't have the specific information I thought we would need, but God is ever faithful. Just this past week we made a trip to the library and I found seemingly all of the right books to fill in those "gaps" that I thought existed in the upcoming weeks topics. Science for the most part is solved for the youngest child. She is currently using the Elementary Apologia series we purchased for their summer courses, and will most likely use another Elementary Apologia title we have on the shelf but haven't used. My concerns over what to do for Bible were not necessary either. Ds13 is currently going through the Catechism for his Bible. Dd12 is using Polished Cornerstones that a friend passed on to us. Dd10 is using something that I thought would never again be used in our homeschooling program. What my older children hated using she loves! She's using Switched on Schoolhouse Bible. I don't know why I hadn't gotten rid of it yet, but I still had it downstairs. It was on my heart but I thought she would hate it like the older two had. I finally decided to show it to her and once she got started she has enjoyed using it. Who knew?! Anyway, it seems that my learning adventure is never ending and I'm so very thankful to have the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead me away from what He is finished with and to what He wants for our family. Some day we may go back to My Father's World if it is His will, but for now I'm just thankful for the peace that comes from following Him. Blessings, Missy
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Jun. 21, 2009
"Top Ten Questions About Genesis and Creation" by Ken Ham
Posted in Homeschooling
A few weeks ago we had a free DVD give-away sponsored by Vision Forum Ministries. At that time I got one of the DVDs that were offered in the contest for our family. I chose the "Top Ten Questions About Genesis and Creation" DVD by Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis hoping it would be educational for the children. My family has watched this DVD several times since, and I thought it would be relevant to report to you what we think of it. I wasn't sure what to expect because I knew that it would be a lecture from one of his speaking engagements, but I must say that we all enjoyed it greatly. Ken Ham is an excellent speaker and is very engaging. He provided a great deal of information on related to the top ten questions he gets asked frequently about Genesis. He deals with questions like Where did Cain get his wife? and How did all those animals fit on the Ark? Some of the information was a little to deep for our 10 year old, but our 13 year old son found it fascinating. I think we all enjoyed it a great deal and learned a lot. The information was helpful in learning how to explain to people that the book of Genesis is not a fairy tale, but can be backed up with scientific evidence. Now if I could learn to articulate this information as well as Ken Ham does that would be awesome, but since I'm not a scientist I'll just have to make this DVD available to friends and family so that they can get the information straight from the man himself. He does a much better job of it that I ever could. Blessings, Missy   |
May. 13, 2009
Leapin' Lizards, How Does Your Garden Grow?
Posted in Homeschooling
Leapin' lizards, what is this creature? My kids found him on the driveway a few days ago and snapped a picture, then he slunk off into the grass. I have no idea what kind of lizard he is, so if anyone out there knows please tell me. I suppose with all the rain we've had the past few weeks he's on the move, or maybe he just came out into the sun to warm up.  Then today I found this little guy on the carport. I've always heard these called blue-tailed lizards, but I'm not sure if that is their common name. He wasn't camera shy as DD9 was able to get very close to get the photo.  Finally our little garden is planted...well re-planted.  We don't have a large garden space but we were able to plant some cucumbers, straight neck squash, okra, purple hull peas, tomatoes, lettuce, chives, mint, and some insect repelling marigolds. In addition we have several small blueberry bushes we planted last year. For this years garden DH planted the lettuce first while the weather was still mostly cool. The morning after we found that our dear dogs had "helped" during the night by digging in the spot the lettuce seeds were planted. About a week later the lettuce was coming up in patches rather than a straight row. We decided it was going to be too hot where the lettuce was planted, so we moved it then planted the other plants. The next morning our dear dogs had "helped" again during the night (aren't they sweet). This time the okra had been uprooted. We battled this situation all summer last year, and even though we put up a fence around the garden they still managed to get in and dig. This year DH found the answer - an electric wire around the bottom of the fence. They won't go near it now, but have protested by chewing on the wood trim on the french doors (sigh). One of the dear dogs used to (before the electric wire on the fence) stand in the middle of the garden and bark during the night. When we would look out our bedroom window (down 2 stories into the back yard) we would find her in the middle of the garden looking up at us. I don't know why she had to stand in the middle of the garden in the middle of the night to talk to us, but it seemed to make her happy. We spoiled her fun when we electrified the garden fence. Now we sleep peacefully at night, and our garden may actually survive this summer. Other plants around our home are blooming and doing well after the rains. This has been great to see and has given us the opportunity to see and apply some of what we have learned this year in Exploring Creation with Botany by Jeannie Fulbright. Here are some of the plants in their glory. Clematis  Petunia  Succulent (unsure of the specific name)  Chives- The ice cubes are a good slow watering system for potted plants. They are able to utilize more of the water as it slowly melts into the soil, rather than a large quantity being poured in at once and some of it running out of the bottom of the pot.  Mint - I've heard that ants do not like mint, so in an attempt to keep the ants away I have mint on the deck near the kitchen. If anyone has a good recipe for using fresh mint to make mint jelly I would love to have it.  Moss (?) growing beside the house and moss (?) magnified (if you know what this plant is leave me a comment please)   Strawberries  Amaryllis  We have enjoyed planting and growing our own food, and many other plants, over the years. Now we are able to include our children, and they are learning and enjoying it as well.
Blessings, Missy http://homeschoolhisway.blogspot.com |
May. 2, 2009
The Homeschool Channel! Have you heard???
Posted in Homeschooling
I've been hearing about this on American Family Radio (AFR), but we don't have the privilege of having a phone line that is rated for DSL so we can't get Sky Angel  . However, I know that many of you do have DSL and so you may find this information helpful. You can now subscribe to Sky Angel television programming via DSL. They are no longer using a satellite dish to provide their programming. They are adding several channels to what they used to offer, and I understand you can now get channels such as the History Channel and the Fox News Channel. In addition, a new channel they are adding is called the Homeschool Channel  . You can view a video about it here: thehomeschoolchannel.tv/. (Since I can't view the video on dinosaur dial-up perhaps one of you will be so kind as to watch then leave me a comment about the video so I will know what it said?) They are planning on launching the channel on September 1, 2009. You can read their blog here: The Homeschool Channel Blog, and sign up for updates if you want. This looks very promising and I hope it is great! Blessings, Missy |
Apr. 27, 2009
Math? Which curriculum will you choose?
Posted in Homeschooling
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It seems that Math curriculum is a topic on most minds these days as we homeschooling moms are busy making plans for what curriculum we will use with our children next year. Unlike stories I've heard from veterans in the home school arena, we are blessed to have such a wide variety of educational materials available. Math programs are no exception. It can be overwhelming to make a decision on a math curriculum with so many programs available, but that can be a blessing in disguise. Any of you who have multiple children will most likely agree that each child has a little different learning style, and what works for one child doesn't always necessarily work for the others. So, having a variety of math programs to choose from is a great benefit when trying to choose curriculum to fit each child's math style. Over the years we have tried numerous math programs. All of the switching programs we did gave me some insight on what I wanted in a math program, but it also helped me to realize that I needed to find a good fit for my children and stick with it. I hope that we have now settled on a program that we will be able to stay with until my children graduate. In our last seven years of homeschooling we have tried math from Alpha Omega, ABeka, Singapore, and Saxon; all of which have their benefits and their weaknesses. This school year we found, upon recommendation from another home school mom, a program that really has made a tremendous difference in my childrens' understanding of math concepts. This year we used Teaching Textbooks Math 7 by Greg Sabouri, Shawn Sabouri. We are so pleased with the curriculum that I have just ordered Teaching Textbooks math for next year for all 3 of my children. What we like about Teaching Textbooks: * Easy to use! There is no teacher preparation. The student simply inserts the CD-ROM into the computer and selects the lesson he needs to do. * Great explanations Once the student selects the lesson he will do for that day, he will watch a lecture. Animated graphics on screen give the student a visual explanation while the narrator explains the lesson. The student will then read the lesson in the text/workbook before beginning the practice/problem set. If they do not understand something they can watch the lesson as many times as necessary to ensure they understand each step. The lecture video is easy to operate. It works like a DVD player in that you can fast forward, rewind, and pause with the click of the mouse. *Real world applications In addition to the traditional math topics you would expect to find in a math curriculum, Teaching Textbooks has incorporated real world math into their curriculum. Throughout the book there are practical applications of how a math concept would be used in the real world. In Math 7 we covered lessons on income taxes, computer hard drives, quilting, buying a car, clearance sales, checking accounts, stock prices, carpentry, etc. *Step by step solutions on the computer I loved that if my children missed a problem, and didn't understand why, they could watch the step by step solution on the computer. The explanations are clear and easily understandable by the student. *Grading The computer program grades each lesson and quiz as they are done. I don't have to check math anymore. I just open the grade book and print the pages that have the lessons we've covered in a semester. Then I just average the grades. It's very simple. *Can be used multiple times Once you own the CDs you can install them on more than one computer in your home, and can also use them over again for other children. When you are finished with them you can sell them or give them to someone else and they can call the company for a code to be able to install it on their computer. This program enables the student to do math more independently, for which I'm grateful. There are times when my children come to me with a question. I love that I can sit down with them and watch the lecture, then help them with their problem. The times they have required help have been very few with this curriculum compared to other programs we have used. I like that the lectures and explanations are communicated in a manner that is easily understood by the student. They have understood more about math from using this curriculum than any other we have tried. There are critics that say that Teaching Textbooks it isn't as rigorous as other programs and that it won't prepare students for college. Their concerns are mainly centered around when the program introduces certain topics rather than the fact that they aren't addressed at all. Teaching Textbooks has responded to my questions and assured me that the topics that some critics of the program express concern over are covered, but in a higher level of their program. Their purpose in doing this is that they believe the student is better prepared, and able, to understand the material at the higher level; therefore they present it when they believe it will be best understood. I think every program has it's faults and I'm certain that Teaching Textbooks is not perfect. After reading many reviews, and receiving a response from Teaching Textbooks that addressed my concerns, I am satisfied that we can continue to use this program until graduation and my children will have everything they need to succeed in their future endeavors. Here are some links if you are interested in finding out more about Teaching Textbooks, or if you want a quick link from which to order. You will find that Teaching Textbooks does not charge for shipping their products. That is true if you order from their site or if you order from Christian Book Distributors...FREE shipping, now that is a very good thing! We will be using Pre-Algebra and Grade 5 sets this year. Here are the links to those specific programs. Entire Set:
Text and Answer Key only if you already have the CDs or need an additional workbook for another child.
CD set only - use this option if you already have the student book and answer key.
Math 5 Complete Set
Math 5 CDs only - use this option if you already own the student text and solutions manual
Math 5 Student text/Answer Key only - use this option of you already own the CDs
For other levels of Teaching Textbooks Math Curriculum click here: Teaching Textbooks Math Curriculum For sample lectures and lessons, and for more information, please visit the Teaching Textbooks website: http://www.teachingtextbooks.com Blessings, Missy | ||||||||||||
