Jul. 2, 2008 - High School Forensic Science

    This past year we really struggled with science for our oldest.  We started out with Apologia Biology because that’s just what you do, right?  Well it is for most college bound high schoolers but we found ourselves struggling through it. 

We had to take a good hard look at , “...train them in the way they should go…” verse.   You know we all say that and know that but, “the state says…”  It’s a fine line.  How much do we do what we think is right for our child or follow along with everyone else?  It’s different for every state but the first step is to take a look at what really is required.  HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense) has a section on state laws which may be a good place to start.  You might be surprised at what you find. 

For instance in MI where I live most people follow (and some think the requirement is) Physical, Biology, Chemistry and then Physics for high school science.   Direct from the Michigan Department of Education website, it states for Science you need only 3 credits (years), one Biology, one Physics or Chemistry and one additional science.  It does also state they need to be lab sciences.  It pays to check it out.  I’m not suggesting we don’t comply with the minimum state requirements only think outside the box at times about them!

So after much struggle in our first semester we dropped Biology and switched to Forensic Science.  It’s much more interesting for my son.  We are only half way through since we did Biology the first half of last year but it is much easier to get him to get his reading, study guides and labs done.  (Not that he doesn’t still occasionally complain…)  The topics include ballistic’s (gun parts and stuff), fingerprinting (he lifted prints for his lab), soil/hair/fiber analysis, DNA, and more…

Now, I would like to tell you he’s doing fabulous with it and it’s now his favorite subject but that’s not true.  He still hates science as much as he always had and he’s still not getting an A but at least he is somewhat interested in this topic and it’s not like pulling teeth to get him to do it.  It makes for a much better mom (teacher)/son relationship!

The program I found is available on line for free.  I recommend it though you will want to preview it and possibly modify for your child.  For instance one of the assignments uses the autopsy report for Jon Boney Ramsey.  We are skipping that part as I felt it was a little too graphic.  There’re a few things like that.  Some you may decide are okay and some you may want to modify.  As they reach adulthood they are going to be exposed to some unpleasantness in the world (especially if they are considering this field) and you may want to use this as an opportunity to put it into a Christian Worldview perspective.

Jun. 30, 2008 - Welcome CHEO customers!

Welcome to all of you I got to talk to this weekend at CHEO in Ohio!  For this convention I brought two of my friends with me to help and we had a great time together AWAY from our families (you need that sometimes.)  Hope all of you had as much fun as I did (even though I paid $4.40 for gas on the way home which is more then I have EVER paid!)

Feel free to explore achieves and especially the link at the right for TLP/Literature.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Thanks,

Gina

Jun. 25, 2008 - Biology

Okay, I've written a blog about our struggle with Biology (I'll try and get that posted tomorrow, maybe?)  But at any rate, I just came across this giveaway for Biology 101.  It's a really neat DVD series that if I had seen before we tried what we did (you'll have to wait for the blog on that) I would have bought.  It could be a really need way to do a more ecclectic style of high school biology.

Check out this site for a chance to win one of three free copies they are giving away!  Good luck!

Gina

Jun. 25, 2008 - The Giver

The Giver

Wow!  I couldn’t put this book down.  It was so interesting!  If you haven’t heard of it, The Giver by Lois Lowry is an excellent book that allows you to discuss some really pertinent issue’s with your 8^th/9^th grade level children.

The book itself is a good read.  I read it while traveling to Washington a couple years ago.  As I’d get off the plane to the seating area I couldn’t wait to open the book back up.  While reading I kept “seeing” little things that would seem weird and eventually the whole picture opens up and you see what’s going on.  It’s basically about a planned society that you find out near the end practices euthanasia (think Logan’s run if you’ve seen that, my son found comparisons) but it’s more than just that. 

It’s about the value of things like pain, differences, independent thought and speaking up.  What great things to talk about!

My oldest son did this book with the Total Language Plus study guide.  He was in 9^th grade this last year which I feel was perfect for this study.  Many of the questions were pertinent to things we’re currently discussing.  Like for instance one of the questions he had to answer was what he thought was best for marriage, either your spouse being chosen by yourself, your parents or a committee.  We’ve been talking about courtship around our house so it was perfect timing.  In the society of The Giver a committee makes the choice for you.

He chose to do a pen and paper regarding a career in which he’s interested.  Surprisingly to us he choice to write on writing as a profession, we hadn’t heard this one before!  Again, another timely question as we’re looking at planning his high school to his “bent” and possible career area’s. 

Another project he chose to do was on a chart on childhood development.  I think he found it interesting as he keeps telling us things he learned.  One of his favorite things to inform us of was that 8 year olds tend to eat a lot (presumably because it’s a big growing year) and so that’s why his 8 year old sister eats so much!  He found this site helpful in his research.

 So I hope you'll check out the Giver, it's definately worthwhile!

Gina

Jun. 23, 2008 - Student Statesman Institute

Yesterday I dropped my oldest off in Lansing MI at Student Statesman Institute (S.S.I.)   It's a week long experience in goverenment and leadership training (and some Christian worldview too!)  My husband was first introduced to this at the Lansing homeschool convention when he heard James Moffett speak.

We're using it for the majority of our sons government credit for high school.  What a great way to do school!

My husband and I both attended Close-up in Washington D.C.  It's a program for public high school students which teaches you about government.  We learned a lot and it gave us both an interest (and understanding of) the polictical process and government that we otherwise might not have had.  We sat in on senate session, made our own bills to lobby and argue, met many of our congressmen and senators as well as toured the building. 

This program (S.S.I.) looks very much like what we did only it's of course on a state level and most importantly contain a Christian worldview.  I'll let you know Logan (my sons') impression when he gets home!

Right now he was pretty much excited to be dropped off and get to stay in a dorm room with a good friend for the week.  Oh, and he gets to eat college cafeteria food (all you can eat, buffet style) which will be like heaven to him.  He's a teenage boy...what can I say.

Gina

Jun. 15, 2008 - this was cute!

A friend just sent this to me and I could relate so much I just had to share it.  Go here and read it then come back for my version.  Go ahead, I'll wait....

It shed so much light for me.  I have a homeschool induced case of ADD.  I've noticed it only in the last few years and it seems to be only getting worse!  I thought I was the only one...

Here's how mine looks sometimes...  I start with my second grader at her desk but then while she's working on something I think I'll just throw in a load of laundry.  Then with my head stuck in the dryer I hear my 12 year old calling because he can't seem to read his instructions for his math on his own so I stop at his spot on the couch.  My second grader is now saying she's done and I answer just a minute becuase I'm still helping 12 year old with Math.  Finish helping him and go back to second grader who's gone on to the next page of her math without paying attention that it changed from addition to subtration and now we need to erase the whole row.

At this point it seems to be quiet so I think I can check my messages.  Start in on that and get tied up downloading some free ebooks I found through an email I received.  By now, 10 year old doesn't understand something in her Language Arts and is asking for help.  Printer is out of paper and I can't find where my 15 year old put it.  Get through that crisis and it's calm so I go upstairs for another cup of coffee.  Still quiet so I think I'll start writing a blog.

After numerous other things my husband gets on the computer after dinner and says do you need this document you have up (the blog I started at oh, probably 10:30....)  And that's just how the homeschooling part of my life goes!

I have the same issue in the store when my husband is looking at things.  I also understand her comment about ideas during sermons.  I write lots in the margins, seems church brings out inspiration!  Truly, I have a hard time getting my brain to stop ever!  Seems I get sidetraced a lot (okay to be fair I have lots of people helping to sidetrack me!)  So what's the answer?

I don't entirely know but it's just fun to know we're not alone! 

And just so you know every day isn't like this but it was fun to relate!

Gina

Jun. 10, 2008 - More summer fun ideas!

Okay, reading my last blog there are a few more I just have to add.

Gardening: The first that comes to mind is gardening.  This is a great fun activity and it's not too late!  Last year my daughter took her own money and bought her own plants.  She dig up her own spot for her garden.  When friends came over she showed them "her" garden. 

This year I'm trying to have a good garden.  I was thinking it would be fun to keep a notebook.  Why not sketch out your plan and take pictures and sketches along the way.  Even if you don't want to do a full "garden" a small spot for a few things doesn't take much effort.  Sunflowers are great one for kids to grow as well as morning glories.  For vegetables try cucumbers and pumpkins if you want easy results.

Learning abounds here and it can be rewarding for your kitchen too!

Canning and Preserving:  Okay, this one can go along with gardening but you can pick your own at U-pick places (an event in itself) or just buy your produce.  The very first and easiest to do is strawberry freezer jam.  I have done the cooked strawberry jam and the freezer and we by far prefer the freezer method.  What I love about this too is it can be done quickly (even with very little ones helping) and it doesn't heat up the kitchen.

We like to can a lot of jams.  We usually do cherry (probably my favorite), blueberry and peach.  We have our own raspberry patch but we love them and eat so much that I rarely get jam.  Check this site for canning directions on jam.  That site has directions, recipes and more and it's a pdf you can print if you like.  If you're already a pro try some new recipes this year!  Oh, and don't forget your kids can enter these in the fair!

Another really easy one to can (and use up) is tomatoes.  Typically, I run out of my canned tomatoes by January so this year I've planted  more in my garden as I'm determined to not run out so quickly next year.  I usually just can them whole although this year I may do them more diced since I'm finding I end up sticking kitchen scissors in the jars and chopping before I use most of the time anyway.  Here's again another nice booklet you can print with directions for tomatoes.

A lot of nothing:  Our kids are so busy these days.  Plan to not have plans for even weeks!  You’d be surprised what the kids will come up with (especially with a little direction.)  How about a sidewalk chalk art contest?  Or you could make homemade bubbles and wands.  Catch firefly’s!  Stay up late, watch the stars and see if you can find any galaxies!  Have a bike, “car wash”.  Just give them time to create and play!

Enjoy your summer!

Jun. 4, 2008 - Summer Fun ideas!

I’ve been away from my blog a few days already having some summer fun!  Memorial Day weekend we camped out at our favorite campsite, last week we went to our local zoo and over the weekend we visited family and met some friends at the John Ball Park zoo in Grand Rapids  MI.   I thought I’d share some of our ideas on what we like to do in the summer!

(Putting up the tent this Memorial Day weekend)

Camping- Okay, I’m not really a camping kind of girl but we love to camp in our backyard.  We are blessed to have 5 acres and we often do campfires so we just pitch a tent for a few days and have fun.  I love that we have our own bathrooms, refrigerator and grill on the deck but we can sleep in the tent and cook over a fire if we want to.  Even if you don’t have 5 acres it can still be great fun.  The kids love that they get to stay up “really” late, and the yard looks so different in complete darkness.

Some things you can consider doing on your “camping trip”.  We like to play card games and things in the tent as well as tell stories around the fire.  One person starts the story and then we go round and add on.  One year we made it into our own “family” camp at home with crafts and everything.  We made a family flag, square piece of green material I had, which we glued sticks to in the shape of letters to spell our last name.  We propped the flog up on their play set and our yard became “camp Reynolds” for the weekend.  I got inexpensive T-shirts and we tie dyed them out in the yard.  We also gathered small sticks and covered ball canning jars with sticks to make rustic “vases” for our wildflower’s we collected.

 (My son and a chemelion he met at the zoo!)

Zoo’s- We are very fortunate to have a zoo about twenty minutes from us  in South Bend Indiana.  When the kids were little we’d go at least once a week.  Most zoo’s offer a family zoo pass.  Our’s is $55 and it gets you not only into your own zoo but many others.  This weekend we used our zoo pass from South Bend’s Potowatomi zoo to get into John Ball Park zoo in Grand Rapids MI  for free (just cost gas money!) 

When the kids are young they just love to look at the animals but as they get older bring along digital camera’s and/or sketchbooks.  Let them make a notebook of your zoo adventures.

Nature Centers- Many parks have nature centers along with hiking trails and more.  The Gillette Nature center in Hoffmaster Park (Muskegon MI) has great learning not only on animals but sand dunes as well.  You might be surprised what’s in your area.  Nothing wrong with a little “fun” learning.  Many of these center’s also offer inexpensive (or expensive it varies) lessons or camps in canoeing, kayaking, animal topics and more.

Fairs- We use the Berrien County youth fair to sneak a lot of school into the summer.  It’s a fun way for the kids to do projects, get paid and learn something.  Most libraries and stores like Rural King or TSC have local fair books.  We usually enter our chickens (of course!),  photography, art (painting, drawing etc…), sewing, quilting, canning, baked goods, speeches, flowers, science lapbooks, bug collections and probably a bunch more I’m forgetting.  You would not believe all the categories.  You can enter stories, poems, electrical project, woodworking projects and so much more.

The kids love the fair because they earn money for each project and it keeps them busy and productive during the summer.  (Not to mention the fun of fair week itself!)

Beach-  It’s fun to just go hang out but a couple of things you can do at the beach is make a volcano!  Just bring along some vinegar, baking soda and a water bottle. Instructions can be found here here .  It’s fun and creates quite an attraction from fellow beach goers.  You can also bring along some plaster paris and a bucket and make hand (or foot) prints.  Just dig a circle (or whatever shape you want) into the sand at least big enough to contain the hand.  Now press the child’s hand into the sand to make an impression.  Pour the plaster paris and let it sit while your at the beach all day.  Usually it takes 4-5 hours to set (check the directions on the plaster paris box.) 

If you’re going to an ocean beach it’s always fun to find a tide pool.  The beach we go to in Rhode Island has a rocky area at the far end where you can walk and see tide pools.  We’ve found clams and starfish to look at.  And of course there’s always shell collecting!

Summer Reading -  Most libraries have summer reading programs where they award prizes to the kids for hours read.  You can add to this yourself by looking at your recommended readers for your curriculums for next year and offer a bonus if you kids chose those books to read.  We can never get enough reading done during our school year so this has worked great for us to get in some of those “extra” books.  Last June my 10 year old daughter read, Fire, Bed and Bone and still claims it as her favorite.  (See archives for my blog last summer on that one.)

Okay, well I guess that’s all for now.  I may re-visit this subject later, there’s just so many good things to do!  Leave me a comment and let me know what you do for fun in the summer!

Gina

May. 29, 2008 - Art festival

We are very fortunate to have a wonderful art teacher in the area.  She does classes for homeschool kids at a church about 5 minutes from my house.  It works out well for us,  though we can’t afford to do them all the time.  This last year my son Taylor took two sessions.  My daughters also took the spring session.

These are pictures I took at the art festival following their spring session.  The focus of the session was on painting.

Prior to this year my kids did not take any official art classes.  When my oldest was young our library used to have one day classes in different art subjects and he did a few of those.  They were free!  Unfortunately the librarian that had an art degree moved on so no more classes.

Besides that I did pick up a basic drawing workbook for my boys that went over shading, texture, dimensions etc…  when they were in upper elementary but that’s about it.

You know even with the limited amounts I’ve done with them I think they had more than I did in school (public in the 70’s.)  There were mileage cuts so I only had art in elementary and even then I think it was only every other week.  One week we had an hour of music and one week an hour of art.  The only thing I remember doing was making a clay turtle.  Hey, we did clay sculptures as a project with our Lion the Witch and Wardrobe study as a suggestion from the TLP guide.  Guess I got that covered too!

If you start to think about it you probably cover more art than you think.  Let’s see, we studied snow a few years back and painted snowflakes using mirror image.  This year we worked on aurora’s to go with our Julie of the Wolves/Iditarod study on watercolor paper.  We had to learn what a collage was (couldn’t believe my kids didn’t know this) and made one of Nautical items/terms from a suggestion in the TLP guide to go with Carry On, Mr. Bowditch.  I could go on but I think you get the idea.

I just got my new Timberdoodle catalog yesterday and noticed an interesting computer program.  It’s called Creativity-Express   .  It looks interesting.  The review says , “The extraordinary Creativity Express curriculum is an innovative combination of technology and art resulting in a revolutionary approach to teaching art history, art appreciation, and digital art.”  If you’ve seen this at all, let me know what you thought.  It’s only $30 and up to 4 children can use it (I have 4, how perfect is that!)

Leave me a comment and let me know how YOU incorporate art!

Gina

May. 21, 2008 - Love the outside!

You know, after the cold of winter it is so nice to be outside again!  Even though here it’s been below average temperatures it’s still nice.  I love walking around the yard, seeing everything turn green and watching God’s creation come to life.

>

Last week Ariel found a butterfly with its’ wings still wet.  We rescued it from the ground and perched it in our garden.  I thought this picture turned out well.
 

A few years back we had studied monarchs and watched them change and emerge.  It was neat to hear what the girls remembered from then.  It’s nice to know sometimes that the things we teach do stick (well once in awhile anyway!)

>Here’s the scrapbook pages from 2006 showing our Monarch’s.  I’m not sure if you can see but in the picture with the chrysalises hanging the back one looks black.  They do that just before they turn clear and emerge.  Many books and charts don’t tell you this.  For instance this month’s Answer’s in Genesis magazine has a great pull-out section on butterfly’s.  It includes a growth chart on Monarch’s but no black Chrysalis.  I just mention this because the first time it happened to us I thought oh no I killed it!

You can also see how I left big pink boxes for wonderful journaling and there they still are!  I'm way behind on scrapbook stuff.  Oh well...

Another thing I enjoy after the winter is getting out and watching our chickens.  Okay, I know that may sound a little weird but it really is fun.  They each have their own personality and can be so funny.  I knew we’d really arrived when a couple of years ago my husband and I propped our lawn chairs in front of the chicken pen with cool drinks to relax for the evening!  It beats TV!

This picture is of our Cuckoo Maraan rooster.  He belongs to my youngest daughter Lexie, she named him Prince Caspian. 

Well I hope you are all taking sometime to enjoy the green!

May. 20, 2008 - Fort Wayne

Last weekend was the convention in Fort Wayne Indiana.  My oldest son, Logan, and my oldest daughter, Ariel, went with me this time.  We had fun!  Thanks to all who attended my workshop!  It was nice to have so many interested in what I had to share. 

Besides being a vendor there the kids got to walk around a bit.  I was busy (which is a good thing) so I didn't do much browsing at this one.  Logan decided for sure he wants to do the computer repair curriculum so we got that ordered.  He says he's going to start it right away!  Ariel got another scratch off art set.  Last year we brought one home from one of the conventions for all the kids to split and I guess she really enjoyed it because she put her money towards another one.

May. 13, 2008 - Winding down!

Do all of you feel like this?  Finally, after a busy couple of weeks it seems things are winding down for summer.  Are you glad or sad?

For us it always seems just at the time you’re trying to finish up school at home everything you’re involved in is trying to throw a year end event!  We have concerts, Solo & Ensemble, talent shows, year end picnic’s, art shows, Awana Awards and more.  Plus of course we are almost at the end of soccer season so there are the usual games and practices.  This year just to add a little challenge to the schedule we threw in driver’s training.

Last week was very busy and this week two more “things” are ending so I’m getting excited!  That means we’re about done!  Very purposefully this year I’ve planned a very low key summer.  By fall I’m sure I’ll be ready for activity again but right now I’m ready to stay home a lot!

As for schoolwork, we’re almost done with the core (that’s what I call math and language arts), we should finish by Friday.  After that we have some non-core things we got behind on that I want to work on for a couple weeks but that will be real minor.  Maybe an hour (probably at most) each day for a couple weeks.  I really want to get where we should have been in Latin and Science but our composer study we may just keep doing once a week for the summer because they enjoy it so much, we’ll see.

Two of the kids will be doing handwriting workbooks at the beginning of the summer but I don’t even want to start them till they are done with their “regular” work.  I don’t know if anyone else has this issue but my kids seem to regress in handwriting.  When they first learn they are very conscientious but as time goes this fades.  I’m hoping by doing these workbooks it will remind them of the correct way to form the letters (my son especially likes to take shortcuts in this aspect) and then later in the summer do a reward system for well done copywork of their choice.  If anyone has had this issue and successfully made improvements let me know what you tried.

So are you done yet?  Or maybe you go through the summer?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Gina

May. 9, 2008 - Medieval Feast

Most of the kids (and some parents) participated in entertainment between the courses.  We had several poem recitations, juggling (scarves and balls), games and a little “comedy”.  My son Taylor our monk for the evening provided the blessing for the meal in Latin and English and since he also plays the drums did the drum roll to announce each course.  In my reading it was either a drum roll or trumpet and since we had drums…

Here’s the poem my daughter Ariel did:

To A Cat

Poor puss is gone! 'Tis fate's decree---
Yet I must still her loss deplore,
For dearer than a child was she,
And ne'er shall I behold her more.

With many a sad presaging tear
This morn I saw her steal away,
While she went on without a fear
Except that she should miss her prey.

I saw her to the dove-house climb,
With cautious feet and slow she stept
Resolved to balance loss of time
By eating faster than she crept.

Her subtle foes were on the watch,
And marked her course, with fury fraught,
And while she hoped the birds to catch,
An arrow's point the huntress caught.

In fancy she had got them all,
And drunk their blood and sucked their breath;
Alas! she only got a fall,
And only drank the draught of death.

Why, why was pigeons' flesh so nice,
That thoughtless cats should love it thus?
Hadst thou but lived on rats and mice,
Thou hadst been living still, poor puss.

Curst be the taste, howe'er refined,
That prompts us for such joys to wish,
And curst the dainty where we find
Destruction lurking in the dish.

---Ibn Alalaf Alnaharwany

Oh, and as you might have noticed in the picture we did get some of the sewing done!  My youngest got her beautiful blue dress she wanted.  Ariel got her long skirt but we ran out of time for the cloak (it was over 70 that day anyway, she would have cooked.)  My oldest got his tunic for a woodsman but we didn’t get around to the hat.  Our monk was easy, it was a left over robe originally used as a Ewok from Star Wars!  My husband of couse came straight from work so he was dressed "modern" and I just did the best I could from my closet!

It was fun and I’m sure most of the kids will have fond memories of the Medieval Feast!

May. 6, 2008 - The Best Kept Secret in Homeschool!

I just got my copy of Old Schoolhouse in the mail yesterday and was delighted last night to find an impressive review of Total Language Plus.  The reviewer closed her interview by saying, “I think it is the best-kept homeschool secret out there!”  I couldn’t agree more!  That’s exactly how I felt when I found it!

You can read the full review here, just chose Total Language plus from the list.

I’ve been going over our lists of curriculum for next year including our choices from the Total Language Plus guides.  We are choosing to do Adam of the Road and Trumpeter of Krakow  due to our being in the medieval period in our history curriculum. Last weekend I got our science curriculum for next year, Christian Kids Explore Chemistry and in the back it recommends study of Alchemy.  It’s so funny how God works this out as I goggled Alchemy what should come up but Trumpeter of Krakow!  The main character encounters an Alchemist and his daughter.

This year we chose to do Carry On Mr. Bowditch as we were studying earth and space.  Mr. Bowditch sails by “lunars” and stars.  Amazingly enough he also studies Latin which we started this year too!  I certainly didn’t plan all this.  I try my best but God sure helps!

What else are we choosing?  Well,  I’m thinking Swiss Family Robinson, High King,  The Cricket in Times Square, The Courage of Sarah Noble and probably a few more but  it’s not final yet!  Of course those choices are for all my kids not just one. 

May. 4, 2008 - Welcome INCH customers

Wow, we had quite a busy two days at Lansing!  It was great and my husband and I really enjoyed talking with so many homeschoolers!  We are still very tired but I wanted to take a quick minute and welcome anyone from Lansing who might be checking out the blog!

Feel free to look around but especially check the TLP and Literature category at the right for some thoughts on some of the guides we've done.  You also might some in archives that I forgot to put in the category as well.

I've got much more planned to write but it will have to wait...rest and housework call!

Gina

Apr. 25, 2008 - Rifles for Watie

We did Rifles for Watie Total language Plus study guide last year.  Apparently my boys liked it more than I remembered because they talked about it a lot at the last convention.  I recall enjoying the study and the story but didn’t think they would talk about that one as much as they did since it wasn’t as fresh in their memory.

The story itself brings up a really different perspective on the civil war.  It not only gives you a glimpse of both the Conferate and Union soldiers lives’ but also looks at the Native American involvement in the war.  Personally, I had never realized that they played a substantial part in the war.  The story is based on historical events and people but is fiction.  We found the first part of the book to go a little slow but very engaging from middle to end.

One of the projects we chose was to map the area’s where the story takes place.  We found it helpful to have an overview of the whole region  whole region as well as put in more details state by state  .  Just click on the highlighted words to find the maps we used.  You will of course need an atlas to help you find some of the forts, cities, rivers and other things to note on your map.

We found some pictures of Watie and other interesting things especially on the Cherokees’ to include in reports or notepages.  Here are a few links;

picture of stand watie http://www.cherokeehistory.com/appear.html

article on native Americans in the civil war (mentions Watie) http://www.civilwarhome.com/unionconfedindians.htm

Cherokee images of civil war http://cherokeehistory.com/image2.html

There is so much you could really turn this into a whole unit study although we did not.  We just hit the highlights!

For our Pen and Paper for our study we chose the Essay on the Causes of the Civil War and a report on Abraham Lincoln.  I highly recommend the biography put out by YWAM on Abraham Lincoln.  For more information on the causes of the civil war we used  the Personally Thinking question (#35) on Lucy and Jeff’s argument from the TLP guide as a starting point and then checked out a few library books.

One of the other projects we planned on doing was to examine an unloaded rifle and learn about how a firearm works.  My Dad is an avid hunter so I thought this would be a good opportunity with Grandpa but we didn’t get a chance to go visit him while we were working on this one.  They did however just this spring take hunters safely and got a chance to learn about it. 

The boys always love any eating suggestions. (Anyone who has teenage boys will know what I mean!)  Project #3 is make and eat cornbread.  Here’s my homemade recipe for what we think is really awesome cornbread!

Cornmeal Biscuits

1 ½ cup flour

¾ cup cornmeal

½ cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp salt

1/3 cup butter (or margarine)

1 tsp. dry lemon peel

2/3 cup butter milk (I most often use milk with 1 tsp. of lemon juice mixed in, let it stand a few minutes before using)

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all together until just mixed, don’t overdo it.  Flour surface and pat out into rectangle ½ inch thick.  Use cookie cutter to cut out “biscuits” or take knife and divide into “squares” for baking.  Bake 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, DO NOT OVERCOOK.  Enjoy!

Apr. 23, 2008 - Welcome Indianapolis friends!

Just wanted to put a quick note on here to welcome some of our new customers from Indianapolis convention.  We had a great time!  You were all so encouraging to my boys!  It got long for them but they did a really good job.  I had forgotten my camera so I didn't take pictures of them working but I did take one of them with my camera phone eating at Cracker Barrel after we set up. If I can figure out how to get the pictures off the phone I'll post that one!

Our top seller by far was Rifles for Watie.  We did that one last year so I'm going to try and go back to our guides later this week (or this weekend) and blog with some of the things we did with that one, so if you're doing that one check back.

Gina

Apr. 15, 2008 - Medieval Feast

Okay, this one is not to show off some wonderful things we've accomplished but to give a sense of reality to this blog and maybe check my sanity.  Have you ever done this?

Yesterday we went to JoAnn's to check out patterns for our upcoming (in less than two weeks) medieval feast we are attending for our history co-op.  Well, they are on sale this week for .99 cents so we went a little crazy.  Of course my youngest daughter wants the beautiful princess dress that I might add is not one of those "EZ patterns".  My second oldest wasn’t sure what she wanted so I was able to steer her to a simpler full skirt and bodice.

At first glance I thought that would be easier but the bodice is laced and so is the back of the dress for my youngest.  It calls for eyelets.  If anyone has any advice on this or has done this please share!!!  I did a roman soldier costume for my son before that was laced but it was on a fake leather so I just punched the holes with my scrapbook eyelet tool.

We went to Wal-Mart (the home of $1 a yard fabric) and found what we needed and then they had this beautiful thick, nice fabric that matched the skirt and bodice my daughter Ariel picked out.  When we had been at Joann’s she looked at the cloak patterns but I said a dress was enough (figuring enough in dollars and time) but when we saw this fabric...  Needless to say we're hoping to do a hooded cloak too for only $7!

Okay, so here's the reality check.  What am I thinking?  We are in our final push to finish school.  You know where you count what you've got left and figure out when you can get done.  Our aim was core subjects by May 9th and some odds and ends we've been neglecting from then until the end of May doing about an hour each morning.  Plus soccer season has started which means practices and games for one son and my older son is refereeing this year (means I'm the taxi!)  And as some of you know for me it's convention season which means I'm busier with my business.

So a little insight on my crazy thoughts, they are online researching their costumes and what they are doing for the feast.  My oldest was searching to find medieval music to learn and play on a recorder.  Taylor, my 12 year old needs to research if monks wore crosses or not and wants to find out about prayer in medieval times so he can offer the blessing.  Ariel my 10 year old is making her own costume so she can enter at least part of it in the fair.  We're having a little trouble with that because apparently only 12 year olds do costumes or heritage for home ec so we'll have to enter it as a skirt and shirt.  And my youngest...well she's fairly glowing at the thought of her dress!  Seeing her face wearing it will be enough on that one.

Sometimes we (I mean me) can get so caught up in "getting done" that we miss some of the education that they will really remember.  They won't remember that we didn't get done by May 9th but they will remember this medieval feast I'm quite sure.

So what do you think?  How do you find that balance?  Please comment below and share your thoughts.  Oh, and if you have any advice on the eyelets please share that too!

Gina

Apr. 11, 2008 - Norman the Doorman

We are having so much fun with my second graders Language Arts curriculum this year.  The last unit we did was on Norman the Doorman by Dan Freeman.  It’s been awhile since I showed a bit of what she’s done this year so I thought it was time again.  (See entry from the fall on Little Bear if you’re interested.)

If you are not familiar with Norman the Doorman, it is a very cute story about a mouse who is the “back” doorman for a museum.  He likes to create things from materials he finds around the museum.  One day he sees a sign for an art contest and enters it.  Okay, I won’t give more away , but it’s very cute with lots of possibilities for learning and exploring.

 In her regular work we did spelling and vocabulary words from the book as well as comprehension and thinking questions.  For the grammar with Norman we worked on compound words and titles.  In the phonics we worked with the silent letters in knight.  All the learning sections take their material from the story.  I just love doing school this way!

Each unit has some enrichment activities for her to chose.  Most of the time we take those things (and sometimes things from the regular daily work) and create a folder book.  She likes to draw a copy of the cover for the front of each folder that looks just like the front of the book she reads.  Inside we put booklets, pictures, charts or whatever we’ve done to go with that unit.

For Norman she chose to do some sculptures in wire just like Norman did.  I thought hers turned out well.  She of course titled her art, just like Norman did.  We had “The Green Lady”, “Ball in a Heart” and “The Green Tree”.  She just used some floral wire I had and put it in some clay.  We took pictures for her folderbook.

For the enrichment reading suggestions she chose to read two more of Dan Freeman’s books.  She read Earl the Squirrel, all by herself I might add, and she was so pleased that she now could!  I also read to her Manuelo the Playing Mantis.  Both stories were very cute.  She made her own books to retell the stories for her folderbook.

One of the other suggestions was a chart on responsibilities.  Norman you see takes his job as a doorman very seriously so we talked about what responsibilities she has.  She’s keeping a chart for the week to check off her things she is responsible to do.  If she puts forth her best effort like Norman she gets to put a star by that day.

Those of you that read my blog will know this but for anyone that doesn’t probably the reason I love the curriculum so much is that I wrote it!  That’s one way to get exactly what you want!  I am getting very excited about it too because it’s almost all written!  It’s been a lot of hard work but so worth it!  So I encourage YOU, go ahead write what works for you.

Gina

Apr. 8, 2008 - Mishawaka Convention

It's been quite a busy week!  Last weekend we were at convention in Mishawaka, IN.  Probably some of you from Mishawaka convention have already stopped by my site before I had a chance to get this entry posted...as I said it's been a busy week.

My girls have been wanting to come to a convention and help so this was their first convention.  They were so excited.  They had their clothes laid out the night before.  We all had to match.  You can see from the picture the theme was black/red and white.  I wore just the black and white.  The mistake with that was they wore their boots so I wore mine, problem was my boots have heels.  My feet sure hurt that night!

They had a really good time and for the most part didn't get too bored.  This convention does offer a vendor room with food so that made it a big hit with them.  They also found several things in the free books at the used book booth.  One was a complete works of Shakespeare which we're studying coming up in history so that was a great find!

We got to take in the main session on Friday night and I really enjoyed (as always) chatting with lots of homeschoolers on Saturday!  The Friday night session was on the Reformation.  When it started one of the kids leaned over and said, "What's the reformation?"  It was a bit over their head.  We are getting to that period in history next year so it might have made more sense to them then, however, he did talk about some of the martyr's we read about in Fox's book of Martyr's this year.  We quizzed them on the car ride home and they actually had paid better attention and "caught" more than we thought so we rewarded the kids with a stop for ice cream. 

All in all a great convention!

Gina