Category: homeschooling

Thriving

Where do you thrive?

I thrive where there is plenty for me to do.

I’m thriving because school’s in session.

I decorated the school room with Chinese lanterns and polka dots. After all, it’s not every day we have a kindergartener in our midst.

Thank goodness for friends across the street who also home educate their children so we can hold a multi-family recess, share lab supplies, draw on various skills, and save money on equipment. I know my friend needs a big paper cutter, but I am NOT going to buy her one because it gives us an excuse to be useful to her.

Someday her children will remember me as the lady with the paper cutter.

That’s okay.

I just want to be useful.

2011-2012 School books

I’ve decided to share some of our curriculum choices because it’s what some readers want to see. If you’re not interested in school books, you can enjoy the poppy picture. Most of my curriculum ideas have come from The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer.

Mark’s books (Kindergarten):

  • Phonics Pathways by Dolores G. Hiskes
  • Math workbooks (various, including Saxon)
  • Math-It games for math facts
  • The Usborne Complete First Book of Nature
  • Easy Phonics Readers

Timothy’s books (3rd Grade)

  • English for the Thoughtful Child 2
  • Spelling Workout C
  • Saxon math 3
  • Exploring Creation with Zoology (I don’t love Apologia books and I skip the bothersome sections.)
  • Story of the World vol 3
  • I’m still planning his literature study. I still have a few days before school begins!!

Daniel’s books (7th grade):

TITLE:

God’s Gift of Language C grammar

 Author/Publisher:

A Beka
Writing Strands 4-5 National Writing Inst.
Spelling Workout f-g
Don Quixote Michael Harrison
“A Voyage to Lilliput,” “ A Voyage to Brobdingnag” from Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift
Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates Mary Dodge
A Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan
Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe
Poems of William Wordsworth
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Coleridge
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Rip Van Winkle
The Pied Piper of Hamelin Robert Browning
Grimms Fairy Tales
Autobiography of Ben Franklin, the Way to Wealth Franklin
Alice in Wonderland Lewis Caroll
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
Oliver Twist Charles Dickins
A Christmas Carol Charles Dickins
“The Raven” Edgar Allen Poe
Toliver’s Secret Ester Wood Brady
Caddie Woodlawn Carol Ryrie Brink
My Brother Sam is Dead James Lincoln Collier
The Courage of Sarah Noble Alice Dalgliesh
Algebra ½ Saxon
Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
Learning Through History magazines: American Revolution, Civil War
Critical Thinking Press book 1 Colonies to Constitution
Critical Thinking Press book 2 New Republic to Civil War
Story of the World vol 3 Bauer
Exploring Creation: General Science Wile
Rosetta Stone Spanish 1
typing tutor software

Paige’s books (10th grade):

TITLE

Confessions (selected books)

 Author/Publisher

Saint Augustine
Beowulf
Inferno Dante, tr. Pinsky
The Once and Future King White
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Tolkien
The Canterbury Tales ed. McCaughrean
The Prince Machiavelli
Utopia More
The Faerie Queene selections from book 1 Spenser
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Shakespeare
Hamlet Shakespeare
Henry V Shakespeare
The Timetables of History Grun
A Short History of Western Civilization, 8th ed. Sullivan
Janson’s History of Art: The Middle Ages Davies, …
A Day in the Life of Old Rome
 Stearnes
Inevitable Apostasy and Promised Restoration Callister
The Magna Charta Dougherty
Empires Lost and Won Marrin
Writing Strands 8 National Writing Inst
A Beka Grammar and Composition Abeka
Advanced Mathematics: Geometry, Trigonometry, Algebra III Saxon
Exploring Creation through Chemistry Wile
Old Testament
Deutsch Aktuell EMC publishing
Rosetta Stone German 2

Countdown

This is 10th grade, 7th grade, 3rd grade, and Kindergarten on one page. Yes, lunch is Very important to me.

We’ll begin school soon.

We have books and pencils.

We’re going to try e-books for some of our literature study this year. Kindles abound in this house.

Paige is studying medieval history and literature, German, chemistry, Advanced Mathematics (Geo-Trig-Algebra III), ballet, piano, and writing. (And early morning seminary.)

Daniel is studying Renaissance-1850 history and literature, Spanish, general science, pre-algebra, English, tennis, and golf.

Timothy is studying Renaissance-1850 history, English, zoology, 3rd grade math, and piano.

Mark is in Kindergarten. He’ll read, write, study math, dress up, and dig in the backyard.

Tomatoes! and other items of note

If anything can cure summertime blues, it’s a fresh garden tomato. The boys love picking them but they won’t eat ’em. (That’s not a real snake beside Mark.)

Daniel is off having “experiences and adventures” with the Sanchez grandparents this week. Lucky!

Paige returned from Girls Camp Spiritual Retreat in New Mexico just as sunburned as when she camps in the mountains.

I’m reading Democracy in America by de Tocqueville  since I have always wanted to do that.

I’m trying to gather enough courage to open the box of animals I ordered for Paige to dissect. Strange, given the fact I have dissected just about every animal you can think of. I’ve even dissected a shark… and worked with cadavers. You have a new disgusting respect for me now, don’t you? Back to my box dilemma: the specimens showed up in a package on the doorstep from a hot truck. I have a serious case of the willies. WHERE are we going to dissect these? This sort of dilemma keeps my mind busy.

I’m going to make this cake, sans the green frosting and trap.

I’m watching Bride and Prejudice while I ride the exercise bike. The music is so weird, it’s wonderful. I guess I’m on an India kick. Last weekend we watched Gandhi. It was very quotable…and an essential classroom tool I will incorporate next time we talk about Indian independence. I also bought a book of henna tattoos from a local gift shop. It’ll be a couple of years before we study this, but I’m always planning ahead.

I discovered this source for science supplies. The products appear to be high quality and the prices are good. There are chemistry supplies, too, which I have had trouble finding. I’m excited to order a bunch of prepared microscope slides.

I finished our family scrapbook for 2010. Hooray for the unscheduled month of June!

 

 

Saga

We finished our last school publication before the summer break. Here are the covers from the 2010-2011 school year. I think they look nice and they bring back many memories. One thing is certain: we live a documented life.

I started publishing the kids’ writing and art about four years ago. Back then we had friends contributing to the magazine. However, after three years I decided I just didn’t have time to make this a big collaboration. We scaled back the publication to our own family. I miss seeing the work from other kids, but I have learned that the beauty of home education is we can alter things when we need it. I appreciate that freedom.

We publish creative writing, reports, art, our monthly calendar, awards, and photos. I think this is one of the best things we have done to ensure the kids finish their work at a level they are comfortable having other people read. It’s been good for me because I have a record of exactly what we accomplished. Seeing everything compiled in a publication helps me see where we need more work and where we should be congratulated.

For instance, Daniel should be congratulated for reading over 22,000 pages during his 6th grade year. Paige should be congratulated for her thoughtful essays and reading a lot of Greek literature. Timothy should be congratulated for completing his reading goal and becoming quite an authority on Shakespeare.

Math and science are two subjects I don’t include in the publication, but these are more quantitative subjects and I can easily measure progress by looking at the spreadsheets.

I schedule an afternoon at the first of the month and copy and paste the documents from the previous month into a big publication. I add pictures and I update the calendar. My favorite thing to do is select the cover picture. I try to decide who had the biggest event or who showed the most courage. I try to capture our family-oriented lifestyle while celebrating excellence in academics, art, music, and athletics. Okay, okay, I admit it that this is just a scrapbook of our school journey. But it means a lot to me.

Ready for pink blossoms

These crape myrtle buds are just about ready to burst open in the backyard. Our choice of a crape myrtle tree is based in our love of Austin lore, as we had three of these lovelies when we lived there.

Today we celebrated the last P.E. class and the end of a golf session. We ate a celebratory lunch at the park and played water games and sipped Capri Suns.

Daniel’s golf instructor

 

Slowly, the traces of activities are being swept away… a ballet recital and two baseball games remain. Summer awaits with all its possibilities.

We gave out balloons

I got this idea from a charter school in Tucson. Each semester they hand out a balloon to each honor student and the kids just love it. Last Friday at our homeschool club activity we handed out balloons to the children. Each parent came forward and gave an introduction for each child, explaining what the child had accomplished during the school year. Each child was presented a certificate and a helium balloon. It was a special day and met a need for public recognition that home educated children rarely receive.

I gave Mark a certificate for being an early reader. His balloon (not pictured) is red, of course.

Paige’s Foreign Language

German  seemed the perfect choice for Paige when we discussed languages because our neighbor and mother of her best friend is from Germany. Paige has used Rosetta Stone but also receives tutoring from our neighbor, Heike twice a week. Heike’s daughter and another home school friend also take lessons. The girls are 14-15 years old and they have enjoyed a great year of German lessons together. They use the textbook, Deutsch Aktuell.

On Friday, the three girls did some presentations for their families. They each made a relief map of Germany and presented them in German. Next, they shared presentations about German composers. Paige chose C.P.E. Bach and then performed the piece, Solfeggietto on the piano. The other girls played pieces by Beethoven and J.S. Bach. It felt very Jane Austen having the young ladies play the piano for the company.

Here is Paige with Mark putting the finishing touches on her map of Germany.

And here are the girls giving their group presentation:

Once the presentations were complete, we ate an authentic German meal which involved a lot of cream and all other good things. What a lovely evening.