Category Archives: Organization and Scheduling

January in review

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I’m attempting a new thing here in my efforts to share some of what we do in our homeschool.  Instead of weekly wrap-ups, I’ve decided to write up a monthly wrap-up post.    It does my heart good to see what we’ve accomplished.  We’ll see if this is any more time efficient than the other way.

Morning time:  reading aloud and devotions

This is something that has evolved over time, and currently it is reduced to

  • We do a daily devotional reading from Jesus Calling for Kids.  The girls take turns reading paragraphs and Bible passages.  We do this over breakfast, and then we pray together.
  • I read a picture book or two.
  • After breakfast chores, etc., one girl practices the piano and the other girl and I tackle some laundry folding and a one-on-one read aloud/together.  This month Lulu and I have been reading The Princess and the Goblin, and according to the progress bar on the Kindle we’re about half-way through it.  Louise and I have been reading The Blue Fairy Book, and we’re about a quarter of the way through it.  (I don’t think I realized how long it is when we began.)  I suppose this is not too bad considering that in a perfect week, each girl and I will read together for forty minutes, tops.
I miss learning longer Bible passages and hymns together.  It seems like I go in cycles with my feelings about all this memory work, and right now I’m leaning more toward learning poems, hymns, and scripture than all the facts and such from our CC memory work, but that’s probably because the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.
Math:
Lulu: Completed lessons 15-33 in RightStart D.  Most of these were somewhat of a review, although I really appreciate how in RightStart, even old concepts are taken out and reexamined in a new light.  I think it makes for a rich approach to math.  Mostly, this involved more subtraction and multiplication, although we did tackle some measuring (linear and liquid), too.  We also played math games on four different occasions.  Lulu also completed pages 31-43 in Math Mammoth Addition and Subtraction 2B Blue Series.  This is slightly behind where she is in RS, but I like coming behind RS and shoring up any weak spots.
Louise:  Louise completed RightStart B lessons 70-85.  We played math games on seven different occasions.  (Some of these times we all played together.)  Louise also completed  pp. 21-24 in Math Mammoth Subtraction 1 Blue Series.

All in all, I think math is one of the strengths of our homeschool.  I have no complaints about the curriculum we’re using, other than it’s very teach intensive and time-consuming. However, I really feel like the time investment is worth it.  Coupled with the CC memory work we’re doing, I feel like the girls are getting a strong foundation, and they both cite math as one of their favorite subjects.

Goals for next month:

  • Check Math Mammoth immediately, or at least that day, and give feedback
  • Be more intentional about playing math games, especially with Lulu.  Shoot for one a week.

Writing/composition:

Lulu:  Completed a minimum of three days a week of weeks 14-17 in Writing With Ease 3.    I appreciate the fact that informational texts were introduced in this group of lessons, especially because my ear is (sometimes unfortunately) to the ground regarding trends in public education, and I know this is a huge push with the Common Core standards.  (Why I even think about this, I don’t know. It’s how I operate.)  Dictation continues to be a challenge, but hey–I don’t think I could do it!  Lulu also completed a three (?) book reports, two using this format.  (Secrets at Sea by Peck, Miranda the Cat by Estes, and Gladys Aylward:  The Little Woman by Gladys Aylward)  She wrote one thank you note and mailed it, and she even wrote her own book, which was greatly inspired by the American Girl stories she’s so fond of.  ;-)  She also did a bit of writing for an AWANA assignment.  She is showing a tiny bit more initiative regarding writing on her own, and that’s a very good thing.

Louise:  Louise completed at least three days a week of weeks 15-18 in Writing With Ease 1.  Honestly, I probably should’ve bumped her up to WWE 2 at the beginning of the year; she really, really gets how to do this, and I think she could easily handle WWE 2.  Since she is my second child, though, I have come to appreciate not rushing things.  One of the high points for me this month as her tutor/teacher was one day when she read one of the Cybils informational books–Nic Bishop Snakes (a finalist, so my review will have to wait until the awards are announced) and took it upon herself to sit and write a rather lengthy narration of it.  This month she has also written one thank you note and mailed it.  (That’s the accompanying illustration above.)

Goals:  I really need to go back and get a grasp on narration and how it changes as the student matures.  I feel like I need to give Lulu better, more pointed instruction, but sometime I just am not sure what to say or do.  I think listening to Susan Wise Bauer’s lectures again might help, as well as reading (or listening?) to some stuff I’ve gotten from IEW might help.

 

Language:

Lulu: Completed lessons 14-22 in First Language Lessons 3.  This seems like a low number considering the fact that we schooled for 4 1/2 solid weeks.  However, taking CC days and Fun Fridays (when we usually throw our normal schedule to the wind) into consideration, I guess this is pretty good.  Last week we also added back in doing 4 level analysis of sentences using Practice Island by Michael Clay Thompson.  I intended to take it slowly and do one sentence a week, but Lulu remembered how to do it fairly quickly (we went through the Grammar Island first semester) and wanted to do a sentence a day.  I’m mostly pleased with where we are right now.  Lulu seems to be grasping these rather abstract concepts well enough for her age, and she likes it.

Louise:  Completed lessons 43-52 in First Language Lessons 1.  Sometimes I get a bit antsy because this is a very slow and gentle approach to language, but then I remember–Hey!  She’s only in first grade.  It’s okay!  And I calm back down.  ;-)  Like in writing, I could probably skip level 1 and go to level 2, but I really see no reason to do this now.

Goals:

Be very consistent in the next month about doing language.  This is one of the things that slips through the cracks if we are running short of time.  I need to watch that.

Spelling:  For both girls I’ve thrown in the towel on All About Spelling and have given them Spelling Workout workbooks.  Lulu is finishing up level B since our spelling instruction had been hit-or-miss, and Louise is finishing up level A.  (This reminds me–I need to order the next books for them!)  This is one of the few things they do all day long that is almost independent, and for this I am grateful.  Both girls usually do spelling lessons 3 days a week.

I finally did start Lulu back up doing dictation sentences from Spelling Wisdom last week, too.  This time I’m using an amended (due to our day out each week for CC) version of Beth’s dictation schedule, and I think it’s going to be good.

Goals: Remember to order the girls’ spelling workbooks!  :-)  Done!


Handwriting : I hesitate to even mention this because this is the one thing that sort of buffaloes me.  My handwriting is pretty bad at this point in my life, although at one time I had nice penmanship.  Too many years of taking notes in college robbed me of it, I guess. :-)  Anyway, the girls do this independently about 3 days a week, and I often require them to do it over.  I try to stress the habit of attention and doing a little bit of work perfectly, but it doesn’t always “take.”  I suppose legible is what I’m really shooting for at the end of the day.

Goals: At least begin thinking about when Lulu will begin using the italic script (Getty-Dubay) for her other work.

Science:  Science is the thing that causes me the most angst, probably, because I don’t feel we do it consistently enough.  Way back before Steady Eddie went back to graduate school again, we had a weekly science lesson from BFSU one night a week.  It was good. Then I went to work on Saturdays and Steady Eddie tried to do a lesson most Saturdays.  This works out fairly well, though with his increased workload and just life in general, we don’t always get a lesson in.  Since Christmas our focus has been on rocks since earth science is the topic right now for CC.  Here are some things they have done (mostly without any input from me, I confess):

  • Read about and discussed the layers of the earth via the book What’s Inside  Earth by Jane Kelly Kosek.

  • Looked at and discussed the three different types of rocks using a rock sample kit we own.
  • Grew salt crystals and discussed the effect of temperature on crystal formation.  (I wish I’d taken a picture of this.)
  • Taken a field trip to look at some rock and crystal samples.  More on this in a bit.
  • Memorized the appropriate CC science sentences and completed science activities at CC.

The girls also had a little impromptu science lesson one week, which is just the way I envisioned science happening in my own little dream homeschool.

Goals:  I really, really meant to resume nature study this month, but the bleak January weather in Alabama (rainy, often cold) and my physical condition (as big as a house, clumsy, and just all around blah) conspired against us.  Maybe February will be better.  Hope springs eternal, right?  :-)

History:

We’ve done about a chapter a week in SotW volume 2 this month, which means we’ve covered chapters 26 through 29.  Mostly we’ve done this over lunch, with Jim Weiss doing the narrating.  I then ask the girls the review questions from the activity guide and sometimes require an oral narration and call it good.  We’ve also supplemented with a few picture books:

  • More Tales from Shakespeare by Marcia Williams for its retelling of Richard III in comic book format.  I did this little bit as a read-aloud, which is decidedly not the best method for it.  My girls would probably enjoy this more if they were a bit older and if they had time to pore over it themselves.

  • Prince Henry the Navigatorby Leonard Everett Fisher helped us flesh out Prince Henry a bit more, though honestly, the black and white illustrations leave much to be desired.  Still, it was nice to learn more about someone in our CC timeline.
  • Sundiata by David Wisniewski added to our study of the western kingdoms of Africa, which also fit nicely with our CC timeline.  This one is the best of the picture books we read.

Lulu (and possibly Louise, too?) read a few more books that related to our history studies that we just didn’t get to as read-alouds, including one book on Joan of Arc (I hadn’t the stamina to discuss all the mysticism in it with them at the time, but Lulu beat me to it and read it anyway) and a book with what is likely a decidedly feministic viewpoint about famous European women of the Middle Ages.  My girls’ reading is now outstripping my ability to keep up.

Right now history in our homeschool consists of read-alouds and some oral discussion, plus our CC history sentences and timeline.  It’s all I can manage.  I’d say the girls get a healthy exposure to other time periods through their own interest in history and our nonfiction read-alouds.

Goals:  Maintain our pace of one chapter a week.  Encourage other outside reading.

Books:  Books are definitely the meat-n-potatoes of our homeschool.  We finished one chapter book read aloud together:  The Moffats by Eleanor Estes, and started another–A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  I also attempted to give Lulu an assigned book to read on her own each week, and she did a few written book reports (mostly when I remembered to tell her to do one).  She keeps a booklist of books she’s never read before.  These are the new-to-her titles for January, at least so far as she kept up with them:

  • Mandie by Lois Gladys Leppard *
  • Mandie and the Ghost Bandits by Lois Gladys Leppard *
  • The Vampire Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • The Mystery in Washington, D.C. by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • The Mystery of the Dinosaur Bones by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (despite my reservations from reading it aloud; read on Nook)
  • Gladys Aylward:  The Little Woman by Gladys Aylward*
  • Miranda the Great by Eleanor Estes*

The books I actually assigned are marked with an asterisk.

While I don’t usually assign Louise a book each week, I do have her keep up with what she reads.  She has developed into quite the chapter book aficionado this year, too.  This is her list:

  • The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
  • The Boxcar Children Beginning by Patricia MacLachlan
  • The Yellow House Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • Grandma’s Attic series by Arleta Richardson
  • The Fair Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • City Kid Farmer by Jeanette Gilge
  • Jet Plane by David Macaulay
  • Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins

Obviously, both girls are still quite fond of the Boxcar Children, and both girls have spent a lot of time with all the Penderwicks books this month.  In fact, I’m pretty sure that Louise labored through the other two this month, too, and failed to add them to her list.  Both girls, but Lulu especially, love to re-read their favorites.  It seems odd to me that her list is this short since it seems to me that she reads all the time (and I really do mean that almost literally!), but I guess there’s something valuable about revisiting old friends.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

Overall January was a good month of school, somewhat by force.  The weather has been yucky, so we’ve pretty much stayed home.  We had one field trip, and that was on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day when Steady Eddie was off work and could go with us.  :-)  We went to the Cook’s Natural Science Museum in Decatur, Alabama.  This is an entirely free little museum founded by a man who also founded and owned a pest control company that serves the southeast.  Mostly it’s filled with taxidermied (?) specimens of animals, but there is also a big rock, mineral, and crystal collection, as well as lots of seashells and insects.  It only takes about an hour to see the whole thing, but I recommend it.  (As a side note, I remember visiting here as a little girl myself, about 30 years ago.  Talk about making me feel old!)


The weather was cooperative enough one Fun Friday for us to take a picnic to the park and have lunch with Steady Eddie.  I hate to admit it, but that has been almost all of the time we’ve spent in the great outdoors this month.  We started well with exercising to a walking DVD, but that fizzled out due to time crunch and my lack of motivation and energy.  The girls have started a weekly gymnastics class at the YMCA, with the hope of twice weekly karate class once Steady Eddie’s work schedule calms down a bit.  Louise will also begin an art class this week at a local craft store.  (This is a November birthday gift from Mamaw and Papaw which we’re just now getting around to doing.  :-) )

Honestly, it has been an emotional month full of angst for me.  (That’s my personality, but it’s magnified a hundredfold when I’m pregnant.  Poor Steady Eddie.)  Looking back now I can see that it has been a rich month of learning, though, and that makes me feel better.  I’m working hard to silence the negative voices and think about how much fun my children have had playing together this month of being virtually shut in.  (My favorite thing from the entire month is that last week, the girls decided to teach the DLM to read.  He was actually a very attentive student, for a two-and-a-half-year-old.)  These relationships are perhaps the best part of our homeschool.

He made it, and so will we! :-)

ETA: See, I knew I’d leave something out! One thing is the girls’ piano practice and lessons. We shoot for four weekdays of practice, and these practice times serve as markers and guideposts for our days since it’s one of the first things they do each morning.

ETA #2:  Can you believe it?  I forgot to mention the thing that we spent a lot of time on at the beginning of the month:  CC lapbooks from Wisdom and Righteousness.  These will be a great addition to our CC review, if only we can finish them.  One day I hope to write a post about how we use them (when we use them ;-) ).

A Day in Our Life–January 31, 2013

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I’m joining in today with Simple Homeschool‘s Day in the Life round-up.  I enjoy writing these posts from time to time just to document what life looks like around our house in this particular season.  Right now I’m schooling an 8 1/2 year old third grade girl (Lulu), a 7 year old first grade girl (Louise), and have a 2 1/2 year old boy to keep busy (the DLM), as well.  Add to that the fact that I am old and pregnant, about 31 weeks or so, and well, I’m tired.  :-)  I documented yesterday, which was something of an atypical day because Steady Eddie spent the night out of town on Wednesday night, so I was solo parenting for a bit.  He didn’t return home until about 8:00 on Thursday night, so it made for a long day.  Here’s how the day went:

5:45–I awakened for the first time since after midnight to do what most pregnant women do in the middle of the night.  My blog had been experiencing technical difficulties on Wednesday, and I had registered a tech support request with my blog host, so I hopped on the iPad to see if my blog was back up and operational.  It wasn’t.  Of course, I had to check out a few more blogs while I was at it.  ;-)

6:15-7:00–I slept again, totally blowing off my original plan to be up by 6:30.

7:00-7:30–I texted with Steady Eddie and continued to ponder the state of my blog.

7:30-8:00–I got up and got in the shower, etc.

8:00-8:30–I awakened the children and they got started on their morning checklists (mostly chores) while I started a load of laundry and dried my hair.  They read after finishing their chores.


(Excuse the poor quality of these pictures. I took them with the iPad. For the curious, Lulu is reading Lives of Extraordinary Women by Kathleen Krull, while Louise is reading one of the Penderwicks books aloud to the DLM.  ;-) )

8:30-8:45–I prepped breakfast while Louise practiced the piano for about 10 minutes.  We split up piano practice so the girls do half at one time, usually.  They take turn practicing before breakfast.  (Some days they both get a practice in before, depending on how much I have to do.)

8:45-9:30–We had breakfast (oatmeal with pb & raisins, cinnamon raisin bagels with pb, apples, and orange juice or milk).  The girls took turns
reading aloud from Jesus Calling for Kids and the Bible.  We prayed.  I gave the DLM more oatmeal and half of a bagel, just because he always wants what he doesn’t have.  :-)  I read a couple of picture books aloud, just because I can’t resist.  It’s what I do.  :-)  I took care of the DLM (diaper, clothes) and myself (teeth brushed, etc.) while the girls did their kitchen chores and finished taking care of their own personal hygiene requirements.

9:30-10:00–Lulu practiced piano (15 minutes) while Louise and I worked on putting away some laundry and we read aloud to each other from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.        I think I also switched out laundry (or something) during this time.  The DLM contented himself by setting up a pretend picnic in my bedroom floor.

10:00-10:15–Louise finished her piano practice for the day.  Lulu had some kitchen chores to revisit.

10:15-10:45–RightStart Math with Lulu while Louise worked on Spelling Workout and handwriting.

10:45-11:00–A game of Addition & Subtraction (Louise adds; Lulu subtracts) Corners with both girls.

11:00-11:20–RightStart Math with Louise while Lulu did her Spelling Workout and handwriting.  Lulu also did a fair amount of DLM wrangling during this time, too.

11:20-11:30–A game of On the Number with both girls.
11:30–12:00–Writing with Ease with Lulu.  Louise played with the DLM and got in a bit of homeschool p.e.  :-)

 

12:00-12:10–Writing with Ease with Louise. I’m sure Lulu was busy with the DLM at this time.
12:10–12:30 (approximately)–Laundry and lunch prep for me while the girl cleaned up the school room and got in a bit more homeschool p.e.

12:30-1:10–Lunch (sandwiches, chips, fruit) and read-alouds:  A Little Princess and Sundiata for our history studies.

1:10 (or so)-3:00– I read to and rocked the DLM while the girls did kitchen chores.  After the DLM went to sleep, I headed to the living room sofa where I took my daily siesta.  Before going to sleep, I read for a bit.  (I read Desperate by Sara Mae and Sally Clarkson.  I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say about this book in the near future.)  The girls had quiet rest time in their bedroom and mine.  I know Louise read a book (To the Top for science to go along with our CC science sentence this week); I’m not really sure what Lulu did.  As long as they’re quiet, I really don’t mind.  At this point in my life (and pregnancy), the nap is basically a non-negotiable.


3:00-3:30–I did language with the girls.  I dictated a sentence from Spelling Wisdom for Lulu, she and I did a 4-level analysis of a sentence from Practice Island together, and we did a lesson from First Language Lessons 3.  Louise and I did a lesson from First Language Lessons 1.  We had a bit of a discussion about which girl would do her narration of To the Top since both girls were assigned to read it this week, and we decided Lulu would do it first since she will be writing hers and Louise would be dictating to me.  However, it was then time to get ready to go to gymnastics, so this was abandoned.

3:30-3:50–The girls ate a snack while I got ready to head to the YMCA and awakened the DLM.

3:50-5:30–A quick run by  Sonic for Happy Hour and then on to the YMCA.  We went over a good bit of CC memory work for the past few weeks while in the van.  At the YMCA, the DLM and I walked the upstairs track for part of the time the girls were in gymnastics.

5:30-9:30–I cooked supper (spaghetti, corn, salad) and wrote a book review.  We did chores.  Lulu finished piano practice.  The girls showered.  Steady Eddie came home (yippee!).  They watched an episode of Little House on the Prairie while I worked on my blog.  Steady Eddie is currently getting the DLM down for the night while I finish up this post. :-)

This is a fairly typical day for us in terms of how much school work we accomplished.  However, I’m even more tired than normal (maybe?) due to the extra activities I’ve been solely responsible for today.  Steady Eddie pulls more than his weight around here, so I really, really miss him when he’s gone.  (Besides that, I really just like having him around.  ;-) )

I’ve written about our days before.  It’s interesting to look back and see what we did when the children are at different ages and stages.  My next write up will be sometime after we add a fourth child to the mix, so I’m sure it will be even more interesting.  ;-)

 

Why can’t every day be like Fun Friday?

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In the interest of using my time more wisely, I’ve dispensed with the writing of weekly wrap-ups for the time being.  I never found an efficient but thorough way to do it, and I decided I’d rather spend that time reading or working on my Project Life scrapbook or doing one of the hundreds of chores I never seem to get around to this year instead.  I do hope to write a monthly wrap-up, so we’ll see if this proves to be more or less time efficient.  However, this doesn’t mean that I’ll only mention homeschooling once a month; sometimes I need to think through my fingers on the keyboard.  Consider this that type of post.

Today was a good homeschool day, and one that was sorely needed.  I’ve been feeling the crunch lately, and I cannot figure out how to at least make the feeling that I’m always behind go away.  I started out our homeschooling career treating Fridays different from Mondays-Thursdays, and that mentality is still present, whether in reality Fridays are much different or not.  The girls even ask if today is Fun Friday on most Fridays, and I always answer yes.  Why not?  They tend to be happier and more agreeable, though whether that’s because it’s Fun Friday or because they happen to go to Nana’s almost every Friday night, I wouldn’t even try to guess.  :-)
Today we did a fair amount of reading aloud.  Both girls did all of their piano practice today (Lulu does 30 minutes; Louise does 20).  Both girls got in a math lesson, and we played a math game.  Both girls did a writing lesson.  We listened to a section of Story of the World.  We made muffins.  We had tea time and I read poetry.  Lulu, at least, read an assigned science book.  We even went over this week’s CC materials.  The DLM was read to by me or the girls several times throughout the day.  On the practical-and-necessary side of things, we ate two meals and a snack, two loads of laundry (including sheets from three of the four beds in our home) were done, one load of laundry was folded and (mostly) put away, and the living room was straightened and swept.  (Confession time:  I felt more energetic today than I have in a long, long time.  This is more housework than I’ve done in one day in a while.)  The girls also did their usual chores in the kitchen, school room, and perhaps even the bathroom.

I still didn’t get every single thing I envisioned accomplished today, but because it’s Friday, I’m okay with that.  I hoped to have the girls complete this week’s elements for their CC lapbooks today so that we stay current on that and don’t have to do a monumental catch-up session on it.  However, because I didn’t get the stuff printed out, this didn’t happen.  This is one of the big reasons I can’t ever feel caught up:  I lack time or discipline or something (or all of it) to plan and prepare well.  The CC memory work has been a big, nagging issue for me this year.  For the life of me, I just cannot figure out when or how to make it happen.  Now that we’re at week 13, it seems like such a huge amount of material –more than I’m capable of tackling.  I’ve read all the ideas about how to handle it, and I’ve even tried a few. The truth is that I just let other things take precedence over it, namely, reading aloud.  When I leave it for the end of the day, it often gets pushed off the schedule.

Everything we do, with the exception of spelling and handwriting, is teacher-intensive.  That’s X 2.  I’m okay with that, really; I feel like that’s as it should be at the age and stage my girls are, and truthfully my top goal in homeschooling, for better or worse, is to give my children a good and highly academic education.  Practically, though, I just run out of hours.    It’s really not as tragic as it sounds:  we do all of the basics 4-5 days a week, with one of our days spent out of the house also drilling the basics in CC.  I just envisioned homeschooling to be a little different–more free-flowing, dynamic, and fun–that it has been lately.  That’s why I like Fun Fridays.  If we don’t get to everything, it’s okay.  It’s okay to stop and make muffins and include even the littlest member of our household in the mess and muffin making.  (Honestly, this is as much for my own enjoyment, stress-relief, and sanity as it is for them.)  I envisioned a history-heavy, science-loving homeschool with lots of projects and experiments and demonstrations.  I envisioned lots of art and art appreciation and music and nature study.  Instead what we have is lots and lots of books and ideas.  Part of it is that my methodologies and ideologies are all hopelessly muddled.  We’re classical and CM and our own brand of book-loving, drop-everything-and-read homeschoolers.  I can’t manage to let go of the ideas I like about one methodology to do the other one whole-hog.

I’m a big picture person, and I don’t enjoy planning.  I’d much rather execute a plan than make it.  This results in chaos more often than not.  With another little future student coming into our home in the next few months, we’re making strides toward efficiency, though.  Here are a few things we’ve done differently in our home and homeschool since Christmas that have made a difference:

  • The girls now have weekly chore checklists, one for each zone or room they’re responsible for.  Not having to tell them specifically everything to do (over and over) has made a big difference.  Having the school room swept every day before lunch makes me feel so much better when we return to the school room for the afternoon.
  • The girls split their piano practice times in half, and one girl gets started on piano while the other sister and I work on breakfast.  Then, after breakfast, the other girl does her practice (half of it) while her sister and I read aloud together and fold laundry.  This means if we do it every school day except our CC day, each girl gets two read-aloud/together sessions a week.  This is way more than I have ever managed before, and I haven’t had to tinker with bedtime routines to do it.  Sometimes the girls manage to get their other piano time in during the day, but often, it’s a night-time activity.
  • We listen to SotW during lunch instead it being a read-aloud (by me) most of the time.  I actually prefer to read aloud over listening (I’m more visual than auditory), but since I already read aloud so much (and am obviously not willing to cut back), this is my compromise.

I’ve thought about trying a loop schedule in which we just work on a checklist until a certain time each day, and then we pick up with where we leave off the next day.  Most of what I’ve read about that seems to indicate, though, that some things are daily, regardless.   Since I’m spending almost all day on our daily subjects (non-negotiables like math, language, etc.), I just don’t think this will help the situation.

I wish I could find the happy balance between feeling good about what we do and letting some of it go sometimes for the sake of loosening the reins a bit.  And I’d prefer for this to not just happen on Fun Fridays.

Any suggestions?  :-)

 

The week in review with a big announcement

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I really started to entitle this post “Homeschooling Chaos” or “Unbalanced Homeschooling” because that’s how I feel the week has gone.  However, all things considered, it has gone better than I think it has (which is the main reason I write up these posts, anyway-to get a picture of what we actually did).    I say all things considered because. . .

I am in the throes of first trimester pregnancy yuckiness.

Yes, you read that correctly, we will be welcoming a new little one into the House of Hope around the first of April.  :-)

So.  Homeschooling.  Yeah.  I’m finding homeschooling with a rambunctious two year old AND morning sickness AND pregnancy exhaustion requires almost more intestinal fortitude that I possess on some days.  We’re doing it, though, by the help of God and lots of just plain old grit.  The last time I did this pregnant, Lulu was in kindergarten and Louise was a tag-along preschooler, and that’s a sight easier than 3rd and 1st grades, with an incorrigible two year old boy along for the ride.  If you’re inclined, add me to your prayer list, please.  :-)

I didn’t take a lot of pictures because as snap-happy as I am most of the time, when I feel bad, the camera is almost the last thing I think about.  These rather generic collages of sights around our homeschool this week will have to do, and they may or may not have anything much to do with what I say.

Here’s the run-down:

Lulu, grade 3:

Language:  Together, she and I read and discussed pp. 43-64 in Michael Clay Thompson’s Grammar Island.  This includes pronouns and adjectives, as well as lots of good grammar discussion about our binary sentence system in English and just plain old grammar fun.  This also includes very little written work at all, but the discussion is so rich.  It is not intuitive in terms of how much information to cover in a day (there are no lesson divisions, only chapters), so I feel like I’m probably covering too much on some days, but so far I think I has been fruitful.  We’ll see how it goes.  I like it, anyway, and there is that. ;-)

Writing:  We got started on WWE 3 this week, and Lulu completed every exercise in the first week.  She did very well with this.  The biggest problem we have is honing down her summaries to just a few sentences.  I do see growth in this area, though; she can usually pick out the extraneous information.

Handwriting:  Lulu did handwriting practice four days this week.  She’s still excited about cursive.  (Hurray!)

Math:  Lulu is working through the subtraction book of Math Mammoth semi-independently since it is actually below her skill and knowledge level.  She completed pp. 19-30 in this.  We also did lessons 126-128 in RS C, which included converting feet to inches (see picture above)  We also played several games this week, including Threes Corners, Long Chain Subtraction Solitaire, and Addition War. 

Lulu also read Crispin:  Cross of Lead for her assigned reading this week and did a book report (like this one).  She also read selected pages from a science book on animal classification and did a couple of notebooking pages on the five kingdoms (which goes along with our CC memory work). 

Louise, grade 1: 

Language:  Louise and I did lessons 5-7 in FLL 1, which mostly consisted of going over and over (and over) the definition of a noun and identifying common and proper nouns.  In the middle of this was review of the poem “The Caterpillar” by Rossetti, but I’m sort of giving this a light treatment since Louise memorized it when Lulu did a few years ago.  I’m still figuring out what else she’ll memorize.

Writing: So far, WWE 1 has been no problem at all for Louise; in fact, I wonder if she could skip it and go on to WWE 2.  She volunteered to write her own narrations this week, and she did a really good job.  She’s an old first grader with the great advantage of having tagged along for years with a sister only eighteen months older than she.  This has been a challenge for me to try to figure out.  :-)

Handwriting:   Four more days of practice done!

Math:  Louise is working on the addition book of Math Mammoth also semi-independently, and she completed pages 19-30 in it with few problems.  We also did lessons 31-33 in RS B, which included lots of place value practice and some formal, written addition practice.  She really likes this and wants to be timed on the exercises.  (Oh, what motivation having an older sister provides!)

Louise’s required reading this week was Ralph S. Mouse which she and I read together taking turns.  We only got through two chapters, though.

Together:

Steady Eddie worked on a science lesson with the girls last week.  They built a scale model of the solar system out on the road in front of the house (those are the inner planets, I think, up there in the picture).

We practiced our CC memory work (cycle 1, weeks 1 and 2) three days this week; one of those days was at 9:00 at night.  This is certainly not how I’d prefer to do things, but I’m having a hard time figuring out a time slot for everything just yet.  We’re trying out moving piano practice to afternoon or evening now, since it takes a solid hour of time for both girls to practice.  I can work with the girl who isn’t practicing, but I like to use this time for chores.  Plus, I still have to be close by and available to help with the piano stuff. 

We also finished chapter eighteen in SotW 2 and read chapter 19.  This is a great chapter about Richard the Lionhearted (which Lulu knows a good bit about from when she read the Great Illustrated Classics version of Ivanhoe and I read aloud Knight’s Castle) and Robin Hood.  I had great plans to have the girls do one written (or dictated) narration and a couple of activities, but we ran out of time.  Instead, I opted to let them watch  the Errol Flynn version of Robin Hood (or get started on it, at least-they’ll finish it this weekend) mostly because by this time I needed a break.  (As a side note, I am somewhat embarrassed to admit how much television/movies the DLM has watched in his short life.  We don’t watch much tv at all here, but when we do and when they do elsewhere, like at their grandparents’ homes, of course the DLM is included.  It was so much easier to avoid it when the girls were little together!  I’m sure over all the DLM is way below average, at least if many toddlers I know are any indication, but it still bothers me.  Does anyone else have this problem?  Please say you do and make me feel better!  :-)   )

On our Fun Friday (which wasn’t too fun for me, honestly–I felt pretty bad), we did a bit of poetry reading from the Ambleside Online recommended titles/ poets and a Vermeer art study (CM style).  We also started working on learning to sketch a map of the world by using Leigh Bortins’ instructions in The Core.  (You can read more about Bortins’ thoughts on geography here.)

We also did plenty of reading aloud, finishing Man of the Family by Ralph Moody (review forthcoming next Read Aloud Thursday) and starting The Children’s Homer by Padraic Colum, as well as quite a few picture books.  We’re also reading a chapter a day in the Gospel of John KJV over breakfast.

I’m sure I’m leaving something out.  It has been a difficult week.  One good thing about it is that we’ve stayed home almost all week, only getting out for a few trips out to visit grandparents, go to CC, the doctor, piano lessons, and church.  We haven’t even been to the library this week!  I’m glad the week’s over, and I’m even more glad that we have a long weekend ahead of us, one in which I don’t have to work.  :-)   Steady Eddie and I have a date planned this weekend to see a stage version of The Importance of Being Earnest locally, and I’m happy about that.  I hope I can get ahead of the game this weekend, and especially spend some time thinking through some keep-the-DLM-busy-and-happy strategies.  I have ideas, just no time to implement them. 

I’m ending with a collage that includes a few outdoor shots from Thursday.  One good thing that came our way thanks to Hurricane Isaac is some cooler weather (it has been hot here, hence my unwillingness to get outside yet for nature study), so we did lessons outside a bit on Thursday before it started sprinkling.  This is actually the perfect solution for the DLM, so I’ll be extremely thankful when cooler weather arrives.


What can I say? One good thing about homeschooling is that one can dress up like Laura Ingalls Wilder or a princess and do it quite successfully.

How was your week?

P.S. Normally I would include my This Week in Books somewhere in here, but today I hadn’t the energy to stack the books and take the photo. We are reading, though. Since judging by the lack of comments I did this mostly for my own benefit, I think I’m going to take a break from it for a while.

Homegrown Learners

The Last Week of Summer Break–Lots of Projects

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I made an impromptu decision on Tuesday morning that this would be a lessons-free week.  We had spent most of Monday morning swimming and visiting with some friends, and I was feeling the crunch of getting things done for the looming new academic year.  As I’m writing this on Thursday afternoon, I have not accomplished everything I’d have liked (of course!), so I am taking stock here to help me realize just how much I did accomplish.

 

Cooking

My work schedule resumes next week, and with it goes any extra time I have for getting ahead (or doing anything extra, really).  I decided this week that I would cook I few things to stick in the freezer for future meals.  While I didn’t actually put together whole meals or even whole dishes, I do have quite a bit of meat stockpiled now to form the base for future meals.  Hurrah!  Here’s what I did this week:

  • pepperoni pizza puffs–2 batches (20 muffins)–I followed the recipe exactly except I used mini turkey pepperoni slices instead of regular pepperoni.  We ate a lot of these for lunch the day I made them (they were a hit!) and I put the rest in the freezer for future lunches.
  • spicy Dr. Pepper shredded pork–I used a pork shoulder which resulted in a lot of meat.  The only change I made to the recipe is I used Dr. Wham instead of Dr. Pepper because it was cheaper.  We used it for some barbecue nachos for supper one night. (I was going for a Jim ‘n’ Nick’s knock-off, which I didn’t exactly achieve, but they were still good.)  We have four quart sized bags full of the pork in the freezer for future meals of sandwiches or nachos or what-have-you.
  • cooked chicken–I just stuck six bone-in chicken breasts in the big crockpot with some poultry seasoning and let them cook all day.  I ended up with about fourteen cups of chopped meat, most of which I froze in quart sized bags in 3-cup portions.  I make a lot of soups and casseroles as the weather cools off, so this will be one step ahead. 

Home improvement

Since this past Saturday we’ve spent a good bit of time on some around-the-house projects, and I’m happy to say that a couple of them are very close to being finished.  First is the buffet for our in-progress dining room.  I started with an new, unfinished piece of furniture made by an Amish artisan and ended up with what you see above.  (You can see the original, unfinished piece and a bit of the process in this post.)  I was greatly inspired by the furniture on this site and even purchased her e-book, Paint Your Furniture and followed it pretty exactly.

I also went back and glazed the back of the bookcase (see the original here).  I’m not as crazy about how it turned out, but I figure once I get the 978 scrapbooks back where they belong, it won’t be bad.

In addition to all of this, I finished distressing and glazing the legs of the piano bench.  Steady Eddie spent a large part of Saturday sanding the top of my sister’s old table which she handed down to us when she moved, as well as primering (priming?) the table legs and the “apron” of the table.  We also stained the table top, but now it’s sitting under a tarp in our driveway, awaiting the next step.  :-)

Books for our history studies and supplemental reading for CC timeline and history sentences

We also visited three different libraries this week and began stockpiling our supplemental CC, history, and science books for the first couple of weeks of school.  I can’t tell you how much better this makes me feel about starting next week.  Looking books up in three or four different libraries’ catalogs is very time-consuming but also very budget-saving.  I’m even considering purchasing an out-of-town card for the libaries (main and branches) in the nearest big(ger) city to us.  I can’t quite make up my mind if it will be worth it in terms of coordinating everything (mainly, the timing of our trips to avoid late fees!)

  The week really wasn’t all work, though.  In addition to swimming with friends on Monday, we took my mom and nephews (she had taken them to middle school to register!) out to eat for her birthday on Thursday.  Lulu and Louise made tussy-mussies for her using flowers from our yard.  (Lulu had discoved these sweet little bouquets in one of her American Girl books.)  The children also attended a swimming party last night.  They spent a lot of time reading and creating this week, as well as listening to The Sound of Music soundtrack (with all the requisite playacting and singing along) on Spotify.

I still hope to get the school room spic-and-span (and photographed to share here!) before Monday, as well as more planning and organizing done.

I think it’s a good idea for us to take a week off before going big-guns into the new academic year.  I needed this week.  It felt nice (& necessary!) to sleep a bit later and only be concerned with keeping our Bible reading and read-aloud going.  I feel almost ready to begin the new school year.

Have you had a good week?

Homegrown Learners

New book rack

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We’re slowly rearranging things in our school room, which means that the cabinet that used to be our catch-all (well, one of them) now resides in the kitchen.  This, in turn, means that we had no place for our This Week in Books stacks, up until this past weekend.  I ran into TJ Maxx in an effort to avoid driving and arriving home in a toad-strangling gully washer on Saturday, and as always, I browsed the homewares aisles just for fun.  When I saw this large mail-sorter/inbox/outbox thingy, I thought it might make a good book holder.  It actually has little legs so it can sit on the floor, but we might eventually hang it securely on the wall.  So far it has worked fairly well.  However, the girls have read a lot this week, even for them, so it has already filled up.

2012-2013 Curriculum–3rd & 1st grades

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Looking back on last year’s curriculum post, I realize that writing up a post like this is simply making an educated guess that the choices I’m making will be the correct ones.  (We ended up not using several of the things I mentioned in that post, opting instead to return to tried-and-true favorites for history and writing and eventually abandoning Latin for the time altogether.)  However, this year, unlike the three years that have gone before in our homeschooling career, I feel more stable and secure in what we’re doing–like we’ve finally hit a groove.  (I think I’ve said that before, too, so take it with a large grain of salt.  ;-) )  The tricky part for me is actually fitting it all in on a daily or weekly basis.  We will be attending tutoring at Classical Conversations once a week, also.

First, a bit of a getting-to-know you profile of the students:

Louise is officially a first grader, albeit a very old one–she’ll turn seven in November, and she has always tagged along with whatever her older sister has done.  Louise is reading very well and is turning into quite a bookworm.  Of course, she’s not a carbon copy of her big sister; she has her own learning style and preferences, and she’s definitely more kinesthetic than her older sister, as well as (perhaps?) more visual.  It will be an interesting year as I get to know her better as a learner.

Lulu is eight-going-on-eighteen and a third grader.  She is a voracious reader and spends much of her days doing just that.  She also likes to create things. 

The DLM is two.  :-)

Both girls have always been homeschooled, so we are beginnning our fourth official year.

 THE LINEUP:

Circle Time:

We do this together, usually the first thing right after breakfast and piano practice.  We don’t have an extremely strict schedule that we adhere to, though–mostly it’s a routine.  In addition to our Classical Conversations memory work from the Foundations Guide, I plan to loosely adapt the Ambleside Online hymn rotation for 2012-2013, this year’s folksongs rotation, the year 1 and year 3 poetry schedules, and, because I’m feeling ambitious today, some Plutarch and Shakespeare.  We’ll also have memory verses from AWANA to work in there somehow and any other Bible memory work we might decide to do as a family.

I realize this is extremely ambitious, but I hope that we can utilize our time in the van to work on CC memory work, too, so that the bulk of our Circle Time at home is not consumed by that. 

Of course, we’ll also do a lot of reading aloud.  :-)

Language:

Louise will use level one of First Language Lessons. 

Lulu will use level three of First Language Lessons and several of the Island level books by Michael Clay Thompson (everything except literature and poetry).

Writing:

Louise will use Writing with Ease level 1.

Lulu will use Writing with Ease level 3. 

Spelling:

Besides Circle Time, history, and science, this will be the only thing the girls do together.  At least, I hope they’ll do it together.  That’s my plan and the goal toward which I’ve been working with Louise this summer.  She is currently about half way through level one of All About Spelling, and I hope that soon after we begin school August 20 we can start level two.  This will be a review for Lulu since we got maybe about half way through it last year, but I’m okay with that.  I really, really need something I can do with the girls together, and I’m also considering this reading reinforcement since both girls took off reading before we finished their phonics curriculum and I dropped it.  Does anyone have any advice for teaching two or more students together using All About Spelling?

Handwriting:

Louise will continue in Getty-Dubay Italic B and move on to C when she finishes it.  She will also have copywork in her language lessons.

Lulu will continue in Getty-Dubay Italic C and move on to D when she finishes it. 

Both girls will likely do some copywork from the CC memory work, etc.

Math:

Louise will continue with RightStart B this year.  We began it slowly toward the end of the year last year, so I anticipate taking the rest of this academic year to finish it.

Lulu will complete RightStart C fairly early in the year and move on to RightStart D.  I’m also considering trying the Singapore Challenging Word Problems (grade 2) again this year (last year was a no-go) or perhaps adding in Beast Academy for fun for Lulu.  I still haven’t made up my mind about this.

In addition to these curricula, I will try to pull out fun math picture books occasionally and read them aloud to the girls. 

History:

We will pick up where we left off with Story of the World II last year.  The girls will do narrations and activities (possibly) based on our readings in this.  We’ll also likely read everything supplmental we can get our hands on for the time periods we’re studying.  I also broke down this year and purchased the History Through the Ages Historical Figures Timeline CD-ROM, so I’m hoping that this is the year we’ll have an honest-to-goodness timeline up on our wall.  I’m also planning to come up with a list of books for each girl to read on her own that correlate with our history sentences and timeline cards for CC.  This will give them something constructive to do while I’m working with the other sister, and it also will give them a bit more context for our memory work.  I still have a lot of work ahead of me to get all this figured out and coordinated, though. 

Science:

This will likely be a mish-mash of Exploring Creation with Astronomy and science based on the CC science sentences.  I generally ask Steady Eddie to make the science and math decisions for our homeschool (that’s his background and profession), and this is what he has chosen for this year.  In fact, he’ll probably be the one who implements most of it, too.  We also plan for the girls to take monthly classes at a hands-on science center.  Nature study will also be a big part of our science each week.

I’ve toyed with the idea of letting Lulu start learning to type this year, but I’m undecided about that.  Opinions, anyone, on the best age at which to begin typing instruction?

 Both girls will take private piano lessons this year, and our plan for physical activity this year is to join our local YMCA so the whole family can benefit.  The girls might take classes there. 

 The DLM, of course, will do what two year olds do:  build with his blocks, read books, color and “write,” make messes, overfeed the fish, swipe math manipulatives, and generally throw our day into chaos occasionally.  I do plan to be more intentional this year about how the girls can work with him.  I’ve considered actually coming up with specific activities for them to do with him, but as yet haven’t made the time to put this plan into action. 

I still have a lot of work to do!  I need to get busy!  :-)

Here are links to my previous curriculum posts:

Not Back to School Blog Hop

The Core Bookclub: Chapter 2–”Why We Need Classical Education”

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Welcome to the second virtual meeting of The Core Bookclub here at Hope Is the Word. You can read more about the bookclub, as well as find out the schedule, in this post. Be sure to like Hope Is the Word on Facebook to participate in the discussion over there, too.

Chapter two of The Core focuses on the differences between a classical education versus modern education and why classical education is superior.  The big emphasis of the chapter is not so much on what’s wrong with modern education (though there is a bit of that in there) as it is really explaining the stages of classical education:  grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic.  One of the biggest a-ha’s for me was not so much a revelation as a reminder: that a classical education is really a method that can be used to learn anything.  ( I remember being quite pleased with myself when I figured that out after reading The Well-Trained Mind.)  Bortins says that over and over again in chapter two: 

For the classically minded parent, quality academic material provides the content on which to practice the skills of learning.  So whether a teacher, a computer, a parent, or a book requires an assignment, the parent is ultimately resonsible for training the child to have the character to practice the skills necessary to complete the task.  The classical educator understands that struggle is part of the learning process, expects to teach students accountability by assigning rigorous academic tasks, and uses the challenges within the assignment as an oportunity for the development of brain and character for the whole family.  The goal is not to check off items on a list–one more assignment completed or one more answer given correctly.  Instead, we want to teach young children how to behave so that the brain can function optimally. (43)

 

I also appreciate Bortins‘  emphasis on memory work and overpractice in the grammar stage.  I’ll admit that while we do memory work in our homeschool, sometimes I feel like it’s the thing that requires the most effort from me and the thing that I find easiest to let slip, at least in terms of attention and quality.  Honestly, I don’t look forward to memory work usually because it’s hard for me.  My memory is poor and I’m distracted; what used to be easy and almost second-nature for me has become a challenge and a chore.  Bortins encourages me that even I can retrain my brain:

We access information from our brain most comfortably when we have developed the capacity (which involves the discipline and character) to over-learn information.  If our brain is damaged in one area and we work very methodically, we can often overcome our handicaps to a greater extent than most of us realize.  So even though my brain is not perfect, it can compensate for its deficiencies if I work hard.  (44)

And this:

We are all functioning with brains that tend to the deficient end of the spectrum.  Therefore our brains require extensive physical therapy–called education.  Whether your children are absolutely brilliant or thoroughly incompetent, they all require more physical therapy.  (44)

This encouragement and Cindy’s repeated emphasis on the importance of Morning Time in her Charlotte Mason homeschool (both at Ordo Amoris and her other blog, Morning Time Moms–not so much about memorization as about just doing important things together) makes me more determined to not rush our Circle Time this year and treat it as the most important time of our day. Bortins‘ ideas on memorization also resonate with me because we are in the process of starting an AWANA program at our church, and her encouragement is a reminder that this is worthwhile and entirely do-able.  It also encourages me to persevere through my girls’ growliness over piano practice some days to help them become proficient musicians.  :-)

I don’t have much to say about the dialectic or rhetoric stage because we’re not there yet in our homeschool.  However, as a former public high school teacher and a former public school student myself, I can see that the goals of the classical method–that students are prepared for the rhetoric stage–are goals that we try to attain in traditional school (at least in my experience), but something has sometimes been disconnected before we get there.  This passage resonates with me and my experience:

While rote memorization is currently considered unnecessary by many educators (as exemplified by the allowance of calculators before college math), classical educators consider it advantageous for two reasons:

  1. It strengthens the student’s brain by straining it a little more each day, and
  2. the student takes in quality content that informs an educated person.

These differ greatly from the “edutainment” offered to encourage elementary students to “enjoy” school.  Classical educators prefer to prepare children to work hard at learning until the skills become enjoyable [emphasis mine].  Consider this important difference:  classical teachers prefer to teach children to like memorizing quality content (such as a rhyme or sonnet) so that one day they can enjoy difficult assignments.  We want their self-esteem to be based on actual accomplishments.  (49)

Yes and yes. 

What did you get out of this chapter?

Links to previous bookclub posts:

(Rather than put up a linky each week, I’ll just ask you to link up your blog posts in the comments.  If you’re reading along and would prefer to just share your thoughts in a comment or on Hope Is the Word’s Facebook page, that’s good, too.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

My homeschool planner

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I’m sharing a page from my customized homeschool planner because I really like it so far and I thought someone else might be inspired by it to make their own.  Actually, I can’t take credit for it at all; my dear husband took a form from Donna Young Printables website and tweaked it to suit me.  I like having the cells for the subjects that the girls do separately divided so I can keep straight who does what.  So far, so good!

Monday Meanderings: Summer routine + Burritt on the Mountain

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A beautiful view (overlooking Huntsville) for a family portrait :-)

How are you, my friends?  Was your weekend lovely?  I hope so.  I can’t believe we’ve been officially finished with school for almost two weeks; life hasn’t slowed down one little bit for us here.  I am usually discombobulated by summer and its general lack of routine, and often it seems that just the time I find my “groove” it’s time to start back with our regular school time routine.  This week the girls are attending a VBS at a nearby church for three hours each morning, so I hope to make that time productive.  The lack of productivity is what gets me the most–it’s like I never am quite sure how to accomplish all that I’ve neglected (i.e. cleaning out and organizing the pantry, thoroughly cleaning our bedroom, etc.) during the school year.  You’d think I’d have figured this out by now; I mean, I’ve been at this full-time mothering thing for eight years now and have been official homeschoolers for three, but alas–I haven’t.  Do you have a regular routine for the summer?  Please, do share. 

Still, though, things are being accomplished here, even if it isn’t happening as quickly as I’d like.  Steady Eddie took off work at the end of last week and did a lot of work in our school room.  Specifically, he has all but finished the bookshelves (they lacked some shelves right in the middle) and cleaned out a storage closet which housed a lot of our school stuff.  Now the school stuff is all mostly tucked inside drawers or behind cabinet doors.  We’re waiting on some hardware for the drawers (I ordered the 3.5″ here) and some finishing touches, and I’ll be sure to share pictures. 

On Saturday we took a little trip that I want to share with you here.  We attended Dairy Day at Burritt on the Mountain, an outdoor living history museum and historical site in Huntsville, Alabama.  We then came home to enjoy pizza, cake, and ice cream with our family.  It was a lovely way to spend  certain Dear Little Man’s second birthday. 

Gem panning

 

"Milking" Boxy, the faux cow

 

Churning butter

I’ve tried to share more pictures here, but for some reason my blog isn’t cooperating, and I’m out of blogging time.  I must be up and about the business of setting up Lulu’s sewing machine so I can teach her how to sew we can learn how to sew together.  I’ll try to post more pictures from Burritt on the Mountain later. 

Have a marvelous Monday, friends!