2012,2013 School Curriculum

Ok, for now this is what our 2012, 2013 curriculum looks like for the year. I say for now because things are subject to change.

I have a 7th & 8th grader, but they will be using the same books. They are only 13 months apart so we have always just worked them side by side. After my daughter graduates we will just plan my son a Senior year schedule.

Science: Apologia: Exploring Creation With Physical Science

We did not finish our Apologia: Exploring Creation With Physical Science last year so we are going to pick it back up this year. Not exactly sure where we will go from there.

Math: Saxon Algebra 1/2 An Incremental Development

English: Shurley Method: English Made Easy Level 7 &

Language Network: Grammar, Writing, & Communication 9

Literature: Great Books chosen by my children

We will do Outlines & Composition Essays on these books

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (audio)

The Illiad by Homer (audio)

The Life of Our Lord by Charles Dickens (audio)

The Odyssey by Homer (audio)

The Aeneid by Virgil (audio)

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (audio)

I realize these books are a little high leveled for my children, but they want to read them so I will not dumb them down. I'll just see how much they grasp from them.

Biographical Study: Charles Dickens & Homer

Videos, Encyclopedia Information, Articles, Pictures, etc.

History: A variety of great books/Videos

Josephus: The Complete Works (This will be our spine for the next 2 years.)

Genesis (KJV) & Jimmy Swaggart's Commentary

Gilgamesh (Answers in Genesis site)

Job (KJV) & Jimmy Swaggart's Commentary

The Trojan War & the Adventures of Odysseus by Padraic Colun (audio)

Men of Athens by Olivia E. Coolidge (audio)

History of the Persian Wars by Herodotus

The Spartans: The World of the Warrior Heroes of Ancient Greece by Paul Cartledge (audio)

A War Like No Other: How the Athenians & Spartans fought the Peloponnesian War by Victor Davis Hanson (audio)

History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydies (audio)

I know this list is extensive also, but again, I will see how well they are retainning the information. I honestly don't see them having a problem with it, beings history has always been the #1 subject in this house. We will make our way as far down this list as we can & pick up with it the next school term. We'll add more books the next school season.

We will read and make our own personal notebooks along side the books. Our notebooks will have divider tabs with People, Government, Religion, Map Skills, Vocabulary, Notes & Narration sections in them.

Current Events: Presentation once a month of one Current Event

Music: Both will be in guitar, daughter will have piano

Foreign Language: The Joy of Signing by Lottie L. Riekehof

I know this is not the typical foreign language, but to people that does not know sign language it does seem foreign.

With me being blind, I want my children to learn Sign Language & Braille. I consider these very special foreign languages. Not many people consider these languages unless they have a family member concerning them. (They will learn to sight read braille.)

Spelling/Vocabulary: A specific list guided for 6 to 8th graders

Monday: Write words 10 times each

Tuesday: Definitions (Dictionary Skills)

Wednesday: Sentence Structure (Create sentence with word)

Thursday: Alphabetize & Sylabetize words

Friday: Test

This is our personal Spelling program. By the end of the week they have written the word 15 times each (without noticing it) and tend to have no problem spelling it on their test, or later.

This is our plan for the 2012, 2013 school year.
Now you can go to Kris's blog and see what's new with her and take a look at the all the other 40+ blogs.

Rainy Days Will Allow Accomplishments To Happen

Rain, rain, rain, that is all we've seen today, other than the walls in our home because that is right where we've been. The weather has been too nasty to get out. Locked inside a home with 4 children, ages 2 to 12, you can imagine how the day has been. Actually, not that bad, just a bit noisy from time to time.
I have managed to get some lesson plans lined up beings I had to sit still for a change. That's a plus for the rain, & my lesson book. I can definitely tell that we will not be finishing our Saxon 8/7 Math or our Apologia: Exploring Creation With Physical Science by May. That doesn't bother me about the math beings my daughter will only be in the 8th grade next year. We can finish it up at the beginning half of next year & then pick up with Algebra before she enters her high school years. I would have rather finished the Physical Science so we could start a different branch of Science at the beginning of next year. We've not ever started a new Science program in the middle of the year. But, beings we like to add extra library books along side our Modules there is just no way to finish a complete book in one eyar.
So how have all of you been doing this weekend? Are you going to finish all of your curriculum by the end of this school term?

Bubbling Over

Another week is almost under our belt. I just hope it doesn't pass on by too quickly because we fell a bit behind schedule today on our lesson plans. I had to go out & do some coupon shopping so we had to put our books on the shelf and go experience some real life situations. Since we have been couponing (about 10 months), my children have become excellent deal spotters. I pray that this is one thing that I've taught them that they would carry with them out the door as they would move in to their adulthood. I did not start it until I was almost 40 & I need to be kicked.
I'm sooo.... happy! My Saxon 8/7 with Pre Algebra should be here tomorrow, yea! I'm not sure I will be able to put it up until next week so that we could start it at the beginning of the week. I really want to just jump in tomorrow as SOON as it arrives.
On another note other than school, my children are excited tonight also (Not over the Saxon 8/7), but because we started planning a camping trip today. It has been a couple of years since we have been so we all are bubbling over looking forward to the trip.
Well, I suppose I had better go for now. I just realized how late it is getting. Hope everyone is having a great week.

Almost Three Weeks? Time Is Flying By

My my, time is flying by. I usually write my lesson plans up in to three week increments. To my amazement, I have to write more lesson plans for next week. Three weeks will be gone after Friday. I think this time I will write them in five week increments.
One reason that I do this is for a method of evaluation. At the end of three weeks I can pretty much tell what's working and what is not. If something is not working then I have an opportunity to bring in a change. At the end of three weeks if there is a subject that I feel like they can handle a more strenuous work load, then at that time I can add lengthier lessons to that subject.
I have found that if I am diligent with keeping my lesson plans written up then our schooling flows smoothly.
Suppose I had better end this post, my family is calling, "I'm ready for supper." That's my "Q" It's time to cook.
Happy homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap Up: Curriculum Choices

     Our first week has been different. We have used Charlotte Mason's way of teaching for 4 years now, but decided to go with more of a structured text book method this year. We will still use many of her ideas and approaches, just by the guide lines of a text book so that my brain isn't having to think so hard putting a curriculum together.
     For my weekly wrap up I'll just give you all a peak at some of the books we have chosen to work from this year.

For Science we have chosen Apologia: Exploring Creation With Physical Science. My children are enjoying the hands on experiments. I feel like this will take us in to a deeper level of Science than what we are used to.

For History we have chosen A Beka: History of the World 7th grade. We like the way they tie history in with the history of the Bible.

     This month in math we are working out of a little work book called Steps in to Pre Algebra by Milestone. Starting in September we will begin in Saxon 8/7 math. This wasn't my first choice for our math program, but the one I wanted was out of our price range. So, we'll settle with Saxon.
     We are still approaching writing for our English so we have several books we are going to work from again this year. I want them to be able to write extremely well so we are using different techniques from several books in hopes of accomplishing a great writer.
     As for our Literature, We are going to use the A Beka 7th grade Literature book called Of People to read some great stories from. Although this book has some great stories in it, there was just not quite enough in it to quench our appetite for a great book so we are adding a great book along side each unit in it to quench our appetite. This month we will be reading Where the Red Fern Grows. Each day after we have read our set amount of pages for the day, my children have begged to read more.
     Our summer became so hectic that we did not get to use our cute little human body kit that I had found so we are working through it for some Health.
     A few years back we had used Bob Jones Spelling and my children want me to purchase BJU Spelling again, so I suppose we'll probably be doing that for our Spelling.
     Dad has a drawing book that he is wanting to give drawing lessons from and I want to add in a Poet, Artist, and Composer. By the time we integrate all of this in our schedule we'll have a loaded wagon. Oh yeah, we are also wanting to work from our American Sign Language program that we have for our Foreign language for this year.
     Along side all these subjects my children still desire a nature study. We were sitting at the table the other day and my son saw a spider outside our window spinning a web around an insect so out the door they went with art supplies in hand to do a drawing. We may have chosen textbooks for the year, but I see Charlotte Mason will continue to work in our homeschool.
Just a few pictures of our week.

Sarah's Nature Study of a Spider wrapping up a bug trapped in it's web.

Matthew's Nature Study of a Spider wrapping up a bug trapped in it's web. Can you find it? Look for the circle in the middle and a little to the right.

 Sarah's detailed skin diagram with labels.

 Matthew's colorful skin diagram with labels.

 One of our Apologia Science experiments this week was on comparing cubit to metric measurements.
What worked for old Noah in his time may not work for the whole modern day world. See what you think.

 We had to cut a string going from our elbow to the tip of the middle finger. Next we run another piece of string from our first knuckle to tip of index finger (first knuckle on the same finger next to the fingernail). Now tape down the long string and make a mark on it for every length of the short string repeating to other end. Count the marks called "finger marks" and that's how long your cubit measuring string is.

 Then we did a comparison of our different length cubit measuring strings. This could be very confusing if you told four different people, each in another state to build you a 10 cubit by 5 cubit wall and they sent them to you so you could assemble a playhouse. How do you suppose the walls would fit together and look?

Notice the various lengths of our strings. Mine was 33.5 fingers or 1cubit. Imagine measuring a table top 5 cubits and 7 fingers. We need a uniform measurement system. This is where the Metric system came about so it could be used world wide. This was a fun experiment from Apologia Science.
     Well that's another wrap-up for this week. Now don't forget to visit Kris at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers for her's and many more bloggers weekly wrap-ups.

Traci

What's Cooking/Happening Around Our House

     Summer is official at our house now. We grilled for the first time this summer. You all know that's what folks in Alabama like to do during the summer. You'd think it's so hot down south we'd not want to get outside and stand by a hot grill, but there's just something about having a grill going with all those nice aromas floating in the air, Ah...
     We've had a wonderful evening of family time. Dad fired up the grill and we cooked out. The food was great, but the fellowship together was marvelous. I would not trade anything for my days with my family. Now I'm not trying to paint a picture perfect family that's as sweet as a comb of icecream because every day is not like that. But, we are family and love spending time together.

     As for our schooling for the summer, we don't have a schedule. At the present moment my children are researching the Statue of Liberty, just collecting a bit of information from the internet and putting together a short report. They turned their report in today so tonight they'll probably get out their models of the Statue of Liberty I had found and start working on them. They are the neatest little kits and I found them at a local store for only $ 2.00 each. The kit is like a model car kit, really cute.

     We are also still reading our book Tiger, Tiger about Julius Caesar, and our Hank the Cowdog book about the tornado. We are just taking our time and enjoying the summer. We have two other books we are dabbing in about the human body and one about horses. See, I told you we don't have a schedule this summer. We're just catching the breeze and letting it carry us from one study to another. We'll pick back up in August with a schedule. Until then, we'll just fly in and out different studies. Hope all of you are having a great summer.

Health - Physical Fitness

    With all the modernized things that we have accumulated in our home, we've neglected exercise. This week we've been trying to do something about that. Thanks to Jamie over at http://seejamieblog.com/2011/04/getting-fit-wanna-join-me/ we've gotten out and gotten moving. Each day we've tried to walk two to three miles. Our goal is to do this at least three times a week. Should we manage to walk more than three days, that will be great. I think I am going to integrate some Health in with our walking plan. I have Considering God's Creation on my shelf. I can pull out some of the detective sheets that focus on the Circulatory system, etc. I also have this cute little set I found at one of our local stores on the human body.
　
    I really didn't want to get into another unit study before the end of our school year, but I feel like we need to have more of an understanding why it is good for us to be walking. We know it is good for us. But, why is it good for us?
   The human body kit that we found is from Discovery Kids. It came with a neat little model of the human body and its organs and two books that are very informational to be as small as they are.

   My hubby says they have some great pictures in them. I'll just throw in some vocabulary and a few internet links and we'll call it a unit study.
   Anyone with any cute quick ideas that will stress this portion of Health, we're open for them. We have three weeks of school left for this term.
   Hope all of you are having a happy homeschooling this week.

Spending Time At The Gulf of Mexico

     We are having a wonderful time spending our spring break at the Gulf of Mexico this week. I have enjoyed taking in the breath freshing air and some reading while the children have enjoyed the water, sand, and cousins. Well, I suppose I have enjoyed the sand also this week. It has been so cool feeling to my feet as I have been walking in it and I've also have enjoyed playing in it with the children.
     I thought I'd share a few more pics with my blogging friends. We had gone walking down the beach and discovered some sand art that some one had done. Immediately, my children were ready to go back to where we were staying so they could create in the sand. Here's a few pics of our creations and others:
　

 A gator created by unknown artist.

A sea turtle by unknown artist.

An octopus by unknown artist.

A fish by unknown artist.

A dog laying down by unknown artist.

Homeschool artist Traci, Daniel and Landin at work.

Sand artist Sarah creating her masterpiece.

 Artist Matthew's dolphin.

Matthew's octopus eating a fish.

Artist Traci working on her turtle, between phone calls. LOL

Traci's sand art turtle.

Artist Sarah's smiling starfish.

 All children playing in the condominiums swimming pool.

Traci sitting by the pool with laptop sharing her homeschooling adventures to you.

     Sand art wasn't in the books for our lesson plans, but it has been done now and they had a blast doing it. Honestly, I didn't have lesson plans for this week due to our spring break, but I've seen my children learning and observing things this week that could be used for schooling. Homeschoolers don't get vacations. Our minds have been opted in to learning mode and we don't know where to stop.     My husband and I wasn't suppose to stay at the beach this week. We were to get my library organized. My sister kept at me until we did stay for two days. We have come home for two days and will go back again tomorrow to stay for two more days. So, that means that very little has been accomplished on my library being organized. All in due time, that's what I'm telling myself, it will all be organized in due time.     Well, got to go for now so until next time, everyone have a happy homeschooling.

My Son's Developing Into A Writer

                I had spoken in an earlier post about how my lesson plans had gotten changed last week. My daughter had awakened one morning and wanted to write a narration on The Three Little Pigs. After beginning this lesson my children decided they wanted to just write their own version of The Three Little Pigs. I had another English lesson planned for them from our Writing Strands book. I am trying to follow Charlotte Mason’s methods as much as possible so when my daughter decided she wanted to do this, I dropped my plans and moved in to the new lesson.

                They have finished the lesson now so I am going to post their versions on here to share with everyone. Tell us what you think. I am putting my son’s on here first and my daughter’s will come in a day or so.

Gather your children around and enjoy The Three Little Pigs by Matthew.

The Three Little Pigs

    Once upon a time, in the small town of Pigsburg, there live three little pigs and a sow. The little pigs thought they were old enough to move out of their mother’s home. Their mother, the sow, agreed that it was about time they got their own home so she kissed her sons goodbye. They started packing their things. As soon as they were done packing, they left on their journey.

    The oldest pig, Ramses, traveled east. He met a man with some straw. Ramses ask kindly, "Sir, would you be so kind as to loan me some straw?" The man replied, "Gladly child." So Ramses took the straw and built his house in a small meadow. The next morning he took a basket he had woven before and went out to pick blueberries. When he got there he started stuffing the basket, but mostly he stuffed his face. Eventually, the basket was full.

    As he strolled home, he felt like he was being watched. Suddenly, he heard a twig snap. He moaned, "Who, whose there?" Then he heard a snarl. He truly was scared out of his wits. He ran shouting, "Ah! Help, save me!" As he screamed, a large dark figure leaped from the bushes. It was the wolf. Ramses made it into the house of straw. The wolf shouted angrily, "Let me in or I’ll huff and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down." So he huffed and he puff, and he blew Ramses’ house down. Ramses ran to the sow’s house. He told his mother, "I saw a Wo, wo, wolf!" "I know my son, but your brothers don’t know about the wolf yet." The wolf, standing outside of the window, overheard the conversation. He thought to himself, "Brothers, this is why I must leave to catch and eat two more little pigs. One of them may get away, but the other one will not escape me." So the wolf ran back to the woods with much excitement.

 

    Buck and Little Joe had walked for quite some time in the woods. After a while Little Joe got tired and said, "Hey Buck, do you want to stop here and hit the sacks?" "No!" replied Buck. So Buck ran alone now. Little Joe happened to see a logging truck pass by. Fortunately, the truck turned the curve to fast and most of the wood fell off of the truck. So Little Joe collected the wood and built him a house.
    Then, he made supper. As he was eating he heard a voice say, "Oh may you let me in for a meal? I haven’t eaten in days." Not knowing what beast was behind it, he cracked the door open. The wolf tried to pounce in the door, but little Joe was too quick. He slammed the door in the wolf’s face. Instead of the wolf making it in, he was knocked out from the impact of his head hitting the door. By the time the wolf regained consciousness, little Joe was half way across the field. The wolf furiously chased after the pig. He lost the pig over a hill. The pig ran all the way to his mother’s house. As soon as he got there he told the sow about the wolf and how fast he had to run to escape the wolf’s incredibly large jaws.



      Although Ramses and Little Joe ran from the wolf, there is one pig that hasn’t been scared by the wolf. That pig was Buck. Buck had traveled to far from home to run to The Sow’s house. He had seen a man while he was traveling. The man had a wagon full of bricks. Buck said, "Dear sir, would you please give me that wagon of bricks to build a house, for I am ever so tired?" The sweating man replied, "Well, you can have it. I’ve pulled it so long. I’ve actually tried to sink the wagon in the river because it was such a heavy load. But the townsmen pulled it out with an ox. They pulled it out and told me I may need it later. But I don’t need these old bricks. So you can have them."

    So Buck built his house of bricks. Buck knew that the wolf could not blow down his house. As he was washing the dishes, he heard a snarl. It did not bother him for he knew his house was too strong for the wolf to blow down. The wolf blew and blew but the house wouldn’t budge. So the wolf said, "I’ll crawl down your chimney and eat you." The pig was very afraid. He put a pot of boiling water at the bottom of the chimney. The wolf fell in the pot and jumped all the way back up the chimney. The wolf said, "You are too smart for me so I will leave you alone." And the pigs all lived happily ever after.

The End

Cultivating a Harvest

                Our children's minds are as a garden, soil waiting to be tilled and seeds planted in. We all know before you plant a garden there is work to be done. Much preparation and planning must take place. First, the decision has to be made to plant the garden, then; we have to decide where to plant it. Next, we would have to decide how big of an area we would want to plant. Then, what are we going to plant. And finally, we would begin the process of tilling the ground and dropping the seeds in.

                Our child's education is so similar to this process. First, we made the decision to home school, for whatever purpose your family chose. Next, we have to have the proper materials we are going to need for our child's education. That's when all the planning and preparation begins to take place. Just like the seed, we have to decide how much ground we are going to cover and with what kinds of seeds (curriculum). Depending on the type of fruit we want to produce will determine what kind of seeds we plant. We can't supply our child with a fabulous background in History and then expect to have a Rocket Scientist lurking about our home. Our children will be cultivated in to the seeds that have been planted and watered in their life. A germination process will occur. The ideas that are planted in their minds by us as their teacher begin to grow. They eventually take root. The more we present a particular subject to them, the more the idea grows in their mind. A fruit will come out in the end.

                Each year as a gardener plants a garden he or she does receive some type of fruit at harvest time. If much time and preparation was taken and the gardener watered and fertilized the garden as it was needed, the fruit come out delightful and tasty. Should the gardener just throw the seeds in the ground and not return to put forth time in his or her garden during the germination process the garden will not produce to its fullest potential. When a garden is not worked, all the weeds pulled out, it is not watered and fertilized, then the fruit tend to be small.

                If we as our child's teacher want him or her to learn at their fullest potential we have to provide them with great materials that would water the idea we are trying to cultivate or the germination process will be affected. Our fruit at harvest time will not be what we were expecting.

                Germination is the sprouting of a seed. All seeds need moisture, oxygen, and warmth to germinate. These requirements, especially the need for warmth, vary from species to species. In our case as home school parents this would mean the need for warmth from child to child. Every child is different and will need different levels of warmth, love and care in certain areas of their study. If we want delightful fruit at the end of each of our children's harvest time we are going to have to devote ourselves to meet each individual child’s need. One of our children may need just a bit more attention in a certain area than another of our children. If we want tasty fruit at harvest time we have to be like the gardener. We will have to show the love and care needed to cultivate that particular fruit. We must nurture the idea we are trying to cultivate. If proper conditions are present, a seed can germinate in a few days. If we take time to walk beside our child in an area they are having a problem with, it is possible for them to learn what we are trying to present to them in a few days. We should keep in mind that it takes seeds in a garden time to grow. With that in mind, it may take time for our child to grasp information being presented to him or her.                

On the other hand, not all seeds germinate. Some seeds take a while to germinate and others don't. The seeds that don't are dormant.

                Your child may not learn everything you are trying to teach them at a particular time. It may seem as if they are rejecting what you are laying before them. This should not cause you to worry. Take time to check out the soil you are trying to plant your seed in. Is it ready to cultivate the fruit you want to produce? The condition of the soil (your child's ability) must be properly nourished to produce your fruit.

                Dormancy of a seed does not mean it will not germinate. Sometimes the gardener has to give the seed a little time for the conditions of his soil to become favorable in order for the seed to begin to grow. Sometimes we just have to wait a little later to feed our children some ideas. Their minds ar just not quite where we think they need to be to absorb what we are laying before them. This means we have to just slow down and take our time. We have to give them time to grow. Fruit is not grown over night and neither will our child's ability to learn happen overnight. A garden is a work in progress and so is our child's education.

                When a young plant can gather water and minerals in its roots to make food in its leaves, the germination process is complete. As we take the time to teach our children how to gather material to feed the ideas in their mind we are bringing them to the end of germination. When we can get our child to step in to a place to where he or she can begin to learn on their own, our process of germination is complete. Just as the gardener sits and watches his fruit grow, so shall we sit back at this time and watch our fruit unfold before our eyes. As harvest time draws to a near, the purpose we started this home school journey will then come in to view. What goals that have been accomplished will be our harvest. The seeds we planted will be the fruit we receive.

Step Up To Your Call For Guard Duty

　
    As we homeschool our children we are trying to accomplish many tasks. We desire for our children to have a relationship with the Lord, receive an excellent education, grow up with a godly character, etc. But what are we doing to see that these goals happen? Are we praying and reading the Bible with our child daily to see that he or she is developing a relationship with God? Are we feeding our children wholesome books to further their education? Have we tried to instill in them characteristics of a godly person? Or, have we left them unattended, open prey for the world to nibble on and devour?
    I know, myself, sometimes I get so caught up in self, wanting to have time to feed my own appetite that I let my guard down. We are the keepers over the children God lent to us so we should stand guard at all times. A battle is going on. A real enemy is out to destroy all of our hopes and dreams for our children. Satan doesn't show partiality to which he destroys. He is out to seek whosoever he may devour. He's out to get my children, your children, everyone’s children. For that matter, he's out to get you and I also. The importance of us as parents keeping guard over our flock is indescribable.
    Each day as we arise the battle is intensifying. We must put on the whole armor of God and step out against every hindrance the devil would fire against us accomplishing the tasks of training our children, whether it be in spiritual habits or educational achievements. We must not let him lure us away from our time with our heavenly Father. The curriculum for our children should never be the curriculum we use just because that's the curriculum our neighbor uses. Our child's education is vital. His or her curriculum should be tailored just for him or her. One thing that should be kept in mind for our children's education is that we are training them for the same battle we are fighting in. Tailored preparation for each child will equip him or her for the journey placed before them. How we equip then now will determine how they fight their battles in the future.
Put on your armor today. Fight for what is right. Don't let the world take one bite out of your child. The enemy is as a roaring lion, roaming to and fro, seeking to devour. Stand guard, your child is depending on you.
    Just a reminder of Ephesians 6. Put on the whole armor of God.
God give us each of our children to overseer in this home school journey to equip them for life, not njust for childhood. The enemy angers at our job. Due to his anger, he try's each day to discourage us. He does not want our day/days to go smoothly. The enemy wants chaos so he can lure you away from the guard post God has placed you at (over your child/children). See, the enemy knows what is going to happen at the end of his journey and he doesn't want your eternity to be a happy ending. Even in the end, he still wants to devour. He would like for you and your family to be tortured for eternity.
    It's so important for us to keep our spiritual guard up at all times. I know our days may get hectic sometimes, but let's keep our eyes on the finish line. We want our children to spend eternity with God so let's focus on the important goal in life, standing and teaching our children to stand against what ever the enemy would cast at our family each day.
    Let's focus our eyes on the goal beyond the lesson plans. Let's prepare for our eternity. Let's put God first, and our child or children's education and everything else will just be an extra bonus.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Matthew 6:33

Feeding the Appetite of my Child or Lesson Plans

Does anyone else have the same problem I do, lesson plans getting changed from day to day? It does not matter how much time I dedicate to sitting down and writing out my lesson plans, they always get changed, regularly.
Beings we are under a Homeschool Covering we have to have our school year finished up in May. I have several things I am wanting to finish up by then. My daughter must have other plans for us. Last night she pulled one of our volumes of our Junior Classics books off of the bookshelf in my bedroom and began reading the Three Little Pigs. Today she wakes up and decides she wants us to read the tale, draw pictures of the characters, write out character discriptions, and write an essay/narration on it. What do I do? We are working on her plans as I am typing, but I am trying to decide how will I fit everything I am wanting to accomplish by the end of this year in if I let my children's appetites be fed and do the things they are wanting to do. I don't want to discourage them from exploring in their own ideas. Help! Anyone else faced with this?
I suppose I should drop back over at See Jamie's Blog. and reread the post on how we don't always get to accomplish our goals We are schooling and they are learning so we'll just keep sailing along. The curriculum books I am using can not drive us.
Can you tell I am trying to convince myself that it doesn't matter if we don't get everything done?? I am the type that I like to make my plans and watch them vanish away as we do them each day. When I don't see my lesson plans moving, I question our schooling.
Not only are we working on an English/Literature lesson of the Three Little Pigs now, but we also like Tatiana's spring essay project over at World Star Academy.so we have decided to do that also. My plans, my plans, my plans are falling further and further behind. There's just too much freedom in homeschooling. Thank God for that freedom though that we can teach them according to His & our plans & not someone forcing certain curriculums on us. As David said in the Bible, "Sometimes we just have to encourage ourselves." (paraphrased) I am feeling better about this change already. Until next time, everyone have a happy homeschooling

Lesson Plans and Schooling

     Our year is winding down. I sat down over the weekend with my hubby and we laid our lesson plans out for our last nine weeks of school for this school year. Everything looks great on paper. Now if we can only accomplish them all. It's going to be strenuous to bring us up to the point I want us to be at the end of this school term. We'll take it one day at a time. We may have to shuffle things from time to time, but we'll work until the end and pick up the next school term.
     My children are having a blast with a portion of their math. We are working out of a book called Using the Standards of Geometry published by Instructional Fair. It is only a third grade level of Geometry, but a great book for laying a solid foundation. The book says third grade level, but it gets a bit intensive towards the middle and end for a third grader. My children like this book due to all of the hands on material. It's not just page after page of problems. Wariety is all through the book. Drawing the shapes, labeling the shapes, crossword puzzles using the definitions to the geometric terms, games, etc. The work in the book is quick and easy, but is wonderful to begin Geometry. There are only 70 pages of work/fun in this book, but packed with great information and explinations of Geometry. I would recommend this book to others.
     I managed to get my humming bird feeders filled today. My daughter was sitting at our kitchen table when she saw one come up to one of our feeders trying to get some nectar out of it. I knew then it was time for me to quit procrastinating and just get them in the house and fill them up. Our humming birds should be shouting for joy now. They are filled and waiting for them to come and enjoy.
     My hubby and children raked a portion of our yard this evening. When they were raking my children saw earthworms under the leaves, so guess what. Yes, you guest it. We are homeschoolers so they immediately decided to begin a worm bed and study them for a while. And by the way, that was not in the lesson plans we had drawn up this weekend. Their dad give them homework using their computer finding out information on the earthworm. I am looking forward to seeing their own study. I just want to see what bits of information they'll find informational to present to their dad. I'll update more on the worm bed in the future.
     For now, I had best be going. I want to read a few blogs myself. Happy homeschooling to you all, Traci

Sketch Tuesday

     My children are excited about Sketch Tuesday. This is the first time that they have participated and they are just a little over joyed. Their dad uploaded their sketches to the computer and sent them to Harmony Art Mom's email. Since then they have asked a couple of times, "When can we see our pictures?" That will probably be the first thing on our agenda tomorrow because I'm sure that will be the first thing that will come out of their mouths as soon as they arise and begin to wake up.
    We will be leaving Thursday for a short vacation so the next few days we are going to be quite busy. We are trying to finish up what I have on my first round of lesson plans for the year. I only make my plans up about 3 to 4 weeks at the time. Our studies usually last longer than 3 weeks for a topic, but we love pulling in extra library books to suppliment our study so I don't like getting to far ahead in my lesson plans. Depending on how many extra books we pull in depends on how quickly we move through my lesson plans.
    Today my children started working in some beginner piano lesson books that we had found at a thrift store over the weekend. They seem to be understanding the material pretty good so far. My daughter seriously practiced the exercises. My son was kind of funny. Shortly after he had started he was ready to quit. Supposively his hand was hurting. I can assure you that he had not done enough of the exercise for that to be happening. We will just see how his lessons go. I play some by ear so I really hope my children do pick up on it.
     I'll wrap up our week towards the end of the week before we leave, lor's willing. Happy home schooling to everyone this week, Traci