45 Days: A Review

Well, it has been an interesting 45 days.

Here is a look at the original plan.

Here is the current plan.

LOL, no really my ideals of what school should be are out the window but my goals have not changed.

• I want G to learn to read this year
• I want him to learn formal math basics
• I want him to love learning

Aside from my wants...

• G is independently sounding out cvc words and with incentives, aka stickers for suprises, reading Bob books
• G is grasping/ mastering place value, counting, story problems, and adding zero
• G loves to think,explore,wonder, and plan
  
• G feels music and really enjoys the FREE classes we found at the local university
• G has taken an interest in coloring, something he used to avoid like the plague
  

I am really excited about his progress and mine. Finally I am starting to relax with the amount of material we are covering. There is no need to hurry through materials because we can still use them next year if we do not finish. I am more interested in mastery than exposure. I am working hard not to compare us with others using the same texts because I know our slow go will be less stressful on G and more likely ensure mastery so we don't have to learn it again down the road. It is hard to break my public school habits.

Ahead for Us: Continue with Reading and Math U See. Try to add hands on art and science to our week or at least month.

Side note: I just finished reading A Thomas Jefferson Education today, yes I read a book, and am going to reread A Well Trained Mind. I am curious how they can work together and how they may fit into OUR school.

NEST Videos

I have always been fascinated with the NEST videos since I was young and saw their infomercials on TV. I was even going to break down and purchase them last year at the Homeschooling Convention but they did not attend. How glad I am today! After a discussion with my friend, School for Us, she pointed me to Library and Educational Services. Wow! Rather than 20-30 dollars a piece for the DVD with a study guide, I got the VHS tapes for about $3 each. For 3 dollars I can make my own study guide. I could have purchased DVDs, which I really wanted, but I got a couple extra titles with the VHS set and saved 10 dollars. I will keep watching their supply because I really want the history and science ones too, which they are currently out of.

Update: I just found coloring and a few activity pages free here on the NEST site.

Keepers Award Ceremony

The first session of Keepers of the Faith has come to an end.
Much has been learned and taken to heart. Relationships have formed. It has been very exciting! The children spent the afternoon putting finishing touches on their final projects. Then they enjoyed refreshments & games before receiving their award badges.

G received badges in ....

Hiking

• identify the state tree & bird
• use a compass
• know safety guidelines

Tools

• recognize and use basic tools
• tool saftey
• built a hat peg
• built a weaving loom (for the girls next semester)
  

Willingness

• listen to 6 devotions on willingness
  
• memorize Ecclesiastes 9:10
• Practice willingness at home
• define willingness
  

The girls received a badge for Scrapbooking rather than tools.
They created pages for the boys documenting the six weeks.
The group will meet again in March for Weather, Kites, and lots of fun!

Fishers Renaissance Faire

Renaissance Faire but it was a blistering 90+ degrees and miserable. Very little learning took place. Hopefully next year the weather will behave like October rather than July and we will be able to really soak in everything this amazing Faire has to offer.

The few things we did experience...
G was thrown in jail and had to sing to be released.

G was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I

G with some fellow Knights


Daddy was picked from the Audience to participate in the sword fighting comedy with Rogue Blades.

We did spend a long period of time in a warriors tent to get relief from the sun. G was very happy to just sit and watch him & his squire (son)play chess. While watching, we learned that there is a medieval version of chess which uses dice to determine your moves. We will be researching this later.

Carnival of Homeschooling #94

Hey, Let's check out what everyone else is doing after I share my experience at Animal Kingdom.

Columbus Study

(He looks asleep but he really enjoyed this project)

I am really excited to study History along with G as my own experience is weak and fragmented. I really learned a lot about Christopher Columbus over the past few days as we have studied his holiday. I am going to have to do some more reading to find out why the United States has a National Holiday for an Explorer that never laid foot on North American Soil?

During our study we watched several videos, read a couple of books, played a game, and created a couple projects.

Here is a list of the resources we used:

Books
Our Columbus Day Book by Jane Moncure
Holiday Histories: Columbus Day by Mir Tamim Ansary

Video
Brain Pop jr.- Christopher Columbus
A Magic Voyage (cheesy & light on the history but fun)
Christopher Columbus: The Commemorative Series (3 vols.)

Game
Go West With Columbus (Board, Pieces)

Crafts
Paper Sailor Hats
Earth Light Catcher
Coloring Pages

New Web Discovery

Have you discovered this site... Daily Lit?
I tried to find who lead me to it so I could link her description but between Bloglines and Carnival of Homeschooling I couldn't find it again. Anywho, It is an email service that sends you short, less than 5 minute, reads of copyright free books FREE (there are a few paid ones but I never saw one). For example I started The Adventures of Tom Sawyer last night, it is 90 parts. So part one came to my email, I read it, and if I wanted to read more I could have clicked send next installment now or since I didn't I waited until today for the next day for it to come automatically. So it could take me 12 weeks or less to read Tom Sawyer. I am sure that sounds like forever to some people but for me who NEVER reads for pleasure... I am so excited! There are 20 books listed in the Children's Category... Twain, Baum, Grimm, Carroll.. just to name a few. I am really excited to read everything in this section!