History is ALIVE!

I have so many, well four, posts that I want to write but I am experiencing my first over scheduled, can't find my rhythm year. But I just had to share this...

We are continuing history this year with Story of the World 3. I enjoy this series immensely. Although, this year since it starts to cover America (1600-Gold Rush) I wanted to slow down through it and do a slightly more in depth American Study than just two or three pages scattered throughout the text. So I got out a notebook today and numbered the lines one by one from 1607 to 1850. Then I fingered through the text to find the America chapters, 10 out of 42. Next I wrote those events on my time line. The second bit of information for my time line were the states... what year did states become states. Then the Presidents. Finally, I added us.

Us as in my family not US as in United States. I am so blessed to have pieces of a book written by a now deceased 2nd cousin. This man, whom I never got to meet, traced our family back to 1633. All but 3 of G's Grandfathers, on one side, lived during these years!! History is going to come alive. The first one came to America as an indentured servant 13 years after the Pilgrims. Another was born the year between Washington becoming President and the Bill of Rights. One fought in the War of 1812. These 8 men are going to guide us through the forming of this country. I am so excited!

Shakespeare in Third Grade

This year we are starting the year by finishing up Story of the World 2. One of the final chapters is about William Shakespeare. I am using this chapter as a jumping point into a survey of his work.

I have to admit that I love to listen to and watch Shakespeare but cannot seem to read it. I cannot get the rhythm and stumble over the language. It is so laborious the meaning is lost. Thank goodness for children’s versions. I hope that gradual exposure will help G to understand the stories so that when he grows up and reads the originals it will be easier.

I started looking into Shakespeare after two blog friends posted about their chosen resources and studies.

Dana

Jimmie, here and here

I would never have thought of looking at Shakespeare in elementary school. But G is enjoying the stories and it is fun to see his face when he recognizes a phrase or situation that has become part of pop culture.

After sifting through all the resources I could get my hands on these are the ones we are using…

Shakespeare Paper Doll

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare: here and here

Tales from Shakespeare

You Tube: BBC Animated Shakespeare

Curriculum: 3rd Grade

Ugh... is it time already?! It doesn't seem like we've enjoyed the summer yet but I really think we just lazied it away. So since we have turned into August it is time to get started. I tend to follow the basic public school schedule because G has close cousins and they tend to compare. He even wanted a report card and grades last year because they were talking about theirs. ( roll eyes)

So here we are 3rd grade, We will be adding a new subject: writing. I am not looking forward to this because G like most boys do not like to put pencil to paper. He doesn't mind narrating and thinking of stories as long as I scribe. Well that is about to change. I have chosen to go with the Institute for Excellence in Writing. I sat on that fence for a long time. I enjoy and am inspired by Andrew Pudewa when I see him live... he's a Rock Star! So this year I finally jumped off that fence and took the plunge. I am hoping G will like him as much as I do. If not the company has a money back guarantee. That helped me greatly in my decision.

A couple of other subjects, though part of our lessons last year, are getting make overs. Grammer: I was so excited to use the ever popular Intermediate Language Lessons by Serl. I got a like new copy on Paperback Swap... bo-nus. I thought it would be a great continuation to the Queen series we have used over the last 2 years. But as I started writing out lessons in our master plan sheet I was not thrilled. I wanted more parts of speech work and in the six weeks I planned there was little. So I erased it all and ordered a cheap copy of Evan Moor's Daily Language Review 3. I used it this workbook when I taught school and is gives a short but effective lessons. I really wanted to stick to the Charotte Mason-ish way to grammar but we'll see how this goes. I will also be adding in weekly Engish From the Roots Up cards. I purchased just a set of cards because I wanted more of a discovery of how roots work rather than a full on study.

Spelling: Last year I went through 3 books, organized and collated a master list, tested him orally and made weekly lists from the missed words. It went Ok, but just making the short vowel lists took forever. This summer I read one of my many blog favs, and she uses a similar method but uses the McGuffy Speller for her lists. Lightbulb... so I got a copy , again like new from PBSW. No more list making for me! Also at convention this spring, One of my favorite workshops was Pudewa's Spelling lecture. He talked about practicing spelling orally, a lot, before writing... like in the good ole days. Often, the script to the brain to the hand gets scrambled so spelling out loud before writing is helpful So we will be doing loads of oral practice before writing. Finally, by having the McGuffy lesson numbers it makes G feel impressed with himself. It took 4 lessons to miss 10 words. He was excited.

Our other subjects continue with companies I am really pleased with:
Science
Mr. Q's Chemistry
supplemented with Basher's Periodic Table, Tocci's Periodic Table, Inquiry in Action, and the Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments.

History
Story of the World 3
supplemented with Opal Wheeler books, American History Stories, Young Scholar's Guide to Composers, Jim Weiss CDs, Complete Book of Presidents & States and Complete Book of Maps & Geography

Math
MUS Gamma & Delta

Language Arts
Writing, Spelling , Grammar above
Reading: Book Adventure, Book Studies tied to history like Sam the Minuteman, Dewey Decimal System

Fieldtrips! I want to go on fieldtrips... we rarely seem to take the time. I want to take the time this year.

What's new for you this year?

Grades

Homeschooling Mamas: Do you give grades to your elementary children?

G wants grades. I can thank this enlightenment to my beautiful nieces who ask him what his grades are. Before this he was living in blissful ignorance and I was enjoying the mastery lifestyle. Now we spend our days with "What'd I get? What'd I get?" Ugggh. Needless to say we will not be changing our mastery style of learning, one which I really believe in, but I can find some things to grade. Roll eyes.

One easy subject is handwriting. As G strives for a better grade obviously his penmanship improves. That one I am enjoying. I am also using the scores from MUS chapter tests, Book Adventure, and Explode the Code and soon spelling. But how am I going to organize these? I have EduTrack but couldn't figure out a simple encoding method so I Googled grade book. Tada! I should have know the homeschooler's friend Donna Young would have one. She has an Excel sheet that will do all of the calculating for you! I also looked up report cards, might as well go all the way. I found some with potential here and here.

So, Do you grade? What are your favorite forms?

What's Next?

What's next? What's next? What are we doing today?
It doesn't matter if you homeschool or go to school that is the question of the day. I've tried schedule boards and admired workboxes but those things just weren't for me. So this year I am trying laying out all of the days work in row across the floor and them placing it in the storage basket once completed. So far so good. It has eliminated the questions and allows G some choice of order.

Goodwill Finds

It's the end of the traditional school year and both public & home schools are cleaning closets. Don't forget to check out you local Goodwill and other thrift shops for great school materials. Here is a pile I found last week for 69 cents a piece!!!

Classic Literature

Something I hope G will be motivated to read alone.

Basals

Foundations

Art Enrichment

Great workbooks for the future.

Convention & a Peek at 2nd Grade

(Vender Hall, Midwest Homeschooling Convention, Cincinnati OH,
at least what I could fit in my lens)

A couple weeks ago, I spend 3 fabulous days at the Midwest Homeschooling Convention. I was energized and motivated. I was able to narrow down, with difficulty, the speaker list to fulfilling talks; Susan Wise Bauer (Don't miss her if you get the chance!), Dr. Jay Wile, Jim Weiss, and Homeschool CPA just to name a few. I spent several hours in the Vender Hall researching my lists of curriculum try to figure out what would fit G best. Here are some of the items I came home with...

Summer: The Magic Kingdom by Vacation Education is a Unit Study of The Magic Kingdom written by a homeschool family. As we are going to Disney this fall, I thought this would be fun to do.

Language Arts: I have tried to keep out as many worksheets as possible in our homeschool. We do most things orally except for math and handwriting. But do you know what I recently found out? G likes them!! Maybe they are just novel right now. So for now that is the direction we will go. We have finished our Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and I was trying to decide how to reinforce those lesson. I received an Explode the Code off of Paperback Swap and it is fitting the bill. Right now it is so easy that G doesn't have to think too hard about it. He really enjoys them. So I bought the rest of the set. I hope to use 3 next year and 3 in third grade. G is also enjoying Draw Write Now, the first of which I bought at a used curriculum sale for $1. The other book we are using now is Queen's Language Lessons for the Very Young. G asks to do more of it each day so I snatched up the next book when I saw it at convention. This is a Charlotte Mason style Language Arts text which covers picture study, poetry, copywork, and grammer. Because we already do copywork with DWN I skip the copywork lesson in LLVY. Also, I am not a fan of the lines they provide for writing. If I did do the copywork, I would have him write it on separate paper.

Social Studies: We are sticking with Story of the World- the Middle Ages. We really enjoyed and learned alot this year. I also picked up the Who in the World? Biographies and 4 Jim Weiss Cds (King Arthur & His Knights, Masters of the Renaissance, The Queen's Pirate: Elizabeth 1 and Sir Francis Drake, Shakespeare for Children). I am really excited about The World of Columbus and Sons. This is an anthology of stories of history that happened at the same time Columbus lived. This is what I love about Chronological history.... while A was happening in the world so was B & C.... facinating. I also ordered some literature to add the Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare I bought last year.... Leif the Lucky and Beowulf.

Science: We will continue the Well Trained Mind's Science schedule so 2nd grade is Earth Science. I have tons of resources in the basement because this is one of the topics I taught in public school. I did pick up Professor Noggin games for Space and Earth. These are trivia games I recently read about. Each card has 3 easy and 3 hard level questions so parents or older siblings can play fairly with younger kids. You roll a die to choose whether to ask question 1, 2 or 3. If you answer your question correctly you keep the card... the one with the most cards wins.

Math: We will continue with Math U See- Gamma. I am so pleased with this program... I am not sure about the new fancy covers. I like to fold back my teacher's manual ready for the next chapter each week... the new ones are hardback. The new fonts and double sided pages are nice though. I also splurged on a completer set and the wooden storage boxes. I thought having at least 10 of every block would be helpful for multiplication.

I am getting really excited to start planning! This is our last "formal" week of school... our 180 days will be done. We will continue MUS Beta through the summer but ETC and LL will drop or be done only occasionally. I hope with the Library's summer reading program coming up that he will start reading on his own. I know he has the skills but doesn't have to desire yet. This is one thing I don't push... it will come.

What are you all up to? Any ideas for next year?

I was going to write about the Idea Book for Educators from A&E, History, and Biography channels but Michelle, over at my new blog find The Homeschool Classroom, already did. Check out her article on this great FREE resource.

Scheduling: 11 Week Update

At the beginning of the school year I made out these gorgeous plans for the year. I am pleased to say they are still fairly close to what I need. Yeah!! I did however go in and tweak a couple of categories and how I allot our lessons throughout the week. As I have totally over scheduled us to be out of the house I have had to rethink what needs to be done together in the house and what G can do independently (in the car). I have also reexamined how I use some of our curriculum especially Math U See.

I have noticed that one of the factors for why I wanted to homeschool is missing… “Things Regular Classroom Teachers Only Wish They Had Time to Do”. We have been covering the basics and that is it. Now this is partially because our house is in shambles and there is no room to do the “ooh ahh” stuff as that kind of stuff usually takes up space. But I am about to get my dining room back and maybe that is why I am finally rethinking things.

Here are some of our major changes….

*Math U See

While I still love this curriculum, spending one school year and eleven weeks in the same text is getting to me, not G… me. So we will still be checking out what Mr. Demme has to say on his video, he has great tips, but we will be focusing on one fact each week and drilling it hard rather than using the fact family approach for subtraction which I am not into right now, I feel like it is slowing G down in his mastery. MUS does not explain the lessons as a fact families so the pages seem random to me. Oh, I’m rambling, sorry. Anyway, Mr. Demme says mastery is knowing the answer like you know your name. G understands the concepts of addition and subtraction, loves to make up his own story problems but just does not know them quick. So we will work on quick & rote.

*Computer

I added this block to my spreadsheet. We will be using some of the of websites I have bookmarked as well as pulling out some of the software from my teaching days to our daily lessons. We will focus on these on our two busiest, tiring Vanschool days. So far we have used Study Dog, Math Blaster, and Jumpstart Pet Playground.

We also started this week using Book Adventure. Book Adventure is a site I used in my classroom which is run by Sylvan. It contains quizzes for thousands of books much like Accelerated Reader. Students earn points for the quizzes and then redeem them for prizes from sponsors or you. We are starting with our Junie B Jones Audiobooks. We know these stories by heart but G is re-listening to a story then taking the quiz. He got 100% on the first quiz. The questions are multiple choice but I read the question and he spit out the answer before I could even read him the choices. That a boy!

*Nature Study

I nixed that block off of my spread sheet. We marvel at nature and the world around us when ever we step out of the door but dedicating time to it is just not happening. So rather than having that blank space mock me in the face week after week, reminding me of what I am not doing… out it goes.

*Piano

I replaced the Music block with a Piano block. It reminds me to take him to Mamaw’s to practice as well as look up the current composer they are talking about so I can find a CD to play in the van. I dropped any original plans for music because the boy is in some sort of music class 3 days a week.

*Art

Art became Arts & Crafts. This block still nags at me weekly with its blankness but I am getting more excited to fill it because G really enjoys activities others set out for him. He should be the artsyiest kid around since his mom was an art teacher in a former life but no he does know squat. I don’t know what we are doing yet but I plan to fill in those pesky blocks more often this 9 weeks.

*Language Arts

Language Arts changed to Language Arts Focus. It is a small name change but reminds me of what theme to look for in our copywork.

Planning. Planning ,Whose Been Planning?

I have, I have!
I have really enjoyed planning this coming year. I went back to my old paper and pencil method after using a computer program last year. The program will be amazing when I have to make transcripts but I never went back to it each week to check our progress. I do use it now to keep track of all of the books we have read... it prints beautiful reports. I thought about buying a plan book this year but opted to create my own in Excel. I am so proud of it. Creating my own spreadsheet allows me to breakdown each subject the way I need it.

First I glanced through all of the texts and planned the year broken up into 9 weeks. I still have some segments to research such as independent reading, art and memory work. I think we will start out with an original Fun with Dick and Jane basel reader I found on the shelf. For art I want to do some sort of Artist Study but I cannot decide who to start with, and I want to add in Drawing with Children occasionally.

After I have an overview of the year then I will go back and write more detailed weekly plan a few weeks at a time.

Here is the curriculum we will be using for first grade:
Phonics: continue Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
Read aloud: Dr. Dolittle, James Herriot's Treasury for Children, Farmer Boy, Charlie & Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland.....?
Math: Math U See Alpha (finish) and Beta
Copywork: Creating own sheets with a handwriting font. Topics include personal information and nursery rhymes the first semester.
Language Arts: Following a Beechick style by focusing on capitol letters and punctuation in copywork and reading. Once we are finished with the phonics text we will use Language Lessons for the Very Young.
Science: Following the Well Trained Mind outline of Life science, Animals, Human Body, Plants. I am creating m own lessons.
Social Studies: Story of the World: Ancients
Art: I want to just do an informal artists/ picture study
Music: I dropped the formal study through the book Story of the Orchestra because part of the year we will be gone 3 days a week to some sort of music lessons.
Nature Study: If we get outside daily I will be happy!
Memory Work: I don't know what I am doing here....
Outside Activities: Piano Lessons, Keepers of the Faith, Library Club, Homeschool Choir, local University Homeschool Music & Gym classes

Whew! I am tired just thinking about it. But also very excited about a year of exciting topics.

Book of Centuries

I finished G's time line book. I have been wrestling around with how I was going to create it and finally decided on card stock and a three ring binder. I used Photoshop to create the cover with images that come to mind when I think of history.



Then printed a line on each page so that it would be more consistent and professional.


I also switched colors for different time periods.


I used the following resource to guide my decision making...
Charmaine Wistad's Timeline Book

Creating a Timeline in Microsoft Word

The Date of Noah’s Flood

I will also use the following for image resources....

Classical Education Timeline Stickers(ordering)

Gallery of United States Presidents

Historical Timeline Figures Cd-rom (bought at Convention)

Edupics

Timeline of Art History

Clip Art Gallery

Cool Clips

Classroom Clip art

Famous Kings & Queens of England

Social Science Clip Art (update)

If I had unlimited $$$$
Time line Cut-Outs

History Through the Ages

Are We Done Yet?

Hmmm , It's that time of year. G is ready to be done but I think that is because he hears everyone else talking about school being over. What he doesn't realize is that all of those days we "unschooled" put us behind in our traditional work. What is driving me crazy is that old habits die hard and I cannot get over the fact that we are not close to being done with our texts. Curse you Public Education Habits!!!! I try to talk myself into understanding that even though we are not even 1/2 way through the math text it is OK since we skipped the "kindergarten" curriculum and it is a mastery program. And we were done with state standards in October. But it is NOT WORKING!! I'm not listening!!! The STRESS!!!

I think the stress is compounded by the fact that I am in planning mode for next year. Ugh. Planning is my favorite thing and about the only thing I miss about teaching PS. But usually you are done with one year before you start the next. LOL

Here are the subjects and resources I am considering... if we ever finish.....

Reading

• continue Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading

Comprehension

• Author Fiesta

• see History

Language Arts

• Language Lessons for the Very Young (after OPGTR is done)

Math

• Beta

Science

• Animals
• Human Body
• Plants

History

• Story of the World - Ancients

Music

• Piano
  
• Homeschool Choir (new)
• Story of the Orchestra
  

Nature Study

• Green Hour Challenges
  

Bubble Painting

I am going to teach of couple of weeks at our Keepers group so I thought we would try out my project before hand. I used this lesson when I taught school but it has been awhile. I am glad I tried because it did not work at first... ugh!

Supplies: Tempera Paint, pan, dish soap, straws, paper.
(water too I later discovered)

My goal was to put in each color and as they blew the colors would mix;
they are learning about colors. Wrong! After blowing this is where I learned
I needed the water and it became a big blue-brown mess.
FYI: water, soap, 1 paint= mix

Blow, DO NOT suck, softly and straight down.

Place paper on bubbles making sure not to touch the wet pan.

BUBBLES!!

Even though we finally got it to work, I think I will try to find a new project. When we finished G was covered in blue freckles and it wasn't as cool as I thought it would be. If we are only going to do one project I want it to be AWESOME! Back to the drawing board.

AHHHH Spring!

We finally had a day where we could go outside. Ahhh fresh air!! The weather here has been horrible lately, loads of snow & ice. We were out for an hour and a half. That is a long time for us. I am not and never have been an outside person. I want to change that.

I am tossing around the idea of adding nature study to our lessons next year. If I don't formally have it scheduled I won't do it. So I think I will have to be a bit artificial about it in the beginning to help form the habit. I have been so motivated by "friends" posts as they follow online nature study assignments. I want to join the bandwagon. I think it would do us both good physically and mentally. Getting out from the computer and TV which seems to suck all of our time during the day when not doing lessons. I think nature would be a great for our souls.

Red Maple

mmm Chives

Cleaning up and preparing the garden spot

Iditarod 2008

Mush!

I am so psyched to follow this years race. Tracking the Iditarod has always been on my teaching wish list and now that I am writing the curriculum... Let's Go!

As I mentioned in the previous post my friend Dana and the movie Snow Buddies inspired me to tackle the unit this year. And thankfully I have some great resources shared and saved. I am following many of the links shared by Martin Zoo and was lucky enough to catch the Sled Dog Lapbook FREE download at Homeschool eStore. (If you don't get their e-mail alerts you are missing something special. Each week or so they offer free downloads. The Sled Dog lapbook is now $14. I digress) So we will spend the next two weeks studying about the care, training, and history of the sled dog. I went down in the basement and scavenged for The True Story of Balto, Balto the movie and Stone Fox. I could not find Stone Fox but it may be too much for G right now. I really want him to feel the emotion for himself not just wondering why Mommy is crying. I just requested a book from Paperback Swap last night that you can buy on the Iditarod web sight so I hope it will come before or while the race is going on, Kiana's Iditarod.

We have choses our teams and are waiting anxiously for the race to start. Here are our Mushers.

G wanted the youngest teams... so we found a couple of 18 year old wonders.
Ron Buser - Last years Jr. Iditarod winner
Melissa Owens- 2005 Jr. Iditarod winner

I picked Jessica Hendricks, 25, Rookie of the Year 2003.

G has even gotten Nana & Papaw into the spirit so we will be tracking their teams too.
Ed Iten - Papaw
Rick Swenson- Nana

Playing Catch Up

(Our Gingerbread Tree... Same as School for Us, LOL)

Whew, I cannot believe it has been almost a month since I last blogged. It has been a busy, sickly holiday season. We have all been in some state of sickness, I being the only one to sneak by without a round of antibiotics. It has been wonderful to simply lay around and recoup these passed couple of days. So... what have we been up to besides keeping Kleenex and Mucinex in business?

School
Reading

• Bob Books box 1
• Study Dog
  

Math

• Skip counting
• Adding 2
• Writing numbers past 100

Other

• Seeing the Nutcracker
• Cha Cha Cha Chia
  

Life

• Family Get Togethers
• 4 Christmas
• 1 New Years
• Alvin & the Chipmunks Movie
  

What is next?
G
Long Vowels
More adding
Formal Handwriting lessons

Me
Researching & Organizing resources for next year
Contemplating joining Triple 8 Challenge Mother Crone turned me onto

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.