Getting ready for a new year

The thing about homeschooling, is that you can make your own schedule. Which means, we never had an official "last day" kind of thing because I was needing some semblance of a schedule during the summer months of their friends being out of school too. I don't have the first day back to look forward to sending them away, so I didn't want to shoot myself in the foot having to also be the one to get them back into a learning routine.

But we've wrapped up all of the learning their little noggins are 'standardized to achieve' at this age, and I feel like I've hardly done anything the last three months... I'm glad they're smart, it makes up for my lackings some days!

Since all of the workbooks my kids love to do are nearly finished, I finally wrapped my head around next year's bounty of knowledge.

For Maren:

Math-

A Beka Arithmetic 2
A Beka Tests and Speed drills 2

KB Teacher's supplemental worksheets

Language Arts-

Writing Poetry

A Beka Spelling and Poetry 2

Shurley English Level 1 (finishing up)
Grammar

Spanish La Clase Divertida and a vocabulary workbook to supplement.

Science-
Human Body

Illustrated Human Body resource book by INsiders
The care and keeping of you (American Girl)

(We are beginning with teaching Maren about her anatomy, because she has been having some changes already- I know...what?! And with a new baby on the way, lots of questions are being asked.)

*A new baby to be born in the family... what better way to teach living science?!

Geography and History-
World Cultures with Around the World in 80 Tales and Expedition Earth

Galloping the globe online interaction

Music and Art-

Suzuki Violin 1 Book-

Lessons with Master's Musicians school of music
Usborne "What shall I draw?"

Ballet, including performing in The Nutcracker this year

Reading-
We've picked 2 books from the list of classic literature recommended from Thomas Jefferson Education. In addition to their personal reading- they'll learn oral reports, researching, and book reviews.

More history will come with association while we read classic literature, scriptures, and Magic Tree House series. Also, we are making a time line of "Great People throughout America's History" that we will continue to build through next year.

For Kellan, he will do the grade 2 lessons along with all of the subjects, and has grade 1 workbooks for each of the subjects. He will also be continuing with the Cello, I so love the sound of that instrument! He is excited to start learning cursive when we officially break out our new school year books.

Now... if I can only keep these 3 hours of structure every day amidst running after a toddler, running a household, and battling morning sickness.....

Another book worm

I forgot to add this in the blog last month, but I wanted to remember this moment. Kellan read and finished his first chapter book!


I have learned some good lessons through our journey this school year- and mostly it is that what I think I know about their personalities isn't always right. I was flat out wrong many times. I've underestimated Kellan a lot in his mile stones, and by not expecting as much out of him he takes his own way to show me otherwise!

We didn't work on reading with him during the year before he started kindergarten work. We pulled him out of preschool because of his health struggles, and I let him just dictate his own pace every day at home, reading was not on his agenda at all. When we started with Kindergarten concepts and workbooks, crying became the norm during reading time. If he doesn't just get something easily, he feels really bad for himself. If I push him to try harder, he shuts down entirely. So I didn't push him at all. For Christmas he had gotten some young readers comic books like Disney Cars and Toy Story 3. He loved comic books and started reading all the time! He was breezing through things like Mercer Mayer's Little Critter books, and he learned that reading things all around his world every day was pretty cool.

Then I gave him some books that I had bought when I was pregnant with him. Frog and Toad. They're separated into small chapters, with a lot of pictures in between, and he LOVED them. He was suddenly asking me to lay on his bed and read! I was having to ask him to put his book down! This was coming from the little boy who I thought just didn't love to read, and even thought he probably wouldn't read during kindergarten. He has proven me wrong on every account.

And that's Kellan. When we try to do group activities, he is over stimulated and he can't pay attention. The more pressure on him to be doing something, he shuts down. But when he can be isolated and independent with the tools around him, he will do it, alone, and perfectly. He's an audio learner, so the group time helps him and he remembers everything like a vault, and he figures things out on his own time, in his own way. He's brilliant. I'm so proud of him!

Learning from the past

"The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." ~Abraham Lincoln

I have been reading a book called "The Thomas Jefferson Education" and there are so many points that I've read, and loved, and went back to re-read them again. If you asked me when I was a little girl what I wanted to be, I never would have thought that I'd say a teacher. Some days I still don't think I want to be one! But regardless of what I want, I feel I'm being molded, as long as I am seeking out the best tools to use for this craftsman responsibility that I have to 3 human beings, I feel inspired to be one.

There are a lot of days that I feel like it's impossible to be all of it- mother, cook, housekeeper, wife, CFO of our household, personal assistant managing everyone's appointments and diets and sleep schedules, and teacher? Seriously? A lot of days honestly, I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water. Then I read something that hits my core.

"A good mentor is someone of high moral character who is more advanced than the student and can guide his or her learning. Parents are the natural mentors of children.They can be very effective in getting the student started on a lifetime plan for success, especially if they use some of the key techniques perfected by the great mentors of history."

Now, that being said, parents everywhere can strive for this quality, and it doesn't even require homeschooling. But the key part that struck me was "someone of high moral character." I don't know about you, but I feel our world is lacking very much people of that substance. And the thought of sending my young little ones away from me to someone who might not meet that criteria? Time to bring them home. So we did. But now what?

I'm trying to figure out, and reconstruct my expectations, to better meet the last part of that quote "use some of the key techniques perfected by great mentors of history."

When you look at the mentor of Thomas Jefferson, or Plato, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Joan of Arc- "Whatever the culture, look at its greatest leaders and you will almost always find that they were guided by at least one outstanding mentor and made a lifetime study of classic works." -Thomas Jefferson Education

So we're encorporating a code of ethics in our home. A standard of moral character. Expectations, and life lessons to learn them. When you consider how education used to be, little ones learned responsibilities and values, familial contributions, reading, writing, some arithmetic- while in the setting of their home with their mother. They learned their culture, and they observed adults to learn social skills. Then when mature enough to try being independent and responsible to persue becoming educated further, the wealthy class had private tutors, middle class may have had a mentor and the education was given by the parents or an educated family member. Schoolhouses were created to bring education to the poor class who did not have anyone to pass down or afford them an education. And now, that standard of bringing education to the poor, has been the standard given to every child in our nation. It inspired me that I can be what my children need, even on the tough days of regular family life of behaviors and rivalry, and crabby moods, and overall patience testers. Remembering that is the struggle!

So we're working on our reading, writing, some arithmetic. We've explored a LOT of our world around us because our schedule isn't keeping young kids bound down to a desk, being driven to memorize just because they can even if they don't understand, for the sake of regurgitating an answer to accomplish a test. We've read a lot of books, and stopped to associate it to the globe, or the constellations, whatever is being mentioned in that book at the time. And it's sparked SO many more questions from the kids about the world around them. They are being inspired, which is the pivitol ingredient to a person being truly educated- the desire to learn as much as they can because they have a spark within them to seek it. Education isn't given. It's wanted and sought after.

Here's a great book we just finished up about geography- also about forgiveness, selflessness, and hope.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Another great book we're diving into about mathematics, geography, and imagination.

Gulliver's Travels -classic starters

Have you heard about The Thomas Jefferson Education? You might really enjoy it, regardless of what setting your child is being instructed. It might inspire you, as it is for me, to in turn inspire my young ones. I'm so glad for the (several) friends who recommended it to me!

Great Americans and Black History month

We started February learning a bit about Black History month, and we also started a timeline for our wall of "Great American People in America's History" to finish out through this school year. The kids added their own birth years and names to the time line, and we added facts that we learned earlier in the year such as the year the Constitution was signed, and when George Washington was born. We studied a bit about Martin Luther King Jr when we covered Georgia during our discussion when we came to that part of the country, so we added him too during the beginning of Black History month.

Earlier this week we read the story of Moses in the bible, and the children used their journal writing time to express their feelings about slaves and children of God.

We watched a video about Harriet Tubman.

Animated Heroes Harriet Tubman

So in our discussion of slavery, and a nation divided about government, we talked about the Federalists and the Confederates. We discussed the Mason Dixon line in our geography time today, and the kids made a collage depicting the state boundaries during that time, and now. And it transitioned into our time for the day when we stand and say the Pledge of Allegience, reminding them that our country now has a Federal flag, a Federal government, (and regardless of my husband's southern sentiment!) that is where we are today.

Map of the USA during the Civil war

Flags of a nation divided

We finished up our week by watching the video of Abraham Lincoln and adding him to our timeline too.

We've been working on listening, and respect, and other character building values in our devotional time, so I added a listening exercise to help them. We started reading Fablehaven, and I have to say that I LOVE the big vocabulary in it! It doesn't water anything down with the low expectation that children won't understand, instead it adds an adventure and fantasy to bring them UP to comprehend a broader vocabulary base, that frankly, our country is lacking in education. The kids are enjoying it!

Kellan is full of wiggles, so it has been more challenging to get him interested in reading, but he's doing it at his own pace, and I've been pleased with his progress. Keeping his interest during reading time (and therefor keeping him out of trouble) has been a challenge, so I came up with this:

I skim through the few pages that I intend to read to them, and write him a list of vocabulary words to listen for. And if he hears it, he makes a check mark by it. Then after our reading time, we say the words, use them in a sentence, and even make a word search activity sheet with the new vocabulary words some days. It has helped immensely, and it has thickened the stimulation for Maren too, who loves books and reading, and still wants more.

What are your kids reading right now?

Changing pace

I started out our year running, with my schedules, and lesson plans, and all of our supplemental activities to go along with each one. And every subject tied into each other to help them LEARN and like what they learn, not just regurgitate facts back for a test at the end of the year.

But I've had a change of mind when I listened to my feelings about Kellan. And this video explains every feeling that I felt in searching for a new way to reach him.

Maren loves her book work, she loves drawing, writing, checking off tasks, my little self-motivated over achiever! Kellan hates it. He likes flashcards, and sensory games, puzzles to find the answers, stacking up objects to see a visual of a job being done.

I don't jive with the "unschooling" philosophy, because after all, I feel like I'm the parent for a reason, because I have long term reasonability and a fully functioning frontal lobe to determine and weigh out variables- kids don't! But I've sort of thrown our schedule out the window- a bit. I'm still a little bit OCD when it comes to being organized and accomplished! But... Maren asks for school work, she gives herself extra assignments, she is working well with her workbooks and literature. Kellan has to be lured in with fascination and more discussions, more visuals.

I believe more firmly now, had I sent him to a public school, the year would have looked something like this: Kellan would be anxious about a change, but he tries it because I make him. He's hyper, and he might have a hard time making friends, which will lead to more anxiety. He does not retain information yet by reading or writing, and he gets very depressed with himself already when he can't do what his next level sister is doing. He'll start to lose interest, and his abundance of energy will get him in trouble. He'll come home with more anxiety. He'll start to hate learning.

He is not a product on an assembly line. Only his parents have the most vested interest in his succession. And I know (another reason) why I felt called to do this task.

Germany

We're finally getting around... the world that is. We've focused a lot on our own country the first half of our school year, with conversations about other countries, this was the first week we did a "study" of a country. We started in Germany, which seemed fitting for us because of family history that goes back to that country. We're at a place in our Creation Studying where we are focusing on God creating man, we're doing fun art work showing our personalities, our 5 senses, our feelings, etc. And now we're transitioning into our family, and family history a little bit. So there ya go, that brings us to Germany.

We painted the flag of Germany today and displayed it with our own country's flag, then included them in our prayers.

We made a family tree to add to our devotional time this week.

We read some Grimm's childrens fairytales, and The Bremen-town Musicians

We had Beethoven (courtesy of Baby Einstein's cd's) blaring in the background. The Bible has a lot to say about music and instruments, so we sampled some of the greats from Germany- Ludwig Van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Brahms

We learned about Albert Einstein, and how much math applies to everything like flying into space, or building a computer, I think Kellan has a new hero since he loves math so much.

Young Albert Einstein- Laurence Santrey

Albert Einstein coloring page

And what would a miniature princess like Maren be without the mention of all of the castles in Germany?

Castle Maze

Today wraps up our study of Germany by reading The Dutchess Bakes a Cake- Virginia Kahl and making a German Chocolate cake for a certain (newly) SEVEN year old's birthday party tomorrow. I wonder if she'll be just as excited about saurkraut and potatoes for dinner tonight?

After dinner, we'll watch The Sound of Music (yeah yeah, I know it's Austria. But they speak German. And it's a great movie ;) close enough!)

Our world

This year so far, our curriculum has largely been focusing on Geography. For my kids, knowing they were born in Utah and a lot of their family lives there, but we now live in North Carolina, they've been super curious. So I'll take that and run with it as long as I can! I've loved using ideas and activities from Erica@confessionsofahomeschooler in addition to Galloping the Globe printables. And I was super excited to see this post on a giveaway for National Geographic personalized atlas!

Hop on over to Erica's blog by clicking here to enter to win the drawing too. But honestly, I hope that I win!

Winter what-have-you's

We haven't been on a hiatus. Well, much of one anyway :)

In true April fashion, I delusions of grandeur of how much we would get done this past holiday season. Throw in a trip to Utah with the kids that I wasn't planning on per-say, James having a kidney stone attack and in the ER Christmas eve, and all around craziness... I literally just threw all of the planning out the window. Part of homeschooling is to enjoy this fleeting time with my little ones, right? Maren is in 1st grade age range, doing 3rd-4th grade grammar and reading and vocabulary. Kellan is in kindergarten, doing 1st grade Math and science. I'm not worried in the least to throw out several weeks of planning. I want them to accelerate at their own readiness for it instead of being slowed based on a large group, but then again, to slow the pace for the greater good of nurturing family values and qualities is a benefit unsurpassed of why we do homeschool.

We recently had a good snow storm move through our area, a rare and delightful treat. Even though the kids thought we were taking a day off, little did they know that they would be learning about isosceles triangles. Which when folded, and cut, make very feel-good snow day decorations! (instructions here)

And they learned about dimensions, and how folding the paper differently changes it entirely. (instructions here)

So we decorated around the place, for our January theme of winter.

Then today in our Geography time, we reviewed different terrains around the world, and learned how climates are defined. For arts and crafts we made this fun little water bottle cover, and made sure to classify this animal and add it to the list on our wall chart of all of the animals God created.

Using a 16 or 20 oz water or soda bottle, we covered it first with black construction paper. For my kindergartner, drawing and cutting the shapes such as circle, triangle, and oval (the arms) was good fine motor skills for him to work on.

We filled our bottles with hot water and learned how to read a mercury thermometer, my kindergartner made a hypothesis of what would happen if we took the hot water bottles and left them outside in the snow. His hypothesis was right ;) We rechecked with our thermometers. Then we put them in the freezer in preparation for our science discussion tomorrow of how water freezes.

Another lesson on freezing, changing a liquid into a solid, came from making old fashioned candy Little House on the Prairie style by boiling sugar, molasses, and rootbeer extract, then drizzling it in a shallow pan filled with packed snow.

I'm loving KB Teacher's as a supplemental resource for a lot of different worksheets, activities, and ideas to mix up the routine a bit. Check them out!

Clearly, we're enjoying winter around here. Even if I wish I could hibernate through it instead!