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Reading I've assigned the kids for this school year...

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:46:46 GMT

This is the book list I made for the kids reading this year as we are studying Early Modern History 1515- 1849 (School year 2009/2010)
This is for them to read in their silent reading time and is, of course, in addition to our History class time where we will be using "Story of the World:Early Modern Times" and summaries of historical documents, and bios of important people and lifestyles from/of the times.

September

Biography of St. Thomas More

Biography of Martin Luther

"The Prince and the Pauper" by Mark Twain

"Royal Diaries: Elizabeth 1" by Kate Lansky

Biography of Mary Queen of Scots

"Outrageous Women of the Renaissance" by Vicki Leon

Graphic novels of several Shakespeare plays

"Shakespeare without the Boring Bits" by Humphrey Carpenter

October

"The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas

"The Man in the Iron Mask" by Alexandre Dumas

Biography of Peter the Great

History of Jewish Oppression and Displacement in the Early Modern period

Book of Saints

Biography of Christoph Demantius

"The Kings Fifth" by Scott O’Dell

November

"The Dark Frigate" Charles Boardman Hawes

The Kaya American Girl books

Biography of William Bradford

Biography of Pochahontas

Story of the Mayflower

"The Witch of Blackbird Pond" Elizabeth George Speare

"The Diary of Patience Whipple" by Kathryn Lasky

December

"The Matchlock Gun" by Walter Dumaux Edmonds

Biography of Ann Hutchinson

Biography of William Penn

"Night Journeys" by Avi

"A Break with Charity: A Story About the Salem Witch Trials" by Ann Rinaldi

Biography of Rebbecca Nurse

"Ben and Me" by Robert Lawson

Biography of Ben Franklin

Biography of Squanto

January

"Johnny Tremain" by Esther Forbes

Biography of George Washington

Biography of Molly Pitcher

Biography of Thomas Jefferson

Biography of John Adams

Biography of Samuel Adams

Biography of Thomas Paine

Felicity American Girl Books

"My Brother Sam is Dead" by Christopher Collier

February

"Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens

Biography of Eli Whitney

Biography of Elizabeth Fry

Biography of Edward Pease

"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens

"Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen

March

"A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens

Biography of Marie Antoinette

"Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

Biography of Napoleon

Bioraphy of Tchaikovsky

Abridged version of "War and Peace"

April

Biography of Lewis

Biography of Clark

Biography of Sacajawea

Kirsten American Girl books

Short stories by Washington Irving

Short stories by Poe

May
"The Girl Who Chased Away Sorrow" by Ann Turner
The Josephina American Girl books
Biography of Davy Crockett
Biography of General Santa Anna

"The Ballad of Lucy Whipple" by Karen Cushman

"Beyond the Divide" by Kathryn Lasky

June

"The Jungle Book" by Kipling

"Convict Words: Language in Early Colonial Australia" Laugesen, Amanda

Biography of Brahms

Biography of Mozart

Summer Reading

"Uncle Tom’s Cabin"

Biography of Harriet Tubman

Autobiography of Frederick Douglas

First week of school year

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 04:22:17 GMT

Everything went better than I realistically expected. The kids started their Tuesday /Thursday workshops. I am very pleased with the schedules. It is about 3 hours History, 45 min break, just over an hour of Science, another hour of Art appreciation on Tuesday and Music Appreciation on Thursday (which will go along with the time period from History). So far everything has been totally awesome from the literature assigned, read in class or discussed as a group being good choices (it also goes along with the time period either from or about- ex. "Witch of Blackbird Pond" for Puritans, "Oliver Twist" during Industrialization etc.) for all age groups. This goes along with the reading that I am assigning. This week Red, for instance, read "Outrageous Women of the Renaissance" and "Royal Dairies: Princess Elizabeth" in addition to her free time reading book.

I was concerned about getting back into the swing of going out to workshops and the temptation of calling that the whole school day, particularly since our afternoons tend to be busy, but so far we have been up and at 'em and on track with getting Math, Bible and Logic done before hand. That way all we have to worry about after afternoon/evening activities is chores and music practice, and maybe silent reading.

I did make a few changes in our curriculum/organization from what I put in my earlier post. For example, for Art class the kids will be using the drawing lesson books and videos with me for practice, but they are also doing half an hour of cartooning with Daddy on Mondays, and hopefully continuing to take Art classes once a week from the fabulous lady who has been giving classes over the Summer. She teaches in her home, and she combines Art with History, taking the drawing subjects form the time period and talking about them as they draw.

Also, we can not afford Rosetta Stone right now, so we will not be using that for Latin. We are going to re-do "Getting started with Latin" and see what we can come up with later in the year. On that subject, HUGE blessing! My mom, who is brilliant at languages, like she is at most things has offered to take over the kids Spanish lessons and teach them herself! Yay!

We will not be doing tennis lessons this year either, although I hope to get some family playing time in, and we are holding off on martial arts for now, but we are continuing with dane and gymnastics and have soccer 3 or 4 times a week. In addition to that the kids are signed up for a once a week PE class with bunches of their friends at a local park.

Due to both finances and a soccer schedule conflict, we can not be in band for the first semester, but that is another thing I hope to be able to pick up later in the year.

I am going to do a little more with geography this year than just maps and charts. So far we are thinking of trying "Mapping the World by Heart" and I ordered a couple of games that Fridgedr. suggested...

10 Days in the USA
Item #: 027208
ISBN: 9781932359091
EAN: 659390010115
Grades: 4-Adult
Retail: $24.99
Rainbow Price: $19.25

10 Days in Europe
Item #: 036431
ISBN: 9781932359435
EAN: 659390010122
Grades: 4-Adult
Retail: $24.99
Rainbow Price: $19.25

I also ordered some extra Logic resources including the books "Logic Countdown" and "Logic Liftoff" and more of the "Math detective", Science Detective" an Reading Detective" books that we loved so much last year, as well as some of the other critical thinking books we have enjoyed in the past.

I am also looking forward to receiving the Science stuff I ordered last week including these things from Rainbow Resources...

Mystery of the Periodic Table
Item #: 029477
ISBN: 9781883937713
Grades: 5-Adult

Detective Science: 40 Crime-Solving, Case-Breaking, Crook-Catching Activities for Kids
Item #: 008089
ISBN: 9780471119807
Grades: 4-8
Retail: $12.95
Rainbow Price: $10.50

Atoms: Alphabet of the Universe
Item #: 031184
Grades: 3-Adult
Retail: $19.95
Rainbow Price: $15.50

Cub Scouts has been running all Summer, but we are looking forward to Girl Scouts starting back up this week, and Bible Study and choir starting up next week. we are still in a total dilemma over which church to go to, but meanwhile still want to be involved with youth choir, or at least the girls do at the one we are technically members of, although we have only been a few times over the summer.

We started doing Science Club again yesterday. It kind of snuck up on me, so I didn't officially start a unit yet. I handed out Science project journals for the year and we did a few little fun experiments to refresh our minds on things we learned last year (eggs in different water, milk molecules with food coloring and detergent,and the old baking soda and vinegar). then as a look forward to the unit on Land forms that we will be starting when I get my act together, hopefully next week, we made clay models of landforms. That all took about an hour, and the kids played in the pool for the other hour or so, so all in all I think it was an okay beginning.

In fact I am very thankful for the whole week. It really went very well, and I can't think of any major hitches at all. We even made it more or less on time to workshops and that is almost unheard of! Hoping for as much good news to report next week.

Well, another Sunday, another church

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:41:55 GMT

Here is what I want in a church (in no particular order):

Super Important Things

1) Rockin' good music

2) Belief in Holy Communion as the real presence of Our Lord, and no small children under Communion age being served the body and blood.

3) Strong Bible teaching- or at least part of the time, or at any rate stop the constant jokes and pop culture references, and I don't care what the author of a book that really impressed you said. Tell me what the Bible says! This is church, not a book club, glad you are reading good books and all, but it shouldn't come up so much in sermons. Occasional reference to commentaries, or respected theologians or church fathers is fine, but even that should not be a constant refrain in a sermon. We have a really good book to quote from and discuss- it is that big one on the pulpit. Let's just go ahead and make that the basis and main reference in our sermon.

4) Free Will not Election

5) Good Children's programs - choir, camp , VBS, decent Sunday School, Youth Group

6) Strong Christian Education- in depth Bible studies for kids and adults (at the same time would be extra good)

7) Instruction in the Sacraments- like for realizies. When I saw this year's Confirmation class reading off cheat sheets to say things as simple as the Apostles Creed I wanted to shoot myself! Who is allowing these people to be confirmed if they do not know something that basic? You should have to work hard to learn all of your First Communion and Confirmation stuff! If it is important to you make it a priority, but if even the pastors don't care if you really get it your motivation could be compromised.

Okay, work phone is ringing. More thoughts on this later.

New Blog Ring!

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:07:53 GMT

Hey I started my first blog ring! It is called "Balanced Parenting and Homeschooling". Some of you may want to join (thankfulmama, fridgedr, sixpack, teacherperson). Some will not (no list included, but you'll know). Some of you I'm not sure about, but if our conversation has ever stopped dead because you referred to a mom giving a little smack on the behind of a severely misbehaving kid as child abuse with a capital C in any thing other than a joking manner, or told me that you are fine with your 12 year old not reading or understanding basic Math yet, because you believe in natural learning and don't want to push them, and think that vaccines are a mind control experiment by the government, or watched your 3 year old punch another kid and then commented on how that was just a natural part of development this blog ring is not for you. Likewise, if you think your 4 year old is retarded because they are not yet fluent in Greek and Latin, if you feel like spanking is the only solution to any parenting issue, if you do not keep any of your kids art work because it clutters up the house, and that playing in the dirt or petting cats is just an invitation to worms, this blog ring is not for you either.

More Sample Lesson Plans

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:26:17 GMT

Every day of the week has it's own rhythm for us. Our Tuesday or Friday look nothing like Monday, Wednesday or each other. I have had a lot of people ask how we fit in all of our extra activities (sports, Bible study, Scouts etc.) and stay on top of our actual schooling. I am NOT at all an unschooler, and the academics are VERY important to us, so we do not neglect them, but we do work them in with the other things we want to do. I will show sample lesson plans for the rest of the week for that reason.

Tuesday

20 min.Yoga

BREAKFAST

aprox 35 min Bible- finish discussion on Pilgrim's Progress,

keep practicing new memory verse

aprox 10 min Memorization- recite states, times tables, Presidents and facts for the week

5 min English Tech- Daily Grams- Day 2

2 hours Science - outside group workshop

1 hour Art/Music Appreciation - outside group workshop

2 hour 30 min. Writing/History - outside group workshop

20 min Latin- Rosetta Stone

30min Math- Aleks

40 min Music- practice piano for 20 min.

practice band instrument for 20 min

20 min. Family Read Aloud- continue in "InkSpell"

45min Individual Silent Reading- each child read silently on their own while Mommy does housework

SCHOOL DAY OVER

After school activity- Tae Kwon Do- Blue, Gymnastics- Yellow, Dance- Red, rotating soccer games- all

Wednesday

20 min.Yoga

BREAKFAST

aprox 10 min Memorization- recite states, times tables, Presidents and facts for the week (aprox 10 min)

aprox 1 hour English Tech- Reading and Understanding Poetry page 8

Wordly Wise exercise 1B, 1C and 1D

Daily Grams- day 3

Handwriting by George page 7

Vocabulary From the Classical Roots pg 1A & 1B

Board Work- diagraming sentences as a group

1 hour P.E.- tennis

SNACK BREAK

aprox 30. Writing/History- finish rough draft

2 hours Bible/Writing - Outside class

30 min Home Economics- tend garden

20 min Spanish- Rosetta Stone 15 min (all)

Translate 3 pages of "Donde Esta Spot?" (older kids)

20 min Typing- practice on computer with "Typer Island"

aprox 40min Math- Aleks for 30 min

board work as a group- improper fractions

aprox 10 min Logic- soduko

LUNCH BREAK

2 hours Girl Scouts- only every other week

1 hour 20 min Music- practice piano for 20 min.

Band practice 1 hour

20 min. Individual Read Aloud- each child read one short story aloud from "Stinky Cheese Man"

20 min. Family Read Aloud- continue in "InkSpell"

45min Individual Silent Reading- each child read silently on their own while Mommy does housework

SCHOOL DAY OVER

After school activity- choir, youth group, rotating soccer games!

Thursday

20 min.Yoga

BREAKFAST

aprox 35 min Bible- Homework for Bible Class

keep practicing new memory verse

aprox 10 min Memorization- recite states, times tables, Presidents and facts for the week

5 min English Tech- Daily Grams- Day 2

2 hours Science - outside group workshop

1 hour Art/Music Appreciation - outside group workshop

2 hour 30 min. Writing/History - outside group workshop

20 min Latin- Rosetta Stone

30min Math- Aleks

40 min Music- practice piano for 20 min.

practice band instrument for 20 min

20 min. Family Read Aloud- continue in "InkSpell"

45min Individual Silent Reading- each child read silently on their own while Mommy does housework

Trip to Library

SCHOOL DAY OVER

After school activity- Chess Club, Tae Kwon Do- Blue, rotating soccer games- all, Cub Scouts only 2 times a month

Friday

20 min.Yoga

BREAKFAST

aprox 35 min Bible- Homework for Bible Class

keep practicing new memory verse

aprox 10 min Memorization- recite states, times tables, Presidents and facts for the week

aprox 1 hour English Tech- Reading and Understanding Poetry page

Spelling and definitions test for this weeks words (Worldly Wise)

Wordly Wise exercise 1E

Daily Grams- day 5

Handwriting by George page 9

Vocabulary From the Classical Roots 1C

Board Work- diagraming sentences as a group

1 hour PIANO LESSONS AND MUSIC THEORY CLASS WITH TUTOR

SNACK BREAK

aprox 1 hour Writing/History- Clean copy for short story set in the War of the Roses, or for nonfiction paragraph about the War of the Roses

20 min Latin- Rosetta Stone

20 min Spanish- Rosetta Stone 15 min (all)

Translate 3 pages of "Donde Esta Spot?" (older kids)

20 min Typing- practice on computer with "Typer Island"

Explain how to counter move of the day set up on board (older kids)

aprox 40min Math- Aleks for 30 min

quiz on weekly board work 15 min

LUNCH BREAK

20 min Music- practice band instrument

30 min Art- drawing lesson - pencil sketches of horses

1 hour 30 min SCIENCE CLUB

20 min. Individual Read Aloud- each child read one short story aloud from "Stinky Cheese Man"

20 min. Family Read Aloud- continue in "InkSpell"

45min Individual Silent Reading- each child read silently on their own while Mommy does housework

SCHOOL DAY OVER

After school activity- Dance class- Red and Yellow, Soccer practice- all

Sample Lesson Plan for a Monday

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:09:03 GMT

Monday August 31st

20 min.Yoga

BREAKFAST

aprox 35 min Bible- finish papers on Pilgrim's Progress,

start practicing new memory verse

aprox 10 min Memorization- recite states, times tables, Presidents and facts for the week (aprox 10 min)

aprox 1 hour English Tech- Reading and Understanding Poetry page 6

Spelling and definitions pre-test for this weeks words (Worldly Wise)

Wordly Wise exercise 1A

Daily Grams- day 1

Handwriting by George page 5

Vocabulary From the Classical Roots pg 3-6

Board Work- diagraming sentences as a group

1 hour P.E.- tennis

SNACK BREAK

aprox 1 hour 15 min. Writing/History- Outline for short story set in the War of the Roses, or for nonfiction paragraph about the War of the roses and begin rough draft

10 min Home Economics- weekly chore chart, explanations of division of labor or proper cooking/cleaning techniques as necessary. Gathering of supplies for daily chores (actual chores to be done on own time- aprox 45 min a day)

20 min Spanish- Rosetta Stone 15 min (all)

Translate 3 pages of "Donde Esta Spot?" (older kids)

30 min Chess- practice on computer with "Chess Master" for 20 min (all)

Explain how to counter move of the day set up on board (older kids)

aprox 40min Math- Aleks for 30 min

board work as a group- reducing fractions

aprox 10 min Logic- word puzzles on board

LUNCH BREAK

40 min Music- practice piano for 20 min.

practice band instrument for 20 min

30 min Art- drawing lesson - pencil sketches of horses

20 min. Individual Read Aloud- each child read one short story aloud from "Stinky Cheese Man"

20 min. Family Read Aloud- continue in "InkSpell"

45min Individual Silent Reading- each child read silently on their own while Mommy does housework

SCHOOL DAY OVER

After school activity- soccer!

This may seem long, but remeber this includes everything from free reading time to piano and flute practice and no extra "homework" to be completed at night is assigned! Of couse what works for each family is different. This is just what works for us. If you are with our homeschool group, don't forget we have a mentor program if you want advice on setting up a plan for your family or for anything else. I can help you or find somebody else with your teaching style, and/or ages of children to be a sounding board. Message me.

I may put up sample plans for other days of the week later. This would show days with things like Scouts, Outside Classes and Bible Study Groups, and show how we fit those in with school work.

Finally a plan!

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:43:37 GMT

I have my curriculum for the coming school year chosen and my goals planned, for the most part. I even have my lesson plans for week one completed. Yay!

For English:

Reading and Understanding Poetry (poetry memorization and comprehension)

IEW workshops (writing)

Write Away (writing)

Writers Express (writing)

Daily Grams (grammar basics)

Wordly Wise (which we are actually using as Spelling)

Vocabulary From the Classical Roots (vocabulary)

Handwriting by George (penmanship)

board work on various topics

Math:

Aleks

printed off worksheets and board work

Science:

Workshops in Chemistry

Memorizing Periodic Table

Science Club and hands on kits such as the ones pictured below

History:

Workshops in the Early Modern period

Story of the World

literature about and from the times studied

writing projects related to history studied

Library and Internet resources

Hands on projects and lap books

Bible:

Community Bible Study- study of the Gospel of St. Luke

Verse Memorization

Luthers Catechism

Music:

Participation in Orchestra

Music Theory class

Study Musicians of the Early Modern Period

Art:

drawing lessons

Study artists of the Early Modern period

P.E.:

Tennis 2x a week

Electives:

Spanish - Rosetta Stone and translating small books

Latin- Rosetta Stone and Getting Started with Latin

Home Economics- Future Christian Homemakers, Cub Scout book, Girl scout book, Dangerous book for Boys

Typing- Typer Island

Chess- Chess Club and Chess Master computer program

Extra Cirricular Activities:

Dance

Gymnastics

Tae Kwon Do

Piano lessons

Scouts

Atoms: Alphabet of the Universe
Item #: 031184
Grades: 3-Adult
Retail: $19.95
Rainbow Price: $15

DNA Wizard
Item #: 025447
ISBN: 9781886978119
Grades: 3-8
Retail: $19.95
Rainbow Price: $15

pH Fun!
Item #: 017497
EAN: 788555011060
Grades: 4-9
Retail: $6.99
Rainbow Price: $5.75
I will post a sample lesson plan soon.

Book Review

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:45:07 GMT

I just read a book of short story mysteries by William Faulkner called "Knights Gambit". I have mixed feelings about these stories. Faulkner's style did not really translate well into telling a mystery in some cases, and the solution was revealed, or semi-revealed in a bit of a convoluted way. His characters are wonderful, and the stories are full of Southern culture and a gentlemanly charm. The mysteries themselves are interesting, it is just the conclusion where his habit of saying things with in a bit of a vague way sometimes that isn't quite as sharp as an "Ah Ha!" moment in a mystery should be.

Writing ***

Characters *****

Plot ****

Conclusion ***

Overall rating ****

Ahhh! Yearly Confusion begins...

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:56:33 GMT

What to do? What to do? How come I am always so clear on what I want in June, and by August I am in a dither over my choices? Wordly Wise? Daily Grams? First Language Lessons? Vocab from the Classical Roots? None of the above? Wing it? Library books?

I know I want to keep using Aleks for Math, but I want some kind of workbook as well. I am pretty happy with what we our doing for History, the kids will cover this in 2 day a week workshops and we will do lessons on the same subjects at home using mostly library materials and doing projects. The will also be doing Science workshops with our group, and I plan on picking Science Club up again in September which is pretty much all the Science we do at home except for gardening and animal care. Music and Art Appreciation are part of their workshop days, and they continue to do dance, piano and music theory weekly, with daily practice. I also hope to get them back to band in September. I also have been loving their Summer art class, and would like to continue something like that.

I think that I will probably stick to Write Source for writing, but I would also like to branch out a bit. spelling? Not sure what is available through our group this year. I have been pretty happy with Spelling Workout, but not sure if some of the other English programs I am looking at include spelling. So do I even need to get separate Spelling books? And what about Penmanship? My kids suck at that, but they all know how to do it, so am I wasting money having them continue with cursive practice books? Should I just stick with copy work? I like Handwriting by George a lot, but want spend as little as possible, and perhaps just copy work is the way to go. See how confused I am?

For electives I am going to have the kids continue with their same typing program for typing. I am really praying that Rosetta Stone will be an option this year, and will work with no computer problems. It worked really well with my kids for Spanish and some Latin, although we also have a workbook for Latin, and Red would also like to continue in French, something she had just picked up right before we stopped Rosetta Stone. This is a decision I can't make until I know what our group will pay for.

We are continuing to use hands on experience, and real life examples for home etc., but I like the Future Christian Homemakers stuff as a guide.

I know I was making a big deal out of doing the Kay Arthur inductive study for kids, and we are loving that for Summer, but I think we are going to attend a Bible class on Wednesdays, which I hope has a similar teaching method, and let the homework be our Bible class for homeschooling along with catechism lessons and memory verses.

I guess that is it for now. I am going to actually start organizing the school area hopefully next week, and I love my dear sixpacks workbox idea, and might steal it to some extent.

Okay, I am actually at work right now and should be working, so I better scoot. More whining later.

never did get to the third thing!

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:57:52 GMT

Okay so the third thing that made us so busy in June was Cub Scouts. Blue is loving being a part of this! However we did not start until a couple of months before the "school year" ended, so he had a lot of little things to do to earn his Wolf badge before the end of June and move up to Bear with the rest of his group. So we spent a lot of June doing fitness tests and hikes, bike rides and trips to the hardware store. And then the absolute coolest was Cub Scout camp. It was a 5 day day camp, and I was worried that the days might be too long for him (7 hours in the outdoors per day), but he LOVED it!! He was thrilled to, having just finished his wolf stuff get the opportunity to earn a lot of his bear things right off the bat with all of the cool camp activities. He was also really excited to be in a group with one of his favorite pals from our homeschool group, and to see most of his baseball team there,a nd several boys from Sunday School. He felt comfortable there right away, and came home every afternoon excited about what he had accomplished and dying to go back.

Meanwhile he had a couple of big activities with his own troop including a bike ride through the nature preserve, and a beach bonfire. These things included out door cook out and clean up, bike mechanics, and a ceremony to retire the flag through cutting it up and burning it piece by piece. By the way Cub Scouts is not the place to make jokes about flag burning or anything else- just in case you were wondering.