What We’ve Accomplished Today…04/30/10

Nice day today, if I do say so myself :) I did think that we might not get much accomplished but we did :) Started this morning with the CAT coming downstairs (where she is not allowed) and waking up dear hubby. I woke to the sound of something hitting the wall! No, it wasn't the cat :) And no, he didn't actually hit her. But he has a sore neck, and back probably, from us having to sleep on our hide-a-bed while our bedroom floor has been ripped up because of leaking... still a few more days to go!...so he has been a bit grouchy anyway. So after that I realized I didn't have creamer (or half-n-half, or cream) for my coffee. I cannot drink black coffee, I have tried. And I can't go without my coffee! Kids and I jumped in the car and headed down to Main St. Market for some creamer and walked away with yummy fruit as well :) School wouldn't have started, I am sure, if it weren't for my wonderful children starting on their own. I just love when that happens. So instead of Bible first, they did math.

Math: Lee: LIFEPAC Unit 10. This is simply a review pack of the entire year. A lot of multiplication and division and grrrs. :) Fox did a Bridge and 2 chapters in LoF. He was a little stumped on two of the problems so I tried to help him out. He doesn't like help... Eventually he figured it out.

Bible: Kids recited their verses and we talked a little about what they mean. Fox: Psalms 23; Lee: Proverbs 6: 16-19.

Art: LUL: Check out my Art post to see the result of today's lesson. Just keep in mind that a 10 yo, a 13 yo, and a 31 yo do not draw the same... I thought they did very well. Fox was impressed with his work because he is still under the impression that he 'can't draw'. Lee was okay with her drawing until she added value, or shading. I liked both of their work! I am so proud of them!!

FRT: Fox: Young Indiana Jones adventure books (I didn't want him to read these until he read some of this 'FRT list books' but he is a sneaky one; or I wasn't paying attention...maybe a bit of both). Lee: TGSET. She has listened as I read this to Fox a few times and she likes it. She has decided to add it to her 'FRT list books' and was reading it today.

Fox: TCOO: finished chapter 70. I noticed that in this book it portrays the Indians in a rather unfavorable light for the most part. At least what we have read so far. I was a bit discouraged when Fox was enthusiastic that Tecumseh fell in battle. His reason was that he 'wasn't a good person, was he?' I tried to explain a little more that the whites of the time were forcing the Indians off of their land and often killed Indians. Some Indians were vicious and brutal without needing a reason but Tecumseh was not like this. He wanted the Indians to unite and form a strong group to be able to stand up to the white men; he didn't want to annihilate the whites but acted in defense of his people. It's a tough topic because I feel that much like the Crusades are a black spot on Christian history so the treatment of Indians (and blacks, but lets not get started on that!) is a mark against those in the US. Two states were added around the War of 1812- Louisiana and Indiana- amidst controversy. Star Spangled Banner was written and was to become the national anthem.

CBOM: finished chapter XI. Maya sacrifice of 14 yo maiden and the strongest warrior of the people. The description of the procession was eerie to me. I didn't really like reliving what may have happened. Can you imagine the girl's fear? And all for some false god. Makes me appreciate that I serve the true God. But truly, Halliburton was a great writer! Fox did not want to do this one today but by the end (as with most of our readings) he was on the edge of his seat in anticipation of what was going to happen next or where we would go. It is a great book. Very glad I was able to find it!

Daily News: I actually am not sure if he got to this. He was working on finishing his report but did not get it done. Unfortunately our library does not have much in the way of resources so he has to rely on the internet. He is very easily distracted however. I think that is what happened today.

Writing: History of LEGOs report...not finished yet.

Copywork: Virtue by George Herbert

Lee: IFC: she really seems to dislike this book. She says she doesn't understand what is going on at all. So far I have had her write narrations for this book but she isn't very far into it. After her telling me yet once again that she doesn't understand what is going on, I asked her to tell me what she does know. I expected very little. What I got was a lot! After her oral narration she decided that she does understand what is going on, she just isn't sure who these people are or why she has to read the book. I explained that in the order of things (the AO schedule) it goes along with learning about the time period. Also, we are behind in BoB which I think would help us understand what is going on more. She decided that it is alright to keep reading but she wants to do oral narrations. Which is fine with me :)

TBV: written narration. She has these saved in her School folder on the computer but I keep forgetting to switch the location so I haven't been able to look at her narrations in a few days. Need to do that...

MC: Book 3: Chapter 3, half way.

Copywork: page viii of IFC.

Daily News

Writing: worked on report on "Ant Types"

FF: Latin: Unit I Introduction. "Conjuagtion, person, number, tense, voice, mood." Heard grumbles by Fox about this subject but I like it. Lee said that now that we are getting more into it, it makes more sense :) I like the Teacher's Manual; it is straight forward and easy to understand. We did Grammar Questions 1-9 together but they both got the answers without much trouble :) gloria Jesu- know those two words and you know the 5 long vowel sounds of Latin! /gloh/ /ree/ /ah/, /yay/ /soo/ Nifty, right? :)

All done with school at 3:15pm!

Art

Sketch Tuesday: Bubble Time (I know it's not Tuesday yet but they are done already!)



Art today:

Our classroom...aka Living Room

I decided to take photos of our classroom just because I was bored. But then I went and labeled them too! I should really be doing something else... lol

So, let's see... the first photo is of our encyclopedia bookshelf. I have labeled just about everything! Silly, I know, but it was also an experiment, I suppose, to see if I could label my photos like I have seen some done. I was thinking I needed a nifty program to do it but no, just use Paint!

The next photo is also in the 'classroom' but is of the bookshelf on the other side of the room. This one is mostly for books that will be used (I hope) during the schooling years. I have accumulated a few *ahem* books from my schooling that were just such good books I didn't want to give them up!

I have them sorted by subject, generally. The magazines on the second shelf are actually a mixture of gardening, National Geographic, Family Fun, National Geographic Kids, History Channel, and Real Simple. They are sorted as well...with mine near the bottom since the kids look at theirs more than I do. :) That bottom shelf is really for whatever won't fit anywhere else.

Next we have the place where the kids keep their school books and such. I was going to say "where they do schoolwork," but that's not exactly true. We do school pretty much wherever we feel comfortable. Lee usually sits at her desk and that is why she has a chair. Fox sits on the floor or the couch usually and his chair is at the kitchen table right now.

And for the last photo of our classroom, aka Living Room, we have the 'teacher's' chair. This is where I sit. It's not terribly comfortable but it is easy to move and the chair has no where else really to go! This chair was my m-i-l's when she was younger (she sat in this chair with all of her kids- there's still little teeth marks on it!) and she gave it to me when I had my first one :) Lots of memories in this chair. Putting the chair here also prevents much use of the horrid entertainment center. The bookshelf behind my chair has lots more books :) This one is primarily filled with books that are for 'free reading' or additional reading. Books such as Little Women, Red Badge of Courage, Chronicles of Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, etc. Near the bottom are some reference books for me pretty much and I have my binders for school, as well as our Latin books, sitting on the floor in front of it. They just won't fit anywhere else!

Oh! And I must not forget Kawaii...sleeping on the couch :) We love our kitty :)

I hope you have enjoyed the tour of our classroom, aka Living Room. :)

What We’ve Accomplished Today…04/29/10

Not much... really.

Bible: Matthew 16:27-17.

Both did math, I think (I'm not with it today..). May not get much more than that done all day. Just one of those days. Must be a Thursday thing!

If we do more, I will update later.

What We’ve Accomplished Today…04/28/10

Bible: Genesis 43-45. We used the Illustrated Children's Bible again. We have read/heard the story of Joseph so many times we've just about got it memorized :)

Animal Heroes: Slum Kitty. Chapter 4. Kitty has become full grown and knows her way around. She witnesses a fight between Black Tom and Orange Billy. Black Tom runs away, scratched and bleeding. Orange Billy discovers Slum Kitty and they become 'friends'. I laughed at that description!

PL: Julius Caesar: half way down on page 288-first paragraph on page 290. More on his conquest of Gaul (the Helvetians). He makes the Helvetians rebuild their destroyed towns so that they do not fall to the Germans. Ds pointed out that the Germans are always on the 'bad' side! The German king Ariovistus incorrectly assumes that the Romans will not fight against them when they should be on the defensive. The Romans decimate the Germans and leave bodies and discarded weapons for 4o miles. Lovely...

FF: Latin: Woohoo! First lesson. We worked on pronunciation (pages 6 & 7) and did workbook pages 6-8. We didn't use the DVD or CD this time but most likely will next time. They each have a composition notebook for Latin that they are to write what they feel they need to write down in order to better understand and learn Latin. Some things I will expect them to write down. All went fine until ds for some reason decided that he no longer wished to do Latin (read: he didn't want to do the worksheet). Finally we got the 24 questions done and I called it good :)

Fox: LA LIFEPAC: Unit 9 Test. 100% Yippie! Now we will either skip 'language arts' and only focus on reading OR we will do a few writing exercises. He has been working his report on LEGOs that is due Friday, the 30th.

LoF: 2 chapters.

CBOM: Chapter XI: The Rain God's City: Yucatan peninsula, city of Chechen Itza. Mayans were more civilized (?) than even the Aztecs were from the last chapter. Both groups however participated in human sacrifice. In Chechen Itza they sacrificed 14-year-old maiden to the 'god' that lived in one of the pools of water near their civilization when the crops would fail or the rain would not come.

Daily News: New York Times, Washington Times, Torrington Telegram

Copywork: Virtue by George Herbert

Music: Guitar: 1/2 of first lesson from Legacy Learning Systems. He did so well!! His hands just seem to know what to do.

*I did a lesson as well with his guitar program and ~ouch~ my fingers hurt so bad! They look like they are burnt at the tips. I tried too hard I think...but I will be back for more! It was so neat!*

Lee: LA: Finished refining her report on Cat Shows.

FWM: Chapter 9 Hardness. Talking about unbending truth is like the 'grit and glue' of bones. Compared to body of Christ needs to be constant with its truth and -hardness- of laws.

MC: Finished up on Cardinal Virtues. Very interesting way of presenting these concepts. Dd didn't want to do her school today (she has things she wants to get done and was worried that school would prevent her from doing them) but she was glad we did at least this subject. She really enjoys this book.

TBV: pages 78-83. Written narration.

Daily News: New York Times, Washington Times, Torrington Telegram (thankfully we do not live in New York; a man was shot and no one stopped to help him- all caught on video!)

Copywork: My Heart Leaps Up by William Wordsworth

New Links on Links Page

I have added a few links on my Links by Subject for Schooling page. All free :)

Some are:

Curriculum

Free Homeschooling 101 (blog)

Sites of Interest for Learning/Teaching

AtoZ Homes Cool

SAT Practice

World of Discovery (blog) with many links and resources on the sidebar

Art/Music

Grooveshark listen to free music online

Bible

Blue Letter Bible

Language Arts

Write Shop (blog)

Teachers Corner, Writing Lesson Plans, Poetry

Grammar Practice Park grades 3-5

Azar Grammar

Math

A Kid's Math for younger kids
Touch Math for younger kids
Math Cafe free worksheets and flashcards- also for lower grades (up to 4th I believe)
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives all grades and ages
Math Games addition, subtraction, multiplication, division- grades K-6
Home School Math resource list listed by grades
Math Gen worksheets for K-6
Sheppards Software free games- more than just math

Science

Science Bob's Blog (this may not be 'new' but I can't remember how long it's been there!)

Out around town...

What We’ve Accomplished Today…04/27/10

You might be wondering why I am posting this now, since it is only 11am. The reason is because I have a feeling that not much 'school' will be getting done today. Wow! The weather is just beautiful today! I feel a lot of outdoor time coming on and I want to make sure I get this done before I get swept away and forget.

Bible: Matthew 16:1-26. We used the 1599 Geneva Bible today. Usually we use our KJV but I thought I would mix it up a bit. I would like to instill in my kids the fact that regardless of the version of the Bible it is still from God and that is what we need to be focusing on. Granted there are some Bibles out there that I personally do not like. My kids have seen them and can judge for themselves why we don't use them. Oh, so what did we talk about: Picking up from where we left off last time, the disciples were sailing to the parts of Magdala. Again, Jesus refers to 'leaven'; this time I think that he is using it in a negative way. The doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees were the 'leaven' and Jesus was warning the disciples to not let that ruin the truth that Jesus is teaching them. By speaking of leaven, the disciples think that Jesus is referring to the fact that they had forgotten to bring bread with them on their trip. Jesus again wonders at their lack of faith and reminds them of feeding the 5,000 and 4,000 not long ago with plenty to spare! In verse 18 Jesus tells Peter he will be the rock upon which the foundation will be set for the church. Jesus then tells of the suffering that he will endure and likens it to the Prophet Jonah. Peter disbelieves and tries to assure Jesus that these things are not so. Because it is Satan that is preventing Peter from seeing and/or Satan is the one responsible for Peter's words countering what Jesus is saying, Jesus tells Satan to get behind him. And we finished up with Jesus telling the disciples that any man who takes up the cross to follow him, he must forsake himself. Also that those who lose their life for Jesus' sake shall find it and those that save their lives will lose it. Verse 26 reminds me of the song by Tobymac I believe: "For what shall it profit a man though he should win the whole world, if he loses his own soul?" Rather the song reminds me of Jesus' words.

The kids had much to discuss on these verses. Especially about souls, and losing them. We talked about babies that die; about treating others who come in Jesus' name poorly and our judgement because of our deeds; when we die will we be put in a 'holding cell' until Judgement Day?; martyrs for Christianity. It was a good discussion time :) I enjoy so much the fact that we can have the time to discuss things. There is no rushing if we don't want to.

Saints & Heroes: Ambrose: This one I'm not so impressed with. It seems that Ambrose was elected as Bishop simply by peer pressure; he had no intention of being what a Christian needed to be. He wanted power and was on his way to that end by being a Roman noble with high hopes of ascending the ladder of power. His father was controlling Europe at the time and that's the kind of power he wanted. So when the time came to elect a new bishop a child is what began the election of Ambrose, perhaps because the child's voice was higher pitched than the others and easier to hear. What a way to elect a Bishop! In Saints & Heroes it says that

"nothing was further from the plans of Ambrose...He was interested, indeed, in the Christian religion; but he had never been baptized. He had never thought of the possibility of entering into the work of the Christian ministry. He was both astonished and displeased." (underlining mine)

It goes on to say that he was made Bishop of Milan in a matter of a week (beginning with, of course, his baptism and all the other steps and titles necessary to qualify). But he had found the power he was looking for! We are only half way through the account of St. Ambrose so I should hold my opinion until the end, I suppose. I didn't voice my opinions yet to the kids either. I will wait to see what they think of it all when we are done. Not much in the way of discussion on this because they were obviously bitten by the it's-Spring-outside-we-must-be-outside bug and could not sit still or focus. So that is where we are now...they are outside and I am finishing this up.

To be updated throughout the day, I am sure.

Update #1: We went for a walk down to the Main St Market to get a drink (yes, soda..yum). We took along our cameras. I will hopefully get some pictures put up after they have edited theirs.

So after we got home we started on Shakespeare but sigh, not going well. It's difficult to do something if people just aren't willing to participate-or apply themselves. Got through our lines partially, once. Perhaps next time.

Then on to art. We were drawing ellipses and ya, not a favorite, that's for sure. Granted it is not a simple thing but since they did so well on their value scale I suppose they expected it to be easy to do the next exercise. We did eventually get them to look like ellipses instead of lumpy snakes ;)

Now they are working on Math. Fox is on Unit 9 of LIFEPAC and Lee is doing LoF. Here is a picture of our Art time :)

They made swords out of the kneadable erasers! Here's the picture that shows then working on art ;)

Update #2: Final update. We didn't do Latin :( They aren't upset in the least but I am disappointed. Of course not terribly. We will get to it. It was just so nice today we couldn't resist. They are still outside playing.
Lee: TFD: straw man fallacy (exaggerating the opponents argument to make it easier to refute). Science LIFEPAC: 6 pages (about fossils). Oops, no copywork. But she did do Daily News: New York Times, Washington Times, Torrington Telegram.
Fox: TGSET, chapter 7 (Samuel comes back from Jerusalem and spends some time with Joseph. Samuel wonders about Joseph's belief in the Messiah and what happened to Joseph's attraction to Mary, who he had never even met last time Samuel was in the story. In chapter 6, Joseph had asked for Mary's hand in marriage and it was acceptable to her parents. They -Mary and Joseph- decided on a date to be married but that night Mary was visited by the angel telling her that she was to bear a son that would be the Messiah. She left her home in Nazareth and went to Elizabeth's for 3 months. She simply left a note for her parents and Joseph saying that she would explain when she returned. At the end of chapter 7, Mary's father comes to tell Joseph that Mary has returned. I wanted to keep reading!). Science LIFEPAC: 2 pages (about fossils). No copywork or daily news.
And that is our accomplishment for school today :)

Monday Morning...No, it's Tuesday already!!

Wow, I was just thinking it was a Monday! My Monday was so good (aka, nothing major was wrong; unless you count our bedroom carpet having to be ripped up because of leaking water from outside somewhere and last night we had to sleep on our hide-a-bed, which wasn't as comfortable as we thought it would be!) that I guess I figured it was a Sunday. Oh well :) It's Tuesday!

Today I plan on starting the kids with First Form from Memoria Press. I have 'done' a few lessons myself and think that we can do this. It will take time and patience while we figure it all out, since we are learning together, but it will be okay. For foreign language then we will do Latin three to five times a week, depending on the pace we need to go, and do the other languages on the other days. Lee really likes Live Mocha, as do I, but Fox thinks it's too much work. Unfortunately, although it is 'free', some features are unaccessible unless you pay. I haven't even looked into the cost of it.

Also, I found what I hope to be a good music program for Fox to learn the guitar. Lee already has a program for the trumpet but getting her to actually do it is another thing. I am thinking we will start putting that in our school day next week or so. I have seen blocks of time on many AO schedules for music practice but I am not sure if that is when they have their children taught by someone else or they do it at home. I guess we will see how it goes.

I still want to add in Art and Composer study, too! For that I am thinking that I will take the pictures of the paintings I have and hang them up around the 'classroom' on some days. We have learned about Claude Monet so far and I have quite a few of his paintings. I also have John Sargents paintings but do not have the biographical information, I don't think. We did enjoy studying the paintings on the few occasions that we have done it. As for composer study, they love the music! I guess I can play the music during school time and just mention who the composer is. That would be our 'study'.

Well, I still feel like it's Monday! It's as if today is the start of our school week although we had a full day yesterday...well, I just don't know... :)

Fort Update

I have been forced, screaming and kicking, to post an update on Lee's fort. So here is when she first started:

And a close up:
And today's progress:
Still some work to be done ;) The walls will have the netting all around the top as well. She is taking apart the wooden bench (it can be seen in the first photo, in the back) in the yard for scrap wood to build up the sides. Also, she is/was using pizza boxes. I think it will be neat when she gets it done :) And it's looking like it may be all hers too because she isn't getting very much assistance from her brother!
Anyway, I've done my duty of posting the progress of her fort. :)

Castles for Sketch Tuesday

Finally! I can post their castle sketches!

Lee:
Fox:

What We’ve Accomplished Today…04/26/10

Great day!

Bible: Genesis 42. This time we read from DKs Children's Illustrated Bible that Lee got for Christmas in 2005, from her Grammy. I had forgotten that she had it! While Fox read from the book, Lee keep pace with her KJV bible and let us know of anything that was missed, or added, or just different. The DK book had two interesting pictures of the time of the famine in Egypt. One was a statue that was horribly emaciated from around 2000 B.C. (so it says). The other was a bit of a wall painting showing the Egyptians storing grain in granaries. We compared our readings with the movie Joseph King of Dreams that we had watched last week.

Fox: LoF: Bridge and 3 chapters. He was stumped a few times today but he got 100% on his Your Turn to Play and the Bridge.

LA: last Self-Test in Unit 9.

TCOO: We did this together; pages 456-460 (half of chapter 70). Madison declared war on Britain (War of 1812). Also, Tecumseh convinced the Indians to fight on the British side. At some points in the war the Indians were torturing and killing American prisoners without interference from the British General Brock. Tecumseh asked why nothing was done to stop this and was told that the Indians could not be controlled. Tecumseh allegedly told the Indians that he would 'brain' any Indians that touched any of the American prisoners. At once they stopped. Another interesting point was about Oliver Perry (his middle name escapes me now); he was a 28-year-old, 14-year navy veteran that had never been involved with a battle. His men also were new to the experience, as well as to being on ships! Perry however, brought forth the surrender of an entire British squadron- the first ever in the British history. Quite an accomplishment. We learned a smidgen about "Old Ironsides", aka the Constitution, as well.

CBOM: Finished up chapter X; climbed to the top of Popo- 17,800 feet! Halliburton said that their legs were mechanical by the time they reached the top. Fox asked what that meant and I said that by climbing and hiking that far, and in the cold wind, they probably could not feel their legs and their muscles were so tired, that their legs were going on their own- like a machine that just goes. I have climbed Mt. McLoughlin in Oregon (almost, just short of the top) and it is 9,495 feet. I cannot imagine climbing Popo! It is higher than Mt. Rainier, Mont Blanc, and the Matterhorn! Wowzers! Halliburton was definitely an adventurer. We are really enjoying his book. It's too bad that his life was cut short; he paints great pictures of his experiences.

PftI: I read pages 32-35 out loud. It was talking about Isabella Lilias Trotter's maternal great-grandmother- Isabella Ludisman Strange. Also about Lily's mother, Isabella Strange. Both of these women were described as original, lending to Lily's eventual character traits. Next I believe we will learn about her paternal grandmother. I did not have him narrate but every so often would stop and ask a question pertaining to what I was reading (such as do you know what ___ means? What do you think ___ means?) to see if he was retaining much. It is a difficult book for him to pay attention to.

OCU: His first written narration on OCU. Improvement needed and I am sure it will come with time.

Foreign Language: Byki review of languages (German, Spanish).

Daily News: New York Times, Washington Times, Torrington Telegram

Copywork: George Herbert- Virtue. He is still using the worksheet that I printed out from Worksheetworks.com with the poem on it. This time however he was to correct his copywork. Unfortunately, I don't think I explained it well. He pointed out where his letters were sloppy or not well written by circling them or underlining. I had wanted him to erase and rewrite the mistakes but since he went to the trouble to analyze his work, I let it be this time.

Lee: FWM: pages 70-73. Finished the chapter on Bones.

TBoB: pages 28-30. She also put dates on the timeline. Additions were A.D. 61, 89, 122, 142, 186, 208, 211. Walled London replaces wooden trading settlements in 61; Damitian builds earth rampart on Black Sea, and another connecting Rhine and Danube in 89; Hadrian builds fortress 73 miles long between the Tyne and the Solway in 122; Antonius Pius builds Antonine Wall in 142; Antonine's Wall abandoned in 186; Emperor Severus rebuilds 'the' Wall in 208; Emperor Severus dies in 211 in York.

Math: LIFEPAC: Unit 9 Test.

WHtPC: Chapter 1 & 2 (Money: Coins and Paper; Tanstaafl, the Romans, and Us). I had to make her stop! It's interesting, to be sure! I learned some things about coins. The edges of quarters, dimes, half-dollars, and dollar coins are 'reeded'. The reason for this is because the Romans used to counterfeit their money! They would clip off pieces of silver from the coins collected from taxes and make new coins. The original coins were now worth slightly less. People were not dumb and noticed. One way to tell if a coin had been clipped (or the edges shaved) was by cutting notches in the coin. This is called 'reeding'. If a coin was clipped then there was no reeding. Our coins today are reeded but it is really only so that they will look like silver coins. Today's coins are not 'coins' at all. Coins are really precious metals. Our coins do not have any silver in them at all. Ours are 'clad', which means that they are copper and nickel-zinc squished together. There was more but...moving on.

MC: Book III, Chapter 2: We read about the cardinal virtues of prudence and temperance. Next will be justice and fortitude.

Foreign Language: Spanish plurals on LM.

Daily News: New York Times, Washington Times, Torrington Telegram

Copywork...dundunduuuuun....nope.

Discussion at Speaking of History

In the class I am taking for college, History of Christianity, there are some very interesting thoughts and comments that come up. I have put some of them on my other blog Speaking of History.

Granted the topics are touchy for some but if we are strong in our beliefs discussing a topic will not sway us. However, some are unsure or confused may benefit. I would really recommend reading Church History in Plain Language by Dr. Bruce Shelley. One reviewer slams Shelley for using the word "afraid", I believe, on amazon.com with the argument that Jesus could not, or would not, feel such a sinful human trait. However, and this is just a side note, I see no reason why Jesus would not feel all that we as humans feel or how could it be said that he has been where we are, he knows what we are going through? He has experienced all that we have experienced and so he knows what we need.

Anyway, if anyone should want to read a bit of my other blog...the link's up there :)

Beautiful Day!

Yesterday was stormy, windy, rainy, and cold. There was a storm all night long and I was wondering if trashcans weren't going to be in the street in the morning. It was horrible. The rain wasn't so bad because we can almost always use rain but the rest, well, I could have done without!

Here is a look out my window yesterday afternoon. It looks rather bright but it was so dreary, really.

This afternoon however, what a difference!! This morning the kids and I had a breakfast to go to put on by the Goshen County Public Library in appreciation of the volunteers at the used book sale. It looked a bit like the picture there but the rain wasn't actually falling, just falling off of trees and the water being blown about by the wind. The location of the breakfast was just a block from our house so we wore our warmer coats (well at least Lee did) and headed on over there. Quickly.

We got home about 9am and were thinking we would have to spend the day indoors-again. Hours pass and the kids played cars and such, I did school work and dear hubby watched a documentary. About 11am or so I had some errands to run so got that taken care of. The temperature had started to go up, thankfully, but the wind was still biting.

About another hour or so of hanging out indoors. The kids went to the library (usually little less than an hour- its across the street from where we live and they get to play games on the computer as well as look at and check out books) and I read some more for school. Dear hubby had stuff to do in the garage.

But then, like almost instantly, the sun came out, the clouds thinned and blue skies! Lee took this opportunity to work on her fort. Fox asked to have a friend over and I started working on my wall-o-waters. While I was doing that Lee wanted to get her garden plot going so we decided to work on that. Uh, we really do not have enough dirt...so her's may be a little stunted. Hopefully next time we will have a better plot for them. She helped me set up Fox's plot but he isn't ready to start planting yet.

Here are some outdoor photos.

The little wanna be gardens bed are about 4 inches deep but it doesn't look like it in the photo.

And if that weren't enough I found 5 heart shaped rocks :) It was a good day. Here are my nifty rocks. I can see God's love, can you? :)
None of the heart shaped rocks are perfect, but they all caught my attention. The kids and hubby thought I was silly for taking pictures of the ground :) That's alright. :)
It has been an excellent beautiful day!

Commonplace Book

I have been thinking about keeping a commonplace book and also for dd to keep one as well for 'copywork' for school. The thing is, I wasn't exactly sure just what was a commonplace book. I stumbled upon, quite by coincidence, a post at A Multitude of Mercies about this. Another great thing about internet that I am not willing to give up, is the ease of looking things up because someone else has already done the searching for me :)

I first heard of a commonplace book while reading at Harmony Art Mom's blog. I am sure that I have come across the term while searching and reading at Ambleside Online but when I read it at Barb's blog (Harmony Art Mom) is the first time it clicked. Just yesterday I had the thought again in the back of my mind about a commonplace book. It was just peeking towards the front of my mind :) And today, voila! while reading a post by Trisha, I am directed (by the You might also like... at the bottom of the post) to her post about commonplace books.

Now that I have rambled on about how I found the post... here is what I was thinking originally about posting:

What is a commonplace book? My thought that it was a compilation of quotes, passages or thought from a book or about what has been read in a book. How close is that? Well, according to the link to Wikipedia (which I rarely like to use...too unstable imho) a commonplace book is (or was)

"... essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: medical recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas."

So I don't feel that I was too far off. However the inclusion of physical items or mementos were often included in a commonplace book. That is where the 'scrapbook' comes in.

Here is an interesting bit I found on the Wiki site (bold italics are mine)

"By the 1600s, commonplacing had become a recognized practice that was formally taught to college students in such institutions as Oxford. John Locke appended his indexing scheme for commonplace books to a printing of his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. The commonplace tradition in which Francis Bacon and John Milton were educated had its roots in the pedagogy of classical rhetoric, and “commonplacing” persisted as a popular study technique until the early twentieth century. Both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were taught to keep commonplace books at Harvard University (their commonplace books survive in published form). Commonplacing was particularly attractive to authors. Some, such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Mark Twain, kept messy reading notes that were intermixed with other quite various material; others, such as Thomas Hardy, followed a more formal reading-notes method that mirrored the original Renaissance practice more closely. The older, "clearinghouse" function of the commonplace book, to condense and centralize useful and even "model" ideas and expressions, became less popular over time."

So the idea of condensed, centralized, useful information in a commonplace book sort of went by the wayside.

I like the idea of scrapbooking but I see it as different than a commonplace book. I have a scrapbook that has pictures, tags, handwriting, etc in it but that is simply for 'memories' sake, much like a photo album- expanded. It is for personal memories, if that makes sense.

I have heard many times that reading a passage in a book (or wherever it is read), then taking the time to write it down, correctly and exactly, has a very lasting affect. Another website that is listed on Trisha's post points this out:

"By copying passages longhand, the reader gains time to reflect both on the meaning and the construction of their favorite works."

I really like the definition for a commonplace book given in the Oxford English Dictionary:

Commonplace-book. Formerly Book of common places. orig. A book in which 'commonplaces' or passages important for reference were collected, usually under general heads; hence, a book in which one records passages or matters to be especially remembered or referred to, with or without arrangement. First usage recorded: 1578.

One last quote on the matter:

A commonplace book...is for keeping small but valuable snippets of information: phrases, sentences, paragraphs, small articles cut from the newspaper, sketches of locations, references to recommended books, meaningful chunks of statistics, inspirational quotes, handy measurements, geneological diagrams, biographical notes, and so forth. Contrary to what one keeps in a filing system, the commonplace book is an important source of finely-tuned information to help digest subjects, expand one's mind, and turn to for help on a particular topic.

For myself a commonplace book would need to be organized and logical. I am easily distracted by 'extras' so in my commonplace book, it would be a fault, not a benefit, to include much more than the written information. If I have dd start one, however, she will be free to make hers how she likes.

Photos of the garden...and stuff

This would make a great Wordless Wednesday post...but I never am wordless :)

Our curious kitty, Kawaii.

My garden photos (in order: carrots, radishes, beets, chocolate mint, peppermint, lemon mint)













The last photo is of my garden today, in the rain. The wall-o-waters are being acclimated before I put my tender tomato seedlings in there.



Finally, here is the beginnings of the kids' fort. It might take a while for it to be completed because the materials still have to be gathered. The rain is putting a damper on its progress anyway.

Whose Standards Do We Follow?

In an article pertaining to standards that are set for students I found myself wondering what are my standards for my children as I homeschool. Although Wyoming does not have mandatory standardized testing for homeschoolers I sometimes feel the need to see where my kids rate in relation to their peers. Coming home from public school to be homeschooled in the 5^th and 7^th grade, testing is something that they and I have been used to. It is something that was expected yet dreaded. It wasn’t dreaded because we were afraid that our kids would be low on the scale, or that there were huge gaps in their learning. No, it was dreaded because it was hours and hours out of their school day that they had to sit working on the tests. That in itself wasn’t so bad, but they would get done with their tests long before the rest of the class and yet were not allowed to move on or work on something else.

We were always proud of our children however when they would bring home the results of the test. Both of my children were labeled as ‘gifted’ by the public school based on the results of these tests. That was a wonderful feeling, for them and for us as parents. One of the problems with the label however was that is was simply a label. There were no special classes or curriculum for the ‘gifted’ children in the schools that they attended. It was a problem to be labeled as needing special attention from the teachers and school and yet to receive none of the attention. Still, just the label was encouraging to both of my kids’ egos—and their parents’ egos…

When they came home to be schooled it was initially because of the lack of ‘special’ attention that they supposedly needed because they were above their peers in learning. (That and I really enjoy spending time with my children and just two hours a day with them being in public school was not enough.) The curriculum that I chose that first year included diagnostic tests for placing the kids in the correct or best level (grade) of the curriculum. Just another form of testing that we—the kids and I both—thought would place them higher than the public schools standard grades. After all, they were ‘gifted’.

What a shock we received! For the most part, each child placed ‘average’ on these diagnostic tests but on a few subjects they were up to two grades lower than the public schools! How could they be simply average or below their peers when the public schools had labeled them as ‘gifted’?

I don’t know why I let it bother me but for quite a while it did—a lot. There are many references to homeschooled kids being advanced compared to their public school peers. Admittedly, I strove to raise my children above the public school systems levels simply due to the fact that as homeschoolers they had a reputation to live up to!

As I look back on it, I laugh at myself for the way I thought. What was I doing?

In the article “Whose Standards Do We Follow?” in Home School Enrichment magazine Kimberly Williams questions following the worlds standards as homeschoolers. Granted the purpose of the article is to point out that instilling a love of God and His creation should be the reason behind schooling. Williams concludes that all subjects that we study should ultimately follow God and His Word. An example is language arts would be used first and foremost to be able to read the Word of God. After learning to read the Bible, language arts enables our children to build the skills necessary to share the Gospel with others. She also points out teaching home economics to a daughter is good for her own purposes—learning to sew, cook, and take care of a baby; these will help her when she is on her own. However, Williams says that it is also necessary to teach a daughter the traits and characteristics that are written in Titus, such as being sober, loving, chaste and obedient. By including these standards in teaching a daughter she will be of benefit to others as well as herself in her adult years. Not to mention the daughter will be pleasing to the Lord.

When I read the beginning of Williams’ article I was struck immediately by how much the public school system isn’t concerned about teaching our children to be individuals that will be useful to society by having Godly traits but rather to see how high the bar of academic excellence can be raised. I am sure there are those who are in immersed in the public schools will disagree with me about the ultimate intentions of the public school system. It would difficult to disagree that the majority of schools ‘teach to the test’ to increase their appearance on paper.

When the “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) laws cropped up in the Clinton era, I cannot say whether school was effective in producing children that were what I would call productive, useful additions to society with Godly traits because that is when I was in public school. Of course, I feel that I have turned out okay but I am very aware of the lack of actual learning that took place in the public schools. I was ‘intelligent’, my teachers said. They labeled me as ‘gifted’ as well but did not push me to live up to my ability. I was book smart in school and that is all that was needed to be ‘gifted’ in the schools I attended. I could read, study little, and take a test. I would ace my tests almost every time. I am not bragging but bringing out a point. I wasn’t taught to use what I learned, just know it enough to pass the test.

With my first child, my first negative encounter with the public school system was because her birthday fell 20 days later than the cut off for starting school. She was so ready for school; she was thirsty for learning. I started to do pre-kindergarten from Calvert homeschool with her right then. My second child, my son, was in Head Start at the age of 3 because he was what they called ‘very smart’ and they wanted to give him the opportunity to get a head start (no pun intended!) on learning. Where were the advocates for my ‘very smart’ oldest child before that? What had happened was that the NCLB laws were really starting to be implemented. But the laws were to increase the numbers not to truly teach our children what they needed to know. My son, however, did not do well, at all, in Head Start and I pulled him out after only a few months of stress.

With my daughter in kindergarten, she learned to read shortly after starting but her teacher was in disbelief. The teacher did not feel that she could truly read because she had not been taught everything that she supposedly needed to be able to read. My son learned to read before entering kindergarten. The reason was because he was there when I taught my daughter the mechanics of reading, which she took with her to kindergarten. My second negative experience with the public school system standards was when my son went into kindergarten; his teacher was adamant that he could not read. She made him start at the beginning and by the end of kindergarten he no longer could read.

These two situations point out to me that the standards the public school uses to gauge students are very flawed. Each year in the school system, my kids were subjected to half a year of learning what they needed to know to pass the tests administered in the middle of the year. The purpose was to pass the test; make the numbers go up on paper. What a reason to ‘learn’ something!

Not only are the academic standards flawed, how do their character standards stand? What do they see as important?

Public schools seem to fluctuate with their character training and acceptable behavior standards. Each of the public schools that my children have attended promotes, on paper, that bullying is wrong, stealing is wrong, that being helpful to others is right and applying oneself to the best of their ability is great. However, they set a double standard. Quite often, even if not experienced directly by my own children, there were children that were bullied on the playground and yet nothing was done when the teachers were informed. Other children had at times taken what did not belong to them and the offended child was told to share. As for doing work to the best of their ability was drastically underscored by the teachers telling the child that work half-done was acceptable.

Should we as parents rely on the public school to set the standards for our children? but not only the public school but the publics standards in general. To quote Williams, “We want to know that what we have built into our children will last. It is those things that we must pursue and by those standards that we must live.”

I cannot say it any better than she does.

I want my children to be educated no doubt, but not just so they can ace a test and have an A on their report card or a high GPA. I want them to be able to think for themselves; to think about something before they act; to consider what is acceptable to God. The standards of the public are not the standards I want to follow in our home and our school.

Whose Standards Do We Follow?
an article by Kimberly Williams
Home School Enrichment Magazine
Issue #44 Mar/Apr 2010

What We’ve Accomplished Today…04/23/10

Bible: Genesis 41. Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dreams. In the KJV bible it says that Pharaoh's dream was of kine and corn. Or cows and corn. But I had always heard it as cows and wheat. Not that this makes a difference in the outcome or significance of the dream, it is just something that the kids and I noticed. So, Joseph's interpretation from God was that the dreams stood for seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. The reason that Pharaoh had two dreams that mean the same thing is to show that it will surely take place. That is something that I noticed as important at the time but forgot to point out to the kids ...and they didn't notice...I didn't notice that they didn't notice..til now. Joseph's name is changed to Zeph'nath'pa'aneah (the accent points may be wrong) and he is given Ase'neth for a wife; Zephnathpaaneah has two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. The famine consumed the entire world. I wonder if this means the world that was known at the time or literally 'all' the world. No matter, it made it necessary for people from all over come to Egypt to find food because Joseph (Zephnathpaaneah) had heeded God's warning and collected food when there was plenty for when there would be devastation due to the famine.

Math: Both worked on their LIFEPAC workbooks. Fox is really trying to get the LIFEPACs done so that he won't have to 'suffer' with them anymore. I find that to be amusing :) Lee is working with data and graphs; Fox with ratios and reviewing previous objectives. Fox did the final Self-Test in Unit 8; Lee final Self-Test in Unit 9. They both really want to work more on LoF.

LA: Fox is determined to finish his LIFEPAC Unit 9, no matter what! He worked on it last night, worked on it before we started school today, and in between subjects. This entire unit is about recalling what is read and different ways to read. He was reading about Esther but has moved on to making an outline for a paper on a topic of his choosing (he chose the history of Legos). Lee is researching for her writing assignment; cat shows.

Art: I think so far today's favorite subject was Art. We talked about values and made a simple values scale. It consisted of only 5 squares but the ability to represent each value was demonstrated by both of them. I thought it was a bit funny that when I made my scale, two of mine were so close in value that I had to fix it. They got theirs on the first try. Arduini says not to be discouraged if you don't get it on the first try...just work on it. I'm proud of them :)I want to post a picture of the castles that they drew for Sketch Tuesday but they are not quite done with them and I don't want to without their permission. They love seeing their drawings "in lights"- on the slideshow at Harmony Art Mom's blog. Guess I will just post a link when they submit them.

Update later...

and the update is: we are taking the rest of the day off :) They say I am the best mom ever. :) They still have to do chores, heehee ;)

Prolific Blogger!

Wouldn't you know, when I am thinking of curtailing my blogging... I see that I have received an award...for blogging.

I am grateful that Silvia from Homeschooling in a Bilingual Home thought enough of my blog to choose me to be a recipient for the Prolific Blogger Award. I have learned a lot about homeschooling the Charlotte Mason way through her blog- as well as some neat ways to change my blog template and tweak the HTML. I'm in agreement that I've never been much for prizes and whatnot but am grateful :)

It's difficult for me to choose 7 bloggers to pass this on to, not because there aren't great blogs but because Silvia has awarded it to 4 that immediately came to my mind! Can they receive the award twice?? :)

So here are my seven Prolific Blogger award winners who, more or less,

...blog tirelessly and have made the blogging community such a vibrant place. This award is in recognition of their achievements and their enthusiasm. They are the people who keep me going!

1. A Multitude of Mercies

2. Homegrown Families

3. The One Thing

4. Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

5. Our Worldwide Classroom

6. Harmony Art Mom

7. Embracing My Chaos