Planning for 2012-2013

I'm starting to look forward to school. We have a few changes coming to our family during this school year, one in particular that will greatly effect our schooling.

I WILL BE TEACHING AT A LOCAL PRIVATE SCHOOL!

Yes, I will now be both a homeschooling parent and a classroom teacher. Our church school has been feeling very overwhelmed as of late with the sciences, and I just happen to love science! They called me a couple of years ago about teaching, and I just couldn't with where I was in life. Now, I feel like I can take it on in addition to all my usual responsibilities.

I'll be using the same curriculum with those students as I do with my own kids. We will be studying flying creatures in the Apologia Exploring Creation series.

Princess will sit in on my class, so that I'm not double teaching the information. However, since I will be teaching 1st grade, she will have different assignments from the class.

3rd Grade
Math - Saxon Math 3
Science - Flying Creature of the Fifth Day
Social Studies - Tapestry of Grace
Language Arts - Tapestry of Grace
Art - Tapestry of Grace
Bible - Tapestry of Grace
Piano - Alfred's Little Mozarts 4, Alfred's Premier Course 1
P.E. - YMCA Dance

Kindergarten
Phonics - Saxon Phonics K
Math - Saxon Math K
Piano - Alfred's Little Mozarts 1
P.E. - YMCA Dance

Baby
Haha! Not a clue as to how I'm going to entertain this one while I'm working with the older two. I do know I want to set up a little play area for him in the classroom, but beyond that....HELP! I think I'll be spending some extra time on Pinterest. *wink*

I'm starting to get excited for school and am itching to get my hands on my new books! I still have quite a bit of work to do as I wait for everything to come in, mainly get our classroom rearranged and back together!

Drive Through History

I have blogged before about how much I love my history curriculum, Tapestry of Grace. I wanted to talk today about another history product that I've grown to love and use on those weeks where I'm just exhausted or need some extra time with my two younger children.

Now as I've mentioned before, I did not grow up with a love of learning history. It was never a strong suit for me; however, Drive Thru History has brought a depth of knowledge that I've never before had in this humorous and entertaining fashion. Like ToG, it weaves Biblical history seamlessly with secular world history. It brings both history and the Bible alive!

I highly recommend Drive Thru History to all students, but especially those who find history uninteresting or struggle with understanding it.

Life without TV

It's not what you think. Really! We do have a TV, but a couple of weeks ago, someone hit the telephone pole down the street from us, caused a power surge, and blew out our new 40+" flatscreen TV, blu-ray player, and Wii! :-( I confess, it has been really hard for us to cope, and I didn't think I relied to the TV that much. *sigh*

So, anyway. We got our creative juices flowing and rediscovered some things from my own childhood along with revisiting some activities we had push aside in favor of television viewing and playing Wii.

1. Reading! With the summer reading program starting, it's typically for all of us to revisit our passion for reading. This year, my kids have realy dived in. Warrior has hit nearly 5 hours of reading in his first week, and Princess has already polished off 12 books (nearly all chapter books)!

2. Gardening! I honestly have the brownest thumb on the planet. I constantly joke that I can killed a fake plant. However, this year I decided to be daring and plant a little something (not to mention it was a great little project to wrap up our study of botany this year *wink* ). I planted pumpkins in my little space along the house and decided that I didn't really care if they grew or not. Either way it would be a learning experience. Well, they grew, and now the kids and I are excitedly watching them each day to see how much they've grown overnight. I can't wait until fall when hopefully we'll be picking our very own pumpkins!

3. Baking & decorating cakes! I did this all the time when Princess was little and really got into it when I was pregnant with Warrior; however since the arrival of Baby Boy, I've really let this hobby go. One the 1st of June, my sweet little boy turn one, and I mustered up the energy and courage to do a pull-apart cupcake cake! It's not my best, but it was my first buttercream transfer attempt.

4. Making tents! My sister and I did this quite often, and I was so excited to pass this little bit of fun down to my kids.

So, when you are without a TV or other usual entertainment, how do you fill your typical relaxation time?

Summer School

So, if you are a homeschooler, you know that learning never truly ends even when the calendar says "school's out". Learning does, however, tend to look much different than your Aug-May schedule.

Our summer this year is consisting of more learning activities than ever before!

Summer storytime is a carry-over from every summer I've experienced as a parent. Reading is so, so important to our family, and the summer gives my kids a break from the textbooks and dive solely in to enjoyment reading! Princess, who loves to read, anxiously awaits each summer when her sole responsibility is read as much as you want. Warrior, on the other hand, lives for the prizes that are handed out each week. LOL! Baby Boy will have his first storytime experience this year, and I'm hoping we have another book lover on our hands!

Princess will once again be attending VBS at our home church, although this year, it's a shortened week due to a jam packed church summer calendar. She's already talked about which friends she wants to bring, so they can learn about Jesus, too! Warrior has to wait one more summer for this one. I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for the community VBS program that welcomes kids as young as 3 that the two older kids attended last year. I know Warrior had a blast that week!

Two new things that have hit the summer schedule are church camp and cooking classes for Princess. Church camp is overnight, and I confess that I'm a tad nervous. Fortunately, Grandma will be a cabin mom for Princess's cabin, so I know everything will be fine. Cooking classes will be interesting as she will truly have a new teacher without a family member anywhere near! Plus she'll be in class with kids up to 4 years old than she.

Finally, I'm planning wrap up the summer with the Olympics! The kids will be allowed to stay up and watch them with me along with putting together a lapbook on all things 2012 Olympic Games. Neither have really experienced the Olympic Games even on TV. Princess is excited about seeing the gymnasts and cheering on the U.S.A. while Warrior is excited about doing "big kid school".

This seems like such a hectic schedule when all typed out, but I'm greatly looking forward to it. I like keeping to a schedule to a point, but I always love the changing up of things that summer always brings!

So, what are your summer plans?

My New Love...

I cannot fully express how much I love my history program!

Before I try, though, let me tell you about my experience with learning history - BORING! When I determined to homeschool my kids, one thing I strived to do was to be as excited about teaching history, grammar, writing, literature, etc as I was about teaching math and science. I didn't want my kids dreading their classes but looking forward to them. I wanted them to hunger for learning, to "leave class" with their appetite wet but not quite satisfied.

Well, my history program does this and more! What am I using you ask?

The weaving of secular and Biblical history to give a truly well-round history is stupendous! I'm beginning to understand history and make connections in ways that I previously found to be confusing. There is no "here is your Bible lesson" and "here is your history lesson". It is all the same. As the student is learning about Moses, they are also mapping Egypt, learning about mummies, getting to know the Pharoahs, seeing who the Egyptian gods were, and understanding why the 10 plagues were so devastating to the Egyptian people. I was absolutely blown away!

For younger students, the use of arts & crafts not only gave them a break from the typical history lessons, but also allowed them to experience an aspect of that culture or time period. This year we've learning wall construction, scultped working oil lamps, painted Egyptian paddle dolls, created salt-dough maps, weaved paper, decorated crowns, etc. Warrior even started whining that preschool was boring after seeing everything Princess was getting to do. Guess who has been sitting in on 2nd grade history? I love it!

One of my husband's favorite aspects of Tapestry of Grace is the Pop Quiz. Basically, it's a CD with a short 15-minute weekly summary of what the child has been learning for dad to listen to, so he can feel involved in school. He doesn't have to ask "so, what did you do in school today?" because he already knows! There are also little quiz cards, which can be used for review with dad, if he wishes to be even more involved in the learning process.
Not only is the Bible/history aspect to this curriculum exciting but it also covers art, literature, geography, and writing. The only subjects you need to add are math and science, so it has also been a budget saver for our family. And speaking of budgets, you only have to buy 4 years worth of curriculum to last you from 1st-12th grade!

Want to try Tapestry of Grace for yourself? They offer a free 3 week mini-unit on their website. This isn't a flimsy sample, either. It is the full lesson plans, maps, activity pages, book lists, lapbook components, writing aids, evaluations, and even the Pop Quiz. If I have it as a user, you will have it in this sample!

I hope you find that after looking over the sample, you love it as much as I do!

Wrapping Up Our First 9 Weeks

Wow! What a ride!

Our first 9 weeks is coming to an end, and it has been such a learning experience for me. Adjusting to a new curriculum and homeschool two kids full-time while caring for a baby has taken more out of me than I ever expected, but it has also blessed me beyond what I expected.

Princess has been so absorbed in learning everything she can about creation and the Egyptian and Jewish cultures. In our study of these cultures, she's read Genesis through Dueteronomy in her children's Bible. Plus, I've been able to feed into her creative side with crafts and various projects (salt maps, paddle dolls, cereal box structures, pottery, etc.) without breaking the bank or pulling my hair out. In math, she's blown through 50+ lessons and still going strong. She's grasping concepts and a crazy rate and acing all of her tests. I'm so proud of her! Science is by far one of her favorite subjects. So far this year, we've studied what botany is, seeds and the process of germination, and flowers both "regular" and carvivorous. We've been able to fit in so many experiments this year to really solidify the concepts she's learned!

Warrior has been eating school up as well. So far, he's learned letters A-O with very basic writing practice on them and numbers 0-9 also with writing practice. I'm having to work on some speech issues with him - nothing major, just normal things for his age like saying L sounds as a W (i.e. yellow is pronounced "yewwoh"). Arts and crafts abound in preschool as with most, but I really struggle with getting him to color. He does not like it at all but is getting better at trying. Somedays it just doesn't happen.

Sign language is something both kids are learning, and as important as I think it is for my children to be bilingual, it often gets put to the back burner. So far this year only two chapters plus fingerspelling have been learning, which as been about 40 signs. I had hoped we'd be a little closer to 5 chapters completed but somedays I have to cut something out to "get it all done".

In the last week, I was notified to one big change in our homeschool set up. Our wonderful piano teacher Miss S will no longer be teaching. She just had her second baby and feels very overwhelmed adjusting to it all and still maintaining a teaching schedule. Fortunately, I know a bit of piano; the kids' grandma knows piano; and their uncle is a music teacher. This helps with my stress of losing such a wonderful element to our school!

God's Work of Art

Homeschooling is stressful! We mom's have frustrating days, impatient days, tired days, don't-wanna-work days all intertwined with our wonderful, good, amazing days. It can be so, so hard to push through these days with our negative mental states rubbing off on our children.

So, what helps me when I get in this funk? Prayer is the obvious choice, but the following story shared by Carol Barnier helps me remember how God views my kids.

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An artist was once asked what the hardest part of his job is. He replied, "Hearing criticism of my work before it is completed".

One day a young mom was so frustrated with her child. The child was disobedient and argumentative. The child was taking extra long completing every task, leading to more frustration and impatience for mom. After many hours of stress building, the young mom lost her cool and lashed out at her little one.

That's when she heard the voice God whisper sadly in her ear, "Mom, please don't criticize. I'm not finished with her yet."

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The first time I heard this story, I was left with tears in my eyes. How many times had I lost my cool with my own little ones? How many times have I forgotten to look at them through our Heavenly Father's eyes?

Remember, Mom, no matter how trying this journey of homeschooling or even motherhood is, your child is a wonderful work of art. One that God is still molding and perfecting.

Why! Hello, Mr. Firefighter!

Field trips are always great fun for my kids. It gets them out of the house when they are supposed to be in school, and they love the temporary change in routine. (Of course I believe routine is important, so field trips are a rare treat in our house.)

Our tour began with none other than the fire engines! The kids loved getting to go through the big engine and sitting in the same seats the guys did. One of the smaller engines held extra hoses for use on larger calls. We also were able to go through the HazMat truck.

One of the most interesting aspects of the tour for the kids was getting to see one of the firemen put on all of their gear. He explained that they are expected to get on 30+ pounds of gear on in less than 60 seconds! I think I could give them a run for their money some mornings with that time! Once onsite, they pile on another 40 or so pounds of gear for a total of 70+ pounds of gear! Wow!

As a mom, the most important element to the whole presentation occured after he got into his gear. He crawled toward each child, so they could see that a firefighter in gear is not a scary monster but a real person under all that stuff. Princess and Warrior were both a little apprehensive at first, but I think it was so beneficial for them to see a fully geared person down on their level.

One special aspect to our tour was that we were able to see the crew's bunks. Since they are an all-male unit (only one female has ever applied and ended up turning down a job), females are not usually allowed in this area.

Last but certainly not least, we were all reminded of how important it is to have functioning smoke/fire detectors in your home and to have a plan in place in the event of a home fire. If you have yet to do this with your family, I urge you to put together a plan and PRACTICE it immediately! Nothing is worth putting off that could safe the life of one of your precious babies!

Geography...the fun way!

Step away from the worksheets! Put the pencils down! Stop labeling maps!

Geography doesn't have to be boring. It doesn't have to be all pencil pushing. When it comes to making geography fun, get hands on! Even your most determined book and worksheet learners will have fun with salt dough maps!

First step is to make salt dough. You can find a multitude of recipes through a simple Google search. I love using salt dough for crafts because it is safe if ingested. We used the recipe found in the Tapestry of Grace curriculum. *Note: You can use wheat flour if that is all you have in the cabinet. I did, and it worked great!

Next, have your child build a country of their liking on a paintable surface. We used one side of a broken down cardboard box. Push toothpicks into the landforms you want your child to identify. Allow map to dry at least 24 hours.

Third, have your student paint the map. This was by far Princess's favorite step! We even used some blue glitter glue on the smaller water bodies to make it pretty!

Last but certainly not least, make labels for each landform and attach to the toothpicks. I used basic Avery address labels and folded them in half around the toothpicks.

Princess had so much fun doing this activity and it made learning geographic terms so much easier for her because she saw the formations come to life on her map! She was so excited to share her schoolwork with Daddy when he got home. Always a plus for me since he doesn't have to ask "so, what did you do in school today?" 

Another fun variation on this activity is to use cookie dough and "paint" your map with icing after baking it -- geography and a snack all rolled into one! I look forward to testing out this variation as soon as possible!

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