Sketch Tuesday with Barb (Harmony Art Mom)

This past week's Sketch Tuesday was "Jewels".  Here are what my children created for this assignment.  Sketch Tuesdays are a lot of fun and a great "reason" for taking some creative time out and getting in some drawing practice.  Find out more at Barb's (Harmony Art Mom) site.

Here is Briana's Sketch- A ruby ring with pearls on either side ;). 

Alyssa's was a bit different.  She couldn't help sketching pets in her picture somewhere.  She always finds a way to add them in so she sketched a girl with her dogs.  I asked her what that had to do with jewelry and she said, "Mom! ;) The girl is wearing earrings, bracelets, and a neckalce and the dogs are wearing jewels on their collars."

I think my son had the most difficult time with this week's sketch. :) He's a boy's boy so to speak and jewels are not his area of focus. In the end, we had a comprimise.  He sketched jewels but in his way.

Art Project - Visitor Guide

Weekly Schedules & School/Chore Charts for Mom & Kids

Week 11  in our homeschool... As usual, :) we didn't finish ALL that Mom had planned because as homeschoolers, life happens, we had two kiddos who picked up a nasty virus,  and I tend to overbook us. However, we did have a great time and enjoyed our studies on Ancient India.  I hope you find some of the information and ideas useful.  I also created new chore/school charts for my kids and I'm posting them for anyone who might like to use them.

Math-
We had basic lessons this week, nothing fancy.
Saxon 5/4 for C - my 9 yo 4th grader
Saxon 2 for A & B- my 7 yo twin 2nd graders

Spelling
C- MCP Spelling Workout D Lesson 21- we are still working our way through it and doing well, I wanted to be in E by now but things happened (another post) that put us behind by almost a month this year.  :) We are moving forward and he'll do fine.  He's a solid speller as long as I review the rules well. 
A & B - MCP Spelling Workout B Lesson 18 which is a Review of Lessons 13-17. 

Memory Work -
 All three work through a set of flashcards I set up for them each week.  I handwrite most of our flashcards because I include several subjects.  I handwrite Latin, Grammar, Science, Poetry, and I use the Saxon flashcards for math and SOTW Review cards for review of history.  They each take a few moments daily to look through their flashcards.  They don't mind this, they are all in the Grammar Stage (my son in Upper Grammar and the girls in Lower) and seem to enjoy their time practicing their flashcards.  When they master something they've been working on, such as The Sanctus in Latin, they come running to show me.  I find it amazing that they are capable of the memory work they complete with little effort from me and truly an easy effort from them.  I do want to put more focus on their memory work and spend more of my time practicing with them but for what I've put into it we have had amazing results.  This is one of the reasons I became sold on TWTM.  SWB and JB couldn't have been more correct in their assessment of children at this stage of learning.

A practicing with her memory cards on the stairs.

Grammar
C- First Language Lessons Level 4- We worked together through Lessons 15-17.  He seems to enjoy diagramming the sentences.  He's NOT a strong auditory learner so he tunes out sometimes during my oral part of the lesson but he enjoys his turn.  I'm considering Rod & Staff for him.

A & B- First Lanuage Lessons Level 2 - I wouldn't change this choice for the world.  My girls do amazing with this program and they enjoy our lessons together.  We worked through 113-115 and practiced several of the poems they memorized previously. 

Writing

C- Dictation x 3 days and IEW's Ancient History Writing Lessons x 2 days -we worked on Lesson 2 of the IEW AH.  He added strong verbs to the lines on page 13.  I gave him section one and two (1 section per day as recommended in the Teacher's Guide) but he enjoyed it so much that he chose to complete all three and I didn't stop him. 

I have been back and forth on which writing curriculum to use.  Writing is probably the subject I'm most nervous about teaching.  I have read book after book and blog after blog on the different curriculum choices and recommendations.  I was against using IEW based on comments from well educated friends on the overuse of dress ups.  My son also took a short course of an IEW theme book at our co-op and by the end of the course did not like it at all. 

I had decided to go with Writing with Ease because I liked FLL and felt so comfortable with TWTM.  I also liked that it was similar to the CM method of language arts with the dictation and copywork.  We did well with WWE.  My son took to it and completed the assignments with me.  He learned a lot about putting "pen to paper" and how to narrate written and orally.  However, after a year and a half of this, he seemed to become bored and not look forward to writing.  I began to wonder if he was "ready" to try something else.  Rather than purchase another expensive program, I remembered I had IEW's Ancient History Theme set on our bookshelf.  I brought it out to try it and he loved it. 

I believe this is going to be an area where I may need to tweak and change things as we go along to make the right "fit" for our family and my children.  It's going to leave "gaps" (please see Barb from Harmony Art Mom's blog post about this) and I do worry about that but I also worry about making writing drudgery.  Yes, it's something they have to do and yes they don't have to love it but if changing things up a bit with another solid course help him to love it AND teach him the foundational skills he needs - I'm on board. 

A & B - Writing with Ease Level 2- the girls are following in their brother's footsteps with WWE Level 2 and excelling.  I do love this program for the younger students.  I definitely recommend it as a starting program- and I plan to continue it through at least 3rd with them.  It's solid on narration and copywork and this week they started dictation for the first time.  It was just like when my son was their age.  It began a bit slow but they were giddy when we were finished and quite proud that they had completed it correctly.  We completed WWE Week 12, Days 1-4.

Cursive- A, B, & C- Worksheet with cursive practice each day that I printed from Donna Young's Big Cursive page.  I LOVE this website.  I learned from her website that learning cursive writing does not take an expensive curriculum but rather a LOT of practice.  I print out two sets of pages per week.  This week I printed out the "bf" and the "AC".  I printed two sheets of each and placed them in my children's chore/school work folders.  They take the paper to the table when they are ready for cursive.  I show them how to form the letters on the first line and then they practice.  The kids bring me their page when they are finished.  I'll give them pointers and if I think they need to (usually on the first day they work on a new letter set at least) I send them back to the table to practice a few more with my advice.  

I created a sheet that helps me to keep track of their progress.  With this sheet I check off letter combinations once I feel they have mastered them.  The ones that need more work I'll put an X on and that lets me know to print more copies of that letter for next week's work.  Once they master a set I still print copies of that set for practice every couple of weeks.  Once we are finished with the letter sets and everyone has a good grasp of them, I'll move on to Donna Young's new Cursive Words Printables.   She has an extroidnary website with a lot of free printable resources for homeschoolers.  I can't imagine the work she's put into this website for the rest of us to benefit from.  For handwriting alone, she has other helpful resources such as cursive animations and how to create your own cursive worksheets. 

Latin-
C, A, & B- Prima Latina Lesson 5 (C only- completes coordinating workbook pages) & (all)  memory flashcards.  We use the Prima Latina Latin for now and when we are complete we will continue on to the Christina Latina.  The children watched the DVD for Prima Latina Lesson 5 (on the way to a practice in the car - it's a fantastic use of travel time and they pay attention becuase there's nothing else to do :).  I practice along with them.  I usually make up the flashcards to go with the lesson while they are at whatever practice we are heading to with just some index cards and markers and put them into their memory card boxes. 

Currently, C is the only one using the workbook pages.  It's just too much writing IMHO for the girls.  I'd rather they focus thier writing on their copywork and dictation, narrations, and penmanship.  They have plenty of time for workbooks.  I may even go through Prima Latina with the girls again next year before starting them in the Latina Christina with their brother.  Anything they pick up (and so far it's been a lot of vocabulary and the Sanctus) is a wonderful bonus that will help them move through it next year faster. 


B, A, & C building their Indus Valley from Legos


History- all together
We use a combination of SOTW, VP, & TOG + living books.  I plan on sticking closely with SOTW & the SOTW Activity book.  We really enjoy SOTW and after purchasing the other curriculum, we're sticking with SOTW.   I'm not sure we'd enjoy it as much without the SOTW Activity Guide.  It's well worth the cost IMHO. 




This week's focus was Ancient India.  We had a lot of fun with it.  I had more planned than we were able to accomplish unfortunately, due to a flu virus that didn't want to go away but I feel strongly they learned some great history facts and a solid "peg" as they call them in TWTM to hang thier facts on later.

Day 1- We read aloud SOTW Ch. 9 together and the children colored the SOTW coloring pages from the Activity Guide while I read. 

Some of our friends choose not to do this, they don't think thier children are absorbing the information.  I find that the movement they get from the coloring pages keeps their hands busy (yes even my 9 yo- sometimes especially him) and since coloring doesn't require incredible thinking skills, they still pay attention to what I'm reading.  If they do not, I'll know because the next thing I do is narrate and review.

We use the Review Questions and Narration prompts from the SOTW Activity Guide to discuss what we just read. 

Next, we completed the mapwork from the Activity Guide and then my children used these free notebooking pages to write a brief narration from one of the sections we read. 

Day 2: Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History - pages 118-119

We reviewed the Test from SOTW Ch. 9. orally.  I like these tests for this.  Sometimes, like this past week, I'll use it for a Jeopardy type game.  My kids love this.  Our prize this past week was an extra 15 minutes of "screen" (tv or video game or computer game) time during the weekend.  We have a lot of fun with this.  I am not administering these tests as traditional tests yet although I may with my son later in the year.  Right now, they are just a wonderful help to me for review fun.

We completed the lapbook piece about the castes of Ancient India and had a long discussion about these.  You can download these free from this blog.  The lapbook is currently the third item down on the list, it's listed as Featured.  The blog I linked for the lapbook pieces is The Chronicle of the Earth and she has posted many helpful resources and links for using SOTW.  I have bookmarked her page for future use!


Day 3: Read aloud, Exploration into India by Anita Ganeri
The kids built their own Indus River Valleys out of Legos.  The photos are not that good, I wasn't paying attention to my camera.  It was a quick photo so we could move them off of the table and get dinner on it. :) I'm sure you've had those evenings.

Our goal was to also make a Pachisi Board for this week but with two sick kids some of the hands on things didn't get completed.  Not because I believe they are any less important, but because we have co-op on Thursdays so I schedule a lot of them for Thursday afternoons and for Fridays.  I leave that afternoon free for the hands on things because they are tired from being in co-op all morning.  I also feel much of the other things are covered for the day already during thier classes.   Should you want to make a Pachisi Board with your children for studying Ancient India (we may still do it) here's a great link at Crayola.  It looks fairly simple and we already had the materials here (I'm a craft fanatic).  Pachisi Board Instructions.

Structured/Scheduled Reading

The kids read books during their "Structured Reading" time about history.  I always try to include as many Independent Readers as I can.  I believe by listening to me read AND reading on thier own, they will absorb and remember more information.  I love when I'm reading and one of them mentions something they also read in a book on their own. 

Here is a list of the books they read this past week:

The Story of Little Babaji by Helen Bannerman

One Grain of Rice by Demi

Savitri by Aaron Shepard

The Tiger and the Brahmin

9 Animals & The Well by James Rumford

The Monkey & The Crocodile by Paul Galdone

The Sacred River by Ted Lewin

Buddhist Stories by Anita Ganeri
Once a Mouse by Marcia Brown 



























The non-fiction reader I found for them was:

National Geographic Investigates: Ancient India: Archaeology Unlocks the secrets of India's past by Anita Dalal 
They only read selected chapters of this book that I chose for them.  We read some basic information on Hinduism and Buddhism but I did not want to delve into too many details.  I wanted my children to be aware of other religious practices and why they are not what we believe to equip them for future discussions but I did not want to press too much of it upon thier young minds.  This was purely a personal family choice and how much and what you read or have them read is entirely up to you.  Many of the books contain Buddhist and Hindu stories but I chose to present them as I would any fable or fairy tale. 


Science -

We admittedly had a weak week in the science arena.  All good intentions were not achieved.  The kids did read a bit about volcanoes in Usborne's Finding Out About Everyday Things.  They're also working through a Magic Tree House Research Guide, Tsunamis.   I also printed some pages from Enchanted Learning on tsunamis and volcanoes.  We had plans on using a small science kit to create our own underwater mountain and errupting volcano from a Super Science kit I purchased from Scholastic.  I could not find the item on their website to link it for you but here is a photo of the box and I will post photos when we complete this project in the upcoming week.   Many of us remember how to make volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar from when we were children but for those who don't, here's a link.




Music- Music & Art (my favorite subject) did not get the time they deserved this week either.  It's unfortunate but we will hop back on track next week.  As we are studying Mozart, we did have time to listen to Mozart this week.  The kids listened while they were doing thier chores and one night asked if they could play it in thier rooms quietly at bedtime.  I was secretly thrilled at this but let them believe it was a treat :) anyway.  It worked wonders!  Our goal is, at a minimum, to listen twice a week for 30 minutes.  With the time we spend in the car and the inexpensive tape players I purchased for the kids' rooms we can normally complete this goal and more for the listening piece.  I have decided this is the most important part and the rest we will strive for (reading the bios, coloring pages, and completing notebook pages) but I at least want them to develop an ear for good music.

That was our Week 11.  I'm rearranging and planning Week 12 to make up for the short days and the one day that we just decided we were all (including mom) too tired and cranky and ill to do any of it.  I look forward to posting our Week 12 update next week!

Enjoy your children and the blessings your homeschool brings you this week!

Love,
Tiff

Story of the World Volume I - General Resources

If you've read my blog at all, you know that I have a strong lean towards the Charlotte Mason style of education.  I initially began blogging to share our journey of Nature Study in the CM style. 

As my son has become a bit older I was blessed to read "The Well Trained Mind" by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer.  I felt a connection to the thoughts of these amazing ladies and began attempting to merge both styles of education (TWTM being more of a Classical style). 

It has not been easy and I have struggled with curriculum choices.  In a recent post I discussed this and have decided to merge what I love about each style into a curriculum that works best for my family.

In his book, "Home Schooling: The Right Choice : An Academic, Historical, Practical, and Legal Perspective", Christopher Klicka discusses delight centered learning and the biblical call for it.  I HIGHLY recommend this book if you've not read it.  I found quite a bit of peace in the entire book but in particular the chapter about delight directed education.  This is very different from unschooling.

With this information in my heart I have begun to compile lessons in the same eclectic style I used with Charlotte Mason.  I want my children to have the grammar stage foundation as prescribed by a Classical Christian education but I also want them to have a "wide and varied" education as directed by Miss Charlotte Mason.  My desire to use all of their senses and learning modalities plays a role in my decisions as well. 

 Although it is more work to gather the materials and plans I know it will be the best educational fit for my children.   The Lord calls us to instruct faithfully, "She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue." (Proverbs 31:26) and work diligently, "She watches over the affairs of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness." (Proverbs 31:27),  "She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks." (Proverbs 31:17).Chronological List of Jim Weisse Audio

As I write and organize our lesson plans and pull together resources, I thought I would share them.  I have found so many Godly women online who have graciously shared their hard work and "discoveries" and I want to do the same.  They have saved me time and efforts so my prayer is that someone else might find use out of the links, resources, and schedules I put together here. 

I am including a list of resources and links that I located for use with SWB's "The Story of the World" Volume 1.  I pray you will find some or all of them to be as helpful as I have!  These are general resources to start but I will be posting our schedules as we go for History as well as Music, Science/Nature Study, Literature, and Art.

I pray you and your family are blessed by the Lord's presence in your homeschool today! 

Love,
Tiffany




Some General Resources for "The Story of the World" that I have found helpful.  Most of these are for Volume 1 but there are some that are for the other volumes as well.




FREE!!  Story of the World Volume I Planning & Workbook Pages created by Kay Barre - 2 days/week format- why recreated the wheel? :)  This was such a blessing to me!  Many thanks to the author!

Sonlight Book List organized into the Trivium Stages as recommended by "The Well Trained Mind"

FREE! Timeline to use for SOTW or any history curriculum.  I also use this with my children to add authors, musicians, composers, artists, and scientists!

Great printable card game created by a homeschooling mom for use with SOTW Volume 1 and posted to her blog The Chronicle of the Earth.  She also has many other resources for SOTW Volume 1 and 2 available.  

Historical Movies & Documentaries for SOTW Volume 1 listed by the mom mentioned above.  PLEASE review first for appropriate content for your family and children.  I have not reviewed all of these and every family has different views and levels of appropriateness.

Book lists to complement SOTW by Chapter from mom above.

Remembering what's important

 We ended last week with a trip to a local museum on Friday with our Co-op.  Although we are not currently studying American History, I always try to attend as many field trips as our schedule allows.  It's a wonderful time for fellowship for the kids and myself and they always learn something whether we are in that cycle or not.  
The day was beautiful here, the humidity gone, the wind a gentle breeze, and great light from the sun.  I took advantage of the weather and the crowd-less downtown area to get some photos of my kids.  I haven't had the time (or taken the time maybe?) to do sessions with them for awhile and we really enjoyed it.  They wanted to keep going when it was time to get home and start dinner.  I realized I did too. 

It was an awesome reminder of the important things in my life and why I began to home educate my children.  I want to spend time with them, not just time teaching them, but time enjoying them and getting to know them and their personalities.  



  As I have been reviewing our schedules, I am pleased with the educational work we are accomplishing but not as pleased with the "quality" time we are spending together.  All of us (myself included) have seemed a bit more easily frustrated and tired the past couple of weeks.  I wondered if we just need to adjust to "school" being full time or if I need to adjust our schedule. 

Of course, this means leaning on the Lord and praying about it.  I have found myself so incredibly busy that I forget that it's not my decisions to make- that I must take time out to TRULY pray and TRULY lean on the Lord for His wisdom and understand that it is He that is in control, not I. 
 

My twin girls.

  With that, I leave you with scripture I often find encouraging and some beautiful photos from our peaceful afternoon. 

Remember why we homeschool and enjoy your children today!

More photos of our walk.

Curriculum 2010/2011 Decisions

Our Curriculum Choices for 2010/2011

Ch- 9 years old (JUST turned)

A & B- 7 years old

Language Arts:

Spelling- We are using Modern Curriculum Press' Spelling Workout.  In the past, I have used McGuffey's Spelling Lists and created a schedule of my own.  I have also used Natural Speller.  Both of these are great programs for spelling.  I wanted to simplify our Spelling.  I wanted to spend less time than the children on their Spelling assignments!

I read about MCP's Spelling Workout in "The Well Trained Mind" and it fit the bill.  It is a workbook, however, there isn't TOO much writing involved and it requires less than a page a day.  I do not use the writing suggestions as they do not fit my taste or philosophy so we skip over that.  My 8 year old son (9 years old in 3 days!) is finishing Level D from last year and will move on to Level E in a few weeks.  My 7 year old daughters are using Level B and are beginning on the 4th lesson as we completed a few lessons sporadically over the summer. 

 Grammar-

A & B - 7 years old- First Language Lessons of the Well Trained Mind - Level 2

Ch- 9 years old - First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind - finishing up Level 3 and then beginning Level 4

       This was one of my more difficult decisions this year.  I was back and forth between programs for Grammar and Writing.  My children have not had much formal Grammar up until this point because we were adhering closer to the Charlotte Mason philosophy which does not recommend early formal grammar.  Due to this, I was hesitant and unsure about which program to use. 

My son is not as strong in auditory learning as he is in visual and kinesthetic.  This caused concerns about First Language Lessons for me as it is primarily oral for Level 1 & 2.  After hesitantly trying Level 2 with him last year and seeing his eyes glaze over everytime I tried to repeat things three times, I decided to move him into Level 3.   Level 3 does have worksheets for each lesson which he appreciates.  I appreciate that it is not TOO much writing which seems to make him frustrated. 

I worry still that he is not "getting" enough out of the program.  It is not that the curriculum does not CONTAIN enough grammar information, it does.  My concern is if MY SON is absorbing enough of the material based on his own learning style and personality.  He doesn't seem to mind the curriculum anymore.  He rather enjoys circling and underlining in his copy of the program.  He even tolerates the "say it three times" now that we have laughed about it and talked about it helping him to memorize the information.  He usually chimes in, however, while I'm reading my section 3 times rather than waiting for me to read it three times and then us reading it three times together.  If it is not the first day of memorizing and repeating a rule than we don't always repeat it as often as the book recommends.  He just doesn't seem to respond to saying it 9 times.  I believe all programs - even the best of them - have to be tweaked for the child.  

I purchased Shurley English and have spent quite a bit of time looking through it and considering it, I just think it is A LOT for what they are getting.  My son is very bright but his attention span is not terribly long.  He's not "unusual" according to my pediatrician for an 8 (almost 9 year old) boy - just a typical boy of his age.  I'm afraid the SE will make him bonkers (and possibly me!)   He did ask me one day if I had any songs to help him remember the parts of speech.  My friend taught IEW at our Co-op and taught the kids some jingles for simple parts of speech that he enjoyed.  He does NOT enjoy the long, drawn out songs such as the ones in SE.  As a matter of fact, the Veritas Press songs I was so excited to purchase him just made him laugh at me! :) It needs to be fairly short and to the point.

My friend taught him "Verb, verb - action word!"  I guess he's looking for quick memory rhymes versus songs.  I'm considering looking at some of the Grammar Songs CDs. 

We are going to move forward for now with the First Language Lessons Level 3 and probably move quickly so as not to bore him. 

Reading:

A & B- Both of my girls are proficient readers.  I am still determined to read through The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading with them.  Practice makes perfect, and certainly won't hurt anything.  They find it easy but don't complain, partly because it is private, one on one time with mom where they can show off thier "skills".  I am considering taking 5 minutes a day to briefly review it with my son as well.   I am not using it to replace anything and adding 5 minutes of reading practice to our day will not seriously throw off our schedule. 

The other nice thing is I purchased the .pdf version and placed it in a 3 ring binder. Not only was it a bit cheaper,  I can also just take the page or two out that I want to practice with them for that day and lay it in my planner.  This allows me to take it with us without the bulk of a reading curriculum or heavy textbook.  I did not purchase the .pdf version for this reason.  I actually purchased the .pdf (admittedly!) for the instant gratification of having the program THEN and THERE! :)  This explains my love for Currclick! 

This past week, for our first "week of school" I took it with us to music lessons and quietly went through it with the girls while their brother was in guitar lessons.  It was perfect!  It was casual and fast but I felt good that we had that few minutes for practice. 

My children also are required to read daily.  I assign different books for the girls and Chance sometimes but with thier reading ability I am finding that I can probably assign them the same book more often.  I set a longer time for reading for my son than my daughters but they will often ask if they can read another chapter or "just a few more pages" so they exceed him. 

I believe my daughters caught the "book bug" from me.  I could read for hours on end.  My son did not.  I have taken a lot of advice from other homeschoolers on types of books to provide him.  I take him to the library with me and allow him to choose books.  I check out and purchase books for him more often than my daughters because I am trying to find that ONE that will call to him.  I believe the Lord makes us all unique, however, and for good reason.  My son is just an active boy.  He will grow to be a strong and active man.  He will be an amazing provider for his family and his wife will love it!  He just may never choose a book over football or martial arts or a book over building something.  He would rather RAISE the ferrets and bearded dragons than to read about them!  The trick for me is to find that interest in his sports or nature studies and grab books for that and continue to assign his reading.  School is not always going to be what they WANT to do over all else.  I can't blame him, I would rather be painting or reading than washing dishes :)!  My goal is to continue with his assigned times and stick to it.  He is an obedient child, thank the Lord so it's not a problem.  I may find him one day sitting and reading a book without having it assigned to him but for now I am blessed by him and WHO he is!  He will grab "how-to" books and care guides when he needs them, the literature will come from his education.  That's a part of it, isn't it?

Assigned reading-

A & B- 30 minutes

Ch- 30-45 minutes. 

I am not STRICTLY adhering to this.  If they finish a history biography in 20 minutes, we will discuss and make a notebook page on the book, I will not go hunting down another book to "fill up" the missing 10 minutes!  These guidelines I set to help me choose how much reading to assign the kids.  I am tweaking it as I go, assigning chapters or pages based on how long I think it will take them and we'll move from there.  I will watch for frustration levels AND enjoyment levels. 

My son enjoys biographies and Usborne books with a lot of great history illustrations and building information.  He loves battles and heroes.  He might not want to read as much of "Tara" as he does the others.  He may take longer to get through that book due to lack of interest and I will adjust for that.  The same goes for my daughters.  They might find the chapters on war boring and emerse themselves in the romance and family sections.  Again, it is going to be a constant change. 

I will be posting a list of the books I'm assigning them very soon.  I will also be posting books from thier fun reading time. 

Fun Reading- I am asking them to read on their own, an approved book of thier choice daily:

Our goal is for:

A & B- 30-60 minutes

Ch- 60 minutes. 

All of my notes above from assigned reading on this time limit is the same.

I thought that I would allow them to "blog" about their fun reading books.  I am going to try to start a page for each of them to do this.  A book review/report is a great way to keep them motivated.  They love to share with other children and maybe once we are organized and consistent about it, I'll be able to post it on our blog and other children can chime in with thier own book likes and dislikes!  :) hint! hint! Moms!

Phonics Practice-

A & B-  Finish Explode the Code Book 4 and move into MCP Level C

Ch- Finish MCP Word Study D & possibly move into E - only 1x per week now on day he does not have a spelling page to complete.

Writing-

A & B -

Letter Writing- 2 x month

We are going to start the year strong with writing letters.  It was a "side note" in our writing last year.  We wrote get well cards for sick friends which were more illustrations and crafts than writing.  I am striving for 2 letters per month from the girls.

Writing with Ease & The Complete Writer - Level 2

We discovered and began using WWE and TCW last year towards the end of the year.  We were only able to get about 4 weeks done before our year completed.  I did enjoy it for them because I was already doing a lot of oral narration and copywork from our Charlotte Mason roots.  I contribute my daughters' ability to pen well to this as well as their ability to narrate well for thier age.  They still have certain material that is more difficult than others simply because they have a harder time paying attention if it doesn't intrigue them.  I've read this is normal. 

It's so interesting to compare their level with my son's.  He is just as bright as his sisters but with very different strengths.  Much of it is the Lord's design of him for his path in life compared to my daughters.  However, I find that it is also due to his almost two years in public school - 2 of the most crucial early years- Kindergarten and much of 1st grade when we began homeschooling.  I continually remind myself of this when I become nervous or concerned about my ability to home educate them.  When I'm floudering between this curriculum and that I remember that the girls are doing great and I didn't use any SET curriculum per say but an old fashion philosophy.  It always brings me back to reality!W

We are going to skip the rest of WWE Level 1 because they already are so proficient at copywork.  There will be days when they do more copywork than narration but I'd like to follow the WWE 2 - I think it corresponds well with FLL Level 2 that way and I think my daughters are capable of handling it. 

One thing I've found that I want to attempt to change this year, however, is how much of the WWE workbook we use.  I purchased it (again in .pdf so I can print it out for BOTH girls -I have twins) for those weeks that are busy (most weeks lol but busiser than others) and days that I get caught working with them on something longer than expected or the regular life things come up.  It's great to have when I need it.  It's an excellent source for the material in TCW.  I, personally, am going to try very hard to find material from our history, science, and literature to use instead of the material from the workbook.  This is just a personal choice.  I believe in falls in line more with Susan Wise Bauer's writing philosophy.  I listened to my MP3 of her writing workshop/seminar again yesterday and I think her plan was to incorporate writing into other subjects and not make it, its own "beast".  I do understand and appreciate the reason for the workbook as well.  I suspect I will use it more than I would like to but I know that when we do they are still getting the same material and writing skills they would otherwise.  It's my back up plan!

I also will try to post how that works for me as we go throughout our year and any great narration and dictation ideas I find from our literature as they could help others! 

Writing-

Ch- The Complete Writer- Level 4 section as spine-text  for narrations and dictations - 2-3 x per week

(using History, Science, & Literature as mentioned above for my daughters but using Level 4 activities)

Writing Strands 3 - 2x per week- we have not used this before so we are giving it a try.  He enjoys being creative so we will see how it goes and tweak the program and time spent on it as we go.

Penmanship- A & B-  5 minutes per day -

until they master cursive and then it will be included in daily writing versus being a seperate "subject" to cover.

I want to begin cursive writing with the girls right away.  They both mastered penmanship well which I attribute to their home school only educations.  They were never in public school as thier brother was.  I have also learned that I made a mistake by not teaching my son cursive sooner.  His Spelling book transitioned into cursive before he was ready which gave him some trouble.  I ended up writing the words in manuscript beside those in cursive until he was comfortable with it.   I have also learned since that it would be easier on a child whose fine motor skills are not completely developed for writing to write in cursive rather than in manuscript.  Live and learn I suppose, my poor first born!

That sums up our Language Arts Plan beginning this school year for 2010-2011.  I hope it has helped someone to decide for or against an idea or program.  I will be posting our book lists and plans for the remaining subjects very soon!  Thanks for spending some time reading!

Many Blessings to you All!

Tiffany

A New Year of Learning, Living, and Loving!! I am FINALLY excited!

A new school year quickly approaches and I'm finally excited!  I should have been excited from the beginning but I have prayed this summer and struggled with what I wanted for my children in terms of their education!  I do not mean strictly academic either, so as I've went through my decisions and leaned on the Lord for his strength and understanding I've began the journey of finalizing decisions!  Amen!  That is the most difficult part for me and I'm so happy that we are moving on to the next step of gatherning materials and making the actual plans! 

Join me over this next week or so as I FINALLY put it on paper (and computer!)  and share what I am planning on using, how we are hoping to use it, and all of my other revelations and rantings!  :)

I pray you may find an idea, book, or curriculum that maybe you'd not heard of or thought of before and that my crazy, mixed up mind will assist someone else!  Ideas and comments are very much welcome and appreciated! 

I am discovering the pages tab for blogspot so bare with me as I attempt to organize the ideas and thoughts!  Hopefully you will find most of the information to the right in the sidebar under Pages. :)

Off we go!

Much love & blessings to you all!
Tiffany