learning

The Conversation {Classical Conversations} Homeschooling High School: a review

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The Conversation {Classical Conversations}

As you may know, I love the classical education model; we don’t practice all of its characteristics in our homeschool, but we do implement some of them. I was very excited to review a physical copy of The Conversation: Challenging Your Student with a Classical Education, by Leigh A. Bortins of Classical Conversations.

Unlike many classical homeschooling bloggers, I do not use the classical model 100%, and do not completely understand the rhetoric phase, or the high school years.  This book definitely helped me better understand what the rhetoric phase is, and why it is so beneficial to students.

What it is

The Conversation is like having a seasoned classical education homeschool parent hold your hand.  Truly, the author has broken down the rhetoric phase and written in such a way that if you were brand new to classical homeschooling, you could do it with this book!

Part one is what I call “the pep talk”- it is the inspirational speaker part of the book that tells you you can do this even if A) you weren’t taught using the classical method, and B) you struggled with certain subjects in school.  This is also where Bortins has broken down the 5 canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, elocution (style), memory, and delivery.  She has gone further to break down each of these 5 canons to explain in great detail what they are & why they are important.

Part two, The Rhetorical Arts, specifies how to include rhetoric in each part of your child’s education and does so in the following chapters:

  • Reading
  • Speech and Debate
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Math
  • Government and Economics
  • History
  • Latin and Foreign Languages
  • Fine Arts

Here you find specific examples to help you include and implement the 5 canons in each of the subjects listed above.  Bortins goes in depth on the importance and benefits of being thorough in the rhetoric phase.  At the end there is a quick chapter on graduation, and college admissions that many parents will find comforting and helpful as their high school students are staring at the end of their in-home education career.

Part three is the appendices, which has some pretty neat ways to study through games.  I really liked this and doggy-eared this page (among others…)

What I Thought

The first few chapters are my favorite- Confident Parents and Rhetoric Defined, will make any homeschooling parent feel like “Hey!  I can actually do this, despite my insecurities and weaknesses, this is doable!”  (I think that is the early childhood educator in me!)

The rest of the book is wonderful as well!  The breakdown of topics, explanations, charts (SO great for a visual learner/teacher) and examples is what would set this book apart from any other of its kind.  Although I am not 100% certain we will use the classical model through high school, I will be referencing this book again.

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Sonlight Box Day Core A {2015/2016}

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Last week we began our official 2015/2016 homeschool year.

By most standards but we don’t go by most standards, now do we? this is early, even for year round schooling. However, with all the chaos of moving and the uncertainty of living in a rent house, the kids needed more structure and routine than we had going.
Lexie kept telling us she didn’t like this home (I don’t blame her, it doesn’t feel like home), and wanted to go back where all our books and things were (most everything is still boxed since we will be moving again in about 36 days, with the exception of our necessities and a few toys/books).
So I felt like we needed something to make the next 2 months feel more secure and emotionally safe for the kids- so what better way than to break out Homeschool Box Day! 🙂  (you can read about our very first Box Day HERE)
Sonlight Core A Box Day!
They were over the moon excited while unboxing everything.  (Please excuse the rather sloppy photo editing, it was mostly done from my phone, since we have very limited internet usage in the rent house.)

Sonlight Core A Box Day!
They are most excited about Curious George!  We aren’t even reading that during our homeschool time; it has just become an ever.single. day. “Can we read Curious George?” time.  They especially love listening to the stories on CD.

We will take it slowly; right now we are focusing on AAR, SL LA, math, doing our daily Sonlight reading from Core A, and the Mister’s BFIAR story. He is listening along for most of the books, but the Before Five in a Row book is specifically for him.  Because I don’t have my printer, laminator, etc unboxed, he isn’t exactly “rowing” the books right now. We can always come back and do that later.

Aside from George, Boxcar Chldren is their other favorite, along with our timeline book and the big map.

Anyway, Box Day was a success and getting back to school time has completely changed the feeling of our home!  The kids are happier; you can just feel the intention in our day and it is wonderful!

Have you done box day?

2014/2015 End of Year Homeschool Overview {Pre-K and Preschool}

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curriculum choice 2014/2015 Sonlight

{6/21/2015-we are now done with Sonlight P4/5- yay! I am still unsure of when we will begin 2015/2016 school year}

In the past few weeks we have been finishing up our 2014/2015 school year.  We really have a few days left of reading from Sonlight P4/5, but we are traveling at the moment, and I chose not to bring the books.  So we will finish when we get back home.

But, here is what we have been doing in the last few weeks.

Lexie (4.5yo) Pre-K year:

Lexie has been finishing Sonlight’s P4/5 core (Bible, history, geography/other cultures); we have loved the bible in this core, and may sub it in next year, through Core A.  (or use it for little brother).

In math she has been working through the last of our Singapore Early Bird books.  Honestly, this has taken what seems like FOREVER because I haven’t stuck with it as much.  She can do everything in the books, but doing the assignments is good practice.  In between working through the pages, we have done hands on math using manipulatives like: blocks, counting bears, unifix cubes, and

She has been working on recreating and expanding patterns on paper and using manipulatives, skip counting (which she LOVES to do), and counting backwards.   She is now seeing patterns in everything we do, and everywhere we go, which is fun!

In science we have learned about and discussed the types of animals and what attributes make them mammals, amphibians, reptiles, bird, insects, etc.  Lexie lap booked the frog lifecycle and really enjoyed that.  We have also learned about the seasons and a bit about outer space and the planets.  Obviously none of this was very in-depth (she is 4.5, after all).  But it was all interest led by her and Max.  We used our online science program, Digital Science Online and books to read about and better understand these topics.

In reading, language arts, and handwriting Lexie has been breezing through All About Reading Level 1 and HWOT pre-writing.  We are still working through AAR; some lessons are longer and while Lexie’s ability to read is fairly advanced, her ability to sit through an incredibly long lesson isn’t there. As in most children, her abilities and development in other areas don’t all match up perfectly (hence HOMESCHOOLING bliss!).  So we still have about 10 lessons in AAR to get through.  We are going slowly to keep her confidence up and she loves it!  I hope to finish AAR Level 1 over summer, before we actually begin Core A for the next school year.

HWOT has been great!  I think we are pretty much done with needing the pre-reading level. She is ready to move on; we will use the K level for this coming school year.  Honestly, I am not sure how long we will stick with HWOT.  It has been great for her because her confidence while holding a pencil or crayon was terrible, and now she LOVES writing and drawing of all kinds.  But I am not sure how the methods will work for creating pretty, neat, legible handwriting.  (I hate my handwriting, and wish someone had made me write neater growing up.  So I hope to help encourage her neat handwriting.)  There are a few other programs out there, and after we do the K book, she should developmentally be ready for something a bit more thorough and strict.  We will use HWOT for Mister when he is ready to learn writing; I do believe it is a GREAT beginning program for little ones that need a bit of direction and encouragement.  But again, not sure how I will feel as they get older and need better handwriting.

Max (2.5yo) Preschool:

Mister has been learning to identify his letters.  He knows them now, but his first reaction when asked about a letter? … “I don’t know!” But he does in fact know …  So, again development and personality play a huge part in that.  =)  We are working on identifying his lower case letters, and he does pretty well with that also.  We will be using our book, S is for Smiling Sunrise, to help with that task (read more about that HERE) through next year.

He is still working on identifying his numbers (he knows a few), has grasped and enjoys counting with 1:1 correspondence, counting past 20, counting backwards, and sorting.  He loves to sort by size, color, etc. especially when we play with the counting/sorting bears

For science he has just tagged along with us through the year, focusing mainly on weather, seasons and animals for him.  He likes just about anything that involves him getting attention or touching things!  Typical 2 year old male.  😉

I went ahead and got Mister the AAR Pre Reading Level for next year.  I hope to do a quick lesson with him first thing each day, while Lexie does independent work, so maybe he won’t “need” me as much during her big girl school.  It will be fun for both of us, and encourage his love of learning and reading.

Recently I started back to our circle time routine.  I had taken a break from it after Ila was born, simply because I didn’t have time with nursing & pumping every two hours and I was worn out.  Max also wasn’t very interested in it before now.  Since we have started back he *loves* circle time, singing the songs, and absorbs everything we are doing.  It also helps get some of his wiggles out before we start reading our core books and learning time, which means he is less of a detraction and more cooperative!  *score*

We are also working through his Before Five in A Row, and will continue that through next year.  When that is complete he will just do literature based unit studies that go with whatever topics we are discussing in Core A, until I can decide who will team up with whom for school.

Developmentally and maturity wise, Mister is not where Lexie was at almost 3 years old.  And that is okay!  Some days it is hard, because he is all up in the terrible two’s and Lexie’s were never like this, but he is fun, active, and has a HUGE imagination.  I in no way want to discourage that or put that out by pushing him into academics too soon.  He loves to just run around, dancing and singing or playing with his trucks and tractors.

We will technically homeschool year-round with several breaks throughout; this will allow us to take off when we have illnesses, spring fever, or mama just needs a break.  We will take a few weeks off in the summer from full blown school hours; but we will continue some activities many days of the week just so we have some focus in our home during the day.  Being at home with no routine just in the last few weeks has driven ALL OF US crazy; the kids are begging for school every day, and J.Tom and I are definitely feeling the difference in their attention and behavior with no real structure. 

I will do another post on our hours/weeks of school and breaks.  Since we are in the process of moving to KS (again, love homeschooling because we can start/finish/continue/break when we need to!), I have not yet figured up our number of required hours per day and all that. 

2015/2016 will be my trial year for record keeping, so I will update you on all that soon!

Through all this year, I have reminded myself that BOTH of the older kids are still little.  They are young, and while they love school and learning, play & reading books are still the most important things!  We will end this year on a great note, play and learn all summer long, and pick back up right where we left off in the fall!

How has your homeschool year gone?  Are you ready for a break?

A Homeschool ABC-Book {a review}

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As we have started including Mister (2.5yo) in our learning time routine more and more, I am always looking for fun ways he can learn along side big sister.  Thankfully, we reviewed a precious book, S is For Smiling Sunrise and its audio sing-along song, by WordsBright; we have enjoyed reading this book each day as part of our learning time!  He considers it his special learning time book, but big sister loves it too! It is inspiring, positive, and a fun way to include an ABC-book in your homeschool!

S is for Smiling Sunrise: ABC Character Book

About S is For Smiling Sunrise {and why we love it}

This hard back book was written by a father for his daughter to grow up with; it is perfect for children of all ages.  You can read this with your toddler, and it continues to be great for emergent readers as your child ages.  My children are 2.5 and 4.5, and they both enjoyed (and are still enjoying!) the book.

S is for Smiling Sunrise isn’t your typical ABC book, which I love!  It includes both character traits and fun rhymes that your children will grow to understand and love.  The illustrations are lovely, bright, and printed on heavy, crisp pages.

What’s even better, WordsBright has included a Pre-K and K to 3 Teacher’s Guide to help parents expand on the content in the book.  There is also a precious audio CD; we really enjoyed listening to this during in-home transitions (such as after learning time, before lunch, etc.), and the kids listened to it during their independent play time in their room.  You can get the song as a free MP3 download directly form the website.

My son loved pointing out the capital letter and “little” letters at the top of each page, we made it a game which really helped encourage him to identify his letters (one of his goals for our homeschool year).  The illustrations are beautiful and so much fun for little ones!  He also learned new words, such as interesting, and dawn, while identifying things he knew in the pictures.

My favorite part of this book, is you can just tell it was written with love; almost like a sweet love letter from a daddy to his baby girl. The little rhymes are fun and it is much different from any other ABC book we have read, or own.  The Teacher’s Guide helped give me more ideas for expanding on the book, and we enjoyed that as well!

 

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S is for Smiling Sunrise: ABC Character Book

 


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A Homeschool Mom’s Book of Encouragement {a review}

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Homeschool Mama's Encouragement The Busy Homeschool Mom's Guide to Daylight {a review}

The last few weeks I have been reading Real Life Press’s book, The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daylight (physical book $12.95), written by Heidi St. John.  As a matter of fact, I read most of this book while on our very relaxing family camping trip; it was a wonderful read!

About the The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daylight

In her book, Heidi covers all the basics and then some, for homeschooling mamas.  Everything from being intentional with our days to those desperate hours when things just aren’t working. The chapters include:

  1. Intentional Daylight- Why You Need a POA, ASAP
  2. Organized Daylight- Controlling Clutter and Reclaiming Your Space
  3. Scheduled Daylight- The Delight and Dangers of Scheduling
  4. Hungry Daylight- Feeding Your Family Without Losing Your Mind
  5. Discouraged Daylight- If At First You Don’t Succeed .. Try, Try Again
  6. Consolidated Daylight- Multi Level Teaching
  7. Wasted Daylight- Virtual Reality
  8. Surrendered Daylight- Finding His Heart For Your Homeschool

I mean, the chapter titles speak for themselves; if you are a homeschooling mom new or seasoned and in a rut, this is a wonderful book for you!  The content is Christ centered, often quoting scripture as guidance for the homeschool, and everything she has written will resonate with you, mama!

Iasiah 58-11

photo credit HERE

Heidi has used real-world scenarios to demonstrate her points and show her true understanding for the struggles we all face as homeschool moms, and families.  Every page speaks volumes of encouragement!

What I Thought

While I have already implemented many of her ideas, there are several areas I need to work on in our homeschool and The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daylight is helping me sort through those areas.

I loved the encouragement, the breath of fresh air that this book brought to our home and homeschool.

Heidi is funny; she has written a book all homeschool moms can relate to!  I would even suggest handing it over to your husband after you have read it– I think it gives great insight to the struggles we face each day and what most of our goals are for homeschooling.

One of my weakest areas in our home is meal time!  I am great at planning dinners.  When I only had two young children breakfast wasn’t such a big deal, it was easy to whip something up.  But now with three tiny humans (one taking a bottle and baby food), and a husband who *loves* breakfast, planning that meal would be very beneficial.  I have known this for some time, but chapter 4 of this book really helped me see how important planning all our meals is.

I especially liked her chapter on consolidated daylight AKA multi-level teaching.  Many of us homeschooling are working with children on multiple levels; we know that even when our children are close in age (or heck, even the same age!) that they are learning, developing, and working on different levels.  Next year will be the first year I will be teaching my daughter on a drastically different level than my son.  Heidi’s chapter (6) on multi-level teaching is going to be a life saver! (and I have already started making notes.)

Every chapter gives you more tips, more resources, more ways to bring your homeschool where it is meant to be!  I loved this book, made many notes in the margins, and will be looking back at it time after time, I am sure.

While checking out this title, look into all of Heidi’s other titles covering everything from bible studies, to keeping the romance in your marriage (while homeschooling)!

Homeschool Mama's Encouragement The Busy Homeschool Mom's Guide to Daylight {a review}

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Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2015/2016 (K5 & Preschool)

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Curriculum Choices K5 & Preschool 20152015 {QuieInTheChaos.com}

Wow- I can’t believe I just typed in title! This year has truly snuck up on us; but alas, I am ready! (I think ..)

I am going to break this down by child/age. It is hard with Lexie, mainly because she is 4.5 years old, 5 in the fall, and doing a mix of kindergarten and first grade work, but is still not old enough to register for school. So while she will be doing mostly first grade and K work, I am not sure what to tell you in terms of “grade” for you to compare or look at for your child. This will be her K5 year (next year will be K6 and she will start 1st when she is 7).
I would recommend looking at the curriculum’s scope and sequence for each level, and ALWAYS do their placement test (at least look over what will be taught in that level and what prerequisite skills are needed to be successful). I will say, Lexie probably didn’t HAVE to begin with AAR Level 1, but I am SO thankful we did because she got that firm foundation before moving on. I know a few parents can get overwhelmed with the school curriculum, which is totally understandable as we’re not professional teachers and have no idea how to even do this work half the time, so seeking advice or a little help can be really useful when setting work for children. Some parents choose for their child to use a tutoring Adelaide service and others choose to use online tools, like YouTube, but whatever the method is, as long as children are learning something it’s all worthwhile.

Good foundation ALWAYS trumps advancement in my opinion, no matter the subject.

Lexie (4.5/5 in the fall, working on K and 1st Grade Level)

  • Core: Sonlight Core A– (history/cultures, geography,Bible) We did P4/5 last year and Lexie just flew through it; she never skipped a beat and I swear she still talks about some of the stories which I have long forgotten … She LOVES it, and so does Max. So we will do Core A next, and Mister (and Ila, too) will sit in with us. I plan on stretching this core 18-24 months, and using it as her “Kindergarten” year curriculum (when she is 6 and we register with the state). We are adding in LOTS of sequels, and I will probably buy the Five In A Row literature pack from RRC (I already have the teacher’s book and a few of the read alouds) to add in also to help stretch it out. This core is SO exciting; we get to begin our timeline book, learn more about geography, look at maps, and expand our learning tremendously! It will be fun!

Language Arts:

  • All About Reading Level 2– Here, AAR is going to give her all the reading skills she needs
  • All About Spelling Level 1– They suggest beginning AAS when your student starts AAR Level 2. From what I have seen this will mostly just reinforce the reading rules she already knows and teach encoding. For all intents a purposes, we will say she will be 5, which is young for a spelling program; but after looking at the scope and sequence, I think she can do it and it will help with her writing. If we aren’t ready, we can shelve it til she is =)
  • Sonlight Language Arts 1- this is really just for extra practice; I like that they include spelling words, narration, comprehension questions, and copywork so I thought we would use it mainly for that. I bought some of the readers, but not all of them. We will just see how we like it. (I don’t feel like their LA’s is “enough” for us, so we will use it as a supplement)

Math:

  • Saxon Math K– we were going to use Saxon K this past year, but I just continued on with Singapore K (early bird). Because Lexie isn’t registering for school I am going to use this as a “review,”/nail in the foundation year for math. Plus Saxon will go a bit further & deeper than Singapore did. It will start very basic, but that is fine with us. Max will probably sit in on some of the more basic lessons.

Science:

  • Elemental Science– I went around and around on our science choice for over a year. Every single time I landed back on ES. So I finally said, Okay! This is it! You may have read that we enjoy the Charlotte Mason and Classical Education models. I like teaching and organizing this way, and the kids seems to thrive learning with these models (for now), so it is a win win. ES is a classical/CM combo curriculum, and I like that! I will do another post entirely on why we chose ES some other time.

Extracurricular:

  • Gymnastics at a local gym
  • Violin lessons with a local teacher
  • ARTistic Pursuits (best art curriculum EVER)

Max (2.5/3 yo in fall) Preschool

Ah, I can’t believe I just wrote my baby will be “doing” preschool. Honestly, I am not sure where to begin with him. haha

Mister is definitely a boy- he is developing much faster physically than Lexie was at this age, and isn’t quite where she was cognitively at this age. (for instance, he just started gymnastics and is MUCH better at it than Lexie was when she was 2/5, but he isn’t reading cvc words like she was at that age, either).

  • Before Five In a Row: You know I love some BFIAR! It is easy, fun, and means lots of snuggles with my baby. He *loves* the stories and I think he will really enjoy all the activities, too. My favorite resource for all things homeschool is Rainbow Resource Center- they almost always have the best prices, and here is their literature pack. Trust me when I tell you, you cannot buy all those books, even used, at that price; many of them are also out of print so to get them brand new from RRC is pretty awesome!
  • Language Arts– I know a lot can change in just a few months, but for right now I don’t think Max is ready for ThisReadingMama’s curriculum. Whenever he is, that’s what we will use as a supplement and beginning curriculum. I think maybe by fall or Christmas he will be ready to start! Until then, we will just review a letter a week or so, and continue with BFIAR. The other option is when he is to start him on AAR Pre-Reading; I never used that with Lexie, we just did our own thing to learn those skills, so I may just teach him myself without a curriculum.
  • Math: I don’t have anything in particular ready for Max and math. We have a TON of manipulatives and will just use them to learn basic math concepts and number sense- 1:1 correlation, sorting, patterns, more/less, etc. We are already playing with some of those concepts and will just continue down that path. Also, we will work on recognizing his numbers (he surprised me the other day by recognizing way more than I thought he knew!), and counting past 20.
  • Play, Play, Play, Play, Play! We will play a LOT. He is not my desk learner; he does LOVE to join us for learning time, he enjoys sitting at the counter and writing and listening in on Lexie’s lessons, but he isn’t ready for a long stretch of school yet, and that’s A-Okay! So we will play and learn through play.
  • Sitting in- Mister will sit in on our read alouds, join us for science lessons (and probably keep his own little science notebook), and anything else he shows an interest in.
  • Extracurricular- He has started gymnastics and *loves* it. He keeps asking about violin, but unlike Lexie I don’t think he will be ready at 3. So, we will see if he still shows interest as he gets older.

That’s it! That is our curriculum choices for 2015/2016.

 

O is for Organization {how we plan and organize our days}

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O is for Organization {how we plan and organize our days}

Organization.

I have talked about organization in our home and homeschool before. I keep a general routine in place, and organize our school in such a way that it makes me life easier.

Posts to how we organize:

Organizing and Schedules/Routines

Our homeschool and life routine is ever changing (though not by much) simply because we have a baby in the house whose feeding and sleeping schedule changes as she ages. Here is what we are doing now with a 4.5 yo, 2.5 yo, and 6.5 month old.

  • 6:00am Hubby and I are up emptying dishwasher, starting laundry, making breakfast, etc
  • 7:00am Wake time for all, I nurse and bottle baby while older two eat breakfast
  • 7:30-8:30am In this time I clean up the kitchen, pump after nursing Ila, and we begin our Sonlight P4/5 read alouds and circle/calendar time.
  • 8:30 Ila goes down for nap 1
  • 8:30-10:30 We continue school-this includes Bible, our SL read alouds, Max’s BFIAR, calendar and circle time song/poem/memory work, Lexie’s AAR, Math, HWOT, and a science video some days. We are also memorizing maps (which we’ve been doing informally for some time) just continuing work on: the 50 states, continents, and countries Daddy has visited and their geography (this is for fun and is NOT formal). On Fridays we do an art lesson using ARTistic Pursuits (which we LOVE-link & review coming soon!).
  • 10:30-11:30 Lexie goes downstairs for independent play, Max goes to their room for his Independent play.
  • 11:00 I get Ila up, nurse, solids, bottle then she chills while I make Lexie and Max’s lunch.
  • 11:30- L and M eat lunch, then play outside weather permitting
  • 12:15- Max down for Nap
  • 12:30 Ila down for nap 2, then hubby or I do Lexie’s nap with her and she goes down stairs to rest; some days she may quietly play dolls upstairs, or she can rest for an hour then go outside for an hour.
  • 3:00 Max up, Ila up and nurse, solids, bottle
  • 3:30 snack for Lexie and Max, then outside to play weather permitting
  • 4:30 Ila down for last cat-nap; I start dinner
  • 5:30 Ila up from cat nap
  • 5:45 we eat dinner as a family (Ila will soon get solids with us here), then baths and silly show or books with Daddy
  • 6:30 nurse and bottle Ila
  • 6:45 Lexie and Max to bed (daddy does this while I put Ila down)
  • 7pm- Mommy and Daddy begin their night! =)

The only things here set in stone are the kids’ naps and eating times. Everything else has just fallen into place naturally. I prefer getting school done in the morning so we have the afternoons to read, play outside, run errands, cook, etc. Once it is off my plate I feel like we have the rest of the day to do whatever we want, or continue learning about other things. As they get older and school takes longer, that will change but for now we can accomplish all that I feel is important in a few hours in the morning.

We clean up after each transition- so: before independent play, before naps, before daddy gets home, before bed, and always before we can go outside. This also encourages them not to ransack any one area in the house and leave it! 😉

On Tuesday night we pick up the entire house- everything goes in its place and Wednesday morning is cleaning day! The kids go down stairs after I put Ila down for her nap, and at that time I clean. They have already taken their clothes to the laundry room, picked up any toys that were out, helped clear the breakfast table, etc. I clean the house top to bottom alternating a different “deep clean” area each week (fans, blinds, baseboards, walls, etc). I try to use Tuesday night as my declutter/clean out time. I do a whole-house declutter three times a year, and I usually hire a company that does Hard rubbish removals. It’s surprising how much junk collects up over time! Fellow parents might already be aware of this, but the biggest mess in the house is usually toys that are strewn everywhere. If you’ve got the space, a playroom can take care of this problem. A friend had a nifty hack and got something like a prefab she shed to use as a playroom as they didn’t have enough rooms in their house and it works great for them.

Planning

For my homeschool planner I use the Mardel Simple Plan Homeschool Planner and I LOVE IT. I did use the Ultimate Homeschool Planner for a while and I did like it, too. I think either of these will fit most homeschooler’s needs. I just prefer the Mardel planner (and can’t link it for you because they don’t have them in stock until June or July).

For home and life in general, I use (and LIVE by) my Erin Condren Life Planner. I use it for everything not homeschool related-tracking Ila’s schedule, menu planning, to do lists, bills, purchases made, my monthly oils order, library books, husband’s travel, our travel plans, etc. basically everything NOT homeschool related. The ECLP is spiral bound, which is fine, but I chose to arc mine and will probably never turn back. I love it!

I may even arc our SL instructor’s guides; it might make it less desirable to others for resale, but we will be using the cores for all 3 children, which means I will have them for some time and I want them to be as convenient for me as possible, and that may mean arc punching them. I am still debating, but will definitely let you know what I decide and include a post!

So, that’s it! O is definitely for Organization in our home and homeschool.

How do you stay organized and on top of things in your home?

Digital Science Online {a review}

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The last several weeks we have been enjoying Visual Learning Systems in our homeschool.  We have used Digital Science Online: Elementary Edition (Grades K-5) for our science studies; the Review Crew members were given full access to all levels for Admin, Teacher, and Student accounts.  We used the Elementary Edition, because at 4 years old that fit Lexie best.  But Crew members were given access to Digital Science Online: Secondary Edition (6-12) also!

Using Digital Science online {video based learning science curriculum}

About Digital Science Online

The elementary edition of Digital Science Online is an annual subscription service ($99/year) to science videos and clips, animations (showing how things work), images, student sheets and teacher’s guides.  It is divided into two grade levels, actually- primary, and elementary.  The primary grade level includes the following subjects:

  • physical
  • earth
  • life
  • health

While the elementary level covers:

  • physical
  • earth
  • life

Both primary and elementary levels cover a wide range of topics included in over 136 units of study combined!  The curriculum does meet state standards, if that is a concern for your family.  The videos are indexed and searchable using keywords, which I love because no matter what we are discussing I am able to do a quick search and find just what I need.  Videos are only about 6-20 minutes long (at longest) and are available anytime, just log in!  Everything is in one place, on one screen, which is so nice for me and very easy to navigate.  Digital Science Online is a very clean interface, and simple to navigate, which is especially great for students working independently.  Lexie isn’t quite old enough to work independently on the computer, but had we used this on the ipad I have feeling she could have done it on her own!

The videos themselves are clear and broken into segments allowing the student to answer questions on their student sheets.  Each video has a teacher’s guide section; here you will find: an introduction to the lesson, the student activities, learning objectives, and the script to the video (so if you need to help with a student sheet, you can skim the video or the script).

Each video’s student sheets include: What Do You Know Now?, What Have You Learned?, Video Review and Quiz, and then a few specific lesson-related worksheets.  Some include diagrams (very cool!) while others are instructions for hands-on activities.  There are a lot of hands on activities included in the program, so this is great for those visual and kinesthetic learners!

Our favorite so far has been the “Your Body” lesson, from the health subject under primary.  A few of the hands-on activities include: tracing your body and drawing in the organs, drawing in healthy foods on your plate, using magnets, taking soil samples, and dressing a paper doll (weather).  There are many more, too many for me to cover here!

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 How We Used It, What We Thought

I did need to modify how we used the student resources because Lexie is only 4.5 (but does mostly Kindergarten work).  I simply did the teacher’s guide introduction with her (and tag-along little brother) before we watched, so she knew what we were going to be learning about.  Then we went over video quiz and pre-assessment pages together, orally.  While we watched the video, I wrote down her responses to the questions (dictation) for her, since her writing skills are not yet developed enough for so much writing.  This was great dictation practice for her.

For the post-video assessment I let her elaborate as much or as little as she wanted on what we discussed.  She was so proud of herself when she answered questions in the video correctly (and she usually did).  Little brother (2.5 years old) loved tagging along, and thought everything was so interesting.  The videos kept both of them engaged, and they were able to really tell me about what they learned; provided they were on two different levels, but Max being able to apply wind in his ear makes his ear “wiggle,” aka vibrate, inside is pretty cool!

A few things I really liked about Visual learning Systems

  • It is straight forward- no fluffy stuff or crazy cartoon characters that distract, but is still interesting to young children (including my 2.5 year old)
  • It is clear, concise, and factual- we were able to easily understand what was being said in the video because the voice over spoke clearly, images were clear, and animations were very easy to understand.
  • Interaction- the children are able to/need to interact during the videos- the videos have stopping points, and the student sheets kept my daughter engaged.

If you are a homeschooling family looking for a no-fuss, simple but complete visual/video-learning based science curriculum, look no further!  This is a good program, and we will enjoy using it for the rest of the year!

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Sonlight P4/5 Read Alouds and Weekly Wrap Up (MOY 14/15)

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Well, we are in our 27th week of Sonlight P4/5 and *loving* it.  Homeschool this year has been wonderful for all of us.  This is a Middle Of Year 2014/2015 Update.

We love Sonlight and have enjoyed most of the read alouds immensely.  So far our favorites (and by “our” I mean Max-2yo and Lexie’s-4yo) have been Uncle Wiggly, Milly Molly Mandy, the art book, The Berenstain Bears’ Science Book, and they both love the Bible storybook we are using this year-101 Favorite Stories from the Bible.

I will say I was a little annoyed with the Berenstain Bears book by the time we finished reading it, but the kids loves it!  And The Favorite Stories from the Bible book is very honest and straight forward, which I love.  I only chose to skip one story, about Cain and Abel, but the rest we have read and discussed openly.  Lexie has been able to answer all the questions at the end of each story, and Max has been able to answer a few, too.  But they both ask to get it off the shelf often.

MOY Summary and Weekly Wrap Up {2014/2015} Quietinthechaos.com

Lexie’s Homeschool (4yo)

Lexie is reading so much- she brings me books from downstairs that she has read all by herself, and rereads them to me.  She is learning to read th and sh words in All About Reading.  We really love this program!

Her handwriting has improved drastically- we began writing on just blank pages (which is developmentally appropriate), moved on to large lined dry erase board, and now practice on both first grade lined dry erase board and on lined paper.  Her copywork consists of practicing letters, words, and writing simple sentences at this point.  She loves to write and writes letters to everyone about everything, for every occasion.  She also enjoys drawing pictures.  HWT has definitely helped us accomplish this!

Math is still just number sense; she has been coloring graphs, working on perception, and counting backwards.  We have also introduced number lines in a very simple manner, and she understands them.  She can do simple addition using manipulatives, but we haven’t worked on number sentences yet.  She is still only 4, so while we do things she enjoys & she would probably enjoy that, I don’t think we are ready for that yet.  To me, getting a good foundation in number sense is very important before moving on.

Science is random activities, youtube videos, books from our SL core, and anything the kids show an interest in.  We will use a science curriculum next year (Elemental Science) as an intro to sciences but we won’t do it very strictly.  It will introduce nature studies more formally, and how to keep a science notebook.

Max’s “homeschool” (2yo)

Mister loves joining us for learning time.  His favorite things are definitely: sorting by color, glueing, and using scissors.

We are working on reinforcing his letter recognition and learning to identify his numbers.   I have started introducing the “little” letters along with their “big letters” when we play around with IDing letters of the alphabet.  Lexie was just so visual; You told her what a letter was one time and she knew it.  Max doesn’t seem to learn that way, so I am trying to find his learning style.

He listens in on our read alouds and enjoys that time snuggling (or running around, building with blocks ..).  I am actually amazed when he is “writing” and coloring, he holds his markers and crayons correctly, naturally.  That was not a skill that came naturally to Lexie, I still have to correct the way she holds her pencil at times.

It has been such a mild winter, compared to the previous two years in NE.  But, I think January got confused with March, because it has been colder in Feb and march than it was in January and December.  So, outside time has been a little limited this winter.  We haven’t done any nature walks or nature studies lately.  We cannot wait for spring to finally arrive (and stick around..)!

I am planning out our curriculum for next fall.  We will continue SL P4/5 through the spring/summer, taking off the month of June for vacation, and then continue with some learning time here and there until fall.  In the fall, I plan to start Sonlight Core A with Lexie, Max will sit in while also enjoying BFIAR books.  I will use my favorite free online curriculum from ThisReadingMama, for his PreK (OMG how is it possible he will be 3?!).  Together we will all do Bible, history, and read alouds, science activities, and some art.  Then they will each have their own “work” for reading and math.

That’s it!  This is our middle of the year update; I can’t wait to see how we end this year.

How is your school year going so far?

IndoctriNation: the truth behind public education {a review}

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As a part of the TOS Review Crew, I had a chance to review IndoctriNation: Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity in America ($19.95 physical disc), a DVD by Great Commission Films.

IndoctriNation-the truth behind public education

In case you are wondering what indoctrination is: Indoctrination is not education; indoctrinated people are expected not to question or critically examine what they have learned.

First, I want to say that I really don’t think the movie trailer does this film justice.  It does get across one main idea of the film (we need to question public school education), but what I think is just as important as the main idea is the history of education that is explained while watching.

What IndoctriNation the film is:

IndoctriNation is a documentary, 102 minutes long, about Scottish film maker Colin Gunn and his homeschooling family; they load up on a bus and travel the country in search of answers to questions parents in the United States should be asking about their children in public school:

  • Who established the American public school system?
  • Are my kids physically and morally safe in schools?
  • Are the public schools religiously neutral?
  • Should Christians try to be “salt and light” in public schools?
  • Can the public school system be fixed or redeemed?

IndoctriNation answers the above questions and gives you more food for thought by interviewing real teachers, superintendents, parents, and students as well as historians.  This film, among so many other things, shows you clips of actual material teachers are trained with- clips of films I myself saw during my time in college.

What We Thought and What We Took Away From It:

I am a Christian, homeschooling mother with a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education.  This film hit very close to home for me; by trade I am a product of the State’s teacher’s college, my mom is a public school teacher, as are many other people in my family.  For the last two years of my degree I was taught about the many theorists and psychologists mentioned in this film.  I wrote papers, taught lessons to real students, and presented units of study that took me hours to prepare based on these theorists and psychologists all in the name of “education.” All in the name of something that is truly far from education.  This film shows Christian families wanting to hold their children’s spirits in tact where they are sending their children every day.

I will say as a product of public schools myself, and as a product of the State’s teacher college program, Gunn pretty much hit every nail on the head.  Most parents have no idea that the structure of the school system we have adopted today is based on a system from Prussian Germany (for Nazi control), which was proposed by Carl Marx; a system which is not only not Christian, but not American (as is stated in the film).

Did you know the first compulsory schools (in the 1800s) were not only experimental, but educational practices we use today were set up by G. Stanley Hall who applied the theory of evolution to how we teach our children?  (ie: “age segregated, peer based, grade based education.)  It was not founded on quality education, but created as a test lab and later as a way to train mass numbers of people for positions in mass-manufacturing jobs (factories).  This documentary will open your eyes to those and many, many more facts that will leave you questioning public education today. Many of these things I knew from courses I took in college, and many I did not.

As much as I agreed with and enjoyed the film, I do wonder if it comes on a bit strong for Christian parents that have chosen public school.  I say this because to some extent I think this film will make parents question their own faith (which most people don’t want to do), as well as what they want for their children’s future.  While watching it I imagined showing it to my college peers who have now gone on to teach in the public sector, and while I can see some agreeing, I can see some defending public education because they are afraid to question their own choices for their family.

Overall it is a very well produced, honest documentary that makes it hard for anyone to argue where mandatory, public education began and where it is now (which is not far from where it began).  If it doesn’t begin with God and the Bible, then it begins with man (quoted from the film), and the bible warns us against following man’s ideas.  Sadly, that is the state of our public school system today.  It is wonderful that we have Christian educators in our classrooms who pray for students and faculty.  But “you cannot Christianize it top down.  It must be foundation up,”- schools are not religion neutral, they teach worldly views (naturalism) with a little morality sprinkled on top.

So, who is IndoctriNation for?  I think it is for parents who want to homeschool, parents who do homeschool, and open minded parents who would consider homeschool.  If you are a homeschooling family that wants to better understand the foundation of public education, or where education in our country is headed, then you should definitely watch this documentary (and share it with your family that doubts your decisions to homeschool!).

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