So the princesses had an assignment as part of our MCT language arts studies. They had to write a short play where character number two always interrupts character one immediately following the subject portion of the sentence and completes the sentence with a predicate. They worked on this Thursday and rehearsed today. There were a few spots that were a little off, but I think they did quite well. Here's the result:
8/13/10
TOG Year 4 Week 1
This year, we are starting our year off a little differently. We are starting our year rather light in that we are not beginning all our subjects at the same time. We will be adding in the other subjects so that by the fourth week of school we have all our normal classes integrated into our schedule. We loosely follow the schedule of a local charter school where some of the elder princesses' friends attend. This fact, and the fact that I use interlibrary loan A LOT, means being a few week ahead of other homeschoolers in the area helps assure that I will get the books I need when I need them. But, there are still some commitments and activities that get scheduled becasue most kids are still on summer break. Therefore, having a bit lighter of a load will help us be able to do those activities.
Our Tapestry of Grace studies have us doing year four, which is the study of the Twentieth Century. This is significant because DH and I, the Grandparents, and the two Great-Grandmothers have a change to tell our own stories to the princesses. We've lived through or experienced many of the events we will study. These events and people have had a large influence on our lives in different ways. I'd really like to figure out a way to record some conversations with the Great-Grandmothers. They are late 80s and early 90s (how's that for not giving away their ages) and - let's fact it - they may not be around when we repeat this year plan five years from now. But it is also significant because I truly believe that we are living in a time that will be remembered as the second American Revolution. We MUST pray hard for our country as the LORD has allowed the consequences of our corporate sin of rejecting Him and His precepts to take root. But God always sent a prophet to warn His people before allowing them to be destroyed, captured or enslaved. There are many prophets sounding the alarm right now, and we need to answer the call, put on our battle armor, and hit our knees. (I'm stepping off my soapbox now.)
Here's the books we're doing for our first week:
Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
McCall Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading (from now on referred to as McCrab): First three tests of Book A - we will begin with three tests a week, but may move to four a week.
Latin For Children Primer A: By her choice, she will be going through this from the beginning as a review to cement in the things she learned last year. She will take two days per lesson for the first 14 lessons, as these are pretty much a complete review - a few new nouns or verbs in forms she already knows. Then we will move to three days per lesson for the next twenty lessons. Again, most of these are review with a few new words. But there is a second conjugation taught in lesson 15 that she didn't learn before. So there are a few new concepts that will be challenging. If she is able to keep up this pace, she will begin Primer B by our second semester.
TOG Yr4 W1: Timeline (a new activity for her - she'll be keeping track of important events, people and inventions on colored notecards); President Notebook (this contains important facts to remember about each president and first lady as well as famous quotes for copywork); Student Activity Pages (SAPs); Accountability and Thinking Questions (AQ/TQ); Reading (disclaimer - most of these are long books and she will read portions of the book each week) - The Gift of Music, The Call of the Wild, With Daring Faith, Bully for you Teddy Roosevelt, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the 20th Century (she was a bit put off by this title); Read Alouds - The Story of the World Volume 4, Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor
Princess S - 4th Grade - Upper Grammar
McCrabb: First three tests
Growing With Grammar 4 (GWG4): Chapter 1.1 to 1.3
TOG Yr 4 W1: Quizlet vocab; Important People Copywork; SAPs; Read Alounds - same as above; Reading (again - portions each week) - An Age of Extremes, We'll Race You Henry, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Trial and Triumph
Princess L - K - Lower Grammar
Winter Promise Advanced K: Review letters a, f, b, m, e, k, t and r; study the -ad family and -am family; practice handwriting letters (because we only learned the short sounds last year, she will have to learn the other two sounds for a and e)
TOG Yr 4 W1: Read Alouds - same as above; Reading - First Flight, the Story of the Wright Brothers, We'll Race You Henry, The Story of Little Babaji
Princess M - PreTOGGer
I've been working on printing, cutting and laminating various activities from the Letter of the Week Curriculum. Each of the other princesses will have a 30 minute time block each morning where they will have the choice to either do some of these activities with Princess M or read to her. My hope is that little by little I will have enough of these put together to be able to do this with her in its entirety starting next year.
Besides the above activities, we will begin our school each morning with a short Bible study and prayer time. The girls each have a notebook which they use to illustrate the Bible passage. Next week we will be adding in our IEW/MCT activities. We did a little bit of MCT this week, but I don't have the video we made ready to post yet, so I'll show it next week.
Our Tapestry of Grace studies have us doing year four, which is the study of the Twentieth Century. This is significant because DH and I, the Grandparents, and the two Great-Grandmothers have a change to tell our own stories to the princesses. We've lived through or experienced many of the events we will study. These events and people have had a large influence on our lives in different ways. I'd really like to figure out a way to record some conversations with the Great-Grandmothers. They are late 80s and early 90s (how's that for not giving away their ages) and - let's fact it - they may not be around when we repeat this year plan five years from now. But it is also significant because I truly believe that we are living in a time that will be remembered as the second American Revolution. We MUST pray hard for our country as the LORD has allowed the consequences of our corporate sin of rejecting Him and His precepts to take root. But God always sent a prophet to warn His people before allowing them to be destroyed, captured or enslaved. There are many prophets sounding the alarm right now, and we need to answer the call, put on our battle armor, and hit our knees. (I'm stepping off my soapbox now.)
Here's the books we're doing for our first week:
Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
McCall Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading (from now on referred to as McCrab): First three tests of Book A - we will begin with three tests a week, but may move to four a week.
Latin For Children Primer A: By her choice, she will be going through this from the beginning as a review to cement in the things she learned last year. She will take two days per lesson for the first 14 lessons, as these are pretty much a complete review - a few new nouns or verbs in forms she already knows. Then we will move to three days per lesson for the next twenty lessons. Again, most of these are review with a few new words. But there is a second conjugation taught in lesson 15 that she didn't learn before. So there are a few new concepts that will be challenging. If she is able to keep up this pace, she will begin Primer B by our second semester.
TOG Yr4 W1: Timeline (a new activity for her - she'll be keeping track of important events, people and inventions on colored notecards); President Notebook (this contains important facts to remember about each president and first lady as well as famous quotes for copywork); Student Activity Pages (SAPs); Accountability and Thinking Questions (AQ/TQ); Reading (disclaimer - most of these are long books and she will read portions of the book each week) - The Gift of Music, The Call of the Wild, With Daring Faith, Bully for you Teddy Roosevelt, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the 20th Century (she was a bit put off by this title); Read Alouds - The Story of the World Volume 4, Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor
Princess S - 4th Grade - Upper Grammar
McCrabb: First three tests
Growing With Grammar 4 (GWG4): Chapter 1.1 to 1.3
TOG Yr 4 W1: Quizlet vocab; Important People Copywork; SAPs; Read Alounds - same as above; Reading (again - portions each week) - An Age of Extremes, We'll Race You Henry, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Trial and Triumph
Princess L - K - Lower Grammar
Winter Promise Advanced K: Review letters a, f, b, m, e, k, t and r; study the -ad family and -am family; practice handwriting letters (because we only learned the short sounds last year, she will have to learn the other two sounds for a and e)
TOG Yr 4 W1: Read Alouds - same as above; Reading - First Flight, the Story of the Wright Brothers, We'll Race You Henry, The Story of Little Babaji
Princess M - PreTOGGer
I've been working on printing, cutting and laminating various activities from the Letter of the Week Curriculum. Each of the other princesses will have a 30 minute time block each morning where they will have the choice to either do some of these activities with Princess M or read to her. My hope is that little by little I will have enough of these put together to be able to do this with her in its entirety starting next year.
Besides the above activities, we will begin our school each morning with a short Bible study and prayer time. The girls each have a notebook which they use to illustrate the Bible passage. Next week we will be adding in our IEW/MCT activities. We did a little bit of MCT this week, but I don't have the video we made ready to post yet, so I'll show it next week.
8/3/10
Two More Songs by our DDs
So this first song was written by Princess E. Most of it she wrote while at church camp, and then came home and finished off with Dad. He is playing the guitar, she is doing all vocals, and her uncle is covering bass and drums (as well as being the recording tech.)
The second song is Bless the Broken Road. DH and I have known and loved the song for years, but our DDs were introduced to it on the Hannah Montana the Movie soundtrack. Rascal Flatts did an accoustic version on that CD, and they learned it. This is their version with Dad's accompaniment.
We're so honored that God blessed us with musically talented children, and we're anxious to see what He has in store for them.
The second song is Bless the Broken Road. DH and I have known and loved the song for years, but our DDs were introduced to it on the Hannah Montana the Movie soundtrack. Rascal Flatts did an accoustic version on that CD, and they learned it. This is their version with Dad's accompaniment.
We're so honored that God blessed us with musically talented children, and we're anxious to see what He has in store for them.
8/2/10
Look What Joined Us for Dinner
So I came back to pull my casserole out of the oven and found Princess M standing on the kitchen table pointing out the window. While I was scolding her I quickly glanced out the window, and here is what she was looking at.
This beauty was perched on top of our play set right off our deck. We watched for a few minutes, then sat down to eat before our dinner got cold. Unfortunately, it was not very appetizing watching the raptor carnage before us. See all the little pieces on the green tarp covering? That would be little pieces of chipmunk face. DH tried to wash it all off but ended up having to climb up there to get it down. If anyone can tell us exactly what kind of bird this is, please do so. We figure it to be some kind of hawk, but not sure exactly what kind.
7/27/10
Homeschool Room
Last year at Christmas break, I decided that I wanted to change our little used living room into a homeschool room. So little by little we have added some things to make it more usable as a homeschool room. Here's a little bit about each of the shots in the slideshow:
Piano - This would be the piano my parents bought when I was five. I took lessons on it for almost eight years. When my mother moved across the country right after I graduated from college, my step dad told her he would buy her something else if she would leave it with me. (I think he knew it would get a lot more attention from me than from her.) Princess M has been taking lessons for four and a half years and Princess S for three years. Princess L would start this year if we let her but we told her she had to wait until she was reading well enough, or until she was 6 1/2 - whichever came last.
Teacher's Manuals - This is where I keep all of my big stuff.
Ikea Billy Bookshelf - I've waited for this for a long time! I finally was able to take my books out of boxes and bins and put them all up where they are easily seen and accessible. And would you believe they are almost totally full! I can gain a little space by putting books of the same height on one shelf and add another shelf.
Teacher/Mom's Desk - We've had this awesome desk hanging on the wall for about six months and I love it! It's another Ikea buy. The nice thing is that when we do need to use the room for something other than school, like an extended family celebration, then it closes up into the wall and locks! Which also means I can keep my laptop away from the kids if I'm not going to be around. The organizers came from DH's work. They are moving their office at the end of the summer and are getting rid of stuff. He brought home several things that had been left in the cafeteria for anyone who wanted them. They're a little beat up but they work great.
Whiteboard - This was a Christmas gift from Nanny and Papa. Another nice addition. Notice the picture of the principal (DH) that hangs over it. He hung that as a joke a long time ago when his family was going to be coming over. But, I teased him endlessly because he wrote "Principle (name) Strive for Excellence". I reminded him that the principal was your pal. It remains there still to remind us.
Height Adjustable Tables - I purchased these from Sam's Club. I love them because they are easily taken down and stored, have handles built in, and are height adjustable. Last year I had one as low as it goes, and one at chair height. I figured Princesses L and M would use one, but they really didn't yet. So this year, since we had the stools, and I have one (Princess S) who NEVER SITS STILL, I thought we'd try this at counter height and see how it worked. It will keep Princess M from coloring on, spilling on, grabbing or otherwise attacking whatever is on their desk at the time. I also have one sorter on the top that they can use to put some of the more often used books. For this year, only the older two princess will use these tables. Princess L still does everything with me, so we just work at the kitchen table, which is just to the left of my desk.
Read Aloud Sofa - When we made the room over, we brought our old beat up sofa (which was our first major purchase as an engaged couple) up from the family room and moved our "nice" furniture (read less beat up) down to the family room. While it takes up a large foot print, we needed to have a sofa for read alouds. At least for those that we don't do during lunch.
Entire Room - Someday I have dreams of doing more, but not until we have a lot more saved up.
Well there you have it. I hope this gives you a little better glimpse into our homeschool life. And for a full disclaimer - it never looks that straightened up. I grabbed the rest of the stuff that was scattered all over and put it all in a laundry basket so I could take pictures. I'll have to go through it all tomorrow.
Piano - This would be the piano my parents bought when I was five. I took lessons on it for almost eight years. When my mother moved across the country right after I graduated from college, my step dad told her he would buy her something else if she would leave it with me. (I think he knew it would get a lot more attention from me than from her.) Princess M has been taking lessons for four and a half years and Princess S for three years. Princess L would start this year if we let her but we told her she had to wait until she was reading well enough, or until she was 6 1/2 - whichever came last.
Teacher's Manuals - This is where I keep all of my big stuff.
Ikea Billy Bookshelf - I've waited for this for a long time! I finally was able to take my books out of boxes and bins and put them all up where they are easily seen and accessible. And would you believe they are almost totally full! I can gain a little space by putting books of the same height on one shelf and add another shelf.
Teacher/Mom's Desk - We've had this awesome desk hanging on the wall for about six months and I love it! It's another Ikea buy. The nice thing is that when we do need to use the room for something other than school, like an extended family celebration, then it closes up into the wall and locks! Which also means I can keep my laptop away from the kids if I'm not going to be around. The organizers came from DH's work. They are moving their office at the end of the summer and are getting rid of stuff. He brought home several things that had been left in the cafeteria for anyone who wanted them. They're a little beat up but they work great.
Whiteboard - This was a Christmas gift from Nanny and Papa. Another nice addition. Notice the picture of the principal (DH) that hangs over it. He hung that as a joke a long time ago when his family was going to be coming over. But, I teased him endlessly because he wrote "Principle (name) Strive for Excellence". I reminded him that the principal was your pal. It remains there still to remind us.
Height Adjustable Tables - I purchased these from Sam's Club. I love them because they are easily taken down and stored, have handles built in, and are height adjustable. Last year I had one as low as it goes, and one at chair height. I figured Princesses L and M would use one, but they really didn't yet. So this year, since we had the stools, and I have one (Princess S) who NEVER SITS STILL, I thought we'd try this at counter height and see how it worked. It will keep Princess M from coloring on, spilling on, grabbing or otherwise attacking whatever is on their desk at the time. I also have one sorter on the top that they can use to put some of the more often used books. For this year, only the older two princess will use these tables. Princess L still does everything with me, so we just work at the kitchen table, which is just to the left of my desk.
Read Aloud Sofa - When we made the room over, we brought our old beat up sofa (which was our first major purchase as an engaged couple) up from the family room and moved our "nice" furniture (read less beat up) down to the family room. While it takes up a large foot print, we needed to have a sofa for read alouds. At least for those that we don't do during lunch.
Entire Room - Someday I have dreams of doing more, but not until we have a lot more saved up.
Well there you have it. I hope this gives you a little better glimpse into our homeschool life. And for a full disclaimer - it never looks that straightened up. I grabbed the rest of the stuff that was scattered all over and put it all in a laundry basket so I could take pictures. I'll have to go through it all tomorrow.
7/23/10
Getting Ready - Part One
Well, we're on the countdown for the start of our school year on August 9th. I cannot believe how fast this summer has slipped away. I still have a few things left to do, but I'm almost done. Here is where my list stands so far:
Make spreadsheet with library request datesMake and print schedules for everyonePurchase bookshelf for home school room- Clean and organize home school room
Make copies of phonics gamesGet MCT books spiral boundGet Latin books put into page protectorsPurchase school supplies - pens, pencils, markers, paint, glue, etc.Print TOG SAPs- Organize recipes and menus for meal planning (I'm beginning a kids cook night where the older two princesses will help me with a meal, so I want to decide which recipes are simple and easy for them)
Make handwriting books out of this year's Awana verses- Finish summer unit study on the Civil War
- Finish summer science chapters on the planets
Princess L's Amazing Logical Reasoning Skills
This amazing point of logic was uttered by Princess L after I bent down to wipe up the tea Princess M spilled: "You know mom, if you had given her a sippy cup you wouldn't be cleaning that up right now!"
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