Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood

Closing the CC Year with Weeks 21-24

2012-03-10T08:35:00.002-06:00

As we close out the school year, I just thought I'd list our links for the remaining weeks. All of this can also be found on our Cycle 3 Weekly Resources Page...

History:

Week 21: US Astronauts	NASA's Lost Bible Quotations Walking on the Moon Apollo 35^th Anniversary with Video Clips “That’s one small step for man” audio John F. Kennedy Video Moon Speech Part 1 Part 2 Apollo 11 Launch recreation, science and history Space Race videos (have fun with history) Apollo moon landing video, youtube Phases of the Moon Printable Activity Connect to the Moon Website (Lesson Plans for multiple grade levels) Moon Phases Animation Audio “Course” on the moon’s phases Learn about space exploration (kidsastronomy.com) Apollo 11 and landing on the moon 50 Years of the Space Age Astronaut Adventures Lapbook and Links Astronaut Preschool Pack Size of Earth, Moon, and Sun – Lesson Plan ABC Moon Book.pdf Space Coloring Pages Label Phases of Moon Printable (Photos) Build Your Own Space Mission Online activity Moon Lapbook Components Space Videos (9 animated interviews of modern-day scientists) NASA: Challenging the Space Frontier Lesson Plan (Grades 3-8)
Week 22: September 11, 2001	World Trade Center Complex Paper Model PBS: America Rebuilds PBS: Heroes of Ground Zero Lesson Plans from 911 Memorial.org, including one on Furry Heroes 911 and the Constitution Lessons 911 and the Constitution PDF Remembering 9/11: Building Tolerance 9/11 Fact Sheet (A great overview of the Twin Towers and 9/11) Remembering September 11
Week 23: Preamble to the US Constitution	What Basic Ideas Are in the Preamble to the Constitution? (Grades 3-4) What Basic Ideas about Government Are Included in the Preamble to the Constitution? (Grades 5-6) Squidoo U.S. Constitution Unit Study and Activities Walk Through the Constitution Board Game Preamble Scramble On-Line Game Schoolhouse Rock’s Preamble U.S. Constitution Fact Sheet Pirates of the Preamble Online Game The Meaning of the Preamble The Preamble and the Constitution Lesson Plans and Games Key Constitutional Concepts Video U.S. Constitution Key Facts Timeline Sheet Lesson Plans, video and other resources for Constitution Constitution Day Lesson Plans
Week 24: Bill of Rights	Read and Search the Constitution (Also a link to print the Constitution) A Roadmap to the United States Constitution Learn About the Constitution Overview of the Constitution for Kids: · K – 3rd · 4th – 7th · 8th – 12th Scholastic Inside the Constitution Preamble, The Articles, Bill of Rights, short articles Constitution Scavenger Hunt Scholastic Constitution Online Game Five “Treasure Hunts” Test Your Constitution Knowledge Online Quizzes The Bill of Rights: First Ten Amendments Presentation Bill of Rights Match Game Ben’s Guide to Government for Kids Bill of Rights from Ben’s Guide to Government for Kids Mock Election Campaigning Game with questions relating to the Bill of Rights

Orchestra & Composers
The U.S. Presidents
Math Ideas
Geography
Bible Resources (not really related to CC's memory work)

Also check out Lindy and Jeanne's blog and The Corkums website for weekly supplemental resource posts. (They both do a better job at finding and organizing resources by week!)

For those interested in Chemistry resources, grammar worksheets, etc., feel free to browse the Cycle 3 Resources Page for a more exhaustive list.

Spring Break Week

2012-03-10T08:21:00.003-06:00

Spring has sprung.

Even though this week was our spring break from CC, I was originally planning to stick to our normal school routine. But then I found that we really did need a "break" after all, especially since our first proof was this week.

Memory Master has been a challenge for us this year, which is ironic because it SHOULD be easier the second year, since we had already learned Timeline and Math. But in ways it has been more of a struggle BECAUSE of this. Practicing Timeline is one of our least favorite activities, which is also ironic because we normally love Timelines. Though I'm probably not with the majority here, part of me is just thrilled that we have a totally new Timeline to learn next year.

So, with Memory Master proofing at hand, we've been focusing on our We Choose Virtues "I am Perseverant" and "I am Diligent" cards. And we read Helen Keller (Scholastic Biography) by Margaret Davidson, which really helped with our attitudes! We've also been listening to Seeds of Courage by Seeds Family Worship quite a bit lately.

I guess you could say we did a good deal of "unschooling" this past week, which means...

Stephen read 4 more Life of Fred books. He even learned how to use sigma notation (an advanced algebra concept) for adding a large sum of numbers. Now that he's finished reading the elementary series in its entirety, we are going back through them, spending more time with all the concepts.

We've continued working in the Time Travelers World War II History Project Pack. This week's activities included uniforms of WWII, POW Camps, Conflicts and Battles (Map Overlays), and Timeline figures.

Levi did his part by giving the AXIS soldier
a University of Tennessee orange uniform.

You can download this activity for free, along with the Battle of Britain details from Homeschool in the Woods.

Stephen also studied his Big Book of History.

Daddy sent a surprise gift - a molecular model kit. So, the boys enjoyed making a few molecules (along with a bunch of other creations that had nothing to do with Chemistry).

Levi took it upon himself to get out the painting supplies at the beginning of the week.

On Friday, we celebrated our anniversary. The boys loved looking through the wedding album.

And then we watched our wedding video. This was evidently the first time the boys had seen it. I had no idea how exciting it would be for them.

David and Stephen started jumping up and down when they
saw me coming up the aisle. Giggling, David
pointed and yelled,
"That's you, Mom-Mom! That's you!!!"

Gary sent roses that looked like those I held
10 years ago as I walked down the aisle.

It amazes me how much we learn and do even when we don't plan to learn or do anything!

It simply proves to me once again that this love of learning is a lifestyle, not a "schoolday."

From the heart

2012-03-07T16:18:00.000-06:00

Struggles within. Struggles without.

Worries overwhelm. Concerns loom.

The days grow long.

This wild child Selfishness runs rampant in my heart. In our home.

I say goodbye, never knowing if it is the last time I will see him.

Never knowing if this will be the last phone call I will receive.

Will this be my last chance to tell him I love you - that man I love so deeply?

Half of me is gone while he is away.

This process of letting go can drain me of all of my strength.

The truth is, the school work, the Memory Master Proofing, the housework - it all pales in comparison.

Do we even keep going? And how do I keep going? My own laziness surfaces. And resurfaces.

Again and again.

I simply long for my husband's return.

And I'm driven to seek God's goodness in my life...

In these moments I draw closer to God, even though I feel farther away. He has given so much, and yet I want more. And despite my failing, His unfailing love proclaims itself to me in the woods, in the trickling waters, in the moss-laden rocks, in the rippled reflections of the pond, in the three precious blessings He has bestowed upon me. And He shows me once again that He will fill my empty spaces, those places that feel vacant and void when I am raising three boys on my own, when my heart is stretched halfway across the world.

God's promises prevail.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 41:10

To listen to this scripture memory verse song from Seeds Family Worship, go to http://www.seedsfamilyworship.net/listen-online/

Scroll down to #12 Do Not Fear on Seeds of Courage album.

Checklists, Puppetry, and Going Outside

2012-03-02T13:52:00.002-06:00

Though our schedule normally looks sort of like this:

Welcome to School, Boys!

oBible

oMath

oHandwriting

oSpelling/Phonics

oReading& Language Arts

oCurrentMemory Work & Maps

oMemoryWork Review

Monday: History, Timeline

Tuesday: Math, Latin

Wednesday: Timeline, English Grammar

Thursday: Geography, Latin & Bible

Friday: Timeline, Science

oHistoryor Science Projects

o Computer

This week it looked sort of like this:

Welcome to School, Boys!

o Bible

o Math

o Handwriting

o Spelling/Phonics

o Reading & Language Arts

o Current Memory Work & Maps

o Memory Work Review

o Go outside

o Computer

So, we did not do any of our normal history or science projects this week, nor did we do much in the Fine Arts realm. But during computer time, we visited:

A Timeline for Civil Rights Movement in America 1945-1975. Click on the timeline spot for Brown v Board of Education (1954) for video clips.

The Animated History of Carnegie Hall (lots of history tie-ins!):

The New York Philharmonic Kid's Site. The boys spent a good deal of time playing:

The Instrument Frenzy Game (classifying instruments according to sections)
MusiQuest
Composers Gallery
The Newsstand (which includes several great history tie-ins!)

They even invented a musical instrument in the NY Philharmonic Instrument Lab. There's no reason they could not have done this in real life - except for the fact that their mom did not think to save and lay out a bunch of junk for them to use. (Reminds me of those of us who use the Wii to jog in place or throw a ball rather than jog outside or throw a real ball.)

This brought to mind the Bash the Trash Concert we went to during our visit to Louisiana, where we learned a bit about the science of sound and took away all sorts of ideas for reusing trash to make instruments. Matter of fact, it made me smile thinking about our homemade straw oboes and Annie Brunson's videos on making homemade instruments.

A Little Puppetry

Aunt Sherry sent the boys a book called 10-Minute Puppets by Noel MacNeal (the puppeteer for Bear in "Bear in the Big Blue House"). If you know how I am with shortcut methods of doing just about anything (e.g., recipes with less than 5 ingredients or science experiments that take less than 5 minutes), it won't surprise you that I really love this book! We spent a good part of last weekend making and playing with puppets.

Sock Puppets, hand-sewn by a non-seamstress.

David cuts out the talking head puppet.

David's talking head says, "Thank you, Aunt Sherry!"

David's talking head

Stephen makes an origami frog

Stephen's origami frog.

David's origami frog.

And check this out: you can download several of the puppet templates from the 10-Minute Puppets book on Noel MacNeal's website on Puppetry. You can make a puppet designed by Bear in the Big Blue House! Isn't that something?!

Though we did not use them this time around, The Toymaker has great paper puppets, too. When we did our Norway Unit Study last year, we downloaded the Three Billy Goats Gruff Paper Puppets to use while we read the story, and we used the Pilgrim & Indian Finger Puppets when we studied the Pilgrims.

The boys really liked the origami! We hope to also try this Origami Butterfly and a little Storigami one of these days. (Rachel Katz's website has lots of ideas, instructions, and links to other origami sites.)

Math

For math, I decided to actually set up and use some of the file folder games listed in my previous math post. These take a while to cut out, but because I can't just sit and watch TV without doing something else, I cut out a good portion of it while we were watching WordWorld.

Even Steven Odd Todd
Some Odd Pumpkins
Three Times Tables (Volcanoes)
Five Times Tables (Hot Air Balloons)
Nine Times Tables (Saturns)

One day we played Even Steven Odd Todd.

And on another day we played Some Odd Pumpkins.

David learned more about telling time from the
Whoooo Knows What Time It Is? Game

Stephen enjoyed the Times Tables Games as a
break from the normal flashcard routine.

It ended up snowing bingo dots all over our family room when I told the boys we would play Money Bingo but then got distracted with something else. We never did get around to playing Bingo.

Go Outside

Five of seven days of sunshine with no rain, meant GO OUTSIDE. We have found the first of the trails we will build through Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood. We even named some of the places along the way.

Our trail, looking back towards the house.

Rest Stop

A vine swing.

I spy... a snake!

Amazing wood carvings done by... carpenter ants??

"Moss Rock"

"Rock Bluff"

"Mini-Niagra Falls," without water.

"Triple-Step Falls"

The Old Man at Flat Rock.

Discovering a whirlpool at Flat Rock

~Though it's not quite time yet, I still find myself looking for toad shoestrings.~

Looking across Flat Rock, from the front of our
property towards the guest house.

ooooooWWWEEEEE! Does that guest house need work! We left it in a shambles last year when we decided to build on to our home instead.

Is that scary or what?!?

Anyone care to join us in ripping out the rest of the interior? (In case you need convincing that this is a great way to spend your free time, it's going to be a race against the wasps....)

blah, blah, blah. (a.k.a., my wordy ramblings spurred on by a comment about how much of a "supermom" I am...)

If you were to meet me in real life, you would likely be really disappointed at my utter mediocrity. I'm just a plain old mom with a lot of imperfections, and it is so undeserving that anyone would think very highly of me. I mean, I'm impatient and even act all wigged out every now and then. (HA! If you only knew...) I am all that is broken, strange, messed up, nutty, distorted and fallen. Anything good in me is simply a gift of grace from God. I take comfort in the fact that His power is made perfect in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). THAT fills me with joy.

I have a goal of being really real on our blog - not hiding behind some facade of perfection and superwomanness. I even try to take photos of our messes and mess-ups just to show that we are a real, bonafide, average family. That's not to say that I revel in my weaknesses, but it is to say that when the goodness manifests itself in some way, it just points back to a loving God!

It is disappointing to me to think that someone would get discouraged reading our blog just because it SEEMS like we do so much! The truth of the matter is, I really am just an incredibly imperfect person that constantly needs to be formed and reshaped into what God wants me to be. Every day I have to just trust in THE God that rises far above my failures. I rest in His promise that all things work together for good for those who love him and are called according to HIS purposes (Romans 8:28). And... if all means all, then it includes even my biggest failures!!!

This blogging thing can be a bit of a struggle to balance because I want to be an encouragement to anyone who comes across it, but it is also a journal of our lives for our family yearbook (when I publish the blog as a book at the end of the school year) and a way to connect with my husband. SO... that's why I post all this stuff - NOT to make a person feel inferior, or to say, "LOOK AT ME!! LOOK AT ME!!! I'M SO COOL!!!" but just to chronicle our everyday lives. To be honest, I was never able to remember what I did from one day to the next until I started intentionally capturing the moments on camera.

My deepest hope is that others can glean ideas and benefit from my feeble attempts at writing what's on my heart.

So... once again I say: I am not a superwoman. I'm just a woman covered by the grace, love and mercy of a Super God!

A few things about my survival techniques and how and why we do what we do:

I'm trying to break free from strict workbook-and-scheduled-schoolday mentality (especially since my breakdown earlier this semester) so that we can enjoy livin' and learnin' together more. I have even stopped using my daily planner to plan because the stack approach that I always fall back into works just fine (even if it's really messy!). That's why I now use a checklist (like the ones at the top of this blog post). The checklist is in a picture frame right beside the stacks of papers, along with a dry-erase marker to check off the boxes as the schoolboys finish their work.
This means we ditched our original school schedule and much of the curriculum we were using last semester. Instead, we now alternate between history and science projects in the afternoons if we have time. Just recently, we have decided to turn on the TV only when it's dark outside. That leaves a lot of extra time in our day to do stuff like our World War II study and our Elementary Chemistry Curriculum. And we throw in the Fine Arts studies whenever we feel like it.
The fact that we ditched our original school schedule means that we have some things that are currently unfinished, like listening to the rest of Little Women, and the Saxon Math 5/4 and Phonics Road to Reading books, and listening to A Short History of the United States and Mara Pratt's American History Stories and finishing the Titanic Lapbook. We just didn't do everything I had planned. We may finish some of those things after our CC school year comes to a close, but in the midst of the January blues, I had to find things that were a better fit for us, that I could do without it being as much of a burden. And when I get special requests from the boys about audiobooks they'd like to listen to, or math books they'd like to read, or historical events they'd like to study, I forego the original plan to enjoy a grand detour along our road to learning.
When my husband is gone, I have to occupy myself with projects. In other words, I cut out a bunch of file folder games when I miss my husband. The more stuff that's on here, the more you know I miss my husband. Y'See?
I'm a bit of an insomniac. So, when people say, "Do you sleep?" I say, "Sometimes."
We limit ourselves right now to one extra-curricular activity per child at any given time (which does not include church activities and all of our visits with friends). This may change one day when our children are old enough for something like 4-H. And I still haven't gathered the courage for us to join Cub Scouts (which I would love to do but know my limitations with a three-year-old). In fact, I've been kicking myself because I accidentally missed the deadline for soccer this spring (to Stephen's chagrin), but maybe this opens the door for us to take swim lessons again (to Stephen's - and David's - immense joy)!
In the end, we really do not do a whole lot. I just take photos of what we do and write about it. And because I ramble a whole lot, it sometimes seems like we do a whole lot. And that's my secret! Now you try it! ;)

An early springtime surprise
I found on the kitchen table.
This is really what life is all about:
To know Him and to make Him known.

World War II, Chemistry, and U.S. Geography

2012-02-25T17:30:00.000-06:00

Stephen started his World War II conflicts map (with overlays) and timeline (from the Time Travelers World War II project pack)... (He is as content as can be working on maps and timelines, ESPECIALLY when they have to do with WWII.)

He also completed the first WWII project - a simple notebook page on Hitler's Climb to Power. It is really shocking to know how World War II came about. And in the Fall 2011 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, there was an article on the Nuremberg Trials that I just read last night. Wow! I wish I could figure out how to link to it. It is well worth the read!

Science!

After two weeks of postponing our science activities, we finally did some more Chemistry. In Classical Science Elementary Chemistry (this is a purchased curriculum, but you can download Chapter 1 for free), we learned a bit about metals and nonmetals and more about how the Periodic Table is organized.

We conducted a simple experiment on a metal's ability to conduct heat: Boil some water, pour it in a coffee cup, measure the temperature.

Repeat, only now see what happens if a metal spoon is in the cup. Repeat again, but add another spoon. And do it again with another spoon.... Eventually, you'll get the picture.

So the boys have now discovered a way to cool down their Ramen noodles more quickly!

"Now I can put a spoon in the bowl AND put it in the freezer!"

And that was the big eureka moment this week.

We also played with electrons this week using an experiment that shows how aluminum is giving and iron is not. Smear ketchup on aluminum foil. Wrap the foil over a stainless steel pot, pan, or bowl. (Be sure the aluminum foil is in contact with the ketchup is in contact with the stainless steel.) When you wake up the next morning, you will see holes in the foil (aka, corrosion) where the aluminum foil was in contact with the ketchup was in contact with the stainless steel. (The electrons passed from the aluminum through the ketchup to the iron in the pot.)

And we are now discovering the reason why we brush our teeth with fluoride-enriched toothpaste.

Supplies needed

Pour the fluoride over the egg...

and then wait... till the next day.
Then take the egg out and place it and
another non-treated egg in vinegar.
Compare what happens and then...
go brush your teeth!

Then we had a double-reaction experiment using starch, peroxide, iodine, Vitamin C and water. (I leave off the experiment and explanation to encourage those who can afford to do so to actually go grab a copy of Mr. Q's Classical Science Elementary Chemistry. It is just great!)

At first the solution is clear, but then it turns a dark color. It has something to do with iodine first reacting with Vitamin C and then reacting with peroxide (in the presence of starch).

I'm thinking the kids need lab coats. And graduated cylinders and beakers instead of plastic teaspoons and drinking glasses. Even if science lesson loses some of its effect by being "kitchen chemistry" instead of "laboratory chemistry," it does make chemistry seem more a part of real life!

We finally got around to doing our take-home experiment from CC: Salt Needles. Better late than never!

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this
all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
We are hard pressed on everyside, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but notabandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed… 2 Corinthians 4: 7-9
After thecrushing, we drink from Living Waters of Grace,

and we are pieced back together onceagain.

Fine Arts!
We watched Disney's Peter and the Wolf Video, which helped us in identifying particular instruments while listening to classical music.

We followed that up with listening to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite while eating pancakes Saturday morning. (David insisted on serving us while classical music was playing in the background.)

We made a My Musical Instrument Book with some of the other children in our CC community.

Geography!

Because we are in Memory Master mode now (not that we weren't before, but we have to get those last few weeks under our belts before Week 21!), and because geography is proving to be the most difficult of the subjects for us right now (thank goodness it's a favorite subject!), we are now finding all sorts of ways to review (especially geography!).

A U.S. Features Geography Game created by CC Smart Mama Melissa.

Download Seterra, a free geography map quizzing program that keeps track of high scores and times. Now the boys can work at beating me at this thing. A great program!

Download the Free Knowledge Quest geography curriculm GlobalMania. This is so simple but has given me enough direction to plan towards learning the entire globe so that we can focus more next year on learning how to draw everything free hand!! And while you're visiting Knowledge Quest, you can download free samples of all of their curriculum, including the Presidential Scrapbook, The Star-Spangled State Book, A Child's Geography, Expedition Earth, MapTrek, and more. Honestly, I believe Knowledge Quest has some of the best geography curriculum I have seen!

Some GREAT games for the U.S. Features:
U.S. Rivers by Sheppard Software
U.S. Lakes by Sheppard Software
United States Features Game by Your Child Learns
States Puzzle Game by Your Child Learns
Physical Features Map - Cut and Paste by Your Child Learns

And state & capitals practice (for variety):
State Capitals - pick the capital given the state
State Capitals - pick the state given the capital
States and Captials Quiz
There are several more options to choose from, along with tutorials if extra practice is needed before quizzing.

You can also print megamaps and State Maps with detailed features from Your Child Learns.

A few other useful downloads:
Learning Across the USA
United States Regions Add-Ons
United States Regions Quizzes

For a bit about NATO and other upcoming history, visit our Cycle 3 Resources.

Finally, a few scenes from our neckadawoods this week...

For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. Psalm 50:10
I'm so thankful God allows us to borrow... all of this!!!

Living Math

2012-02-24T22:37:00.000-06:00

We interrupted our normal mathroutine because I landed on a site to assist children in budgeting: http://www.threejars.com/

And because we are trying to be moreintentional about "living" math in our home, I seized the opportunity for the boys to once again count their coins.

Weselected their share-save-spend distribution, and now they can keep a log oftheir allowance - a little more accountability for everyone! I was evenable to connect what their allowance is to their chores. In the end, theywill receive a report that tells them how they could have earned more. Iam rather impressed with the site!

David has been learning thedifference between pennies and dimes in his Saxon Math 1 book, and to assist inthat effort, we've been using LearningPage's Coin Worksheet Packet, which Ialso used with Stephen a few years back, and which I will also use with Leviwhen he's ready.

This brings to mind some presentation flashcards I put togetherwhen the boys did a presentation on coins and the U.S. Presidents last year.

And then there's the U.S. Mintsite, which has several lesson plans and activities for kids. The great thing is that these lessons tie history and geography in to the studyof coins.

Stephen has read 2 more books in the Life of Fred series.

Reading Life of Fred Apples. The books are not in color and

the cover is not that attractive - which says a lot about the content.

At this rate, he'll be through allof the elementary books by the end of next week. I have not ever beenable to really rant and rave about any one math curriculum, but I will rantand rave about Life of Fred because now my sons love reading math textbooks(though only from one series - Life of Fred). We still have a coremath program (or in Stephen's case, two - Math U See Gamma and Christian LightEducation, with Calculadder Drills thrown in there as well), but Life of Fredis now a given in our math library. Not only is our son learning aboutmath, but he's also learning about things like Archimedes and deciduoustrees. Plus, I overheard him talking in x's and y's earlier today. He has worked with them in other math books, but he has never actually talked aboutthem! And, last but not least, he's teaching David how to draw animalswith Fred heads.

A cat with a Fred head. The boys cackled over this for

nearly five minutes.

To check out Life of Fred:

Life of Fred Samples (make sure you and yourchild enjoys this type of humor).

Life of Fred Scope and Sequence

Life of Fred money-back guarantee

It's $16 for the first book, Lifeof Fred Apples - free media mail shipping. (But download the samplefirst!)

Other ideas for making math fun:

I am not an expert when it comes to making math fun. I love math even when it's monotonous, and it takes me way out of my comfort and effort zone to prepare games and play games and do the fun math stuff. But I love to share what I have discovered and what has worked. But just so you know, we do workbooks more than anything else. And if you do everything on this page, you will have surpassed me a quadrillionfold.

Having said that, we love picture books. (I even used them in middle and high school!) Here'sjust a few we've been reading lately that have helped with even and oddnumbers, fractions, and telling time.

One Odd Day by Doris Fisher

My Even Day by Doris Fisher

My Half Day by Doris Fisher

Tick-tock Sharks by J. Elizabeth Mills

One of my all-time favorite math videos is Donald in Mathmagic Land, which closes with the famous quote "Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe." - Galileo

Welove file folder games. Our favorites are from File Folder Fun:

Preschool Math File Folder Games

Kindergarten Math File Folder Games

First Grade Math Games

Second Grade Math File Folder Games

Third Grade File Folder Games

Fourth Grade Math File Folder Games

Ellen J McHenry also has some great games,as well as a math curriculum called Professor Pig's Magic Math.

For odd and even numbers, try Even Steven Odd Todd. I love games like this where you can just print it out and start using it right away (no cutting necessary)!

ForLiving Math Ideas, download Living Math Ideas from Confessions of a Homeschooler. She alsooffers many math printables, activities, and games. (I have to watch myself, for I am envious of a woman who can do so much.)

And then there's Homeschoolshare'sMath Worboxables. I need to put some of these together for Levi, but that won't happen till this summer, knowing my tendency to procrastinate.

TimezAttack is a PC video game for learning multiplcation that canbe downloaded from BigBrainz. (They also have beta versions ofPC games for addition and subtraction.)

Free Math Programs

Finally, I thought I'd mention thatthere are free math programs out there. Here are a few, but I know thereare others.(These are the only ones I have used).

Math Key - Grades 1 -5: http://www.freemathprogram.com/

Bridges in Mathematics - Complete practice books with blackline answerkeys and student workbook pages for Grades K-5. Go to thelower right side of the screen to find the Practice Book Blackline pdfs(in green text). You can also access the correlations for several states(on the left) and supplemental activities (in the center).

http://www.mathlearningcenter.org/resources/materials/tn

Khan Academy - on-line videos teaching just about any math concept from arithmetic through Calculus. (And almost any other subject, too!) Then go to the exercise dashboard to practice what you've learned!

XtraMath: For drill and practice, Xtramath.org isa great, free site that even provides progress reports. (Discovered thisone from a friend - aka, My Virtual-Be-Real Pen Pal.)

And yet another long, forebodinglist of resources. (These are from our Cycle 3 Resources Page - to see them organized by week of CC, click here and scroll down to math.)

Our original math resources post
Math-drills.com
Dinah Zyke's Teaching Mathematics with Foldables
Xtramath.org
Toymaker’s skip counter and multipies
Skip Counting Drill Sheets
Numbers - Counting Worksheets
Multiplication lapbook
Fact Family Multiplication/Division Game
On-Line Game Timez Attack (Click on downloads.)
Samples at Times Tables the Fun Way
Times Tales Free Trial
Schoolhouse Rock’s Multiplication songs
Interactive Times Table at Mathisfun.com (also has worksheets, on-line math fact practice, and other activities)
Fact Families: Multiply & Divide
Multiplication Tables
Minute Math Drills
Multiplication Worksheets
Multiplication wheel worksheets
Multiplication Game: I Have / Who Has
Multiplication Board Game: To the Moon
Multiplication Roll 'Em
Multiplication Bingo
Multiplication Flashcards
Skipping to Oregon Skip count by 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s with this Oregon-Trail theme
Martian Multiplication File Folder Game
Noah's Ark File Folder Game
Multiple Blessings File Folder Game (templates can be used to practice other multiplication facts)
Sandwich Sequencing Folder Game (by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 10s)
Skip Counting by 2s Worksheets
Skipping to Oregon
Multiple Blessings File Folder Game
Three Times Tables File Folder Game
Four Times Tables File Folder Game
Cherry Tree Chop File Folder Game (3s & 4s)
Sandwich Sequencing Folder Game
Skip Counting by 3s Worksheets
Seven Times Tables File Folder Game
Nine Times Tables File Folder Game
Multiplication Game: Memory Match (up to 9s)
Twelve Times Tables File Folder Game
Multiplication Game: Memory Match (up to 12s)
Geologic Geometry
Bic's Math-seum Poster
Area Worksheets
Circles: Radius, Diameter Circumference
Sizing up Sampson Measurement Game
Measurement: Yards, Feet, Inches Worksheets
Associative Property of Multiplication
Homeschoolshare’s Division Lapbook
Homeschoolshare Addition Lapbook
Homeschoolshare’s Subtraction Lapbbook
Filefolderfun.com (For other games on expanded notation, fractions, decimals, and other math concepts)
Math Curriculum Reviews
Mathtoons Poster for Geometry
Super Teacher Worksheets on many different math concepts
Bridges in Mathematics Free Math Curriculum (Grades K-5)
LearningPage.com Free Math Worksheets (Grades PreK-3)
MathKEY Free Math Curriculum (Grades 1-5)
Using board games for math practice
Using a deck of cards to practice math facts

Through the Great Depression

2012-02-19T22:04:00.000-06:00

We have finally closed out our official study of the Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression.
Stephen finished his WWI Ammo Belt.

We played the Route 66 History Facts Review Game. I was impressed with how much Stephen remembered. I was unimpressed with how much I forgot. And David really enjoyed playing, too. He loves the games in these project packs!

We pieced together all of Stephen's mini-projects into the final lapbook.

And the rest of the projects that we finished that we haven't shown as of yet:

Ummm... I don't think we finished this one.

Homeschool in the Woods Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression was fantastic! We did not complete several of the projects, though, as some of them were more suited for girls (sewing, making flowery ornaments, etc.) and moms with more homemaking skills than I. I have not even tried a single recipe yet! (And these are not difficult - after all, recipes were not elaborate during the Great Depression.) I had to complete a few projects myself because of the accuracy needed in cutting. But I'm planning to use this curriculum again in a few years when David is in 6th grade and Levi is in 3rd. (Now there's a scary thought!)

We are now starting the Homeschool in the Woods World War II project pack, which was a special request from our own official WWII buff. That will be our core history curriculum for the rest of this school year. (Try the WWII Uniforms sample here.) Some other history resources can be found on our Cycle 3 Resources Page, but some of the best are Practical Pages WWII Maps & Activities and Pearl Harbor Lapbook, and The Price of Freedom: A Teacher’s Guide to American Wars.

(As a side note, Stephen finished Life of Fred Butterflies. He asked me to order more of the Life of Fred math books. He wants the whole set. Through Calculus. Well, ALRIGHTY THEN!!!!)

*
*
*

My children are such a gift to me, and I want to surround myself with the present.
So many fleeting opportunities escape my grasp.
Life races by and I miss it.
How can I be home with my children all the time and not see?

I feel so blind.

I took steps into the wild unknown this week. I invited people over to our house AS IS. AS IS is a complete and total wreck! I didn't tell the kids to throw everything in its place because, quite frankly, we were having fun making Atomic Cookies. But I didn't feel myself panicking about our messy house for once in my life. That's the advantage of good friends who aren't looking at what YOUR HOUSE looks like but looking at YOU while you're talking to them.

I decided to let the kids decorate. After sorting through much of the mess left over from the de-struction and re-construction of our home, I've been disappointed to find so many of the kids' paper toys and projects crushed beyond repair. So I finally set aside my perfectionist ways and posted the boys' artwork on the walls where I was planning to decorate otherwise...

And I'm leaving their constructed masterpieces on display all around the house.
One day, I will no longer have these boys making such special creations for us to enjoy.

The boys were de-lighted to see their artwork everywhere. And now looking around the house fills ME with joy. Even when our house is a wreck. Really, that wall makes me smile.

And, what is that peeking through the trees?

Blue sky and bright sun through winter's trees.

Our ridge capped with great big blue.

That sun makes me smile, too.

Orchestra & Famous Composers

2012-02-18T22:57:00.002-06:00

Raindrops onroses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copperkettles and warm woolen mittens

Woodwinds andBrass and Percussion and Strings,

These are a fewof my favorite things!

Once upon a time,I played flute, piccolo, bass drum, cymbals and baritone (but... not all at thesame time).

In high school, Iplaced my flute on a shelf to collect years of dust and walked away from aGod-given talent, mainly because I never developed a love of the music Iplayed. In the midst of playing solos and ensembles, memorizingmany pieces, and leading an entire section of instruments, I hadnever actually studied classical music or composers. I never appreciatedthe music I played. I never enjoyed it. Even when I played solos with bandaccompaniments, I could not tell you anything about a composer or evenrecognize a piece (except Stars & Stripes Forever). That was two decadesago (TWO DECADES?!?!?). And yet I have thought back longingly to those momentswhen conductor unified chaos. (Really, I wish I could raise my hands andconduct my home in such a way. )

And so now wereturn to the formal study of such things. I personally have come to appreciatethis aspect of Fine Arts more in the past year, albeit through TheNutcracker and Disney's Little Einsteins. ( If you're like me andwant an easy way to incorporate Fine Arts, visit Wikipedia'sList of Little Einsteins Episodes for a list of Little Einstein's episodesalong with each art/music focus and then go to this list to find outwhich episodes are on which DVD.Our boys already know the names "Stravinsky" and"Tchaikovsky" and have become familiar with their music due to Disney’s LittleEinsteins, specifically, Rocket's Firebird Rescue(Stravinsky's Firebird Suite) and Christmas Wish (Tchaikovsky'sNutcracker Suite).) And despite the fact that I ran away from thisclassical music stuff at one time, now I look forward to it. It's fun! (Andmaybe - just maybe - I will be brave enough this year to take the boys to theSymphony!)

Towardsthe bottom of this post, you'll find a complete list of the resources I've found,but before I get to that point, here's my filtered, less intimidating list ofthings we might use this semester:

As a parent…

Videos:
Let's Go to the Symphony Video

Disney's Peter and the Wolf Video

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique) Video Performance(LOVE THIS!)
The Orchestra Song

Printable Activities:
Music Fun Facts Book

Composer of the Month wall chart

History of ClassicalMusic Chart

Children's activities from Lancastor Symphony's Website

Making Music Fun

Andsome of the symphony websites for kids or interactives listed at the bottom ofthis post

Music:

Musopen:offers free Classical Music MP3s andClassical Composer Bios

FreeTchaikovsky MP3s (and info)

Free Debussy MP3s(and info)

Free StravinskyMP3s (and info)

(Note thatthere's a download limit of 5 mp3s per day.)

Timeline:
Doyou remember my obsession with timelines? Well, I found a Great Composers Timeline with Timeline Figuresthat I simply could not resist.

If I were a CC tutor or co-op teacher…

Instruments of the Orchestra Posters
OrchestraSeating Charts (Printable)

COLORINGSHEETS:

Tchaikovsky Coloring Page

The String Family

The Woodwind Family

The Brass Family

The Percussion Family

Orchestra Families

InstrumentColoring Book

My Musical Instrument Book

Karen at Wisdomand Righteousness also has a wonderful Week-by-Week Orchestra Curriculum Guide availablefor purchase.

Here's myforeboding list of resources. But don't let it overwhelm you. Just choose onething - but only if it won't stress you out. It does no good to enjoya study of classical music if you don't enjoy it!

Orchestra & Famous Composers: Weeks 19-24 of Classical Conversations

Printables:

Instruments of the Orchestra Posters

Orchestra Worksheets

Music Fun Facts Book

Composer of the Month wall chart
Famous Musicians Biography Notebooking Pages and Music Appreciation Log Sheets

Tchaikovsky Coloring Page

Great Composers Timeline and Timeline Figures

Graphical Timeline of Composers (more exhaustive list with no Timeline figures)

Composer Learning Cards

Music Worksheets

Instrument Coloring Book

Instrument Mini-book Lapbook components

Homeschool Helper Orchestra Lapbook

Orchestra Seating Charts (Printable)

Melody Lap-n-Note Lapbook

Lancaster Symphony Sheets: Instrument Family Info Sheets

History of Classical Music Chart

The String Family

The Woodwind Family

The Brass Family

The Percussion Family

Music Notation Worksheets

Composer Notebooking Pages

My Musical Instrument Book

Videos:

Disney's Peter and the Wolf Video

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique) Video Performance

Let's Go to the Symphony Video
The Orchestra Song

Music:

Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (Le Sacre Du Printemps)

Listening Guide to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring

Musopen Free Classical Music Recordings, Sheet Music & Music Theory:

Free Tchaikovsky MP3s (and info)

Free Debussy MP3s (and info)

Free Stravinsky MP3s (and info)

On-line Interactives & Orchestra Websites:

On-line interactive Composer Timeline

Classics for Kids Musical Dictionary

Dallas Symphony Orchestra's website for kids (with games and activity sheets)

Composer List with biographies and samples of music

Online Interactive – Match the instruments to the sounds

New York Philharmonic Kids Site

PBS Learn About Orchestra

Making Music Fun

American Symphony Orchestra League

The San Francisco Symphony's educational website for children

The New York Philharmonic's educational website for children

Squidoo:

Squidoo Orchestra Lapbook Unit

Squidoo Classical Music Lapbook

Squidoo Charlotte Mason Composer Study

Squidoo Tchaikovsky Composer Study

World’s Great Men of Music by Harriette Brower

The U.S. Presidents

2012-02-16T22:23:00.000-06:00

As we approach the last quarter of this school year, we will once again be studying the U.S. Presidents. Though this list is definitely not exhaustive, maybe it will be a starting point for anyone looking for something to do as they study the Presidents (or celebrate Presidents Day!).

Timeline:

Keeping a visual timeline has been one of our favorite things - so much so that we not only have a Book of Centuries, we also have a separate notebook of Accordion-Style Notebooking Timeline Pages, AND a Timeline Wall.

Accordion Fold Timeline for Notebook

Timeline Wall in our garage

Closer view of Timeline Wall. This can also be done using
electrical tape, but it was easier for me to just print it out!

Timeline Spiral Notebook

Placing Timeline Figures in Timeline Notebook

And would you believe it - I still lose track of time!!

And, of course, I never seem to have enough time. I'm always asking, "Where'd the time go?" (Well, I usually don't ask that much when my husband is in a different hemisphere of the earth. Somehow having him on the other side of the world stretches the time out a little bit for me.)

But maybe that's why timelines fascinate me so. My children are growing up so fast, I feel like I even need a timeline of their lives. Hey, now there's an idea!

For beginners, you can try this Book of Centuries and U.S. Presidents Timeline Add-Ons Clipart. Another option is to create a Timeline Wall somewhere in your home. For ideas on how to make and use a Timeline, download The Timeline Project.

Presidents in a Timeline

The Timeline Project (with clipart for timeline)

U.S. Presidents Timeline Add-Ons

Online Timeline

Blank U.S. History Accordion Fold Notebook Timeline

How to use a Book of Centuries

Simply Charlotte Mason’s free Book of Centuries template

Guest Hollow’s Book of Centuries Timeline Notebook (with recent centuries broken down into decades)

Cover for Timeline Notebook

History and/or Writing:

Audio programs about Presidents provided by Homeschool Radio Shows: Tyler, Roosevelt and Wilson
Charlotte Mason Study (Narration and art study): Presidents Day Holiday Helper by Living Books Curriculum
A selection of resources offered by ABC Teach, including notebooking and creative writing pages, fact pages, biographies (with reading comprehension), and a pdf of The Gettysburg Address
You can also find quite a bit of information at the US Mint sites for kids and/or educators. (They even provide lessons on National Sites, States, and U.S. History as part of the various coin programs that have been implemented.)
George Washington's 110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior - A free17-page e-book that includes Washington's original rules, examples for copywork and memorization, and a writing activity.
Whitehouse 101 at Whitehouse.gov
Baldwin, James. "Four Great Americans" audiobook from Librivox (contains biographies of Washington and Lincoln)
The Home of Heroes Presidents e-book contains colorful fact pages about the Presidents.

Home of Heroes Booklet

Coloring and Crafts:

Free President cards
Coloring book with Presidents through the 43rd President provided by TLS Books
Crayola Presidents Coloring Pages
Presidents Crafts from DLTK
Homeschoolshare Presidents Lapbook (Also available is a Presidents Day Lapbook that focuses on Washington and Lincoln.)

George Washington Lapbook AND File Folder Games provided by Lapbook Lessons. (Our kids LOVE the file folder games at this site!)
Presidents Day File Folder Game
Paper toy model of the White House (complex) or Mount Rushmore (simple).

Our completed Mt. Rushmore

Our completed White House

Math:

Coin Themed Unit Study Worksheets at Learning Page (Free registration required.)
Last year, after using the coin study worksheets at learningpage.com, we prepared a weekly presentation regarding Presidents on coins and bills using info from these sites: http://www.marshu.com/articles/presidents-on-us-united-states-paper-bills-currency.php and http://presidentsonmoney.com/

Plot this Mystery Graph of Lincoln or Graph Washington Using Cartesian Coordinates at SuperTeacherWorksheets. (These were free at the beginning of this school year but are now only available for free in preview format.)

Some resources we've purchased in the past include:

Scholastic's Encyclopedia of the Presidents and Their Times by David Rubel
The Presidents DVD set by The History Channel
Oriental Trading Company's President Fact Border Trim Set, which is like having humongous flashcards for playing Presidents games.

List of Links:

U.S. Presidents: Weeks 19-24

Crayola Presidents Coloring Pages

Home of Heroes Presidents e-book
The inaugural addresses of the Presidents

Free President cards

Free President cards with colorful border

American Presidency: A Glorious Burden

Coloring book with Presidents through the 43rd President provided by TLS Books

Homeschoolshare’s U.S. Presidents Lapbook

Whitehouse.gov

Coin-Themed Unit Study Worksheets at LearningPage

Presidents: Who's on the money?

White House Paper Model

Abraham Lincoln’s Crossroads

George Washington’s World for Kids

Washington or Lincoln? Activity Cards

US Presidents Biography.com

U.S. Presidents Squidoo Lens

Happy Presidents Day!

Atomic Cookies

2012-02-14T03:21:00.000-06:00

What is the atomic number?

It is the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, which is also the number of electrons in a neutral atom.

For any element:

Number of Protons = Atomic Number

Number of Electrons = Number of Protons = Atomic Number

Number of Neutrons = Atomic Mass - Atomic Number

Check out our favorite Periodic Table of Elements here.

What is a cookie?

In this case, it's a small flat or slightly raised cake with icing and hearts on top. Specifically, it's a pre-packaged, Betty-Crocker type of cookie called "Pumpkin Spice."

For our atomic cookies:

Number of Protons = Pink Hearts

Number of Electrons = White Hearts

Number of Neutrons = Red Hearts

If you squint, you can read the homemade element flashcards Stephen made for the first four elements of the Periodic Table. If you squint some more (and use your imagination), you can double-check our arithmetic and see if we did the first 8 elements correctly!

We did the first 12 elements before giving Levi the icing....

Stephen thought about pretending that our living room was Nagasaki and dropping a cookie from above the loft. But in the end... he decided we should eat them instead.

A little about WWI. A lot about life.

2012-02-12T21:55:00.001-06:00

This week we finished up our timeline for Industrial Age through the Great Depression...

And completed some activities on World War I from the same Project Pack.

And finished up a turn-of-the-century fashion activity (which I primarily made but because the boys wanted to see it).

And played a game to practice vocabulary for Industrial Age through the Great Depression

Game Boards for review game

We loved these so much that we are now planning to embark on the World War II Project Pack. (Download the sampler here which contains a project on Axis and Ally uniforms, along with several other activities.)

We finished the Cycle 3 Latin Review Lapbook from Homeschooling My Monkeys. (She has also finished a Cycle 3 Monopoly Review Game, but I have not yet figured out how I want to print it out yet. It looks like fun!)

We are now reading The Sign of the Beaver and using the Total Language Plus guide in lieu of IEW. A few of us are plannign to meet after CC as a group to do many of the extension activities together (but, no, we aren't making rabbit stew!). My heart leapt for joy as Stephen and I were going over the TLP discussion questions for our first week's lessons. The question: "With whom do you like to share your ideas?" The answer: "Well, you! Because you're, like, my best friend." (Please let me bottle that up and carry it around with me EVERYWHERE!!!)
Stephen read an entire math book in one sitting. This is a big, big, big, big, big deal. Life of Fred - a great living math book, and even if this is not his core curriculum, it is DEEE-LIGHTFUL for a math nerd like me to hear my son FINALLY cackling and carrying on about how fun math is. Check out the sample pages here!

I caught him laughing, saying, "Oh, dear!" several times. It is a very
funny book. Now I am reading it with David, who also really likes it!

David made a switch from Phonics Road to Reading to All About Reading. And he is actually excited about his lessons! This is also a big, big, big, big, big deal.

All About Reading Rhyming Activity

Gary finished Levi's bed. This is also a big, big, big, big, big deal. HOORAY for cool dads!!!

We took a field trip to the Discovery Center at Murfree Spring in Murfreesboro.

Somehow I ended up with a thousand pictures of Levi, and sa few blurry ones of the other two. That's because Gary and I split forces, and I sat there with Levi for a good hour watching him do this:

Finally, I got him to do something else:

Unscrew the bolts, take off the tire, put on a new tire, screw in the bolts,
unscrew the bolts, take offf the tire, put on a new tire, screw in the bolts...
you get the idea.

Unscrew the cap, pour in the "fluid," screw on the cap, unscrew the cap,
pour in the "fluid," screw on the cap... you get the idea

And that was essentially my trip to the Discovery Center. But... while I was in certain areas, I came across these great tie-ins to Classical Conversations memory work:

Cycle 2: "Tell me about what spurred the Industrial Revolution."

Hey! We know the atomic number & mass for Carbon!

"1 Hydrogen 1" connects to "8 Oxygen 16" at a 105 degree angle!
Well how about them apples!

Our little Valentine will be turning 6 years old on Tuesday, but we rearranged our schedule to celebrate a little early. For some reason, it never bothers them to celebrate early! He requested a Number Six cake this year, so I bought the kit, some box cake, and some Pillsbury icing, and VOILA! My version of a homemade cake!

The BOX CAKE I made with PRE-MADE ICING
and CANDY LETTERS. To me, it was "made
from scratch."

Yes, I know it's impressive. Thanks.

David's favorite birthday gift was a Puppet Theatre.

He asked to go to Chuck E Cheese, so...

By the time the boys turn 16 years old, they will have
had enough time on Mario Kart to forego Driver's Ed...

The blissful birthday boy!

We also had a great Valentine's Dinner this weekend presented by our boys, as well as an assembly-line Valentine factory. This weekend was one of the best Valentine's Day celebrations we've ever had in our family!

Other history activities? An activity we completed last year was the touching Story of Cher Ami.from Home of Heroes. (This and many other activities and resources are available on the Home of Heroes site!) Others we plan to get out and review this week are our Timeline of U.S. Wars & Casualties and The Price of Freedom: A Teacher’s Guide to American Wars. (There are several other coloring sheets and activities listed under World War I & II on our Cycle 3 Resources Page.)

And for U.S. Presidents, visit our previous post on the Presidents.

Making Your Children Your Valentine Gift

2012-02-12T17:26:00.000-06:00

The sweetest Valentine gift I ever received was....

David

Try as he might, Gary just can't compete with this one! (Neither can I!)

But.. I finally was able to come up with a creative way to show Gary how important he is to us (even if it can't quite compete with the above blessing that was born to us six years ago)!

The boys gave us a Valentine's Dinner this weekend - they set the table, "cooked" the meal, and cleaned the mess, and they even played some classical music in the background. They even wore their Home Depot aprons as they served us! It took a little coaching, but they figured out what they could cook without the help of Mom and Dad in the kitchen.

Stephen writes up a menu....

...and then makes a salad for each of us.

David makes toast with butter (his "specialty")...

He takes our order and then pours our drinks. (He stops long enough
to come and kiss my hand. Gary comments that the waiters at the
Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood Restaurant are awfully friendly...)

We start with a salad....

...followed by our main course...

...followed by dessert (a granola thin and a nutella sandwich)

Levi comes to steal my grape juice and eats the
cheese off Gary's plate.

The waiters take a Valentine photo of the sweethearts!

Stephen waits patiently for us to finish....

...so he can clear our plates and load the dishwasher.

It was the best Valentine's Dinner ever! The boys gave and served us from their hearts - with all that they are! This was the most precious gift I could have ever received this year (and to think it was originally meant to be a gift from me to Gary!).

It is most definitely one of my top 10 precious memories of all time. Most definitely.

Assembly-Line Valentines

2012-02-12T16:40:00.002-06:00

Merging this assembly-line idea from The Corkums with another great idea that was published in this month's Disney's FamilyFun Magazine, we have finished this year's Valentines with time to spare! (And with a great Industrial Age history tie-in, too! Wink-wink!)

Because I could not find gummy hearts at the store, I settled for some great big heart marshmallows, which, by the way, can be EXTREMELY messy if you are trying to cut them apart. (Yes, I know: Of course they would be messy! But let's remember that I am NOT a chef, nor am I a baker, nor am I a Kitchen SuperMom, nor do I even like marshmallows. The fact is: my simple ideas oftentimes turn into mess, ESPECIALLY if those ideas involve food.)

What you need:

Plates (several if you are planning on doing an assembly line)

Marshmallow hearts, or gummy hearts, or anything edible that looks like a heart

A knife (to cut the hearts)

Pretzel sticks

Sandwich baggies

Stapler

Cardstock

Optional:

Print out Cupid's Arrows Template or Wild About You Template on the cardstock

The prep work:

First, prepare the cardstock for your labels. It's much easier for kids to write on the labels before they have staples and food to write around.

The idea is, you cut half of the hearts like so:

Actually, hopefully better than "like so."

Set out four small plates and 1 large plate side-by-side as follows:

1st small plate: pretzel sticks

2nd small plate: arrow ends (the cut hearts)

3rd small plate: empty (for dropping off the half-arrows for the next assembly line worker)

4th small plate: full hearts

Large plate: empty (for completed arrows)

The Assembly Line

We worked through four shifts to make and package Cupid's Arrows:

The White Marshmallow Arrow shift
The Pink Marshmallow Arrow shift
The Packaging Shift
The Labeling Shift

This is mainly because I have only three children - and only two that I know will follow my instructions and not eat everything that falls into their part of the assembly line.

The White Marshamallow Arrow Shift

In true assembly-line fashion, this took about 2 minutes.

The Pink Marshmallow Arrow Shift.

This shift also took only about 2 minutes.

Heart Arrows ready for packaging.

The Packaging Process.

The Labeling Process.

Finished Valentines.

But, wait a second! This only made about 12 valentines. And I need to make about 24... so what do I do now???

I get out something we always seem to have on hand, like ANIMAL CRACKERS. So, I went back to the drawing board and made different labels (which is the most time-consuming part of this project. I didn't have an assembly line to make them!)

Animal Cracker Packaging Process

Completed Animal Cracker "Wild About You" Valentines.

And Levi eventually wanted to participate (and agreed to not eat what he was working on), so I gave him all the little leftover bits of marshmallows so he could make Valentines for himself and his brothers.

They really enjoyed them. :)

Orphan Trains, Elements, and Building Big

2012-02-06T00:50:00.000-06:00

I found out I was subbing for the Apprentice class 5 days in advance. But that doesn't help much when you procrastinate in hopes that you will somehow be delivered from the task you know you must face. So, as I scrambled to come up with a review time activity for class last week, I decided to try this passport idea, given that we were studying immigration for Week 16.

I printed and assembled a copy of this Play USA Passport for each student and then printed labels for each of our review time subjects. After dividing the parents that were in the room up into four different stations, the children rotated through the room, reciting the past 6 weeks of material, earning a stamp for their passport (which was a sticker for each item recited because I didn't have any stamping supplies on hand). It took some upfront time to pull together, but it went really well in class. The kids really liked having the passports, and it made those 30 minutes go by really fast!

History: Immigrants Coming to America

On the home front, we read the well-illustrated and touching story When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest and continued our study of the Titanic. David and Stephen both have been very fascinated with the Titanic since our visit to The Titanic in Pigeon Forge (read a little about that trip here) and have really enjoyed the book 882 1/2 Amazing Answers to Your Questions About the Titanic by Hugh Brewster. Gary and Stephen built a wooden Titanic Model. (The model does not quite fit together the way the picture on the package looks! That's what we get for buying the $4 model.)

Of course, Stephen couldn't paint without his brothers also wanting to hone their artistic abilities, so we practiced some more O'Keefe paintings...

Stephen continued some projects in his Time Travelers Study from Homeschool in the Woods, learning about Orphan Trains and Natural Disasters of the era (like Titanic, Hindenburg and the Oklahoma Dust Bowl).

Because we've been learning so much about bridges, we decided to go even deeper with our study by purchasing a copy of the 5-DVD set Building Big. WOW! These DVDs are so fascinating, and with wonderful history tie-ins, too! After we watched the one on Bridges, Gary and the boys built a simple bridge over the creek!

I think tomorrow a dam may be in the works! (You can visit the PBS Building Big Site for more info and activities.)

Science: The Periodic Table

Although the Element cards at Ellen J McHenry's Site are great, Stephen liked making his own element flashcards (an activity in Classic Science Elementary Chemistry) and learned quite a bit by doing so. It was such a great activity that I made this handmade element flashcards template for others to use as they introduce each element.

Stephen sorted out the flashcards he's made thus far, placing
each card in its respective family in the Periodic Table.

We also completed part of the interactive study on the Periodic Table at The Simple Homeschool. (Requires a paid membership, but she provides freebies if you sign up for the newsletter.)

David completed a Periodic Table of Fun Stuff (another activity in Classic Science Elementary Chemistry).

Periodic Table of Fun Stuff

This helped to explain how and why the Periodic Table is organized the way it is. He classified his element family groups as "Chocolate Dinosaurs," "Wooden Toys," "Wooden Train," "Rubber Bands," "More Wooden Toys," and "Musical Instruments."

As David and I played Chutes and Ladders, we all broke out into song each time after spinning the spinner - singing our 1st 12 Elements memory work song by AJT (available on CC Connected). I love it when review just fits in with whatever we're doing!

Other things...

Stephen decided to free-hand the USA. We have not been practicing this outside of CC much (yes, I admit it!), but he did a pretty good job without having really practiced at all. The thing I loved so much about this was that he was absolutely grinning through the whole thing.

Now that's a boy who loves geography!

David was conducting "Science Experience" (aka, science experiments). He was trying to figure out what varying wind speeds would do to Levi's blankets.

Gary and Stephen climbed to the summit of Mt. Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood.

Stephen's first climb up the ridge surrounding our farm. If you
stare long enough you can see the barn through the trees.

We made it to the Home Depot Kids Workshop on Saturday!

And discovered a bit of local history.

The Battle of Hartsville (Civil War Trail)

Living History Museum in Hartsville

Levi was frightened by the Washing
Machine. (I was, too.)

And... just for kicks, I had to pull this one up from the archives, since it has some pretty fun stuff sort-of related to what we are doing in CC (like the Statue of Liberty, for instance). This was from last summer when we created "America City" after playing Ultimate I Spy. All of these templates are available on Papertoys.com.

And I think that's all blogger will let me do for now. But if you're interested in more activities for Week 16 (or other weeks!), visit our Cycle 3 Resources page. (If you don't see the subject or week you're looking for, just keep on a-scrolling down!)

A Simple Week

2012-01-28T22:01:00.000-06:00

Today was the first day we've participated in the Lowe's Build-and-Grow Clinic since our move to Tennessee, primarily because we live WAY OUT in the boonies now. But, every time we visited our nearest Lowe's, the boys stared longingly at the upcoming clinic announcements, so... we went to Build-a-Saurus today. Though I FORGOT our camera, it was such a precious moment, as this was the first time that Levi was old enough to actually hammer those little nails in. It was so cute to see the boys in their little Lowe's aprons once again! So, I think we'll be venturing out next weekend for the upcoming Home Depot's Kids Workshop... (We used to juggle these little wood workshops all the time when we lived in Houston!)

It's been a simple week for us. At least I think it was. I just didn't take very many photos, so I can't remember what we did. (So now you know the REAL reason I keep our blog up and running!)

I will take a moment here to rave about how much we enjoy the activities in Homeschool in the Woods (HSITW) Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression. We have learned so much through these activities. We've discussed people and events that we would not have otherwise studied. Not only that, but I've discovered that many of the meals I enjoyed as a child were actually recipes from the Great Depression!

And these projects are just great!

HSITW Remember the Maine! Notebook Page

Stephen created a pop-up diorama of "Fallingwater" by
the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

And we created a "People of Interest" Card Fan. I learned so
much from this fact cards. Very, very cool.

After adding more to his timeline, Stephen noted that Fanny Crosby was writing poetry and hymns while Geronimo was way out west on the warpath...

Keeping a timeline is one of the GREATEST tools in our
study of history. It makes the whole story of the world connect!

(If you're wanting to test drive this program, the sampler actually contains an activity and lesson dealing with Immigration for Week 16.)

This week we have thoroughly enjoyed reading Jean Fritz's Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt, along with the very funny Scrambled States of America, which happens to be on sale for less than $3.00 right now on Amazon.com. And, with the 4-for-3 promotion, and with Amazon Mom free shipping benefits, who can resist? By the way, for those who do not know about Amazon Mom, it is advertised as being for parents of babies-toddlers, but many of the items that qualify for extending your free shipping benefits are items such as Science Wrap-Ups or Periodic Table Building Blocks (for those wanting to teach their babies the Periodic Table)...

We are still working on Unit 2 of Mr. Q's Elementary Chemistry Curriculum. And we're enjoying our switch to Christian Light Education Mathematics (for our 3rd grader) and a few changes in our Language Arts studies. We've decided to set aside Essentials for the rest of this year. (This was NOT Stephen's decision, but Gary's. LOL!) Let me just say... I was amazed when I released Stephen to tackle some writing assignments on his level and pertaining to his interests. He has learned SO MUCH from Essentials (and IEW), and we owe his enthusiasm and excellence this week to the Essentials program. (By the way, Abeka Language Arts 4 is too simple for him now...)

David is spelling words now with Phonics Road to Reading. And he is starting to read words in everyday life, even though we have not actually entered the "reading" phase of the program.

And then we enjoyed watching some puppet shows by none other than David, our talented storyteller!

Gary and I watched IndoctriNation this week. All I can say is.... WOW! Though I was already aware of much of it - having been a high school teacher in the public school system - this was so thought-provoking and convicting that we bought 10 copies to share with others as God grants us the opportunity. If you are doubting your homeschooling endeavors or just need a little boost of encouragement to keep going, please WATCH THIS FILM. (Watch the trailer here.)

I feel so blessed that someone lent this film to us. I sometimes forget how bad my experience was in the public schools (and, boy, do I have some horror stories!). But then sometimes someone is there to give me a simple reminder of how important my calling is as a mother. And so I keep on keepin' on, but now with a renewed vision and vigor in knowing that not only are my children receiving a quality education (DESPITE how inadequate I feel at times!), they are also receiving an abundant life full of discoveries that we are able to share together.

To know HIM and to make HIM known. I am so very thankful.

What is a Memory Master?

2012-01-23T17:06:00.002-06:00

About this time last year, our director called to find out if Stephen would like to try to become a Memory Master. At the time, I thought it meant he would have to have all three cycles of material memorized, and the daunting proofing tables at the back of our Foundations Guide filled me with apprehension. But instead of taking you through that whole experience in this blog post, feel free to read about when we decided to try for Memory Master during Cycle 2.

Now that the spring semester is upon us, we are once again preparing for the Memory Master Proofing Process. I take great courage in knowing that we were able to "catch up" when we were SO MANY WEEKS behind at this point last year. So if you are saying, "We can't do this because we left timeline back at about week 3... and math back at about the 7s times tables," take heart! You can still do this thing, EVEN IF you're that far behind!

What do Memory Masters Memorize for Cycle 3?

· 160 events and people in a chronological timeline

· 24 history sentences to “put some flesh” on our timeline (including the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and U.S. historical events from Columbus to 9/11)

· 44 U.S. Presidents

· 120 locations and geographic features in North America:

o States & Capitals

o U.S. Rivers, Mountains and Deserts

o U.S. Bays, Canals, and Great Lakes

o Historical Trails

o Territories, Terrains, and other prominent features

· 24 science facts, including (but not limited to):

o Anatomy: Parts of 8 major systems of the human body

o Chemistry: The first 12 elements of the periodic table (along with their atomic number and mass)

· Latin rules and vocabulary. Emphasis: The text of John 1:1-7 in Latin with its English translation

· English Grammar facts (including the principal parts of 12 irregular verbs, sentence parts, clauses, and sentence structures and patterns)

· Multiplication tables up to 15x15, common squares and cubes, basic geometry formulas and unit conversions, and the algebraic laws of addition and multiplication

What does the Memory Master Proofing Process Look Like?

Although the overall requirements are the same across the nation, Classical Conversations Communities conduct their proofing process in slightly different ways. I have heard that some wait until after the end of the year to start the proofing process (though this is not how it is stated in the Memory Master guidelines), while others start a little earlier and double up on the memory work the last few weeks that they meet. I describe here what our community does, but be sure to check with your director to see how your proofing schedule may differ from this schedule.

Our CC Group's Memory Master Testing Schedule

Note: Those trying for Memory Master should learn weeks 21-24 in advance and must know them for their proofings by Week 21.

First Proof: Parent Proof (Week 21 for our CC group)

Student is quizzed by one of his/her parents; that parent fills out the Memory Master form from the Foundations Guide showing whether or not the student knows the answers to all subjects for all weeks, Weeks 1-24.

First proof: Student has no more than three X’s (errors) per subject.

Second Proof: Other Parent Proof (Week 22 for our CC group)

Student is quizzed by another parent outside his/her immediate family. This person does the same thing -quizzing all subjects for all weeks.

Second proof: Student has no more than one X per subject.

Third Proof: Tutor Proof (Week 23 for our CC group)

Student is quizzed by tutor; student is quizzed on all subjects for all weeks.

Third proof: Student has no more than 2 X's total. If anything is missed, the student is re-tested on that material along with other material later that day.

Fourth Proof: Director Proof (Week 24 for our CC Group)

Student is quizzed by the director, who goes over a predetermined subset of the entire cycle’s content, about 20 minutes, total. It is a “spot test," and includes material for all weeks and all subjects.

Instructions per Subject:

Math -- Students (ages 10 & up) can say or write multiplication tables and the laws (Associative, Commutative, Distributive, Identity). Students under age 10 may skip count the math facts. Other math questions are answered with prompts as written in the Foundations Curriculum Guide.

Timeline recitation does NOT receive any prompts. All events must be said in order without assistance.

Geography - Two Part Test (This is specifically how we plan to proof this material. Other groups may have a different way of proofing.)

1.) States -- Students point to and name all states and capitals without prompts.

2.) Features -- Students will be given a map on which to draw all features (their "drawing" can be simple dots, stars, mountain symbols, etc. As an alternative, students may apply small symbols or star stickers on their map to point out features). They may receive prompts for anything omitted such as, "Don't forget Red River, the Cumberland Road, and Mt Mitchell." After students have taken a few minutes to plot everything on the map, they will meet with the Tester and point to all places, giving the name of each feature without prompts or help.

English -- Students are permitted to point to the Verb Parts Headings (Infinitive, Present, Past, Present Participle, Past Participle) while categorizing each verb's principal parts. Another option is for the student to say all parts of a verb (to break, break, breaks, broke, breaking, broken) and then the Tester asks, "Tell me which one is the infinitive. Tell me which one is the Present tense; etc."

Science & History -- Answer with prompts as listed in Foundations Guide. Science is to be stated in a complete sentence, re-stating the question in the subject of the sentence. (e.g., "Some parts of an atom are...")

Latin -- Two part test

1.)Student may recite or sing the entire Scripture passage in Latin, or student can quote each Latin phrase with weekly prompts.

2.)Student must also know the translation of each word. Prompts may be given in either Latin or English. Student should know it either way. For example, if the Tester calls a Latin Conjunction "et," the student will give the English equivalent, "and." Or, if the Tester calls out the English preposition "with," the student will give the Latin equivalent, "apud."

How we prepared last year

Last year, we were literally NINE weeks behind on timeline memorization and SIX weeks behind on math memorization. We had to come up with a system to tackle it. Many people use a system like Simply Charlotte Mason's Memory System or the downloadable flashcard computer program Anki, but we simply had a memory work focus each day of the week where we reviewed ALL the material to the current date (and threw in the last 4 weeks of material as we got closer to Week 21!). It went something like this:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
History Sentences Timeline/Presidents	CC Meeting Day Math	Geography Timeline	English Grammar Latin	Science Timeline

Because we are still in skip-counting mode for math, we can easily drill math in the car on the way home from CC. We also practiced timeline more frequently than anything else, as it was the one thing we needed to practice more often last year given that we were so far behind (we actually practiced it every day until we caught up!). We will also likely practice Latin 3 times per week this year, since it is the one thing we need to drill more at this point.

Becoming a Memory Master is quite a feat - one to really celebrate. Actually, Gary and I had planned a special family vacation to Destin, Florida just because of Stephen's willingness to take on such a challenge (not because he actually became a Memory Master, but because of the effort he put into it!).

For those who think their child is too young, one parent last year told me about a Kindergartner who had become a Memory Master! A Kindergartner! (WOW!!) (Not that I encourage pressuring a young one to do it, but it is possible to attain for those students who possess a gift of memorizing and understanding the material at a young age!)

I would encourage all families and students to participate and at least try the first proof with your child(ren). After all, it is what you are ultimately aiming for before your child enters the Challenge program. For David, I intend to "test" all of the material over a couple of days to see what he knows and give him a sticker for each piece of memory work he remembers. I know he is not ready for Memory Master at this stage, but he will feel like a big boy and enjoy getting a bunch of stickers!

But what if my child fails?

This is a serious thing for us. The fear of failure can really grip one of my children (and even me!). We thought the achievement of becoming a Memory Master would be enough of a reward in itself, but... what happens if our child doesn't make it to that point after all the hard work? Last year Gary and I planned a special trip and did not tell the boys about it. Our intention was to use it as a pick-me-up if at any point Stephen did not make it through a proof. Gary was overseas during the entire proofing process and was calling every Tuesday to see if it was time for him to "spill the beans." (It ended up being a form of torture for us as Stephen worked through the entire 4 weeks.) We had to wait that whole time to tell him that we were going to stay on a beach for a week, simply because he put in the effort to do such a challenging thing!

So here we are, facing those fears of failure again. Even if your child has become a Memory Master in the past, it does not mean it's a piece of cake for him! He is really struggling with one subject right now, and we are really trying to plow through it together! We are planning to have another special trip up our sleeves once again to celebrate the EFFORT, but we have not yet selected a destination... It will likely be an amusement park this time around.

By the way, for those who don't much care for Timeline and Latin (which happens to be our two least favorite memory work categories.... ahem...), I have been told that those two are the most helpful after your child graduates from the Foundations program. (Rats!)

Good luck, and may God bless your endeavors!

Tycoons, Bridges, and Silly Sentences

2012-01-22T04:00:00.002-06:00

After completing a small project on the "Indian Wars" and recalling some of the activities we did over the summer in studying Native Americans (and especially Geronimo), we took a look at advertising at the turn of the 20th century through Homeschool in the Woods (HSITW) Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression activities (click here for sampler).

We created "Tradesman's Cards"

Trade cards looked like postcards but had
advertisements on the back and were
collected by many people.

and a grocery sales flyer to go into our "Industrial Times" newspaper project. This gave us a glimpse into the packaging and prices for items such as Jell-o and flour.

Moving on to our history tie in for Week 14, we completed the Business Tycoons activity, learning about people such as Rockefeller, Carnegie, Hershey, and J.C. Penney. Although some sources say that Carnegie ended up giving away 90% of his fortune, we do know that he built nearly 3,000 libraries in addition to all the other charities and projects he funded. Rockefeller also gave away a good portion of his wealth as well!

As we took a look at famous inventors and their inventions, we created a Wright Brothers "Flyer" but could not get it to fly for even 12 seconds, much less 60!

Continuing with great inventions, we discovered that Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening in 1883 until 1903. The original mastermind behind the project, John A. Roebling, died from infection caused by an accident in which his toes were crushed on the construction site. The bridge was proven strong to the skeptics when P. T. Barnum led a herd of elephants from end to end across the bridge. To better understand how suspension bridges work, we made one and tested various loads.

We also added to our Bridges lapbook, but I decided to do something a little different in presentation. I love the timeline that Amy Pak designed for the Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression project pack, so I followed the model to create a modified lapbook to place in our notebooks at the close of this unit.


Trim about 1/2" off of 4 pieces of cardstock. Hole punch one additional piece of cardstock (full size). Tape end to end, leaving approximately 1-2mm of space between each page so that the pages will lie flat when you accordion fold them.

Accordion Fold.

Ta-da! It will now fit nicely in our notebook!

I really love the tidiness of it, and both the Bridges Lapbook and Titanic Lapbook can be stored with the rest of our studies for this time period.

At Marshall's this week, I found a Game Called Very Silly Sentences. ALL THREE of our boys like this game (of course Levi does not know his parts of speech yet, but he loves looking at the cards and asking, "What's this say?"). By playing this game, we reviewed our English grammar from all three cycles (nouns, adjectives, prepositions, verbs) and we talked about the present tense of the verbs used (and how to change the verbs to the other principle parts). Stephen loved this, and it helped us to review Essentials in a fun way! We even did Question Confirmation on the sentences we were making, talked about the types of sentence patterns we had to choose from (there are only two sentence patterns available in this game), and how we could make additional mats to create the other sentence patterns. We noticed that there were no adverbs in this game, but Stephen then discovered that one of the sentence pattern mats had an adverbial phrase. Boy, was I delighted! All this on a Saturday, too!

Stephen and David just laughed and laughed at the sentences they were making.

And Levi just matched the colors on the cards.

And finally, we had another shipment of books come in for our mid-year boost. The day they arrived, we spent the entire day reading.

Not only that, but now Life of Fred (click here for samples) has arrived, providing us with a Living Math Book series that is just wonderful! Stephen is also trying Christian Light Education's (CLE) Math series while David continues working in Saxon 1 (If it ain't broke, don't fix it!). David also loves his math manipulatives and even presented this week on all the ways he could make 10 with the Math-U-See blocks. And thus far, Stephen likes CLE, especially because he is rewarded with activity/puzzle sheets, and since he loves working in books like Mathmania, this is a great incentive for him. (If you wish to take a look into this program, you can click on your child's grade level and download a sample from each booklet. You can also download the entire scope and sequence for CLE along with a placement test, both of which are helpful tools in selecting the appropriate level.) We are also using Calculadder now, and for the first time EVER, Stephen is not apprehensive about a timed drill. If anyone else has ever struggled with finding math curriculum (and you don't have money to experiment around), most curricula have downloadable samples so that you can review it and even try it out on your child(ren). And I read math curriculum reviews till I was blue in the face and finally came to a profound conclusion. Every child and parent is different. (Well, Duh!!!)

And, of course, if you're interested in some activities you can do that correlate directly with History, Science, or Fine Arts, go to our Cycle 3 Resources Page.

Re-starting Our Semester

2012-01-13T18:01:00.000-06:00

It has been a time of renewal for us, and we've enjoyed bringing a few simple and pleasant things into our homeschool this week, like...

drawing on the chalkboard...

and

starting our day with a new science discovery...

and

...Listening to Classical Music

Though we aren't to Weeks 19-24, we enjoyed listening to Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky on Musopen:

Free Tchaikovsky MP3s (and info)

Free Debussy MP3s (and info)

Free Stravinsky MP3s (and info)

(Note that there's a download limit of 5 mp3s per day.)

To my delight, the boys already knew the names "Stravinsky" and "Tchaikovsky" and have become familiar with their music due to Disney's Little Einsteins, specifically, Rocket'sFirebird Rescue (Stravinsky's Firebird Suite) and Christmas Wish (Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite). For a list of Little Einstein's episodes and art/music focus for each one, go to Wikipedia's List of Little Einstein's Episodes and then go to this list to find out which episodes are on which DVD.

(For a list of activities to do for Great Artists, go to our Cycle 3 Resources Page and scroll down until you reach the Fine Arts section.)

...and Listening to Literature/Living Books.

As we return to literature in our home, we've been making use of the Ambleside On-Line ("Living" Books) Librivox Audiobook Lists:

Audiobooks for Grades 1-4: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Recordings_of_Books_on_the_Ambleside_List

Audiobooks for Grades 5-8: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Recordings_of_Books_on_the_Ambleside_List_2

For now, we are listening to Little Women by Louisa May Alcott as a Dramatized AudioBook: Maybe this is an odd selection for a house full of boys, but they think it's funny how the girls can be sometimes, and they can relate to the characters (e.g., with having their father gone for an extended period of time, or when the sisters bicker at each other). (Other dramatized books and plays are available, too, like Pride and Prejudice, A Christmas Carol, and many of Shakespeare's works. Click here for a list.) Stephen has already asked to listen to Little Men when we are finished. We also hope to listen to the Chonicles of Narnia series later this year (audio available on Ancient Faith Radio).

For our read-alouds, we have finally finished Dear Levi: Letters from the Overland Trail, and Amos Fortune, Free Man.

Memory Work Practice

Flash cards and songs (from CC Connected), Wisdom and Righteousness CC Lapbook 3, and free Latin Lapbook from Homeschooling My Monkeys.

Bible

Confessions of a Homeschooler's Patience and Selflessness Units have been a great way for us to share Bible stories and thoughts as we start our day and then apply it in real life the rest of the day.

Science

We watched the Elements and Atoms Introductory Video by Khan Academy and completed Classical Elementary Chemistry - Unit 1. (First chapter is free; entire book is $50, or during the week of January 16, purchase it at a 50% discount). I cannot say good enough things about this program! Stephen will read as much of this book as I set out (which is why we usually tackle one unit at a time - but ONLY one unit at a time. After all, I want it to sink in!). He loves it! We all love it!

Dichotomous Keys, Rubber Eggs, and Electrons, Oh My!

Making candy compounds and molecules

For a list of free Chemistry resources (including Element Flashcards), visit our Cycle 3 Resources Page and scroll down to Chemistry.

History & Geography

We listened to portions of Story of the World Volume 4. We didn't really stay with the 14th amendment (Week 13 of Classical Conversations) but have instead enjoyed selections from Homeschool in the Woods (HSITW) Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression (click here for sampler).

Stephen enjoys the Wright Brothers Flipbook he made.

Other things we've been piecing together a little at a time are a Bridges Curriculum and a Titanic Lapbook & activities (to follow up on our field trip to the Titanic in Pigeon Forge over Christmas break). These are things we simply are interested in, even though they do not have a direct correlation to anything else (unless you consider the Age of Industry and Immigration...)

The Titanic was really an incredible place to visit!

Our tickets were boarding passes with a real passenger's story, only
we had to wait till the end to find out if we survived! Let's just say
the boys met a better fate than Gary and me!

For Geography, we practiced our maps and read The Scrambled States of America over and over again. The boys loved this book so much that now we have the game.

For a list of activities that can be done in conjunction with 14th amendment studies, as well as our geography this week, visit our Cycle 3 Resources Page and scroll down to U.S. Geography or Week 13 under American History.

Rethinking Essentials

Stephen decided to stay in Essentials after all! (Can you believe he gave up SQUARE DANCING for this?!?) We are somehow going to scale it back, but it's difficult to know how to do this exactly. But for those who are considering Essentials (and for myself when I prepare the other two for the program), I have decided to share a list of activities that can be completed ahead of time to provide a better chance of success. I will be posting something more detailed in the future (along with links to worksheets or other resources/ideas), but here's a list of activities Stephen did before we tackled the week's assignments:

Identify prepositional phrases in sentences in a worksheet (or excerpt from a book) - label prepositions, object of the preposition, and modifiers. (In doing so, we sang our preposition song.)

Identify appositives in sentences in a worksheet (or excerpt from a book). Give examples of an appositive or insert an appositive in a sentence that does not have one.

Identify a clause vs. a phrase.

Identify subordinate clauses. (In doing so, we sang the relative pronouns and subordinating conjunctions.) Underline subordinate clause(s). State the sentence without the subordinate clauses. (This is the independent clause.)

By practicing these four things, it has become much easier to diagram a complex sentence. (Actually, he was able to do them correctly without my help at all!) As a side note, before diagramming complex sentences, it is important that a child already has a good understanding of modifiers because he/she will be figuring out what phrases or clauses modify at this point (which is Week 13, but phrases are introduced before Week 13). It would be great to study adverbs and adjectives and what they modify in detail before starting Essentials. As a side note, Stephen loves the diagramming part of Essentials - the crazier the diagram, the more he likes it. And so Essentials became a "fun activity" this week.

Stephen practices the Verb Principal Parts Chart

IEW did NOT become a "fun activity" this week, but he so desperately wants to get up in front of the class to share his papers, we still plow through it. (Presenting is his reward for the hard work.) For IEW, we are trying to use more simplified assignments but still follow the same writing process that is being studied in class. Last week, Stephen wrote a Titanic tale borrowing the conflict from Aesop's Fable The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf (aka, The Boy Who Cried Wolf). To Stephen's relief, I decided to leave this little treasure as-is instead of picking it apart using the IEW method (eliminate banned words, include dress-ups, decorations, and sentence openers). And we didn't type it - I treasure it because there are so FEW handwritten stories for this year. (Something else I am changing with the help of HSITW Great Depression Newspaper Project...)

The Shipboy Who Cried "Iceberg!" (And we can tell he has not done a lot
of handwriting this year. With the help of HWT, we're working on that...)

Math
is a constant experiment for us right now. By now I have almost an entire library of math textbooks and curriculum to choose from, and nothing is really a good fit. Again I say, "Why is it that the concentration of my Master's Degree is what causes me the most anguish in the educating-my-own-children realm?" I just want my boys to love math as much as I do! (And all I did as an elementary student was worksheet upon worksheet of monotonous math facts. And I liked it and was able to stay focused! So... I'm at a loss, is all I'm sayin'.)

In fact, my computer crashed when Stephen was checking out Teaching Textbooks. (Seriously - it really crashed, but God answered my prayer and it has since recovered...at least temporarily.)

Other fun stuff
We built a roller coaster last week...

...and converted a portion of our life-sized lincoln log fort into a shack.

We enjoyed making creations with Creationary (a family favorite!)

and enjoyed our first snow this winter.

It was just enough to get out the sleds!

To top off our first snow, we plan to enjoy some of Simple Schooling's Winter Studies this weekend (if the computer keeps working), and you can, too!

Simple Schooling is offering 12 freebies until January 23. A variety of on-line interactive unit studies and printables are available, including:

Penguins (Day 2)

Winter Survival (Day 3)

Migrations (Day 5)

The Moose (Day 7)

Winter Storms (Day 8)

Bears (Day 9)

Avalanche (Day 11)

We've enjoyed many of Simple Schooling's interactive studies in the past! And these are great for those days that you just need something new and different. Click here to enjoy. (Note: I usually share time-sensitive freebies like this on our Facebook page because I'm not always writing something for our blog at the time of the freebie. To catch them all, you can like us on Facebook. )

Classical Conversations Planning

2012-01-07T20:52:00.001-06:00

Realizing that my children are still so young, and that we'll be back through Cycle 3 at least three more times before we've moved our youngest on to Challenge, we are making some changes. It's a good thing, too, because my stack of didn't-get-around-to-it papers from last semester is quite enormous. (Seriously - it is about one entire ream of paper.) We are simplifying quite a bit now - making a few changes to math and language arts and providing more free time for the things my children are passionate about: history and science. I mention all that to say this: if you have to drop a program or a certain curriculum that you REALLY BELIEVE in, it's okay. With CC, you'll be back through it again. ( I love that!) And I'm glad that I can set things aside for a while. Someone told me this week: your curriculum is a tool. You be master over the curriculum, do not let it become master over you. So, for our 3rd grader, we are shifting from Saxon Math temporarily (even though I totally love it) and Essentials to a certain degree (even though it is an incredible program). For a list of curriculum that we plan to use this semester, go to Cycle 3 Spring Semester Plans, though as I've mentioned, our plans have changed over the past week...

Reigniting the Passion for Living and Learning:
As I prepare to RE-START this semester (because the start to our semester completely flopped on a deep, emotional level), I have started re-reading some books that originally provided me with so much vision and excitement - not only about the classical model of education, but also about living, learning, and homeschooling in general. I re-read these books to reignite my passion for living, learning, and teaching, as these books are BEAUTIFULLY RICH.

Echo in Celebration by Leigh Bortins (Click Here for the FREE PDF), which opens with a quote that touches my heart and encourages me greatly:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly… who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold timid souls who have… known neither victory nor defeat.”
—Theodore Roosevelt, Sorbonne lecture, 1910

The Core by Leigh Bortins

I deeply desire the passion for learning that I operated under over the course of last semester. Through all the construction, chaos, and compressed living space in our home, our family passionately pursued learning. We enjoyed doing projects well into the night, just to have a few moments of discovery together after all the construction crews had left and the chainsaws had quieted. Somehow that passion had fallen away as we started back up this spring, so now I pursue the instilling of that passion for life in myself once again.

Our planner
Our planner was created to show memory work at-a-glance plus the subjects in a daily format. My inspiration came from Money Saving Mom's Homeschool planner, which is great in itself, including attendance forms, 6-week subject plans, goal sheets, and 1-week daily plans. You can even input information into it! But here's my personal creation after seeing the Money-Saving Mom Planner.

Cycle 3 Weekly Planner 1-Page PDF

Cycle 3 Weekly Planner 2-Page PDF

Cycle 3 Weekly Planner 1-Page XLS

Cycle 3 Weekly Planner 2-Page XLS

My question is: Will I ever actually use a planner to plan? I keep using it to log what we did instead of what we're going to do. Anyone else have this problem, or am I alone? (At night, I tend to jot things down on a scratch piece of paper - sometimes a post-it note. That's really the only "planning" I'm doing right now. Thank goodness I'm using a file system that at least helps me to know which weeks I should be doing what...

My faithful file system.

...and workboxes that help us to keep our activities at least organized by subject.)


We now have a schoolroom (aka, The Learnin' Loft), where we have pretty wooden workboxes. (Yes, you might be a home- school mom if you asked for a schoolroom for Christmas.)

Tri-Fold Board
My two favorite tools for Classical Conversations are our tri-fold board and our memory work song cds (which we make from the songs available on CC Connected). For our tri-fold board, we use files from CC Connected.

Cycle 3 Tri-Fold Board Slides (NOTE: You must have a subscription to CC Connected for the following links to work!):

Science Slides
Geography Slides
History Slides
Math Slides
English Grammar
Latin slides
Fine Arts Slides
Memory Work At-a-Glance Pages (We attach these to the back of the board so that I can see them when we are reviewing.)

What it looks like:

Essentials
As I mentioned, we are scaling back in Essentials for various reasons (one of which is that our son wants to participate in a square dancing class with other CC classmates who are not in Essentials), but I'm still not sure to what degree we're scaling back, as he also does not want to give up his Essentials class. Either way, we have Abeka and Total Language Plus as a back-up. (We have some flexibility in this, since he will be back through Cycle 3 once more before taking off into Challenge.) For those in Essentials, our Essentials Planning looked a lot like this last semester.

And lastly, we have a list of Cycle 3 Resources that I keep updated so that we can find the resources and ideas I've come across for our CC studies.

Other Planning Posts:
Classical Conversations at Home
Classical Conversations at Home, Re-visited
Memory Work Review Games
Organized Chaos
On-line File Organization

Science, Spiritually Applied

2012-01-07T00:49:00.000-06:00

As we focus on our mission of "knowing God and making Him known" - on ensuring that He is central to all aspects of our learning - I share with you insights provided by our director, who has graciously provided a spiritual application for each science experiment for Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Weeks 13-18. I post the full list here for those who may want to use it in their own homes or classes.

Week 13: A Cup of Alcohol on Water
Just like alcohol fills the empty pockets in the water, God fills the empty pockets in your life. When you are full of the Spirit, there is LESS of you! Your life with God will be fuller than you can imagine when you add Him in your life!

Week 14: A Drop of Alcohol on Water
Did you notice that when the alcohol touched the water, the two liquids separated immediately? This reminds me of what happens when a person comes to know Jesus Christ. When the Lord is your God and He lives with you and walks with you, then you will be separate from the world. Like water running away from the alcohol, you will want to run away from worthless things.

...For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Therefore, "Come out from them and be separate, says the lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." 2 Corinthians 6:16-17

Week 15: Floating or Sinking Egg
This experiment makes me think about what God uses in our lives to hold us up. Sometimes we go through tough times, we might feel like the sinking egg. Have any of you felt sad or down before? When you feel like that, think about the floating egg. God has a special solution to add to your life which will hold you up. The Bible says that His divine power has given us everything we need. He will keep you in perfect peace if your mind is steadfast on Him. (Isaiah 26:3). God's truth and His promises are way stronger and more trustworthy (more dense) than the cloudy wisdom of the world! Add God's Word to your life and you will be lifted up. (James 4:10)

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 2 Peter 1:3-4

Week 16: Paper in Soda
We are like those little carbon dioxide bubbles. When we have Christian friends and we take care of each other (stick together), we will grow to be more like Jesus and rise.

Week 17: Starch Test
Just like you can test something for starch, you can test yourself to see if you have eternal life. The things we tested either had starch or they didn't.

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:12-13

Do you know if you have eternal life? If you have Jesus, you have eternal life!

Week 18: Growing Salt Crystals
Sometimes in this world you will be hard-pressed and even crushed. But don't worry because God uses all of the hard times in our lives to produce something beautiful. Just like these salts turned into long, beautiful crystals when the water evaporated, your life will be even more beautiful when you have been through hard times. Remember, God is always working to make you like Jesus.

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. Job 23:10

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

All credit for this post goes to Angela Hunter, CC Director in Hartsville, TN. Thank you Angela! You are such a blessing to all who know you!

In Times of Discouragement

2012-01-05T19:54:00.001-06:00

Times of discouragement are real. Very real.

It doesn't matter how miniscule the problem seems to someone else, discouragement and defeat can cloud your vision like nothing else. It can keep you from even wanting to get up in the morning to face another day. It can keep me asking myself over and over again, "Can I bear to face another day of failure?!?"

At times like this, I take comfort in the words of anguish that were penned down for us by King David. The Psalms help me to know that I am not alone in my struggles with life - in my struggles with my SELF. We live in a fallen world of sin, and none of us are exempt from experiencing the pain of a broken, sinful world.

Yes, I have faced a great valley over the past week - one that others may not necessarily understand. After all, it's not a death in the family. It's not a terminal illness. It's not a broken relationship within our family. But it has been a REAL struggle, nonetheless. In my own words:

I keep praying about all of this and just don't know what to do. I have failed so much this past week. It is hard for me to be a mature adult and get back up, dust myself off and start over again. All I want to do is crawl into my bed and not wake up (and I know it's selfish for me to think like this! I know it! God, help me!!!) I want to give up... right now. I have just really flubbed up as a parent and as a teacher on so many levels. I am facing a huge mountain of discouragement right now.

Just hours ago, the chasm seemed so deep and wide, and I felt like it was gaping wider and wider with every moment that passed. It had such a grip on me that I was terrorized by my thoughts. I was in a constant state of agonizing prayer, "Lord, help me!"

Now, I am not one to pick up the phone and call someone to talk about my problems. Normally, I like to laugh at myself and laugh at life and all the silliness and ironies therein. I like to find humor in the frustrating stuff because it makes life so much lighter. But what happens when I don't rise above the situation but fall prey to it? What if I can't make it into a joke that I can later laugh about? (You mean, that actually happens to you, Brandy? Oh YES! It does!)

I keep thinking how many moms out there are in the same boat, comparing themselves to perfection and utopian worlds that don't really exist? How many moms feel like I felt just one day ago where I thought I might ruin my children FOR LIFE? And how many would be relieved to know that another mom out there is going through the SAME FRUSTRATIONS, the SAME DOUBTS, the SAME STRUGGLES with SELF, the SAME FEELINGS OF FAILURE.

Oh, how very thankful I am that God still has me as a substitute tutor for CC, for in the midst of my despair, we just happened to have our planning meeting for the coming six-week period. It is where I first reached out to someone other than my husband (which is something I seldom do. Seriously, going to our planning meeting was a DIVINE APPOINTMENT for me.) It was the first dose of encouragement for me, and since then, God has used these women to identify with me, pray for me, and lift me up with words of encouragement.

I waited patiently for the LORD;
   he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
   out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
   and gave me a firm place to stand.
Psalm 40:1-2

Through this whole ordeal, God has once again shown Himself faithful. I have honestly felt myself lifted up out of the pit today after a week of inner turmoil and despair.

God has ministered to me through...

...my own words that I'd written months ago. It's amazing to me that God gave me words then that have become so profound to me now. I have printed these out and am reading them over and over again.

...other women who were willing to pray with me, talk with me, weep with me, and just hug me.

I was reminded today that no matter what has happened, good or bad, God can transform it into something good. I KNOW this from my own experience, but sometimes it takes another person to get it through to my heart and mind once again.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

...science experiments.
I know this may sound really weird. But our director did something profound for our science experiments this quarter. With each one, she wrote out a spiritual application that ended up having so much to do with what I was going through. For example:

In Week 13, we will be adding alcohol to water to see how the alcohol fills empty pockets in the water molecules. Just like alcohol fills the empty pockets in the water, God fills the empty pockets in your life (like when your husband is not with you...)
In Week 15, we will be putting an egg in fresh water and salt water. This lesson "makes me think about what God uses in our lives to hold us up. Sometimes we go through tough times, we might feel like the sinking egg. Have any of you felt sad or down before? {YES!!} When you feel like that, think about the floating egg... God's truth and His promises are way stronger and more trustworthy (more dense) than the cloudy wisdom of the world! Add God's Word to your life and you will be lifted up. (Is. 26:3, 2 Peter 1:3-4, James 4:10)"
In Week 16, we will be putting a piece of paper into soda. "We are like those little carbon dioxide bubbles. When we have Christian friends and we take care of each other, we will grow to be more like Jesus and rise."
In Week 18, we will be growing salt crystals. "Sometimes in this world you will be hard-pressed and even crushed. But don't worry because God uses all of the hard times in our lives to produce something beautiful. Just like these salts turned into long, beautiful crystals when the water evaporated, your life will be even more beautiful when you have been through hard times. Remember, God is always working to make you like Jesus. (2 Corinthians 4:7-9)."

...my husband, who is a rock that always points me to THE rock in my life. Not only that, he has a shipment of St. John's Wort on its way to me - ordered all the way from Tanzania. You have to love Mr. Fixits. I absolutely adore that man.

And so, I offer this story of my own struggles, just in case - by some chance - it might minister to someone else out there going through a deep valley. You are not alone! I know your struggles are real! And God is bigger than them all! He can transform our mistakes into something good (in spite of ourselves!), and he can - and will - give us victory over the seemingly insurmountable mountain looming in front of us.

Twenty-Eleven's Top Ten

2011-12-31T04:46:00.003-06:00

The boys and I tried to decide what makes our top 10 memories for this year. (Really, it went more like, "I don't know, Mom-Mom. All I can remember is Christmas.") But... after a bit of somewhat unlively discussion, we did finally think up some memories from before two weeks ago. Not listed in any particular order, here's our little list:

Gary started working for a Norwegian company called Ocean Rig. This, in turn, sent him on trips to South Korea, Norway, and Tanzania.

We experienced a Swamp Tour given by a true, 100% authentic Ragin' Cajun. (We even pulled up alongside a momma alligator and her little babies. We stopped short of petting them.)

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? We started our family website and then officially named our farm Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood.

We experienced a Pow-Wow and live Zydeco and Bluegrass for the first time.
We discoverd Nature Study.

We ate dinner in a diner car and stayed the night in a pullman at the Chattanooga Choo Choo.
We went on a Dolphin cruise off the coast of Florida. All three boys flew in an airplane for the first time.

Stephen became a Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Memory Master, David learned to put his phonics sounds into words, and Levi learned to say "excabanger!" (while correctly identifying over ten types of construction vehicles and all the tools in his toolbox). Amazingly, this took no educational effort on my part.
We walked through the Alamo. It's bigger than we thought it would be!

Our home has doubled in size this year. It's also bigger than we thought it would be!

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Review: Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Lapbooks

2011-12-30T23:30:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of this year, we decided to supplement our Classical Conversations memory work with some long-term projects that included lapbooks for history and science. What I did not expect was that we would actually come across a set of lapbooks that are specifically geared towards our memory work. CC Mom Karen Gill at Wisdom and Righteousness created CC Review Lapbooks to assist with her own family's memory work review, and she has now made these lapbooks available to other CC families wishing to review memory work in this way.

For those unfamiliar with lapbooking, it is simply a way to organize learned information in the form of graphical organizers instead of using a piece of notebook paper or worksheets. The base of the lapbook is made up of file folders that have been very simply re-folded and then pasted together. For more information on what a lapbook is and why you might want to make one, visit Lapbooking 101.

What we liked about Lapbook #1 for Cycle 3, weeks 1-6 and Lapbook #2 for Cycle 3, weeks 7-12

Everything is there - all of our memory work! Fantastic!
History sentence templates are fill-in-the-blank, which is great for review and also for children who don't like to write a lot. (Not a big deal for doing one per week, but really a big deal when you do 12 weeks in one sitting!)
It includes science diagrams for labeling! This goes beyond memorizing to applying the understanding of what each term means.

It includes a timeline template! Very nice!
Fine Arts templates are included, so if you are like me and don't pursue Fine Arts at home with passion all year long (Yes! I admit it!!), this really helps to review what we've been learning in our classes!
It has a variety of extra templates to record other things you've learned (e.g., "Fun Facts about the Pilgrims" and "Davy Crockett"), as well as recipe cards, a Cinquain (poetry) template with instructions, and a biography book report page.

What we thought could be improved:

The U.S. geography map was too small to label without making a real mess.

Stephen started getting confused as to where his lines were going because,
as you can see, they are actually going all over the place.

My suggestion? Download a four-page version of a U.S. map, tape it together, and use it to label memory work each week. It can be included in the lapbook very easily by creating an extra pocket (or printing out the My Life-Size Body pocket and re-labeling it as My Geography Map). Likewise, it would be great if all of the labels were formatted to be printed on a popular Avery return-address template.
The lapbooker in me likes to see foldables for almost all the templates. The science diagrams were not foldable, but the fact that they are diagrams makes up for this! Plus, we just made up our own way of folding those templates, and many people may prefer to be able to see all the diagrams in one glance. (You can see how we folded them in the previous photo.)
The English Grammar cards are small - but you can keep up with them better if you paste an envelope inside the lapbook.
Because we had a short timeframe in which we were completing this, we would have really liked the Fine Arts definitions to be included for a simple cut-and-paste.
On a personal note, we tried fitting 12 weeks of memory work into one lapbook, and it became rather large and is now tedious to fold and unfold. I suggest that if you complete these lapbooks, do just six weeks at a time as designed. Note to self: Set aside your engineering ways and FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. (The funny thing is: I was planning on fitting all four into one lapbook. That would be CRAZY large... but I may still do it because I'm just that stubborn!)

The Bottom Line:

Overall, this is a great set of lapbooks for families in Classical Conversations and is a very good way to review memory work! And we are really looking forward to completing the lapbooks for Weeks 13-24! Normally, lapbooks cost $10-15 (occasionally less), but you can get all four of these lapbooks (covering all of Cycle 3) for $25! And once purchased, Karen will send you updates as she edits and improves upon them!

For those wishing to embark on this lapbooking journey for the first time, you can try one out to see if you and your children like it. Visit the following links for free lapbooks:

Free Cycle 3 Latin Lapbook
Free Cycle 3 History Lapbook Weeks 1-12 by CC Smart Mama Karin Dewey
A Journey Through Learning's Overview of the 17th Century Lapbook (Subscribe to their newsletter to get the freebie!)
Homeschoolshare's Lapbooks (Try the Chemistry Lap-n-Note!)
Practical Pages's Pearl Harbor Lapbook
Dyanmic2Mom's War Between the States
Hands of a Child Freebie (Right now it's Island of the Blue Dolphins. The HOAC freebie changes quarterly, so if you click on this link and it isn't Island of the Blue Dolphins, you should have another great freebie to download.)
All About Me, Apple Learn 'n Folder, and Apologia Sample downloads are available from Live and Learn Press.
Try our Nim's Island Lapbook - created by myself and my brilliant editor Stephen. :)

DISCLAIMER: We received this product in exchange for a review. The opinions expressed herein are my very own and have not been influenced by any outside source (except lack of sleep and temporary moments of insanity).

Cycle 3 Spring Semester Plans

2011-12-28T02:11:00.000-06:00

After a much needed break and some time to re-think and re-plan how we are approaching the spring semester (and attempting to Improve My Vision)...

I have decided that our family needs simplicity. (Actually, I'm the one who needs simplicity!)

In the midst of this need for simplicity, we also feel the need to make some changes to our family's website (which is not simple!). As a side note, upcoming changes should not pose any hazards on your side of cyberspace. In fact, it should make it a whole lot easier to navigate.

And I have just about run out of the saved-back resources that I had found over the past few years.

This all means one of two things must now happen:

I will spend hours to research and find the best resources out there (on top of the time it will take to re-format our site).
I will let someone else enjoy doing the work.

And, because I realize that there are some other CC bloggers out there who could use the site traffic, I choose to pass the weekly resource baton to the following wonderful CC bloggers:

The Corkums
Lindy and Jeanne

Melissa and Melinda do an excellent job of listing weekly resources that tie in to our weekly memory work. I know that you will be blessed as I have been by their blogs!

I will continue to update our Cycle 3 Resources Page as I find new & improved resources (and re-format it to continue to make it easier to use), but I will no longer be finding the best resources out there ahead of time. Our blog posts will be on what we have already done using the curriculum we have purchased (and just a few things we have not purchased).

For simple, already-structured-for-me plans, we will be using the following purchased (and free, previously-referenced) curriculum:

Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Weeks 13-24

Memory Work

CC Review Lapbooks created by CC Smart Mama Karen Gill at Wisdom and Righteousness.
CC Review Games
Free Cycle 3 Latin Lapbook
Free Cycle 3 History Lapbook Weeks 1-12 by CC Smart Mama Karin Dewey

Bible

Confessions of a Homeschooler Character Unit Studies
Other complementary activities as noted in our Bible & Character Resources Post.

History

Time Travelers History Study Series: Industrial Revolution through the Great Depression (Click here for a free sample from Homeschool in the Woods.) This has so many fun activities, I cannot even start to describe how excited I am.

IF WE HAVE TIME: Time Travelers History Study Series: World War II (Click here for a free sample from Homeschool in the Woods.)
Continue our timeline notebook and re-install our timeline wall now that construction is finished. (More info on Timeline Notebooks- and freebie links - in our American History Literature Post.)
Listen to Story of the World Volume 4. Sometimes.

Chemistry

Classic Science Elementary Chemistry: 1-2 Chapters/week until we finish. We simply cannot do justice to Chemistry by covering it in six weeks, so we've chosen to continue with Chemistry until the end of the year... (The first chapters of the student and parent books are free.)

Selections from our list of Free Chemistry Resources.
The Simple Homeschool's Periodic Table Interactive Study & Booklet (from when we won a subscription for such a messy and embarrassing schoolroom.)

Geography & Latin

CC Memory work
Draw Maps
On-line Geography Games listed in our previous United States Geography Resources post.

Math

3rd Grade

Saxon Math 5/4
Times Tables the Fun Way

Kindergarten

Saxon Math 1
Addition the Fun Way

Language Arts

3rd Grade

Rod & Staff Grade 3 Spelling & Readers
EEL/IEW (Though we may drop some of the IEW assignments, in light of the fact that our third grader will be back through this Cycle again in sixth grade, when he hopefully is not as likely to get hand cramps when he picks up a pencil.)
Total Language Plus Sign of the Beaver (if we drop the IEW assignments) You can download sample pages from some of the literature studies to see if it's a good fit for your child. Visit What Language Are You Speaking to see what our experience has been with TLP.
Dancemat Typing

Kindergarten

Phonics Road to Reading

All

Read Alouds from our Previous American Literature Posts.

Handwriting

Handwriting Without Tears (This is a new one for us and it is already going SO MUCH BETTER than traditional handwriting.)

Fine Arts

Selections from our list of Fine Arts Resources on our Cycle 3 Resource Page.

Other Kindergarten/Pre-School (3 year old and 5 year old)

Rod & Staff Preschool G-H-I Series
Tools Preschool Unit
Construction Equipment Unit Study
Starfall.com
Storycove.com
Sheppardsoftware.com
Reader Rabbit Kindergarten Wii & Once Upon a Time Wii

If anyone is wondering how we "get it all done," you can visit Classical Conversations at Home posts to see that we don't do every subject every day. In fact, our daily structure is usually Bible, Memory Work, Math, Spelling/Reading/Writing, and Other Stuff. But sometimes all we do is Math. And sometimes all we do is Other Stuff.

And sometimes, during read-alouds, it seems like I'm reading to myself.

And sometimes I just want to play hide-and-seek or tickle monster with the kids...

...in which case, I set aside the plans for a while...