Favorite Things

Ahh! March is almost gone and the piles of snow are disappearing, being replaced by large mud puddles (much to TJ's happiness). The grass is peeking out in new shades of green and it won't be long before the daffodils start showing their bright faces. Spring has arrived - and I'm very glad to see the last traces of winter melt away. I always feel refreshed in the Spring and ready to tackle some new projects, now that I've come out from my hibernation. Here are a few of the things I've found recently that have sparked my interest:

Spring always finds me trying to re-organize things (maybe it's that Spring cleaning bug rearing it's head) and I love this idea for organizing homeschool supplies - the workbox system. I've been mulling over organizational ideas for our homeschooling materials. Right now things don't take up too much space, but I don't think that will last long and I think this idea of organizing subjects by box is great.

I've found a few new recipes that I want to try. Homemade graham crackers, blueberry crumb cake (the pictures alone make me want to drool!) and these lemon sugar cookies! I never thought about making my own graham crackers but I think I've been inspired to try (after I find out what rapadura is!). I'm adding them to my list of new recipes to try.

I am ready for the snow to be gone - I want to get the grill out and start eating outside! I'm off to find some new grill recipes!

WeE-Books from The Old Schoolhouse

The Old Schoolhouse is offering a new set of e-books - WeE-Books - which are exactly as titled! Each book in the series is a short article focusing on one subject. The three that I read:

1. Mathematical Thinking by Ruth Beechick

This article by Ruth Beechick gives a great overview of the importance of concrete mathematical concepts for young children. She states that it is crucial that young children be introduced to mathematical concepts with hands-on manipulatives and she suggests putting away the math textbooks and focusing on hands-on, everyday math skills. It could seem overwhelming to toss out the math book but she gives some tips and ideas on how to incorporate math into everyday life. The highlight (for me at least, I love to be a box-checker!) is the three page checklist of mathematical skills for preschool-3rd grade.


2. A Classical Education by Kate Kessler

This article was an interview done by Kate Kessler with Christine Miller, the author of All Through the Ages, the creator of the Classical Christian Homeschooling website, and the founder of Nothing New Press. It was very interesting to read how Christine Miller made the transition to classical education and how she started the website and publishing company to help other homeschooling families who were also making that transition.


3. The Great Books by Kate Kessler

In this book Kate Kessler was again the interviewer - this time it was with Fritz Hinrichs, founder of Escondido Tutorial Services. He shared his reasons for teaching the Great Books, how that would look in the homeschool environment, and a bit of his personal history with the Great Books. He also shares a bit about himself and his family.


Each WeE-Book is about 20 pages long, though the actual article is less than 10 pages of that (the rest of the pages include the title cover, table of contents, appendix, etc.). Helpfully included in the appendix of each book is a short bullet-style article titled "How to begin Homeschooling." This would be especially helpful to a family that is new to homeschooling.

WeE-Books can be purchased through The Old Schoolhouse for less that $2 each.

Spring Reading Thing 2009

Katrina at Callapidder Days is hosting her annual Spring Reading Thing which will run from March 20-June 20. I've been thinking of the books I'd like to complete during this challenge - basically books from my 999 list. So, here they are:






1. Around the World in 80 Days
2. The Iliad
3. The Great Gatsby
4. The Confessions
5. Surprised by Joy
6. How to Read a Book
7. Enchantment

It's not a long list but I know some of them will be more difficult to get through, so I'm trying to take it easy. And I'm sure I'll be reading other things that aren't listed because it seems that a few extra books always jump into my bag at the library :)

Winter Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

The Winter Reading Challenge has ended at My Two Blessings and I thought I'd do a quick re-cap of my list:

1. Mere Christianity
   
2. Sailing the Wine Dark Sea
3. The Iliad
4. Pharaohs and Kings
5. The Woman in White
6. and my "Just for fun" book - Brisingr

I finished reading all but two. I am having such a difficult time with The Iliad - it is tough going. I keep reading in very short spurts. I will eventually finish this book! I also didn't complete Pharaohs and Kings by David Rohl. It is a very thick book with lots of technical detail. While reading about his alternate timeline is very interesting it can be very dry. I shelved this one before I finished reading it. Overall I accomplished quite a bit but I will be very happy to finally reach the last page of The Iliad!

The Old Schoolhouse: HomeWork

Homework: Juggling Home, Work and School without losing your Balance, a downloadable PDF book from The Old Schoolhouse, is a book full of stories from work-at-home moms who are busy homeschooling, working from home, and taking care of their families.

The first section chronicles the lives of six different women who have found hands-on ways to supplement their income - from living and homeschooling in a motorhome while making purses from thrift-store jeans, direct-sales programs like Usborne books, or opening a Bed & Breakfast. The next part shares two stories of women who found computer-based businesses to supplement their family's income while the third section focuses on four women that found their niche in the writing and publishing world. Especially interesting is the testimony of Marie Filion, the author of The Easy French, and the step of faith that she and her family took in moving from Toronto to Saskatchewan. The last two stories are about women who found work-at-home opportunities supplying support to businesses, specifically medical-transcription work and bookkeeping. I found most of the stories very interesting and it's always fascinating to read how homeschooling moms tie in working from home while juggling family life and homeschooling. But, in the interest of being completely honest, a few of the stories sound like advertisements.

The last section of the book contains two articles that deal with the practical aspects of working from home. The first is an article written by Carol Topp, a CPA, which covers the details of finances while running a home business. It's well-written and gives the basic information that any home-based entrepreneur would need. The second article, which covers organization and priorities, is interesting. Even if you're not planning on starting a home-based business, it's so important to learn how to prioritize and organize - homeschooling and taking care of home and family is hard work!

For those who are interested in any of the opportunities or ideas presented in the book, the appendix is full of internet links to help you get started. While the book isn't necessarily a how-to manual of ways to make extra money, it does provide inspiration and ideas. It's always nice to see how other homeschool moms juggle the demands of home, family, homeschooling, and work.

Homework is a 95-page PDF file that sells for $12.45

A Constant Work in Progress

Homeschooling is a work in progress around here! Lots of time is spent thinking about "the next step" and if I'm using the right materials, etc. You get the idea (and you probably think about the same things). Right now my thoughts are moving towards spring and being outside now that the snow is finally disappearing. So, I'm trying to come up with a plan for the summer.

Math: For a long time we would work through about half of a lesson in RightStart math each day. This would take about 15 minutes - the last 5 seeming to give TJ a severe case of the wiggles (to the point where she often fell off her chair :) ). Now we are easily cruising through a whole lesson (well, the last few minutes might cause some wiggles). Next week we'll be finishing up RightStart A and I'm considering our next step. I've flipped through level B but I think we'll wait on that for awhile. I'm considering picking up Horizons K just to "fill in" for the summer and fall before we start first grade. Still thinking on that.

Phonics: Reading lessons are going well and TJ is reading fairly fluently now. I think we will continue working through Ordinary Parent's Guide up to section 17 and then take a break for the summer. I'll still have her read aloud to me daily and work on Explode the Code online when she wants to.

My Father's World: Nick and TJ are having lots of fun doing this together (and I'm happy that it's something I don't need to focus on). It's so nice to see them cuddled up in daddy's big chair discussing how we are safe in God (they studied kangaroos that week). They will continue with this through the summer.

Countries and Cultures: This is one of TJ's favorite parts of school time. We'll be continuing this through the summer. Basically we read some books about a specific country, look it up in the atlas, look at it on the wall map, TJ colors a map and we pick a project. Occasionally, we'll cook a meal from whatever country we are studying. We had tacos when we studied Mexico :)

Handwriting: TJ's handwriting is fine for her age - she's got a few letters that cause her some problems but I'm not going to give her handwriting pages to work on this summer. She writes enough on her own, so I'll just keep an eye on things and correct on an as-needed basis.

Other stuff: French, science, and music will continue through the summer. TJ would revolt if I told her we wouldn't be working on them (well, at least the science and music anyway).

So, there are the plans for the next few months (always subject to change, of course).

Max Lucado's Hermie & Friends

If you're looking for a wholesome, appealing show for preschool aged children then I've found the perfect one - Max Lucado's Hermie & Friends series. My daughter adores this show and often requests that we re-watch her favorites.

Skeeter and the Mystery of the Lost Mosquito Treasure features the voice talents of Tim Conway and John O'Hurley along with a handful of other people. The story centers around a clumsy young mosquito named Skeeter who always has a bit of trouble with directions. He thinks that his father always favored his older brother, Sinclair M. Skeeto, the world famous adventurer, but through an adventure that reunites the two brothers they both discover that they each have unique talents and abilities. The story opens and closes with a short video of Max Lucado and Hermie - discussing how God cares about us as individuals and how he made us as unique creatures.

This movie is 40 minutes long and includes a few extras - a short quiz about the movie, a sing-along with Skeeter, and a "making-of" featurette that shows us how they add the various sounds to the film. Included in the case are a few coupons for Hermie videos and other products from Thomas Nelson Publishers.

If you're interested in becoming a book review blogger you can join at Thomas Nelson Publishers.

I'm Back

I took a short break from the blogging world but I'm back now! Just thought you'd want to know :)

Weekly Report

Well, we got half a lesson of math and a reading lesson completed. :)

We all felt to antsy to get any school work completed. But TJ has painted, colored, and played to her heart's content so I'm satisfied.

RightStart Game Record Sheet

TJ and I love RightStart math - especially all the games we can play. My only difficulty (besides the sometimes hard to understand game instructions) was in finding games we could play that weren't directly listed in the teacher's manual. I love the Math Card Games book but didn't like the constant flipping back and forth between the teacher's manual and the games book trying to find a new game to play. So, in an effort to make myself more organized, I made a simple chart that would show the games that were listed in the lessons and then I added games from the Math Card Games book that would provide a little variety. (If the document doesn't show up below you can see it here - RightStart A Game Record Sheet.)

RightStart Math Level A Games Record Sheet

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Weekly Report

Another week where we didn't quite accomplish everything. I'm soooo ready for some warmer weather and for this snow to be gone. Hurry up, Spring!

Math: Another easy week of math for TJ. This week was about halves and learning to tell time to the half-hour. No problems with it at all.

Reading: We've finally finished section 13 and have moved on to the next section. I'm considering taking a break from the Ordinary Parent's Guide and just focusing on reading books. Maybe we'll do a few more weeks of lessons and take a break for the spring/summer and I'll just have her read aloud to me daily. Still thinking about it.

MFW: This past week TJ and Nick learned about elephants - "I will remember what God has done for me." They read some books, learned the words to remember, and TJ made a picture of an elephant and Nick talked about the things God has done for us. I love that he takes this time with her each week.

Geography: This week we concentrated on the United States - read some books and added it to our map. We didn't complete everything so today we'll listen to a CD, American Tall Tales, and I'll have her color her map. Then we'll get started on Mexico.

Other stuff: Handwriting and French are going well. Nick started reading James Herriot's Treasury for Children and we are all loving it. For science, Nick and TJ added some baking soda to vinegar and watched it bubble. They also did an experiment with citric acid and powdered sugar which was lots of fun (but TJ didn't like the way it tasted).

Hopefully I'll get myself back on track this week and stick to my schedule.