Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Medieval Feast
Friday, February 18, 2011
Royalty
We finished up the unit on Kings and Queens and it was so fun! Caley chose to research Queen Victoria. She picked her out of a book of princesses such as Marie Antoinette and Queen Elizabeth. We took the research project very slowly, first checking out books from the library, then looking through them, then synthesizing information from them (and the internet) into a list, studying the list, choosing pictures from the book for each item we learned, photocopying the pictures, then making a poster with the pictures and the information we listed. Caley presented her poster at playgroup in front of her friends. She did very well, with my help. It was good practice for her!
During the unit we made swords and shields and studied the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) and we made a sugar cube castle. The girls were so excited about the castle! And they snitched the sugar, surprise surprise (so did Mommy).
We've also been doing math and are moving into money and we set up a store. We also did a painting day and I just let the girls create! I was impressed with their artistic creativity. I love these children.
During the unit we also did some playgroup activities and we did a medieval feast! That was the best part. Pictures will be added soon.
We have since moved onto learning about military and general obedience. So the last few weeks have been kind of relaxed. It's been nice after a few weeks of crazy time. Caley helped me in the kitchen cutting strawberries and her new job is clearing the table. Woohoo!
During the unit we made swords and shields and studied the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) and we made a sugar cube castle. The girls were so excited about the castle! And they snitched the sugar, surprise surprise (so did Mommy).
We've also been doing math and are moving into money and we set up a store. We also did a painting day and I just let the girls create! I was impressed with their artistic creativity. I love these children.
During the unit we also did some playgroup activities and we did a medieval feast! That was the best part. Pictures will be added soon.
We have since moved onto learning about military and general obedience. So the last few weeks have been kind of relaxed. It's been nice after a few weeks of crazy time. Caley helped me in the kitchen cutting strawberries and her new job is clearing the table. Woohoo!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Update 2011
Happy New Year!
We are back in action after taking nearly a month off of regular school. It's good to be back. I am doubling up on math lessons so we can finish on schedule for the end of May. Caley is up to lesson 43 in her Saxon Math K book and we are dabbling in telling time, counting money and other fun math concepts. We also started a new phonics curriculum called "The Sorensen System to Succeeding with Reading" by Nancy Sorensen. It's a compact spiral-bound lesson book that we are liking so far. It focuses more on writing and reading, more so than the Engelmann "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" book. I think this curriculum is relatively unknown and not flashy at all, but the principles are basic and frugal. Check out more at the website here. Looking at the website, I just realized the authors are LDS (Mormon). Didn't expect that! But their principles for teaching phonics look pretty good so far so it's worth a shot.
We started a new unit in KONOS about Obedience which includes Authority (light and the Bible) and Kings and Queens. I'm really excited about this mini-unit on kings and queens. We are going to do a medieval feast with our playgroup friends and Caley is going to do a research project about a queen or princess of her choice. By research project I am intending that she learn how to use the library resources to some extent, scan information from books and put it together so she can present it. It's less about her learning the facts about some princess, but more about what she'll learn during the whole process. This is going to be a great opportunity for her to use her library card! We have casually been reading fairy tales and watched Disney's Robin Hood so they can begin to understand the concepts of kings and queens. It's convenient that they are naturally obsessed with Disney princesses for this unit! Recently they have been pretending that they are Ariel and Flounder from "The Little Mermaid" and "swimming" around and getting married to the prince. Wesley usually is Sebastian the crab who they try to run away from.
This week we did some projects about light and I tried to relate it to Jesus being the light of the world. We made candles and observed how a little flame lights up an entire room. They were quite fascinated with it!
I've also been reading "The Power of Motherhood" by Nancy Campbell which has really be helping me not be so crazy about sticking to a strict schedule and just enjoying my children while they are little. It's a helpful bible study and I intend to re-read it again after this first reading, taking notes and looking up the Bible verses.
Hopefully I will post again soon! We are all kinds of learnin' 'round here!
We are back in action after taking nearly a month off of regular school. It's good to be back. I am doubling up on math lessons so we can finish on schedule for the end of May. Caley is up to lesson 43 in her Saxon Math K book and we are dabbling in telling time, counting money and other fun math concepts. We also started a new phonics curriculum called "The Sorensen System to Succeeding with Reading" by Nancy Sorensen. It's a compact spiral-bound lesson book that we are liking so far. It focuses more on writing and reading, more so than the Engelmann "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" book. I think this curriculum is relatively unknown and not flashy at all, but the principles are basic and frugal. Check out more at the website here. Looking at the website, I just realized the authors are LDS (Mormon). Didn't expect that! But their principles for teaching phonics look pretty good so far so it's worth a shot.
We started a new unit in KONOS about Obedience which includes Authority (light and the Bible) and Kings and Queens. I'm really excited about this mini-unit on kings and queens. We are going to do a medieval feast with our playgroup friends and Caley is going to do a research project about a queen or princess of her choice. By research project I am intending that she learn how to use the library resources to some extent, scan information from books and put it together so she can present it. It's less about her learning the facts about some princess, but more about what she'll learn during the whole process. This is going to be a great opportunity for her to use her library card! We have casually been reading fairy tales and watched Disney's Robin Hood so they can begin to understand the concepts of kings and queens. It's convenient that they are naturally obsessed with Disney princesses for this unit! Recently they have been pretending that they are Ariel and Flounder from "The Little Mermaid" and "swimming" around and getting married to the prince. Wesley usually is Sebastian the crab who they try to run away from.
This week we did some projects about light and I tried to relate it to Jesus being the light of the world. We made candles and observed how a little flame lights up an entire room. They were quite fascinated with it!
I've also been reading "The Power of Motherhood" by Nancy Campbell which has really be helping me not be so crazy about sticking to a strict schedule and just enjoying my children while they are little. It's a helpful bible study and I intend to re-read it again after this first reading, taking notes and looking up the Bible verses.
Hopefully I will post again soon! We are all kinds of learnin' 'round here!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Checking in again
Hey ya'll
Yes, it's been an embarrassingly long time since I last wrote on this homeschool blog. Please forgive me. However, we have still been doing school and things are going great! With the exception of the last few weeks of Christmas madness, we have finally found a rhythm and are really enjoying our time of learning. I planned activities for December, but with the busyness of the season we haven't done much except Advent-y crafts like baking cookies, making gifts, and decorating gingerbread houses, lots of shopping, and going to special things like "The Messiah" at the local high school and "The Nutcracker" in Edmonds.
I have been reading a lot about Charlotte Mason, the "founder" of the homeschooling movement. I've heard a lot about her just in reference, but never really understood the specifics. As I started to learn more, I've realized my personal philosophy is very similar to Charlotte's already. The hallmarks of her philosophy include "living books," narration and lots of free time (specifically the afternoons devoted to leisure for the child).
Here are some links I found about the CM method:
Simply Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason Companion- currently reading this
Charlotte Mason bio- Wikipedia
It's been fun reading and learning more!
I PROMISE to write a real post about what we've been doing and what's in the works for next year soon!
Yes, it's been an embarrassingly long time since I last wrote on this homeschool blog. Please forgive me. However, we have still been doing school and things are going great! With the exception of the last few weeks of Christmas madness, we have finally found a rhythm and are really enjoying our time of learning. I planned activities for December, but with the busyness of the season we haven't done much except Advent-y crafts like baking cookies, making gifts, and decorating gingerbread houses, lots of shopping, and going to special things like "The Messiah" at the local high school and "The Nutcracker" in Edmonds.
I have been reading a lot about Charlotte Mason, the "founder" of the homeschooling movement. I've heard a lot about her just in reference, but never really understood the specifics. As I started to learn more, I've realized my personal philosophy is very similar to Charlotte's already. The hallmarks of her philosophy include "living books," narration and lots of free time (specifically the afternoons devoted to leisure for the child).
Here are some links I found about the CM method:
Simply Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason Companion- currently reading this
Charlotte Mason bio- Wikipedia
It's been fun reading and learning more!
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