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!

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!

I wish I could write all day sometimes, reflecting on how the school day is going. School is ongoing throughout the day, and I'd love to record the different things we do that address certain skills. For example, yesterday Caley helped me put away the dishes and it was a great sorting activity. We are always working on kindness with one another, and obedience. When we listen to music I try to tie it into whatever else we might have been learning. And when we're driving Caley reads the signs. I am really enjoying homeschooling because I get to see my girls learn all day long. And God is stretching me in many good ways.

Busy few weeks

The last few weeks have been really busy. We took a weekend trip to Astoria at the beginning of September so I could run the Great Columbia Crossing (which was really fun) and while we were down there we took a tour of the Lewis and Clark Expedition replica fort--Fort Clatsop. We will be learning about Lewis and Clark and other frontiersmen next week. I'm hoping the girls will remember at least some of the tour while we read books and do expedition projects. I'm excited for them to learn about Sacajawea and relate to her possibly because she was just a young girl when she lead Lewis and Clark as their guide.

Before we went to Astoria we studied music and listened to a lot of classical music, drew instruments, and made a leaf craft. Caley read some books to a resident at the retirement center, she and two friends, Mina and Lenora. It was really fun and Caley did great. On Friday that week Caley went to speech therapy for the first time, and she did great and had fun. Mrs Rose is very good with her and she played some games and got some cards with words she is practicing (right now k sound).

So last week we were just getting back into the swing of things from being gone, and we didn't do much school, besides the math book and reading book. Caley also went to speech therapy on Friday. She even had some homework we had to do! I can tell you right now I didn't expect homework to be a part of my homeschooling plan, but what can you do, I think it's good for her. Caley continually amazes me with her reading skill. She has started reading to Amelia and Wesley, actually reading the words instead of just telling the story. It's very fascinating to watch. Last week we also did some potato crafts which was a blast for the girls.

I am very much enjoying the Saxon math book. It moves slowly and gets the kids used to the materials before doing explicit "math." Yesterday we acted out a story problem. And I haven't bought any of the Saxon materials, just improvised with things I already have. Frugal!

KONOS

As mentioned previously, we are using KONOS unit studies to organize what we learn and when during this school year. Here are a list of links about this curriculum.

• KONOS website
• KONOS review
• Homeschool Mom KONOS review
• Old Schoolhouse KONOS review
• Homeschool graduate KONOS review