The Homeschool Mother's Journal - The Last Two Weeks

1. Chantry performing his poem. 2. Receiving a medal.
3. 1st place for poetry writing.4. Caleb's colored pencil.
5. The finished quilt. 6. New concept in math--out come the blocks!

7. Yeah! Two books down. 8. New review for High School Prep Genius.
9. New fabric for skirts. 
 

I should probably divide this into two posts, but for the sake of time I am including my last two weeks into one. That last time I posted a Homeschool Mother's Journal we were about to head to the West Coast Student Convention. Thankfully, Destini finished her quilt right before we had to turn it in. So the results for the kids were as follows:

Caleb:

• Poetry Recitation - 1st
• Dramatic Signing Male: 3rd
• Puppet Show (w/ Destini) - 1st
• Drawing Colored Pencil - 1st
• Essay Writing - 3rd
• Chess - 2nd
• Photography Character Portrait - no placement

Destini:

• Puppet Show - 1st
• Misc Sewing (quilt) - 1st
• Sewing Cross-stitch - 1st
• Photography Character Trait - 1st
• Photography Wildlife - no placement

Chantry:

• Poetry Recitation - 2nd
• Chess - 1st
• Photography Scenic - no placement

Yes, I'm a pretty proud mama right now.
 



In my life this week…
So after that week we were totally wiped out. There were several mornings I was lazy and laid around reading. Then was the big task of getting the laundry and ironing under control all the while keeping up with our regular schedule. We also had to deal with an unexpected need of 4 new tires for our car. It seems sometimes when it rains, it pours.
 

In our homeschool this week…
Though we did implement everything back into out schedule I did get my act going enough to get math going. I think Chantry did the most work this week since I have to watch over him more and the other two kind of slipped through the cracks. But...we did finish two books, Exploring Creation With Zoology 3 and Burgess Animal Book for Children.
 

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
Baseball, piano lessons.
I attended a informational homeschool event where everyone in the area that has something to offer to homeschoolers show off their speciality, plus it was fun seeing other homeschool friends and chatting.
 

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
I loved this article that Mystie from Simply Convivial on her goals for the upcoming school year. A great read!
  

My favorite thing this week was…
Being lazy and reading and sneaking off one of my favorite haunts, Craft Warehouse. They were having a flat fold sale. I can't pass up buying $12-$13 dollar a yard fabric for $4 a yard!
 

Things I’m working on…
Laundry.
 

I'm reading...and read...

I’m cooking…
Not applicable!
 

I’m grateful for…
Jesus!
 

I’m praying for…
We have some issues going on right now that we are in desperate need of an answer from God. Ultimately, I'm praying that God gives us the strength to make it through this time and to keep the right spirit.
 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
A closer picture of the finished quilt.


 

 

High School Prep Genius (TOS Review)

 

High school can be a scary thought to a home school parent (or any parent for that matter). I am in the third year of homeschooling my oldest for high school and we have had an interesting time. Recently I was able to review High School Prep Genius from College Prep Genius. I'm a little sad that I didn't discover this book at the beginning of Caleb's high school journey. It would have been a great introduction to him about what high school is all about--something I had a hard time getting him to understand.

 

High School Prep Genius: An Academic Guide to Excellence is a guidebook for navigating through high school and beyond. This book is designed to help the high school child have a guide and help them achieve their highest potential. The principles behind this book are one, academic success requires dedication and two, prepared students make good citizens.

 

The book is divided into four sections and covers many topics such as:

Introduction - How to use the book, how to set up a College & Career notebook, and student timelines.
Section II - Personal development, interests, beliefs, being healthy, and finding support.
Section III - Academic development, studying for tests and papers, organization, High School mechanics.
Section IV - Future development, standardized test prep, college applications, paying for school, and college essentials.

When I received the book I read through the introduction sections and then handed the book off to Caleb to start reading. Each chapter is written to the student with a section of questions for the student to answer. At the final end of the chapter is a section for the parent to read and a small homework assignment.

It is recommended that the parent and child spend an hour a week going through the material. As much as I would have loved doing this it just wasn't possible, though if he had a question we did discuss the material. He worked diligently filling out the questions, which if I had to do again I would just use that time as the time of discussion. Writing out the answers seemed to slow him down in his progress in the book.

I asked Caleb, who is a boy of few words, what he thought of it and he said it was "Interesting." I also asked him if he thought it would have benefited him to read it before he entered high school and he said yes.

High School Prep Genius does lay out how high school and beyond looks for the typical student enrolled in public or private school and there are parts that wouldn't apply to the home school student. The authors do recommend to just skip those portions and just use the sections that apply to your student. It also gives a helping hand to the parent and helps the parent do the job of the guidance counselor.

I felt for Caleb this book came a little late, but there are a few ideas from the College and Career Notebook I will use for planning his last year. I will definitely be pulling High School Prep Genius out for Destini to use during her 8th grade year to help give her a good foundation of what high school and beyond looks like and like everything I do, tweaking it to fit our situation.

High School Prep Genius is available from College Prep Genius for $29.95 and is a great asset to the parent to use with a child that will soon be entering high school.


 

Reading Journal: Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

 

Book Description:

Rose Campbell has returned to the Aunt Hill from two years of travel with her Uncle Alec, and she has some shocking ideas. She's sick of being told that marriage is all a young woman is meant for. Even though her cousin Charlie has decided that Rose (and her fortune) are destined to be his, Rose vows to have nothing to do with romance until she's proved that she's a capable person in her own right. Still, Rose longs for a taste of fashion and society, and she throws herself into a whirlwind of parties. It's great fun at first to be surrounded by admirers, but before long Rose finds it difficult to know who her real friends are. The the person she trusts most makes a startling declaration. Will Rose make the right choice?

My thoughts:
In an earlier post I shared my thoughts on Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott, which had been a favorite read of mine when my Grandma first shared the book with me. Several years later I was browsing a bookstore when I happened upon Rose in Bloom, the sequel to Eight Cousins .

Rose in Bloom begins with Rose returning from a European journey with her Uncle Alec. Everyone has grown up and are now young men and woman ready to enter adulthood. All the aunts have an opinion on how Rose should live her life and the importance of marrying one of her cousins (to keep the money in the family).

Rose has decided to become a philanthropist, but sets that aside for awhile and succumbs to attending parties and enjoying society. Soon Rose find out that society life isn't all that is meant to be and with the help of her Uncle Alec finds a way to balance fun and work and while beginning her work of philanthropy.

Charlie, her cousin, takes possession of Rose and is determined to win her love. Though Rose likes Charlie she is hesitant to commit to anything since Charlie likes to go with the wrong crowd and lives recklessly. Rose soon calls upon her cousin Mac to help her as she goes out in society. Mac, the bookworm, rises to the challenge and eventually decides he is going to "study" love. As Rose slowly discovers her calling she also discovers love may come from an unexpected source.

In re-reading Rose in Bloom I found I enjoyed it just as much now as I did when I first read it.  Yes, there are a few ideas in it that you don't really hear about today such as getting married to a cousin or becoming a philanthropist (do kids today even know what that is?). For the most part it is just a coming of age story of young woman and a young men. You will laugh and cry as Rose and her cousins struggle to find their way in the world.

If you like Louisa May Alcott's writing I highly recommend reading Eight Cousins and the sequel, Rose in Bloom . They have a different feel to them than her other reads, but are just as enjoyable. Highly recommended!

The Hidden Art of Homemaking - Chapter 4

 

Chapter 4 - Painting, Sketching, Sculpting

Everyone who has any talent at all in sketching, painting, sculpturing or carving, should have the opportunity to use that talent. The expression is important for the person, and can tremendously enrich the lives of other people. What can you do? p.48

Since I don't have a talent in sketching, painting, sculpturing or carving I'm not to sure how to answer this question. I don't draw, doodle, paint, sculpt in any way, shape, form or fashion. When I was growing up I did do some drawing and my only accomplishment in painting was back in the day when stenciling was popular. I would love to say that I have kept up my drawing by doing a nature journal, but nature study and journaling is something that as hard as I try to incorporate just never ever happens here.

Reading this chapter at first left me feeling just a wee bit depressed, but then I told myself to think outside of the box. Outside of fabric, I think most of my artistic ability comes out in the from of paper, glue, curling ribbon, stickers and such. When thinking of paper and glue usually everyone thinks of scrapbooking, which as much as I love the thought of it, I never do it. What I do love to do is create cards and decorate items with paper.

1. Decorated notebooks. 2. Valentine's Day cards--an annual tradition in our house.
3. A decorated wood letter. 4. Candy bar cake. 5. Diaper cake.

Another thing I have tried to do is even though I don't do much drawing or sketching is to have materials around the house that my kids can use. We have chalk pastels, Prismacolor colored pencils, drawing pencils, water colors, colored Crayola and Sharpie markers (my personal favorite), and lots of paper. I also have used different art books with them and for this school year Caleb took a drawing class and colored pencil class offered to homeschoolers in our area.

Destini's artwork

 

Caleb's picture from his colored pencil class.

 

This chapter really gave me a lot to think about and inspired me to see if I can find a way to add some sketching into my life. Maybe I'll get around to starting a nature journal even if I have to start in my own backyard. I also loved her idea of sketching the sermon out for small children and for using it during personal prayer time.

I leave you with Mrs. Schaeffer's answer to her question, "What can you do?", which I think takes away the "fear" of drawing, sketching, and sculpting and helps the reader find the right way and the right medium that works for them

...be satisfied with the fact that although your art or talent may never be accepted by the world as anything 'great', and may never be your career, it can be used to enrich your day by day life: enrich it for you, and for the people with whom you live. And secondly, come to a recognition of the fact that it is important for you to be creative in this area to the extent of your talent: important for you as a person who is a creative creature. p. 48

I am linking up with Cindy at Ordo Amoris.

More from this series:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 

Spanish for You! - Estaciones (TOS Review)

 

Learning a foreign language has not been near the top of my list due to the fact that I don't know a foreign language. Trying to teach something to my kids that I don't know is quite overwhelming, until recently when we were sent Spanish for You! for review.

 

Spanish for You! is a curriculum for grades 3-8 written by Debbie Annett that can be used at home or in the classroom. Spanish for You! was written to be an affordable, flexible, easy to use, fun program that can be used by a child for self-study, as a family, or in a classroom setting. The curriculum is sold in themed packages which can be done in any order.

 

We reviewed Estaciones, which focuses on weather, for Grades 3-8. I received a soft covered book in the mail and a download link to download the rest of the program which included:

• Audio files of book
• Lesson Guides for grades 3-8 in PDF
• Self-checking worksheets for grades 3-8 in PDF
• Set of flashcards in PDF
• A bonus audio of book by a native speaker

I decided to use this with my 4th grader, 6th grader, and my highschooler. He is currently working through a Spanish program on computer and I thought this would be a good reinforcement to go along with it, plus it had the added benefit of reading and writing sentences written in Spanish.

After I had downloaded everything, I printed off all three sets of lesson plans--3-4, 5-6, and 7-8. After that I just jumped in with both feet and we took off. It is suggested that you work four days a week, which we tried to do, but the author also suggests to go at your own pace. I found it was pretty easy to get through one lesson per day and only found that once or twice that we took a lesson a little slower than suggested.

One thing I noticed right away is that the lesson plans for grades 3-4 are only 27 weeks while the lesson for the higher grades are only 24 weeks. This made it a little harder to do together, so I ended up following the lesson plan for 7-8 for all three children, but using the worksheets that were suggested for each level. I think for the most part this worked well for us, but I can see how it would have benefited my 4th grader to go a little slower.

Working on their worksheets

We did the lesson together and would follow the lesson guides which usually included listening to the audio clips, making flash cards, and doing a worksheet. We also did quite a bit of review with the flashcards at the beginning of each lesson. There is a list of games and activities included, which would also be a great enhancement. (I am not a game person and personally preferred the use of the flash cards over the games.)

I really like how the worksheets reinforced the vocabulary they were learning and required them to not only say the words, but helped them understand how the language works.  That being said some of my biggest frustration with the program was the worksheets. It seemed at times that there were quite a few words to translate that we hadn't learned yet. Thankfully, the worksheets were self-checking and I could look at the answers and just give the kids the right word they needed.

Looking back at what we have covered over the last month, I am amazed at what my kids have learned from this simple program. In fact, they were recognizing Spanish words on signs and were able to tell me what that word meant.  Spanish for You! was a great introduction to Spanish for my younger kids and a wonderful addition for my highschooler's study of Spanish.

Spanish for You! Estaciones is available as:
Grades 3-8 Package - $64.95 (with softback book or e-book)
Grades, 3-4, 5-6, or 7-8 - $39.95
Additional Books - $12.95


   

The Hidden Art of Homemaking - Chapter 3

I am a week behind. I had great intentions of getting my post up last week, but with the kids attending the West Coast Student Convention time didn't allow for it. So without furthur ado here are my thoughts on Chapter 3 about Music.

I have always enjoyed music. I do play the piano and I enjoy singing. I did have years of lesson, but I mostly learned playing a keyboard that set next to the organ at church, which my mom played. She wrote out little chord charts for me and first learned the right hand of the song and after a couple of years started adding my left hand. Of course, I can't read notes hardly at all, but I can pick out chords and play.

 I would love to say that when it comes to playing instruments we have it going for us, but unfortunately we do not. My husband plays the guitar a little bit and Destini is currently taking piano lessons, but that is the extent of it. Thankfully, that hasn't stopped us from enjoying music and incorporating it into out home.

My oldest son, Caleb, is my music lover and listens to the Christian radio quite a bit. He also loves Gospel choir music and likes to get the CD player going in the morning filled with Cd's that have sat around the house for years. One thing about him doing this is that it surround our home in music and we spontaneously sing along with it.

He remind me of myself when I was his age. I loved listening to the radio and choir music. I used to listen to a lot more music that I do now, but for some reason when I started having kids that seemed fall to the wayside I think due to finances. Though I don't mind everything on the radio I do get worn down by it and then I turn to my favorite singing group, Selah.

My two middle children seem to just go with the flow and don't seem to have any favorites, but Delani is my little singer and enjoys listening to music also. She especially enjoys making up her own songs and singing them.

We incorporate music several ways in our house. One way is that we study a classical composer for six weeks and listen to six different music selections. Even though we have been doing this for three or four years I can't say classical music has really taken on here. There have been a few composers we have really enjoyed, Mozart and Tchaikovsky but I think our favorite so far has been Scott Joplin. (Does he count?)

We also try to have a family time of singing a hymn and a folksong or an Americana song. We have learned quite a selection of hymns so far and folk/Americana songs are always fun to learn. We have spent numerous evenings discussing the words to these songs, laughing over them, looking up what they mean, and usually learning an interesting tidbit from history. We usually end our singing time with Sunday School songs which Delani loves to sing.

For some reason our hymn/folksong time is the hardest to keep going and many times we fall off of the wagon, but we always get back on and keep going. I feel learning the hymns are so important for my kids. What parent don't get a fuzzy feeling when their child's favorite song is "Power in the Blood"?

In this chapter I like how Mrs. Schaeffer points out:

For Christians, there is no need for alcohol to release our inhibitions in music-making. The reality of the Holy Spirit should free us to joyous expression in the form of melody and song.
 

Caleb recently attended a competition where he entered the category of Dramatic Signing. He signed the words to the song "When God Ran" by Philips, Craig, and Dean. This is something he really enjoys doing and though not what some may term music I believe it does show that "joyous expression" that Mrs. Schaeffer talks about. (Please excuse the microphone that was in the way.)

Here are some of  my favorite music choices:


 Earlier posts:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

Home School In the Woods Hands-On History Activity-Pak - Composers (TOS Review)

 

 

Lap Books--I have heard so much about them and looked at so many samples and yet I've never taken the plunge until now. I recently was able to review one of Home School In the Woods lap books, Hands-On History Activity-Pak: Composers.


 



  

Home School In the Woods believes that the best way for a child to learn or reinforce a topic is with hands on activities and projects. The projects in Composers lap book includes:

1. Periods of Music
2. Keyboard Vocabulary
3. Collection of Composers
4. Composers Timeline
5. Pieces with a Purpose
6. Music Appreciation
7. "The Orchestra" File Folder Display
8. Composer Cards

Projects 1-6 are included in the lap book and with these activities your student will cover 42 composers from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century. Periods of Music are covered along with vocabulary words. Also. included are MP3 clips of 29 pieces of music from different 19 .different composers along with a Music Appreciation sheet that is filled in by the student. There are two additional activities included, "The Orchestra" file folder display along with composer cards.

The Composer lap book does not include lesson plans, but there is a resource page included with a list of books, music Cd's, and video suggestions.

When I received my download I opened it and read through the directions. The instructions are very explicit in telling you exactly what to print, how many of a page you need printed, and what kind of paper to print it on such as color, card stock, or both.

Since my printer hates card stock (it literally spits it out) I did have to spend some time saving pages to my thumb drive to take into Staples to be printed there. The brought in my own colored card stock for printing and only paid for the copying and the white card stock. This came around to just under $10.00 which covered for 2 lap books. Afterwards I came home and printed off the rest of the pages needed on regular paper.

The kids spent several days coloring the necessary pages using their favorite Prismacolor colored pencils before we started in on cutting everything out. I also started working on putting together the actual lap book with the file folder and additional papers needed. I do want to insert here that we are not very crafty here in our house. Usually, I run from all craft ideas that require a lot of cutting out and such. Since Destini is 13 the cutting out wasn't hard for her, but there was quite a bit of it. Chantry struggled more with cutting out things so I let him do more of the items that had straight lines and I did the more difficult pieces.

When we had most everything cut out then out came the glue sticks. It does recommend a glue runner, which I used for the pocket folders, but the rest of the book was glued together with  a glue stick.

By this time I had the lap books all put together and when they finished gluing the smaller items together then it was time to start gluing them into the lap books. When they finished this they had a complete lap book waiting for information to be added to it.

This lap book can be used as a unit study with the resource list and music that is included. Since we follow a Charlotte Mason approach and do Music Appreciation/Composer Study I felt that this lap book would be a wonderful addition to our music study and something that we will use and add to as we study different composers.

Since we recently studied Bach we listened to the Brandenburg Concertos No.3 - i: Allegro Moderato that was included in the study. Then the kids filled out the composer card recording the birth and death of the composer, country of origin, period of music, and composition and interesting facts. They then filled out the Music Appreciation sheet which asks for the composers name, title of the piece, period of music, interesting facts, and an area to write or draw what they imagined when they listened to the music.

We didn't get to "The Orchestra" file folder display and the Composer cards, though I have everything ready to be cut out and glued down. We will be putting the display together and cutting out the composer cards and I know these will also be a great asset to our music/composer study.

Home School in the Woods has put out an outstanding product. After doing this lap book I would say that it isn't something I would want to do very often, BUT  I would look at Home School in the Woods lap book first if I was looking to add a lap book to our studies.  I found their lap books to be fun and had just the right amount of writing involved. My non-writer hardly complained at all.

This lap book will give my kids a very nice keepsake to remember their study of composers. It will also be a great help to this mama when she gets stumped on which composer to study next. All I have to do is open the book and make a choice.

Home School in the Woods Hand-On History Activity-Pak - Composer is for elementary and middle grades and is available for download for $18.95 or on CD for $19.95.