Library Success

Tomorrow we are headed to the library and we will be returning the following:

Amish Horses, by Richard Ammon
Carl's Summer Vacation, by Alexandra Day
Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Horse in the House, by Erica Silverman
Don't Fidget a Feather, by Erica Silverman
Draw Me a Star, by Eric Carle
Follow Carl, by Alexandra Day
Here's a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry, collected by J. Yolen & A. F. Peters
Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, by Jan Karon
Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey
One Morning in Maine, by Robert McCloskey
River Parade, by Alexandra Day

Robert McCloskey, Alexandra Day, and Erica Silverman are quickly becoming some of our favorite authors!  Books by these authors not only hold the attention of all three of the older kiddos, but also keep Mommy coming back for more, too!  The Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa series is cute as can be, and has the added bonus of being about a horse -- something that automatically gets an eager audience in this house.  Robert McCloskey's books are timeless and have such an air of peace and simplicity about them.  And I love the Carl books simply because they give the kids a chance to tell the story on their own!

This was our second time to check out Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, and we loved it just as much the second time around as the first.  This book is definitely going on our Christmas wish list!  One afternoon I came in to the living room to find that Corbin had dragged one of my kitchen chairs in there and flipped it upside down so that he could stand on the seat part and hold onto the legs of it.  I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "I'm sailing to America!!  Like Jeremy, Mom!"  Well, it must have been rough seas, because that kitchen chair is now in need of repair ... but at least Corbin had a great adventure! :)

The only books that didn't get a lot of attention this time around were Here's a Little Poem and Amish Horses.  Wait, that is not true.  Amish Horses was enjoyed by Corbin many times for the great illustrations of horses, but we really didn't read it through but once.  Here's a Little Poem was alright, but just wasn't really the type of poetry that we have grown to love over here.  I guess I'm just partial to the rich children's poetry that can be found in books like Now We Are Six.


I am working on our library list as I type (as well as nursing a baby and trying to calm a frustrated toddler     ... so goes a day in the life!), so I will check back in soon with what we find tomorrow.

Storm Chasing 101

Today's school experience did not follow Mommy's lesson plans in the slightest, and I couldn't be happier about it!

We had finished up the boys' lessons (with Abby participating, as well) and needed to go get the rental car cleaned out and washed (loooong story, but our "bus" has been in the shop for almost 2 weeks now).  I figured we would get that done and then come home for lunch and do Abby's lessons.  God had a different plan for the day, however....

I decided to stop and let the kids run off some energy at a park before going to the car wash, also giving me some time to spend on my nature journal, but noticed some pretty dark clouds rolling in not 20 minutes after we got there.  I loaded everybody back up and started to drive, only to see that the rain was surrounding us but we were not getting a drop.  In that moment, an idea hit me.  We would be storm chasers!  The car needed to be washed, and it is not often in this summer heat that we get a good soaking rain, so why not kill several birds with one stone??  We would wash the car, entertain the kids, and learn a little bit at the same time!

We magically transformed into amateur storm chasers, with the kids taking turns telling me which direction we needed to go next.  Mommy couldn't move the car if they said "that way" or just pointed, so they had to work on their directions: left, right, straight, turn around, etc.  I have to say, they did a pretty good job, too!  We managed to stay in constant rain for over an hour, even though the storms were scattered!  We had so much fun, and there were so many little lessons hidden in the experience; it is definitely something I will never forget!

We are now working on creating "Storm Chaser Badges" to show Daddy when he gets home.  The kids are so proud and can't wait to "teach" Daddy how to be an expert storm chaser!  I happened to have my camera in my diaper bag, so I even managed to get some pictures and videos to share with him :)  Good memories in the makin'!!

And, I didn't have to wash the rental car ... one less chore for Mommy today ;)

This Year's Curriculum

As promised earlier, I'd like to list out for you each child's curriculum.  I will list them out by which child they belong to (even though I mentioned that there tends to be a lot of lesson sharing!), what the subject is, and how often we do it each week.  Also, if a book is part of the Little Hearts for His Glory or Little Hands to Heaven curriculum, I will put (HOD) - for Heart of Dakota - next to it.  Anything without (HOD) means that it is a supplement that I have chosen to add on to their lessons.  I will include links to where to purchase each book so that I don't have to type out each author/publisher.

Sooooo much good stuff here, I am very happy with our curriculum for the year!

(And, while I will mention the reading we are doing as a part of our curriculum, I will save this year's library book list for later.  That post will take awhile. =)

Abby (turning 5 at the end of August; an emerging reader and writer):
Core Curriculum (5 days/wk) - Little Hearts for His Glory (HOD)
Phonics (5 days/wk) - The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
Math (5 days/wk) - Math-U-See Alpha
Handwriting (2 days/wk) - D'Nealian handwriting
Bible Memory Verse (5 days/week, 1 verse per week) - (HOD)
Bible Reader (3 days/wk) - My Father's World Bible Reader 
Geography (1 day/wk) - Geography and Map Activities
Home Economics (1 day/wk) -  Lessons in Responsibility for Girls
Grammar (4 days/wk) -  First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind
Science: Our Father's World (HOD), science journal
Art/Art Appreciation (2 days/wk) - Come Look With Me, art journal
Latin (1 day/wk) - Songschool Latin
Bible Devotions - Devotion's for the Children's Hour (HOD)
Thinking Skills and Basic Skill Mastery (3 days/wk) - Finding the Answers (HOD), Do It Carefully (HOD)
History (5 days/wk) - History for Little Pilgrims (HOD), History Stories for Children (HOD)
Music/Music Appreciation (1 day/wk) - Hide 'Em In Your Heart (HOD), various Classical pieces, Music for Little Mozarts
Literature (5 days/wk) - Thornton Burgess' Animals Stories (HOD), Little Women, various library books

(I know that looks like a LOT for a little girl who isn't even five yet, but you have to understand that A) since not all books are done every day of the week, it actually doesn't take but an hour or two to finish everything each day, and B) Abby is a very advanced and self-driven kiddo ... she would be bored to tears with anything less!)


Corbin (age 3.5) and Daniel (turning 2 at the end of August):
Core Curriculum (5 days/wk) - Little Hands to Heaven (HOD)
Phonics (5 days/wk) -  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Science (1 day/wk) - science journal
Literature (5 days/wk) - various library books, Black Beauty
Bible (5 days/wk) - The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes  (HOD)
Bible Devotions - My ABC Bible Verses (HOD)
Music (5 days/wk) - The Singing Bible (HOD)

Daniel and Samuel (5.5 months):
Weekly activity (one developmental activity repeated every day for a week) - Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready
Reading (5 days/wk) - whatever library books, board books, or literature of the older children's they show interest in!

Okay, my children need my attention.  I just found one playing with my cell phone, one drooling on my carpet because he is teething, and one hiding with a bag of skittles he had stolen from the pantry!  Better go reestablish order to our world! =)

2010/2011 School Year, Here We Come!

HOLY  MOLY!  I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted on here!  That doesn't mean we haven't been reading or learning, of course; quite the opposite, really!  We've been having too much excitement for Mommy to occupy herself with such silly things as sitting at the computer and typing all afternoon! =)

Today was the first "official" day of our 2010/2011 school year.  While we school all the time, this is the first time the kids are not all going to be in the same curriculum.  Abby has moved up to 1st grade curriculum, while the boys are still doing their pre-K/K curriculum.  Up until today, Abby was just doing their lessons with them.  It makes her feel so big and special to be moving up a grade!

I have been wanting to share what it is that we are doing for school this year.  Mostly I want to do this so that I can go "look at my blog" when people ask, rather than having to scratch my brain while I try to remember it all! I share out of laziness and forgetfulness.  =)

In a later post I will list out each of the books we are doing.  Before I do that, however, please allow me to jot a few notes about the little details in how our school tends to happen on a day-to-day basis so you will have a better feel for what role those books actually play in our lessons:

• We have no set "schedule."  I keep a planner with a list of what lessons are to be done by each child on each day, but there is no set time we have to do those lessons.  Sometimes we school first thing in the morning, sometimes before lunch, sometimes after nap.  Sometimes we even split it up and do a little in the morning and a little a bit later.  Whatever feels right that day is what we do.  This keeps Mommy from going crazy, baby from going hungry, and house from going to hell in a hand basket (or laundry basket, in our case!).
• I do not keep grades at this point.  I actually doubt I will keep grades until they are necessary for college (so in middle high and high school years).  I am not only the kids' teacher, but their Mommy.  I know how well they are doing in a subject and do not feel the need to record every letter or number grade.  One of the blessings in homeschooling is being able to move at each child's individual pace.  If we need another week on a topic, we take another week.  If a weeklong topic takes one day to grasp and exhaust, we move onto a new topic the next day.  I keep track of what we do each day and make notes of how the children are doing, but do not formally record grades right now.  Another reason for this is that I don't want the kids' focus to be on getting an "A", but to be on truly understanding and appreciating a subject.  An "A" is just proof that you did well in a paper lesson.  But to truly learn something you must be able to have an intelligent, enlightened, understanding conversation about it.  In other words, I have taught you well when you can teach that topic back to me.  How many of us got an "A" in a foreign language, only to forget everything about that language once that semester was over??  I rest my case!
• We have a style of learning that can be described as very Charlotte Mason-esque, with a penchant for all things Classical =)  I'm sure fellow homeschoolers will understand what that means, but for those who do not, let me try and summarize as briefly as possible without robbing those techniques of their richness:                                                                                                        Charlotte Mason is a more relaxed, literature-based, Christ-centered education.  Great emphasis is put on reading living books, studying nature, history, and narration (having the child narrate back to you what they just heard/saw/read/learned/etc.).  I have talked some about this method on my blog already, and a great website for more information would be Simply Charlotte Mason.                   Classical education is based on the classic Greek methods of learning, and includes a school structure called the trivium.  Especially in the younger years (the Grammar stage of the trivium), there is much emphasis on rote memorization and a thorough learning of the basics.  I highly recommend reading The Well-Trained Mind for more information on this method. We seem to meld and weave these two educational methods, Charlotte Mason and Classical, into one style that fits our family to a T!
• School is not forced onto our children, but instead encouraged and enjoyed.  Our children are so 'brainwashed' into liking school that I have to work really hard to resist the temptation to discipline them by threatening "no school"!  They enjoy it so much that even suggesting that their attitude or behavior is not conducive to doing our school prompts an immediate attitude adjustment! I don't discipline with grounding from schoolwork, though, however tempting it may be! =)  It is very important to me that they never feel burned-out or bored with their lessons.  I do everything in my power to keep their work exciting, relevant, and developmentally appropriate.  At the first sign of stress or frustration we move onto something else or take a break, coming back after we have relaxed and are ready to try again!  
• And lastly ... while good grades, great knowledge, and a mastery of skills are all vital, my husband and I both are deeply convicted that our #1 responsibility as our children's teachers/parents is to nurture in them a love, respect, and understanding of God, His Word, and His creation.  A good grade in math, for example, means that our child can not only add, subtract, divide, and multiply, but can also look around and see and appreciate the beauty and wonder of mathematics in the Creator's handiwork!

That about sums it up for now.  It is going to be such a wonderful school year, and I look forward to sharing it with you from time to time!