Our History & Philosophy

2006-2007

Should We Homeschool?
Camille was in a public school kindergarten one county away from us because our county's schools were not ideal. We were paying $500.o0 a year just for her to be able to attend plus providing transportation with equaled 120 miles of driving a day. When it became apparent to us that social difficulties were hindering Camille's educational growth and standardized testing was the main focus of the school- we started weighing other options. If public school at $500.00/year plus transportation costs were not ideal, neither was the exorbitant costs of private school at $2000.00 a year plus transportation. What did that leave us? Homeschooling.

We decided that it was worth trying homeschool to see if it was a fit for us. We had seen episodes on WifeSwap that involved homeschoolers and even though they might not have been portrayed in the most appealing way, I saw family togetherness and parents displaying an invested interest in their child's education, welfare and hearts. Those elements made it appealing to me outside of the quirks that were publicly displayed for ridicule and criticism.

Curriculum Confusion
I started researching curriculum and at first I was bombarded with local parents telling me the praises of the ABeka program, which the private schools in this area use. If nothing else, we had a program to follow if I couldn't find something that better suited us. The internet was our saving grace as well as the library, after talking to a semi-local homeschool group we discovered Sonlight which was a breath of fresh air compared to ABeka in our eyes. "That was it! I thought, we're going to be Sonlighters!" Around this time I also decided to join the homeschooling community online and discovered The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I put the book on hold through interlibrary loan and poured over the Sonlight catalog trying to decipher which of their products to use. The day to order Sonlight came and as I reached to call Sonlight, the phone rang, the copy of The Well-Trained Mind was at our library ready to pick-up. I spent the next two days reading The Well-Trained Mind knowing that our direction for homeschool had drastically changed. There within the pages, I saw the beginnings of our hopes and dreams for our children's education.

A Few Bumps in the Road
So began our journey with The Well Trained Mind for first grade at home. What a year! We grew so much as a family, I became obsessed with how to teach and creating my own materials and lessons (not recommended), I joined the masses in having a homeschool blog and had philosophies and convictions thrown at me from every direction. It was a year of confusion in a lot of areas, I feel God was using the experience to test my faith, my preserverance and devotion. I discovered for the first time what young Earth meant, differing philosophies of education (Principled, Thomas Jefferson, Charlotte Mason, John Holt, unschooling, traditional, etc.) and I defended our choice in The Well-Trained Mind wholeheartedly, albeit foolishly. The young earth/old earth, evolution vs. creation issue really weighed on me until God broke me free of it with a reminder that it is man's argument, not His. This scripture among many brought my heart peace about this issue:

1 Corinthians 4 : 1-6
1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. 6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, Do not go beyond what is written. Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.

I do not know the truth of creation whether it involves the theory of evolution or if a day mentioned in the Bible is actually 24 hours, I believe God created and everything else will be revealed when I finally go home to Jesus. Until then, I will teach my children that God created and present all theories of how and when to them when the time is right. In our second year of serving in the ministry and first year of homeschooling, I was bombarded with many of ideas and convictions which took me on rabbit trails, ones I feel God intended and ones He didn't. I wish I would have used the internet more as a tool than a crutch that first year but we make our mistakes and hopefully grow and move forward.

Seeking Instant Perfectionism
God gave me many different avenues in which to grow, all at once I realized all the different disciplines I wanted to model, teach and lead my children to. Talk about overwhelming! I wanted to become the perfect teacher, mother, wife and woman, all RIGHT NOW! I felt an urgency to get all of it right in my mind, heart and soul and I put undue pressure upon myself to accomplish all of this.

I read so many books about "how to __________", I dove into reading The Great Books because, my goodness! I only have seven years before Camille will be ready to start doing the same and it takes time to read, analyze and absorb. I even started a Great Books online discussion group where as a group we read, How to Read A Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren taking extensive notes and then moved on to The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer with the same intensity. As a group we worked on Gilgamesh, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, and finally The Iliad before the group dissolved. It was a great year for me in the self-education department, not so much in the other areas of my life. A person can only do so much.

Veteran after veteran warned me to slow down, to focus on the present and to be consistent above all else. This was sage advice and through burnout, I started to pace myself. I have stopped reading every title out there about "how to _____", with the exception of the ones that will benefit us the most where we are in our journey. I've cast away all the Christian self-help books to seek wisdom in the Lord instead through reading the Bible and prayer.

I spent hours (and days) designing our own curriculum so that we could use Story of the World volume 2, The Middle Ages but include church history, use books that were on our shelves instead being so dependent on our unreliable library system and organize all the elements I felt were important so that during our year, history could be pick up and go. I over-analyzed, over-extended and used materials that were not on the appropriate age level for Camille and thought I had created the perfect solution for our history studies. I'm laughing at myself now only because everything I was trying so hard to provide Camille was already neatly packaged in Tapestry of Grace but I was too blind to see it before.

Unfair Judgment
I was blinded by the prejudice that rankled my heart from reading the educational philosophies of various Christian curriculum providers that I felt went too far in trying to train and mold young Christians with heavy indoctrination, going so far as to plant seeds of hate towards those that did not subscribe to their beliefs. I wanted to stay so far away from that and protect my children from being exposed to such ideology that most Christian curriculums were just bitter tastes in my mouth instead of truly looking at each without prejudice. When I saw the word, "reformed", I cringed and Tapestry contains "reformed theology" so it was quickly dismissed as were other products. Since that time I have learned more about reformed theology, our own United Methodist beliefs and I've learned how to truly assess homeschool materials for content and discern better (and more fairly) what would work for us.

We have since decided that Tapestry can do the work for me and I can be satisfied with the weekly planning and implementation of the program instead of the constant, draining exercise of trying to create something that includes everything. Tapestry has saved me in so many ways! First, Tapestry has saved my children from an inexperienced mother who might have golden intentions but still tends to push too far, Tapestry has saved me from fears, insecurity and years of self-doubt about whether what we are using is of the best quality and worthy of our efforts and finally Tapestry has provided the meat to the education we dream of for our children, the same one that The Well-Trained Mind provided the bones for. Now, it's time to work on matters of the heart and the approach of how to teach. We have the educational tools that provide the information (curriculum), we have an outline for our studies (The Well-Trained Mind and Tapestry of Grace, among others) but something is still missing.

Living, Loving, and Learning
I am currently waiting for books about Charlotte Mason to come from the library, books that I have skimmed before and dismissed. I have the gist of what a Charlotte Mason education looks like and we use many elements already:

- As short of lessons as we can comfortably handle
- use of living books, no twaddle (well, just a little)
- importance of developing good habits young
- copywork, narration and dictation
- free afternoons
- we've dabbled into nature study

I'm no longer looking for a method to follow but a philosophy of education that will inspire us and keep our hearts in tune to each other and God. We are not in a classroom, we are at home with our emotions, desires and sins always present. I'm looking to reach my children, not only teach them. This is why I am adopting and adapting our homeschool to reflect a more natural learning environment in which I can do both, teach and reach. We have many goals for our children, the academic portion is not light at all but I believe we can pursue the academics with gentleness. This philosophy has changed a few of our curriculum decisions, using products that would better serve the heart and academics, not just the academics. When I say heart, it is the means by which I teach from, the philosophy of the curriculum itself, but it can also include the presentation and delivery of each product. In some cases it also means delaying a few academic pursuits for when our children are more ready for them. The curriculum is not the end all though, my whole approach heart-wise is changing to fit these goals for our children's education.


Heart
The ultimate goal for our children is that they have open hearts at the end of this homeschooling journey. We desire for our children to develop a close and everlasting relationship with God but realize that there may be a period in which they run from Him. We hope to instill enough self-discipline, discernment and fortitude to help them return to God if they should decide to forsake Him for a season.

Jesus' teachings are prevalent to us, above all else we want our children to have a healthy worldview in which they view each person as one of God's children. Love each other, Jesus commanded us. He didn't say, "love each other only if others believe the same as you." I am purposely trying to raise my children to view the world as a place without boundaries. For this reason, we have decided that before the children are 18, we will take them on at least one mission trip. We have actually made this a requirement for graduation regardless of if they attend a mortar and brick school in high school or are dual-enrolled in college. We speak gently of other cultures and religions, teaching the children that although Jesus is the only way, other religions believe just as strongly in their beliefs as we do about Jesus and if we are to make a difference we should learn about what is important to them and why, so that others will be open to learning about Jesus through our example.

We make sure our children have time to be children, to dance in the sunlight and makes pies out of mud. Their childhood is very precious and it is given the nurturing that it needs to be one of purpose, imagination and wonderment. Time is also taken to ensure that we stay connected to our children, that we are shepherding their hearts the way God would have us do.


Mind
The end goal of our homeschooling journey is for our children to have tough minds, ones that can wade through the trappings and filth of this world easily without hindering their faith. We feel in order to accomplish this, the children have to be trained in the studies of logic, rhetoric, philosophy and theology/apologetics. We desire for them to be able to think for themselves with a strong foundation for support, to find value and purpose in their reading endeavors, and to be able to speak and write clearly and persuasively. It is not an easy road we have chosen, but we feel it is worth our best efforts.

This is the beginning of our homeschooling journey, our philosophy may change as we grow and learn more but I pray it will just grow with deeper roots with time and experience. Of course this is a living desire so this discourse may change and grow in many directions. Besides, I feel like I've forgotten to mention so many things that I cannot remember now! Expect this to be edited many times.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2008

A Charlotte Mason homeschool
It has been 7 months since I first wrote this post and we've changed our once Well-Trained Mind driven homeschool into more of a Charlotte Mason homeschool although I still contend that we're really just illuminating our own hearts within our learning experience and that tends to portray a Charlotte Mason philosophy more than any others.

Through changing our homeschool, I've been able to discover many things about myself and the kids. First, I am and always have been a nature lover although I never realized it before. Tapping into this part of myself has opened many beautiful opportunities with the kids and allows me to truly be a role model for them and inspire them to live curiously. Trekking through State Park trails is a common occurrence as well as being more observant and aware of our natural environment wherever we go, it is such a blessing!

I am reading Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series, studying Habits, and applying new tactics slowly to our household. My discipline style with Danny has changed upon reading The No Cry Discipline Solution by Elizabeth Pantley and although there are days when I feel I haven't learned a thing, the other days are so sweet with love- I just feel so blessed.

Gone are my ambitions to be the best homeschooling mother I can be, I just want to do my best with my kids.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2009

Let's see, in the fall of 2008 it became very apparent that a divorce was on the horizon, mine. It was a time of hard decisions because I wasn't just deciding to end a marriage, but to change our lifestyle drastically. I started working part-time at night to save a little money of my own to help the transition and throughout the separation/divorce process, I started working more and homeschooling less.

The kids and I moved from Georgia to South Carolina to live with my parents while I work full-time to better situate us to live on our own after I pay off my personal debt. The kids will be starting private school next month (August '09) and with time I've gotten used to the idea and we're all excited. Luckily, the private school is a classical one so Camille will continue to learn Latin and read whole books and Danny will get a wonderful start to his education. Danny is repeating preschool this coming year because he is not ready for kindergarten but I fully expect him to blossom under the tutelage of the teachers there.

Unbelievably, the kids' classes are only 10 students per class and they will be done at 1:00 pm but since I will not be done at work until 5:30 most days, they will be in the after-school program and do their homework while being able to play a bit more. Saving graces.

2009 has been a year of change for us, especially for me. Our lifestyle has done a 180 degree turn-around but I am so blessed to have had three years of homeschooling Camille. I'm in college now, working towards my Bachelor's degree in Business Adminstration through online courses, working full-time, and learning everyday how important balance is. We have struggles, we have challenges but together we're rising to the occasion to meet and deal with them as they come. I have such hope for us!

What is Horizons Preschool?

Philosophy and Objectives of the Program

Horizons Preschool is a complete preschool program that was made to be adaptable to many situations: a classroom, homeschool and daycare situtation. Five days a week of lessons are provided with the understanding that any number of days per week may be used successfully. New concepts are introduced on days 1, 3 and 5 of the week. Days 3 and 4 have activities that expand and further practice the concepts.

FINE MOTOR SKILLS
If you have a child that is still developing fine motor skills, that's fine- write in sand or shaving cream until it's built up. There are helps within the program such as tracing letters and activities to enjoy that will build fine motor skills that they need to start writing. If your child is already able to write, the curriculum is more open and go.

HOW to Think, not WHAT to Think
There is a very helpful section in the beginning of the Horizons program that addresses understanding a young child and how they think versus how an adult thinks. Horizons Preschool's goal is to teach the child HOW to think instead of WHAT to think. The importance of allowing a child free time after a teaching session is stressed because how the child plays will show what has been absorbed and internalized. The usual age for starting Horizons Preschool is 4 years old, Horizons warns not to push it, let the child's actions and desires guide the decision to start, not age or grandparents. Lol.

HOW TO CREATE A POSITIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE
There is more about how to go about teaching your child, what elements are most important and how you can move forward to accomplish a positive learning experience for your child. Elements addressed are discipline, routine, limitations of time, unstructured time to play and how the teacher can encourage the child. All very helpful!

DESIGNED TO BE ACTIVITY AND ACADEMIC CENTERED
This preschool program has been designed to meet the needs of two different types of preschool programs- an activity centered preschool and the academic centered program. This means there is far more material presented in the teacher's guide than what can be covered. It is a pick and choose program that supports half day programs, three day programs and all-day programs.

The components:

1. Student Workbooks: Consumable workbooks which contain 180 lessons in 4 color in a perfect bound book with perforated pages for easy tear out. Most pages are front and back but pages with crafts that require cutting are only 1-sided.

2. Teacher's Guide: Detailed (whew! the details) daily lesson planner that provides enough activities for a full day.

3. Resource Packet: Full color teaching aids and black line masters for reproduction.
Components within-

1. Memory Verse cards provided separately in NIV and KJV
2. Alphabet Puzzle
3. Flashcards (I love these!): Numbers 1-12, Letters (Aa-Zz), Colors, Shapes, Time (analog & digital clocks by the hour), Seasons, and Months. There are smaller flashcards which are full color and two sided and huge flashcards 8.5x11 that are also full color and two sided.
4. Music CD contains Bible songs to reinforce key ideas, recorded using children's voices and serves as a sing-along instructional aid.

The Daily Lesson Structure only in Teacher's Guide:

• Bible Reference, this is chapter and verse
• Bible Concept to Present: overall objective of the lessons from a nondenominational viewpoint (yay!)
• Bible Lesson: provides information you need but is suggested that you present this instead of reading it
• Social Studies: materials that affect the child's life, items that have an impact on the child's lifestyle and people around him, many suggestions are activity oriented
• Science: based on God's creation, activity oriented with specific subjects discussed
• Language Arts: words exercises, poems, verbalizations, games, etc. Reading should only be taught when the child is ready.
• Phonics: Letter recognition and alphabet order. Associating, differentiating and blend the letters sounds comprises the remainder of the program which Horizons suggests using LIFEPAC Kindergarten Language Arts or Horizons Kindergarten Phonics & Reading. Yeah, we won't.
• Reading: Primary goal is to increase the verbal skills, narration is promoted.
• Writing: developmental progressions with the goal of having the child write their first name by the end of the program
• Memory Verses: memorization tips
• Math: Teach fundamentals of number sense through multi-sensory activities.
• Shapes: identifying basic geometric shapes- a new shape is introduced about every 2 weeks
• Colors: also introduced every two weeks
• Story Time: this has been left very open (thankfully for us!) but there is a list of books to choose from. Specific books are not tied into the individual lessons. Rereading a book numerous times is encouraged, and many more helps are provided.
• Music: Suggested for each lessons, the CD is tied to each lesson as well as popular toddler and preschool songs. There is a new song every 7 lessons
• Arts & Crafts: plenty of suggestions throughout
• Physical Education: to develop motor coordination needed, develop large muscle motor skills, grace and rhythm
• Outdoor Activities: nature
• Creative Cooking: a way to involve more senses (Danny loves to cook!)
• Health & Safety: habits of hygiene and everyday safety skills
• Field Trips: suggestions given
• Homework pages: Can be done with Dad in the evenings but more for traditional school
• Catch Up: Listed every six to eight weeks for when you don't have time to do a lesson, this is when you "catch-up"

I'm sorry but this is a fabulous program! I love it even more than I did before now that I have dove into it. It can be used secularly if the user wishes, it just takes ignoring the Bible elements in the Teacher's Guide and skipping or modifying some of the activities in the workbooks. We do not use heavily indoctrinated products, we feel if religion or faith is to be taught, as the parents we are the best vehicle- not a script or curriculum.

This program can be as involved or as simple as you'd like! Here's some pictures.

8.5 x 11 Month flashcards, the one on the right is the back of February's

Yes, that is a yeast cell. Cool, huh?

Pages from Lesson 19

Page from Lesson 100

Page from Lesson 104

Seasons flashcards 8.5 x 11, front Fall, back of the winter card on right

Color this picture of heaven, Lesson 3

Smaller and larger flashcards to use

Front and back of the Number flashcards

Time by the hour


Pages in the resource packet for reproduction

Colorful illustrations as teaching aids- yes that's the brain and the five senses are noted
and safety signs.

You know why else I love this program? If we don't cover something in PreK, we can continue it into K and use some of the elements later on in science, etc. There is SO much to this program, I cannot find one thing I have an issue with. I hope this helps others.

Our Very Own Renaissance

Well, we've dropped spelling for the rest of this year. That might not seem like much but our 2nd grade year ends in August. This has been a major year of change and growth! We adopted Tapestry of Grace as our history program in January to help us get over the two month break we took after MIL's fight with cancer ended and my faithful companion- our 15 year old dog Magnum, passed away as well. Add a severely twisted ankle and bringing Jack, our golden retriever puppy home and throw in a few major holidays- voila, a two month break.

Tapestry has been wonderful for us, there has been some figuring out to do along the way but we're really enjoying ourselves and each other more now. We're a lot more relaxed in the area of history then we were with SOTW alone. That might seem impossible since Tapestry is not by any means a "light" program but thankfully, I realized the importance of focusing on the lower grammar portion and only venturing into the upper grammar portion for very select books.

Our family is coming together even more, Camille and I are enjoying our read aloud time and she's narrating without much effort. Well, as long as you don't care if what she says is said in complete sentences, lol. The girl can make a run-on sentence long enough to wrap around our house and yard (3 acres) and not take a breath because she's so excited to share her ideas.

I really can't wait until the Weekly Report on Friday (or Saturday), her work with Primary Language Lessons is beautiful and inspiring. I got this silly grin on my face today as I watched her working on her Explode the Code work and she spelled meatballs all by herself without glancing through the pages before to check it. She saw my grin and asked me, "Why are you smiling like that?" Me, "Oh, sweetie, I'm just so proud of you! You spelled meatballs all by yourself and you're really doing your best. That is all Mommy has wanted." She puffed up, put on a silly grin of her own and continued her work.

We're all in a happy, silly grin type of place right now. We read about the Renaissance today and it hit home, "we're" in a time of renewal, a time of looking back to past times to find inspiration and moving forward in a new way. I feel like a bright, shiny new penny. I know that sounds ridiculous but I'm bursting with joy and praise and I could swear I'm glowing.

I'm documenting all this because there will come a time, probably soon, where I will get frustrated or feel overwhelmed more with life than anything and I can come back and reread about our Renaissance.

I do want to say something about reading homeschooling books- I've been rereading a few:

• Educating the WholeHearted Child by Sally & Clay Clarkson
• A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison
• The Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola
• Home Learning Year by Year by Rebecca Rupp
• 3 R's by Ruth Beechick
• You Can Teach A Child Successfully Grades 4-8 by Ruth Beechick

TAKE NOTES! Flesh out the main ideas of each person, pay close attention when they say, *I did, we did, we decided*. I've read these books before and many others and yet I feel like I'm reading them for the first time. I don't know if it is because my jaded view has been lifted or what.

I've appreciated the comments left by those who read our blog but the well wishes for me to relax...I'm not sure if I'll EVER qualify as a 'relaxed' homeschooler. My idea of relaxing would still be rigid to others' points of views. I've been plagued ever since we started to figure out HOW we were going to homeschool, I've adopted The Well Trained Mind because it was the closest method I could find that was printed out for us with resources to boot. I had ideas of my own but with inexperience (not like I have that much now either!) the ideas aimed too high or required more work than necessary. I'm tempted to delete all that is at this blog and start over.

Really, I am. I don't want others to see my old posts and think, "My goodness, look at all she's doing, why am I not doing that. I must be failing my children because I'm not doing hardly any of that for my own." Believe me, people have SAID this to me. I look at some of my old posts and realize how confused and desperate I was to find our path. Trying anything to bring it all together.

It's Wednesday and we're having a fabulous week. Thankfully, it's week 1 of this quarter (9 weeks long) so we're off to a great start!

Making the Change: Spelling

Spelling is the first subject up for review regarding how, when and why. We're in the middle of making a transition to a more natural learning environment instead of forced academics, my main objective is to combine teaching and reaching a child.

In The Well-Trained Mind it is suggested to start Spelling Workout A soon after phonics instruction is done. I've never questioned this, I just did what WTM says thinking that was what was best. Wrong. It's not best, a child needs time to focus on reading skills and even more time to reinforce phonics before diving into another skill to master such as spelling. I thought using Spelling Workout would solidify phonics because it is a phonetic based spelling program.

Camille is not behind at all, she's reading on a 3rd to 4th grade level right now and her fluency is building each day. To be frank, I do not know if Explode the Code is helping or if it has just been time and practice. I suspect it is a bit of both. We've also dropped spelling since we started using Explode the Code and believe it or not, I started worrying about if she'd be able to finish SWO C before 3rd grade. Want to enter my head for a moment here? "If she doesn't finish SWO C in 2nd, then SWO D in 3rd, SWO E in 4th, SWO F in 5th, SWO G in 6th...like WTM says then she'll be behind when..."

Yeah.

Guess what? No more. I have read about how to use dictation to teach spelling which is how Charlotte Mason suggested. I have looked at numerous Charlotte Mason friendly spelling programs. I have read Ruth Beechick and a few other homeschooling books I have here at home and my instinct was right.

You do not need spelling instruction until your child starts composition and certainly not in the formative years of reading. What type of spelling program works best? From my research, spelling that is integrated in with writing works best, the least effective is teaching from spelling lists. If you do teach from spelling lists, it's best to have your child write sentences with the words and then spelling becomes a chore to the child.

Okay, now what? I decided that I didn't want to sacrifice academics by finding a more natural way to learn spelling. So I started looking for something that had the elements of Spelling Workout but was in a different format.

I want something to teach the spelling rules, including suffixes and prefixes as well as root words but in a format that Charlotte Mason would be proud of and I would be excited to use. I looked at a number of programs and finally picked Simply Spelling by Laurie Hicks of Shoelace Books. I was very reserved about using and purchasing an academic item from somewhere I haven't heard of. But it seems a few other homeschoolers I know use and love Simply Spelling as well. That is all the endorsement I need.

We have dropped Spelling Workout completely, Danny will not see a Spelling Workout book unless that format is the best that serves him, although I have a good feeling that won't be the case.

Simply Spelling is a 3rd grade -12th grade product although you can purchase the 3rd and 4th book independently in case you want to "try" it out. It truly is a program that will take minutes a day instead of the 30 minutes for Spelling Workout.

I have read why it is beneficial for children to learn spelling, how it is best taught and when it is best to start teaching. From there I have prayed, thought and sought counsel with other more experienced homeschoolers and decided to find something that would fit both of my objectives, to teach and reach my children. Simply Spelling is our choice.

Why I'm Looking into CM more

I posted this at the WTM Curriculum board after I asked about recommended Charlotte Mason resources. It is the cusp of what is going on with me and our homeschooling journey right now and since I already poured my heart out once, I figured I'd just paste it here. I think this is actually going to be a turning point in our overall journey, we'll see where God leads us.

I found my A Charlotte Mason Education by Levison copy. I have More Charlotte Mason, The Charlotte Mason Study Guide and a few volumes of the Original coming from the library, YAY! I want to get Real Learning too, I have to check if it's at the library.

I just want more of a natural learning environment, I want to stop pushing my children to learn things they might not be ready for just because (just an example!) WTM says to do xyz in year #.

What has been bothering me about our path (using WTM):
I don't understand why we're learning spelling at this stage when it seems having a better grasp on phonics would be more beneficial. I don't understand why there is ANY focus whatsoever on anything but gaining reading fluency and getting better at handwriting through copywork.

I spent most of first grade (our first year of hsling) pushing my dd through subjects, feeling confident because I was following what someone else said was important to do. I don't have the confidence anymore that I was doing "right" by my dd. I don't think we should have started Spelling Workout at all, we should have focused on reading more and memorized phonics rules instead of FLL grammar terms. If we had done that, we could have spent this year (2nd) learning the basics of grammar (nouns, verbs, pronouns) with a much stronger foundation in reading skills. THAT would have been the natural progression but I didn't have the confidence/knowledge last year to realize that.

Now I'm just figuring out how to fix it without hurting dd by pushing too many things on her AND provide her with what she needs at this stage to be successful in the next couple of years when writing comes into play more. It's been a hard road letting go of "public school" mentality and I still struggle with it, now it seems I have to let go of "WTM" mentality just enough to provide what I think is best for my dd.

What appeals to me about CM is the focus on keeping a child a child but still demanding excellence in the tasks at hand. I'm not confident that the progression is enough- at Ambleside under Language Arts, it has a child doing copywork until 4th grade without dictation or written narration. It is the same at Simply Charlotte. I'm not comfortable with that yet. Even the products we're changing to Primary Language Lessons and Language Lessons for the Very Young have dictation and written reproductions (I consider these written narrations).

I need a middle ground somehow and I'm still figuring that out. Tapestry of Grace has been such a God-send because it really opened my eyes to the proper level of books I should be exposing dd7 to at this point and it keeps me in check each week so that I don't use older material just because *I* like it. I'm really weighing what we're using and how, what books are beneficial to read aloud for a variety of reasons (what is good for dd's heart? what is good for dd's soul? what is good for dd's mind?).

I feel like a mess but I'm feeling better about giving my children what THEY need rather than what others say they need and when. Now, I still have this little monkey on my back saying, "what about standardized testing?", "will dh think I'm not being effective if dd doesn't pass her 3rd grade test?", and things like that.

Comparisons about other homeschools aren't bothering me as much but it still gets to me at times. Especially when a child who is the same age as dd7 is reading Harry Potter books and writing paragraphs already or has their own creative journal in which they write a full page. God is helping me with that aspect. Lol.

I am going to read CM's Original Series and spend some time in prayer really thinking about this and what would be best for our kids. Hopefully the smaller questions like (when and how with spelling) will work themselves out.

We're not looking for an overhaul in our curriculum per se, perhaps a refocus on how we approach and possibly when we start doing certain subjects. Language Arts will be the most effected by this but that has already started to happen. It'll be interesting to reread this in a few years.

LA Ramblings

I have Primary Language Lessons by Lingua Mater now and I am very pleased. Thankfully, I've also been able to get Tapestry of Grace's Writing Aids, but I've also decided to get Language Lessons for the Very Young by Sandi Queen. Seems like a lot, huh? I have my reasons.

The Charlotte Mason method for the early years is resonating with me now, moreso than other products. I think it's the gentleness and snuggle quotient that is drawing me. The sharing of something beautiful without rigidness. First Language Lessons 1/2 by Jessie Wise didn't have the snuggle quotient for us, it just felt like something we 'needed' to do and I felt the pressure to get it right. Previewing Writing With Ease by Susan Wise Bauer at Peacehillpress.com gives me the same pressure to get it done and right the first time. This isn't healthy for me or for my children, I don't need to feel the pressure and in turn put pressure on them.

Children and their abilities are fluid, even if they have mastered the material there will be days that they act like they don't know the first thing about the task at hand. I feel like I have equipped myself enough to be able to identify areas of improvement and use more open-ended products. This journey seems to have started when I choose to use Writing Tales 1 instead of Classical Writing or Classical Composition because I felt Writing Tales would be more suited to a younger child's abilities and imagination. Writing Tales is more child-friendly with its activities and games than other products I've seen.

For means of support, I have also acquired:
- The Core Knowledge Sequence K-8 by Hirsch
- Home Learning Year by Year by Rebecca Rupp
- Ruth Beechick's practical books- The 3 R's and You can homeschool your child successfully 5-8

Tapestry of Grace's Writing Aids is a K-12 writing program which will help us move within their 12 levels (not grade levels) at the kids' pace. I think combining this with CM type products will provide the structure, scope and gentleness I've been looking for. I don't want to rush my children through concepts to finish a book. I want to make sure we're using our time efficiently and productively without pushing them beyond what they are capable of. What program is going to do that for us? Truly? None, we have to assess where we are and what we still need.

The only other type of book I'd like to acquire is a practical Charlotte Mason type book that helps with K-12 if there is one. I've also been looking at Catholic homeschooling materials because they also resonate with my goals. We're not Catholic but websites like Mater Amabilis seem to be aligned with what I have in mind, not to mention I have a lot of the books mentioned.

My current plan is to use Primary Language Lessons alongside Language Lessons for the Very Young, switching them out as I feel the need or doing similar lessons in each- the alignment doesn't really matter to me. What does matter is that LLVY should have been what I used in first grade instead of First Language Lessons so I'm remediating in a way. My thought is to keep using our workbook from Mailbox to reinforce if need be but not as an everyday activity. It's hard to share about this because it is very fluid. I do not want our lessons to extend further than 15-20 minutes, and I don't want them to be a pressure-filled 20 minutes.

The good thing is that Danny will be using these materials in a short amount of time and he is already drawn to the Primary Language Lessons's picture studies. How encouraging is that?

I really feel like I only have 1 chance with my children in these younger years and I don't want it to be filled with anxiety when it's not needed. I've had enough anxiety in the last year about all this for all of us! Lol. Oh my, I'm relaxing...what is the world coming to???

This week off in review

Our 3rd grade curriculum arrived, hence the post below about 3rd grade Chemistry but would you believe I've been too busy to really get a good look at everything???

Actually, I have. I've been trying to coordinate the book selling that I've been doing for 2 weeks, purging items in our house, preparing for a lecture I'm giving tomorrow and dealing with daily life with a 5 month old pup, a 3 year old boy and 7 year old girl. Dh has been dealing with his own stresses with his college work and the church.

I am ready for the lecture, scared out of my mind but ready. When I get home, I'll have to finish my first article for Heart of the Matter's classical column, Trivium Tid-Bits, which conveniently will be the same topic that I'm doing the lecture on- how to use classical education elements in any homeschool for free.

Wouldn't you know it? I spilled coffee on my keyboard which now does a lot of bbbbbbbbbbbb's. Lol. Thank goodness I have a laptop to use but it's not the same, all my passwords and shortcuts are on MY computer. Sigh. Funny thing, I was just looking for my ink pen about 10 minutes ago and I couldn't find it. There's always a panic when I misplace my writing tools b/c Danny is quick at finding opportunities to make a mess. Lo and behold, it's in my hair. Thank goodness.

I have a lot of stuff to do this weekend, I haven't even planned out next week's lessons! I'm reserving that for Sunday afternoon and night. I have completely failed this week to accomplish what I should have outside of the extracurricular activities (selling books, preparing lecture, writing article). I have done laundry and fed my family every night though.

The sad thing is I need to prioritize so the 3rd grade curriculum that came in two days ago will have to wait just a little longer before I can truly devote some TLC to it. I can say that I'm very satisified with what I've chosen for 3rd grade. I'll post about it later after it has received some TLC from me. :)

Our 3rd Grade Chemistry

We will be using Living Learning Books Chemistry but I've decided to add a few living books and other items.

How Science Works by Reader's Digest

Chemistry: Learn about Chemical Elements and Compounds CD(The Science Series)" Twin Sisters Production

What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?" Robert E. Wells

What's the Matter in Mr. Whiskers' Room?" Michael Elsohn Ross

Great Black Heroes: Five Brilliant Scientists (level 4) (Hello Reader)" Lynda Jones

The Periodic Table (True Books)" Salvatore Tocci

What Is the World Made Of? All About Solids, Liquids, and Gases (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2)" Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Switch On, Switch Off (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)" Melvin Berger

The Periodic Table of Elements Magnets" SMART by Simple Memory Art

The Best Book of Fossils, Rocks, and Minerals (The Best Book of)" Chris Perrault

Science Verse (Golden Duck Awards. Picture Book (Awards))" Jon Scieszka

How to Think Like a Scientist: Answering Questions by the Scientific Method" Stephen P. Kramer

Electric Storm, Magic School Bus Chapter Book


Besides a Periodic Table poster and Atom chart, that will be it for our 3rd grade chemistry.

Will Today be the Day?

I put money aside during the most extravagant spending season of the year to be able to purchase next year's curriculum (3rd grade) and I'm able to tap my foot right off my leg in anticipation!

Will today be the day the box comes from Rainbow Resource? Will today be the day that Primary Language Lessons comes in from a private sale? Will today be the day that I can flip through Horizons Preschool and Living Learning Chemistry?

Will today be the day? I hope so, our week off from lessons is halfway over...

Tagged Twice!

Ack! I've been tagged twice. Lol, at least I can use the same list of 5 people!

First is Apollo's Academy's Book Meme

1. Pick up the nearest book (af at least 123 pages).

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people.

Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, p.123

"What a child or grown-up person can tell, that we may be sure he knows, and what he cannot tell, he does not know. Let us give our children a variety of books to narrate. Some books I have actually had to put aside as they did not foster any narration."


And the second tag/award! Blogging With Purpose

Rules:

1. Awarded parties must nominate five people who have not received the award.

2. The blogs that receive the award must serve some purpose.

3. In their post about the award they need to link back to this entry.

4. Awarded parties must post the award banner on their site. The banner must remain linked to this site.

The worst part of this is that someone awarded me with it and I can't find the original email! It must be somewhere in my comments...I'll keep looking because it was such an honor.

The beautiful five I'm tagging are both the Book Meme and Blogging With Purpose Award are:

1. Lisa, who is forever inspiring and encouraging.

2. Jennefer, who is faithfully determined to be the best mom she can be.

3. Darcy, who spreads God's love with her laughter and talent.

4. Christy, for being a ever glowing light

5. Dawn K, who lives her purpose everyday

A Planned Week Off

We're taking this coming week off from our lessons- sort of. It is an official week off but we're going to be reading the books from TOG2- Week 10 that we didn't last week and Camille will be doing her daily reading and ETC work but that's it.

I have a talk to prepare and article to write both about the practical uses of classical education- I'm a speaker at a homeschool group (for 45 minutes, yikes!) on February 2nd and the same talk (aren't I efficient?) will be my first article for HeartoftheMatterOnline.com where I've been asked to be Classical homeschooling column contributor. There will be a new article each month, published on the 8th. If you read this blog, I hope you'll check it out.

I have many more books (Preschool, Poetry and more history related) to sell which I'll be listing here and at the WTM Forum and hopefully I'll be able to finish selling by the end of this coming week. I also have to get Unit 2 of Year 2 (TOG) pre-planned. I'll be reading through the objectives and book lists to create an overview for each of the 9 weeks for myself. The weekend before the week, I read the books and look more closely at what we'll be doing and discussing.

The major curriculum of 3rd grade is on its way here, our order has been placed. Pushing the "Place My Order" button gives such a satisfaction! I have a list of manipulatives and add-on purchases that I'm waiting to order until I can get the curriculum in my hands- no reason to spend money where it's not needed, right? I could go crazy ordering science kits and math manipulatives but I want to be very selective in what we order.

It's been raining here and poor Jack isn't getting the exercise he's used to. I have a stir-crazy dog. I hope this week will bring Primary Language Lessons by Lingua Mater and our 3rd grade curriculum so I can get acquainted. I really love meeting new curricula, especially ones I've researched and mulled over for a long time.

Weekly Report, TOG2 Week 10

The title is deceiving because we haven't used TOG this week. I decided we needed to take a week and get acclimated to using ETC and focus on language arts. This week all we've done is

Bible (read aloud and answer questions, pray)
LA workbook: work on using commas
ETC: work on present/past tense with -ed and then a lesson on -all, -alk
SWO C: worked through a lesson this week
Reading: Black Beauty, Stepping Stones Classic (IR), The Door in the Wall (RA)
Math: lessons 70-74 in Horizons 2
Poetry Memorization: The Night by Myra Cohn Livingston

That's all. We just finished The Door in the Wall last night, Camille said it is her favorite read-aloud!

We are not a history-driven homeschool, we are a language arts driven homeschool and focusing only on LA allowed me to see that this week. History and science are just other areas for LA instruction with interesting content.

Once Primary Language Lessons by Lingua Mater gets here, our LA will be:
- PLL, with maybe 1 day of workbook exercises for reinforcement
- ETC
- SWO
- Reading/Poetry

This year I've been very confused with what to do with language arts in 1-3 grades, I pray that I'm finally getting ahold of it. There are a few things I would do differently and will do with Danny.
- Focus on phonics/reading only until child is at 3rd grade reading level- which means K-1st is for phonics & handwriting, oral narrations only
- 2nd grade will be our starting point for spelling and gentle grammar (like PLL) and start written narrations

LA Daze

My house is a mess, why? Because I have piles of stuff I've pulled to sell. If I don't sell this stuff by Janurary 28th, I've resolved to donate to the public library and BookSamaritan.com. It will cost money to send stuff to Book Samaritan but I think in the long run, that will help other homeschoolers.

Okay, we are 90% sure we're moving in June to another church in Georgia. So I'm purging, clearning and trying to downsize all that but dh is a pack rat and won't allow me to touch anything he deems important.

Language Arts is MESSING WITH MY HEAD. I keep yelling, "SERENITY NOW!" but nothing comes. Lol. Where First Language Lessons was stagnant for us, Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl seems to be perfect for us.

Primary Language Lessons contains:

Good literature. Emma Serl makes liberal use of writings by the likes of Robert Louis Stevenson and Samuel Taylor Coleridge as well as fables, folklore and maxims.

Famed artwork. Using reproductions of prominent paintings, Miss Serl trains children in observation and discussion. A unique approach to teaching oral language skills, it helps train children in art appreciation as well.

Comprehensive lessons and drills in the things parents want their children to master. The exercises here cover proper English usage, composition, punctuation, memorization, speaking, letter writing, dictation, reading and etiquette in writing.

Honestly, I haven't read anything negative about Primary or Intermediate Language Lessons. I didn't look at these closely when I chose First Language Lessons because I was WTM brainwashed- been that is fine. Primary LL is for 2nd-3rd grade, which is probably another reason I didn't look at it closely for 1st grade.

I think I have the path laid out with integrating PLL and ILL:

3rd - finish ETC books; Writing Tales 1; Spelling Workout C/D; Primary Language Lessons
4th - Writing Tales 2; Spelling Workout D/E; Intermediate Language Lessons
5th - Classical Writing: Poetry for Beginners; SWO E/F; Intermediate Language Lessons; Junior Analytical Grammar

6th: CC: Chreia; Critical Thinking Books 1&2 *or* Art of the Argument; SWO F/G
7th: CC: Maxim; Traditional Logic I & II; Analytical Grammar; SWO G/H
8th: CC Refutation/Confirmation, Common Topic; Traditional II or Material Logic; Analytical Grammar; Vocab from Classic Roots A/B
9th: CC Encomium/Invective/Comparison; Material Logic or Classical Rhetoric; Analytical Grammar; Vocab from Classic Roots C/D/E
10th: CC Characterization and Description, Thesis/Law; Classical Rhetoric with Aristotle; AG's High School Review

CC is Classical Composition

*A veteran with extensive logic experience told me that Traditional Logic I should be done before doing Refutation/Confirmation.

Where we're headed makes even the curricula decision in 1-4 important, the foundation is vital.

Curriculum for Sale!

You have to register at the Well-Trained Mind boards but here's the direct links to all that I'm selling.

French Items
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1607

Middle Ages books
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1263

Homeschooling books, teaching books and parenting books
http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1333


Help me clear out the clutter!

CrAzY from Clutter

What saps me more than anything? Clutter and disorganization- yet I am guilty of both. You should see my desk from which I am typing right now, with the one little clear space that just fits my coffee cup. I've got Wedgits Design cards in front of me, a remote I took away from Danny, printouts from BookMooch of books I needed to mail off, The Art of Teaching by Gilbert Highet, some contraption that is a compass and magnifying glass thing-a-bobber. Yesterday's math test that I forgot to grade because dh wanted to go out to eat last night.

Danny has more toys than places I can stick them, Camille's room has been taken over by books because she has 3 full size bookshelves in there plus the Playmobil castle the kids' got for Christmas and her crafts. If you think a 7 year old is consistent in keeping her floor clear of clothes and shoes-think again!

The problem is I'm in charge of too many things, paying bills, laundry, homeschooling, my children's clutter, my dh's clutter and my clutter. Who causes the most clutter? Yep, that would be me. I'm constantly being pulled in so many directions so I leave catalogs, mail, books, things I've taken away from Jack (our pup) and Danny and other stuff laying around the house in so many places because where things are left is where someone called out, "Mom! I need you RIGHT now!"

I have 4 junk drawers in our house and the worst part is when I get it in my head I have to put something in a safe place- that safe place wherever it is, is never found again. If I had time to draw myself a map, I would! So what's the real problem? Self-discipline. I really despise that word, because in spite of my best efforts it means I still have MORE work to do on myself. Plus, I've had a condition called homeschool-itis, where when you are out in the world and see a book for $1.00 about any subject you are studying, you justify the purchase by saying, this book is nice and CHEAP. I have raided Goodwill numerous times over the last 2 years and gotten plenty of books. These books have to be housed and read and if you're me- organized.

Since deciding to go with TOG, I now have a purpose in my book aquisition adventure instead of just buying because it is a deal. Science, music, art and children's literature, these area the areas that I allow myself a little more freedom but the children's literature is always carefully considered. Will using the library for this book be easier? Most of the time the answer is yes. The only time it is not is when the library does not carry the desired title at all. Those I must buy.

Right now, I'm purging books and it is in the air we might move this June. The possibility is stronger this year than last and if we don't move this June it will be June of '09. I have 96 books so far that I have identified that I need to let go and there are more... not to mention the 100+ books I have listed at BookMooch which are stored in my closet. Our homeschool supplies are in bad shape too. I have stuff that I'm holding on to because we MIGHT use/need them in the future. Right Start Math games is one of them, it is an awesome product but we're not using it. Craft supplies is another area, it seems that when we need something I will go to the store faster than searching through what I already have.

If I am viligant about purging, that will only create more clutter- clutter that is meant to be lessened until the clutter is hauled away. What to do? JUST DO IT.

Okay, another area of crazy....

What to do with it? I think I'm going to send any educational items to BookSamaritan.com with a few exceptions that I want to sell, like the Right Start Math Games. I'm lightening our load of french items too. Tapes that I've bought at library sales...parenting and homeschooling books that I've either not read or have read and I'm done with. Yep, this makes me CrAzY!

Weekly Report- TOG2, week 9

We've had a good week, very good!

BIBLE
StoryKeepers DVDs are a hit, but Camille wants to keep watching the 'next' one to know what is going to happen. I'm switching back to using Explorer's Beginnings II as our daily Bible lesson so the kids can fully enjoy the StoryKeepers on their own.

READING
We're making progress! Camille is reading Black Beauty (Stepping Stones, chapter book) and she's getting comfortable with books that have smaller words and less space in-between the lines. Just this alone has been a hurdle! She read and loved The Magic Finger but I couldn't get her to read any other Dahl book because of the format. We are 3 chapters from finishing The Door in the Wall and I'm not sure yet what we'll read aloud next. The Door in the Wall has been a challenge reading aloud but very rewarding.

HISTORY- TOG2, Week 9
It has been a light week of reading, coloring and mapwork. But it's been GOOD. The lower grammar selections are really working for us and dh is completely on-board about buying history books instead of using the library. United Streaming was a great help this week, we watched Animated Heroes- Joan of Arc.

SCIENCE
We combined Rainforests and Grasslands this week to compare them, watched a few United Streaming videos.

POETRY
Our new poem to be memorized is The Night by Myra Cohn Livingston (on the right sidebar with audio), and we discussed what 'lace' pictures on the wall meant. My brilliant little girl said, "there must be lace curtains on the window and the moonlight shines on them to create shadows on the wall," of course I was thinking that the moon shines through the trees and that's what the child in the poem thinks looks like lace but no, my daughter is becoming smarter than me.

LANGUAGE ARTS
We're spending much more time doing language arts than any other subject during the day, really reading and poetry fall under this category too. I'm adding Spelling Workout C back into our day if Camille doesn't revolt, I think if she does it in smaller chunks, it won't be a big deal to her.

This is what we're doing within a week:
- 2 pages a day of Grammar, Mechanics and Usage Grade 2, the focus right now is commas.
- 1 lesson a week in Explode the Code 5
- 1 page of Comprehension Quickies a week
- 1 book report from How to Report on Books Grades 1-2
- poetry memorization
- daily independent reading & reading aloud, 1 hour approx. a day if you count shared reading, 2 hrs./day
- copywork 1x a week (I'm decreasing this from 2x a week)
- I want to add: SWO C back in and journal writing with SWO's prompts

MATH
Camille loves multiplication, Whew! Her math facts have solidified and she has confidence now where before she was easily frustrated. How much time spent doing math is a whole other ballgame but mostly it's my fault for not sticking to my duties.

IN LIFE
We visited one of our homeschooling friends this week and it was great- Camille just hopped on a bike and rode without training wheels! This is HUGE, she's been afraid and timid about riding without training wheels and we haven't pushed her. She just hopped on the bike and took off! She spent about 2 hours riding around in circles, lol.

Danny's potty training is going well, he's speaking better too.

ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING
I want Danny to have a better start than Camille did so I've been looking at phonics programs and I think I have his PreK and K years figured out.

PreK- Horizons Preschool and tons of reading aloud
K - Sing, Spell, Read & Write K/1 Combo, Galloping the Globe, Horizons Math K, D'Nealian workbook, Leading Little Ones to God

then he will join us in the TOG journey in 1st grade and start TOG1 in lower grammar with Camille in TOG1 Upper Grammar/Dialectic.

Our Memory CDs & How

What is on our Monday & Wednesday memory CD. I've been working on these lately and I had to record a few poems and if I could figure out how to add audio to my blog from my computer I would. I'm creating 2 CDs, one for Mon/Wed and one for Tues/Thurs, each approximately 30 minutes long. This is so Camille can go to her room and I can work with Danny- or at least that is the plan. We will still go over this stuff together in the context of our lessons.

I have Tues/Thurs' CD done but I need to revise it. My 'plan' is to create two CDs per quarter so there will be 8 CDs total a year. Tues/Thurs contains Veritas Press history song, french vocabulary songs, books of the Bible songs, poetry just like this one does and Themes to Remember songs.

Download Audacity for free here, I then Import into iTunes and burn to disc. The part that takes the longest is figuring out what to put on the Cd and what order.

How I Created Our CDs:

1. Figure out what operating system your computer runs on, aka OS system. Download the appropriate Audacity version for your computer.

2. Do you have an internal mic on your computer or external? You may need to purchase an external mic.

3. Open Audacity, hit the red circle button to record. Press the square to stop recording. Preview, if you're happy then Save File As under the FILE menu. I saved mine as .wav files

4. I have iTunes so then I opened iTunes and Import (under FILE menu) the .wav file I had created. I created one .wav file for each poem or track for the CD.

5. In iTunes I created a Playlist and placed the tracks how I wanted the CD to play, when I had all the tracks I wanted, I burned the Playlist to a Music CD-R CD.

They do Yoga and Read!

Danny loves to read, or at least his version! He pulled his entire shelf of books down to enjoy.



and here's my Yoga Kids

Ignore the mess.

Hard Decisions

There are times when it is hard to decide what would be purposeful for our children and what would be challenging or just a plain waste of time. I have this dilemma now with history this week. I'm awaiting the arrival of a book that would serve as a spine for this week and I've explored the other two options I have.

In TOG there is a multitude of ways to use it and implement their book selections to fit your child. Camille is teetering between lower grammar (1-3) and upper grammar (4-6) and it is hard for me to know what is appropriate and right for her all the time, each week. I recently discovered that I have already read 2-3 books aloud to her that have been deemed for Dialectic stage (7-9th) and looking back I just don't know why. When I see Upper Grammar and Dialectic- I see students that can read on their own and possibly the books contain more mature themes.

It wasn't my intention to pick books that were harder, the books I chose in the past seemed to be the right book then. I'm not fretting about this but I do consider my mistake now as I'm trying to determine the correct course of action for our week ahead.

If I were to read SOTW as it is outlined in TOG, we'd read chapters 23-27 covering The First Russians, The Ottoman Empire, The Hundred Years' War and the War of the Roses. Those topics would take all the time I'm willing to use for history.

If I were to read The Story of the Middle Ages by Harding, we'd cover Medieval Europe in more detail, much more than what Camille has been given but key points would be addressed and the reading would not be long.

The problem is both of the above options while doable are deemed upper grammar and this is the first time in two years, I don't want to read The Story of the World. The objectives in TOG for this week for lower grammar is to learn about Joan of Arc, learn about the plague, guilds and craftsmen and the impact they made on Medieval Europe. With Camille in mind, taking the lower grammar route seems best.

I can tie our study of the Mongols to the plague and then from there we can read about Joan of Arc with the coloring book by Guiteras or I could read Diane Stanley's book. We can read about the guilds and craftsmen as well as the medicine practices during the plague in The Middle Ages by Mary Quigley. Since I don't have the Medieval World spine I'm waiting for I can use our Usborne World History Encyclopedia and then we'll be able to read Medieval Feast by Aliki and The Squire and the Scroll by Jennie Bishop.

I know the right answer, it just feels weird deviating from The Story of the World after reading it all year. I have no problem dismissing The Story of the Middle Ages and even Famous Men of the Middle Ages because we have not been reading them all year. If we had, we would read them now- they are just hard to 'jump' into.

I knew that switching to TOG would mean some changes both in my approach but also in our lesson structure. I'm grateful that I have a path to follow to keep it on Camille's level even though I don't regret what we've done so far either. Although justified, I feel a little weird about this week but I know that this will give me plenty of opportunity to focus on narrations both oral and written. It's going to be an easy-going week for us in history.

Weekly Report: TOG2-Week 8

Others have said to me that history shouldn't be the focus in 2nd grade and I've felt guilty for enjoying it so much. I've wondered if I'm doing Camille wrong by allowing history and science to driving forces in our lessons. I'm over it now. History will always drive our homeschool, there is nothing about this world that is not history and frankly I just don't understand when others say that history DOESN'T drive their homeschool.

Through our history lessons, Camille is reading, writing, being creative, critically thinking and gasp- having fun. Through science, we are doing math, reading and writing some more and alas- critically thinking and gasp, again- having fun! BUT that does not mean we're not doing the nuts and bolts of reading, writing and math. We are. Which is why I'm putting Spelling Workout to the side so we can start Explode the Code Book 5 on Monday. I've also lightened Camille's reading by giving her one book to read for as long as she needs to finish it (a chapter a day is working well) and I've downsized the amount I read to her or at least I'm telling myself that.

I didn't go into much detail for last week's weekly report but that was because I just got back home and I've had an overwhelming list of 'things to do' looming overhead. Don't get me wrong the list is still there, it has shortened a little but I've exhaled so I can really make a weekly report. Grin.

Bible: One lesson from Explorer's Bible Study at Youth group this week- discussed being fishers of men and New Year's Resolutions. Watched Raging Waters, a StoryKeeper DVD this week at home and discussed it.


Math: Camille started multiplication this week and she LOVES it. She thinks it's so easy which has been a relief to me. Kudos to Horizons again for making my job easier. She's showing math fact mastery with her addition and subtraction, it's hard to believe I panicked over this just a few months ago!


Grammar & Mechanics: The workbook approach is going well for us, Camille is eagerly doing her work and I feel at ease with the content as well as Camille's retention. Another plus is that it doesn't take long at all, just 10 minutes a day for 2 pages, I'm so proud of her!

Science: We were supposed to do Grasslands this week, but didn't. I might do it tomorrow after church because it really is a short lesson, if not- I'll add it to Rainforest this coming week. Maybe we can do a compare/contrast between the two.

Poetry: "I Heard a Bird Sing" by Oliver Herford is successfully memorized, next up is 'The Night" by Myra Cohn Livingston


Independent Reading: Last week Camille read "Minstrel in the Tower" and this week it is "Frog and Toad Together". She read Frog and Toad All Year Long in first grade but since seeing the play "A Year with Frog and Toad" she's interested in reading the book again. This is the visual learner in her coming out- she saw the play, enjoyed it so much that it translates in enjoying the book. I don't care- she's reading with INFLECTION and ease. I know it's an easy read for her but her confidence is booming and mama is beaming! She's so cute about it, she wrote a list of the chapter headers and she's crossing them off as she reads them- is she MY girl or what?!? Lol.


History: TOG2- Week 8: The Mongols, Marco Polo and the Far East
I'll give you the breakdown of the week so you can see how we're using TOG.

Monday- Samurai
Read SOTW 17.2 about Samurai
Read "How to be a Samurai Warrior" (finished the entire book)
Read "Step Into Ancient Japan" pg. 16-19
Copywork: Chanticleer & The Fox moral lesson
Read Aloud: The Door in the Wall
*We were so entranced by samurai, we just read and talked. I didn't require her to do anything other than the copywork, plus I didn't have a Samurai coloring page with me and we were at my parents' house with no printer.


Tuesday- Mongols & Genghis Khan
Read SOTW 21, p.211-216
SOTW mapwork
Define Chanticleer & the Fox vocabulary
Read Chanticleer & the Fox
Read Marco Polo Overland to China about The Mongol Empire p.22-25
Completed SOTW Sequence of Events activity
Coloring page of Genghis Khan
Read-aloud: The Door in the Wall




Wednesday-Marco Polo
SOTW2, Chapter 22, p. 219-222
SOTW mapwork
Read Famous Men of the Middle Ages-Marco Polo
Read Aloud: The Door in the Wall



Thursday: day off b/c we just got home Wed. night
Wed.'s lessons were done before we left my parents house.
Read-Aloud: The Door in the Wall

Friday: Marco Polo
Read through Marco Polo Overland to China, smelled Ginger and Cloves
Glanced through Marco Polo: A Journey Through China to familiarize ourselves with the journey
Coloring page of Kublai Khan
Created cookie dough map of Japan
Locate all geography locations on map
Read-Aloud: The Door in the Wall


As a sidenote: I don't know if this is TOO big as a cookie dough map but it's our first and it was time consuming b/c Danny kept eating the M&M's off Japan, not to mention eating some of Japan itself! I tried so hard to get the outline of Japan right and by the time it burnt in the oven- I didn't have the gumption to try and label it with Camille. The mountains turned out nicely I think but I am considering just using clay from now on, possibly colored clay too. Lol.

So far my approach is using one topic a day and I think this is really helping us. I think Camille was getting bored with dragging out one SOTW chapter a week. It might change but we're enjoying it so far, I think she loves the mapwork everyday which is great because I do too. Before you think I'm nuts, The Door in the Wall is a bedtime reading, not during the day.

PS- Danny will be getting back to preschool as soon as I get control over our house again, including putting away Christmas decorations and re-organizing the kids' rooms to house their new Christmas gifts. He has been potty-training which I'll spare you the details but dh thought bribing him to potty was a good idea. I'm so NOT the briber, lol. I will be consistent with the training as long as Danny doesn't buck me completely. It would be nice to have him done before he's 4.

Weekly Report-TOG2, Wk7

I don't have a clue what # week we're on, we started in July '07 and since then we've switched history programs which has increased our year significantly. This weekly report is about TOG's Year 2 Unit 1, Week 7 but before using TOG we were using SOTW so by SOTW's chapters we're in week 19-20. Lol. We do have 29 weeks still to go but again that is because we switched from using SOTW alone to using TOG, TOG covers more in TOG2 than SOTW2 does. Sigh. I guess I'll put the TOG week we're on even though our lesson have been ongoing much longer than where we are in TOG.

We were at my parents' house this week, taking care of my mom after her surgery which did affect our lessons. We didn't do Bible, Exercise or French while we were gone. Spelling Workout is being replaced with Explode the Code.

The week of Dec 31- Jan 4 we studied the High Middle Ages which includes the Crusades and St. Francis, in science we studied Deserts and in poetry, we memorized, "I Heard A Bird Sing". I only took two pictures because my camera batteries where running down and I have a lot to do here at home, now that we're finally back after being gone (Dec. 24-Jan 9th).


In history, we mapped out the first 3 Crusades, talked about how leaders grew more in worldly power and how the Crusades changed medieval society. Camille read "Minstrel in the Tower" aloud and "The Crusades" by Miriam Moses. Camille also created a Coat of Arms this week which she wanted the same design of her tunic above, so it's just a duplicate of the cross and lines. We continued reading about castles per Camille's interest. I read aloud, "A Gift from St. Francis" by Joanna Cole which was about how St. Francis gave us the gift of the Christmas manger scene.



In science we learned about Deserts and this is a picture of our experiment to illustrate how sand dunes are made. We have eliminated reading living books in science outside of books we have at home to shorten our day and our dependency on our unreliable library system. If the library doesn't have the book in house, I'm no longer going to wait 8-10 weeks for a specific title to come in.

In poetry, Camille memorized "I Heard a Bird Sing" by Oliver Herford.

I heard a bird sing,
In the dark of December,
A magical thing,
And sweet to remember.

We are nearer to Spring,
Than we were in September,
I heard a bird sing,
In the dark of December.

We identified the end rhyming words: sing, thing, Spring, sing and December, remember, September, December. She memorized this poem in a week instead of the two weeks I expected it to take so we reviewed all of the poems we have previously memorized in addition to reciting "I Heard a Bird Sing" 3x daily.

It was a good week and very interesting for my mom to witness us in action. I'll post about Week 8 in the next couple of days as we finish our work. I have to go back to my post of "Put this note on my forehead" and figure out what I was thinking before Christmas hit. I know I have some work to do on my end like creating Memory CDs, not to mention taking down OUR Christmas tree and decorations. Can I have a vacation from my vacation? Lol.

Japan Links & Culture Study Ideas

http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/guide/index.html
The virtual culture feature here is wonderful, including allowing kids to create a kimono among other items.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/06/g68/gakimono.html
Downloads to print and more links

http://www.abcteach.com/php/static_directory.php?id=3742
Free pages to print, including projects

I went to World Market today (thank goodness I'm in Charleston!) and picked up a few things to liven up our Japan study b/c we're not at home with all our art supplies. Some of them are from China but since we're studying about Ghengis Khan, Marco Polo and Japan- I picked up chopsticks, a paper lattern, Chinese animal zodiac wall-hanging (look for pictures after next weekend when we'll be at home) and a few other small things.

I found a journal that had a Hinduism god on it and thought that it would be neat to have a journal for each major country we studied. I get ideas like this all the time but the point would to create an India journal and write down all that we learn about India through the years. The same for whatever countries we would pick. I decided that I also want to collect trinkets or inexpensive items that reflect the culture of the countries we'll be studying.

I think that since I'm starting this now in 2nd grade, we'll have fabulous items for future studies. Of course availablity and cost is a factor but I spent $20 today on items we'll see each time we visit Japan & China in our studies.

Anyways, I just decided to share this since I'm the wierd one in my little world that gets excited about this stuff.

I'm in love.

After two weeks of following Tapestry of Grace's curriculum- I'm in love. The connections are happening, everything is flowing so much smoother than it was when I was using SOTW alone. I'm still using SOTW as our spine but in the TOG framework b/c the Redesigned Years have SOTW scheduled.

I'm not at home so I can't share photos yet but Camille and I created a Crusader's tunic (white pillowcase with a red cross) and this week has been wonderful! We're at my parents' house because my mom had surgery and I'm here taking care of her. Danny is at home with dh and although I miss them terribly, I appreciate this time with Camille and my parents. Jack is having a BLAST with my parents' german shepherd.

I took some Christmas money (both gifted and saved) and bought a good many books from Tapestry with the Share & Save program they have. The Share & Save program allows you to get a percentage back of what you pay them and with my saved up payout I was able to order the Map Aids Year 2 (maps CD) and Homeschool School in the Woods Timeline Figures on CD for free! I'm very thrilled. I can't very well jump up and down here at my parents' house without raising a few eyebrows but I'm really starting to feel like I have it together.

I just have this deep satisfaction about we're our journey is headed with TOG. I can see the road ahead and the studies that are still to be and I'm exhilarated. I'm keeping it simple enough for Camille at this time AND I'm learning tons about what we're studying. The book selections are wonderful and I really can't wait to get home to pour over all the new books that have been delivered.

I'm excited again about history and I love how I can still do 'my' thing within a framework that gives me security and peace of mind. This may sound silly but I feel like a real teacher now. That isn't to say that I treat our lessons as if we're in a schoolroom- I just mean that I feel like I know what I'm doing now more than I have in the past.

We've also got Explode the Code at our house awaiting our arrival. For the time being, we're going to solidify Camille's phonics learning and drop Spelling Workout C for a while. She told me that she wants to enjoy reading but it is hard for her because she has to take the time to understand the words she's reading more so than being able to be in the story. I've read enough books about teaching reading to know we need to stop where we are and work on her phonics and fluency skills.

I told my mom that I finally feel like I have a plan that I won't have to change for a while and that we can just ride the wave until the next school year when there will be new topics and curriculum to explore. I've got my enthusiasm back, full-speed ahead and instead of trying to figure out different ways to do simple things- I've got my head on straight.

I'm in love with Tapestry of Grace, homeschooling in general and I've fallen in love with learning & teaching all over again. We started multiplication in math today and Camille did wonderful! Life is good, God is great and everyone who has been so encouraging to me....THANK YOU! Other homeschoolers have been the best blessing of having this blog and sharing our journey, I've only grown so much because of you.