the brew*crew adventure

I just love this time of year... getting outside, gardening, newness of life everywhere, renewed vision as I take stock of where we've been in the last year, overall as a family and particularly the kids and I with our academic studies. Every year I've had to remind myself that the most important lessons we've learned in the prior "school year" (although we homeschool year-round really) weren't in my plans, and usually aren't even immediately visible in any of my records or papers anywhere, for it's the spiritual lessons and deepening of our souls that matter most. The greatest successes of our homeschool journey thusfar are evident in the demeanor and character of our children, the closeness of our family. Chris and I love that we too are learning so much with our kids, every. single. day.

As I mentally shuffle through old schedules and plans from last year, I have to fight off discouragement, seeing all that is left undone... Again, I'm looking to the Lord for my direction in the year(s) to come, trying to discern what I can do to better facilitate my childrens' education and my entire family's well-being... versus what I should just let go of. This is the time of year that I intuitively take stock of how far we've come, re-evaluate our goals and realign my plans for where we're headed next year accordingly.

I've recently made what was for me a hard decision to make- to move N up into his own AO year with most of his studies now (history/literature/science, etc.), so that he can progress without rushing T's studies. In the past we've kept our history studies together, and I'm sure that there will still be some overlap as N and T glean from what the other is doing as we talk about our studies (which inevitably flows from narrations), as well as the fact that T will be learning some ancient history with N and I as we'll still be doing our Bible studies together. I do believe that this decision is a good one, for numerous reasons (which I'm already starting to see even- more on that later), even though it's taken me a long time to get here (part of the *letting go* I'd mentioned earlier- it's really okay that N hasn't read every. single. book in every, single year before AO Y6, it really is okay, duh! *obsessive* me).

For the last couple (few?) of months I've been going through all of my old curriculum and books that I've accumulated over the last 7+ years we've homeschooled, and purging everything that isn't just loved and perfect for us- enough that I want to save it for baby S (like our fave readers and literature. This is the first time I've done this, and it feels good. It comes at a time (appropriately) when I'm at a sort of turning point within myself, as far as homeschooling with my kids goes, that's hard to explain, but I may try to in another post~ basicly just a realization of the fact that I'm gaining clarity in what works for us (and what doesn't), our goals for the future, what I wish I'd done differently thusfar, etc.

Anyways, so far, I've sold about $300!! worth of books and curriculum! Yeah, I was once a curriculum junkie... searching for the golden fleece that would be the *best*, now I like it simple= CM, lots of time outside and lots of good books to read, it's what works for us, and what actually gets done. I've realized that I was missing the best for us, for a lot of other good stuff. Ironically, I've come full circle back to where I began as far as our main curriculum goes~ Ambleside Online, and it's free, what a ministry! So anyways, I am using all that money I've made to buy a few things we've needed for now and for next year. It all started when I decided that I'd really like to get N started on the Teaching Textbooks math curriculum (since that's what I want to take him through highschool, and he LOVES it, the independence and automated grading really boost his morale when it comes to doing his math assignments). We didn't have the money to buy it with though, so I finally had the motivation (that I'd apparently needed) to go through all of this stuff that's accumulated over the years (and we've even drug with us through three interstate moves!...pitiful.), and just purge, thin out. Less is more, and all that, I've finally learned, gained focus... clarity, guess it just takes time and experience for some of us.

I posted some items to our local homeschool yahoo list and sold exactly $150 worth of books, just what I needed to buy his math program. Then, since I was on a roll, I weeded out and organized more unit studies and books that I/we won't use and don't need, to sell at a local curriculum/books sale. I sold another $150 worth of stuff (with a whole box of leftovers, which I guess I'll sell online/ebay or somewhere)!! And since then I've been seeing more stuff on my shelves that I really don't care to keep, and have another pile of books to sell or just give away started, SO... looking forward to making some more $ before we're all said and done.

I also picked up a few gems at the NETHEA curriculum fair, which was only about a 30 minute drive from us, not too bad at all. Would you believe that it was my first time going to anything like this- ever? That's probably a good thing, since it probably would have been dangerous for me our checking account a few years ago. Heh! I was focused, with my mental wish list of what I was looking for, and what it cost new. It was great for me (even slinging baby S the whole time), an event that I sure hope to make it to next year as well. T came with baby S and I to the books sale, and we had so much fun together. She knew what she was looking for (and she found it!) and I think she was excited as I was to get there early, and to see the rows and rows of tables-full of books, lots and lots of wonderful books! She'd gone with me the afternoon before to drop our own piles off for the sale, and had spotted a few things she'd hoped would still be waiting for her when we returned the next morning for the actual sale. I'm so glad that we did go early as we did, because we still had to wait in line for an hour, and I heard from friends that they ended up having to wait longer later!

Okay, so you'd probably like to know what I found there, and what books I'm piling up around me now, as I plan for our studies for next year (or, maybe not... but I'm going to tell anyways)... So far, I have most of our AO studies planned out and in order (with only a few tweaks and book substitutions- to use what we have on hand), and only have a few things left to map out and schedule for next year, like our Grammar, and the kids' math lessons. This year, I'm going to give them each their own weekly check-off sheet so that they can keep track of their assignments, music practice, etc. and get going more independently. I'd meant to do that this last year... but, well... let's just say that we never did get around to being that organized this year.

For my planning, I've been utilizing and customizing some of the pre-formatted/laid-out scheduling pages of AO year book lists found in the files of the AO list. Realizing that planning- a workable plan- is (and has always been) my weak point. And so, aiming towards a remedy for that great malady of mine, knowing that as N and T are getting older, our household busier with baby S in the mix, and their book lists longer, I'm creating notebooks with schedules for each of us. My hope is that this will help to keep our days on track better, and in turn our weeks and terms as well.

I've learned that we need accountability one to another, and that just because I set a book aside to be read, doesn't mean that it will be read, lest I've actually scheduled into our days. However, while planning, I'm keeping in mind what I've learned about what works for myself, and for our family, over the years. I know that scheduling out our subjects into weekly chunks (and even daily readings) works great for us, helps me, but that assigning an actual date and time does not work for us. We need the structure of schedules and routines, but the flexibility of plugging in specific time and dates on a week to week basis. I've been reading up here and here on planning and taking notes (and some free forms) to heart as I proceed.

Okay, now for my frugal finds: I was especially excited to find the Bible curriculum that we're using next year, Remembering God's Awesome Acts. It's been on my wishlist for years, and I got it for less than half of what it costs new (for the workbook and TM), in excellent, like-new condition. It was the only copy there, and I just know that the Lord had that there especially for us, encouraging confirmation that He's leading us in this choice for our upcoming Bible studies together. It will add the extra emphasis on ancient history and Egypt, within a Biblical context, that I was wanting as N is going to be doing Ambleside's Year 6.

I found Easy Grammar 3/4 and 5/6 for a mere $7 each!! I also found a very nice copy of Serl's Primary Language Lessons, which I picked up for only $7, and we've all been doing PLL together (even though it's very easy for N and T, it's making for a gently formal- over the summer- introduction to our upcoming grammar studies- perfect fit for now), and we're enjoying it tremendously. I like it so much that I'm now looking to buy Intermediate Language Lessons for when we finish PLL. I like that PLL and ILL both have copywork and dictation lesson integrated into their text, and the CM friendly variety to the lessons. I'll alternate it with our Easy Grammar lessons. Simply Grammar is one of the books that I sold, and we tried using (more than once), but it just didn't work for us. So, finding and starting a good grammar curriculum- that fit us- for the upper elementary and middle years (we don't use one for early elementary) was a goal of mine which I believe has now been accomplished.

T got a few horse and riding books for a few dollars, and I found a few more living books, biographies, a nice copy of King Lear, etc. And that's all... as I said, I was focused and knew what I was looking for. I'm sure that I would have taken my time and looked more and surly found more had I stayed longer, but baby S was getting quite restless and we got out of there just in time before she was done. I was disappointed that all of the Rod & Staff math curriculum (for T) was mostly gone by the time we got there (only half an hour after the doors opened, but I hear there was a loooong line of die-hard homeschoolin' book shoppers waiting to pour in and grab up the bestest stuff fast). I purposely avoided getting there early enough for that, not up to it.

I found the following gems in the *free* pile as I left as well, as in we paid nothing for them!:
How Now Shall We Live? Student Edition, like new cond., with no markings!
Men's Manual, Vol. 2 by Institute in Basic Life Principles, in like new, very nice cond., beautiful, over-sized hardback! This book is just beautiful and so full of Godly principles applied to stewardship and financial issues. Chris is going to use this as a teaching tool for BOTH N and T (good, Biblical truths and applications for girls to know as well).
Abeka's My State Notebook, unused, very good cond., which we'll put to good use.

T found some joke books, a Wizard of Oz video, a paperback copy of The Black Stallion, as well as some Mad Libs in the free pile.

And that's that, we did good. I really must wrap this up here now (baby S is awake, I hear her calling me from my bed) and go finish cleaning this house up. Tomorrow we have a full day, Friday we have plans, and I still have a lot in the way of preparations to do before some long-time friends of ours arrive here for a visit from FL, on Sunday!! And then there's the garden that needs my attention this weekend as well...

I'll be posting some more about our gardening, nature studies and study plans for this summer and next year soon as I can. ttfn

Read Full Post »

I am so behind in blogging, that though I'd downloaded these pictures to my MAC right after we saw this spectacular rendition of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, just a couple of weekends ago, I'm only just now getting around to uploading them to flickr, and including the entry here in our homeschool journal. The show was held in the outdoor ampitheatre of Bays Mountain Park, our city's huge wildlife reserve park, and I must say that it was the perfect setting! The costumes and acting were both wonderfully creative, and held our rapt attention throughout.

I'm so glad for having been inspired by the suggestion of Ambleside Online's advisory to include a rotation of Shakespeare readings in our kids' literary repertoire each year, and even great childrens' versions of the plays to read to them, else I honestly probably never would have thought to do it. Though we haven't stuck to the suggested rotation this year, we have read a couple per our own interest in random order. I've been pleasantly surprised to find how much my children have enjoyed hearing me read from the Tales from Shakespeare book that we have (another great score from Paperback Swap), by Charles and Mary Lamb (you may read it online here, or you may read the original play here).

N and T were enamored with The Merchant of Venice, and didn't ever want me to quit reading when we came to a stopping point. We had quite a few interesting discussions as a result of reading it as well (as anyone familiar with that story can imagine). Chris and I enjoyed watching Al Pacino star as Shylock in the 2004 movie rendition of the story (though in our opinion, it's definitely not for kids, excellent movie).

Most recently, we're reading Lamb's telling of A Midsummer's Night Dream, and were delighted to be able to attend this production of the play put on by a local theatre guild here, with a few home schoolers performing! Indeed, Shakespeare's characters came to life, and it was a delight to hear the play performed in its entirety and original language! It was also neat to see how engaged all the kids there were. They followed along with the story-line of the play just fine, even with all of its complex, Shakespearean, foreign-sounding language. Its truly so much better to SEE Shakespeare come to life, as its being played out on a stage, than just to read it! It was a first for me as well! I was even inspired to go back and read the original play myself. It was an absolutely hilarious performance, had us all laughing out loud numerous times!

Welcome to Estaria!

Our plays take place in Athens, in the fantasyland of Estaria. Aztec influences represent the excitement and danger dwelling within the forest outside of town. Indian influences represent the exotic beauty and romance evident everywhere in town and in the mystical forest. Be prepared to take a journey of your life when these influences collide.

~ from the Play Program

Quince

I must say that Puck was my favorite character... N and T agreed.

T said, "My favorite part of the play was how Puck lost her way around every time she had to go somewhere. She was kind of weird too."

T also said that the Yellow Fairie, Mustard-Seed, was her favorite (who happens to have been played by a good friend of hers...hmmm...)

And the clown ("weaver with a passion for acting", who played Pyramus) was well played by a home school Dad...

N said that his favorite part was the comical play, within the play (which was not included in Lamb's version), performed for Theseus (the reigning duke of Athens) and his wedding party in the end, that the above picture is a scene from.

But Titania, the Fairy Queen's costume was my favorite... and the Fairy King, Oberon's costume was fabulously done as well! Aren't those wings imaginative?!

Helena speaking to Demetrius and Lysander... they all really did such an amazing job of acting!

Click here to see the rest of my pics from this evening at the theatre.

Click here to read more on the Questions of:

What is the purpose for using Shakespeare? What are the educational benefits? What about some of the questionable situations in his plays?

I really enjoyed Lindafay's post, "What's So Great About Shakespeare?" and will just say... Yeah, what she said!

Read Full Post »

I've decided to join in on this Winter's reading challenge, From the Stacks.

From the Stacks Winter Challenge

If you are anything like me your stack of purchased to-be-read books is teetering over. So for this challenge we would be reading 5 books that we have already purchased, have been meaning to get to, have been sitting on the nightstand and haven't read before. No going out and buying new books. No getting sidetracked by the lure of the holiday bookstore displays.

The bonus would be that we would finally get to some of those titles (you know you picked them for a reason!) and we wouldn't be spending any extra money over the holidays.

The time frame would be Nov. 1st until Jan. 30

And so, that's 5 books read by Jan. 30th. What a great idea, to get some more of these books here read! LOL I've already vowed to myself that I'm not buying any more books until I've read through many more of the ones that I already own! (unless I come upon a really unresistably good deal, or rare find, etc., of course). But, for now, my list... hmmmm... soso, so many books on my shelves, yet to be read.

How 'bout:

1. Stories of Pilgrims, by Margaret Pumphrey (I'd really like to get this one finished by Thanksgiving)
2. Second Touch, by Bodie and Brock Thoene (I'm about 1/3 of the way through already, this is the second in an intriguing-so-far series)
3. A Method for Creative Design, by Adolfo Best-Maugard (awesome art book, wonderful ideas for design/line work for adults and kids alike, mine have drawn lots from this little gem, just from their own browsing through, time to explore it a bit more thoroughly)
   
4. Mathematicians Are People, Too, by Reimer (read-aloud we've been reading through- finish it)
   
5. The Voyage of The Dawn Treader, by C. S. Lewis (read-aloud, we've only two more chapters of Prince Caspian to finish first)
6. Discover Jesus in Genesis, An Illustrated Biblical Theology for All Ages, by Larry Edison (read-aloud)

So, what are you reading?!

Read Full Post »

Thirteen Books I've received from PBS (so far!)

So, maybe you've noticed the little "Paper Back Swap" button over on my sidebar, maybe not. Well, I just received notification yesterday and the day before that two more of the books that I've had on my *wish list* (in the PBS system) are now on in route to my house! One of them had a waiting list, and my turn finally came up, woo hoo! There's nothing quite like accumulating good books for practically nothin' (well, the price of sending books that you don't want anymore out to other people who've requested them, at media rate, whereby you accrue "points" to use towards more books of your choice).

The two books now on their way here are "Christianity in Crisis" by Hank Hanegraaff (hardcover ed. even!) and "Abraham Lincoln" by Ingri & Edgar D'Aulaire.

Here's a list of 13 other books I've received from PBS members in the last year (less than a year, but don't remember exactly when I joined?). All of them are AO recommended reads, which the kids and I are reading aloud together:

1. Caddie Woodlawn, by Brink

2. The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald

3. Tales from Shakespeare, by Charles and Mary Lamb

4. 5 Children & It, by Edith Nesbit

5. The Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley

6. At the Back of the Northwind, by George MacDonald (have received 2 of these actually, need to re-list one)

7. The Chosen, by Chaim Potok

8. Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

9. Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

10. The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

11. On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

12. By the Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

13. Adam of the Road, by Elizabeth J. Gray

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Read Full Post »

Thirteen Things for me to do while hubby is out of town for the next two days. 1. Re-do our homeschooling schedule for the year. The 5 weeks on/2 weeks off plan, with schooling throughout the year just wasn't working with our Ambleside Online 12 week terms. (duh!) So, I've revamped it, and like this layout much better! Technically we've already started back to our schoolish routines. But since some things we haven't actually gotten to yet (still adjusting to 3 extra little ones around the place!), and having had a chance to gradually work into routines, I've just put us as starting out "on the calendar" for next week. N and T have both already begun most of their AO readings (N is actually way ahead on a couple that he's really been enjoying), so this will help us to have the room/time to gradually include our art, more Bible study time (HOW units, tweaked to work for us) together (the kids have their seperate Bible reading/journal/quiet times in the morning while I am still waking up!) and some other extras. I'd like to be more consistent with our poetry too, read them each week day. As it is, we've only been getting to it 1-2x/wk. So, our big picture schedule now looks like this: Term 1: 9/18/06 - 12/8/06 with the week of 12/11/06 - 12/12/06 being exam week. The next three weeks we'll take off for a holiday. Term 2: 1/1/07 - 3/23/07 with the week of 3/26/07 - 3/30/07 being exam week. The next week we'll take off for an official Spring break, and Passover celebration. Term 3: 4/9/07 - 6/29/07 with the week 7/2/07 - 7/6/07 being exam week. Then we'll have 10 weeks for a summer break before we start back with our AO terms for the next year in Sept. of 2007. This works out much better, since the AO artist and composers for the new year's first term aren't usually posted until September. 2. Go to the local scratch-and-dent store. Lately they've had cases of Stoneyfield Farm, all-natural, organic yogurts for $1.99, for the entire case! We buy cases and freeze them, the acidophillus is still alive when they thaw. And Newman's Own organic herb blend salad bags have been 2/$1! Cereals are half the price, etc. We love our scratch and dent store! 3. Clean this house, good! Mop all the floors. Oversee the kids' kitchen, bathroom and bedroom cleaning duties...which also leads to #4. 4. Have our home ready for a nice, relaxing Sabbath dinner, and day. 5. Laundry washed, folded and put away. 6. Clean my desk in our bedroom, unearth sewing machine, which is currently buried in books, etc...which leads to #7. 7. Finish pinwheel quilt. I am the queen of procrastination, I tell ya! I started this quilt project in January!! And it's all finished besides sewing on the binding! So, not too much to do. How pathetic that I haven't just finished it yet, huh? So, gotta get that done, so's I can hang it in my freshly painted breezeway! You can betcha I'll be taking a pic of it. 8. Go outside and enjoy this most gorgeous, sunny, cool and crisp weather we're having today! Rake the grass up from where Chris mowed the field (hay) earlier this week. Strew the hay clippings on our garden area, remove old stakes and stuff. {windows and doors are open, letting the outside in!} 9. Take some "silver" pics for this weeks year of color challenge. 10. Read to the kids extra long tonight, and get extra snuggles. They have already claimed Daddy's spot for sleeping in our bed tonight. I shan't be lonely! LOL 11. Exercise! 12. Take the kids to their first tap lesson of the year this evening. They're in the Level 2 class this year. We're hoping to find some tap shoes that fit them in the community box at church. 13. Make some calls to family. I'm the world's worst phone person, will put off making calls way too long. And it's not for lack of thinking of people, even usually enjoy talking on the phone once I actually get around to calling...dunno why the strong aversion to picking up the phone? *sheesh* Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Read Full Post »

What's Your Personality Type?

Well, obviously I don't put much stock in these silly little "tests", but they can be amusing sometimes, and will often even offer uncannily revealing observations. Like this one for instance, you know I just had to post it, because it said that I'd make an "excellent writer, or artist"! Computer generated validation, gotta love it.

This morning I'm drinking way too much coffee (nope, I haven't felt called to give it up right now, though I did go without coffee for a couple months a couple of months ago- not to mention I've a freezer full of it, bought numerous bags for a steal at the local scratch and dent), while strolling through the blogosphere. The kids are watching The Heffalump Movie, a favorite from my Mom. We have a couple of extra little kiddos here with us today, whom we're watching for a dear friend who's stripping wallpaper and repainting her bedroom, with her Mum. Her hubby's on a camp-out with their oldest sons, and will sure be surprised when he gets home! Since I couldn't be there to help out with the painting, the least I could do is to watch her kids for her, right? I love having littles roaming about the place, providing plenty of hugs, kisses, nursery-rhyme-reading couch huddles, and requests to "go see the chickens" to keep my days in perspective.

T and I have been reading this to the little ones in our keep ~

Yesterday, it seemed that she and I were amusing ourselves more than little E, or his baby sister (though she did grimace at me a couple of times over her bottle, as T and I chanted "one, two, buckle my shoe" for the 20th time!) LOL

And speaking of the chickens, YAY! We've found more eggs these past couple of mornings. We're all down-right giddy over it! What's funny is that they're going back into their coop (we let them free-range during the days, and close them each night to keep them safe) and laying their eggs in the nesting boxes, even after they've been out free-ranging already. How cool and convenient is that?! We're hoping they all continue to do this, so that we don't have to go egg-hunting over our two acres every day! So, is that normal, anyone? Do free-ranging hens usually find a favorite nesting area where they'll consistently go to lay?

And no, for those wondering, our laying hens will not be meeting the pot in their old age. Nope. Though they are of the "dual-purpose" (laying and cooking) variety, we just adore them way too much. And, the kids have named them all... we have our two Buff Orpingtons; Hunca Munca and Pertelote, and our four Rhode Island Reds; Candy Apple, Runt (who we caught in the act of laying an egg yesterday!), Copper and Penny. Also, the idea of breeding rabbits for meat is out! and I am so relieved. Chris has decided to start breeding Jumbo Quail for organic, toxin-free, clean meat, as soon as we can round up the funds for the initial investment (the birds, incubator w/egg turner, pen building materials). I like the idea of having poultry to eat (other than our laying hens!) much better. So, that will be a fun and educational project, as has been our chickens. We learned that rabbits are not for us. Not only is it more involved to breed them, but Chris and I were surprised to find that we just couldn't bring ourselves to eat the one he'd butchered and grilled! And we were worried that the kids might have a problem with it! LOL The kids had no problem, said, "tastes like chicken"... but Chris and I both lost our appetites for a couple of days. *smiles*

We've been enjoying our educational reads tremendously these last two weeks, from AO and some others I've assembled. N, who had initially given me grief over some of his assigned readings has now thanked me for them! What vidication! Earlier this week, or last? he excitedly told me how much he's enjoying his American Tall Tales book, which he'd groaned over when he first saw it. Now he's read ahead of what he was even assigned. As we prepared to go somewhere, and I reminded him that he had to find time for his reading once we got home, he actually said, "I can't wait!" This is such music to my ears! He's 10 years old now, and has just these last two years started reading for pleasure, both what I assign him, and on his own time. We talked about not judging a book by its cover. Also, he was thrilled to realize that another assigned reading, The Heroes by Kingsley, is the story of Perseus of The Clash of the Titans, a movie he watched for the first time last year, and loved. As he read the first chapter, and the story-line started clicking, he practically jumped off the couch with excitement as he whooped, "Mom! THIS is the same story as...!!" We've been reading other stuff too... Both the kids are enjoying reading their McGuffey readers aloud to me. T's story this week was titled, "The Poor Old Man" and expounded upon the importance of giving to the poor... which has been a topic of discussion among us lately. I didn't even know that her story would tie in so well, excellent!

T has also been reading aloud from Busy Times and she's reading Stories about God's People for her daily independent Bible reading time. We discuss each story afterwards, and sometimes she'll read it aloud to N and I. N has just about finished independent reading of The Book of Life Volume 10: The Warrior King, David Becomes King Over Israel, by Gilbert V. Beers. We've had some interesting discussions over it, great book, with good "Applying the Bible to Life" sections, and archaeological findings, etc. included along with historical contexts explained. We read Psalm 51 in light of the context/situation in which David wrote it, which made quite an impression on all of us, and tied in with our theme of repentance this month. N and I found it interesting, after reading about how the prophet Nathanael (N's namesake, whom he especially loves to read about) proclaimed God's judgement upon David for his sin against Uriah, with Bathsheba, that the storyline of Kingsley's "Heroes" opens up with a similar scenario, and similar proclamation of judgement by "the gods". We compared and contrasted the two stories, one as history, the other myth, etc. We also contemplated the thought/realization of Psalm 51, that even as we sin against others, we are truly sinning against God Himself. Again, it was so neat to see how our readings are all tieing in together in a way that I could not have orchestrated so well. Truly, our Master is with us, guiding our studies, and showing us His Truth. What a great adventure life with Him is!

We've also been reading Guerber's The Story of the 13 Colonies, love it! Michelle Miller's commentaries from our TruthQuest History guide has been a great accompaniment to our study of American History so far. I'm trying to decide whether to start a timeline on our hallway wall next week (or breezeway maybe?), or just stick with keeping our timelines in notebooks, as a Book of Centuries? hmmmm... Either way, we'll be using our History Through the Ages timeline figures (which are beautiful).

This week we've also been reading through It's About Time: Creative Activities about Time, and doing projects from the book. The kids' copywork has been various portions of Scriptures, and sentence writing. N has been doing his copywork in both manuscript, and in cursive as well. But he's at least practicing some cursive every day.

Well, I'd better scoot, and get busy helpin 'round here. Everybody but me is now outside! Hubby's home, and ready to "do what can be done during the day, while it's still day".

Sabbath peace to you and yours~

ps. um, no, haven't been doing my exercises for the past two weeks... waaah... why, oh why is it so hard for me to be consistent?! *sniff*sniff*

Read Full Post »

N & T enjoying their silent/independent reading time today (all 20 mins. of it!)

I promise that I didn't set this picture up, zoomed in from another room.

So, we've been busily getting back into our more academically industrious rhythms these past two weeks. We do still have alot that we haven't even started yet. N and T have been full of enthusiasm and have had such a sweet spirit about most everything we've done so far though. They were begging me to do their spelling today. We've been working into things gradually... and enjoying our routines again. We still aren't reading all of the literature and history that I'd like to be reading each day. But we have managed to get the basics in at least, and a few other books. Every day we start with our "quiet time", consisting of prayer together, Bibles (or Bible readers/picture books) and journals. Since little S is new to us and our place, I've been allowing N and T plenty of free time to play with him in the afternoons (when we'd normally be doing our read-alouds), once he's here. Today he enjoyed playing cars independently (though loudly) on the floor while N and T finished up their math pages. We do usually spend an hour or two at bed-time reading together as well.

AWANAs started back up tonight. This is something that they really enjoy, and has from the beginning been initiated by them (ever since they were invited by friends). They are quite self-motivated to memorize lots of Scriptures and support missions in this program, which is great! Chris and I also enjoy the fact that we then have a very short time of *just us* earlier in the evening on Wednesdays, once we drop them off. It works out nicely since the little Baptist church where they attend AWANAs is not but about 2 minutes down the road from us. It's sort of ironic to us, as we never would have dreamed that we'd ever just drop our kids off somewhere, but now here we are doing just that. But we feel that this is something important to the kids, and we know and trust the people there (it's the church of some homeschooling friends of ours, and this will be our kids' third year in AWANAs there).

In the next few weeks they will both be starting their tap dance lessons again, through our church's dance ministry. The dance instructors focus on modesty, and dance as worship, yet they teach professional dance. Last year the kids (and adults) all learned so much, and even got to dance in some nursing and childrens' homes. I'm thankful that this year N and T will both be in the same class, which means only one night per week, instead of two. YAY! Also, they/we have been so blessed with a scholarship for each of them. God is good.

I've just posted our homeschool plans for 2006-07 as a page here. We'll be having AWANAs, tap and their weekly horse riding lessons (which we work to pay for~ kids included, doing LOTS of barn chores!) during most of our weeks, and that's plenty of running around for me! Their riding lessons are also on the same day this year, which is such a blessing, esp. since it's a 20+ min. drive!! YAY!! We usually attend church on Saturday evenings, and sometimes our "homegroup" (friends from church) that meets every other week. I'd like to get more use out of our year pass to Bays Mountain Park as well. We love their planetarium! Chris and I both said "That's enough, NO more this year!" LOL

Read Full Post »

Today N and T spoke their narrations into a tape recorder, in the privacy of my room. It started with N groaning over giving his narration for today... to which I suggested, "Okay then, would you prefer to tell it to the recorder, and then let me listen?" He lit up a bit. And once I set him up with the recorder and a tape, he loved the idea. After he was finished he proudly called T, little S and I into the room for us to listen "to his storytelling".

Both N and T seemed to take their time and pay closer attention to detail while giving their narrations this way today. Maybe it was because they felt a sense of ownership, since they were more independent in the process? Also, they weren't held up by my fumbling typing efforts either, so that was *freeing* to the continuity of their thinking/recollective processes as well, I'm sure. Afterwards, they played the finished products for me, beaming from ear to ear while listening to their own, and eachother's, voices.

I'm liking this idea especially for their longer narrations, given from their independent reads. Since a narration should not be interrupted, this process works much better for me as well as, being completely out of earshot, I was not tempted to interject any questions, comments or corrections. And then, after listening to their recorded narrations, some clarifications were made and ample opportunity is also given for more discussion if so desired. I think that we're onto something here!

During our read-alouds however, I will still continue to stop intermittently and have them narrate back to me shorter passages.

What precious keep-sakes these tapes will be in years to come! Their little voices, telling tales and relating inspired ideas, forever recorded in time.

Click here to read some helpful Narration Discussions, taken from various posts on the Ambleside Online email list.

More Narration Ideas from Simply Charlotte Mason.com

Read Full Post »

I know that I have yet to share what our study plans are for this 2006-07 year, but I will post it as a page asap. Meanwhile, I'm posting N's first recorded narration of the year. I have mostly been having the kids give me narrations of what I read aloud to them, but N actually read the following independently (silently) and then gave me a few narrations as he read (which I typed together into one document). He checked the book for names (which he'd forgotten) a couple of times. Next week he'll complete the story of James Watt.

This is the only narration from our week that I took dictation on. He said it was "too hard", but I reassured him to continue just to tell me what he remembered and that he couldn't get it "wrong"... and so he did, and then he was a bit surprised at himself I think. proud even. It also let me know what he'd understood from what he read (and that he read it, yeah, he's tried to pull a fast one before), which is good, since we did end up going back over a section that he'd misunderstood. He'd thought that when James Watt was looking for a Master (teacher) he was looking for an employer. And so he'd thought that James was being paid by the master, when in fact James was paying the master to tutor him in. Big difference. And he did read another page that he'd somehow mysteriously skipped? before he knew that I was asking for a narration. hmmm... that'll teach him. LOL

N (10yo) will be doing Ambleside Online's Year 3 this year, and has started reading The Story of Inventions by Michael J. McHugh and Frank P. Bachman. So, here's what he read, in his own words.

N's Narration of The Story of James Watt, pt. 1

Farmers were wishing and dreaming about there being machines that could work with the press of a button. People wished and dreamed that there was more mechanics and a couple of men, one in Italy and Branca in Germany created their own steam engines. They created them where they could do stuff but you couldn’t put it on a railroad and have it pull stuff because they were very fragile and were built to where they had to stay in one place or they would just fall apart, kind of like building blocks. If you move a building block, then the whole stack falls apart.

James Watt is the man who gave the world this new power of steam energy. As a small boy he kept on watching the kettle, how the steam turns back into water on the silver spoon, and then drops back into the kettle. He was just getting ideas. In his childhood his father was running short of money and so he wanted James to be an apprentice to an instrument maker. James went looking for a Master to apprentice him in less time than 5-7 years, because he wanted to learn in the least amount of time. He kept being refused. Then after awhile of searching he finally found a master, and he paid him $100 for a year of learning. Once he learned his trade he became known as a Jack of All Trades.

The women, children and men that worked in the coal mines also dreamed and hoped that there would be more steam engines invented to help them work in the mines, because they had to go up and down the mountains with buckets of coal. They had to flush out water too, and the only aid they had working in the mines was the aid of a horse.

Another problem they had was that the mines got worn out easily and they had to dig a lot more, but the deeper they went, the harder it got to carry the coal up to the top, and it also meant that more water would come up from in the ground, flooding the mines. They hoped that whoever made the machine would make it easy to work, by a single pump.

Branca built a simple steam engine that was super weak, and didn’t have enough power. It just looked like a toy. The Italian guy, Papin’s engine, was also too weak and it just had a little bit different structuring. His steam engine was made to lift things, but it was only powerful enough to lift a single building brick. And Branca’s was made for smashing stuff.

A lot of people thought that Papin’s engine probably would be good enough, but it really wouldn’t because it was still too small.

Read Full Post »

The big brown box from Amazon came today... finally! T was just as excited as I was, especially over The Burgess Animal Book for Children.

I ordered some really great books for us to read (from our AO lists, as well as a few other language arts things). Now, between these new arrivals, what I already have in our home library, and what our public library has, we're all set for at least another year or two! Now, where OH where to put them? It's time to clear out all of that old curriculum that I bought, but never used... because we've found that reading great books, doing copywork, some dictation and lots of narrations, along with math, games, nature study and following natural interests has been enough thusfar... Yes, I'm a bonified, TOTALLY recovered curriculum junkie. Now most all of my extra $ goes to good literature! So, here's what else we got in the box!

Viking Tales by Jennie Hall

American Tall Tales by Adrien Stoutenburg

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (I've read quite a few of his books, and just loved them, so am especially looking forward to this one.)

The Burgess Bird Book for Children

Parables from Nature by Margaret Gatty

Trial and Triumph by Hannula

Secrets of the Woods by William J. Long

Our Island Story by Marshall

Minn of the Mississippi by Holling

AVKO's Sequential Spelling, vol.1 (which I'll be taking both N and T through together)

Simply Grammar by Karen Andreola

Vocabulary Vine: A Spiral Study of Latin & Greek Roots, for my dear son who's always wanting me to look up words in my collegiate dictionary to "find out where it came from", and for me, who loves doing it - and has been known to get immersed in the dictionary more than a time or two... *blush*

Note; I've listed books from AO's Years 1 & 3 which we'll be reading from throughout the summer. I WILL NOT allow myself to buy anymore books until we've read the ones that I have already!... and that's final! (don't worry, I'm yelling at myself here, not at you.;) And fyi, AO provides the direct links to where many of these books may be viewed in the public domain for free right online, and even printed out, which is what I've done so far.

Read Full Post »

A Lady Weighing Gold (Pearls)

"Although Vermeer may have had no real anecdotes to relate, no moral messages to deliver in his works, he never failed to fill his paintings with poetic meanings. At first glance, this masterpiece (above) may seem to represent little more than a woman weighing pearls and gold -- and indeed it can be appreciated on that level alone. But a deeper probing of the painting, with an awareness of the importance attached to symbolism in Vermeer's time, reveals that it is an allegory of the subtlest sort. Here, as in almost all else that he did, Vermeer has painted nothing simply by chance. Pearls, gold, scales, the picture on the wall, the woman herself -- all relate to one another and all are part of the idea he wished to express.

The key that unlocks the allegory is the scene of the Last Judgement in the background. Immediately an analogy becomes apparent between God judging the just and the unjust and the woman weighing gold. The gold and the pearls spilling fromt he strongbox now acquire another meaning: they represent everything that mortal man values and tries vainly, in the face of his mortality, to hold on to. And yet despite these allusions to death, the painting is not depressing. On the contrary, it is filled with hope, for the woman is pregnant. Standing there with scale in hand, a focus of calm in a twilight glow, she makes clear Vermeer's intention -- the celebration of life everlasting."

~ The World of Vermeer, 1632-1675

This term's AO artist of study is Jan Vermeer. He is also fondly referred to as the "Sphinx of Delft". I'm a little behind the schedule though, so have just now been getting to him... And wow, I am so enjoying his work, it is so quietly compelling. I have this great series of books that my Grandmother gave me years ago, The Time-Life Library of Art. And so now, the kids and I are perusing The World of Vermeer, 1632-1675.

You may view a complete collection of Jan Vermeer's works, in thumbnails, here: Vermeer clickable map

I found this site which offers an interestingly different analysis of Vermeer's artwork: Vermeer's Riddle Revealed Apparently, this site is also in book form, and you can read some reviews of the book here at Amazon to get more of an idea as to where the author is coming from. Has anyone else heard of Vermeer's purposeful use of Grail Geometry in his paintings? I know that it was common for artists to utilize geometry in their compositions, but this guy's thesis is extreme, and some of it a stretch I think. Anyways, just some interesting, if not totally out there, weird trivia for you. Regardless, Vermeer was certainly a master with oils.

Lady Writing a LetterNote* In the last couple of years, we've spent a considerable amount of time exploring the works of Durer, who has become N's favorite artist. Kim has been doing a great job sharing about Durer and his work, over at her blog recently. I absolutely love his work too.

Read Full Post »

For history and literature, we're mostly reading through various books listed in our TruthQuest American History I guide (yes, we're still reading about the Vikings) and from Ambleside Online years 1 & 2.

Recently we finished reading Leif the Lucky (I LOVE those D'Aulaire books!). N and T were thrilled to find out that Leif the Lucky became a Christian during his visit to Norway, (was witnessed to by the King himself) and brought the gospel back to his own homeland. His Mother was saved and organized the building of the first church in their Greenland.

We've been enjoying Kipling's Just So Stories. They're so fun to read, with such creative language that the kids just crack up over every time we read one. When we were reading "How the Whale Got His Throat", it was really cool that the story mentioned the country of "Albion", which we were familiar with from our reading of Our Island Story. That turned into a lesson on longitude and latitude (as the whale was given the coordinates to find the man's location). As we talked of all this, and found where the whale had to travel on the globe, Nathan very excitedly pointed out, "There's Iceland! And Greenland, where Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky lived! Oh, oh, and there's Norway!" hehehe... lights were going off everywhere as he discovered the same lands of our recent story books were here on the globe. It was very interesting to me, as "the teacher" because I'm thinking... Yeah, we've talked about and pointed these countries out numerous times already per some maps, and I'd even pulled out the globe... (though he hadn't seemed too interested, apparently he remembered) and NOW, he's all excited b/c HE discovered/saw it I guess, and to see it inter-relating with our other non-related story, maybe?" hmmmm... So, I'm thinking, at least now he's convinced that I'm not just making all this up. LOL! It was so thrilling for me to see his mind working, and to witness his gleeful excitement over the experience of new found bits of knowledge overlapping.

Another similar incident happened as we were playing "Herd Your Horses", and Tabitha, reading one of the horse cards, excitedly exclaims, "Momma, Momma, LOOK! It says Nez Perce! The Nez Perce Indians bred the Apaloosa horses!" We'd been reading the week before about the Nez Perce Indians via her Kaya Story Collections Book, and another Nez Perce book from the library. It was so exciting to see how meaningful it was to her to recognize and fit history pieces together... I'm so thanking the Lord for leading our footsteps as we learn together, with Him.

We're also reading/perusing a huge, lovely National Geographic "Millenium in Maps" map, called "Exploration" which is SO informative, and a useful tool, and enjoying the Bellerophon Myths and Legends of the Vikings Coloring book as well. The Viking Tales have also been interesting...

Various recent Read-Alouds...

Eyewitness books Viking and Explorer.

The How and Why Wonder Book of Explorations and Discoveries (I picked this treasure up at a thrift store many years ago, for 39 cents!)

The Vikings: The Seafarers

Secrets in Stone : All About Maya Hieroglyphics

We're also still reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis, illustrated by Pauline Baynes "ONCE THERE WERE FOUR CHILDREN whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy..."

along with The Land of Narnia, by Brian Sibley, C. S. Lewis, Pauline Baynes (Illustrator)

Yellow & Pink
by William Steig (Illustrator) "Two small figures made of wood were lying out in the sun one day on an old newspaper..."

Stellaluna
by Janell Cannon "One night, as Mother Bat followed the heavy scent of ripe fruit, an owl spied her..."

King of the Wind : The Story of the Godolphin Arabian
by Marguerite Henry, Wesley Dennis (Illustrator) "IN THE northwestern slice of Africa known as Morocco, a horseboy stood, with broom in hand, in the vast courtyard of the royal stables of..."

Read Full Post »