Our General Homeschooling

I've been itching to do a posting about our general homeschool schedule/day. What things we cover aside from the units I so often post about.

Reading:
Both DD and LD are good readers now.  DD is reading easier chapter books while LD is on longer chapter books now.

They both get up in the morning and read while eating breakfast. I always sprinkle our dining room room table with books (Caldecott books, non-fiction books, books for ED). Lots of reading happens from having enticing books placed in key positions. This probably adds to the clutter, but they sure do pick up a lot of books.

I've been trying to find books that really draw DD in.  Someone mentioned the Animal Ark series and boy did the kids go nuts when this lot arrived:

I paid $19.95 for 30+ books (left) on ebay.  DD started reading the first one, Kittens in the Kitchen right away. I generally make sure she has read two chapters each day from her chapter book. She reads lots of other stuff throughout the day as well.

The kids still read the Horrible History and Horrible Science magazines a lot.

And we usually have about 50 books out from the library at a time!

At the time I took this picture this is what we were reading. LD and I were reading Hatchet. DD (and LD) and I were reading Misty of Chincoteague.  DD was reading the Secrets of Droon on her own and LD was reading Warriors Into the Wild on his own.

ED is not reading and so we read lots of books together. In fact, the first things that happen in the morning are starting the fire in the woodstove, coffee and read aloud books with ED while she eats breakfast and then in front of the fire. The older kids get up later than ED does. ED is not especially engaged by letters and reading in the same way the others were at this age, but she's comfortable with her letters and letter sounds. I usually review a couple letters/sounds while we read, pointing out how one or two words are formed.  These past few weeks we've left it at that.
 
Math:

DD is doing really well with Saxon 2, though I find it progresses rather slowly. Rather than skipping ahead in the lessons, I supplement that with other addition work from other sources and with games. I'll have to reassess that in the next month or so, but for the moment I love the fact that DD went from saying she didn't like math to now saying that math is her favorite subject. She always chooses to do math first.

LD is using Saxon Math (4/5) as well. It's challenging for him (but a good fit, I think). We switch between Saxon one day and other stuff (Spectrum Math, multiplication, division, addition and/or subtraction work) on the next.  I also add in two word problems a day.  Here is the link to the
Multiplication and Division Word Problems. It's from 1877 and no long in copyright.  I copied and pasted problems into a document and then printed them out. We just check off a couple each day. Here are a couple examples:

•  George owed me 19 cents: he gave me 2 oranges, worth 5 cents each, and the remainder in money: how much money did I get? 
• There are 7 days in a week: how many days are there in 4 weeks? 
• How many kites, at 9 cents each, can you buy for 18 cents?

ED does lots of spontaneous counting and she always wants to "do math" (activities from her workboxes like counting with manipulatives, etc.) while I'm working with the other kids.

Writing and Spelling:

We use All About Spelling daily. 
We use Handwriting Without Tears twice a week or so.
We use First Language Lessons about twice a week.
We do free writing about once a week.
We use Writing Source one to three times a week.

Again, ED has activities she can choose from her workboxes. She often does her "spelling" (Melissa and Doug) while I work with the other kids.

Music: 

We started back up with music classes a couple of weeks ago after a very long break.  We do a kindermusik-type class for ED and her friends (mostly age 4) with dancing, instruments, circle dances, listening, etc.


We also started up the "older class" and this term we're doing Appalachian music and square dancing. Believe it or not, I found this Barney video to be just perfect for them! (I didn't show them the video, we just are learning to do-si-do and so forth.)


DD is learning the piano and LD has begged and begged and begged to learn trumpet. We got him a new mouthpiece for Daddy's old trumpet and he's really taken off with it. I have never played a brass instrument, but for now have figured out enough to teach him the basics. For now he's also continuing with the piano.
German: We continue to add various themes to our German lessons. We seem to do German about three times a week. We've done greetings, colors, things around the room (table, window, pencil, chair), clothes and animals.

Unit Studies:

This is America: Symbols and Landmarks: We have more or less finished this unit for now.  We ended with a study of the regions of the US... and spent time learning what states were in the Northeast, South, Mid West and so forth.

Human Body: The kids finished their copywork for the topics we covered so far this year: the skeleton, heart, brain, joints.  I think we're about ready to set this aside for a while and delve into something new.

Habitats/Biomes:  This semester we've done oceans and deserts. These units were originally intended more for ED, but the other kids always jump right in too.  The kids want to learn about the rainforest next (though we've studied this before, they're insisting we study this one next).

Upcoming Units:

Owls: We'll probably start a quick unit on owls.

Gadgets and Simple Machines I can't wait to start this; I think LD in particular will be over the moon! We might just start with some science experiments first while I spend time reading over things, preparing for and planning out this unit.


Native Americans Last spring we studied the Mayans. We may briefly cover the Aztecs and Incas and then will move up to the Native American tribes of the USA.

Rainforests is our next preschool unit.

Outside Activities:

Gymnastics: All three kids really, really enjoy their gymnastics classes. LD still goes twice a week for two hours each.

Soccer: LD enjoys playing soccer.  He has practices twice a week and has a game (if it ever stops raining!)

Choir: LD sings in a children's choir.

Roller Skating: We've fallen in love with roller skating and try to go once a fortnight to a local roller skating rink.

Crafts:

The kids are CONSTANTLY doing crafts and creations.  DD loves to draw freehand. She and LD are always making various crafts from what's on hand.

ED still loves to color and especially likes coloring sheets. She fell in love with these Cuties (left) from the artist, Heather Chavez's website.  She's colored most every page Heather has offered!  Examples: sea horse, owl, bat, here

ED's Preschool Activities: I still rotate in lots of preschool activities and general change things up two or three times a week.  I haven't taken very many pictures lately except for this magnet kit which the kids all really enjoyed one day last week. I got the kit ages ago on clearance for $5.00 in Australia and they've had so much fun with it through the years.

Anyway, I usually try to bring out a new puzzle two or three times a week, and change out the activities (Perler beads, hammering, pattern block pages, bug sorting, card games (Uno, Blink, Rat-a-Tat Cat, etc.),  and lots and lots of board games like Perfection (great for small motor skills), Cariboo, Snail's Pace Race (good for colors, counting, taking turns), Memory, HiHo Cherry-O, Chutes-and-Ladders, Sorry, Adventures in Neopia (this is probably the kids' favorite), Dino Math Tracks, Candyland, etc.) every other day or so. I feel like playing games is quite a large part of our preschool day! I also set out her Montessori cards/activities (counting, animals, etc.) but have only done that once a week recently.  I also change up the books in her area daily.
At some point soon I feel like I need to spend time teaching LD and DD chess.  It's such a good, strategic game that gets people thinking. 

Snail's Pace Race

How much time do we spend on school stuff?  Well, it depends on the day. I would say some days we do 3-4 hours, some days less a occasionally we do more.  In general doing just the basics (reading, spelling/writing, math)  takes us about an hour and a half. The kids do these subjects separately and I bounce from child to child to child.  Then our other subjects, the things we do together in collection (unit studies, German) takes another hour to hour and a half depending on what I have planned. They each practice their music on their own and that just happens at some point during the day (but I need to sit down with them generally to do that). Oh--but all this doesn't include games we play and so forth. I'm purely talking about the more 'academic' stuff I do with the older kids.

Do we let the kids watch TV? This is always such a contentious, debated topic out there in the blogging world. In our family, we have a pretty firm rule that there's no TV or video games until after 3pm as long as all schoolwork is done.  We're usually out the door by 4:15pm for afternoon/evening activities so that pretty much sets the limit on electronic time.  Occasionally I'll let the kids watch a school movie (this summer we watched Liberty's Kids, every now and then we watch a National Geographics program, but to be honest educational TV doesn't come to my mind very often). We don't have cartoon network and don't generally watch TV shows, but rather watch DVDs or TV shows/movies off of Netflix. I like that the kids' exposure to TV ads is very limited.  We decided not to have a TV in our living room or homeschool room, so the TV isn't a focus of our family life (the TV and Wii are down in the basement), but we all enjoy our various shows (I've been watching Battlestar Galactica when I run on the treadmill--so I admit even I enjoy my TV time!)

Outdoor Time: I feel this is really important for kids and we usually spend time outdoors (half hour to hour) most days. I work outside a lot (last week I planted a peach and cherry tree and chopped lots of wood) and the kids play. We have a very (very, very) steep hill and the kids can go sledding any time of year. This is currently the kids' favorite outdoor activity. They went sledding pretty much every day this week!  Yesterday my nephew (13) and LD went out into the woods to build a new shelter.  LD has been very inspired by the survival story we've been reading, Hatchet, about a boy who has had to survive on his own in the Canadian wilderness with just a hatchet as a tool. I think I'll need to find a book of similar vein after we finish the next few chapters.

Well, that was a bit longer than I had thought it would be!

Starting Our New Routine

Sorry about the endless postings about our ocean unit... just a couple more and that's that!  Blogs are funny because they sure don't show the whole picture. From looking at our blog our days are consumed by oceans!!  Heh heh! Well, that's not at all accurate.  I read and read, planned and planned and finally the older kids started back to school last week. As you've seen, ED has been "in school" for a couple of weeks now.  That was brilliant because she has a pretty good understanding of her 'work' and has chosen her own work to do while I'm busy with the others. Today, for example... she utterly shocked me by spending AN HOUR doing the push pin drawings I set out two weeks ago (which she said then were too hard!). I had a pile of 25 or so since DD often likes to do them as well.  She did them ALL!!!

Okay -- so back for a moment to DD and LD's new school routine.  I decided that we'd have a three hour work session in the mornings. I start with "collection" ... which many people refer to as circle time. Since I have so many things to introduce them to as we start the school year, it's been longer than it will be normally. Here's how collection is going for us at the moment:

• Join together
• German -- greetings, hello, how are you, review of the numbers and saying the numbers without counting (seeing the symbol 8, saying "acht").  German Reader (short, cute, easy stories with cute graphics). 
• Calendar time -- change out the "yesterday, today, tomorrow cards." Check the sky and add the appropriate cloud card.  Write their name, day and date in their collection notebooks.  Check the outside thermometer and record the temperature in C and F.
• Song -- We started with Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes in order to include ED (and to be silly together!)
  
• Rules for our Homeschool Session (each of us shared one rule to write down, adding to the list each day)
• Presentation
• Write their daily plans in their collection notebooks (I have a list of ideas of things they can work on... some are 'must dos' like math and language arts, but they have a half-dozen things they can do in each of the various categories.)

Now ideally, I'll do just one presentation, but the first week I had to introduced our various units so the kids know where things were kept and what they could start working on independently. If you've read through my planning stuff the past month or so, you know that our main units this semester or so include...

• The Montessori Great Lessons (the first two)
• This is the USA (an introduction to the symbols and landmarks of the US, basic US geography)
• The Human Body (using this and these kits as our core)
• Animal Discovery Notebook (Science Sorts)
• Landforms
• and will also include material to go along with ED's preschool themes (oceans, deserts, rainforests, etc.)
• My husband and I also want to include a presentation each week on Health and Safety. We brainstormed together on our long drive from Missouri and decided that we should cover topics like our phone number, address, emergencies, fire/fire safety/using a fire extinguisher/fire do's/don'ts/stop-drop-roll, being lost in the woods, germs, teeth-care, strangers, general first-aid how-to/whys of cuts, broken bones, etc. 

So the presentations last week included:
*Let's Learn About the World (basic facts about the largest continent, country, mountain, etc.)
*A discussion of ocean invertebrates (Mollusks-Crustaceans, Echinoderms, Cnidaria) See pic below.
*A few of the landmarks in the US (looking at the cards) and discussion of the southwest

But the presentations led to their own work... drawings, notebook work, read aloud time, etc.

You can find classification charts on the kingdoms, vertebrates and invertebrates, etc. here and on invertebrates here,  arthropods here. We used all those and then drew one together as we talked about it.

Here are some invertebrate cards I made to go along with our discussion. Remember, crustaceans, arachnids and insects are all part of the arthropod group (look at this chart to see what I mean).  This is not a complete list of invertebrate groups, just some of the ones we have been discussing.


What will the kids do after collection during our school session?  Well, this is the hardest part for me.  I've been reading a lot (I mean a dozen books!!!!) On the Montessori method and a fabulous book about motivation Drive, The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. I really am solidly convinced that the kids need to have the autonomy and independence to direct their own learning.  So, I'm trying to create an environment that sets forth lots of learning materials, but I'm trying to step back just a bit to be more of a facilitator than a teacher. I'll obviously be in the room with them at all times (no phone, no Internet), but I'd like to give them more freedom to choose how and what to work on.  Stepping back a bit is quite difficult for me since I am a very hands on type person.  I hope that by presenting things and then leaving them with lots of choices and options. As I see it that choice may be... "Mom, let's do xyz" or "Mom, let's read together" etc. so very likely at this age I will be involved, but hopefully they will initiate things and they'll embrace the things that interest and intrigue them and learn lots this next year. I am needed for many things --for example, DD is learning the piano for the first time this year so I need to be right there with her for that. Or, LD needs me to sit/read through his math text with him before doing the problem sets on his own. But I am at least cognizant of the fact that my role is to suggest, but never to nag or over-direct/demand.  No nagging. There, I've laid it out!!!

One thing I have to say about this past week is that I had to end the school day because *I* had other things on!! So far so good! We went well over three hours each day since we leapt back into things straight after lunch as well.

Well, I'll bring this post to a close for now.  We sure have had a fantastic week though (plus it included our first field 'official' field trip... the first of quite a few this semester, we hope!).

Happy Homeschooling! More soon!

Preschool Routine, Tuesdays

ED's Tuesday Routine:

So you heard yesterday that I'm planning to use biome/habitat themes with ED this fall. This is what I have planned in a general way for Tuesdays:
     Arts and Crafts (based on the theme)
     Montessori Math Beads; Math Activities
     Science Sorts (Long post and link to my 30-pages of notes, etc.!)
   
Arts and Crafts 

The girls painted boxes to make a diorama.

Now all this needs is the sea creatures!

The kids have had a blast making various sea creatures.  They made fish, jelly fish and sharks for nearly two hours! I found an amazing set of ocean craft ideas over at Playing House in Maryland.

 Montessori Math Beads:
     I have Tuesdays set aside to bring out the Montessori math beads and work with ED on some basic number skills.

I think this might be called the "Bead Stair" in Montessori circles.  I simply cut out two triangles from felt (so the beads won't roll off) and set out the appropriate beads (we're using 1 to 6 this week).  The triangle helps create a control so that the child can visually see the progression.

This week I also set out a jellyfish number matching activity and our number puzzle.

Science Sorts:
      Living-Non Living Cards

I printed out this free card set from Homemade Montessori. They have gotten a lot of use these past few years.

 More about our science sorts this fall at this post.

Preschool Routine, Mondays

ED's Monday Routine:

The idea of planning all this is so that I can change up ED's activities, keep them fresh, interesting with the minimum of thought on my part.  I expect to skip days, but then I'll just pick up on the appropriate day and continue on.  The routine is (hopefully) to make it easier on me to keep things engaging for ED.
     Mailbox Letters and Scavenger Hunt
     Montessori Activities set up
     Theme of the week begins
   
Weekly Letters
   ED is still learning letter recognition and letter sounds. When LD and DD were both little I did a LOT of scavenger hunts and outside play with them on their letters. Somehow ED hasn't gotten as much of that this past year. So, I'm instituting my weekly scavenger hunt again.  When LD and DD heard this they insisted that they be a part of that too! Of course they won't have letters -- their cards will work on addition and multiplication facts.
    If you have weekly letters... then you need a mailbox to put them in, right?

Here's the little mailbox I made for EDs weekly letters.

One of ED's tray will have letter work.  I plan generally to cover just two letters each week, but she already knows these fairly well.  She's putting sticker letters on an index card. She also matched wooden letters to these cards (didn't get a photo of that.

ED is tracing her sandpaper letters.

Scavenger Hunt!

After the scavenger hunt they mailed their letters and cards.

One last thing about the weekly mailbox letters is that I also hope to have the kids write or send drawings to one of their relatives each week. I hope to do this on Mondays.

It's always good to be active.  These hopscotch activities were a big hit!

Montessori Type Activities
     Each Monday I hope to set up a number of Montessori-related activities. These will relate to our theme as much as possible.
     A couple of years ago we covered some of the world's biomes.  We'll be doing animal habitats with ED in the coming months.  As you may have seen, I hope to include the older kids with this to a certain extent... and plan to introduce them to the idea of research and recording their findings. Anyway the kids discussed this among themselves and decided that our first few themes will be...
      oceans
      deserts
      rainforests
     

This obviously has nothing to do with the ocean, but the kids have been begging to use their test-tubes. I have been eying these for a long time (years), but they've always been out of stock.  When I saw them in stock at Oriental Trading this summer, I snapped up a set. There are four colored trays and 16 science test tubes.   

 

This week I set out themed pin punching.  DD went straight to it, but they were a bit daunting for ED who insisted on doing a smaller one.  I need to keep that in mind. I like the cute over-sized push pins Grams gave us!

 

No surprises to the blog world with this activity, but both ED and DD did this straight away.

 

We don't have the Montessori stencils, but it's been interesting that ED has found her own equivalent with this shape template.

Our Homeschool Room Setup

I often enjoy having a glimpse at other people's homeschool setups.  We had quite a small house over in Australia, but we are now blessed with this amazingly large, airy homeschool room. 

We have bright colorful workboxes. Each kid has their own row, but I do not fill them every day with new things. Instead their basic subjects get stored here (including the manipulatives, new games, activities and printouts).  It does help with the organization, but since they don't complete things from top to bottom (as with the 'workbox system') I find that I needed ED's activities out on display/visible.

This former computer table now houses my storage area (for printouts), our 3-part cards, spelling games and things like that (those three trays to the left of the table and the little cabinet thing with plastic bins under the table).The area back to the right is a doorway up to the attic area -- it's often cluttered with things to go upstairs, things to put away or use later, etc.

ED has six trays. Two are on the table, two are under the table and their are two half-trays at the bottom. You'll see a close-up in a moment.  You'll also see the Montessori blanket to the left of the trays.  And our "All About Spelling" alphabet is also on the floor next to my storage cabinet. (The shoebox is out for an art project we're working on.)

The purple-covered table has different preschool activities. Last week it had a hammering activity. This week it has a couple of magnetic ocean puzzles. You'll also see the art notebook I put together earlier this summer. It still gets daily use!

Our craft table is where much of the action takes place here at the Homeschool Den.  We all sit down here on and off throughout the day.  I keep it covered with large pieces of butcher paper which pulls up from a roll at the bottom.  I change that paper every evening! First thing the next morning that paper is covered with drawings, writing, and scribbles!

Science Sorts -- Our Montessori Science Work, Fall 2011

Over the past few years, we have done a lot of Montessori science work.  This year I compiled a review notebook and will let DD and LD work on this as they are interested (ED will be introduced to these for the first time this year).  Mostly I expect the older ones to cut out pictures from magazines and write on these sheets (pages 5 and beyond in the pack).  At the very least, it's organized for my own benefit!  There are lots of free 3-Part cards 'out there' that go along with these. I'll share a few links below and will share more as we work through these this fall.

Montessori science sorts -- there are 30 pages or so
This just helps me organize the many activities we've done so I have it compiled in one place... things like
     living-not living
     vertebrate - invertebrate
     solid, liquid, gas
     and so forth...

Again, here is the Animal Discovery Notebook pages that goes with all this. I added to this -- adding in some ocean invertebrate research pages since ED will be studying oceans (so there's appropriate new work to give to DD and LD if they're interested).

---------------------------
And here are a few links to some cards I have used. Thank you to those who've shared their work with us!

Free Living and Non-Living 3-part Cards & Animal Kingdom Cards

Free Living/Non-Living Montessori Cards from ETC-Press

Nocturnal - Diurnal Animal Sort from Spell Out Loud

Nocturnal - Diurnal Power Point Presentation

Solid Liquid Gas Sort by Montessori Tidbits


Desert Toob Animal Matching by Montessori Tidbits

These were $2.00, but I absolutely love these Natural Disaster cards.

Montessori Philosophy and our USA unit study

I've been doing some reading and re-reading of Montessori philosophy this summer.  I thought I'd share my thoughts about how our studies -- specifically our USA unit study -- fits in with my interpretations of Montessori teaching in the early elementary grades.  As I have three kids spanning the two age groupings (both 3-6 and 6-9), I use elements from both.

**We will be starting the year by creating paper maché  globes. This is ED's first (formal) introduction to the world and globes. When I told DD and LD about this, they were excited and said they wanted to make globes as well.  I have big plastic bouncy balls on hand and we'll slather on paper mache and do our best to make reasonable representations of the seven continents  and the oceans with paint, glue and sand. (Keep in mind, it'll be the process not the end result!)

**We will also start off the year with the First and Second Great Lessons.  It has been nearly two years since we did the First Great Lesson (coming of the universe and Earth) and a year since our Second Great Lesson (Coming of Life-the geologic timeline).  I plan to do these presentations and all the drama over a two or three-day period. If you want to learn more you can visit Miss Barbara's Great Lessons page or Montessori Albums Great Lessons pages or explore the links put together by Montessori Mom.  I think these lessons are really useful for giving the kids a broad overview of the universe, the world and life.  Having this broad overview, they can then better understand how smaller ideas and details fit into the big picture. I like the idea that the kids gain a picture of how they fit into the universe and the immense timeline of life.

**Review of the World -- continents and oceans (this is new for ED), continent song

**USA in relation to the world --
     Physical Geography:
          North America mapwork, What is the country like?
          How big is it?
          What are the major rivers, mountains and bays?
          USA pinmap           What is the climate like?
          Landmarks
     Political Geography:
          What are its neighbors? (and perhaps Rock the Capitals, Central America to go along with this)
           Symbols

**This unit also seemed perfect since in the early elementary years there's an emphasis of taking children out into the world for real-life experiences.  This unit takes advantage of our location here on the East Coast. We have plans to see the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, White House, Washington Monument, and Mt. Vernon (and perhaps other places, but we'll see -- that's already quite ambitious!!)

**One issue that I have with myself and our homeschooling is that element of self direction and self-led learning.  The kids definitely have their areas of interest. LD, for example, reads and follows his passion for science. You will often find him picking up and reading chemistry, physics book or reading through our vast Horrible Science collection. He designs and sets up his own experiments (often with help from Mom and Dad to gather materials, etc.). But when it comes to other units of study, I often bring forth the materials and we explore topics that I have sought out and set forth.  Anyway, just wanted you all to be aware that there is a beautiful element to Montessori philosophy that is under scrutiny for our homeschool.  I am tossing up changing our homeschooling style a bit -- to be both more structured and more autonomous and independent for the kids.  I'm still thinking this through though before I can share anything further here in blogland!

***OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!! -- I wrote this post and had this set to send out since we were on holiday visiting family.  While we were away I found out that I was the winner of Karen Tyler's year long Montessori training class.  I've had a sneak-preview of the albums and what we will be learning over the course of this next year. (My class starts Sept. 1! Hooray!!)  It BLOWS MY SOCKS OFF!!!  I am a voracious reader and have pretty much read all the books and resources I can get my hands on regarding Montessori philosophy and stuff... Karen's albums make me feel like I knew nothing... and I can't wait to get started learning and re-planning for this next year.  The course is geared towards 3-6 but let me tell you, LD will benefit from my training course as much or more than little ED here!!! 

Anyway, stay tuned as I revisit our homeschool style and structure. I'm on a new journey and I'm SO SO excited!!

Designing Your Homeschooling Curriculum -- Balancing it All

I've been having a thoughtful discussion with a blogging friend of mine. We've been talking about the reality of homeschooling... how it really works with a three year old in tow, what curriculum we use and things like that.  I would love, love, love to hear your comments about how your day goes -- and how you arrive at your homeschool curriculum decisions!


Here's part of my email letter to my friend... I'll add in a few pictures too!

You were talking about how difficult it is to work with your five year old when your 3 year old is playing. Goodness, I know how that is! My little one wants to be in the middle of things.  It's slightly easier to involve her now that she's older. So, if I'm playing a math game with DD (5) then I'll let ED turn over the cards or spin the spinner, etc. and ask her to identify the numbers. (top picture)
Sometimes I just reach into the cabinet and bring out five activities and spread them around us hoping something will catch her attention (second picture). And sometimes, I wind up homeschooling with ED climbing on my back and head (no kidding!!).  Ugh!  So, it's often a challenge -- and I'm often left feeling that I haven't "done enough" quality work with DD (or LD).  The other 'problem' is that the kids play so happily that it's hard to draw them back to what *I* want to accomplish.

Just now, for example, I was playing math games with DD.  LD came in and wanted to play. Once the game was over that sparked an idea in their heads and they ran off to play robot wars with the glass bead math manipulatives we had been using.  Sigh... what *I* wanted to do was have them finish some math-workbook time.


And ED? She is happily occupied, BUT is taking out thing after thing and creating a picnic with all the stuff.  Just a half hour ago, the carpet was picked up and clean.

Writing -- DD has worked in some random store-bought workbooks for handwriting, but I haven't yet had her work regularly in Handwriting Without Tears. It didn't resonate with her -- and she preferred the preschool workbook I had picked up somewhere else. She is happy writing notes and letters to people on her own -- and I want to encourage that free form kind of writing.  Every now and then I pull out a particular letter (a worksheet on the letter "n" for example) if I see her writing it improperly. But she doesn't do much in the way of formal writing lessons yet.  I'm not going to start her on cursive at any point soon. I'll re-evaluate that in another 6 months or so.

I will probably start working with her on "All About Spelling" level one once LD is done with that book (he has one more lesson).  I really, really love that program and would highly recommend it.  LD has really come far with it (he is a very, very reluctant writer).

I have been using Write Source Skills Book grade one with LD to help him with his writing. I like it a lot and ordered another Grade One workbook for DD to start using.  (I am using the skills book/workbook ($7.15) NOT the student book or teacher's edition.)

It talks about some basic rules of writing like
*starting a sentence with a capital letter
*leave a space between your words
*end each sentence with an end mark
*use complete thoughts (with a subject and verb)
*. ? !
*commas ,
*contractions

These are all basic rules -- and then I expand on them in another blank book -- creating various exercises for LD. Sometimes I write sentences and having him put in the correct punctuation, fix the capital letters, etc. (I put in an example to the left.) Or sometimes I have him write sentences on his own paying particular attention to the rules we've gone over. In other words, I use that Write Source workbook as a jumping-off point. I also try to add in other language activities that compliment what we're working on like this contraction sort from Oceans of First Grade Fun, for example. The more hands-on I can make things for LD the better.

I just ordered First Language Lessons from Amazon and ordered Writing with Ease from the library by Susan Bauer after reading some wonderful reviews. I'll decide whether I want to incorporate them into our day/week.
**I'm adding in later -- I got Writing With Ease from the library and have read through and glanced through most of it.  It emphasizes copywork and narration especially in the first years.  I had LD do a lot of copywork in first grade, but I'm not sure I would do this again (exclusively) with my other children. It did not seem to help him much with getting the flow of writing words (if this makes sense) or learning to form words on his own. In my opinion, the skills he has taken from All About Spelling has served him MUCH better than all the work he did copying sentences.  I *did* take some things from this book and may incorporate some aspects of her narration exercises, but for me personally I will not use Writing with Ease as a curriculum for writing.
**And also adding in a few days later that First Language Lessons arrived and I can see that'll work really well for our family.  DD already memorized the first poem!

Let's see -- we obviously do our unit studies all together.  The kids work on music separately (DD does the glockenspiel, LD does the piano).  We have music classes with friends. I am hoping to re-start our German lessons together very soon. DD is particularly keen to learn that. I have some new books and really hope to incorporate that into our routine.

You were asking if I follow any "guidelines."  That's a difficult question to answer.  I am an eclectic homeschooler, so I really use lots and lots of sources. I regularly read and look through books like "What your Second Grader needs to know" or look through the Typical Course of Study for kindergarten or second grade -- -- but rarely use that when designing our curriculum. I just keep those kinds of things in the back of my mind.

Oh--and I also get a lot of advice and wisdom (not to mention printables) from various teacher's blogs out there -- such as Chalk Talk (kindergarten), What the Teacher Wants or Oceans of First Grade Fun.  ( I have some of my other favorite teacher's blogs listed here--scroll down to the green section.)

For history I have just been gradually moving forward through time.

For science I spend a LOT of time looking at the Montessori 6-9 science general topics and look through the contents of various curriculums out there (Noeo Science- or Real Science 4 Kids).  Our units often stem from the topics covered in these other curriculums, but more often than not, I pull things together myself. And I also ask the kids periodically what THEY want to study.  When LD said he wants to learn plants, plants, plants, plants (!!)... I kept my ear to the ground and jumped on the Junior Master Gardener curriculum when I heard about that. But our lapbooks (like DD's lapbooks on penguins and sunflowers this semester) came from what she said she wanted to study.

By the way, by time I finished writing this email to my friend every cabinet door was open and DD had helped herself to board games, puzzles, math manipulatives, stickers and more.  Creative mess. And -- self entertaining.  Yes, embrace these traits, right?!!! And get them to happily help me clean up afterwards!  :-)

My time is about up.   I really enjoy hearing from others. knowing I'm not alone in the homeschooling adventure!! Please leave a comment if you have the time! Can't wait to hear from you.

Plans for the Next 5-7 Weeks

While on holiday it was time to think through our homeschooling plans for the next 5-7 weeks or so. I always have a running plan in my head, but sometimes it's useful to put it down on paper, so to speak.

As you will see, I am trying to include a lot more Newberry honor and medal winners now that DD is a bit older. I'll continue to read lots of children's books and Caldecott books to ED (and whoever else is around) as well. (I put books out on the dining room table and the kids beg for me to read while they eat.)

History and Geography: Before our holiday, we finished our study of the Ancient Mayans and finished our read aloud (The Corn is Ripe).  We'll move on to the Ancient Aztecs, Ancient Incas, and will study the geography of central and South America (continent song).
Read Aloud: Incan Newberry Honor Book--Secret of the Andes
I have a number of books on hold at the library, but am not quite sure how this unit will unfold! Any suggestions from what you've done?

Science: Gardening Science -- Junior Master Gardener curriculum. Chapters 1 and 2 (This will be quite ambitious as there are probably 30 activities per chapter!) We are all so excited about this! It is truly an amazing program.

Literature: To go along with this attention to plants, plant growth, plant identification and so forth I'm going to read a few Newberry books that show how people survive out in nature. 

Abel's Island - This book is about a mouse who is swept away from his beloved wife in a severe storm. He finds himself stranded on an island and survives for an entire year on his own. It talks about the plants he ate, the dangers he faced and what he did to entertain and keep his mind engaged.  It has illustrations almost every fourth page or so which will help keep DD engaged.

Hatchet -- In this book, a boy survives a plane crash and has to survive in the Canadian (?) wilderness. LD is anxious for this book, but I don't know if DD will like it.


After that I'm not sure what we'll tackle. Perhaps the Secret of NIMH, The Black Stallion or Island of the Blue Dolphins?

The Human Body Unit -- I plan to continue doing activities with ED and DD (and LD as interested) using Everybody Has a Body

Math: 
LD continues on with the times tables 2 through 6 and I'll be introducing division families. Continuing with addition and subtraction practice (thousands 4567+1789) and adding 3 problems together (23+44+16). I'm debating whether to start him on the 7s times tables or really cement in those others which he's been working on for 5 or 6 weeks now  (or longer?). I'll ask him how he feels and go from there. We also should start on fractions a bit... we'll see.
DD -- She'll continue on with her 1st grade curriculum but I also want to go include a lot more Montessori work (place value activities and so forth). Also, I'd like to work on money with her a bit more.
ED -- continuing to work one to one correspondence, number recognition, Montessori activities

Music:
LD 3 new pieces:
DD 3 new glockenspiel pieces,  sit down to teach her teach her two pieces on the piano
ED we haven't had music class for a long time because of illness and other conflicts. I hope to get in another 4-6 weeks with our friends before summer if they're up for it. We love, love getting together with them so hopefully we can get our schedules to work.  ED is always asking if her friends are coming over. Too cute!

Independent Reading: 
LD chapter books; introduce the 3rd Grade reading list, have him make selections and borrow from library. Check them off as he goes.

DD -- Henry and Mudge. Perhaps move on to Horrible Harry soon.  Grade 2 Little Critter reading book (read aloud to Mom)

Spelling - All About Spelling
Writing -- Write Source
Handwriting -- Handwriting without Tears

Reorganizing The Homeschool Den's Links

I developed this blog in large part for me.  It helps me keep a record of what we've done and it also helps me stay organized and keep track of websites where I've gotten activity ideas and printables.  You should see my drafts!!  Whenever I'm cruising around trying to find information and activities for new units I create a "draft" and link lots of the websites I come across. I have about three or four times as many draft posts for myself as "real" posts about what we're doing.  That way if I come across a wonderful activity about money or a cool website about Native Americans that we won't use until later I can keep tabs on it.  I always wonder if other peoples blogs are as much of a mess as mine is behind the scenes!

Anyway,  I had lots (and lots and lots) of links on the side bars, so I could simply follow my own links to the websites I wanted to visit.  It was starting to look really sloppy, though, so I placed all my favorite websites on another page. The links at the top left will take you there and it's organized in sections by color:

Homeschool Blogs I Enjoy (pink)

Useful Homeschool Websites (purple)

Teacher's Blogs (Blue)

Random Websites I like to Visit (art, music, stories, file folder games, etc.) (peach)

Montessori Websites (yellow)

So, there you have it. A tad bit of organization here at The Homeschool Den. Now I'd better go tackle the house and dishes! :) 

Planning and Preparation (and a very cute free clip art website)

I usually take opportunity over our December break to begin planning for the next semester.  This last semester we learned a lot during our studies of Ancient Rome.  We enjoyed watching bits of Spartacus and Ben Hur.  LD and DD were entranced by the boat battles and amazing chariot race of Ben Hur! Now, as you obviously can tell by the clip art I'm planning for our next unit on the Middle Ages.

Stay tuned for more when we delve into our studies of castles, cathedrals, feudalism, knights, the Black Plague and all that! (Update: See our Middle Ages posts here!)  In planning for that unit, I came across this wonderful website that shares free clip art on all sorts of topics including history, science, geography, the human body and more.  I wanted to come online to share that link: http://www.phillipmartin.info/clipart/homepage.htm or you can see all the cute links on one page here.

Next semester we'll continue our studies of earth science (more about that here!)... there were lots of great activities still in the works for that.

And I have checked out a half-dozen books in hopes of adding in some inspiring things for ED (and yes, I've found heaps of wonderful ideas!!).  I noticed as things became more busy in December that I would say, "okay, LD it's time for you to read your four chapters," "DD, you need to come read to me" and poor ED would say "what do I have to do?"  I (hanging my head in shame) didn't particularly have an answer for her except to point her vaguely in the direction of the craft table (where there's paper/crayons always available and where her activities are set up). It was very, very busy getting ready to host three families here for the holidays, but now it's time to get on top of things for ED again!

One last thing before I go.  We have a full house of guests and wouldn't you know it--I have my first horrible cold/illness since we moved back to the US.  I have had a horrendous sore throat and virtually no voice for days now. Last night I broke down in tears because I hadn't slept much the night before (just 3 hours) because the pressure in my face/head/throat was so bad. I got up Christmas morning at 4am (after going to bed at 1am!).  I just hope that I don't pass on my illness to our house-full of family... 14 plus other family/visitors that pop by just for the day! I've been feeling so lousy that I probably need to get out to see the doctor.  Okay, that said I need to head to bed!


Once again--go check out the Phillip Martin's free clip art!  It's so cute!

Planning and Preparation Related Posts: This post is from quite some time back.  Here are some more recent posts (over at our new location) that might also be of interest).

Homeschool Science Unit Checklist for Elementary and Middle School - These are the science unit we hope to cover from K-8.

Homeschool Science 2016 Year in Review – And What’s Coming Up Next

Creating Your Homeschool Curriculum: Grades 2-3, Resource Guide

Creating a Homeschool Curriculum: Kindergarten – Grade 1

Homeschool Schedule and Transitions

Language Arts Update: Literature, Spelling, Vocabulary and Grammar

First Days of School!

Homeschool Planning: Subject Area Checklists

Strategic Homeschool Organization!!

Technology Tools and Websites to Facilitate Learning

5 Things you Can Do This Summer to Get Ready to Homeschool

Science Year in Review 2015-2016

10 Step to Take When Planning for a New School Year

Homeschool Thoughts: Spending Time Reviewing

Homeschool Science in Early Elementary (K-2): Video Post

10 Ways to Overcome Homeschool Burnout

Organization: How We Keep On Top of Things While Homeschooling

Homeschool Science: Year in Review and What’s Coming Up

Homeschool History: Our Year in Review and What’s Coming Up

Challenging and Inspiring Students without the Overwhelm or Fear of Failure

What We’re Up to in Our Homeschool (Gr. 2, 5, 7)

Thoughts on Teaching: Meaningful Teaching Activities