tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4222608078113371472011-11-12T22:08:56.474-05:00A weekly recap of our family's learning adventureCarolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.comBlogger431100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-27353752339484752462010-11-01T20:49:00.003-04:002010-11-01T21:18:46.351-04:00

I have let this blog sit silent while my family has walked through a grief filled period. I have a few thoughts bouncing around in my head, but my heart just isn't there yet.In the mean time, here are some links that I have loved visitingFor math (are you tired of me talking about math?)mathwire.com - so many ideas, so little timedy-dan - - high school math teacher turned PhD student, no algabra

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-38896569565645249442010-08-27T21:25:00.011-04:002010-08-27T22:42:49.274-04:00

Sheep uterus dissections. A big thank you to Greg and Nancy Landry for inviting us to join them during an anatomy camp. Most of the content was for older students, but my girls sure had a great time. Shenandoah National Park, VA Visiting with one of those few friends who loves my kids as much as I do. We have known each other for nearly 25 years.Roan Mountain State Park, TN Our mini-van has

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-31150750400117010372010-05-29T08:54:00.005-04:002010-05-29T10:04:24.828-04:00

During the 2009-2010 school year my eight year old hit a road block in math. Each week the weaknesses of the Saxon program seemed more glaring. The biggest challenge for me was the lack of information for the parent. Saxon offers no alternatives for teaching a given concept. By May we were both discouraged and frustrated.My goal for this summer was to find a math program that offered the parent

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-58650606859549052962010-04-21T22:03:00.004-04:002010-04-21T23:09:11.266-04:00

For the next few months this humble blog may seem rather silent. School will continue as scheduled, but my free time will look quite different. My husband has started a three month sabbatical. He has a great job, that he is quite good at, if I may say so. His job can be rather intense. To compensate for that his employer gives all full time workers a three month sabbatical after every five years

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-36536066048055483572010-04-21T21:53:00.003-04:002010-04-21T22:03:06.931-04:00

As I posted a few months ago, I have been carefully reviewing math in our school. I have enjoyed reading the posts that Sylvia has written (there are three, so be sure to read each one). I have also enjoyed reading the comments that were added by her readers.At the end of May I am going to sit in on three "how to teach math" sessions at the state homeschool conference. I am looking forward to

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-32452959956959159392010-04-21T21:49:00.002-04:002010-04-21T21:53:52.648-04:00

For the last quarter of the school year (Year 2, Unit 4) I have tried using the library for all of our books. Overall I am pleased with the result. By relying on inter-library loans, I have been able to acquire most of the books that we will need. There were about 10 books that I was unable to match perfectly. In most cases I have been able to find a reasonable substitute.

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-11856375888784472292010-03-30T22:23:00.003-04:002010-03-30T22:31:09.871-04:00

If you haven't already entered this give away you have one day left. Tapestry of Grace will be giving away ALL OF THE TEACHER MANUALS AND SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL to five families. This amounts to nearly everything that you would need for history, literature, and geography for K-12. That is one amazing give away.

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-77274986860964349172010-03-22T20:59:00.002-04:002010-03-22T21:14:17.163-04:00

Do your kids ever surprise you? Are you ever fully convinced that they are ignoring you only to find out that they are listening to your every word?We have nearly finished Year 2 Unit 3. That also means that we have nearly finished reading Colonial Living by Edwin Tunis. Though the book is fascinating, it has been a challenging read aloud. Several times I have allowed the girls to work on a

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-80315167898497468912010-03-17T21:27:00.007-04:002010-03-17T21:48:43.570-04:00

As you know, I use Tapestry of Grace for most of my subjects. I have been so pleased with every aspect of the curriculum. Tonight I learned that they are holding an awesome drawing. Five lucky families will receive ALL FOUR YEARS of Tapestry of Grace and the supplementary products. Since all Tapestry year plans have K-12 teacher guides you would be set for quite a long time! Click here for the

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-9760094399530800662010-03-16T15:46:00.007-04:002010-03-16T16:15:08.027-04:00

For several years now my mom and I have talked about the fact that rather than rewarding young children for academic work, parents and teachers should guide students to understand that the work is the reward. This conversation started when my oldest daughter entered kindergarten At the first parent/teacher conference my husband and I were politely chastised for not writing down each book that we

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-21124633430157632972010-03-02T20:52:00.003-05:002010-03-02T23:20:45.524-05:00

The writer of one of the blogs that I catch up on as I am able has posed this question: how do you spend your school money? In her post she asks for ideas to stretch the school budget. Here are a few of my thoughts. Feel free to share some of yours.The harsh truth about stretching the school budget: IT IS TEACHER INTENSIVE. There you go. Can you home school on a dime? If you have access to

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-18215175600560907002010-02-13T22:32:00.007-05:002010-02-13T23:22:39.814-05:00

For the entire month of January we have struggled our way through math. Both girls are on lesson 80, which marks the half way point. My third grader had the same experience last year. I think that the mid-point is the peak of new material. Lessons 1-40 are review from the previous year. Lessons 40-80 gradually increase the amount of new material a student is expected to master. Around lesson 100

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-10401857268478680782010-02-01T17:36:00.004-05:002010-02-01T17:43:06.171-05:00

Sometimes school might need to look a bit more like this . . . The girls did have to fill the geography challenge jar to earn this afternoon on the slopes. Tonight I will empty the jar and we will start working toward a new goal. If you are interested in trying out Tapestry of Grace, don't forget to check this out.

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-42172153558286363392010-01-20T21:59:00.004-05:002010-01-20T22:33:57.115-05:00

One of my absolute favorite things about Tapestry of Grace is the fact that we are using actual books. Even for lower grammar students (aprox. K-3) there are no "readers". My girls aren't reading random excerpts, but instead, complete stories. I have been pleased with the choices. Highlights from year 2 unit 2 have been - -Children's' ShakespeareMother Goose (that took me by surprise; my 1st

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-46942382055899810052010-01-13T16:52:00.003-05:002010-01-13T17:26:48.676-05:00

This fall we were able to finish our basement. What an improvement that has made in the functioning of our home. We now have a space devoted to school.The is plenty of natural light. The black wall that you can see in the picture is a magnetic chalkboard. That wall is worth every coat of paint that it took to make it magnetic. The other huge improvement for us is the space around the table.

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-76068717632923963272010-01-13T08:33:00.004-05:002010-01-13T08:47:33.172-05:00

We are packing our bags, filling our minds and generally preparing for a trip to the new world. Our boat sets sail in two weeks. Won't you join us?Seriously, if you have considered using Tapestry of Grace, now is a good time to check it out. The free three week trial includes everything. Very few curricula offer such an in depth preview. We are finishing up week 18 this week. So, I plan to

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-11660348460044956462009-12-02T16:07:00.002-05:002009-12-02T16:47:09.609-05:00

This morning was exactly what I imagined homeschooling would be like. When I brought my oldest daughter home I had a four year old, a 18 month old, and a 5 week old. I was terrified. I was lucky if dinner was ready. I had no idea how I would teach my daughter how to write a paragraph. Totally convinced that God was asking me to bring McKenzie home, I withdrew her from school. I braced

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-6736196557161218242009-11-20T13:37:00.003-05:002009-11-20T14:32:10.352-05:00

Geography challenge #2 was, if nothing else, fun. I love that the most ordinary activities become exciting with children. I let each girl pick a destination. My 6 year old routed us from our pick up spot to the "transfer circle". From there she guided us onto our next bus and pulled the bell when our stop was announced. When we reached our destination she looked up at me and said, "Thanks for

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-71995783265850553952009-11-10T21:56:00.007-05:002009-11-10T22:49:57.601-05:00

At the beginning of the year I tried a geography challenge with the girls. It worked even better than I had hoped.We are now filling the "geography adventure" jar again. For the next two weeks, as we read about Columbus, I will be teaching the girls basic map skills. Each morning I am asking them questions from the previous lesson. Along with the review questions I am throwing in world geography

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-57892497328028286372009-11-05T21:31:00.002-05:002009-11-05T21:58:11.622-05:00

Two and a half years ago my husband and I made an agonizing decision. We wrote a letter to the principal of our oldest daughter's school. We ordered a math curicullum. We drilled our friends with questions about home management. We called the president of a local homeschooling coop. And so began this quiet "unexpected adventure."This week I have realized all the things that I would have

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-75882661422814763312009-10-21T22:11:00.002-04:002009-10-21T22:37:50.780-04:00

At the heart of our school work is Tapestry of Grace, but, as the sidebar indicates, we have a few other things going on too. Here is a quick update.Math - -still good; I like being able to pull from two resources; McKenzie is loving the analogies. I usually have to make her stop and move on to the next thing.Science - overall good; It is working for both girls, which is nice. I did buy

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-54893894666994217202009-10-16T21:54:00.005-04:002009-10-21T22:10:46.881-04:00

We are wrapping up unit one of year two. For those of you not using Tapestry of Grace, that means that we are beginning to transition out of the middle ages and into the renaissance. Today we talked about the life of Jon Wycliff and I did a quick review of some of the people we had talked about through out the week. Joan of Arc, Johann Gutenburg, Jan Huss I went rattling through the list. My

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-41418894898617606332009-09-30T21:22:00.003-04:002009-09-30T21:34:53.237-04:00

The question of the week seems to be, do I have room for error? I am referring to the relatively small things that happen through out the day that become time stealers. Last night I was out with my six year old. We had a fun evening together. On the way home we stop by the grocery store. I let her pick out a snack. Before we had left the parking lot of the store she had spilled the better

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-83403530125685371972009-09-28T15:22:00.003-04:002009-09-28T15:36:55.512-04:00

Author's note: I love my children. All of them. A whole lot!My oldest is exhausting! She starts asking questions before the sun rises and is still asking questions after we shut the bedroom door at the end of the day. She is 8. Eight.Questions from today:During Bible time, "Can you read us a new parable today? I think that you have already read all of those." That question lead to a

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-81156876023496058762009-09-26T22:58:00.002-04:002009-09-26T23:08:25.068-04:00

If I had a scanner I would use that right now. Then you would be able to see the handwriting and the spelling errors that I missed. I do not have a scanner. You might have noticed that we are still working on acquiring a digital camera. I am sorry that the flaws are all hiding behind the computer screen, but here a sample of Mckenzie's writing."Becoming a knight" It took many years to

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-39440195166390841642009-09-26T22:10:00.003-04:002009-09-26T22:47:38.346-04:00

One of my goals for both of my school age children is that they would be able to write well. In my mind that encompasses proper spelling, punctuation, grammar, and a level of comfort with putting words on paper. My oldest daughter (third grade) has no problem putting words onto a page. She has a lot to say! We are focusing on spelling, punctuation, grammar, and structure of paragraphs. My

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-12112603049415600192009-09-13T20:35:00.005-04:002009-09-13T21:05:01.620-04:00

We are now six weeks into our school year. I naively thought that I would not experience what many call "the fog". I assumed that since I had experimented with Tapestry of Grace last year, extensively research all of my curriculum choices, and was entering my second year of homeschooling that we would seamlessly slip from summer into school. In fact, I was so convinced of my ability to avoid

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-90934723937704942272009-08-24T17:53:00.003-04:002009-09-13T21:09:07.363-04:00

We started week 4 today. I was hoping to start the week with a "geography adventure", but due to weather we postponed our trip.We started the skeletal system today. The girls were full of questions. I am please with R.E.A.L. science so far.The hardest question that I was asked today was about Charlemagne. I have to be honest and say that I underestimated my third grader's ability to integrate

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-9219406688707495312009-08-23T22:05:00.002-04:002009-08-23T22:16:32.187-04:00

The girls filled the geography challenge jar this week. That means that week 4 will start with a field trip. I think that it will be good for all of us to spend some extra time outside. This idea worked well, and I would use it again.I was hoping to get in some of the art projects this week, but that did not happen. I think that once winter sets in we will do the weekly art projects.Math is

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-9607887001523740422009-08-18T12:41:00.003-04:002009-08-18T12:51:46.435-04:00

Last week was quite full for us. We did manage to get in a reasonable amount of school, but there was no time to blog.Here are a few questions that were on my mind last week. I would love to hear your thoughts.Cursive - - any tips on teaching cursive? I am using startwrite to create worksheets and I use Donna Young's cursive animations. Any other ideas?The silly cycle of home school mom guilt - -

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-10350910139679217852009-08-07T13:02:00.004-04:002009-08-07T13:48:07.171-04:00

Here are a few highlights from our first week of school:1. McKenzie read two week's worth of literature this week (I am sure this will slow down as the writing assignments increase, but I took that to be a great sign)2. Thanks to the webinars that I participated in this summer I felt the freedom to let McKenzie read on her own. She retained far more than I thought she would. When I read aloud to

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-73750697774935611072009-08-03T14:49:00.003-04:002009-08-03T15:13:10.649-04:00

We are off to a smooth start. In the interest of honesty, we started about 30 minutes later than I had hoped due to a toothpaste explosion. I would say that flexibility is on the top ten requirements list for home schooling moms.This year I have created a schedule for us to follow. I am hoping that it will help the girls move forward when I get distracted by toothpaste explosions created by my

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-80955865505390731772009-07-31T12:03:00.003-04:002009-07-31T12:56:35.421-04:00

As I have previously mentioned, my philosophy on teaching science is that it needs to be 98% experiential. Sure, some reading and writing are necessary. However, I am fully convinced that reading and writing supplement experiential learning in the area of science. I use personal experience as both a teacher and a learner to support this philosophy. I have discovered that very little can compete

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-47681959568828167702009-07-16T14:48:00.002-04:002009-07-16T14:59:54.045-04:00

We have been hanging out in our neighborhood garden recently. Gardening with children is so fun. They are amazed that the seeds that they planted in May have actually produced something edible. This is a picture of Paige collecting sugar snap peas. She ate most of them before we got back to the house. Oh well, I guess that is the point. McKenzie, Lauren, and Zach collecting more peas. I

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-71043611040702458892009-07-03T14:12:00.002-04:002009-07-03T14:21:11.002-04:00

Our last package of school books arrived today. I am so glad to have everything in my possession. This box included our Map Aids CD-ROM and the lap book kits for the first ten weeks of school. We will start our school year the first Monday in August. I have a few weeks to finalize lesson plans and confirm field trips. I am looking forward to a new school year. (If you don't know what Map

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-83271985178899749882009-07-01T17:29:00.008-04:002009-07-02T10:54:26.752-04:00

Spelling was actually the hardest subject for me to plan this summer. The result of using Saxon phonics for the past two years has been that M's spelling level does not fit neatly into a given grade level. She has been exposed to all spelling rules, but has not mastered all of them. Assigning words a grade level seems somewhat arbitrary anyway. She loves to write and needs to be able to spell the

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-73351824852005353552009-06-28T16:07:00.002-04:002009-06-28T16:32:16.347-04:00

When we started homeschooling our oldest was already reading. We felt like some reinforcement would be good, but we did not need an involved phonics program. Out of total ignorance I picked Saxon Phonics. Oops. Saxon is extremely involved. If I had followed the program as outlined we would have spent 45 minutes on phonics every day. I significantly altered the program and we spent an

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-15042951083734026362009-06-17T23:37:00.001-04:002009-06-17T23:39:49.065-04:00

Next school year will be the first time that I have used a science curriculum. I think that science should be a messy, hands-on endeavor. We have the privilege of living in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Our house is surrounded by woods. My kids can identify an eastern towhee based on sound alone. They can identify a wide variety of wildflowers and can tell you what month each of

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-9016559885122275752009-06-17T22:43:00.002-04:002009-06-18T12:35:34.129-04:00

The webinars that I mentioned last week did prove to be helpful. See for yourself by clicking here.

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-52364220192389244332009-06-10T11:41:00.002-04:002009-06-10T11:43:11.540-04:00

One of the things that I intended to include in my 2009-2010 school budget was money for teacher training. There are several topics that I would like to be more informed about. Unfortunately, after purchasing the basics, there is not very much money left. I am still hoping to enter the school year a little more prepared, and I have found several free webinars that look helpful.I have registered

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-87101032443754382612009-06-06T22:21:00.007-04:002009-06-06T22:35:59.681-04:00

Clearly, I love Tapestry of Grace. It beautifully pulls together history, literature, art, and geography. However, those subjects are not enough to complete a well rounded school year. I will use the next few posts to tell you what I have chosen to use for our non-tapestry subjects. Let me start with Math.I have now taken one student through Saxon 1 and 2. Next year I am planning on using Saxon 1

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-54635340758119254002009-05-22T22:26:00.001-04:002009-05-22T22:26:57.111-04:00

    During the 2008-2009 school year we continued to focus on phonics, spelling and basic math facts. I used Tapestry of Grace year 1 to supplement these basics. The literature selections were great for lower grammar students. We also spent plenty of time completing the hands-on projects suggested. Here are a few highlights:Lapbooks for Unit one – these helped bring some focus to our

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-422260807811337147.post-8594626903987008962009-05-21T14:02:00.003-04:002009-06-06T21:16:02.948-04:00

In 2007 my husband and I made a shocking decision. We chose to homeschool our oldest child. For us, it was an agonizing decision. We loved the idea of public school. The first step in our homeschooling journey was to come to grips with the fact that the public school in our area was not the best fit for our child at that time.During the 2007-2008 school year we limped along. I focused on phonics

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08541730193012823276noreply@blogger.com1