Yesterday I read the book, Grasshopper on the Road, by Arnold Lobel with my seven year old son. Even though the audience for this classic story is the beginning reader set, there are valuable lessons for us all. This is especially true now that life seems to be racing at the speed of light. We often miss opportunities God has placed in our path because we are moving to fast, focusing on the tedium of the day or isolating ourselves from others.
Grasshopper decides to go on a journey. Along the way he meets various characters who are too busy to enjoy the life around them. The first group is a group of beetles who are part of The Morning Club. They like all things "morning" and nothing else. Grasshopper is made an honorary member until he says that he also likes afternoon and evening time. At that point, he is kicked out of the club.
Another character grasshopper meets is the housefly. Housefly is too busy cleaning all day to enjoy the beautiful day outside. He is even sweeping the dirt on the road!
Then there are the dragonflies who are constantly speeding around and never slowing down long enough to notice what is going on around them. Three butterflies miss great opportunities because they do the same thing EVERYday at the same time EVERYday and in the same way EVERYday.
And so it goes. Grasshopper continues to meet character after character who are missing out on some of life's best things.
A great discussion followed this book reading. We talked about how each character was probably missing out and why that was so. We discussed ourselves or others we know that exhibit traits these characters have. We talked about how we could miss out on God's best for us if we are not willing to walk out in faith when called to do so.
One of the great blessings of homeschooling my children is getting to curl up next to them so often and enjoy great literature. From first readers to the classics, I relish them all and the special moments they allow us to share.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Planning...
....another year of home education. As we begin another year the children will be 14, 9 and 7 years of age! I am amazed that we are starting our eighth year of education at home. What an adventure it has been! I dislike assigning "grades" to the children but if they attended traditional school they'd be entering 8th, 4th and 2nd grade. With such a broad span of years, I'm often asked, "What curriculum do you use?"
Here is what I'm planning for the upcoming year.
First and foremost, PRAYER. I am convinced that God has called us to educate our children from home. It has become a lifestyle for us. Therefore, I must remember to always rely on Him to provide the resources we need. It is often tempting to compare what we are doing at home to what our traditionally-schooled friends are doing. This often ends with me worrying that we are not doing enough, not following a proper scope and sequence etc. However, as soon as I begin to fret, God puts something in my path to assure me that I am following His will. He is faithful to me, I must remain faithful to Him. My part is to remember to put Him first each day and to call upon Him for guidance.
And guidance is what I am concentrating on this year with Reese. Reese will be completing his first high-school credit this year in American History. YIKES! It is important for me to get him working more independently and taking on more of the responsibility for his own education. We will be using Sonlight's Core 100 for History, Bible, Geography and Literature. The Institute for Excellence in Writing will supply the instruction for composition with the American History Based Writing Lessons, Volume 2. Grammar and vocabulary will be incorporated into the writing assignments. We will team up with the Delcharco family in this venture and to do literary analysis on the books we read. All of this combined should supply a very thorough high-school level American History course.
For math we will continue using Teaching Textbooks. However, I am also going to purchase Life of Fred for him to read. I've heard great things about this series and since math is not a favorite in this household, it may be just the thing for us. Apologia Science has become a favorite of mine. This year Reese will be doing Physical Science. I will be starting All About Spelling with Sophie and Drew and will probably have Reese follow along as we do need to improve his spelling skills. Finally, for electives, Reese will continue his music lessons by starting drums this year at Christ's Church Homeschooler's, play tackle footbal with the Junior Development League and will most likely attend a homeschool PE class at the YMCA.
Sophie and Drew are close enough in age that I can combine many of their lessons. They will share Sonlight's Core C (recycling that from back when Reese used it) which will cover Bible, History, Geography, and Literature (readers and read-aloud books) with a focus on World History. Both children will get even more history along with elementary Latin at our co-op where I will be co-teaching a class we call Friends, Romans and Countrymen. Will be using Prima Latina from Memoria Press, along with other resources and activities to reinforce the lessons .
I'll also combine Sophie and Drew for science using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy by Jeannie Fulbright. (Many thanks to Lanaya Gore for loaning me that book.) This is a living book that uses the Charlotte Mason philosophy of narration and I just love that. So I guess our nature study will be of the stars this year.
For the Language Arts I'll be using All Things Fun and Fascinating from IEW with Sophie. Drew is still working on proficiency in writing so he will continue with copy and dictation exercises. I use Explode the Code to reinforce phonics and as I mentioned earlier, we will start All About Spelling this year. I'm also going to try Junior Analytical Grammar that I picked up second-hand from the HERI Bookbuster.
For art and music appreciation I'm planning a six week rotation much like we did when we tried Classical Conversations a couple of years ago. The first six weeks will be picture study Charlotte Mason style a few of the master artists work and simple drawing instruction/practice. The next six weeks will be studying a few of the great composers and VERY basic music theory. I'll be working on my plans for this over the summer break. But is hard not to jump right in and start.
Physical Education at the YMCA, piano, violin, football and Girls on the Run will round out the plan for the younger guys.
Whew! When I sat down, I thought this would be a quick post. Now that it is all in writing, I guess I'll have to actually follow through on these grand plans.
Here is what I'm planning for the upcoming year.
First and foremost, PRAYER. I am convinced that God has called us to educate our children from home. It has become a lifestyle for us. Therefore, I must remember to always rely on Him to provide the resources we need. It is often tempting to compare what we are doing at home to what our traditionally-schooled friends are doing. This often ends with me worrying that we are not doing enough, not following a proper scope and sequence etc. However, as soon as I begin to fret, God puts something in my path to assure me that I am following His will. He is faithful to me, I must remain faithful to Him. My part is to remember to put Him first each day and to call upon Him for guidance.
And guidance is what I am concentrating on this year with Reese. Reese will be completing his first high-school credit this year in American History. YIKES! It is important for me to get him working more independently and taking on more of the responsibility for his own education. We will be using Sonlight's Core 100 for History, Bible, Geography and Literature. The Institute for Excellence in Writing will supply the instruction for composition with the American History Based Writing Lessons, Volume 2. Grammar and vocabulary will be incorporated into the writing assignments. We will team up with the Delcharco family in this venture and to do literary analysis on the books we read. All of this combined should supply a very thorough high-school level American History course.
For math we will continue using Teaching Textbooks. However, I am also going to purchase Life of Fred for him to read. I've heard great things about this series and since math is not a favorite in this household, it may be just the thing for us. Apologia Science has become a favorite of mine. This year Reese will be doing Physical Science. I will be starting All About Spelling with Sophie and Drew and will probably have Reese follow along as we do need to improve his spelling skills. Finally, for electives, Reese will continue his music lessons by starting drums this year at Christ's Church Homeschooler's, play tackle footbal with the Junior Development League and will most likely attend a homeschool PE class at the YMCA.
Sophie and Drew are close enough in age that I can combine many of their lessons. They will share Sonlight's Core C (recycling that from back when Reese used it) which will cover Bible, History, Geography, and Literature (readers and read-aloud books) with a focus on World History. Both children will get even more history along with elementary Latin at our co-op where I will be co-teaching a class we call Friends, Romans and Countrymen. Will be using Prima Latina from Memoria Press, along with other resources and activities to reinforce the lessons .
I'll also combine Sophie and Drew for science using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy by Jeannie Fulbright. (Many thanks to Lanaya Gore for loaning me that book.) This is a living book that uses the Charlotte Mason philosophy of narration and I just love that. So I guess our nature study will be of the stars this year.
For the Language Arts I'll be using All Things Fun and Fascinating from IEW with Sophie. Drew is still working on proficiency in writing so he will continue with copy and dictation exercises. I use Explode the Code to reinforce phonics and as I mentioned earlier, we will start All About Spelling this year. I'm also going to try Junior Analytical Grammar that I picked up second-hand from the HERI Bookbuster.
For art and music appreciation I'm planning a six week rotation much like we did when we tried Classical Conversations a couple of years ago. The first six weeks will be picture study Charlotte Mason style a few of the master artists work and simple drawing instruction/practice. The next six weeks will be studying a few of the great composers and VERY basic music theory. I'll be working on my plans for this over the summer break. But is hard not to jump right in and start.
Physical Education at the YMCA, piano, violin, football and Girls on the Run will round out the plan for the younger guys.
Whew! When I sat down, I thought this would be a quick post. Now that it is all in writing, I guess I'll have to actually follow through on these grand plans.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Summertime Art
Summertime in Florida this year has been filled with some smokey days. There have been wildfires burning throughout the state and the smoke became so bad that we had to remain indoors. To bust the boredom and keep the kids from spending all their time in front of a screen, we worked on some drawing skills using a few great books. Ed Emberley has a wonderful selection of simple drawing books that even the reluctant child will want to try. His website is a treat too. Check it out here.
Sophie is using another series of books called Draw, Write, Now. This series is slightly more difficult than the Emberley books since it uses more complicated shapes and lines but it is done in a very non-intimidating format. The author, who states that handwriting is an art form, pairs a brief sentence or two about the subject being drawn that can be used as copy work for your student. The Draw, Write, Now series includes many subjects from animals to history making a great addition to your child's studies or just for fun on a smokey summer day in Florida.
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| Our neighbor, Luka, and Sophie hard at work honing their skills. |
Sophie is using another series of books called Draw, Write, Now. This series is slightly more difficult than the Emberley books since it uses more complicated shapes and lines but it is done in a very non-intimidating format. The author, who states that handwriting is an art form, pairs a brief sentence or two about the subject being drawn that can be used as copy work for your student. The Draw, Write, Now series includes many subjects from animals to history making a great addition to your child's studies or just for fun on a smokey summer day in Florida.
Run Sophie, Run! and Drew too!
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| Sophie participated in her second season of Girls on the Run(GOTR). This program is aimed at teaching girls 8-12 about healthy eating, exercise and body image. They train over a 10 week season and then complete a 5K. Here is Sophie with our neighbor Kellie. Kellie was her running buddy for the GOTR 5K. |
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| After completing the GOTR 5K, Kellie trained with Sophie to run in the Memorial Day 5K in Orange Park, FL. This was a more "official" race because Sophie wore a timing chip on her shoe. She did a great job and her chip time was 30:46! She was in the 10 and under category and came in 5th out of 25 runners in this category. |
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| Sophie's success inspired Drew to jump in and complete the one-mile fun run on the spur of the moment. He ran the whole way and finished in under 10 minutes. Way to go Drew! |
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Football Is Coming
Drew and Reese were fitted for pads yesterday. Drew has been wearing the pads non-stop. He only took them off to sleep.
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