Dawn K Homeschool

I know I have neglected posting, but (as everyone says), I've been so busy.  Really, though, aren't we all?  I have a few minutes, so I wanted to pop in and post a few random thoughts. 1.  We have been consistently learning Latin this year!  Okay, I admit, I took a year in college, but I remember practically nothing!  We started out using Latin for Children, and though I am certain it is a fabulous program, it wasn't for us -- at least not at this stage.  I wanted a more gentle introduction, especially for Ben.  My goal is to have them comfortable with a foreign language to be able to study one in high school.  I really enjoyed the Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek program, so we are using their companion, Latin's Not So Tough  series. It doesn't introduce terms such as accusative or genitive, but I know enough of that to teach the vocabulary correctly.  We also diagram many of our Latin sentences.  I'm really just thrilled with the s...

Quickly, I'd like to share some books we read or began reading today. History First, we read our third book in the "Adventures in Colonial America" series, Seventh & Walnut   and I just loved it! It was so much fun to read aloud, and it was so informative yet enjoyable.  The entire story is told from the perspective of the city's night watchman or town crier. Art Appreciation -- Impressionism Continuing with out introduction to Impressionism, I read  Charlotte in Paris  which is set up like a series of diary entries complete with watercolor paintings and scrapbook memorabilia.  Many French words are introduced along with French culture. Literature Read Aloud I am delighted we began  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang  -- the original book by Ian Fleming.  We only read one chapter (I'll read more tonight at bedtime), but so far, we are thrilled with it.  As is customary with books made into films, it is already astonishingly different!  Now, I d...

Well, okay, we still have to listen to our Latin chants, and the boys have to correct their math problems. Today was more challenging because the boys also had piano lessons. I thought I would share a little more about how our day goes. Their day starts with some time to play followed by eating breakfast while completing their independent work. I'll share our resources for this. Independent Work 1. Logic Daily, they complete one page from this book: MindWare Grid Perplexors: Level A . To mix things up a bit, I'll alternate with Logic Liftoff every other week.    2. Daily Grams This is one program I have used since practically the beginning. It is one of my most often recommended resources. Each lesson consists of six parts; the first two sentences always involve correcting capitalization and punctuation. The last is always a lesson in sentence combining. The other three vary, presenting the student with practice in analogies, parts of speech, letter writing, dict...

So, we started school again yesterday.  Phew!  What a year this is going to be.  I think it is taking so much more time because I added in new programs (including  Latin for Children  and  IEW -- Student Writing Intensive ). So far, the Latin program is leaving me dazed and confused.  It just seems like so much is thrown into the first chapter. The boys adore Andrew Pudewa.  Seriously, they would ditch me in a heartbeat in favor of him as their teacher. He IS refreshingly humorous and empathetic. We are continuing with the following since they work: Saxon Math (using the older textbooks) Rod and Staff English (omitting the writing exercises) Daily Grams (I love this program!) Megawords for Spelling (I love this approach!) Currently, we are using  A Child's Introduction to Poetry: Listen While You Learn About the Magic Words That Have Moved Mountains, Won Battles, and Made Us Laugh and Cry  twice a week for poetry study.  We've ...

Ben made this volcano out of  Crayola Model Magic .  We added baking soda, and vinegar colored with red food coloring.

Homeschool isn't the same as school

For more detail about what we're using each day, please see this post. I thought I would give you an idea of how our first two days have been structured.  We start with subjects both boys have in common, and we begin at 10:00 am. 1.  They work through a logic worksheet.  They have found these to be fun.  This takes about 5-10 minutes. 2. They complete a mapping exercise.  These have also been enjoyable and take 5-10 minutes. 3. They then complete a page from Daily Grams which takes about 5 minutes. Every day includes an exercise in combining two or more sentences into one.  This portion counts as writing too. 4. We proceed to spelling which has also gone quickly.  I am using a new program this year which I think we will all like ( Megawords ).  If you are new to the program, you are supposed to start with book 1, so they have been able to do spelling together.  This takes about 5-10 minutes per page. 5. Next is writing.  The first...

New pencils have been sharpened, binder is full of lined paper, texts and worksheets are on the kitchen table, and read-alouds are on the ottoman. The boys have had showers, and we are about to have a bedtime story ( Little House in the Big Woods ). Tomorrow is the official start of the 2010-2011 school year. Cheers!

We do not have a school room, but I took photos of the areas we use for schooling (excluding the boys' bedroom which is in another post).  The photos start in the office area at the back of the house, move through the family room and end up in the kitchen. I've included photos of my scrapbooking and stamping storage as well.

I thought this would make a great back-to-school photo for a homeschooled kid.

Obama Proposes Longer School Day Seriously? Children need to be in school longer? Nope. Not here. It takes us about four hours. Four hours to homeschool two children (one in third; one in fourth). Today, our school included: handwriting/copywork spelling grammar writing math science (monotremes) history (Ferdinand Magellan) art appreciation piano oh -- and no homework! :) My boys also had time to: work on a model railroad talk to friends on the phone pick cucumbers in the garden transplant tomato plants and rearrange the flower pots in the backyard watch a movie with their 19 year old brother type on the computer listen to a Redwall audio book read a Spiderwick Chronicles book play Legos do their chores play with their cats snuggle their mama over and over again hear "I love you" over and over again draw eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at home and, most importantly, spend the day with the people who love them the best. No, I will keep my children here. Sometimes a moth...

We started our formal studies this Monday (August 31). There's something so refreshing about starting on a Monday and at the beginning of the month, at that. ( Now, if only the Monday were also September 1. hee hee) It has been an exhausting but wonderful week -- one that makes me very thankful that today is Saturday but also full of anticipation for next week. :) I am still learning how to accomplish everything in a day. A meal plan is going to be a requirement for me, and I must finish stocking my pantry so that I have plenty on hand. I think that will be happening today. These are the basics that both Nathan and Ben do daily: math (Saxon) Building Christian English Series (Rod and Staff; for grammar, not writing) Daily Grams (Easy Grammar company) Writing with Ease (Peacehill Press) Everyday Spelling (Scott Foresman) Character Italics: Building Character through Handwriting (for handwriting and copywork) poetry memorization The boys also read aloud each day with simple biographi...

Nathan and I attended the Well-Trained Mind conference in Williamsburg, VA this past weekend. It was fabulous meeting author Susan Wise Bauer and story-teller Jim Weiss. I was also able to hear Mrs. Bauer's mom, Jessie Wise, speak. Nathan was ecstatic to finally meet Jim. When Nathan held out his hand to shake his, he said, "Big fan." As soon as we returned home, he continued to listen to Wulf the Saxon (narrated by Jim) and then Story of the World Volume 3. I think it was rather nostalgic at that point. Even I felt a little poignant at the hearing of his soothing voice. He really is a great narator/story teller, and if you haven't had the pleasure of listening to him, check your local library or go here: http://www.greathall.com/ I am so proud of him for enduring hours of nothing to do while I listened to Susan and her mom speak. Susan's son was so kind to entertain the children at various times during the conference. I learned so much from Susan -- parti...

I was reading a chapter from Story of the World Volume 2 today -- about the Saracens and the Crusades. Nathan piped up when I started, "Mom -- can I take notes about what you read?" How cute is that? So, here are his notes. I never dreamed I'd be asked a question like that!

I posted a list of free printable mazes on a homeschooling site the other day, and I thought I'd post it here as well. http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes.html http://krazydad.com/mazes/ http://abcteach.com/directory/fun_activities/puzzle_fun/maze_fun/ http://www.amazeingart.com/free-mazes.html (very cool history mazes here) http://www.mazoons.com/Mazes.htm http://www.worksheetworks.com/puzzles/maze.html (you can create your own mazes here) If you have any other favorites, please feel free to share.

Click to enlarge.