School planning 2010/11

In between all the unpacking, I've been thinking about our upcoming school year, which we are planning to begin tomorrow. I wanted to do a lot of the same things as last year, but I wanted to change some things, too.

Normally, I spend weeks and week thinking and praying and reading books and blogs to help me work it all out, but I haven't had time this year. I usually spend hours printing out papers and going through each book so I'm well prepared. But I have had bits of time here and there to work on it all and, actually, for me, it's relaxing to sit down with my papers and planner and think about it and look at my books.

Anna is trying to finish up high school this year. She only needs about 5 credits and we think she can finish by May.

Most of Abby, Thomas, and Carrie's school work will be the same as last year: same math (different level, of course), same English/spelling/writing. Abby is moving up to Beyond Five in a Row. Thomas will do the science part of another Beyond FIAR book, Thomas Edison. Abby will have the same history, but Thomas and Carrie are changing to TruthQuest, too. I started using my Kathryn Stout Science Scope again last year with Thomas and Abby and we'll do the human body to start off this year.

Some things are going to be different, though.

Carrie is moving up to Apologia general science and time will tell if using a textbook will work out well for her. She's going to be reading Beautiful in God's Eyes and Ordinary Women and Their Extraordinary God for Bible class. Our home ec will center around planning birthdays and decorating cakes, reading hospitality books, and etiquette. We are still very interested in combining concepts from Thomas Jefferson Education and Charlotte Mason learning, so we will continue to also read classic literature together and discuss it. We'll finish The Hiding Place to begin our year. She is starting world/American history, which will be a three year course, using TruthQuest. And for Algebra I we'll be using Math Relief, which we used with several other kids and enjoyed. (OK, the kids say that enjoyed would not be the word they would use in reference to algebra!)

Thomas likes to read real books instead of readers, so we're going to read Swiss Family Robinson and discuss it as we go along. He's going to be studying the middle ages for history and I've ordered some books and borrowed Story of the World Volume 2 for the spine. We like TruthQuest a lot because we learn so much from reading real books aloud instead of using a dry textbook, which only hits the high spots of history.

Abby will be reading Pollyanna and discussing it with me. We'll be doing a unit about Helen Keller, which is exciting because we've moved near her birthplace. I want to work on her household skills and cooking since she's soon going to be 8 years old.

I have several things in mind that I want to try, but know that they may take some tweeking and rearranging of the schedule to make them work.

• I want to add a bit of quiet time every day for Thomas and Abby. I would like this time to be for personal Bible reading and prayer time, using a modified ACTS system with them, as well as time for silent reading. The whole family needs this, since most of the noise generated comes from them.
• We have been lazy about memorizing scripture for the past couple of years and I want to reinstate that. This is the part that's going to take some schedule adjusting, since it takes a chunk of time to work on it.
• I want to have Focus Time several times a week with both kids, for at least 30 minutes. My thought is to spend some time individually with each one, just talking about whatever they want to talk about or reading together and praying with each one. I'll admit it: I'm terribly distracted by household happenings and don't always listen when they tell me stuff. I spend all day with them, but not always focused on what is interesting to them.

Arts Week and Read Aloud Week will continue for the 3rd year, since they are such a huge success.

Well, that's about it. I always start off with grand plans and high hopes and great excitement. Some things have to be put off until another year, some things simply don't work, some things are great and I wonder why I haven't always done them. I'm asking God to lead me and help me have the right priorities, as I try to disciple our children and begin our 25th year of homeschooling.

Boxes, tape, and markers!

2 days, 13 hours, 52 minutes, 2 seconds or 2 days, or 61 hours, or 3,711 minutes, or 22, 676 seconds till the movers get here!

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday to a wonderful mother in law!

Graduation

Congratulations, Emily!
You have such a heart for God and I know He has great plans for you.
We're so proud of you!

You can see more pictures here, if you're interested.

Homeschool Convention Fun

I spent a blissful Thursday evening, Friday, and Saturday at the state homeschool convention. The main speaker this year was Andrew Pudewa, who was great! I learned so much and to help myself remember it all, I decided to rehearse it in a post.

These are the points I want to remember:

• The most important things I can do to nurture excellent writers and speakers it to read aloud and have the children memorize material. I already read aloud to the younger children, but I need to read aloud to all the children, choosing books that will stretch them. It has always been a priority for me to read to them, so it should be pretty easy to add a bit more and include the olders. We used to memorize poems when we used ABeka years ago and we have memorized a lot of scripture in the past, but we've let that drop in the last couple of years or so. I need to resurrect it. Hmmm, I'll have to think about how to fit that into our school day.
  
  
• Learning to spell words in a sequential manner is very important. It's also very important to have the child spell each word aloud, as well as write it. Since Thomas is such an inventive speller, I was particularly interested in the workshop entitled "Spelling and the Brain". Mr. Pudewa recommended the spelling program I'm already using, Sequential Spelling, so I'm on the right track. I just need to have him spell aloud, too, which I've not been doing.

• Four errors of teaching writing are: over correction of the child's work, not making assignments clear, withholding help, and over expectation. Whoops! Guilty as charged on several counts. I think I'm doing OK about not over correcting, I try to make assignments clear (but I know I fail sometimes), and I don't think I'm expecting too much, but I am guilty of withholding help sometimes because I feel like I'm doing the work for them. Not so, says Mr. Pudewa. He says you cannot help too much and the child will tell you when he wants you to let him do it alone.

Going to the homeschool convention always inspires me to begin another school year. I love talking to people with whom I have so much in common, I like to look at and buy new books, and I like to learn new things and be encouraged that I'm doing a pretty good job after all. This year's convention met all those needs!

Happy Mother's Day
to Granny and Julie,
and all the lovely friends and mothers who read
this blog.
May God bless you as you seek Him in the rearing of your children
and give you the desires of your heart.

Vacation!

We've been home since Monday, but what with all the unpacking and starting to pack for moving, we've been pretty busy.

We had a wonderful trip, with a couple of adventures thrown in! We loved seeing Daniel, Julie, Shiloh, and Ella and got to meet Julie's family and eat with them several times. They are great cooks and great at card games (the girls want to play spoons with Mrs. Fiddler again sometime!) and we enjoyed being with them, too.

We left on Monday, the 19th, and on the way up, we stopped at Bill Monroe's birthplace in Kentucky, visited an Amish village in Indiana, and, my personal favorite, saw the Little House in the Big Woods in Pepin, Wisconsin, and saw Caddie Woodlawn's house, which is in Wisconsin as well.


We had a bit of adventure in Minnesota when the alternator in the van stopped working, but a big THANK YOU to the guys in St. Paul who rescued us and got us back on the road in just a few hours.

Getting over into Canada at the border was interesting. The officials there couldn't believe there are Southerners who don't carry handguns or own rifles and searched the van thoroughly just to make sure. Daniel and Julie drove down to meet us near the border and it wasn't long until we were in Selkirk, hugging the kids!


One day we went to the Oak Hammock Marsh, one day to Lake Winnipeg, and one day to the Manitoba Museum, and one day to The Forks. The children had the opportunity one night to play for some of Julie's relatives at a church and they sang some hymns in the Cree language, which was really interesting. We ate Polish food that Julie's lovely grandmother made for us and Indian tacos one day, made by Julie's father, Mr. Fiddler.



We left there on Thursday, the 29th, with many tears and plans to visit again. On the way home, we visited Plum Creek in Minnesota, where Laura and Mary lived in the dugout, and DeSmet, South Dakota, the location of 5 of the Laura books.


On our last day, we tried to get through Tennessee, but had to turn back and go across Kentucky instead, stopping overnight in Somerset, then home the next day through Knoxville and Chattanooga. But we enjoyed seeing more of Kentucky and had the opportunity to buy a case of Ale-8-1, a favorite local ginger ale which we used to enjoy when we lived in Lexington. (Sorry, no flood photos - we were too stressed!)

Fifteen days, 1400 photos, and a mountain of laundry! Worth it all!

We miss you, Daniel, Julie, Shiloh, and Ella!