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For Month of MARCH 2011

Late February SNOW! huh?
What Did and Didn't Work in February:Dessert & Devotions still being enjoyed, have all the Miller books and they choose which chapter they want me to read from any of the 5 books
Project Day went well for President's Day, I don't think I took any photos... :(
School: doing table time (max one hour) which is reading history - finishing the Great Ice Age book and adding the ancients narrative (thanks to H.A. Guerber!!) and doing how to run a business, not sure if we'll continue for March or not
Timeline was a bust. They had no interest and it didn't relate to their lives at all. Will probably put up a timeline for ME because I want to do it! :)

FOR MARCH:I want to continue our fluid morning routine which includes "Gramma Eggs" and max one hour table time (history read aloud and family biz), followed by math sheet and 20 minute reading leaving plenty of time for exploring interests.

Want to add in Nature Study which would be going to the Flat Park once a week (there's SO much there!)

MORE HERE during the week after I see if they want to continue family biz, I want to add spelling, like list of 10 words that they COPY so they SEE how things are correctly written OR the SCM dictation thing for Dan

What's New for March:
Add Daily Chore: requirement to take dishes to sink after meal (I didn't enforce this well in Feb!)
Will focus on this again in March

Adding Table Time made our mornings a little more fluid. I'm not cooking "egg puffs" anymore so we have a different flow. It has allowed a little flex/free time before we start each morning.

I want to add in Nature Study. I've done a little legwork and have an idea for what I want to do (OBSERVATION). Just for starters, I am going to learn how to draw trees...here's a FANTASTIC and FREE pdf tutorial :
http://www.lessonsforhope.org/pdf/guide_to_tree_sketching_pdf.pdf

This blog has been helpful in getting me to think about what our Nature Study might look like:
http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/

What's the Same:
Daily Chores
Monday: bring down dirty clothes, sort into hampers
Tuesday: collect upstairs garbage
Wednesday: tbd
Thursday: tbd
Friday: strip bed, put sheets in washer, start washer (did not do this well in Feb)

Daily: empty dishwasher (Sarah silverware, Daniel the rest) (keeping this the same)

Our Daily Routine revolves around meals, that gives me structure:
Breakfast: when we get up
Lunch: somewhere between 12:30-2pm
Dinner: 5:30ish
Dessert & Devotions: 8pm
In Bed: 9pm
Read in Bed
Lights Out: 9:30pm (this is similar to last month)

Future Wants:
nature study
art/music
read Bible oeh
phofe

Winter Sunshine!

It was a beautiful sunny day and a chilly 40 degrees with wind. Sarah wanted to go to the park of course. I put on my running shoes and enjoyed a calorie burning walk around the park while she rode and rode and rode. Dan stayed home with dad.

As we drove away from the house I realized the camera was still at home. I would have loved to get a photo of the purple crocus! The park is outstanding for a nature study, so I'm going to enroll myself in self-education by doing a weekly nature study. Maybe after awhile, the kids will want to join in.

I've been reading about hierarchical vs egalitarian views of women and the Bible. I'm finding as I look at the Bible through God's lens of love, I see the beauty of His egalitarian ways. How freeing!!!

February has been awesome as we have established (finally) a "fluid routine"...we do the same things each day but not necessarily in the same order!

I ditched the wall timeline (for now) because it doesn't relate to our real lives. I added a terrific history book  "The Story of the Ancient World" by H.A. Guerber from Nothing New Press which is an age appropirate narrative. We're almost done with "Life in the Great Ice Age", which Daniel has LOVED. I wish there were more like this.

Deschooling Article

This is a fantastic article by Liza Sabater on deschooling!
http://www.culturekitchen.com/archives/000009.html

For Month of FEBRUARY 2011

FOR FEBRUARY:
For Dessert & Devotions: Wisdom & The Millers (we'll finish this month, so I ordered the other 4 books)
For Project Day: Valentine's Day and President's Day History of the Holiday reading page and activity, day off 21st (info on our Project Days, click here )
For Lunch: practice Awana verses, mom reads (now have a shelf just for books I want to read at lunch-started Little House series in Jan)
For School: Math U See sheet, no more writing page-we'll do spelling list from Spell to Write & Read or dictation, 20 minute reading

What's New for February:
Add Daily Chore: requirement to take dishes to sink after meal (I haven't been enforcing this)
Wednesday: tbd-leaving these days with no chore for this month
Thursday: tbd

Adding TABLE TIME back in. When we started homeschooling, we did table time but it was really a fight (!) I had Daniel SCREAMING at me in angry, rebellion. Whoooah! I quickly learned that my poor parenting was producing bad fruit in our family relationships and came to understand when bringing children home from public school that the bad fruit can't help but reveal itself. We've been taking the past few months to work on that according to Lifestyle of Learning/Influential Parenting methods. I'm seeing some good fruit in that our relationships are becoming more loving. 

So in February, we're going to add one hour (max) of table time into our routine. This is going to happen right before we'd do our math sheet. The math sheet has really provided a nice "structure" in that the kids do this independently and everyday.

GENTLE lessons is my goal for February (as described on SimplyCharlotteMason.com )
a-We'll be putting up 6 figures everyday on our wall timeline (using the cd of figures from HomeschoolintheWoods.com ) I'm simply going to print the figures, cut them out with the kids and read the one sentence per each figure
b-some kind of writing/spelling (mon-I print a photo of them doing something on a page and they write or I scribe a few sentences, tues-copy spelling list of 10 words from SWR, wed- thurs- fri- )
c-some kind of something else science or geography
d-not going to explain here, but daily family business stuff to get the kids involved and engaged in a learning process of running a business

What's the Same:
Daily Chores
Monday: bring down dirty clothes, sort into hampers
Tuesday: collect upstairs garbage
Wednesday: tbd
Thursday: tbd
Friday: strip bed, put sheets in washer, start washer

Daily: empty dishwasher (Sarah silverware, Daniel the rest)

Our Daily Routine revolves around meals, that gives me structure:
Breakfast: when we get up
Lunch: somewhere between 12:30-2pm
Dinner: 5:30ish
Dessert & Devotions: 8pm
In Bed: 9pm
Read in Bed
Lights Out: 10pm

Future Wants:
nature study
art/music
read Bible

Table Time Ideas and Wants

Table Time Ideas and Wants:

-ddkd
-dfd
-afds

First Year Homeschooling Tips

Here are some things I discovered during my first few months of homeschooling. This is an ongoing post that I update with things that really stuck and delete what didn't.
PRACTICAL
1-It has made all the difference for me to have this rule:
I eat at the table with the kids breakfast, lunch and dinner.
This helped me develop a structure for our day. Most people just get up the same time everyday, but that has never, ever, ever EVER worked for me.

Breakfast:
they read and eat
(right now my kids are reading graphic novels and comic books that they choose at the library)

Lunch:
read and eat
close books after about 5 minutes of eating and
review Awana verses
I read aloud while they finish their meal

Dinner:
no reading!

Dessert & Devotions:
8pm we have a small sweet
and
we read one chapter from The Millers series (the kids BEG for more chapters every single night!)
OR
on the nights that dad is home, he'll read from a book that he likes to read aloud to them

Our meals provide a structure that has worked so well for us so far!

2-Right after breakfast, we:
Clean off the table then
Brush teeth & hair
Daily chore (the kids do a simple chore together like collect the laundry from upstairs or collect the bathroom garbage from upstairs or strip their sheets and put in washing machine) and I start the dryer and run a load of clothes in the washer, by the time they are done with their chore, I offer 25 cents (I double that if they respond quickly and cheerfully) to help me fold the laundry

(note about chores: they have ONE chore that is required without pay right at this time, when they first come downstairs they are required to empty the dishwasher (I run it before I go to bed the night before) )

Now that we've been doing this everyday for a few months, we are ready to add in Table Time for Feb. Today I'm taking an hour while they watch a video to plan Table Time. When we started in June, we did table time but that quickly disintegrated as my oldest was angry, rebellious and non-compliant. After some time with the Lifestyle of Learning/Influential Parenting training, I think we are in a better place and will try again with some SHORT, structured lessons. Table Time rule #1-no longer than 1 hour

THOUGHTS
bjktba

First Park Day of Winter!

Though the sun was shining, the weather was still (too) cold.

Went to the Big Castle Park until I couldn't take the chill any longer.

I like to take photos of our park days, it helps me remember what we do and I love the way the I can see the kids change!

Sarah, Campfires and the Robot

Since we are closing up the biz, I have hundreds of shipping boxes in the garage that will never get used. The kids are LOVING it! Here's Sarah's Robot and lifesize telescope along with the campfire she made in the hallway!

Dan and LEGO

Daniel found something excellent to do despite that told me he was bored this afternoon.

Love Listens: Daniel

Today I noticed this about Daniel:

• really likes his bookshelf and organizing the books by topics
• master negotiator, truth seeker, justice finder
• likes my new cornbread recipe
• does not like caesar salad nor new spaghetti & meatballs recipe
• enjoys fiddling with word art on the computer
• wants some lego toy story army men
• writing scenarios about everyone's parents dying and what he would do being alone
• LOVES his new Woody that he purchased for himself by saving money and doing chores, Daniel is a hard worker when he wants to be
• Daniel makes goals when he is inspired by something and is motivated to achieve them

Love Listens: Sarah

Today I noticed this about Sarah:

• listens to the Holy Spirit speak to her conscience and obeys when convicted by telling the truth when she is trying to deceive me
• sing-songs her way through daily activities
• loves to show Mr WindowWasher her toys while he's washing the windows!
• LOVES Garfield comics!
• wants to correct Daniel when he is disobedient, she has a deep desire to please me (precious!) 

Have You Walked in MY Shoes?

We are using Amy Pak's Holidays Activity Pak to celebrate one American holiday each month. We are "taking that day off from school" and calling it a PROJECT DAY.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr day and we have a little bit of reading then we'll do our timeline project.

Tonight we played "Walk in My Shoes" game. Everyone puts a pair of shoes in a bag and each person gets to choose a bag. Then the person has to walk in whatever shoes they get! It was hilarious because dad picked Sarah's on the first round! We discussed (briefly) what it meant to walk in someone else's shoes. Fun activity!

Jesus in Every Book of the Bible

SNOW!

We drove home from our Tuesday parenting group in the SNOW! Sarah decided to make a snowman in the backyard.

Color Mixing

Sarah wanted to know if red (ketchup) and yellow (mustard) make orange. Somehow this turned out to be a crazy concoction rather than a color experiment because she added peanut butter and jelly, too! MORE LEARNING!

Dan and Duct Tape

 

I've run an online business for the past 5 years and we've decided to close up shop.  One of the reasons is to gain back the use of our family room...for FAMILY! We brought in two countertops from the garage so each child will have a place for projects...they can leave their stuff out for days undisturbed.

After we set these up the kids went crazy with the duct tape and named this area "their camp". Daniel has decided he LOVES the black electrical tape! How creative!

PROJECT DAYS

I really am excited to try Amy Pak's "History of the Holiday" Activity Pak from HomeschoolintheWoods.com

There's pretty much one main American holiday per month. So in honor of each holiday, we'll take that day off from school and do a special project relating to the holiday (ssssssh, we're still learning!)

Next year, I'd like to use Heart of Wisdom's "Guide to Biblical Holidays" and study the Jewish festivals and feasts. I understand this book is an exceptional resource.

For Month of JANUARY

FOR JANUARY:
For Dessert & Devotions: Wisdom & The Millers (they always beg for two chapters!)
For Project Day: MLK Monday the 17th History of the Holiday reading page and activity, day off
For Lunch: practice Awana verses, mom reads
For School: Math U See sheet, writing page, 20 minute reading

What's New for January:
Daily Chores
Monday: bring down dirty clothes, sort into hampers
Tuesday: collect upstairs garbage
Wednesday: no chore
Thursday: no chore
Friday: strip bed, put sheets in washer, start washer

What's the Same:
Daily: empty dishwasher (Sarah silverware, Daniel the rest)
Our Daily Routine revolves around meals, that gives me structure:
Breakfast: when we get up
Lunch: somewhere between 12:30-2pm
Dinner: 5:30ish
Dessert & Devotions: 8pm
In Bed: 9pm
Read in Bed
Lights Out: 10pm

Slime! Silly Putty! Hours of Fun!

Today we did breakfast, folded a load of towels together, math, 20 minute reading, daily chore (collect upstairs garbage), science (Outdoor Secrets lesson) and played with slime/silly putty! As a bonus, I found The Ultimate Children's Classical Collection on iTunes and I've set it to play the previews of all 50 songs so I didn't have to buy it (which I probably will in the future!)

So here we are, all in the sunroom, spread out on the floor while I'm actually getting to blog during the day! Fabulous!

Slime Silly Putty Recipe

Buy a large jug of Elmer's glue at Staples (about $20)
Box of borax
food coloring
water
two mixing containers
wooden spoon
1/4C measuring cup
Container #1 for glue mixture:
1 - four cup Pyrex measuring cup or similar size bowl
1/4C measuring cup
wooden spoon

Container #2 borax mixture:
1 - four cup Pyrex measuring cup or similar size bowl
1/4C measuring cup
wooden spoon

In Container #1:
Mix 1/4C water and 1/4C Elmer's glue with one drop of food coloring, stir well

In Container #2:
Mix 1/4C borax with 1C water, stir the borax solution so the borax is suspended and pour some of this solution into a 1/4C measuring cup and

QUICKLY (so the borax doesn't settle to the bottom)

pour into the glue mixture

You'll need to be stirring the glue mixture while the borax solution is poured in

Stir well for 1 minute or less, then reach in and knead and squish it all together above the container allowing the water to drip off

When it is not so wet, give to your kids on a dinner plate!

New School in 2011

We have recently adopted a Lifestyle of Learning approach to homeschooling, so counting days seems silly. EVERYDAY is a learning day!

We took a few days off in December and I'm glad to be fully-focused on this year anew.

I've decided to just look at one month at a time and try to get a general routine down so I'm just looking at a schedule for this month, January. I've put up a calendar of the month with the days of "school" so the kids know which days are school days because we have certain "rules" for school days (like no or limited screen time). I should do this the first day of each month (and plan for the holiday project).

I'm also focusing on the main American holiday each month. This month is Martin Luther King Jr Day on Jan 17th. So that day will be a PROJECT day and we'll do some MLK activities and reading.  I purchased another one of Amy Pak's OUTSTANDING Activity Packs-this one on holidays.

Get it here:
http://homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/HistoryofHolidays.htm