What did we actually get done this week?

OPG- Lesson 49-56


FLL-Lesson 6 -9


Handwriting and Copy work-4 days this week


Memory Work- "O Sacrament Most Holy" I think we've got this down so we'll be moving on next week


Saxon, Lesson 6-8


History: SOTW Ch. part 1 and review questions from What is History and What is Archaeology, Make a family history book
SOTW Ch 1, Part 2, review questions and cross references
Cave Painting
Map activity


Science: Continued Bean Sprout experiment and observations for journal
Began Seed Needs experiment
read How and Acorn becomes a Tree or other library books experiment


Geography: Maps and SOTW work, Maps Charts and Graphs lesson 2


Art: How to Draw Lesson, learned how to draw a dog's face and a house with landscape


PE:Trips to park all week-- plenty of climbing playing and exploring


Music:listened to classical music, Scottish music, and folk music


I've created a monster!

A future doctor....

Boo looooves this book:

We're doing Plants right now. He wasn't supposed to even see the book until we began the Body unit. Now I can barely pry it from his little hands. I bought a stand up skeleton model last night and he is BUGGING me to do it. It is the type that you have to assemble. He has memorized many of the bone names and internal organs and their functions in just two days!!

(I purchased this book at a wholesale club for $10.99)

Book Review and Plan for the Week

The infamous Saxon Math- Level K

You can pretty much purchase Saxon Math from anywhere. I think Seton has the best price, but I could be wrong.

For the record, I have not tried any other Math program, I'm sticking with Saxon, because it works and Boo is happy with it.

What I like about it:

• Boo likes repetition, and it is repetitious, he thrived on the Meeting book
• It is scripted, though I do not always need it, it is nice to have on days I can't think
• It is fun, we all enjoyed the manipulatives
• No distracting pictures

On it's implementation:

• The meeting book could be skipped but I thought it helped with calendar skills
• I used the arrows in the meeting book to write whatever number Boo could count to. We then practiced counting to that number each month and then used the rest of the arrows for subsequent numbers
• Not all lessons need to be repeated twice
• More than one lesson can be done in a day without being overwhelming
• The program is more appropriate for a pre-schooler, 3-4.5 years old
• I never did the estimating activities later in the book
• some of the activities require practice, like skip counting, or even regular counting, for younger children

Plan for the Week

Language Arts:
OPG- Lesson 49,50(M) 51, 52 (T) 53, 54 (W) 55-56 (F) 57,58 (S)
FLL-Lesson 6 (M) 7 (T) 8 (W) 9 (F) 10 (S)
HW- Seton, extra practice- all week
MW- "O Sacrament Most Holy"-every day
CW- Continue practicing name- all week

Math:
Saxon, Lesson 6(M) 7 (T) 8 (W) 9 (F) (10) S

History:
SOTW Ch. part 1 and review questions from What is History and What is Archaeology, Make a family history book (M)

SOTW Ch 1, Part 2, review questions and cross references (T)

Cave Painting and Map activity (S)

Science:
Continue Bean Sprout experiment and observations for journal (M,T)

Begin Seed Needs experiment, continue Bean Sprout observation, read How and Acorn becomes a Tree or other library books (W)

Green Hour Challenge (TH)

Work on observation pages for experiment and finish any books borrowed from library (F, S)

Geography:
Practice US Geography- all week with wall map update on Monday
New Hampshire Map for US Notebook (T)
Maps, Charts and Graphs, Lesson 2 and continents review(F)
History Mapwork (S)

Art:
How to Draw Lesson (F)

PE:
Trips to park all week and possible Green Hour challenge on Thursday to be considered

Music:
Learn one Catholic hymn and listen to classical music- all week

Religion:
St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism- all week

My Dream History Program Part I

I love history, good history, history that reflects Christ and His Church as well as our salvation as the center!

I've been gathering some thoughts and ideas on what I would do if I were to write or create my ideal history program. First of all, it would definitely take a similar sequence to The Well-Trained Mind Format. We would study Ancient History for the first part of the four year cycle.

I would like to begin with the Creation of the World and move on to a then to a short unit on pre-historic creatures. I'd like it to cover all of the major early world civilizations. When focusing on the near East, I would like to draw from the Old Testament and histories of the Old Testament written by priests and Catholic scholars.

One part I would definitely have would be a book with photographs of different parts of civilizations, kind of in a program by itself, similar to Child-Sized Masterpieces. The student would use the photographs to become familiar with major archaeological sites and be able to identify them and also many of the works of art associated with different civilizations.

As far as the near East, I would cover a little on all of the OT prophets, appropriate to the age. From around the world we would focus on important people from each civilization, like Hammurabi or Ramses. Many of the lives of the people on suggested list in TWTM would be appropriate to study.

When it comes to the Life of Our Lord, I would love for the children to learn about what it was like to live at the same time, as a special focus. We would then study what happened to each of the Twelve apostles as they went out to spread the Faith to the world. We would also study each council of the Church, beginning with the council of Jerusalem. However, at an age appropriate level.

I would incorporate a study of philosophers, such as Aristotle, that the saints drew from (St. Thomas Aquinas in particular ). We would also learn about and read the Fathers, on an age appropriate level.

When we learn about the history of the Roman Empire, we would do a huge unit on the Martyrs. I think we would make a martyrs notebook. We would also make a popes notebook because we would be memorizing the names of the popes all the way up to the end of the time period we are studying.

In between, we would be studying how all of the ancient cultures lived, worked and their wars and conflicts. I don't want the focus to be solely European. One thing that I would probably omit, at an early level, would be details about pagan gods. I just don't think it is necessary at a younger age to cover this topic in detail the way some other classical programs do.

I think I'd end the time period at the Council of Carthage, where the canon of Sacred Scriptures was set.

I would also like to have a book that was in a narrative format to read each lesson from, as well as a project idea book.

Wordless Wednesday 4/16/2008

Our First Year with First Child Complete

Celebrate with us! Boo has completed his entire Kindergarten curriculum and is moving on to First Grade/ K-5.

Here is a picture of Boo last year, shortly after we began school. He's helping me make vegetarian minestrone for a Friday meal.

Above is the Boo from last week, almost a year later. Still cooking, still helping mom. We're making Scotcharoos, he went a little heavy on the sprinkles.

The highlights of our year were:

• Learning to read
• Completing all of our Kindergarten materials in all subjects, math, reading, handwriting, religion and science
• A trip to the Columbus Zoo and COSI
• A special trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire and a train ride
• Beginning Geography and loving it

On Early Education

I'd like to share my thoughts today on formally educating at a young age.

My children are typical children, they are not advanced or gifted (except to me). They are just your average children.

There are a some differences in our home and other homes that, I think, facilitate the children wanting to learn. We do not live a life that is deeply rooted in popular culture. My children cannot name SpongeBob, Dora, or whatever else is new. I do not allow toys in our home that are based on TV shows or false ideas about women (Barbies). So our children are pretty much left to their own imaginations.

Unfortunately, the children do not have a vast bank of loving and caring relatives that live nearby. This has caused us to be a little more withdrawn from social life within the family. We've had to turn to each other for support in everything, as a family should naturally do. But this situation has given us all a strong bond. I think and can see that my children will likely be best friends even into their adulthood. I would rather have this than have bad influences from certain relatives, those kinds of influences are hard to undo.

So here we are with this tight knit small, but growing family, with little interest in fads and fashions of the day. We're boring by American standards. Being "boring" gives us the ability to view the world in a different way. The children think that learning is a fun, worthwhile and fulfilling activity. They bring me things and say "Teach me this, Mama." instead of "Do this for me and buy me that."

My oldest was bored playing with his toys, so I decided to teach him. I was happy to do so, as I do not know what God has in store for the future. Our children are all close in age, and I would have liked to have Boo reading before Meenie starts K. As a new homeschooling mother, I was trying to ease myself into things so I could not get burnt out.

The lessons began shortly before the age of 4 and we're completing level K this week. We worked at Boo's pace, reviewing and taking breaks as necessary. So it was not forceful, but it was disciplined. As in, once lessons begin, we're not getting up. Before I knew it, my son was running to sit at his desk or bringing me the reading lesson book.

Some of the greatest saints of the Church, like St. Robert Bellarmine, were young learners. So I take inspiration and encouragement on early learning from the saints. It is my hope that my children will be able to complete college early. I don't know what kind of vocation they will go into but I am hoping to use the high school years to prepare the boys for seminary (logic, philosophy, theology, Latin), married life (maybe some type of skill or specialization in a subject) and for the girls to be a homemaker (home economics study) or perhaps a religious (which could be a whole variety of skills from nursing to teaching). Maybe my children will all stay single and live with me and take care of me in my old age. Who knows! But I believe early education is beneficial and I hope to set them on a path to fulfill God's plans and accomplish much for Him in the earlier part of their life.

Wordless Wednesday and a quip

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And now let's hear from Boo:

Last night I was happily using the computer when Meenie angrily screamed.

I said to Boo, "What are you doing to her?"

"I was being Pat." replied Boo

"Pat? Oh, Paaaat, right." I agreed. " You mean from Hop on Pop?"

"Yes!" agreed Boo with a huge grin.

So this is my reward for teaching my child phonics, he acts out a page from a Dr. Seuss book.

NO PAT NO

Don't sit on that!

My Life without TV

Before we were married, my husband and I made a commitment that we would not be allowing our children to watch television. For those who cannot understand this, here is why:

• It fosters immorality and anti-Catholic ideas
• Impurity on television is rampant
• Adult themes can even be found on children's shows
• It robs children of creativity
• It steals away precious time that we could be doing something for God, our Faith and other people
• It creates a television-based culture in many aspects of life, just look at how products are used to market TV shows
• We want to have our own Catholic culture based on values that we determine, not networks
• Television is a passive activity and does not promote critical thinking
• It is a distraction from our daily duties and our spiritual duties
• Anything can pop up on the TV, thus limiting parental control

Now, before you draw other conclusions, let me say that I do not think the object the TV set is evil or bad in itself. It is what is put onto the television that makes it bad. I think renting movies, shows, documentaries is a good idea. Not all shows are bad, but many commercials are. I do think that people should seriously consider renting instead of subscribing to a cable service. In this way, TV does not rule your day and you are more in control of what you and your children view.

If television programming came into union with Catholic standards of morality and decency, I would subscribe to it once again, however, it would not rule our lives. We would not base how we relate to others on television shows and it would not be our only discussion piece among friends.

I definitely strongly oppose children having a TV set in their rooms. I think this is so detrimental to children, so many studies have been done on the effects of TV on the brain. I think you would have to be a very careless parent to allow a television in the bedroom.

One of the best rewards of having a no-TV home that I have seen in my own life is reflected in my children. Everywhere we go people compliment us on good behavior, the children are able to sit through Good Friday Liturgy, which is so wonderful. They are much better behaved and kinder than other children their age, that I have met, who watch a lot of TV. They would rather play horses than pretend they are Spiderman. To me, this is a gift to me because I know I am giving my children something that I never had, a great but innocent imagination, with which it is my hope and prayer that they will use their gifts to serve God and His Church well.

Science and Living in God's World- Book Review

Book: Science and Living in God's World
Publisher: Our Lady of Victory

I ordered this book for kindergarten science.

Positive: The only positive aspect I can think of in regards to this material are the good intentions that probably went into creating it. The goal was to write a science book that would draw children in to the marvels of God's creation and His Goodness.

Negative:

• The topics included in this book are lightly touched upon and too broad
• The illustrations and pictures are not well done
• Requires kindergardeners to do simplified crossword puzzle, some activities are way above level K
• Few to little explaination
• Parent would probably have to do most of the writing for fill-in-the-blank exercises

I could find no practical use for this book in our home. The exercises are not realistic for children of this age and there are no experiments. It does not contain much in the way of information either. It does not offer any supplemental reading which might have redeemed it's usefulness. Weak science books like these make people think that Catholics are afraid of science or have some kind of disdain for it. I would also say that if you are not already teaching your child that this world is God's wonderful creation and the study of science is to know more about this wonderful world that God made for man, then as a Catholic, you may already be failing to understand the purpose of science. I think that is kind of expected for most Catholics to know and pass on to their children already.

Overall, I would say this book is not worth the investment. It would be better to find alternate materials or borrow books from the library.

Plans for the week, ending on April 12th, 2008

Well, now I know I want to have all of this done because we just moved up our vacation by one week!

Boo
Monday:
100EL: 95
Saxon K: 97, 101(repeat), 104, 109
--practice counting by 10's for some reason this was not retained-- all week

Tuesday:
100EL: 96
Saxon: 97 (repeat), 110, 111

Wednesday:
100EL: 97
Saxon: 99, 111 (repeat)

Thursday:
Maybe no school but here is contingency...
100EL: 98
Saxon: 99 (repeat), 112- the final evaluation

Friday:
100EL: 99

Saturday:
100EL 100

Then we're going to have a little party for finishing K. I am thinking about baking a cake or brownies and making a paper graduation hat. Later, I'm going to post two pictures of the Boo, one taken right before K and one from right now. I may also write out a little overall evaluation to keep in our records of our accomplishments this year.

Also this week, I am going to make a chore chart because I have a few chore goals in mind for both of my children. One is to make their beds each day, the second is to get all of those clothes into the hamper-- not on the floor, not under the table, not under the bed!

Weekly Report

We are just winding down the school year here. Handwriting and science are finished, with occaisional review exercises in handwriting at my whims.

So we are pretty much left with trying to finish Math and Phonics.

This week was a slow week but we managed to get up to lesson 94 in 100 Easy Lessons- after today only 5 more lessons to do! YAY.

We're 11 lessons away from finishing Saxon Math K. Some of them are so easy that we can do multiple in one day. There is one lesson where we have to compare sizes of leaves, well there are no leaves around to compare yet, so I am trying to find something else!

Geography, which is Boo's current passion, is just ongoing. I think we're up to naming and locating 15-20 states.

We went out to two restaurants and visited a friend on Thursday, so that was about it for field trips. Good manners practice on all occaisions to go out though.

I am thinking and hoping to have K wrapped up by the end of next week.

Beginning to Teach Reading

I have mentioned before that I have always wanted to homeschool my children. We also do not watch regular television or subscribe to cable. I have tried to create a home that is a not only peaceful and God-serving but also a place where the children can learn. I really want our children to love to learn and appreciate the beautiful and amazing world that God made for them.



It all started with Boo, of course, because he is the oldest. I began to teach him shapes, colors, counting. I would never get him to sing the alphabet until he was 3 or 4 though. When he turned three, I bought one of those Hooked on Phonics early learning packages. It contained a book and a CD to learn the names of the letters. I thought that the songs were pretty stupid, even painful to listen to but he liked it a lot. But that is not what helped him learn the letters.



The Hooked on Phonics book contained a book of bubble letters that you were supposed to color and decorate. I took that one step further and cut them out and hung them on the door by which we exited our apartment. Each day we would review the letters that he colored on the door and when he learned one, we would add a new one. Sometimes I would give him a quiz, so in order to leave the house to go out and play he had to "unlock" the door by telling me the letter names. I did this both with capital and small letters, until he knew them all.



Book had learned all of his letters by the time he was 3 1/2. Beyond that there was not much more to teach him. He began to get bored again and wanted to spend the day doing whatever I was doing.



I have always been an early-bird when it comes to home education, so that winter I ordered much of the kindergarten curriculum that I wanted and began to look through it. I tried to begin him with Seton Kindergarten Phonics and had no success.

I looked through different recommendations and stumbled upon Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Once we got past the discipline issues- not wanting to sit still, thinking that getting up during a lesson was acceptable, we were fine. I cannot describe the amazement and wonder which I watched my son learn to read through this book. I began the book about a month before he turned four.


We needed a lot of review at first and I wanted to take things at a leisurely pace. But here we are almost a year later, I am 6 lessons away from finishing this book. My son is not yet 5 years old and he is beginning to learn to spell, without being formally taught. He is figuring out for himself what letter words begin with and even standing over my shoulder when I am on the computer, trying to read what I write. He can read Bob Books, Dr. Seuss-type books, like Go Dog Go and Hop on Pop. I even hear him in the car, trying to read signs and billboards.


So that is where we are, almost two years into this journey. We're going to be using The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading next. Beyond that, I have not decided what to use, but we will be gradually moving on to more challenging books. I am looking ahead with anticipation of progress to be made and teaching our second child, Meenie, to read!

Wordless Wednesday, April 2, 2008