Archives for 2010
Homeschool Nitty Gritty Update
I think I’ve been a little gun shy about posting on our schooling progress without even realizing it. Because I am a person who avoids conflict to a fault, I don’t tend to deal well with snarky comments and emails and thankfully, they’ve been few and far between. When they come, however, they seem to either be because of something I’ve posted about faith or homeschooling. But since this blog has replaced scrapbooking for me, I want to document our lives, even what to others may seem mundane and/or offensive. This will be a post about the details of our schooling so if that makes you wanna jab sharp objects in your eardrums (and I don’t blame you one bit), you might enjoy this or this instead. (the first one is ‘why we can’t keep the law of God’ and the second one is ‘reformation theology–the presence of God’)
The rest of you, come along and I’ll tell you what we’ve been doing lately.
I snapped this photo while the girls were painting byzantine crosses with paint we made from egg yolks and food coloring. It could be my favorite photo of the year so far. And it wasn’t posed. This is just how they were sitting for a brief moment while they painted. But it reminds me how wonderful it is to see the girls become each others’ best friends. Knee to knee. Toe to toe. And often hand in hand. (and occasionally not for good and pleasant purposes)
History
We cut the crosses out of sugar cookie dough and painted them with the egg tempera paint and then baked them. And then ate them, of course. All the while, we discussed our history lesson about how the Ottoman Turks took over Constantinople and made the Hagia Sophia a muslim mosque. {We are working our way through the Middle Ages from Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World part 2}. This week, we’re studying the Black Death and making necklaces of herbs and garlic (to ward off the ‘evil spirits’ that were supposed to have caused all the deaths from the plague). This history program is phenomenal. And on days like today when I want to be packing and purging instead of teaching, it’s the history and literature programs that keep me going strong. I look forward to the coming chapters on Joan of Arc, The War of the Roses, Christopher Columbus, and of course Martin Luther. I’m pretty sure that I’m learning more than they are.
Literature
In general, we use an amalgamation of Charlotte Mason and the Well Trained Mind for literature which means that we read a lot and use whole books not textbooks.
We are still working our way through the Harry Potter books and are currently reading book 5. We read HP anytime we get a chance, usually 30-45 minutes first thing in the morning and then whenever else we have time. I’m also making my way through The Hidden Key to Harry Potter which explains all the christian symbolism in the books. It is utterly amazing to me the depths of symbolism and hidden meaning and wonderful christian themes in the books, not to mention the sheer amount of words that we’ve read. {book 5 is 83o something pages long!} I can’t wait to do a final analysis and review of the books myself. Rowling is right up there with Lewis and Tolkein and in my estimation may be one of the most gifted and brilliant minds of our time. We use passages that we’ve read from Harry Potter for dictation and narration.
We also still read a Shakespeare story a week from Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare . We have 4-5 more stories to read to finish the book— which we should finish by the end of the year. These are ~ten page summaries of the Shakespeare plays but told in somewhat complicated old english language so that they are easier to read than Shakespeare but rich in vocabulary and complex sentence structure. I plan to read through this book every year until they are ready to tackle Shakespeare’s works by themselves. By the time the girls are in 5th grade, they’ll know more Shakespeare than I currently know. Heck, they may be there already.
We’re also still plugging along through Pilgrim’s Progress (the unabridged version). We read about 5-10 pages per week and likely will just keep reading until we finish—which may take another 6 months to a year.
The girls are each reading their own books, which they read aloud to me everyday. Sweet 7 year old (almost 8 year old) is reading Eight Cousins. And 9 year old is reading The Little Princess.
We also check out books from the library related to topics we’re studying in history and science. And I like the short biographies from the kids’ section of our library. We just read some books on Marco Polo and the Jewish people for history and then one of the girls checked out a biography on Mother Teresa which we read aloud. We probably spend a good 3 hours a day just reading.
homeade playdough family by emme
Math
We have gone back to Saxon. I still use some Singapore for enrichment but despite the fact that Saxon kinda bores me, my girls need the review. We’re finishing our multiplication and division tables, learning to calculate area and perimeter, learning to measure to the nearest centimeter and counting back change from a dollar. I struggle with how to teach math sometimes. I’m not a math whiz but I’m fascinated by people who are and I love the patterns and beauty of numbers. I ordered Isaac Newton’s Principia and have briefly read a little in it. It’s over my head but I really want to give my girls a classical math education and I know that Saxon is not the way to do that. The problem is—I don’t have the skill set to do it. I’m sure I’ll be looking for a math tutor in a few years. Or I may need to take a class myself. Who else should I be reading to educate myself? Euclid? Descartes? There was a great blog post on Gene Veith’s blog about teaching math classically {his comments’ section is always lively and informative} but some of the commenters were over my head. I think most people who are committed to classical education still teach math very traditionally. Any insight or help would be appreciated.
Grammar
We switched from Shurley Grammar to Rod and Staff. Bauer (author of The Well Trained Mind) recommends Rod and Staff because she says they are the only grammar program that teaches correct sentence diagramming. I had been using Shurley Grammar because the classical school my children attended used it—and I didn’t want them to fall behind if I decided to send them back. But it’s laborious to use at home and many have said that the results just weren’t there. The kids knew the jingles (This little noun—floating around—-names a person, place, or thing….) but then couldn’t apply that knowledge well. I love rod and staff and we’ve found a cute online song for memorizing the helping verbs that you might like. I still also use the Daily Grams worksheets with the girls for extra practice.
Memory
I’ve said this before but memory work is one of my favorites of the classical curriculum. Kids have an amazing capacity for memorization and if you don’t provide them quality pieces to memorize, they’ll memorize EVERYTHING else. We’re currently working on Psalm 40, “The Daffodils” by William Wordsworth Longfellow, the states and capitals, “My Dearest Friend”, the Sacrament of the Altar from the small catechism (the girls are preparing for their first communion), and a poem called “The Paragraph”. They often complain about having to do memory work but they LOVE reciting things that they’ve memorized. Which reminds me of Susan Wise Bauer’s advice: learning does not have to be made overly fun—-it is a reward unto itself.
Science
We have used various curriculum this year. I like Considering God’s Creation, which I borrowed from Denise. We just finished a unit on mammals from the Handbook of Nature and are about to do insects then birds. I did that so that we’d be doing insects and birds in the spring. I plan to do some human body stuff over the summer so if you have any good curriculum suggestions for that, let me know. I’m sure I will soon switch to Apologia which comes highly recommended by so many .
Latin and Spanish
We are still so blessed to have a wonderful teacher who tutors the girls 2 days a week. We use Latin for Children and I’ve been very pleased with their progress. I would curl up in a ball and cry if Ms. Susan decided she couldn’t do this. I ought to be sitting in on the class and learning with them but I often use the time to run errands or exercise.
Spelling and Handwriting
We use Spelling Workout which I love. I used to do the traditional “one lesson a week with a test on Friday”. But I find that my girls can easily do two lessons a week so we just do it at our own pace. We finished our handwriting books Classically Cursive and now just use various texts to copy in cursive. We’re now working on copying the Sacrament of the Altar from the small catechism for extra practice.
So that’s the nitty gritty.
Many of you email me about homeschooling and I hope this kind of summary helps. I would much rather write about the abstract aspect of homeschooling–which I will likely do again soon—-but it’s fun to look back and remember the details too.
The House That Found Us……
Just to be clear and to set the record straight, we weren’t looking for a house. We love our house. And our neighborhood. And our pool. And our trees. We’ve lived here since we were married and our two littlest have lived their whole lives here. I’ve made every single inch of this house my own. Neither of us are people who like the thought of moving. And besides, when you collect as much wonderful stuff junk as I do, the thought of packing it all up drives me (in a really fast car) to the brink of insanity.
So why did this house hunt us down and leave us no other choice but to buy it? All the forces in this sweet little southern town seem to be working together to make sure we move to this house. We were minding our own business when one of our wonderful friends—- some call her Martha, I call her Fate’s right hand man—–begged and pleaded and then forced us under duress to ‘just go look at it’. And when we got there, this is what we saw………
That’s so not fair. To take us there at sunset. It’s like we’d been taken hostage——by a lake house.
So, we’re moving. And we may take ‘homebody-ing’ to a whole new level in this house. Could you blame us?
And I’m a big bag full of mixed emotions. There are so many things to love about the new place: the lake, the sunset, a house full of windows, a dock and water toys, a fun kitchen re-do, having ‘school’ by the water, teaching the kids to ski and sail and fish, and did I mention that my husband grew up on the lake? so he’s kinda like a kid in candy store right now.
But there are also many things that make me sad: leaving this house, my friends and neighbors, my comfort zone, not to mention trying to purge and pack and sort through all our stuff. Then there’s the staging of this house to sell it (which I’m not thrilled about doing) after I’ve spent ten years making it our own personal cozy space. It may kill me to try to make it generic for selling it. Anyone wanna buy it as is? Turquoise cabinets and craft room and all? How generic do you think you have to make a house in order for it to appeal to the masses?
In short, I’m a little overwhelmed. I’ve starting the purging/packing process but it seems daunting. {We’re supposed to close in one month.} There are so many things that I don’t think will fit in the new house. Did I say it’s all windows? Which leaves little room for big furniture and wall decor? Steve reminds me that the lake is my decoration.
And I remind him that I love my stuff.
And he reminds me that big open floor plans were meant to accomodate the sparse look.
And I remind him that I’m anything but sparse.
Then he goes back to looking at boats.
And I go back to looking at kitchens.
OH do I ever need your help. You’re gonna have to hold my hand and remind me to breathe. I have so many wonderful memories here. I’m gonna take pictures of every nook and cranny—-as if I haven ‘t already. And then at the new house, I think we’re gonna go for a beach/cottage look so flood me with your ideas and inspiration. I’ve been scouring the latest issue of Coastal Living magazine, drooling over Erika’s kitchens. That may be all the inspiration I need but I’d love your input.
I’d also like to know from those of you who’ve moved recently, do you wish you had purged more or do you regret not holding on to some of your stuff? Should I have a yard sale in the next few weeks or wait until we move and then have a moving sale with what’s left? Maybe I’ll list stuff on Craig’s list or eBay? Maybe I don’t have time for any of those options.
See the chaos that ensues when a house takes you hostage?
The Times They Are a Changin’
Slipping
Where have I been?
For starters, I’ve been a little preoccupied with life. I had a wonderful visit with Taylor and Caiti. We found Caiti a gorgeous prom dress and despite my desperate pleas, Taylor did not let me cut his hair. The girls and I went to see Alice in Wonderland, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And if you missed it, Nester has a hilarious post about slipcovers which you should read. I was supposed to go to her house and help with the slipcover-fest and couldn’t make it so she photoshopped me in at various places. And then complained that I was absolutely no help whatsoever. I missed seeing Kristi and missed meeting Tiny Twig. I did however, upon inspiration from my friends, begin a little slipcover party of my own. I’m about 3/4 of the way done and I love it so far. It’s such a great solution for thrift stores chairs that need rescuing.
I also have a great story to share with you soon. I’ve given sneak peeks on Twitter. Hope you have a great Sunday!
and the winner is……….
cherry picking last summer with Grandma at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Vicki’s farm.
The winner of the Pleated Poppy’s yummy stuff is……
Mott from the The Courtyard Gate.
If you will send me your address by email, I’ll make sure you get your ‘loot’. Congratulations my friend!
In other lifeingrace news:
1. I’ve been spring cleaning. I took four bags of stuff to Goodwill from my laundry room.
2. I’m trying to finish Hamlet by Friday for bookclub. Wish me luck.
3. I’m reading a fascinating book called The Hidden Key to Harry Potter that explores all the christian symbolism in the books.
4. I could probably finish Hamlet by Friday if I wasn’t reading three other books at the same time.
5. I received a ‘Beautiful Cup’ award from Internet Cafe for having a ‘unique and artistic’ blog about faith. I’m very humbled and grateful. I think ‘unique’ be another word for quirky! Thanks to whoever nominated me.
6. My girls and I are in such a good stride with our schooling. I’ll update soon. I’m already thinking of starting a bookclub for them this summer based on an idea I got from a book I just finished called The Thomas Jefferson Education: A Home Companion.
7. Happy Birthday to Grandma Evadne. We love you!
when are you coming to visit?
8. I’ve been making lots of bread. I need a whole post to tell you about it.
9. I’m hoping to plant some grass seeds today to have fresh grass for Easter decorations.
10. I’m a little behind on Read the Bible Through in Three Months. I hope to finish by Easter. I highly recommend it and it usually takes a little less than an hour a day.
Lifeingrace Loves the Pleated Poppy!
This is the best giveaway ever.
I say that about everything, don’t I? “The best beef stew ever.” “The best chocolate chip cookies ever.” Okay, so I’m a drama queen. Maybe I just get a little excited about stuff. Is that so wrong? Anyways, my friend Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy, my long lost roommate from Blissdom, has made some custom goodies using my favorite colors. Aren’t they awesome? I want one of everything. And all the items you see below will be packed up and sent to one lucky reader today. Here are the ways you can enter the giveaway: 1. subscribe to lifeingrace if you haven’t already, or 2. update your subscription with my new URL address lifeingraceblog.com or 3. Add the lifeingrace button to your blog or 4. Mail me some cupcakes with buttercream icing.
After you’ve updated or whathaveyou, then leave a comment on this post telling me you’ve faithfully complied with all rules and regulations and I’ll try my best to pick you to win this loot from Lindsey. {If your links to me are already updated, then just go ahead and comment away!}
Oh how I LOVE these fabrics!
You have until midnight on Monday March 8th to enter. And Lindsey is giving you 10% of anything in her shop if you use the code ‘grace’. You’ll love her shop and her blog and after spending two nights with her in Nashville, I can tell you she is just as precious as she seems on her blog. Even more so. And she’s the fastest typer I’ve ever seen.