Bible

Lectionary/Small Catechism/Church Festivals

Our church follows the 3 year lectionary and we are currently on Series B.  I print the readings for the year so that we are able to read the next Sunday’s readings at least 2-3 times before church on Sunday.   Since we’ve been doing this, I find that the girls pay more attention to the readings and almost always nudge me to remind me that,  ”Hey, we’ve read that this week.”    We also read about/talk about the church festivals on the day they occur.   St. Lucia day was December 13 and the girls and I made crowns of light and Santa Lucia rolls.   January 18th was the festival of the Confession of St. Peter so we talked about the importance of Peter’s confession for the church.   Issues Etc. is very helpful in this regard because they also follow the church year and have several years of podcasts on the various church festivals.  We talk about the current ‘season’ of the church year (currently Epiphany) and how that season reflects something unique about the life and work of Christ.   We’re also STILL memorizing the Small Catechism.   We take one portion each year or semester and memorize it/talk about it/study it.   We are currently finishing up on the Lord’s Prayer petitions.

We’ve done Old Testament stories twice and New Testament stories twice so I’m thinking of doing church history next year.   I’d love your thoughts on Bible curriculum, especially as your children age and are ready for more ‘meat’.

Memory

Poetry/Scripture/Historical Documents/Lists

I’ve written about my passion for memory work before.  We spend about 30-40 minutes per day on memory work—most of that time on learning new memory. But we also continue to review things we learned in our first 3 years of homeschooling. I know my girls get tired of it sometimes but we have a huge notebook of works we’ve memorized over the past four years and it’s one of the few subjects where there’s instant, tangible evidence that we’re learning great stuff.   We are usually working on 4-5 new pieces at one time along with a comprehensive history timeline that spans the ancient Isrealites through current times.   It has 170 events (corresponding to the Veritas history cards) and sometimes seems daunting.  However, we will repeat it every year and as we get to those topics in history and Bible, the timeline will come alive and be ‘pegs’ on which to  hang more information.    ”The destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, 70 AD”  may not mean that much to them right now.   But when we get to that story in history, it won’t be the first time they’ve heard it and they will understand it better as it relates to the history of the Romans and the Jews.   I LOVE the timeline.  This little video clip will give you a ‘feel’ for the timeline and how it CAN be done, despite the fact that there are lots of dates and people and events.

We try to coordinate our memory work with things we’re studying in history, science, math,  and Bible.   So far this year, we’ve memorized:

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
After the Party
The Cow
A list of the 13 colonies
The Presidents
The States and Capitals
Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Romans 8:18-39
George Washington by Stephen Vincent Benet
Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Pater Noster (Lord’s Prayer in Latin)
The World is too Much With Us by William Wordsworth
Introduction to the Declaration of Independence
The Children’s Hour by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Santa Filomena by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
John 1:1-7 in Latin and English
Gettysburg Address
Matthew 5: 1-20
History Timeline

Math

Saxon–We just finished Saxon 5/4 and are starting 6/5.

Literature

The girls spend an hour a day reading their literature books. Books they read so far this year:
Black Beauty
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle
The Secret Garden
The Princess and the Goblin
Anne of Green Gables
Peter Pan

to be read:

The Little White Horse
Anne of Avonlea
The Treasure Seekers
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
The Prince and the Pauper

We also read together at night (Little Women) and they listen to audio books during their quiet time (currently, Hunger Games).   We love books.  It’s the center of our curriculum.  During their reading time, they read aloud to me (usually a page or two) and sometimes I read a few pages to them.  We read classical books and I use Ambleside Online along with The Well Trained Mind to furnish us with good book choices and good authors.

Grammar

We’re still using Rod and Staff and I love it.   We do a lot of diagramming and a lot of review.   They’re finally getting the hang of it!!!!   They can predictably find subjects/verbs/direct objects/predicate nouns/predicate adjectives/prepositions/object of prepositions.   The hard work is finally paying off!   I am passionate that my girls (along with their mother) become proficient at Grammar so I very actively teach it.  We don’t do worksheets very often but instead work through most of it on the board together.   I’m pretty sure this is why they like Grammar.   I hope it continues!

Writing

This is our 2nd year to use Andrew Pudewa’s Excellence in Writing. It’s a great, step-wise program for teaching writing and we use his method (keyword outlines) to write one good paragraph a week based on something from our history or science curriculum.  For instance, this week, we studied the Transcontinental Railroad so the girls read a few short paragraphs about the railroad and then made a keyword outline from the reading.   The next day, we use the outline to write a paragraph and then use the next day or so to edit the paragraph and add writing elements such as -ly words, strong verbs, ‘which’ clauses, sentence openers, adjectives, etc.   On Fridays,  I often have the girls give a short oral presentation where they basically recite their paragraph back to me.    By the end of the week, they’ve really learned a few key things about a pertinent topic and they get to practice their oratory skills along with their writing and editing skills.

Latin

This is our first year without Mrs. Susan, our Latin tutor and it’s been a learning experience for all of us.   I’m very committed to my girls’ learning Latin.   I think it’s so valuable for vocabulary building and even for better understanding English grammar.   We use Latin for Children and are almost finished with Primer A.   We take it slow, usually a chapter a week, and then do lots of review.   We memorize prayers and scripture in Latin which helps to reinforce what we’re learning.  I’ve been checking into online Latin classes for the future because I’m not sure I can learn it fast enough to teach them.  I’m glad I’ve ploughed through it this year though because at least they haven’t lost any ground.   I’d LOVE it if my girls were translating famous Latin works by the time they’re in high school.  It’s just a good foundation for language of all types and I don’t see us giving it up anytime soon.  If you do Latin at home, I’d love to know what works well for you!

French

We use Rosetta Stone and the only thing I provide is the computer and the software.   They seem to really like it and  do a  lesson a day whenever we can fit it in around our other work.  It’s very low key but again, I love the exposure to language at an early age.

History

We are still using Story of the World and are on unit four.  I can’t wait to start the repeat next year where we start over again with ancient times.   I’ve used Mystery of History as a supplement and these wonderful books while studying the Civil War.   We often use historical figures as a topic for our writing and our read-alouds.   We chose Little Women as our nighttime read because it’s set during the Civil War and we read a biography on Lincoln during that study as well.   We do history in the afternoons and call it our ‘fun’ school.   We don’t test history but just try to enjoy it.   We discuss what we’ve read and I’ll  occasionally have them narrate it back to me but usually, we just read and discuss.

Science

We’re doing Jeannie Albright’s Human Anatomy this year and have thoroughly enjoyed it.   It’s been a perfect segue for discussing all things ‘body’ with the girls.   They’re at the perfect age for it and usually sit spellbound when the topic gets a little juicy.   We’ve memorized the bones and have used topics such as digestion for larger writing projects.   We also do this in the afternoons and don’t do testing. We really only test Grammar and Math and Spelling at this juncture but we do participate in standardized tests every year so I can see how I’m doing. So far, so good! Enjoy some of our memory work and a little scrapbook of sorts of the girls and their days.

It is a delicate thing, this public writing.   To write honestly about something you love without conveying a sense of superiority or smugness.   I’m sure I fail at it miserably and I pray you’ll forgive my  shortcomings in this area. I simply couldn’t have expected this turn in my life—-that I would be here—-at home—–teaching my kids everyday.    Never mind that I’d love it so much.   I can’t say enough how thankful I am to find myself in this position.    If you’re considering homeschooling, I hope to encourage you to take the next step.

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After the fire, I wasn’t sure if I could breathe again much less teach my children their schoolwork.

I often thought of calling it quits.  I didn’t know how to go on.   I didn’t want them to see me fall apart everyday.

But somehow we made it through.   We finished out the year.

We memorized Romans 8:18-39 as a way to help our hearts heal.   I remember the day we finished it.

It felt like a milestone.    I knew we were gonna be okay.   We taught each other how to live through tragedy.

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I could cite so many reasons why I continue to homeschool my kids.

Yes, it’s true that I LOVE learning.  I love the opportunities to relearn with the kids the things I never learned very well the first time.  And the classical model for education is beautiful.  It’s rich in great literature, rigorous and demanding in memory work and reading and writing.   It’s centered in history and is time tested as a proven way to raise leaders and independent thinkers.

I could tell you that I love teaching the faith to my kids.    I don’t have to worry about them being indoctrinated with secular humanism.  I can enculturate them with confessional lutheran teaching and practice and hand on to them the faith of our fathers.

I could tell you that I love our family centered life where we are not segregated by age or surrounded by peers.   I love that the bulk of their time is spent with adults who love them and have their best interests at heart.  I am thrilled when I see that their siblings become their best friends and they get to spend long stretches of time in the magical world of childhood play.

But all that is really a cover for why I can’t imagine doing anything else.

I’ve seen in my older kids that life is a vapor.  You blink and they’re gone.

I grieve the time I lost with them and I don’t want to miss anything else.

This mothering is what I was made to do.

I want to do it to the fullest for as many hours a day as I can.

I hate to admit it but I think I’m just selfish.

I want their mornings and their lunchtimes and their belly laughs and even all their groanings.

I want the bike riding and the lap sitting and the hours and hours of reading together.

I want the crafting and the cooking and all the holiday shenanigans.

After 3 years, all the lofty reasons I started homeschooling can be reduced to this—-I just want them here with me.

For as long it  lasts, I want their days.

And hopefully, we’ll learn some great stuff  too.

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Soon, a nuts and bolts post about what we’re doing this year.    Soon, as in, as soon as I figure it out!

Happy Weekend!

xo,

edie

I’m posting this daily schedule here as well, for easy access to my readers.

It’s inevitable.

Someone asks you to guest post about your daily routine and you’ll have a string of badly ordered days.

You’ll stay in your yoga pants all day, yell at the dogs and your children,  and then eat at McDonalds.

And then with every sentence you type, the little smarmy voice in your head will say,

“You’re a liar.   That’s not how your day went AT ALL little missy.”

Back off smarmy girl, this is my post and this is my day.  I’ll tell this story any way I please.

I’m an optimist.   The glass is half full.  Of champagne.  With a big juicy cherry on top.

Okay so back to my daily routine.

Despite the fact that I’m an artsy free spirit type, I do need a schedule.

Here’s the one we use for most of our days.  It’s not rigid but it gives us a place to start.  I have the template saved in my computer and then I just change the details daily.   I print these off each morning so that the girls and I know what we need to get done.

So without further adieu and hopefully with no interruptions from smarmy girl, here’s the daily grind.

4:30a  I wake up sans alarm because I have in fact turned into my father.  I can’t sleep late.  EVER.  One of my goals for my 4oth year was to ‘sleep til 7′ and it’s never gonna happen.   I’m writing this post to you on Saturday morning and I woke up at 4am raring to go.  What time will I be waking when I’m 50? 60?   I’m guessing 2:30 or 3.  So I don’t fight it.  I make the most  of my early morning time .  I’m currently reading the Bible through so I try to always start the day with reading and quiet time.     Then I read/answer emails, write blog posts, edit pictures,  read a few blogs, listen to Issues Etc while I do kitchen chores and laundry, eat raisin bran and drink latte(s),  and make lists of things that need to get done, etc etc etc.

7:30a  Usually the littles are beginning to stir.   On our best days, I make homeade waffles while Emme makes bacon.   Smarmy girl would like to insert that frozen waffles are more common.  The girls always ask/beg/plead with me to read to them while they eat.  It’s like their own dinner theater.  Except with breakfast.  And no actors.  And me in yoga pants with bed head.

8:15 ish   Prayer/Bible/ Memory

We begin our school day.   I call roll, we say the pledge of allegiance and then Elea puts an apple on my desk.   No wait, that’s all wrong.  But we do start our day pretty consistently with a prayer from the Lutheran Prayer Book and then the girls read a psalm aloud.   And for some added help with multiplication, this month we’re reading every 3rd psalm.   We just finished a study of the Old Testament, which took a year and a half and now we’re back to the New Testament and the life of Jesus.    Promptly after Bible, we have memory period.  I’ve written about the value of memorization before, but basically we memorize poems, scripture, lists of science or history facts one line at a time and then say them over and over until we know them.   We’ve memorized about 20 pieces so far this year including a couple of very long projects like Psalm 104 and the Lord’s Prayer portion of Luther’s Small Catechism.   These girls are memorizing fools.   Smarmy girl would like you to know that I don’t memorize things nearly as fast or as thoroughly as the littles do.

Occasionally, we all agree that the only way to make it through the day is to start with art.   On those days, smiles abound.

More often than not, we start like every other school in the world, with spelling and reading and math and weeping and gnashing of teeth.

9:15 ish  (give or take an hour)  Independent-ish Work

The girls work for about an hour independently doing spelling, handwriting, writing and piano practice.  I run around like a banshee trying to make beds, clear cobwebs, start dinner,  make phone calls, and whathaveyou.   If Stevie’s lucky like he was this week, I start the best beef stew ever. We won’t discuss what happens if he’s not lucky.

If there’s time, this is when I attend to personal hygeine.  We all hope and pray there’s time.

10:15 ish Literature/Read Aloud/History

The girls each read to me (aloud) a page or two from their literature books and then continue reading (usually a chapter a day depending on the book) while I read with the other one.  Then I read aloud to them from Shakespeare or whatever other book we’re reading at the time.  Right now we’re reading the Indian in the Cupboard series, which we all love.   I love this time of day.  We sit on the sofa, sometimes they knit or craft or play legos while I read.  Sometimes they dance and turn cartwheels.  Reading good books is one of life’s true joys and I’m thankful to have this opportunity with them everyday.

11:00 Math

We are doing much better with math this year, for those who’ve followed our progress.  We use the dive CD’s that are available with Saxon and the girls enjoy having someone else teach them for a change.  I prep for lunch while they work.

12:00 Lunch with Dad

Everyday for lunch, we are lucky to have Stevie come home and join us.   We greet him as if it’s been days since we’ve seen him.   And on the very rare occasion that he doesn’t make it, the girls pout and make frowny faces.  They kinda like their daddy.   I’m kinda struck on him too.

12:30-1:30 Latin with Ms. Susan

Cue the Hallelujah chorus.  Do you have any idea how wonderful it is to have someone, whom you love and adore, come to your house every other day to teach your children latin?   It’s some kind of wonderful.  And to add strawberry buttercream icing to the cake, that means I have an hour  ’off’.  On the good days, I whip up a craft or two, continue with the good-dinner making, or read.  On the bad days, I lock myself in my room and rock back and forth and google psychiatric conditions.  Smarmy girl likes to diagnose me.  What does she know? She hasn’t practiced medicine in years.

1:30-2 ish or 2:30 ish depending on whether or not we have dance.   Quiet Time

This is the sacred hour at our house where no one is allowed to talk to me.

If you have children that you spend a hefty amount of time with, I would highly recommend this sacred hour.  You will like them better after this hour.   I tend to choose activities that nourish my spirit.  I sew or cook or listen to podcasts or music or read your wonderful blogs or spray paint things.  Chocolate and coffee may or may not be involved.

2:30-3:30  Grammar and Science

We do grammar everyday and science 3-4 days a week.   We did a wonderful bird unit this year in science that has made us all nearly obsessed with the birds that visit our feeders.   Stevie is a bird man and teaches us about new birds all the time.  Recently we’ve seen a pileated woodpecker, an osprey, a nuthatch and lots of songbirds.

4:00-6 ish Dance

I have aspirations of doing lots of exercise and errands while the girls are at dance–which sometimes happens.   Often, I end up sitting in the dance studio, knitting or reading or chatting with friends.  Sometimes I run errands or go desperately searching for coffee.  And then it’s back home for dinner and and vegging out on the sofa with the family.

After dinner, the girls wrestle with their dad and beg him to watch Pawn Stars.  If he says no, they ask for American Pickers.   If he says no to that, they ask for Swamp People.   We watch quality tv around here.

I read to them after prayers for as long as my little eyes will remain open.  I got up at 4am.  Have mercy.

After I leave, I hear Emme reading aloud to her sister as they desperately try to finish the chapter that I was too sleeping for.

The sound of that is quite possibly my favorite part of the day.

9:30-10 I retire to my chambers and collapse into a coma.

Next day, rinse and repeat.

P.S.   Most days, I don’t get done all I want.  I wish I had read more, crafted more, smiled more, loved more.  Maybe it looks more productive than it is but if there’s one key that I’ve found to getting lots done in a day, it’s staying home.  Try staying home five whole days in a row and you’ll be amazed what you’ll find to do!

P.S.S.
This is our schedule M-Th.  But on Fridays—oh for the love of Fridays—-we do reading, writing, ‘rithmetic and then spend the rest of the day on arts and crafts.
Which means we adore Fridays.

I leave you with a little video journal. Thanks for having me Paige!

The End.

and now the girls will recite for you ‘October’s Party’ among other things.  if you have time, stick around to the end where you’ll hear  elea do a fantastic rendition of ‘Jabberwocky’.  it only works if you say it in your best british voice

i must go inside now,  the cardinal and the chickadee are both impatiently waiting for me to move so they can get to the feeder!

and i’m going to bookclub today at patty’s. we’re doing poetry this term and patty is a skilled writer with a contagious love for poetry.  and she’s making butternut squash soup.  i can’t wait.

hope you join ‘October’s Party’ and splash around in some leaves this weekend.

October’s Party by George Cooper
October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
The Chestnuts came in yellow,
The Oaks in crimson dressed;
The lovely Misses Maple
In scarlet looked their best;
All balanced to their partners,
And gaily fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow
New fallen from the sky.
Then, in the rustic hollow,
At hide-and-seek they played,
The party closed at sundown,
And everybody stayed.
Professor Wind played louder;
They flew along the ground;
And then the party ended
In jolly “hands around.”

And I remember those early days when I was researching homeschooling.    I wanted to know every detail.  I poured over Susan Wise Bauer’s daily schedule to try and imagine what my days would look like.   I’ve been tweaking our schedule ever since and I think I’ve finally found a method that works for us.   My girls (8 and 9) are doing 4 grade-ish work mostly and we follow a neo-classical curriculum (as classical as it can be in 2010).   I wanted to come up with a method that gave them more ‘ownership’ of their work;  where they would be motivated on their own to work hard and finish on time.   The problem with that is that we still do a lot of work together.   I read on average two hours aloud to them everyday.    So how do we combine our  ’together’ work in a way that still gives them a sense of independence and accomplishment?

This schedule is how we do it.   I tweak it depending on the day and print this schedule off every morning, giving a copy to  each girlie.   They love checking things off  the list and it’s been a great tool to help them learn self-discipline.   The harder they work during their independent time, the more time they have in the afternoons to play.

5-7:30am I wake up and do my morning thing:  listen to Issues as I unload dishwasher and tidy the kitchen and living area, finalize the girls’ schedule for the day and print it out,  make sure all supplies, books etc are ready for our school day,  go for a run (depending on the day, the mood, the alignment of the stars),  go to the grocery store (depending on the day),  work on blog posts or answer emails, get the laundry going.

7:30 Wake up the girls with a bright sunshine-y song because I’m a very annoying morning person and hope to help them love and appreciate mornings!  They roll their eyes get dressed, have breakfast, do their simple chores (make beds, tidy room, personal hygeine).   We usually put on some classical music (whatever composer we’re studying at the moment) and have it playing in the background as we start.  Right now, we’re studying Chopin so we listen to him.

8 or 8:15 ish   Bible and Memory

Start our school day with ‘together’ time.   We always start with a prayer from the Lutheran prayer book, read by one of the girls.   Each week, they take turns being the helper for the week, so whatever needs to be done (praying aloud, copying, fetching mom’s diet coke) the girl of the week is in charge.    We also do Bible study (we’re working through the OT) and memory period during this time.

Memory period takes us about 30-45 minutes each day because not only are we memorizing new pieces all the time but we’re always reviewing the stuff we’ve already memorized from the last two years.   The girls LOVE this time of day.  Although memory work can be difficult, it’s so rewarding to be able to recite from memory a huge stack of poetry, bible verses,  random facts, etc.

9:00-10:00  Spelling,  Handwriting,  Writing,  Piano Practice {independent}

This is their first ‘independent’ slot.   They can work on anything from their independent list and they tend to do really well with this and can usually check at least two-three things off the list during this time.   For instance, they both almost always do their spelling, handwriting and either piano practice or  their writing assignment, and sometimes all, during this period.    I usually make beds and start dinner.   They often need little bits of help during this time so I stay close and am ready to help.     I’ve been working on my kindness and patience with their questions and pleas for help.   I find that when I’m more patient, they have less questions.   If they sense that I’m frustrated or really distracted (which I sometimes am!) they seem to need an endless amount of help.   So I talk to myself and try to use a kind, encouraging voice and even if it’s the thirteenth time in 2 minutes that someone needs my help, I try to remember that this is why I’m here—to help them and teach them and guide them.    And I think it’s working.    They seem to need me less the more accessible and pleasant I am.   Go figure.

10-10:30 History {together}

We usually read a chapter in our history book or work on a history related project or read a chapter in a biography about one of our history characters.    They often play legos or do handstands or knit while I read.   Those kinesthetic learners will drive you crazy but I often find that they remember more details if their hands and feet are moving.  We try to incorporate some of our extra reading, memory work and writing into our history lesson.   For instance, we’re studying Elizabeth I this week so 1) we’re memorizing a portion of her speech at Tilbury  2) Our writing assignments will all be about her  3) at the end of the week, the girls will use their writing assignments to give a short oral presentation on her life.

Our curriculum is history and literature centered as much as is possible.

short break (10 min) for snack or taking the dogs for a ‘run’ on the golf cart or dancing (them, not me) etc.

10:30-11  Literature

Read alouds together.  On M,W,F, we read Shakespeare from Charles and Mary Lamb’s book.  We usually read one play per week.  The girls love Shakespeare but it’s better to take it in small bites because these writers use complex language structure which can be hard to follow.   I’m usually the one confused.   They’re always explaining to me what just happened.  They each have their own literature book (Elea-The Princess and the Goblin,  Emme- Hedge of Thorns) and sometime during the morning, they read a chapter or two each and read aloud to me.   We work it in

11-11:45 Math, separate but together.

We do a new lesson each day which I teach to the girls together and then they individually work with me on flash cards and timed sheets while the other one works on the new lesson, then we switch.   Math at our house usually involves weeping and gnashing of teeth.  We’re working on this.   I think it’s getting better since we’ve starting doing the review sheets every day.   They both lack a sense of mastery with math facts and thus easily get frustrated.  My goal is to help them truly master the basic facts so they don’t have to think and count and cry and scream.    Wish me luck.

11:45-12:10  Literature

They each have their own literature book (Elea-The Princess and the Goblin,  Emme- Hedge of Thorns) and sometime during the morning, they read a chapter or two each and read aloud to me—usually a page or two.   We usually do it right before lunch.

Lunch and breaktime.   Stevie comes home for lunch so we almost always have lunch together and then the girls play while we visit.

12:30-1:30 MWF  Latin with Mrs. Harms.

We are so blessed to have Susan back with us this year.   The girls and I love her and they’ve learned so much.   They’re working on noun declensions.  I listen in amazement and really should just take the class myself.   I’m always so conflicted because I have so much I could ‘get done’ during this hour.

Usually I clean or craft or cook or blog or run to the store.    Carpe diem, right?

Rest Time:   Cue the drums.  This hour will change your life.

This is the most wonderful amazing brain child of Susan Wise Bauer.    Watch how she does it here. The rules are, you ‘rest’ in your room, by yourself and may listen to books on tape or play quietly with legos or crafts, etc.   You may not come out unless you’re bleeding.   My girls LOVE their alone time.   It’s good for everyone.   We’re thinking of extending longer than an hour.   It’s wonderful and we meet back together refreshed from the solitude.

1:30-3:30  Science and Grammar/More independent time

We usually have science and grammar to finish in the afternoons.    If we have read-alouds we didn’t finish, we do them here too.  We almost always finish by 2:30 or 3.   But alas, today we will have to finish grammar when we come home from dance.   We had a busy, productive day but couldn’t fit it all in.

We follow this basic schedule on Monday-Thursdays and then use Fridays for more literature, art, music, library time and math.   We study one artist at a time and try to relate some of our art projects to our science, history or literature.    This week, it works out brilliantly because we’re studying the Renaissance and King David so we’ll talk about Michelangelo and his somewhat antagonistic relationship with daVinci and their work on the Sistine Chapel.   We’ll study the sculpture of King David and gaze at our own replication of King David’s bust.   We also will paint different birds since we are studying birds in science.

The girls have dance 3 afternoons a week and piano lessons once per week.

To see a host of ‘daily schedules’ visit Heart of the Matter’s Blog Hop.

photography by studio 3z

Again, O Heavenly Father,

You have granted me strength to rise to the tasks of the day.

I thank You for Your mercy and love.   Without Your power upholding me I should be unable to live.

Give me a spirit of gratitude for all Your gifts.

Above all, dear Father, keep me grateful

for the gift of forgiveness of all my sins through the merits of Jesus Christ, Your Son and my Savior.

Grant that whatever need, whatever sorrow beset my day,

my faith in this forgiveness may remain steadfast and firm.

Let no grief of pain, no doubt or gloom,  come between me and the certainty of Your love.

If  it is Your purpose to try me this day with difficulties for the body or the heart,

grant that I may, by Your spirit,  conquer in this trial and hold fast to Your mercy,

knowing that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory You have in store for me.

Make Your Word my joy,

Your counsel my guide,

Your presence my peace.

In Jesus Christ, Your only Son and my Savior.   Amen

I have an unnatural love for books.

When I moved from my beloved suburban house with the garage turned schoolroom to the lakehouse {with no schoolroom}, the movers commented more than once that they had never moved anyone with so many books.   I tried to pare our library down a little but I have a very difficult time parting with books.  I want my own copy and I want it in the flesh and I don’t want to get rid of it.   Period.   It’s makes curriculum shopping my favorite activity of the year.   I want to use EVERY possible program and book.  I want to try My Father’s World and Tapesty of Grace and Sonlight and Calvert.    And I would except that I don’t want someone telling me exactly what to do because I want to decide what books we read and what passages we memorize and how long we spend on The Renaissance.   I want to be in charge of the books.

Hello Mr. UPS man, my name is Edie and I love books.

So this year we will continue on our classical homeschooling journey using a mish-mash, a hodge-podge of books and programs.  For my own teacher-training, I’ve been reading The Seven Laws of Teaching by Milton. I’ve gleaned a few pearls from it and it has reinforced some things I read in A Thomas Jefferson Education.

Namely, that you can’t teach anyone anything.

You can only motivate and inspire  them to learn.   I pray I’ll do more inspiring and less requiring this year.

My 8 and 9 year old are both doing 4th-ish grade and we’re in our third year of following the basic outline laid out in The Well-Trained Mind. I have tweaked our program every year to find what works perfect for us.  I finally feel like I kinda-sorta know what I’m doing.  Kinda.  Sorta.

Here’s what we’re using:

New for Us:

1.  Writing–Institute for Excellence in Writing by Andrew Pudewa

I bought the parent CD’s and am about half way through them.  I love this program already.  And I especially love that we will use the content for writing from our history and science and literature books, which will just enforce the things we’re already learning.   Although we don’t start our formal lessons until next week, we practiced the key word outline a few days ago and my reluctant writer said,  ”I love writing now mom.”   Wow.   I hope that continues.

2.  Apologia Science Exploring Creation

We tried out the Astronomy book last semester and loved it.   We’re doing chapter one of the Human Anatomy book (cell structure and function) and then moving on to Zoology I—Flying Creatures of the 5th day.   We also plan to memorize Psalm 104 which goes along well with the learning about God’s creation.

3.  Bible—A Bible History by Concordia Publishing House

We have previously used Veritas Press and have completed Genesis Through Joshua and the Life of Jesus.   This year we plan to do Judges through Malachi from the Bible History book and then memorize Luther’s small catechism for the Lord’s prayer.  We will listen together to teaching on the articles of the Lord’s Prayer beginning with the first petition on IssuesEtc.  We also will memorize the books of the Old Testament and possibly the baptism catechism.   In preparation for teaching my girls from this portion of the Old Testament, I’m working my way through this series of wonderful lectures from iTunes university.    For any christian interested in a Christ centered Old Testament class, this one is phenomenal and of course, you can listen at your leisure.   I highly recommend it.  You can find it by opening iTunes university {from the main menu of iTunes} and searching “Concordia Old Testament”.   It consists of video lectures that span Genesis to Malachi.

What we’re still using:

4.  Saxon 4/5

We have a few lessons to finish from book 3 and we’ve been working on flash cards for multiplication.  I bought the DIVE CD and hope my girls can learn to be a bit more independent with math.  Neither of my girls is math minded so we will continue to look for ways to make math come alive.   We’re currently accepting any and all suggestions.

5.  History–Story of the World 3  Early Modern Times

We have about 6 weeks of Story of the World 2 to finish beginning with The Reformation/Renaissance.   I love Story of the World.   Susan Wise Bauer inspires me and has been my constant companion during my homeschooling journey whether from her history books or her books on education.   I recently came across these set of videos from her own homeschool and they were so comforting to me.   She’s washing the dishes while she does dictation with her son or she’s making mac and cheese before she sends her teenagers off to rest time.    I know, amazing isn’t it?   She requires ‘rest’ time  even for her teens.   I consider her my mentor, my teacher—-the master of all things homeschooling—and her school doesn’t look that different from mine.    At least at a glance.  I really appreciated that look into her world.

6.  Grammar–Rod and Staff 4

We switched from Shurley Grammar to Rod and Staff during the middle of last year.   I like it so much better and I’m hoping that this new writing program will help apply more of what we’re learning.

7.  Memory Work

We will memorize:

A portion of Martin Luther’s speech at the Diet of Worms, A Bird Came Walking Down the Walk by Emily Dickinson,   There is No Frigate Like a Book by Emily Dickinson,  ‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson,   Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll (thank you Mrs. Brown),  Elizabeth I’s speech at Tilbury (thank you blog friend),  the preambles to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence ,  Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,  The Children’s Hour by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,  the presidents of the United States, a history catechism,  Psalm 104, portion of the Sermon on the Mount,  Luke 12:22-32.

We will also continue to review all the memory work from the past two years which is a quite a thick stack of poetry and scripture.

I’ve written about my thoughts on memory work and how important I think it is.   It’s also deeply gratifying to have some ‘tangible’ evidence of your learning.   There are so many benefits to memorization and it’s one of my favorite aspects of home schooling.

8.  Literature

Our curriculum is centered around history and we try to correlate some of our literature to that.    We will start this year by reading a biography on Martin Luther and a historical fiction work about the Mona Lisa (we’ll be studying daVinci first in art) called The Second Mrs. Giaconda.  Some of our other books include  The Princess and the Goblin, King of the Wind,  At the Back of the North Wind,  Just David, Stories of Don Quixote,  The Happy Prince and Other Tales,  The Enchanted Castle,  English Fairy Tales, poetry of George Herbert, The Witch of Blackbird Pond,  Johnny Tremain and excerpts from Paradise Lost.    I use Ambleside Online as a resource for good literature and have recently been visiting the Tapestry of Grace website to find additional classic literature.    We also will continue to read an abridged Shakespeare play per week by Charles and Mary Lamb and will also continue to work our way slowly through the unabridged Pilgrim’s Progress.   The girls will be reading books on their own during rest time and free time and having just finished the Harry Potter series, we’re starting the Chronicles of Narnia.  {we’ve never read them all in order.}   The Narnia series will be our leisure read-aloud which we tend to read while having breakfast, after lunch, and at bedtime.

The importance of literature and in particular reading aloud to children has been recently reinforced again.   In my prep for the writing course, I’ve heard Andrew Pudewa say several times that the single most important thing we can do for our kids is read aloud to them and to continue doing so long after they are old enough to read to themselves.     I hope to continue our habit of spending 2-3 hours a day reading various books and passages aloud.

9.  Languages

We are hoping and praying that we’ll have our wonderful Latin/Spanish tutor again this year, Mrs. Harms.   We used Latin for Children towards the end of the school year and will continue to do so.

10.  Fine Arts

The girls take about 7 hours of ballet instruction each week and will again be taking piano lessons.  We will be studying Chopin and Handel  in music history and Leonardo daVinci, Michealangelo and Rembrandt in art history.

11.  Spelling

We’ve been using Spelling Workout but I’m not sure it’s the right program for us.  I’ve been looking into Spelling Zoo and All About Spelling.  I think we need something more auditory.  For now, we’ll finish up our Spelling Workout books and try recording the words on a tape recorder and using that audio recording to help us practice the words.  Any thoughts?

Whew!  Now if we get through all that, it’ll be nothing short of a miracle.

Wish us luck, we start tomorrow!

If you homeschool and would like to share your curriculum resources or would like to find out what others are using, visit the Heart of the Matter blog hop or Angie at Bring the Rain.

Get out some paint or some clay or some crayons and create something.

We’re taking a few weeks off from ‘school’ but as I’m hoping to blur the lines between ‘school’ and  ’life’, we’re still busy learning.   One of my very favorite bloggers Meg introduced this wonderful art blog last week and I’ve been giddy ever since.   I find that my girls love art but we haven’t been as consistent with art lessons this year as I’d like.   We’ll use our ‘summer break’ to catch up on some wonderful techniques and projects.  So, Saturday, we learned about color wheels.

We watched this video and then drew and painted our own wheels.  It was simple and yet so much fun!  You should try it.

We also did a little body art (formerly known as face painting!)

Not too bad, if I do say so myself.   And trust me, I’m no artist.

2.  Get them wet!

Everything is better when water’s involved.  I’m like the 1950′s mom who gets her hair ‘set’ once a week and can never under any circumstance get it wet.  The truth is, I don’t have the kind of hair that just dries nicely and looks fine.  If the hair gets wet,  I either need a hat or a blow dryer.   So when my girls asked me,  ”Are you gonna get your hair wet this year?”   THis Year?   Is it really that bad?   So I promptly ran down to the dock with them and jumped in.   And then Steve and I swam with them to the neighbor’s double decker dock and jumped off the high dive.   The kids were ecstatic.    And I can still do a toe touch, btw.  Take that 40 year old body.

And we may have a new king of the dock!

3.  Go outside at night!

I listened to a talk given by Jay Ryan, a self taught classical astronomer who has made it his mission in life to get people outside, looking at the night sky.   The talk was incredibly interesting as he lamented the fact that classical astronomy hasn’t been taught as a subject in the US for nearly  a hundred years.   His website is great and lends some help to those of us who’d like to learn more but don’t know where to start.    Steve’s ipad app called Starwalker was also a lot of fun—it uses GPS to help you locate the constellations and planets.    In June, the star Regulus, which is the bottom right star of the Leo constellation is very visible just above the western horizon.    The moon is in crescent phase and just below and to the right of Regulus.   The constellation Gemini is visible to the right of Regulus and the Big Dipper and Arcturus are nearly overhead.    We (actually mostly Steve and I) spent the better part of the afternoon trying to teach ourselves some basic terms like ecliptic and zenith and nadir and zodiac.    We’ve started a little journal to help us remember the things we’ve seen.

I never learned any of this so I’m like a kid in a candy store.    Steve, who is a boy scout at heart, is helping me and learning some too.   The girls were a tad distracted (“it’s too hot”,  ”she’s touching me”) but they also enjoyed it

4.  READ READ READ.

Although late to the game, we joined our local library’s summer reading program.   It has motivated the girls to read certain books that I don’t think they’d have read otherwise.   They also enjoy the friendly competition with each other.   (“I read ten books today.  How many did you read?”)       We also enjoy reading together as much as ever.   We’re still in the Harry Potter series and are almost finished with book 6.   I think we may re-read the Narnia books next.   We try to read aloud for a while in the mornings and then whenever we can squeeze it in.    There is something about reading to them that centers them.    They stop bickering.    They calm down.   It’s almost like magic.    So, if they’re getting restless and I’m getting frustrated, we read.  It sets the world aright!

5.  Leave them alone.

Make sure they have plenty of time to just ‘be’.    Make them turn off the tv and put down the electronics and just play.    It’s amazing what kids will find to do when there is supposedly  ’nothing to do’.  My girls put on their swim caps and made up crazy songs about swim caps this weekend—using a hairbrush and the vacuum cleaner as the microphone;  but only after I banned the tv and told them to make up their own fun.    They can get lost for hours in make-believe play—but they can only do it if there are  hours to get lost in.    They don’t need expensive trips or toys to have fun.   But they do need time to themselves.

It may seem like the summer days are long but the days are gone before you know it and so are the kids.    I don’t want to wish it away.   I want to learn to savor it—every minute of it.   To enjoy the hustle and bustle of kids underfoot.   As mothers, these are the ‘neighbors’ God had in mind when he said,  ”Love your neighbor as yourself.”    Lord, keep us from being so preoccupied and busy that we forget that the little  ’neighbors’ under our care  are the most important ones of all.

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.

I don’t think I’ve ever attempted any harder task:  teaching my girls, facing my

own demons,  and  praying that

at end of the day, God fills in the gaps.

We’ve spent the better part of two afternoons in the craft room—-which always seems to cure our restless spirits.

We entered at 1:30, armed with patterns, fabrics and pins…….

and emerged at 3:30 with this dainty little spring number.

and we couldn’t resist the urge to brave the wet, chilly day

to dance around,  and kirtsy

and wish for spring.

I used McCall’s pattern # 5797 and found the fabric at Hobby Lobby.   We also made sock monkeys which, I have to say, are about the cutest things EVER! This could be a wonderful lazy, crafting, reading kind-of-a-weekend. Take that, January!

Thank you for your patience as Darcy and I fiddle with fonts and headers and such to make this new home for lifeingrace cozy.