First Day of School

This was our first week of the new school year.  It has been really good so far.  I usually buy lots of cheap school supplies while things are on sale in July, but since we started early I visited the dollar store for a few items for the first day of school.

Thankfully the girls were excited about school and everyone was dressed and ready early.  I think some of the excitement was looking at the new books and school supplies. :)  Yes, they get excited about those kinds of things like mommy! 

Hannah is always the first to get to the school table.  She  loves to come down and let the cat out of the basement and cuddle with him.  She also likes to look at her checked work and complete any corrections before the school day starts!  She is always finished first, and usually well done for the most part.  This is a good thing because it gives her time for reading books or painting pictures! Her favorite item was the new pencil sharpener.  This girls needs a sharp point to be happy!

Sarah is usually the last down, but she comes with a great smile! :)  She often finishes her breakfast at the school table.  I am so thankful I don't have to get this girl on the big yellow bus, because she would probably never eat before I shoved her out the door! LOL  She always gives her best effort though in school and is quick to help others when they need it!  She especially loved the stickers that I bought for the girls to decorate their school boxes.

Mary and Lydia's room is downstairs, so Mary had the first peek at the school supplies.  She was thrilled about everything, but especially about the gum! :)  Mary loves the reading selections in school.  She likes to get on my bed and snuggle with the cat to read her chapters.  I have already read most of her books with the older girls, but we are reading some new ones this year so I look forward to those too! 

Lydia was also happy to see the pile of new items and particularly excited about the little notebook and mechanical pencil.  She has carried it all around the house and invented reasons to write in it.  She loved that it was for her to write whatever she wanted!  Lydia cried a little when we threw away her Kindergarten papers, but she is looking forward to the books and pages she will complete in first grade.  So far her favorite is Aesop Fables because she gets to read it all by herself!

My favorite items were the new expandable folders I bought.  We call these the daily work folders.  There are pockets for the main subjects.  I put their extra paper and "morning work" in the front.  Then any work books or papers can be kept in the folder.  At the end of the day the girls turn the folder in to my check box.  This keeps all the papers neat and orderly.  Then any papers they need to correct I slip in the front pocket with the morning work worksheets.  On the occasion that I have a worksheet for them to complete I just put it in the folder the night before, so it is already handed out at the beginning of the day!

This is what it looks like inside.  In the front you can see the weather calendar that is the first page of the morning work.  There are seven pockets behind that.  You can see Sarah's green Spanish workbook in the pocket.  

Here it is closed.  Since these came from the dollar tree, I am not sure how long they will hold up.  They are much better though than the simple pocket folders we used last year.  They don't have to dig through the papers to find the one I want.  They know exactly which pocket to check.  Love, love, love it! :)

With All My Heart~

2012-2013 schedule

The Atkins Home School is definitely flexible.  We have started as late as September and as early as June (this year).  Our summer vacations have also varied.  At first we kept a more traditional school year, but then I realized that when we lived in FL, I would rather work through the summer in our AC house and be off in the late-fall, early-winter time!  This year our summer has only been two weeks long, but we have made the most of it!


I thought you might like to see what each girl will be studying this year. (If you want to know more about our curriculum choice, you can look here.)  I got my first taste of teaching 3 levels this past year, but K is pretty light.  This year Lydia will be doing a little bit more.  She is definitely ready!


Bible (Daily)
Y1 reads one page of her child's Bible daily to me.  This is very short, but she enjoys it.  Then she and Y4  will read Big Book of Questions and Answers about Jesus, by Sinclair Ferguson with me.  This simple 34 question catechism has suggested readings and activities for the week.  Y7 girls will read a chapter from their Bible and enter a favorite scripture or question or thought in their Bible notebooks. (These are not the same notebooks I spoke of in the previous post.)  We may discuss the chapter some weeks but mostly we will dialogue through the notebook.  This will be moving them to more independent study.


Bible History (One reading per week)
All will listen while I read aloud a story from Trial and Triumph, which is a book on the heroes and martyrs of the early church.  (This will probably be done as part of family worship since Daddy and Memaw like to learn church history too!)

Bible Devotional (One reading per week)
Y4 will read a short devotional passage to Y1 at bedtime.  The book we are using this year is The Little Girl's Treasury of Precious Things compiled by Annie Brooks.  This was given to Sarah by dear Mrs. Ruth from church.  The Y7 girls will be reading Raising Maidens of Virtue by Stacy McDonald.  This will be read and discussed with Mom, possibly at bedtime.


History
Year 1 -- early history, focusing on people rather than events.  I will read to Lydia one or two stories per week from the books An Island Story by H.E.Marshall and Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin. She may narrate if she likes.  We may put a picture or two on our timeline on the wall each week.
Year 4 -- 1700's up to the French Revolution and American Revolution.  Mary's main history book is This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall.  But as this will only have one reading per week, she will also be reading some historical fiction for the time period.  She will read Betsy Ross by Ann Weil, and The Will Northoway Series by Susan Olasky which has 4 books. These 5 books will be spread over the year. I will also read to her from George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster.  This is a wonderful book telling in story form about all the other major world events during the lifetime of George Washington.  She will be making a folding time line of the years this covers and placing photos of significant people and events on the timeline. We also buddy read one night per week an historical fiction book.  During the year we will read The Sign of the Beaver, Calico Captive, and The Reb and the Redcoats.
Year 7 -- 800-1400's Middle Ages.  This is the second pass (for a few major events it is the third) at this part of history for the oldest girls so hopefully some of what we have studied will be familiar to them.  We will be building on and adding to this previous learning! We started a Book of Centuries that year so it will be fun to look back at it and add to it or even redo it.  The girls will be using mostly historical fiction for history, but one book that will be used all year is The Birth of Britain by Winston Churchill.  This is the first volume of a 4 volume set.  It covers from Julius Caesar's conquering of Britain up to the discovery of the New World.  Along side this, we will be reading 2 books per term.  Many of these historical fiction books are from G.A. Henty since we love his books:  In the Days of Alfred the Great, The King's Shadow, In the Days of William the Conqueror, Winning His Spurs, In Freedom's Cause, The Daughter of Time, and Ten in Time (a great book written by a local author and given to me as a gift from my favorite teacher, Becky Hancock).


Geography (1-2 days per week)
Y1  will listen as I read to her from the book, Paddle to the Sea, in which "a young Indian boy carves a little canoe with a figure inside and names him Paddle-to-the-Sea. Paddle's journey, in text and pictures, through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean provides an excellent geographic and historical picture of the region."
Y4 will read Minn of the Mississippi by the same author about a turtle, Minn, as she travels downstream in the Mississippi. The big girls have read both of these and Mary "heard" them also but I wouldn't be surprised if they all want to listen in on it again.
Y7  On the AO page for Y7 are some links to maps for the time period.  The girl will be using these as we read about the events.  Also we are learning the countries of the seven continents.  So far we have completed North America (learning the 50 U.S. states also) and South America.  We will begin with Europe next since this is the region of the history they will be studying.  I am really enjoying this too!


Science/Nature Study (2-3 days per week)
All- 1 day per week we go outside (backyard, park, etc) and study something in nature).  The girls have these beautiful Nature Journals made by sweet Maralena and her daughter. 
 
Y1 will listen to Burgess Bird book stories and other animal stories (1 per week).  On the other days she can color a picture or look at picture books for the bird or animal.  The girls love to visit Wild Kratt's on the web.  We also had a subscription to Discovery: Scripture and Science for Kids.  I will probably read one story per week to Lydia from these.
Y4 AO recommends the Story Book of Science by J. Fabre.  We will probably read two stories a week. The older girls didn't use this in Y4 so they will join her for this.
Y7 Sarah received a chemistry set for last Christmas.  I have been terrible about helping her do the experiments.  We will be doing a couple each week until we have completed them. This will only be for the first term.  Following that we will use Rod and Staff Science as the spine for science.


Literature/Poetry/Shakespeare (1-3 days per week)
Y1  Lydia will read an Aesop Fable and narrate it.  Every three weeks we will read a Just So Story by Rudyard Kipling.  She will also read a phonic reader story to me from Pathway Readers.  For poetry, we will read together a poem from A Child's Garden of Verses by R.L.Stevenson.
Y4  Mary will listen to (librivox.org) and follow along with 2 chapters per week of Robinson Crusoe, Kidnapped, and The Incredible Journey (one book per 12 week term). 
 Y7 The girls will read a chapter a week from Ivanhoe for the first two terms and Little Men for the last term.
 Y4 & Y7 I have a copy work book for big girls which is mostly poetry so we will use this to combine poetry and copywork. 
ALL-  Also once a week they will all listen to a fairy tale from H.C.Anderson or a Shakespearean tale retold by the Lamb's. (This is one area I do not follow AO.  I do not care to use the actual plays at this point.) This will probably be at snack time.  Nothing like "tea time" and a short story! ;)


Grammar/Spelling/ Copywork (Daily work - 10 min. lessons)
Y1 Daily copywork - very simple word lists basically at this point.
Y4 Mary will listen to one chapter per week of Grammar Land and will complete the spelling Y4 from Rod and Staff. Weekly copy work poem as mentioned above. Mary will be beginning dictation this year slowly. 
Y7 The girls will complete spelling Y7 from Rod and Staff.  They will also do one or two days of grammar lessons from Rod and Staff. One day per week, they will have a poem for copy work and study it for dictation later in the week.


Math (30 minutes per day)
Y1 Lydia will continue working on Saxon 1 which we started in K.  We are working very slowly and using other workbooks and games to reinforce as we go along. I have some Saxon 2 pages that we may use to bridge between Saxon 1 and Rod and Staff 3.  
Y4  Mary will finish Rod and Staff 4 and begin Rod and Staff 5 at her own pace.  I don't rush math. We just work slow, steady and consistently.  
Y7  Hannah and Sarah will be finishing Saxon 76 and then will begin Saxon 87.  Again, I don't worry if we aren't finished with a book by the end of the year.  I like them to work at their own pace and master the concepts before we go on.


Foreign Language (20-30 minutes daily)
Y1 Lydia has her own Spanish workbook for next year.  She will also do many vocabulary games/flash cards with us as we continue to learn together.  We love the Salsa videos so we will be watching one per week again this year!
Y4 Mary also has her own Spanish workbook to work from.  She will do many of the games/flash cards with Mary as well as Salsa.
Y7 The biggest difference will be for the big girls to try a more formal approach with the middle school level spanish books I bought.  We will see how it goes.  I am still praying for a native/fluent speaker to help us with this.  Also the big girls will be completing Vocabulary Bridges (Latin and Greek Roots) from Trivium Pursuit.  I was able to get this download for free.  


Picture Study/ Artist  and Composer/Music (30 min weekly)
ALL - We have loved picture study for the last several years doing AO, but I really wanted something more this year.  We will still have a main artist for the term whose work will be displayed and discussed during the 2 weeks per term, but we will also use the book Discovering Great Artists to study about more than just 3 artists per year.  Likely we will do artists around the same time period as the main artist.  This is something we all do together as much as each one is able.
 Similarly, I enjoy the composer study as well, but wish to do more.  We love to listen to Classics4Kids for the composer for the term.  I also have been teaching the girls to read music and play piano.  This will continue and I plan to start teaching harmony singing for voice.  


Other school related activities are handicrafts (sewing, plastic canvas, etc.), typing, free reading, and home economics.


This will keep us very busy in the weeks to come!  We are looking forward to a great year!


With All My Heart~

Our Curriculum: A bit of why and how

We use AmblesideOnline for our curriculum.  It is founded on the principles of Charlotte Mason who was an educator in England at the turn of last century.  She ran a school called Ambleside.  I came across other CMers at Home School Blogger and was intrigued by the things they mentioned.  I am so thankful to have found this source.  I was doing a classical style education but finding some things weren't quite the right fit.  Finding AO has been the best for us.  I know God led me to it.

One of the reasons I felt drawn to CM is that all content areas are to be studied with story-type books versus a text book.  CM believed that one author who is passionate about the topic would create a much more accurate and interesting account of the material.  For this reason, most of school feels like reading time.  We might be reading from 6 to 7 books to complete history, science (nature in early years), literature, and even grammar!  This literature-based learning fits right up my alley and I think is especially suited to girls. (Though many CMers of boys have no complaints!)

One of the best things about CM is that young children learn to narrate the stories, which means they retell as much as they can remember of the story.  When they are young, the stories are very short so they can remember the details.  You also don't have them narrate for everything at first either.  You give them time to get used to that, but they still listen to the readings.  Lydia is already narrating events or stories without being asked.  She has heard the girls do it for a couple of years now so she just thinks it is natural.  The other day Mary was so excited to narrate about what she learned from a book called "If You Lived in Colonial Times", and as Lydia listened she was enthralled.  She asked me after, "Will I get to read that book too?"  Isn't it wonderful that she is already excited about reading this book!  Unlike curriculum where the child reads a portion and then answers questions, narration forces the child to organize the events in order and to recall important (to them) details.  This not only increases the likelihood that they will remember more of the presented information, but it also helps them to make their own connections to the material to discover what is helpful or needful to remember.

While narration is building their skills of organization and description like pre-writing, copy work is building the grammar base.  CM students spend time each day copying in their best handwriting quality words, sentences and eventually paragraphs.  Of course there are many options of quality writing.  Our girls often copy scripture they are working on for memorization or catechism questions which discuss answers to questions about God and the Bible.  Sometimes I have them spend time copying short classic poems, or portions of their reading that they really enjoyed.  Sometimes it is famous quotations from the people of the history they are studying.  In any case, the physical practice of spelling the words, placing the commas, capitalization of certain words and so on teaches many wonderful grammar lessons!  Think of it like the toddler who keeps walking around the same room over and over to build his muscles.  Or the preschooler who sings the same songs over and over to learn the sounds and the words.

So as the children continue to read (or listen to) quality literature, and copy quality writing, and narrate the information that has sparked interest in their minds, they are building muscles which will help them to become communicators, writers, logical thinkers, inventors and problem solvers.  I am still very early in this process, but I am starting to see the beginning of this in the older girls.  Hannah was reading a book for fun the other day.  I asked her if she was enjoying the story.  She said the ideas were pretty interesting but the writing was not very interesting as if it were written very simply for a little kid.  This book is about Rose Wilder the child of Laura Ingalls.  Rose never wrote about her life, but the author knew how so many loved the Little House books.  I am not saying he is a poor writer at all.  I have read the book.  But I know what Hannah meant.  Compared to some of the classic literature she reads for school, it is simple language.  I am glad to see that she can appreciate the more complex writing.  I related this to her own writings.  I mentioned that this is a good lesson for her to remember as she chooses her vocabulary or the way she writes things.

One of the other things I love about AO curriculum is that the recommended books are usually older classics that are so popular you can find them at most thrift stores or they are in the public domain so you can find them for FREE!  This is such a big help!  I try to carry the book list with me when I know I will be visiting a thrift store or yard sale, so I can pick up any I am still missing.  Any books I buy, I mark the AO year on the spine so we can tell at a glance to what year it belongs.  I have never had any of the girls whine about time to read the books.

AO has curriculum for up to year 11.  They have never done a 12 level because 8 through 11 is high school level anyway.  There is a yahoo chat group that is so helpful if you are using AO.  Actually there are several and I won't list them all here, but if you visit the link I put above, a link is given in the first paragraph of the curriculum page for the email support group!  I have gotten so many wonderful links, hints, and encouragement from these moms (and some dads!). I am not sure if I would have enjoyed this near as much without this group!

I have much more to say about AO curriculum, but I will leave this for now and see if anyone asks any questions.  I would be happy to update with those answers!

Most importantly, seek God and His guidance for your curriculum.  Don't just use what you can get from a friend, or what other homeschoolers are using, or even what looks easy.  Seek God and research to find the best fit for your teaching style and for your children to learn. Most of all you both need to be enjoying it.  Yes, we all have days when we think we can't do this, but if most of your days are happily spent teaching  and you see the fruit you desire from your labors, then thank God! :)  I do!

With All My Heart~

Why I think home educators should get more credit (tax credit, that is)!

Before you read this post, please know that I support public education for those who want and need it, though I may not support all individual programs of a school system.   I also support freedom of choice for those who don't want or need public education.  I have many dear friends who are public school teachers, and I joyfully substitute in our local schools, so this is not a reflection on their ability to educate the students.

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I love homeschooling.  The only thing I find frustrating about homeschooling is having enough money to buy the materials that I need or want. I found our current home school curricula because I was searching desperately online for a less expensive way to home school. I find this especially frustrating when I think about how much would be spent on my children if they went to PS.

New York state spends around $18,000 per student per year, and Utah "only" $6,000.  Here is one of the many articles I read on the cost of public education.  Just to make it easy, lets assume that it is $10,000 per child on average which is probably pretty close, will be easy to calculate,  and will certainly demonstrate my point!

I have 4 children (4 x 10,000) so per year the state would pay $40,000 to educate my children.  Did you see that number??  I could pay completely (with some left over) for a new van for the price to educate my children for one year.  





Okay if that isn't mind-boggling enough, let's see how much the state (taxpayers) would pay to educate my children for all 13 years.

 $40,000 x 13 = $520,000

WOW!  The state is going to spend over a half million dollars to educate my 4 children and my girls won't really be able to get more than a minimum wage job when finished.  I am not sure whether to laugh or cry.  I am just still reeling from thinking about all the money that the state must pay each year for all the kids in VA alone!

Okay, back to my little world. LOL
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One of the best all-in-one-box, Christian curricula that I have seen is Sonlight.  This program averages $800.00 per grade level. I would need to buy it each year for the oldest, but then I could reuse it mostly for the others only having to buy replacements for workbooks and such.

Let's assume I would spend an extra $200 per year following the first year to buy the consumable parts.  Let's just round up to $1000 per year for the entire 13 years of educating all 4 of my children using Sonlight.

$1,000 x 13 = 13,000

Did you see that?  I could buy 13 years of a read-set-go curricula for all of my children for the equivalent of a year and half in public school.  If the state would pay me for just one year what they would pay if my children went to public school, I could easily fund all the years my children will be home educated.

So what do families that sacrifice to stay home and educate their children get from the state or federal government?
 Tax credits?  No!
Vouchers?  No!
 A thank you?  Not even that.

Usually we get suspicious looks that we are abusing our kids or teaching them some harmful ideas.  Occasionally we get mild curiosity mixed with statements like, "I could never teach my kids." Or "Don't you think a qualified teacher would be better?" or "What about socialization? (which translates "Your kids won't know how to be normal because you don't let them in the real world.  As if a room filled with their peers and one adult is the real world, but I digress.") 

I have never had anyone thank me for taking on a job that they would have to shell out big bucks to do for me! 

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So on a modest single-income, we needed to find a way to afford the materials.  As much as I loved the looks of Sonlight or Veritas Press, I just couldn't swing the costs.  As I was searching, I found this wonderful site, AmblesideOnline and discovered that some other dedicated moms had been in the same situation.  They collected and organized these resources outlining a program for K-12th grade.  The charge?  $0.00  Nada!  Zilch!

Okay, nothing is free really, is it?  Here is the nitty gritty:
* you need internet to locate many of the resources they use, but most families have that anyway
*you need a computer to be on the internet
*most of the books are either in the public domain and therefore free to read from the internet (and now the Kindle or other e-readers) or they are classics that are easily found at thrift stores, book sales and especially at the library
*you must have the time to locate these resources
*math is separate though they do make recommendations

As I researched this site, I realized that it was very reasonable for us to use this each year.  Again, like other programs, my largest expenditure would be for the older girls materials that would be reused for the younger girls.  I am thankful to say that we have never spent more than $250 per year (not including internet service or computer replacement). 
 

 Not only were these materials affordable and lesson plans free, but the methods and style of a Charlotte Mason education were a wonderful fit for our family.  I will share more of this in a future post.

So do I wish that home school families would get a portion of the taxes collected for education? YES!    If anyone ever proposes a bill to give home school families a tax credit for expenses incurred homeschooling, I will vote for it! :)


But I am okay without it too.  I know God will continue to supply our needs!

With All My Heart~

Did you notice the new reaction buttons?  You can respond without actually leaving a message.  :) 

Artist Study: DaVinci style sketching

This term (12 weeks) we have been looking at the art work of Leonardo DaVinci.  I was looking on line for something to do with this and came across this site.  I have skimmed over the biography with them, but mostly we have enjoyed trying the techniques mentioned.  In today's lesson we were using the technique of drawing bubbles to practice the shapes of animals.  The girls were reluctant to use them, but I think it did help them to pre-plan their drawings.  We were using photos and drawings of animals from some science magazines we have.  You can click on any picture to see them all a bit bigger!  Many times I  have skipped art or composer study because I felt like it was extra, but these are the lessons the girls really love.  I have decided to take at least 20 minutes and do at least something.  Then I find that they do more on their own free time with it!

Here is Lydia's bee.  I love that she was so excited to do this insect!  We have been studying the parts of flowers and pollination so we have watched some videos with bees.

This one is a little harder to see.  Mary was drawing from an illustration of a triceratops.  She really enjoyed doing the circles more than the detailed drawing.

Sarah loves bears so she chose this polar bear.  She named it after her webkinz polar bear, Frostie!

Here is Hannah's kangaroo.  She was really reluctant to do the circles, but I think she did a great job with them!

Trying to be a good example.  Here is my drawing.  I chose the giraffe and the picture I used was a close up of the head.

We all had a good time.  Not sure if the girls will use this technique on their own or not.

A Weekly Review

What I'm Learning: Spanish! I really want to move us past our preschool level Spanish.  It is really hard without a fluent speaker/teacher.  I am praying for God to provide a friend with that gift!

These are the books for Grade 1,4, and 7 next year!

What I'm Reading: Mostly books to prepare for next school year.  We are finished with this year on June 1st but we are starting next year with only a week break.  If I am going to continue subbing (and I think that is all I can really handle, not full time) then I want to teach now, while I know I can't work.  Then this fall when public school is back in session the girls will have their "summer" schedule.  Reading and computer math games with lots of time for pool and play.

What I'm Listening to: I just downloaded a free ESV version of the New Testament.  I am  looking forward to listening to it during my workouts.  We are also listening to a lot of Bach since he is the composer for the last few weeks of this year.

What I'm Eating: I am still enjoying a no sugar, no wheat diet with lots of fresh lettuce from our garden.  I am also nearly finished with my stash of diet soda.  I am weaning myself off again!  Since I will have the freedom to go to the bathroom as needed for the next several months, I am really trying to increase my water consumption again!

What I'm Looking Forward To:  Memaw Rose comes home Monday! I have missed her cooking, my gym buddy, and all the love and laughter she brings to our house.  This has been a long month without her!  Papa Jim comes for a visit also!  Graduation for some handsome nephews and a wedding for a sweet cousin are also happy occasions we are celebrating!


What I'm Laughing About: The cutest thing Lydia said recently occurred while we were taking a family walk while visiting Mamaw Daisy in Culpeper.  The girls were a bit ahead of us and heading to an opening in the woods.  Alpheus called out a warning for them to come out in case of snakes and such.  As we neared the spot, Lydia said in an excited voice, "Come on sisters!  This place may be a boo-boo trap."  I am still giggling!

 

What I'm Thankful For: My loving husband, our wonderful family and friends, and our many blessings of course.  On smaller note, the wonderful "new" shelf my talented carpenter husband built for the entertainment center that is now the home of the Atkins school curriculum! (pictured above)  And for the music stand on my piano that some how was lost in our move 4 years ago.  We looked online but you can find that accessory any more.  Wood painted black looks great!
 

What I'm doing for a Workout: Outdoor laundry is adding some lifting and hauling to my routine! :)  Enjoying the track and stationary bike still!  I need to add more weights!

What I'm Excited About:Birthday Bowling Party for my sweet sister, Leah who is turning 39 again! :)  Friday is a great day this week!  Bowling/pizza and then playing music at Due South followed by BBQ!

What's been working for us: 1) Spanish - this website: http://www.123teachme.com/learn_spanish/beginner/    2) Hannah cooking lunch for us!  :)  3) Work folders for each girl's lose leaf work.  You would not think that in a home school papers can get lost, but they DO!  These work folders have helped and the girls love opening them each day to see what has been graded and if they have any special notes or papers for fun!

What I'm Praying About: Salvation for my unsaved children. Growth of our church.  Self-discipline.

With All My Heart~

2012 Changes Update

I mentioned back in January that there would be some changes in my life and our home for 2012. 

I have wanted to be more committed to reading my Bible in the morning.  My morning devotions have been so helpful.  Having the time to pray and talk with God before I start my day is so important.  I have to admit that the last couple of years, I have enjoyed sleeping in until the girls were awake.  Then it is just too difficult to have quiet time.  We pray and study the Bible together, but it isn't the same as private prayer and study time.  I am so thankful to be developing the habit of getting up early. 

Another change I mentioned was going back to work.  Most of you know that I have been working as a substitute teacher for Montgomery County.  Since I was officially listed last week, I haven't had a day off.  I am thankful for the work, but it has been challenging!  First of all, most of the jobs have come in the morning of, or the night before, and so I am stressed waiting.  Also, the jobs are in grade levels I haven't worked with in the public school.  I am thankful for my experience working with my own children as a homeschool mom since it gives me an idea of the abilities of younger children.  This past week I have worked as a 1st grade teacher in one class, a 3rd grade teacher for 3 different teachers, and a special education teacher working with 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders.  This time has really made me appreciate the elementary grade student and I may seek to recertify in elementary, as well as middle, if that is possible.

One of the greatest challenges has been endurance.  For the last ten years I have gotten spoiled for sitting with my children as we did school.  You just can't sit when you need to check the progess of 20 students.  Needless to say I have only made it to the gym one day this week and even then I was pretty low key - no jogging for this tired girl! 

Even greater than the challenge of long hours on my feet, has been the challenge of missing my girls.  For the last 3,650+ days my time was spent with them ALL of the time.  I find myself comparing likenesses and differences between my children and my students.  Also I find myself mentioning my girls quite a bit!  Today one student was amazed that I had four children.  He said, "My mom would think that is too many!"  I told him that for some people that may be true, but not for me!  I love coming home and getting welcome hugs from the girls. :)

This new schedule has certainly made home schooling different.  I try to give the girls all my attention after I return home before they go to bed.  It is hard because I am so tired, but it is so worth it.  I still need to hear about each ones day and listen to their narrations of their readings, or answer questions about math problems that stumped them, or just enjoy as we go to the park to fly kites!

Yes, literally we flew kites.  Today, after I got home from PS, I changed clothes and took the girls to the park.  It was still in the the upper 50's and quite windy.  I was tired, but I had promised the girls that we would go.  I didn't want to fool with the kites, but they had been waiting for a windy, and not rainy day, like today.  I knew that I needed to do this with them.  Not that I have to give in and do anything they ask, out of guilt for being gone all day.  But I did need to not let my selfish desires (for a nap, mostly) disappoint them.  They had worked hard also. 

So we are all adjusting and thankfully it is going pretty well.  Again, I am SO thankful to Rose.  We could not do this without her and she is doing a great job!

As for the challenge to lose weight. I lost TWO pounds this week! WooHoo! :)  I am not drinking the water I want, because I can't just run to the bathroom anytime at school, but I have kept to my nutrition goals and have fought temptations of being stressed and wanting to use food for comfort!

I am thankful for the changes and how everyone has been able to handle it so far.  I trust God to continue to lead us through this year!

With All My Heart~

Atkins Homeschool, Term 3

We are two-thirds finished with our school year as of this week!  It is amazing how quickly it seems to go and also how much we accomplish by the end of the the term.

We have a week off and then we will begin our last term of 12 weeks.  We are going to visit family and play lots of Mexican Train this week!  We also have a Valentines party at church planned.  The kids are going to enjoy sweets and a movie.  This is one we bought for the girls for Christmas and it is really cute and a powerful message at the same time!

We are also going to hit the gym each day!  It has been more miss than hit lately since it has actually been cold and still trying to get my energy back.  Feeling so much better each day so I am thankful!

So when we start back this is what is coming up in school!  (Don't worry, if looking at school plans is not your thing, just scroll down for the last picture of the cutie pies! ;)

Y6
Bible - Finish Hinds Feet on High Places
            Daniel  1-6; Esther 1-9; Nehemiah 1-13
Geography - Canada and Mexico  (Rod and Staff)
History - Story of the Romans by H.A. Gruerber
                Julius Caesar by John Abbot (librivox)
Biography - Along Came Galileo
Literature - Cleopatra VII
                   Black Ships Before Troy
                   The Bronze Bow
                   Poetry and Shakespear
Science - Light, Electricity, and Plants
Spelling/Vocabulary - Wordly Wise Book 5
Grammar - Rod and Staff English
Math - Saxon 76
Spanish - Salsa; workbooks, Poco y poco
Greek - Basic Greek Workbook by Jim Found ( baby steps)
Art Study - Leonardo DaVinci
Composer Study - Felix Mendelsshon
Piano Lessons

Y3
Bible - Finish The Hard Boiled Egg and other devotional stories
            Daniel 1-6; Esther 1-9; Nehemiah 1-13
Geography - Canada and Mexico (Rod and Staff)
History - This Country of Ours by H.E.Marshall
                Our Island Story by H.E. Marshall
Biography - DaVinci and Michelangelo
Literature - Little House in the Big Woods by L.I. Wilder
                   Wheel on the School by Meindert De Jong
                   The Heroes (Theseus)
                   American Tall Tale (Pecos Bill, John Henry, Paul Bunyan)
Science - Light, Electricity, and Plants
Spelling/Vocabulary - Wordly Wise Book 4
Math - Rod & Staff 4
Spanish - Salsa; workbooks, Poco y poco
Greek - Basic Greek Workbook by Jim Found ( baby steps)
Art Study - Leonardo DaVinci
Composer Study - Felix Mendelsshon
Piano Lessons

Mary and Lydia "sleeping" in their beds.  We have a new arrangement.  They sleep on the far bed as you see here.  That way one doesn't have to crawl over the other to get out.  And they enjoy just sitting on the open bed.  This is only temporary though because for Lydia's 5th birthday she gets to move to the top bunk.  Well, as soon as Daddy can build a better safety rail for this rambunctious girl!  I think that Hannah and Sarah will be doing something similar when this becomes their room in a couple of weeks.

Playing frisbee with Daddy.  Look at the windup on that throw! :)

I think they were having fun!

We take our throws seriously around here!

Once they let Minnie out to play, the girls were left in the dust.  Minnie is much better at catching a frisbee!  Look at that little doggy go! :) 

Well, here is one place Minnie couldn't retrieve the frisbee.  I don't know who tossed it up there, but all the girls had fun climbing the ladder to sit on top of the shed for a minute! :)

Lydia loved it.  She was crying thinking she wouldn't get a chance.  She really has no fear.  Yikes!

All these girls definitely got their climbing gene from Daddy!

Now this one definitely shares the same gene as me.  She was nervous about going up the ladder, but she overcame and went up anyway.  Then she came down and felt bad because she didn't actually get up on the roof. 

Here she is sitting at the very top!  She was so proud of herself.  Then came time to come down.  That was hard.  That first step back around the ladder is a doozy! LOL

Here are the girls celebrating Valentines a little early on their Daddy Date night.  They love their Daddy and the fun they have with him.  The other day Lydia thought Memaw and I were going to the gym and leaving the girls here.  She said, "Hurry up and leave."  When Memaw asked her why, she said that she wanted to have some fun with Daddy.  :)

With All My Heart~

Art Day with Homeschool Advantages

I love art days!  I still find it very theraputic to color pictures with my children.  I also love watching my girls create their own art pieces.  I never was very crafty as a child.  I laugh at what I used to think were good drawings from my childhood.  My children have far exceeded me!  I think there are some basic reasons why, and they are directly related to homeschooling.

Variety is the spice of art class!
First of all, my only experience, other than coloring at home, was all done at school.  School projects tend to be cookie cutter projects where everyone uses the same materials and ends up with a product very similar to everyone elses.  This kind of art is not bad, and even in homeschool I tend to teach this way myself.  I am just saying that at school students were not allowed much room for personal preferences. 

We have an "art dresser" where a multitude of art supplies, from pastels, paints, play dough, foam, tissue paper, glitter, yarn and so on are stored. The girls know that during free time they are allowed to use these materials as long as they stay at the school table and clean up their own mess.  So many days I will find various  art pieces in stages of process. This allows the children to practice using different mediums and their imaginations.

Non-judgmental appreciation of anyone's work!
I don't think that teachers in school intended for anyone's work to be ridiculed, but kids are kids.  Unless it is made very clear and enforced children naturally compare to find the "best" one.  This leaves the rest of us who aren't very crafty to feel deflated when we look at the other  people's work and hear unkind comments.  This then leads to less effort in the future, for we have now learned that we are not very artistic.  I have tried to teach the girls that art comes in many different forms and shouldn't really be compared.  We relate it to food tastes.  Just because Daddy hates peas doesn't mean that the girls should not like peas, and just because Mommy loves peas doesn't mean all the girls have to love them too.  We can each share our personal tastes.  We have studied a variety of paintings by famous artists.  I have shared with the girls that I don't care for Jackson Pollock, but obviously many people did.  I like more realistic paintings, but can still appreciate a Van Gogh or Monet.  So the girls are learning to enjoy art more for the experience than attaining some level of praise.  This has made art less scary for those who are sensitive to criticism.  And really, who isn't?

Opportunity increases interest!
I remember the few art projects that we did in elementary and middle school.  I remember them because they were very rare.  It is understandable, if you have 20 students!  I look at the mess we create in twenty short minutes with just 4 little girls!  Art is messy and time consuming and this significantly decreases its likelihood of being done in a school setting.  At home we have more time for clean up. Also we can postpone clean up if we want to leave a project out for a few days.  This is not typically possible in a school setting because you either have other subjects that must be covered in the area so you have to clean up, or you have other kids coming in and it would be to chaotic to leave out every classes' works in progress.

Now I certainly hope you aren't looking for some master pieces of art here as I share our creations from today's art time.  I am not claiming that homeschool art makes master pieces.  Only that each of my girls reaches a higher level of creativity and happiness than I ever did in art class.  I am so glad to share this time with them and see their creativity.  Hannah, being the oldest and most naturally inclined to all things artsy, is a natural leader in our art class.  The younger girls often look to her work for inspiration and technique.  But they also go out on their own as you will see by the samples today.

We are using an Evan-Moor art book that my dear friend, Maralena, gave me years ago. 

We have done it each year in Kindergarten so this is our third time using it.  The big girls don't have to participate but they always do.  Hannah even said today, "Mom, I feel like I am back in elementary school again!"  This from a 6th grader who has always schooled at home! LOL  For two weeks we have been studying the habits and characterisitics of caterpillars.  Last week Lydia drew a caterpillar in her art/nature journal. 

Here is one of all the girls and their creations after we had cleaned up! :)

Here is Hannah's creation. 

Hannah added the legs holding the leaf to her caterpillar.  We used an egg carton cut apart for the bodies.  The girls had pipe cleaners, pom poms, markers, googly eyes and glitter among their selection for decorating.

Here is Sarah's creation.

Sarah was the first to cut the pipe cleaners into small little spikes for the body of her caterpillar.  We had the book out for inspiration and there are many caterpillars with spikes on their bodies.  There is even one that appears to be furry with fake spidery legs as one of its defenses!

Here is Mary's creation.

I love the big pom-pom tail on this one!  So cute!  I didn't really see one like this in the book, but isn't it great that she used her imagination and had fun!  She used markers to color along the side which you can't really see here.  I love the pipe cleaner smile! :)  Mary had used a popsicle and piece of paper to make a sign to be held by the caterpillar.  It said, "I love caterpillars!"  I am not sure why she didn't want it in the picture though.

Lydia made this one especially for Memaw!

Lydia loved the pom pom idea and I tried to show the little pom poms she put between the body joints!  She used quite a bit of silver glitter, but it isn't showing up well in my photo.  She also loved to tell me about using patterns in her design. 

I wish I had pictures of the caterpillars from years past.  I have learned so much about letting them do their own work and giving them more materials for working!  But they were still cute to me then!:)

Now you may be thinking, "Wait, these all look the same to me."  Yes, they are all made with similar materials, but only because the girls tended to copy from each others good ideas.  The point is to give them the most options and then let them do what they like.

So if you homeschool and art isn't part of your week, because you were like me and didn't think art was your thing: Give it a try this way!  Your kids will thank you for it!

If your children go to another place for school, even if they have art classes:  Provide the material and time for kids to explore at home too.  Your kids will thank you for it!

With All My Heart~

Catching Up...

*  I hope my good blogger friend, justgottalaugh, doesn't mind if I borrow her outline for a quick update post!  I thought this might be a great way to catch up since it has nearly been a month since I posted.


What I'm Learning: Still working on learning to play piano.  A dear pianist at our former church bought me an electric piano with weighted keys and a full keyboard.  I already know how to read music from choir and playing clarinet.  I just need to teach my brain to read two staffs at once.  That is the hard part!


What I'm Reading: When I was immobile for over a week, I read about 10 books.  I really enjoyed that time.  Now I am back to mostly trying to keep up with the girls' school readings and lesson planning.  Right now I am enjoying  The Story of the Greeks and Animal Farm.  These are two I have never read before.  Some of the Greek stories have led to some great discussions of the Bible and man's depravity so this has been really enjoyable.  I don't have a final opinion yet of the Wells novel yet.  So far I have to say I am not that impressed with the allegory, but maybe I am not familiar enough with the details of life during postWWII Europe/Asia.


To What I'm Listening : Christmas music of course!  Also bells are ringing at my house regularly as we are practicing for our church Christmas program with the children!  Also, Lydia is reading and I am loving the sound of that!  Btw, if any of you regular readers remember that she has struggled since she began talking to be understandable, she has really come along this last year.  Nearly all her pronunciatons are correct now except for her L-blends and R-blends.  That is a praise!


What I'm Eating: Well for the first two weeks after breaking my ankle, I ate whatever my dear Rose brought down to me!  She was my personal Jenny Craig and I lost 5 pounds!  Now that I can walk the stairs and have been celebrating Thanksgiving and my birthday, I have indulged of course!  This Monday it is back to the ELF diet! :)  I can't wait until I can get back to the gym and the pool!


What I'm doing for a Workout: Walking anywhere is my work out right now.  Standing for any length of time to do anything is a workout as well. 


To What I'm Looking Forward: Other than Christmas, we have our oldest daughter turning 12 on the 8th and daughter #2 turning 11 on the 13th!  Also, we are all excited that this is the final week of school before our Christmas/winter break.  We will be off from the 10th of December until the 8th of January!!!  We will have completed 18 weeks which is half the year!


What I'm Laughing About: My children and husband help me to laugh daily, but nothing specific comes to mind just now.


What I'm Thankful For: God blessed me with 40 wonderful years of life already.  I have the husband of my dreams and 4 beautiful girls.  My extended family, church family and friends have truly blessed me all my life.  I have the privilege to stay home and teach and learn with my own children.  Just some examples of God's mercy and grace in my life!


What's been working for us: Memaw Rose gave the girls her old laptop.  Kind of funny because my DH bought it, then gave it to a friend, who then gave it to his son, who then gave it to Memaw Rose, who now lives with us, and gave it to the girls when I gave her mine (because she needed wifi built in and I didn't really use it, and it was also DH's old one).  Did you catch the irony in all of that?  Anyway, it is old enough to run the girls favorite CD game:  Carmen Sandiego Think!  They love this quiz game and I love hearing them celebrate when they know the answer because of something we studied recently in school.  Over Thanksgiving they answered questions on constellations, music, art, history, etc from just this year's lessons!  It is also something they can all play together.  I love to see them huddled around working together to answer the questions or break the codes.


What I'm Praying About: For the family of a dear lady in our church who is leaving this earthly body tonight (more than likely).  Praying for her family to be drawn to God which is her greatest desire and final wish!  For God to use DH, our family and our church for His Glory!  Thank you for praying with me! :)
 
With All My Heart~

Moving my blog

For several years now, I have been been blogging on homeschool blogger. I loved the community of people and wanted a place to record our homeschool experience. However now, I see that blogger is so much easier to use. I have been wondering if I should move over for a while now. One reason I hesitate is that I don't know how to do it easily so it would take a while. I also had a friend (Jessica from Trivium Academy) do my design. I hate to part with that and I have no idea how to transfer it here, if it is even possible. The reasons I would move it are: easier to use, adding photos is a breeze, and comment moderation which is not offered at HSblogger. So I am still debating. For now I may post the same post twice at both locations.

So this first post is a double and it is a follow up to my new school calendar plan. The plan is to do six weeks of school and then take a week off until we have completed the 36 weeks in our Ambleside Online curriculum. (Also I mention other odds and ends.)

Things don't always go as planned. It seems that every time we stop for a week it takes us another week to really get going again. This past break we had company come and really that shouldn't have made us get off track. I suppose I have been slow to start this week because I felt like I had no break. I had a wonderful week with them and really enjoyed the visit. (Almost had them talked into an extension! That is all of us when they had to leave.) Yet for some reason I am having a hard time getting motivated to start again. I did manage to get some in today but not as much as I had planned. So I am not sure how this plan will go. I am going to try to catch us up on this week in the next two days and hopefully next week I will be more motivated.

What else? Things are going well at church. We have a few more people attending and a new Sunday school class has been started. We are planning a baptism in a few weeks. So we are thankful for that. The girls really enjoyed when Memaw was their Sunday school teacher, too. Our band, Alleghany Strings, played for a Senior's dinner last weekend. It was a small event but it was a very joyful time. I have a new autoharp too, thanks to God. A friend of dh's mother learned that I was playing and gave me an old one they had. It is a very good quality autoharp; Oscar Schmidt 21 chord. These can run over 200 dollars on Ebay sold as is. I hope we can afford new strings for it soon. It has been stored for a while and needs some TLC, but still it does sound fine as is. I love that I have more chords so I can play on all the songs the band is learning.

Our baby girl is really getting big! She is finally learning to pronounce more words, especially the initial consonant sounds for which I am so grateful! Now I don't have to wonder if "up" is cup or up or pup and so forth. She really blossomed the week our Florida Grandparents were here and I was so glad they were here to experience it. Maybe it helped having more adults who encouraged her to say things correctly. The girls are bad to just know what she means and leave it at that. It is kind of comical to hear them play twenty questions with her just to figure out what she is saying.

Now is my favorite time of the year and the girls and I have really enjoyed whenever we go driving. We each love to point out the next colorful tree. The mountains are splendid. It is the one time of year that the Blue Ridge mountains don't live up to their name. We are traveling to West Virginia on Friday for a one night visit with my aunt Edie. We are all looking forward to the views, be we will be prepared for any unpleasant car sickness those roads sometimes bring on.

Now I am off to prepare lessons and write my to do list on the school board. Maybe we will all be more motivated to get through it!

Blessings, Eva .