Truman’s Aunt Farm

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Last week we had fun with Truman’s Aunt Farm by Jama Kim Rattigan.  It’s the story of a little boy who hopes to get ants for an ant farm for his birthday but ends up getting aunts instead.  It’s a cute story that easily lends itself to several lessons.  Ian especially liked it because a friend gave us an ant farm a while back, though our ants haven’t built any spectacular tunnels.  (I think it was older and the gel had hardened a little too much for the ants to dig easily.)  Still, our children have all enjoyed getting to observe the ants up close.

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We expanded on the activities in the Five in a Row (Vol. 3) manual a bit.  The most obvious lesson to go along with this book is teaching homophones, words that sound alike but have different meanings.  (The manual refers to them as homonyms, but I was taught that homonyms are also spelled the same, whereas homophones are spelled differently.  In trying to verify which term was correct, I looked both words up in several dictionaries.  Some agreed with my memory.  Others said either term could describe words spelled differently.  I chose to go with what I was taught.)

homophonesI introduced this concept before we even read the book for the first time, pointing out the spelling of “ant” and “aunt” so that Ian could understand the mix-up and why it made the story funny.  Afterword I went through a homophone worksheet with him, helping him choose the correct word for each situation.  Since we are just starting to work on spelling, it was a good introduction to the idea that two different spelling combinations can be used to make the same sounds.  Later that day we also watched several videos on YouTube that featured the idea of homophones: a segment from Between the Lions, “homophone monkey,” and a clip from VeggieTales.  As a follow up on another day we read The King Who Rained by Fred Gwynne.  (Other fun books that feature wordplay with homophones/homonyms are A Chocolate Moose for Dinner by Fred Gwynne, Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones by Gene Barretta, and How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear? by Brian P. Cleary.)

I decided this was also a good time to introduce letter writing.  I told Ian that Truman wrote to his aunt, but he could write to anyone he chose.  He immediately decided to write to his cousins.  I gave him a basic “form” to copy for writing a friendly letter and then let him write the body of it on his own.  His mind started thinking faster than he could write down the words, so he left out several letters.  I just wrote in the complete words above so his cousins would be able to read it, and then we put it in an envelope, addressed it together, put on a stamp and got it off in the mail.

Truman

This tied in with the lesson from the manual about stamps.  I chose to expand on that by showing the boys our family’s stamp collections.  (Both my husband and I were philatelists in our younger days.)  I’d forgotten how fascinating it could be looking through the pages of old stamps.  This hobby taught me so much about history as a child.  I wasn’t sure the boys would appreciate them yet, but they really enjoyed looking at the variety of stamps, especially several that were over a hundred years old.

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Finally we had fun singing “The Ants Go Marching.”  (I thought it was funny that Ian recognized the song as being a spoof on “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.”  I remember thinking it was the other way around when I was a kid.)  There are several videos of the song on YouTube, but here was my favorite.  If we row this book again when my other kids are older, I think it would be fun to have the whole family help illustrate the song substituting “aunts” in the lyrics but that seemed overly ambitious this time around.

Another fun week with Five in a Row!

To see what other FIAR books we’ve rowed, see my “Index of FIAR Posts.”  Also, a great place to see what other people have done with FIAR books is the FIAR Blog Roll at Delightful Learning.

Posted in FIAR, Kindergarten, Literature Units, Preschool

More of You, Less of me

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I’m struggling.  I haven’t been able to quiet get my finger on the problem, but I know it’s there.

It manifests itself in the dirty house I’ve neglected, the extra time spent online doing absolutely nothing, the dissatisfaction that sends me to old vices, and the frustration I’ve been feeling toward my children way too often.

And so I keep coming back to my “Word for 2014“.

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I bring my struggle to the Lord.  Over and over.  My heart’s deepest cry is, “More of You!  Less of me!”  My weaknesses seem overwhelming.  I cannot do this on my own.

Today He whispered back, “My grace is sufficient.”

I dried my tears, looked up those words, and took a deep breath.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

I know I’m not the only one out there feeling this way.  Whether it’s being halfway through the homeschool year, trying to mother lots of little ones, keeping up with housework, or much more serious issues causing you to feel like you’re floundering, the message in the same.  Lean on Him.  Your weakness does not mean failure; it is a place for Christ’s power to come and rest.

If I could reach out and give you a hug, I would.  But since I can’t, just know that I’m praying for you too as I week at His feet.  You’re not alone.

heart photo: heart heart.jpg

Posted in Our Vision, Personal

Clash of the Learning Styles (Our Daily Math Battle)

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mathSome of us on the Crew are sharing about “the subject I struggle teaching most.”  I’m guessing that more people will say “math” than any other subject. (Okay, science came in pretty high too!)  Personally, I always thought I hated math as a child, but really it was just that I hated the way it was taught.  Now my greatest struggle in homeschooling is trying to avoid a similar experience for my son.  Math actually came really easily to me when I was young, and I got good grades without really having to work at it at all.  The reason I hated it (or thought I did) was that I was in a class full of other kids who needed a little more time catch on to what we were doing.  I’d get so bored waiting around for them, I lost the joy of playing with numbers.  In reality, I loved figuring out math problems and marveling over how the numbers worked.  I just longed to go at my own pace.

When I was sharing this with my husband, he said he had always wished the same thing, but for the opposite reason.  Things didn’t “click” instantly for him.  He worked hard to understand new concepts, and then he wanted to spend a few days lingering there, enjoying the satisfaction of seeing it all work out perfectly.  Instead, he had to rush ahead with the rest of the class because of people like me who were bored stiff and ready to move on.

Oh, the luxury of homeschooling!  We can go at whatever pace works best for our children.  I was really excited when Ian got old enough to start working with numbers and going through a math curriculum.  However, I wrestle continually with setting aside my own learning style and trying to work with his.

Math itself was fun for me as a child.  I got it.  Ian does not, at least not without some time and serious brain energy.  He is his daddy’s boy.

How do you explain something that seems completely obvious to your own mind?  This is my recurring frustration.  My bewilderment is increased by the fact that Ian’s grasp of certain concepts fluctuates from day to day.  One day we might cruise through a set of addition problems.  The next day I ask him, “What’s 4+1?” and he stares at me blankly before guessing, “4?”  And I’m so befuddled by how he could possibly come up with such an irrational answer that I start to push him too hard, which then gets him as frustrated as I am and one (or both) of us ends up in tears.

Am I the only one who has math days like this?

Surely not.

I do math in my head.  I always hated wasting time showing a problem when I could tell you the answer without bothering.  That isn’t how Ian’s brain works though.

There’s a scene in the movie The Mirror Has Two Faces where a professor is trying to help one of her colleagues become a better teacher.  After watching him fill up a board full of numbers, explaining them all with his back to the class, she critiques him, saying, “It’s like you’re having a math party and you only invited yourself.”  He was great at understanding math, but not so good at helping others understand.

I still love the way numbers work, but I try really hard not to turn our lesson into my own personal “math party.”  I am learning (and have to continually remind myself) to keep math as conceptual as possible, using manipulatives and real world situations to be sure Ian is really getting it.  No skipping steps.  No rushing through.  Each part of the problem needs to be laid out in a way he can see and touch.

math

I have also recently discovered an unbiased arbitrator that helps preserve our relationship: the timer.  It is the peacemaker in our schoolroom.  We’re currently reviewing a spelling program that has us set a timer for 10 minutes to get through a certain part of the lesson and then consider the page completed.  The technique worked so well for Ian that I tried implementing it during our math time as well.  I was amazed at how it affected his attitude as we worked through the lesson.  Knowing he was not going to be stuck at the table until the page was finished freed him to actually enjoy working through the problems we did do.  And that’s what I really want for him.  I want him to not only understand but appreciate the beauty of mathematics.  I want math to lead him to marvel at the God who has created the world of numbers.  Is it too much to ask that a math lesson be an act of worship?  I don’t think so.

And so I will continue to persist in the struggle, which is not so much against math but against myself and the desire to do things “my” way.

How about you?  What subject do you struggle teaching most?  You’re probably not alone.  Click on the picture below to see what others members of the Crew are writing about and be encouraged!

Subject Struggle

Posted in Kindergarten

Long Story Short: David and Goliath

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David and Goliath

The two armies (and their champions) face off under Ian’s watchful eye.

It’s been a while since I posted anything about our journey through Long Story Short by Marty Machowski, but we had so much fun with David and Goliath recently that I thought I’d post about it.  There are lots of ideas floating around online for preschool lessons to go along with the story (like my previous post from the last time we covered it), but not so many for elementary age kids.  This time around I tried not to repeat everything we’d done before.  We did pull out some of our favorite activities (like painting a life-sized Goliath) though, while still adding a few new ones Ian wasn’t ready for before.  Our discussion was also a little deeper this time, since Long Story Short shows how every story points to Jesus.  Just as God used David to help Israel achieve a seemingly impossibly victory against an overpowering enemy, He also used Christ to conquer sin and death, something we could never accomplish on our own.  I love how the Lord used David’s experiences as a youth in the field (trusting the Lord to help him kill the lion and the bear) to prepare him for an event he never could have imagined.  We told the boys we never know how God might be preparing us for something in the future, and that even as children their faithfulness and trust in Him can help them be ready to be used in a might way.

The highlight of our week was definitely painting Goliath.  We measured out 9 feet on a role of paper and then I drew a basic outline for the kids to paint.  We took it outside and then I left them to their fun.

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We hung the completed painting in our living room and left it up for a couple weeks so anyone who came over could admire it.  I considered making “slings” like David’s, but I was afraid the boys would just get frustrated by how difficult it was to aim, so we stuck with just throwing rolled up socks at Goliath.

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Along with measuring Goliath’s height, we did another measurement activity that was suggested in Long Story Short.  The Bible says the head of Goliath’s spear weighed 600 shekels, or about 15 pounds (1 Samuel 17:7).  We piled books on a scale until we had a stack that weighed 15 pounds, and then I placed the stack in Ian’s arms so he could feel how heavy just the head of Goliath’s spear had been.  Ian could hardly hold it long enough to take a picture, and we talked about how strong Goliath must have been to carry such a heavy weapon.

Goliath1   Goliath2

Another new thing we did was print out and color two little books (“David, The Lion, and the Bear” and “David is Brave”) from Lambsongs.  (Search the page to find the titles.)  They were easy enough for Ian to read, and he really enjoyed coloring them in and having his own books.  (They print two on a page, so Elijah also got a copy, though he didn’t have the attention span to finish his coloring.)    Goliath5

The boys loved our “Listening Lesson” for this story and requested it frequently, even wanting to sing the songs to Daddy at night during Bible time.  Here’s what was on our iPod playlist:

It can be challenging to find ways to keep our Bible lessons “fresh” when covering such familiar stories, but I think overall we had a successful week.  Ian’s already asking me about the next time we do this story and sharing his plans for painting another Goliath.

Posted in Bible lessons, Long Story Short, Preschool, The Gospel Story

Ken Ham vs. Bill Nye: My Reaction to the Debate

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Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham at the Creation Museum

Last night was the big debate between Ken Ham (the young-earth creationist CEO of Answers in Genesis) and Bill Nye (known to people all over the world as “Bill Nye the Science Guy” thanks to his award winning television show of the same name).  I watched the debate with our neighbors as the kids played in their rooms, occasionally wandering out to see what was so important that we were glued to the television and had pizza delivered rather than miss even a minute for such trivialities as cooking dinner.  It was like the Super Bowl for creation science geeks (since we hadn’t bothered tuning in to that at all)!

I appreciated the debate for a variety of reasons, but primarily because it caused me to reflect on the intellectual journey I’ve taken over the past few years.  While the majority of the debate was focused on the idea of an old earth in which evolution was the driving factor behind the development of the vast array of living organisms we see today and a young earth created by God in six 24-hour days about 6,000 years ago, there was also a part where Ken Ham addressed Christians who tried to reconcile the two views, accepting a time frame of billions of years while still giving God credit for the creation.

My journey to becoming a “young earther”

The reason I appreciated this part of the debate so much is because that’s where I stood just a few years ago.  I remember an incident during a class at my Christian university in which a professor asked us if anyone believed in a literal six-day creation.  There were probably around eighty students in the class, and only one person raised his hand.  I had grown up in public schools, and after coming to faith when I was fourteen I had never heard anyone contradict the ideas I had been taught about the age of the earth.  I chuckled at that poor backward young man who didn’t know that science “proved” that the six days discussed in Genesis 1 had to refer to long eras and couldn’t possibly by 24-hour days.  After all, even our Christian professor back up my view.

Fast forward a few years to when my church was doing a dinosaur-themed VBS.  As I was listening to the songs provided with the curriculum, I started feeling really uncomfortable.  “God created the world in six days, six days, six days…” the cheery voices sang.  I went to the head of our children’s ministry program and said I wasn’t sure I could be the music leader that year, since I wasn’t sure I even believed the words to the songs I was expected to teach all those impressionable children.  I think that was when I really started seeking out evidence that could point me to the truth.

earth creation photo: In the beginning earth-3-2.gif

I’m not going to go into all the facts and figures that support the idea of a young earth, but suffice to say I changed my mind.  I think the key factor in that decision was something Ken Ham brought up last night in the debate.  If the earth was billions of years old, and animals had been living on it for millennia before the appearance of man, then that meant death was present before sin entered the world as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s disobedience.  The idea of Christ’s redemption from sin and death is so foundational to my Christian faith that I simply cannot accept that God’s creatures had been dying for millions of years before man’s decision corrupted His perfect creation.  I realized that only a literal interpretation of the Hebrew word “yom” as a 24-hour day made sense, meaning that the earth is indeed young.

How do I reconcile this view with what secular scientists say about the age of the earth?  To be blunt, I believe their dating methods are faulty.  I believe the conclusions they have drawn about their scientific observations are based more on their worldview than truth.  I believe there is plenty of evidence that points to a young age for the earth.  I choose to stand on the foundation of God’s Word, and so I view the evidence through that lens.  Everyone has faith in something, and if mine were not in the truth of the Bible then there would be nothing to support my trust in Christ’s salvation.

I thought Ken Ham did an admirable job of defending the position of a young earth, but I doubt many non-believers will take his word over that of the secular scientists who tell them otherwise.  I think perhaps the most important work he did last night was explaining to believers why the idea of an old earth is contradictory to the fundamental message of the gospel: that Christ came to save us from the sin and death that entered the world as a result of Adam’s Fall.

Uncensored Science: Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham DVD If you missed the debate, I highly recommend making the time to watch it (two and half hours total).  It’s still available for free through debatelive.org (as of this writing) or you can pre-order a DVD of Uncensored Science: Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham from the Answers in Genesis Bookstore.  I don’t know how long the free stream will be available, so I’d recommend watching it as soon as you can!  If you want to find out more about how science confirms the biblical account of creation, I would encourage you to check out Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation Research.

Disclosure: The above links are affiliate links.  When you shop the Answers In Genesis Store through my blog, I receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting my blog!

Posted in Homeschool Resources, Our Vision

Owl Moon

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We recently spent a little over a week rowing Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.  This was another one of those books unknown to me before Five in a Row (FIAR) introduced us.  All my kids seem to have a fascination with owls, so we enjoyed our time with this book.  The main character is a brave child (probably a girl, but it’s never stated, and Ian preferred to think it was a boy), and the discussion of bravery fit in well with our current Bible story of David and Goliath (post coming soon).

We did several of the activities in the Five in a Row manual (Vol. 2).  I briefly discussed the Caldecott award with Ian, pointing out the “medal” on the front cover, and ever since he has been calling my attention to other books he find in our library that were awarded either the gold Caldecott medal or the silver Caldecott honor.  When we talked about similes, I first read Ian Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood to help him understand the concept.  He wasn’t able to pick them out of Owl Moon by himself, but he was starting to understand when I pointed them out.  It was a good introduction anyway.

We also spent time on a few additional activities:

Literacy

I haven’t worked with Ian a lot on spelling because I don’t want it to be something separate from the rest of what we’re learning.  However I do like to try incorporating spelling lessons into other things we’re working on.  ow wordsThis seemed like a good opportunity to talk about the short “ow” sound (as in “owl”).  I found a couple fun videos about the sound (one from the old TV show Electric Company on YouTube, and one from FirstStepReading.com) that had both boys giggling and reading along. Then Ian did a “word sort” of words spelled ow/ou from All Sorts of Sorts by Sheron Brown.  (When we do these, I have him sort the words independently and then I check them before he glues them down.  After that’s done I have him read through all the words.)

Science

After spending the first part of the year using Exploring Creation With Astronomy, Ian enjoyed learning more about the phases of the moon.  We enjoyed a visual simulation that helped demonstrate what causes the moon to look the Owl4way it does.  Then everyone enjoyed using Joe-Joes (like Oreos) to show the different phases using a guide I’d found back when we rowed Goodnight Moon.  I had planned on using a free set of phases of the moon cards, but I didn’t get them made ahead of time so it never happened.  Neither did the “mystery moons” activity I had thought sounded fun.  Oh well, maybe next time!

As I mentioned before, all my kids are intrigued by owls, so I wanted to spend some time studying them more in depth.  We found a National Geographic special called “The Silent Hunters” on YouTube.  Gail Gibbons’ book Owls is full of beautiful pictures and great information, like the two families of owls: typical owls (Strigidae) and barn owls (Tytonidae).  That knowledge helped our understanding when we had a family movie night watching Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.  (We really enjoyed the movie.  I hope to read through the Guardians of Ga’hoole book series by Kathryn Lasky as well at some point.)  We talked about what (and how) owls eat and dissected owl pellets. (I bought a Young Scientists kit that contained other activities we can do another time.)  Elijah wasn’t so sure about it at first, but eventually he was fascinated enough to want his own turn studying the bones we found.  If you’re not up to the real thing, there’s a “virtual dissection” available online at KidWings.

 Owl1     Owl2

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We had a great time with Owl Moon.  One day we watched the story on DVD in the Scholastic Storybook Treasures (Collection 2).  We also enjoyed the story Owl Babies by Martin Waddell (both the book and a video on YouTube).  Ian’s been really into drawing, so I took him through the steps of “How to Draw an Owl” from Art Projects for Kids.  All in all, I’d say it was a successful row!  The day I was finishing this post, we went to a local children’s museum, and in the room with all kinds of wild animals (a tribute to taxidermy) Ian was quick to find an owl.  “Hey!  We studied that!”  Why, yes, we did.

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To see what other FIAR books we’ve rowed, see my “Index of FIAR Posts.”  Also, a great place to see what other people have done with FIAR books is the FIAR Blog Roll at Delightful Learning.

Posted in FIAR, Kindergarten, Literature Units, Preschool

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials, #5: Our iPod

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(This week several members of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew have been giving everyone a glimpse into their daily lives by sharing “5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials.”)

ipod photo: ipod -----.jpg

My last “essential” might seem odd to some people, but I use iPods a lot in our homeschool.  It’s a way to change things up a bit from traditional school methods, and it works well for all of us.  The boys like listening while they do other things (not realizing it’s actually “school”), and I like being able to multi-task and get school done while I’m driving, cooking dinner, etc.

Our “Listening Lessons” have been a regular part of our day since I first started doing preschool with Ian.  It started as just stories (see “Learning as we play…and drive…and live“), but then I realized I could do a lot more.  Now we spend lots of time each week listening to Bible passages, Scripture memory songs, catechism questions, poetry, songs about Bible stories, podcasts, radio dramas, classical music and any other audio resources I find that fit in with our current lessons.

To make it easy to find what I want during the week, I like to plan ahead.  I create playlists in iTunes with everything I want us to listen to related to our lessons.  Sometimes I’ll create multiple lists, like one for Bible and one for the composer we’re learning about.  For example, here is my Bible “Listening Lesson” from our week on “God Creates Man“:

At the same time we were studying Beethoven, so I had another playlist for when we wanted to do composer study:

I am amazed at how much my children have absorbed just from turning on the iPod as we drive or as they play.  I often hear Ian retelling a Bible story using the exact words from the ESV because he’s heard it several times.  I’ve gotten numerous comments on both the boys’ extensive vocabularies, which I think are a direct result of the hours they’ve spent listening to quality literature as they fall asleep each night.

It might seem overwhelming at first to know where to look for things to add to a playlist for your kids, so here are a few of my “go-to” resources.  (I’ve also shared many playlists on blog posts over the past few years so you could search this site for “listening lesson” and/or “playlist” to see other examples.)

Favorite Audio Resources:

Of course, don’t forget to check your local library.  Ours has a wonderful collection of audiobooks in the children’s section.  It’s also a great place to find classical music.

And that wraps up my top five!  How about you?  What would you consider top five essentials to your homeschool experience?

In case you missed them, here are links to my other posts in this series.

Essential #1: God’s Guidance

Essential #2: My Husband

Essential #3: Books, Books, and More Books

Essential #4: The Internet

Click on the picture below to see what the rest of Crew has blogged about this week! 

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials

Or if that list is too daunting, get started with these blogs:

Marcy @Ben and Me

Lisa @ Golden Grasses

Tess @ Circling Through This Life

Victoria @ Homemaking with Heart

Kayla @ The Arrowood Zoo

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Melissa @ Grace Christian Homeschool

Beth @ Ozark Ramblings

Rebecca @ Raventhreads

Posted in Our Vision

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials, #4: the Internet

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(This week several members of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew will be giving everyone a glimpse into their daily lives by sharing “5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials.”)

internet photo: Logo Internet internet.jpg

Do you remember when you first discovered the Internet?  I do.  At first I didn’t realize how big it was.  I just used it for email and Instant Messaging.  Those two things alone were pretty amazing.  Eventually, however, someone taught me about search engines, and before I knew it, the whole world was opened to me without ever leaving my desk.  That was about 20 years ago.  Nowadays I honestly cannot imagine trying to homeschool without the Internet.  I know countless people have done it through the ages, but it has become such an integral part of what our family does that I have to include it in my top 5 homeschooling essentials.

Here are a few ways we utilize this fantastic resource:

Online School

I realized early on that Ian and I have very different learning styles, which often leads to frustration on both sides when he’s trying to learn a new concept.  We first encountered this when he was learning to read.  Some people told me 4 years old was just too young, but since my brother and I both read well at that age, I wasn’t going to give up so easily.  Thankfully we found Reading Eggs, a site with one of the best learn-to-read programs of any kind I’ve ever seen. [Edited to remove link because I no longer recommend this program. See “Good-bye, Reading Eggs.”]  Ian had so much fun doing the lessons and learned so much.  Within days he was reading on his own, and enjoying the feeling of success.  Elijah also started going through the lessons, and it has been just as wonderful for him.  Right now we’re reviewing on online science program and it’s proving to me that online lessons are a great way for my kids to learn.  I imagine we’ll find classes online to be a regular part of our curriculum in the years to come.

Educational Games

There are so many wonderful sites out there with educational games.  If I need to keep the boys occupied so I can finish dinner or tend to another child’s needs for a while, I know they can easily entertain themselves on Starfall, ABCya, Kabongo, Teach Your Monster to Read, and lots of other sites we’ve preapproved and given them access to.  (All of those are free, though we have also paid for a subscription for “More Starfall” because it has some wonderful activities that both boys love.)

Curriculum

In addition to online lessons, we’ve found a lot of curriculum for traditional lessons available online for free.  Some people thrive on a boxed curriculum, but I am not one of them.  I tend to tweak everything to fit our needs, and I’m not willing to pay for something I’m just going to change.  I prefer to look online for a free curriculum to provide some structure, and then I adapt it as I see fit.  We did that in preschool with ABC Jesus Loves Me, and I plan to do something similar with Ambleside Online starting in 1st grade. (I’ve also gotten lots of good ideas from An Old Fashioned Education, another free online curriculum.)  For math, I have found nothing I like better than the Mathematics Enhancement Programme (MEP) from the Center for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching, which just happens to offer all the materials for free online.

Materials

We also use the Internet to find the materials we need for teaching, such as e-books and audiobooks (both of which I usually get from BooksShouldBeFree.com), regular paper books (I especially love buying used books on Amazon to save money), and school supplies.  Amazon Prime is awesome for getting what I need quickly.  For example, when we decided to “row” Owl Moon (post coming soon!) I thought it would be fun to dissect an owl pellet.  I was doing my lesson planning on Saturday so it was kind of late to start looking for science supplies, but I went on Amazon to see if they had owl pellets and they did!  I placed an order and they were here Monday, giving me plenty of freedom as to when I wanted to include them in our week.  (I love Amazon so much it almost got its own day this week.  It’s more of an essential when mothering lots of young children, however, rather than homeschooling, so I decided to just include it here.  I use it for ordering as many non-perishable groceries as I can, mostly through the Subscribe & Save program where I can save 20% when I have 5 or more items delivered that month.  It is so much easier to have things delivered to my door than to drag four young children to the store!)

Videos

The other part of Amazon Prime that I love is the streaming video.  There are many educational programs available to watch for no additional charge.  One of our favorites is Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.  We watch an episode almost every day at lunch, and I’m amazed at what the kids have learned from it.  It’s like having a virtual fieldtrip every day.  We’ve also found videos on Netflix to complement our lessons.

While life might have been simpler before the Internet, I am so thankful for the ways it has made our life easier, particularly when it comes to homeschooling.  It is awesome having so much information readily available to us with just a few clicks on a mouse!

In case you missed them, here are links to my other posts in this series so far:

Essential #1: God’s Guidance

Essential #2: My Husband

Essential #3: Books, Books, and More Books

Click on the picture below to see what the rest of Crew is blogging about this week! 

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials

Not sure where to star?  Check out these blogs:

Marcy @Ben and Me

Lisa @ Golden Grasses

Tess @ Circling Through This Life

Victoria @ Homemaking with Heart

Kayla @ The Arrowood Zoo

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Melissa @ Grace Christian Homeschool

Beth @ Ozark Ramblings

Rebecca @ Raventhreads

Posted in Our Vision

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials, #3: Books, Books, and More Books

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(This week several members of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew are giving everyone a glimpse into their daily lives by sharing “5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials.” )

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It seems so obvious, I know, but that’s why because it’s so essential.  After God and my husband, books are up there near the top of my list when it comes to the essentials of homeschooling.  The thing that makes books so important is that they are bridges to any information we might want to learn.  When seeking knowledge about something, we can almost always find a book that will help us learn more about it.  A love of reading means any gaps that might remain in our children’s education when they graduate (and there will be gaps!) can be filled in if ever the need arises because our children know where to go to find the answers.

One of the keys to successful homeschooling is nurturing a child’s natural love of learning, and I can think of no better way to do that than to introduce them to the wonder of books.  The best way to do that is to read to them, and to do it often.  My husband was rather amazed at first by how often I pulled out books for Ian when he was a baby.  He hadn’t grown up reading a lot or loving books the way most of my family did.  It didn’t take long, however, for him to see how much Ian loved them.  Eric quickly caught on to the fact that books were a great way to grab some quality time with our children.  And now not a day goes by that he doesn’t read to each and every one of them.  (Well, our 4-month old probably doesn’t get it every day, but the other three do, and I’ve seen Nicholas getting his share of book time with Daddy as well.)  P1020429Every night as the boys head to bed, they go browsing through our library looking for a story for Daddy to read to them and books to look at in bed until they fall asleep.  Consequently their beds regularly look like mini-libraries.  I don’t know how they manage to sleep like that but they do, and I’m so glad they share my love of books that I don’t make an issue of it.  All three of our older children love books, and if all we do for schoolwork some days is read aloud, I still consider it a successful day.

Many people rely on libraries to supply books for their homeschool, but, while I do utilize our local library at times, personally I love having books at close range to grab when my children ask a question.  The other night the house was all abuzz after I had seen a mouse scurry across our kitchen.  (A first for me.  Don’t get me started.)  As Eric and I were trying to figure out where it had gone and where to set traps, I heard Ian calling from the school room, “What do you call a mouse?”  At first I was completely baffled as to what he was getting at with that question, but then I saw that he searching the section of our bookshelves with animal books, particularly the “About _____” series by Cathryn and John Sill .  “Oh!  They’re called rodents.  Do you see a book on that?”  He immediately found About Rodents and proceeded to curl up on the couch and read the entire thing out loud.  He was just disappointed it didn’t have more information in it.  It’s a great introductory series, but it’s not the place to go when you have lots of questions.  Still, I love that he remembered those books (we’ve pulled them out several times, including when we read The Salamander Room and The Grouchy Ladybug) and knew right where to go when he wanted to find out more about an animal.

He goes to our shelves frequently to satisfy his thirst for knowledge, and I love that we can structure our school day around his interests.  I often say that I homeschooled myself as a child in the hours when I wasn’t in a public school classroom.  I just always loved to learn, and I was continually picking a subject and devouring books on it to educate myself.  When I met several homeschool families as a teenager, I was so jealous that they got to do that same thing and call it their schoolwork, while I had to do both. What a blessing that my children can enjoy such freedom in their education!

I can’t imagine trying to homeschool without books.  Thank goodness for my husband, who accepts my walls of books without complaint!  And thank goodness for local libraries, for when I get a chance to plan ahead and want to supplement our studies without breaking our budget!

In case you missed them, here are links to my other posts in this series so far:

Essential #1: God’s Guidance

Essential #2: My Husband

Click on the picture below to see what the rest of Crew is blogging about this week! 

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials

Or if that list is too daunting, get started with these blogs:

Marcy @Ben and Me

Lisa @ Golden Grasses

Tess @ Circling Through This Life

Victoria @ Homemaking with Heart

Kayla @ The Arrowood Zoo

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Melissa @ Grace Christian Homeschool

Beth @ Ozark Ramblings

Rebecca @ Raventhreads

Posted in Our Vision

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials, #2: My Husband

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(This week several members of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew will be giving everyone a glimpse into their daily lives by sharing “5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials.”)

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After “#1: God’s Guidance,” the next most important thing I would consider essential to our homeschooling success is, without a doubt, my husband Eric.  He is my greatest source of support and encouragement, and it would be so hard to face the challenges of homeschooling without him by my side.

Eric is one of the most hard-working guys I know.  He puts in more than 10 hours a day Monday through Friday (and often Saturdays too) at a physically demanding job, then comes home and assumes the title of “Dad” with gusto.  Even on the days when he’s completely exhausted, he always seems able to muster up enough energy for a game of Candyland with Elijah, one more time through Arianna’s current favorite book, and a few minutes to admire Ian’s latest creative endeavor.

I honestly don’t know how he does it, but I’m so thankful for my husband’s diligence.  His long days at work make my days at home possible.   We may not have the fancy house, expensive gadgets, or other nice things we could afford if both of us worked, but he cares more about providing our children with the things that really matter and is willing to sacrifice such luxuries.

Eric’s contribution to our homeschool is not merely financial, however.  He never considered homeschooling before I mentioned it (he grew up in private Christian schools and figured we’d follow suit), but he trusts me and has seen how it has benefited our family even just in the preschool years.  Now he is my greatest cheerleader, wholeheartedly embracing the homeschool lifestyle and helping in every way he can.  He leads our family Bible time each evening, reads to the kids before bed every night, and teaches our boys about things I know nothing about like electricity, engines, and other modern mysteries.  Often when he works on Saturdays he takes the boys with him, providing them with a learning experience no classroom could offer.

There are many wonderful resources out there to help homeschool moms do their job well, but all those things pale in comparison to what a supportive husband brings to our homeschool experience.  Eric is, in one word, essential.

Come back every day this week to see what other things made my top 5 list, and click on the picture below to see what the rest of Crew is blogging about this week! 

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials

Or if that list is too daunting, here are some suggestions to get you started:

Marcy @ Ben and Me

Lisa @ Golden Grasses

Tess @ Circling Through This Life

Victoria @ Homemaking with Heart

Kayla @ The Arrowood Zoo

Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Melissa @ Grace Christian Homeschool

Beth @ Ozark Ramblings

Rebecca @ Raventhreads

Posted in Our Vision
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