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Wrapping Up Week 2 (2014-15)

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weekly wrap-up

As we finish up our second week of school, I am more excited than ever about this year.  I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy the first year of our history cycle as much as some of the others, but that was actually one of my favorite parts of this week.  We had a lot of fun exploring different books related to our history and science subjects, as well as watching a couple videos (always Ian’s favorite part).

Bible

During our morning Bible time we continued reading Wisdom and the Millers. We read chapters 21-24 and would have finished the book except we skipped one day when we went on a field trip.  Ian would love to read multiple chapters each day, but I like to keep him wanting more.  After our chapter we always read a few verses in Proverbs.  This week we read Proverbs 13:12-14:10.

We’re on Week 77 in Long Story Short by Marty Machowski, which continues the story of Ezra, so we didn’t move ahead in Bible Road Trip Year One (which only spent one week on Ezra).

Math

Ian finished up Year 1 of the Mathematics Enhancement Programme.  We took a break partway through his Kindergarten year when it got a bit frustrating, so I wanted to be sure we finished that before diving into Year 2 for 1st grade.  (The years are a bit confusing because the program is from the UK and doesn’t follow the US grading system.  I’ve heard of people using Year 1 for 1st, but initially I had read that it was for Kindergarten so we started it then.  If it gets to be too challenging I may stretch the material for Year 2 beyond 1st grade.)

Common Core, Super Hero Double Digit Addition With and WitWe also did some work on learning to add 2-digit numbers using a really fun supplement called “Superhero Addition” created by a friend of mine.  Ian loved it and did really well!  It turns out he knows his addition facts much better than he lets on.  I was so surprised by how fast he flew through the pages we did–without a single mistake!  Evidently superheroes are highly motivating.  He was eager to do extra math pages all week.  (Thanks, Katie!)

Literature (Ambleside Online)

https://i0.wp.com/ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4123T2C8FAL.jpg?resize=139%2C217For poetry I took a break from A Child’s Garden of Verses to read poems to go along with our history lesson.  Prayers from the Ark and The Creatures’ Choir by Carmen Bernos De Gasztold, translated by Rumer Godden contains poems written from the perspective of various animals.  We made a fun game of it where I would read the poem and then the boys would guess which animal it was about.  They really enjoyed it and we read at least six or seven each day.

I’m so thankful for Ambleside Online’s weekly schedules.  They take a rather daunting booklist and break it down into really manageable chunks, spreading some books out over many months, which I think will really help Ian remember them better in the long run.  We read everything scheduled for week two and finished “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” in Andrew Lang’s Red Fairy Book on the additional free reading list.

IMG_20140715_143928In addition to readings for AO Year 1, the literature program we’re reviewing had us spending the week with The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.  It was perfect timing, because the Skirball Cultural Center, which we decided to visit for a history field trip, happened to have a special exhibit on this book!

The kids loved seeing the familiar pictures and learning more about the author.  I wish we’d had time to stay longer.

History Cycle

I’m generally following the lesson topics for Mystery of History, Vol. 1, though I’m not necessarily using that curriculum as designed.  (Do I ever?)  Week 2 covers:

  • Noah and the Flood
  • Ice Age
  • Dinosaurs

That’s a lot to pack into one week, especially since we could spend a lot of time on each one!  I prefer to use living books to teach topics whenever possible, only resorting to the textbook (which I paraphrase) when I can’t find an appropriate book.  Here’s what we read this week:

Noah and the Flood

We have lots of books on this topic (see below), but I focused on Noah’s Ark by Jerry Pinkney.  It’s very well written with beautiful watercolor illustrations.  My favorite page is an underwater scene where sea creatures are swimming through the ruins of buildings now submerged by the flood:

“The water rose over cities and towns. Whales swam down ruined streets.  Schools of fish darted through empty windows.”

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We repeated many of the things we did last time we covered Noah, since the younger ones didn’t remember much.  We read several of the books below (and had them all out for the children to look through on their own) and watched Greatest Adventures of the Bible: Noah’s Ark. We also talked about how people groups around the world had flood legends that seem to point back to the story of Noah.  We read a page in Dinosaurs by Design by Duane Gish that shared some of these different legends, which Ian really enjoyed.

IMG_20140715_133305The highlight of our week was definitely visiting the Noah’s Ark Exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center.  Ian has been asking to go back ever since we first went two years ago.  We noticed many new things and used up every minute of our two-hour time slot.  The boys are already talking about “next time,” but since it’s well over an hour away, we may have to wait all four years until our history cycle comes around again.  Then at least Nicholas will be old enough to remember it too!

Here’s our collection of Noah/Flood Books (some of these are basic preschool level books I read with Arianna and Elijah):

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The Ice Age

I read the page on the Ice Age from Dinosaurs by Design by Duane Gish.  It was just an introduction to the topic, but that’s all I wanted this time around.  I ordered Life in the Great Ice Age by Michael J. Oard, but since it hasn’t arrived yet, I think we’ll probably just save it for the next time through the history cycle.

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Dinosaurs

There are so many possibilities when it comes to studying dinosaurs.  I considered extending our time on this subject into next week, but Ian isn’t especially fascinated by them so I think once he’s had time to create a page for his history notebook we’ll just move on.

I tried to keep it simple this week so that dinosaurs didn’t overwhelm the rest of our schoolwork.  We read through What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs? by John D. Morris and Ken Ham.  Then we watched The Creation Adventure Team: A Jurassic Ark Mystery and Buddy Davis Adventures: I Dig Dinosaurs! (I like the second one much better, but Ian really likes them both.)

Science

In The World of Animals (part of the God’s Design for Life curriculum from Answers in Genesis), we went deeper into our study of mammals.  Ian made a collage of mammal pictures for his notebook:

 

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We read in the textbook about spiny anteaters (echidnas) and the platypus, mammals that are unusual because they lay eggs.  Ian was interested in that, so we read a little more in a book we have that also happens to be called World of Animals (by Martin Walters) We also watched an episode of Wild Kratts called “Platypus Cafe“.

Later in the week we read in the textbook about primates.  There was a special section about the intelligence of primates, which reminded Ian of Koko, whom we read about in Koko’s Story by Francine Patterson.  In Ian’s notebook he wanted to record that Curious George is not a monkey because he has no tail (which would make him an ape).

After reading About Mammals by Cathryn Sill, Ian also wanted to read About Rodents, so even though they weren’t covered in our textbook, we spent a little time talking about rodents.  He really enjoyed learning about them because we see lots of squirrels in the park near our house, and he was processing what we read with what he’s observed there.  The Life Cycle of a Beaver by Bobbie Kalman was full of great information.  (We’ll be finishing it up this weekend, and then I’m planning to let the kids watch Wild Kratts “Build it Beaver.”

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We still have quite a bit of time left on mammals, so I’m sure Ian will have no trouble finishing up that last notebook page.

As you can see, it was a busy week!  I really enjoyed exploring these subjects with Ian and was reminded once more how glad I am that we get to homeschool!

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Wrapping Up Week 1 (2014-15)

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weekly wrap-up

Our first week flew by!  I’ve decided that this year I want to write a weekly wrap-up of what we’re doing.  One of my main purposes in blogging has been to have a record of what we do, and I’ve found myself looking back to old posts more frequently than I thought I would when I want to find activities or links to go with certain books or Bible studies.

So I apologize if these posts are tedious to everyone else, but they’re really going to help my scatter-brain keep track of the things we cover this year!  Here’s what we did this week:

Bible

Morning Proverbs: Wisdom and the Millers (Chapters 16-20), Proverbs 13:1-12 (We just read 2-3 verse each morning and discuss them.)

https://i0.wp.com/ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512TaSUF%2BrL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg?resize=155%2C190Story: The exiles return to start building the temple (Ezra 1-4).  We read Week 76 in Long Story Short by Marty Machowski, which lined up well with Bible Road Trip Year One Week 30.  We did the BRT research, but we didn’t get through all the Bible reading because it covered the whole book of Ezra, which we’ll finish up next week.  We watched the first episode of What’s in the Bible Vol. 7, “Ezra and Nehemiah,” and some extra research in the Rose Guide to the Temple.  (The boys love the pictures in the Rose Guides.)

I want to do quite a bit of “notebooking” with Ian this year, but I’m holding off on a Bible notebook for now.  We’ll wait until we start the New Testament in a few weeks.

Arianna and I started reading through The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to keep that up.  She loves the pictures, and we read through several pages at one sitting, but it’s hard to schedule anything consistently with her.

Literature (Ambleside Online)

I’ve been looking forward to starting Ambleside Online Year 1 since Ian was a toddler, and our first week did not disappoint!  P1030480He really enjoyed the poems from A Child’s Garden of Verses each day as well as most of the readings.  (He didn’t complain about any, but some he was definitely more into than others.)

We’re using Leslie Laurio’s paraphrase of Parables from Nature by Margaret Gatty because I had heard many people saying their children had a hard time with that book.  I was surprised by how much Ian loved the story of the caterpillar learning to have faith about becoming a butterfly, so I think it was a good choice.  I’m hoping that later on perhaps we can read the original version, once he’s gotten more familiar with the book.

Ian’s already a fan of Thornton W. Burgess, as the boys have been listening several of his books on their iPod for the last few years.  So when we started reading The Burgess Bird Book, Ian was delighted to discover familiar characters were part of his school work.  After we read about Jenny Wren we listened to recordings of what wrens sound like.

Grandma recently returned from a trip to the UK, so it was fun to start Our Island Story, though Ian was a little confused by the mythological beginning.  I know we’ll come across many references to Greek and Roman gods in classic literature, so it was a good introduction.  (We’ve talked a lot about false gods during our study of the Old Testament, so it wasn’t a completely new idea.)

We continued picking away at the Year 1 “free reads” with The Velveteen Rabbit.  (We started working through this list a few months ago with Little House in the Big Woods, Peter Pan and Charlotte’s Web.)  Since there wasn’t a scheduled fairy tale this week, we also started “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” in Andrew Lang’s Red Fairy Book.

I was so thankful I had gone ahead and purchased the bundle of 225 ebooks from Yesterday’s Classics a while back.  Many of the books we’ll be reading with Ambleside Online are included, as well as lots of other wonderful choices for free reading.

In addition to our AO reading, we’re also reviewing a program called Lightening Literature 1st Grade, from Hewitt Homeschooling, which had us spending the week with Madeline, an old favorite of ours.

History Cycle

In addition to the Ambleside Online history selections, we’ll be lightly covering Creation through Christ in preparation for doing our own history cycle next year starting with the early church through the Reformation.

This week we read the Creation story and talked about early man.  We read chapter one in Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World, Vol. 1 a few weeks ago, so I didn’t do much more this week besides listening to several selections on the CDs that go with Diana Waring’s History Revealed curriculum.  P1030476(I purchased the Ancient Civilizations full CD set from Answers in Genesis and am really enjoying the fascinating information she shares!) They were more for me since they’re not quite on Ian’s level, but I chose to only have them on when he was around and I know he was listening and picking up on quite a bit.

We started a history notebook, which is going to be really simple this year, just including pictures from the Homeschool in the Woods History Through the Ages-Collection CD, which has timeline figures from every period of history.  I won’t be doing anything fancy with Ian’s history notebook this year, but I wanted to start developing the habit.

As a fun extra, we watched Buddy Davis Adventures: Extreme Caving, which is a fun, Creation-based DVD that teaches a lot about caves and even has a segment on early man.

Science

This year we’re going through the God’s Design for Life curriculum from Answers in Genesis. (There are 4 years to the God’s Design for Science series, so if we like them I’m planning to use it as a cycle until all my children have gone through it at least once.)  I really like the way this curriculum is designed to be used from 1st-8th grade with specific readings and activities for younger and older students.  We’re going to stick with the suggestions for the lower grades unless there’s a subject Ian wants to spend more time studying.

wofAThere are three books to go through in God’s Design for Life , which fits well with the structure of our year since Ambleside Online uses three terms.  During the first term of this year we’ll be going through The World of Animals. This week we read through the introductory chapters and began studying mammals.  I plan on having Ian keep a science notebook as well, but we only got as far as labeling the first section.  We’ll be reading about mammals for the next couple weeks, so he’s got plenty of time for notebooking.

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Curriculum vs. Framework

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Keep CalmMy husband has often marveled at my inability to follow a recipe.  I tend to view recipes as a starting place, and 99% of the time I make at least one adjustment based on what ingredients I have, our family’s likes/dislikes, something I think sounds good, etc.  Usually I’m pleased with the results, but occasionally I learn a lesson about what doesn’t work.  Still, I love the freedom of using my kitchen as a place for creating something just for our family.

It must be a personality thing, because I have a very similar approach to homeschooling.  Just like with recipes, I rarely follow any curriculum exactly the way it is intended.  Consequently, I am reluctant to spend money on an all-inclusive curriculum, knowing that I’ll probably just tweak it anyway.  Thankfully, there are some wonderful free resources available online, and even though I will probably never follow one to a tee, they help me build a sort of “framework” that provides structure to our homeschool year while allowing me plenty of flexibility as far as what I will include to complete our educational experiences.

Originally my plan had been to follow Ambleside Online (one of the best free resources out there, in my opinion), and we’ll still be looking there for a lot of guidance.  I love the richness of their literature suggestions, and reading through their information about the Charlotte Mason method over the last few years has really shaped my educational philosophy.  Our plans for school will primarily consist of booklists for each subject (using various forms of narration to ensure that the material in those books is absorbed).  Still, there are things about AO that I want to adjust for our family.  If I only had one or two children, I think I would feel fairly comfortable following most of the AO curriculum as written (as well as I follow anything), but I think for our larger family I would prefer to keep everyone together for as many subjects as possible.

Building Around 4-Year Cycles

In my search to find the best way for our family to learn together, I was most drawn to 4-year cycles.  They’re popular with “classical” homeschoolers, but I wouldn’t necessarily put myself in that category because there are many elements of classical education that don’t excite me at all.  The idea of cycles, however, has intrigued me since I first read about it.  I know I have trouble grasping the big picture until I’ve seen everything laid out at least once and then can start making connections and putting together the pieces of the puzzle in my mind.  Being able to go deeper with the same material as the children get older makes a lot of sense.

With four children (and possibly more someday?), there are other benefits as well.  Rather than trying to help each child through an individual history track based upon their grade level, they can just join in our family history lessons as soon as they are ready, and I don’t have to worry about them missing something because within 4 years they’ll have been exposed to all the major events of history and will get to go through it again to pick up on things they might not have caught at a younger age.

I plan to use cycles not just for history but for other subjects as well.  If we can touch on all the major areas of science in 4 years and then repeat that cycle, by the time they finish 8th grade they should have a pretty good foundation.  (I imagine as they reach high school they’ll step away from what the family is doing in order to spend more time on particular classes.)

With Bible, I’m planning a 3-year cycle, allowing us to not just read through the Bible but have time for more in depth study as well.  (I’m very excited about the main resource I’ve found for our school Bible study… more on that coming soon!)

Ditching the Recipe

There are plenty of curricular options that follow 4-year cycles, but as I said before, I’m not very good at sticking with someone else’s plan.  For some subjects I may use a “spine” (either a book or a curriculum that can serve as a backbone for an entire year or more), but I’d prefer to just loosely work our way through various books, videos, and other resources that fall into our flexible framework so that we don’t end up getting too tied down to the idea of completing a curriculum at the expense of spending a little extra time on the things that pique my children’s interest.

Thinking this way especially helps me with long-term planning.  When I come across resources I think would be a good fit for our family, I don’t have to worry about trying to piece them all into a cohesive plan.  Instead, I just figure out where they fit into our cycle and look forward to getting to use them.

I’ll be sharing a little more about my plans in these individual subjects and what that will look like as we head into 1st grade over the next few months.  There’s a whole world to learn about with my children, and I’m so excited about taking the next step of this journey with them.

 

 

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