A more productive week

I am happy to announce this week there was more work and less loafing around. I still played Zelda but not as often or as long. Instead I used this week to clean up the library, finish organizing last years school work from Daniel, and rethink a few things for Emma.

My poor library has too many books and not enough space so I keep shuffling books around. Another problem is I bought the useless  5 shelf book cases from Target. There is just too much space between shelves...lots of wasted space, and the shelf in the middle is fixed so you are stuck with a nice huge gap at the top. Right now I have boxes stored on the top shelf but it looks messy and I would rather more books. I just did not want to spend lots on bookcases since we are renting and who knows what will be needed for the house we buy. So now I am always rearranging these dumb things and getting more frustrated by the wasted space.

I have 2 of these useless things. I also have 2 sturdy metal racks I bought for bookcases but once I put them together i realized my mistake. There are no sides to the books fall through. I ran two rows of wire down the sides to keep the books in. These actually are not bad, they hold lots of books and there is no bending of the shelves. The top shelf needs bookends but it is usable....more so then the target ones.

So with 2 crappy bookcases and more books then book case space I am always rearranging and pulling books from storage to swap with what is out. I do not think I can express in words how much I miss my custom made built in book cases our old home had...floor to ceiling, wall to wall...sigh.

Besides cleaning and reorganizing,  I spent time trying to figure out some things I was not happy with for Emma English wise. We tried (for the millionth time) the SL Language that came with core D but after 1 week I just could not use it. I honestly do not want to spend money or much time with English this year because Emma has had quite a lot of Language since she started school (FLL 1-3, BJU Language/Phonics K-3, Abeka Language/Phonics pre K-3). I really wanted to work on some skills with out them being to schoolish or forced. While working on the bookcases I was once again faced with a bunch of old Mailbox Magazines and Books I have collected over the many years. I have dwindled the pile down by half since we no longer need the pre K-2nd grade items, but it is still a nice amount of space they take up.

Almost a foot of book case space

The problem is every time I decide to get rid of them I open them up and see all the really great ideas. There are tons in there that I can use for homeschool. There was even a time I had plans to use just these books for ideas on all subjects for the year...no curriculum, just these...and you know, I believe it would have been a great year (I still do). After spending hours going through the magazines and theme/month books I decided we will use these for Language Arts...but a trial first. I have one Mailbox magazine and one Teacher Helper left that is for 2nd and 3rd grade and I will use this for July (it's the Aug-Sept 2004 issues but It will be fine).

I will avoid the busy work ideas/pages because Emma has gotten over her love of workbook pages. Instead I am focusing on writing and reading ideas with some grammar work thrown in. In the magazine pictured they have a great go along ideas to use with the Miss Nelson is Missing book that we will do next week: compare/contrast chart, make a missing person poster, finding the clues to the identity of Miss Swamp and writing to the detective to help him....along the way we will explore story theme, recalling details, analyzing characters and making inferences. The Following week we will work with the story Lon Po Po. In addition to those we will cover antonyms and synonyms, developing writing ideas, and cover some phonics for review. I believe that is quite a lot for the month. If we both enjoyed this month of Language Arts I will continue with the plan. The rest of the mailbox books and Magazines are for Intermediate levels 4th-6th grade which will allow me to pick and choose lending itself to more then one year of use.I figured if I am going to keep them I better use them....and after using them if I find they are not working, then chuck um, almost a foot of prime bookcase space is too priceless to keep items with no real value to me on.

Oh and one quick thing, can you tell me what I need with catalogs from 2004? I went through my stack of homeschool catalogs and found a few with old dates....with the exception of the SL catalogs that date prior to 2011, one does not need old catalogs, especially ones I have never ordered from. It is madness the things I keep finding...plain madness.

Our week off

This past week was our off week which was much needed. I would love to post all the adventures and activities we did during that time off, but the reality of it was just relaxing for the week. The bugs (mostly annoying gnats) and humid weather made outdoors uninviting so no hiking, nature seeking, letterboxing took place. Mostly we just read and played video games with knitting and drawing thrown in. Daniel and I embarked on a challenge...to beat Zelda Skyward Sword in 7 days....we did not make the deadline but had great fun playing it. I am extremely embarrassed to say I have clocked over 40hrs playing that thing and only reached about 3/4th of the way through. I tend to panic when the 4 arm skeleton or the other baddies come at me. Also I am not very graceful with the Wii remote....spasmodically waving the thing and sitting on the edge of my seat, sometimes standing up to help with the play...at least I get  some exercise while playing. Daniel on the other hand is calm and makes just slight moves with the controller, almost no energy exerted...

Emma decided her room needed a new look. She is always moving her things around and rearranging what she can but she wanted her bed moved this time. She drew up plans so we had a picture of what she wanted. She made sure we understood by adding labels and arrows.

Saturday was the big move and it turned out to be more complicated then just moving a bed and things. Where the bed was going has a dresser in the spot and where the dresser was going has a bed in that spot, plus a desk, book case, toy organizer and other "things" are all over the room. Add to that the toys that were in and on these things. Lots of shuffling and reshuffling took place. Some of her plans had to change once we started moving things. Her dask would not work where she planned and the bookcase was best left where it was. However...once completed it was worth the trouble: 1) got the areas unreachable dusted and vacuumed, 2) organized her things, and 3) trashed the junk, boxed up old but keep-able toys, purged things not wanted anymore.

Since the room is all clean and fresh, Emma has been in there playing for days. I went upstairs to do some work and found her just laying in her bed. When asked if she was alright I was told "just enjoying my room"

At night she makes sure everything is picked up. Wish I knew letting her rearrange her room would have such a positive outcome...all those years trying to get her to play in there AND keep it clean. I am sure there is some psychology going on about taking ownership and all but I am just glad she is loving her room.

During the week off I was suppose to be getting things ready for the next few weeks of school, making copies, acquiring supplies...lets just say it is a good thing Emma talked me into another week off. I did print off a few lessons from Time Travelers but I haven't made the lapbook yet. I also wanted to evaluate what we have done, how we are doing it, and if it needs some tweaking. For the most part I am satisfied and will continue doing the same, however next year I will drop the science lapbook and do more Charlotte Mason type notebooking. If we do the Elemental Science Chemistry during this year I might implement it then we will see.

Kaya, American Girl: a review

This year for American History I am using the non fiction American Girl books Welcome to (insert AG name here) and their fictional counterparts. The first one we used was Welcome to Kaya's World and feel a review is in order.

First off let me point out that this particular Welcome book is different then all the other ones because it focuses on one group of Indians and their way of life and how they were affected by the white man. Some things can be said were similar to other Indian Tribes but not all, the housing, food source, travel, and whether peaceful or war like were different. From what I can tell the others in this series deal with historical time frames and not a particular set of people...well maybe Addy does, it will be focusing on the African American people mostly but does include life for the different classes (for lack of a different word). I found the focus on one Tribe to be a little troublesome since our study was on American Indians and not on just the Nez Perce people. Because of this I had to look elsewhere for information on other tribes. I used the library and a few books I had on hand to give a look into several different tribes based on where they lived. SL also had 2 general books on American Indians that we used.

Another thing different with Kaya's World was there were no accompanying food book or craft book like you find with Felicity and the others. I would have loved to make some crafts as well as typical American Indian dished even if it was all based on the Nez Perce.

Despite the limitations this particular Welcome book had I was quite impressed with the information it provided. We learned everything from their idea of how they were created to wedding rituals and what child hood was like to different ceremonies for the seasons (they had more then 4). This book also gave a glimpse into the awful treatment of the Nez Perce (and you can figure they were not the only Native American Indians (NAI) people treated this way) by the government. At the end of the book it talked about how the Nez Perce live today which Emma found very interesting.

Alongside the Welcome book we read 2 of the 6 fictional books about Kaya. These added a great deal to the study of NAI as many historical fiction tend to do with the history being studied. Emma got a feel for life in a tribe and as an Indian during that time. One thing Emma really understood by the time we finished our NAI study was how Indians were able to use nature for all their needs...even down to the poop of an animal. Waste was not thought of, everything had a use as well as being able to be recycled.

Overall I feel like we accomplished our goal...learning about NAI. I think the Welcome Books will continue to do what I want and look forward to the next in the series Welcome to Felicity's World.

Weekly review #7 or is it #8?

This week turned out to be bittersweet. Emma is growing up, which is wonderful, a little girl moving from being dependent on mom for much to a young lady willing to go at it on her own. I saw signs of the breaking away from dependency at the beginning of the 3rd grade year. She insisted she have her own schedule for school, so each week there are two schedules, one for her independent work and one her dependent work. Slowly over the 8 weeks I would see her doing things fro my portion of the schedule. Little things like doing the history readings aloud to me instead of me to her, grabbing the Discover 4 Yourself  Bible workbook without me knowing and completing the work then bringing it to me to check. Thursday she rearranged her room, and had her brother move the desk upstairs (it normally sits next to my desk). Friday she took both schedules and did all the work alone, with the exception of the read aloud. She did throw me a few bones though...I was allowed  to discuss the history and Apologia science with her after she read it to me. So it is official, my baby has grown up.

Emma Ruth   3months  2005

Emma Ruth   8yrs   2013

 A few months ago I joined (for Emma) a post card exchange offered on the Sonlight Core D Forums and have steadily  been receiving postcards from all over the United States and a few from Canada. As of today we have 18 cards. This has been a great addition to the United States study and I am so glad we have been a part of this. I do feel sort of guilty though, most of the cards we have received have had facts about the state it came from but on the cards Emma sent out I had her write something about herself (we were using it as writing exercises for English). Our cards did not reflect the interesting facts about Iowa, instead they let the recipient know what was happening in an 8yr old's life at the time....likes playing with dolls, learned to ride a bike, went swimming, tornado warnings and being scared of storms. This is how we are keeping track of the cards we receive:

One more week of Indians and then a week off. I am looking forward to both. Next week I will give a review of using the American Girl books on Kaya. I will just say that so far I am happy with what is happening with our school and plan on staying with my plan....using the AG books and the TT studies with SL core D as a go along.

Just wanted to add this picture of Emma, this is a typical scene during one of the school breaks. She listens to a cd while reading on the Nook.

Web of Life, a crochet adventure with rocks

I am a rock hound. I have always been. Some of my fondest memories are sitting in the early morning light and going through each rock in my family's garden (they used small rocks instead of mulch). I would look at each rock, hoping to find a fossil or a rock worthy of my collection. I still have that collection plus many more. My neighbor is the same and I envy her. She has used rocks as decor. They are all over her house in neat little nooks and on the windowsill and in pretty jars. Mine are in boxes and drawers but some have been slowly making their way into the light.

Recently I have been getting crochet pattern books from the library, usually I get knitting books, and found this absolutely adorable pattern for a web to cover a rock. So Pretty Crochet took an ordinary river rock and made it look delicate in a pattern called Web of Life.

Two of my 3 greatest passions, rocks and yarn (the third is books) coming together...It was a must do project. For weeks I looked for the perfect rock even renewing the book so I can get this project done. The ones in the book were perfect ovals or egg shaped. Mine were more Lima bean shaped or had an irregular edge. The biggest problem was size. Mine were all 1" to 2" and the pattern called for 3-4". Out of desperation I posted a Rock Wanted sign on a forum I frequent. Sigh....how was I to get this wonderful creating accomplished? Then, while sitting at a stop light, I happen to look around and found myself in front of a garden shop, one that sells paving stones and landscape rocks. and right in front, in a wire bin were RIVER ROCKS (cue heavenly light and angelic singing).

Once home with my 3 River rocks ( I could go into how I had to sort through the big pile and find just the right ones and how the thought of leaving any rock behind made me nauseous, but I will spare you) I washed them and made them ready for the Web of Life design. I will admit to playing with them some...stack them, admired how they looked in that corner or another corner...you get the idea.....but then on to the project and the next snag in the web. No yarn.

I just inventoried my yarn stash and have 68 full balls and 30 partial balls of yarn of various size and colors. None are white and none are the size needed. Okay...not panicking I decided to use a light lavender that is thicker then called for, but that is fine, my rocks are twice as big as the pattern calls for....should work.

With yarn in hand and my just-dug-from-the-bottom-of-my-craft-bin crochet hook I was ready, but how to start. All my crochet skills vanished. How to start a chain? How to do a single crochet? What is a "tr" and how do you make one? So out comes the crochet book. I now need to relearn crochet. After figuring out the basics I begin.

After 4 tries, froggings, and retries, I had my base chain circle. Emma and I admired that 10 chain beauty. Modeling it on our finger like a priceless ring. I will have to say, the men in my house are oblivious to the turmoils and triumphs my new adventure is creating but Emma is right there, cheering me on every step of the way. Back on the project...I was told to make a triple crochet and join it to the circle...huh? More frogging, more tries and I think I have it. So for 3 hours I toiled at this endeavor and make a web. It drapes nicely over my rock and once again the admiration takes place with Emma "oohing" and "ahhing" at all the right places. Now to finish it.Again I am stumped by the directions but I venture on. The end project is a too thick web draped over a rock with a huge tangle underneath, But the underneath will not be seen and no one but me really knows the web is too thick.

I now call the men folk over to view my newest creation...the Web of Life....a mistake I should have foreseen (troglodytes the two of them), the young male looks at it and says "you dressed a rock? Really?" the older male just grunts "ah-humm" not really knowing what he is suppose to be looking at. So I try to educate them and explain it is a web on a rock, the Web of Life. Youngest just repeats the same just in reverse order and the older adds a "nice' to his confused look. Emma, of course knows just what to say and has declared all rocks need this and she will learn crochet so she too can partake in the beautifying of the world...(actually this is what I heard in her "Mom, it is beautiful" reply).

Not being discouraged by the nay-sayers and scoffers, I give it a second try, This time I decide on a smaller yarn and one a more nature-like color. I know just the thing. A yarn I have had for years, one with no label, but too pretty to donate. It varies from extra fine to unspun looking in areas and it is mossy green...perfect. this time I understand the pattern better and produce a very-close-to-the-pattern look.

I am pleased with the results but still the web is not giving me that feeling of satisfaction. The pattern rock had a white web, maybe that is the problem. I need white yarn. With one river rock left I am determined to make my Web of Life work. Yesterday I was able to get the white yarn....had to sneak it in while shopping for a birthday present for Emma's friend. Today I will attempt the 3rd web. In the mean time, someone contacted me about my Rock Wanted post, she is going to send me a 3" river rock, maybe two and I heard there is a store that sells river rocks for the garden, small 2"-4" size in a large bag for $5....might be worth checking out....I mean a large bag of rocks for $5, my heart it racing.

Time Travelers New World Explorers, a review

We have spent the last 7 weeks using New World Explorers as one of our spines for American History and I feel a review is in order. This is my personal view on the product and how it worked with my specific 3rd grader. Also we only used the lesson pages and the lapbook work with a few other projects thrown in. We did not do any notebooking work so this review will not cover any of those assignments. With that said, where to begin...
The product itself is just a cd and you will need to either read everything online or print it off. I usually do not like this format but I was familiar with this product from past use and knew what to expect of myself (pre-printing before the day needed) and printed what was needed for the week on the weekend as I made schedules. This way I only printed off what I absolutely needed. For us, this was the lesson page, the project pages that only contained lapbook work and the actual lap book work. We did not need the notebooking pages. The cd has a detailed section on how to set up the lapbook...very detailed with step by step pictures on the actual making of the lapbook as well as where everything goes. Pictures of our finished lapbook are at the end of this post.

The lessons themselves were about 2 pages long. These were very detailed but written in a matter of fact way so the delivery of the info was boring. They info on the explorers were dry facts with no drawing in power to the reader or listener. I usually just highlighted the main things needed for each explorer and picked one or two facts of interest if any or used the sheets as a guide on who we were studying for the day. Here is where library books came in handy. The books offered the info in a more interesting way. Even if my child was older the lesson pages would not have drawn her in...I read them and yawned. It could have been the subject to...so many explorers and  trying to get the info on 2 pages might have meant leave out the glitz. We will see how the other lessons are written in the other TT curricula, but since I am using them as guides I am fine with this.

The amount of offerings each day and/or week kept things interesting and always something could be found that interests the child. From elaborate projects such as building a large cardboard ship to play in (we did not do this) to making spice cookies (yummy). The activities also drew on different skills from creative writing to hands on experiments and allowed you (or your child) to do as little or as much as wanted. I felt we always had options on activities and not once was left with no project for the week. Each week ended with 2 recipes from a country where the explorers were sent from. Several games could be made, these looked very nice (not hokey) and even though we did not do them I feel they were excellently created and looked fun for the whole family. Suggestions for an end of the curriculum party complete with decorations are also given. Be sure to take pictures of the projects because on the lapbook there is a section specifically for pictures of the projects.

The lapbook is put together in an orderly fashion and when closed is a tidy single file folder size. We did a lapbook last year that was like a road map when trying to fold it up, a complete headache each time we added to it. This one is neat, as in not messy. We made ours as suggested including the making of the ropes, but you could just glue the picture on the front and that would be good enough. They suggest you put your lapbook pieces in a bag and assemble it at the end, but we added as we went so no lost pieces (which I am sure would have happened even if I placed them in a zip lock and hid them in a lock box). The lapbook display pieces were not elaborate (with the exception of the equipment wheel) and easy for my 3rd grader to figure out on her own, but not boring. Some could be made as detailed or as plain as the creator wanted them to be so no feeling locked into a certain design method. All the pieces are placed in a pleasing manner so when opened you do not feel overwhelmed but in an inviting come-see-what-I-learned manner. Note: the lapbook had acetate mini maps you could create for the different explorer routes but we did not do those.

Overall I feel the Time Traveler Explorers cd was well worth the money and did exactly what I wanted. It provided me with a guide on explorers to teach to Emma, fun activities, and a neat lapbook, plus it went well with the SL curriculum weeks 1-4. I will most certainly be continuing with my plan to use the Time Traveler cds with SL.