We are working on getting settled into our new house here in Jersey! We were extremely blessed to find a house that not only works for our family but is also amazing! After spending 6 months on the family farm in Kentucky I was not really loving the idea of moving back to Jersey and living in a subdivision surrounded by people 24/7. We knew the area we wanted to live in however and started looking for a house to meet our needs.
I knew the Lord had a plan for our family when we were forced to move out of our old house due to a corrupt landlord. I spent the entire summer praying that I would have the patience and the strength to wait for His time to reveal His plan. When the time came....man did He blow my socks off!
Our new house is a dream come true. Sitting on an acre of land in the middle of the state forest we could not ask for a better location. We do have neighbors close enough to provide some "security" but far enough away to give our family some privacy.
The house itself is a lovely 5 bedroom split level home. The owners recently remodeled the home adding an addition to the rear of the property. I had never lived in a split level before and wasn't too sure how I felt about the layout. Having moved in and spent some time here however I have to say I really like it.
The "great room" on the upper floor is a big selling point for me. The sight lines are better allowing me to keep a better eye on the children. This allows me to keep the entire room clean versus several separate rooms where the children are able to simply drop something and walk away without my noticing.
The downstairs "great room" is a nice cozy room where we have our coat cubbies, family room, and school room. I am enjoying having the school room slightly removed from the upper levels and bedrooms. It is hard for the children to concentrate on their readings when their siblings are constantly running in and out of the room.
We are settling in and anxiously awaiting the return of the missing member of our family. Going through so many moves and changes while my husband has been deployed was not easy by any stretch of the imagination. It has been 198 days since he left. That is an extremely long time to be apart! The Lord has held my hand through the last 198 days and I am sure I am going to need Him to hang on to me for a bit longer. I can not wait until this deployment is behind us.
Until then we will keep on keeping on here on the home front.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Friday, December 18, 2015
Kindergarten Graduation!!!
It is hard to believe our twins are already graduating kindergarten! If we enrolled them in public school they would be just beginning their kindergarten year. They wanted to begin "doing school" when they saw their older siblings working on their school work. I decided to start them on a preschool curriculum since they were chomping at the bit to get started. When they completed an entire years preschool curriculum in just three months I decided it was time to start them on kindergarten level work. I expected them to stall out halfway through and need some time to "grow into" the material. That never happened however. They blew through My Father's World Kindergarten with no issues. Leaving me with two new Kindergarten graduates!
I decided we needed to have a Kindergarten graduation party!! We had a grand total of 3 days before we needed to leave for New Jersey. It was important to me to have the graduation in Kentucky so that our family could be present. Luckily my mother stepped in and took over all of the party preparations. I really don't think I could have pulled it off without her help!
I am slowly getting used to the idea that I now have two 1st graders!
I would love to hear about your kindergarten graduation traditions!
I decided we needed to have a Kindergarten graduation party!! We had a grand total of 3 days before we needed to leave for New Jersey. It was important to me to have the graduation in Kentucky so that our family could be present. Luckily my mother stepped in and took over all of the party preparations. I really don't think I could have pulled it off without her help!
I am slowly getting used to the idea that I now have two 1st graders!
I would love to hear about your kindergarten graduation traditions!
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Norway!
We have been continuing our exploration into the world of My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. We have spent the last two weeks exploring Norway!
One of the nice things about MFW ECC is that you are given the option to chose your own read aloud for the sections. The teacher's manual gives options in the book basket section but none of the books are required reading. I like getting to chose the read alouds for our family. I try and keep them exciting and interesting while still covering the culture in the country we are studying. For our section on Norway I chose Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan. It was recommended reading not only by MFW but also by sonlight. That is like a gold star in our book.
Our kids loved this book and were thrilled to hear that it was based on a true story. You have to love a story that involves children on sleds hiding gold from German occupying forces. There was quite a bit of gasping throughout and groaning when we reached the end of the readings for the day. The kids couldn't wait to hear what happened next!
We found this very cute picture book about The Day Hans Got His Way. We happened to receive a box of treats from my Great Aunt just as we were sitting down to read our story. It seemed fitting to eat chocolate while listening to the trouble Hans got into trying to show his wife how simple her job was. Our 9 year old is currently obsessed with the movie Frozen and found the names sprinkled throughout our readings this month to be quite fascinating. We discovered that the movie could have been set in Norway. The common names, landscapes, animals, and climate all line up with what we have learned of Norway. To say this was a major moment for our daughter would be an understatement.
Of course we had to finish out our study of Norway by trying some Norwegian recipes as well! We decided to try Lapskaus with Flatbrød. Basically this was just beef stew with all the liquid removed and flatbread on the side. Very simple and very yummy!
One of the nice things about MFW ECC is that you are given the option to chose your own read aloud for the sections. The teacher's manual gives options in the book basket section but none of the books are required reading. I like getting to chose the read alouds for our family. I try and keep them exciting and interesting while still covering the culture in the country we are studying. For our section on Norway I chose Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan. It was recommended reading not only by MFW but also by sonlight. That is like a gold star in our book.
Our kids loved this book and were thrilled to hear that it was based on a true story. You have to love a story that involves children on sleds hiding gold from German occupying forces. There was quite a bit of gasping throughout and groaning when we reached the end of the readings for the day. The kids couldn't wait to hear what happened next!
I like to add in some craft options since our children are still on the young side of things. I did some searching on pinterest and found these cute Norwegian Christmas hearts. I will admit I spent quite a while figuring out how to make these things! A template would have been helpful. Our oldest daughter found my fumbling to be quite funny. Whatever I can do to provide comic relief.....
I had initially planned to drag out the painting supplies and have the children try to reproduce the Rosemaling style artwork that is popular throughout Norway. I however found these very cute coloring pages that reproduced the style of artwork. I decided crayons were safer for my floors.
We found this very cute picture book about The Day Hans Got His Way. We happened to receive a box of treats from my Great Aunt just as we were sitting down to read our story. It seemed fitting to eat chocolate while listening to the trouble Hans got into trying to show his wife how simple her job was. Our 9 year old is currently obsessed with the movie Frozen and found the names sprinkled throughout our readings this month to be quite fascinating. We discovered that the movie could have been set in Norway. The common names, landscapes, animals, and climate all line up with what we have learned of Norway. To say this was a major moment for our daughter would be an understatement.
Of course we had to finish out our study of Norway by trying some Norwegian recipes as well! We decided to try Lapskaus with Flatbrød. Basically this was just beef stew with all the liquid removed and flatbread on the side. Very simple and very yummy!
We had a great deal of fun learning about Norway and are looking forward to learning all about France next week. I have to admit I am a bit biased towards France, it should be an interesting two weeks!
Friday, December 11, 2015
MFW Kindergarten Unit 25 & 26
We are on the last two units of My Father's World Kindergarten! I had intended to do a few cute projects for these units.......time however got away from me. While working through these units we were packing up the farmhouse in Kentucky and finishing up the school work with the older girls. I was simply stretched too thin. We completed the readings, worksheets, and ladders then decided to call it a day. We thoroughly enjoyed our time spent completing My Father's World Kindergarten. We will forever associate it with our amazing summer on the farm in Kentucky! I am looking forward to going through the curriculum again with our youngest two children.
I would love to hear how your family completed these two units! Please let us know all about it!
Monday, December 7, 2015
Our week of Unschooling
As I talked about last week we are trying something new with our last week of the fall semester. We decided to drop our boxed curriculum for the week and try something new. We decided to try "unschooling" or "child led learning" depending on your vocabulary preference. Both education models allow the child to chose what they learn and how they learn it. This was a giant step in a new direction for our family. I had recently finished reading several books on the topic and found the idea fascinating. I went into this week as a research project for chosing our curriculum for the fall. The kids went into the week ecstatic to be able to chose what they wanted to learn.
The amount of documentation required by homeschool families varies based on state regulations. Our state is very hands off and does not require any reporting throughout the year. I however like to have all my ducks in a row in case of inquiry. For our family that includes keeping daily student assignment sheets. This week however we did not have a set curriculum so I could not record their assignments in advance. I chose to write down exactly what the children were learning throughout the week on their blank student sheets as the week progressed.
Here are the forerunners of our education for the week!
* Safari outside with Lion books
One of our girls is currently fascinated with all types of cats. When I asked her what she wanted to study this week she went straight for the Lion books at the library. I thought it would be fun to have an outside safari and read through the books.
*Read about constitution and bill of rights
Our oldest daughter had quite a few questions about how the governmental process works. Specifically the history of the Presidential Office and how our officials are elected. We sat down together and read through a juvenile reference book on the subject. We both learned quite a bit about the process and were able to talk one on one with each other as we went through the book. It was nice to be able to work one on one instead of with a room full of children. We could speak on her level instead of at a lower level that the younger children could understand.
*Tanagrams
I don't know what it is about tanagrams but they are a huge hit in our home. Our younger girls were in love with the idea of being able to play with them anytime they liked.
*Types of potatoes
While eating dinner the children started asking questions about all the different types of potatoes. We ran with the interest and learned about all the different types of potatoes, climates where they are grown, their uses, and popularity.
* cadet meeting: Astronomy badge
Our oldest daughter earned her Astronomy badge while at her Cadet scout meeting. She worked with her fellow cadets and her girl scout leader to learn about the different constellations and several space related facts.
*Stained glass lesson
While driving by a church our oldest daughter commented on how beautiful the stained glass windows were. This started a conversation about how the windows were made. My parents and grandfather have all made stained glass artwork over the years and allowed me to make a few small projects when I was younger. We talked about the process as we finished our drive home.
*How glass is made
Learning about stained glass of course moved into how glass itself was made. We ended up staying in the car when we reached our destination and watched some YouTube videos on the subject. The look of shock on her face when she realized that glass is made from sand was priceless.
*4 new badges: budgeting, comparison shopping, good sportsmanship, and comic strips
Our oldest daughter is really motivated to complete her cadet badges. She worked hard and earned her badges in budgeting, comparison shopping, and good sportsmanship. Her good sportsmanship badge was earned through completing her first swim meet with her Special Olympics team. She placed 1st and 2nd in her heats.
*Discussed Geopolitics. Egypt plane crash, terrorism, and bullies
My husband loves CNN and watches it quite a bit throughout the day. I originally felt like I needed to shelter my children from the horrible tragedies in the world. I however have come to the decision that this was not the correct path to take with our children. All 5 older children were part of this conversation. We learned the basics about terrorism which quickly moved to learning about bullies and the plight of people throughout the world who suffer from terroristic threats on a routine basis.
*Discussed democratic process: Difference between democrats and republicans, what is a primary, voting processes.
After learning about terrorism we quickly moved on the learning about the democratic process. I could have talked about this subject till I was blue in the face a few months ago and the children would not have absorbed any of the information. Since learning about this information was their decision however they really absorbed the information and found it fascinating.
*How a rainbow is formed
*Animal tracks. How to track different animals based on tracks
*Measuring Lions and Tigers
We had been learning about Lions and other large cats throughout the week. I knew that learning the facts about the sizes of the animals wasn't REALLY sinking in for the kids. I can say "the Lion is 2 Daddy's long" but that wasn't really working to help the kids visualize how BIG these animals are. So we pulled out the reference books, tape measure, and sidewalk chalk. The children worked together to measure out the different cats on the back patio. They were shocked by the sizes of these animals. I have to admit I was pretty shocked by the size of the Siberian Tiger!
Looking through our list I did see some general points of interest.
Our oldest daughter (11yrs old) seemed to be the most quizzical and interested in investigating different subjects. The younger three girls spent the majority of their time outside playing house and riding their bikes. I am sure they were learning *something* during this time. I am just not sure exactly what they were learning.
The children also did not have any interest in investigating anything math related. The few math activities that we completed were totally my idea and did not go anywhere near the level of the math work they had been completing.
This week was a lot more work for ME! I had the preconceived idea that "unschooling" or "child led learning" would be easier on me for the week. I pictured piles of books everywhere and me off taking care of the little ones and keeping the house clean. In my imagination the older girls would sit down and read about all the things that interested them and I would get a break for a week. Yeah right! This week was exhausting! Between finding all the information and books, coming up with projects on the fly, and randomly stopping what we were doing to go into research mode at the drop of a hat.......I was tired! It is MUCH easier to open a boxed curriculum and work our way through the books as listed in the teachers manual.
So what did we decide for the future of our homeschooling journey?
I am not equipped to be an "unschooling" or "child led learning" parent for the long term. I can see the benefits for children and families however. Being able to follow "rabbit trails" and explore the topics that interest you is a major plus of homeschooling in general. As a year round homeschooling family I could see adding in a week of "unschooling" here and there every few months. Maybe at the end of each semester or right before a major holiday. This is definitely something I need to think and pray about for the future.
If you have experience with unschooling I would love to hear about it!
The amount of documentation required by homeschool families varies based on state regulations. Our state is very hands off and does not require any reporting throughout the year. I however like to have all my ducks in a row in case of inquiry. For our family that includes keeping daily student assignment sheets. This week however we did not have a set curriculum so I could not record their assignments in advance. I chose to write down exactly what the children were learning throughout the week on their blank student sheets as the week progressed.
Here are the forerunners of our education for the week!
* Safari outside with Lion books
One of our girls is currently fascinated with all types of cats. When I asked her what she wanted to study this week she went straight for the Lion books at the library. I thought it would be fun to have an outside safari and read through the books.
*Read about constitution and bill of rights
Our oldest daughter had quite a few questions about how the governmental process works. Specifically the history of the Presidential Office and how our officials are elected. We sat down together and read through a juvenile reference book on the subject. We both learned quite a bit about the process and were able to talk one on one with each other as we went through the book. It was nice to be able to work one on one instead of with a room full of children. We could speak on her level instead of at a lower level that the younger children could understand.
*Tanagrams
I don't know what it is about tanagrams but they are a huge hit in our home. Our younger girls were in love with the idea of being able to play with them anytime they liked.
*Types of potatoes
While eating dinner the children started asking questions about all the different types of potatoes. We ran with the interest and learned about all the different types of potatoes, climates where they are grown, their uses, and popularity.
* cadet meeting: Astronomy badge
Our oldest daughter earned her Astronomy badge while at her Cadet scout meeting. She worked with her fellow cadets and her girl scout leader to learn about the different constellations and several space related facts.
*Stained glass lesson
While driving by a church our oldest daughter commented on how beautiful the stained glass windows were. This started a conversation about how the windows were made. My parents and grandfather have all made stained glass artwork over the years and allowed me to make a few small projects when I was younger. We talked about the process as we finished our drive home.
*How glass is made
Learning about stained glass of course moved into how glass itself was made. We ended up staying in the car when we reached our destination and watched some YouTube videos on the subject. The look of shock on her face when she realized that glass is made from sand was priceless.
*4 new badges: budgeting, comparison shopping, good sportsmanship, and comic strips
Our oldest daughter is really motivated to complete her cadet badges. She worked hard and earned her badges in budgeting, comparison shopping, and good sportsmanship. Her good sportsmanship badge was earned through completing her first swim meet with her Special Olympics team. She placed 1st and 2nd in her heats.
*Discussed Geopolitics. Egypt plane crash, terrorism, and bullies
My husband loves CNN and watches it quite a bit throughout the day. I originally felt like I needed to shelter my children from the horrible tragedies in the world. I however have come to the decision that this was not the correct path to take with our children. All 5 older children were part of this conversation. We learned the basics about terrorism which quickly moved to learning about bullies and the plight of people throughout the world who suffer from terroristic threats on a routine basis.
*Discussed democratic process: Difference between democrats and republicans, what is a primary, voting processes.
After learning about terrorism we quickly moved on the learning about the democratic process. I could have talked about this subject till I was blue in the face a few months ago and the children would not have absorbed any of the information. Since learning about this information was their decision however they really absorbed the information and found it fascinating.
*How a rainbow is formed
*Animal tracks. How to track different animals based on tracks
*Measuring Lions and Tigers
We had been learning about Lions and other large cats throughout the week. I knew that learning the facts about the sizes of the animals wasn't REALLY sinking in for the kids. I can say "the Lion is 2 Daddy's long" but that wasn't really working to help the kids visualize how BIG these animals are. So we pulled out the reference books, tape measure, and sidewalk chalk. The children worked together to measure out the different cats on the back patio. They were shocked by the sizes of these animals. I have to admit I was pretty shocked by the size of the Siberian Tiger!
Looking through our list I did see some general points of interest.
Our oldest daughter (11yrs old) seemed to be the most quizzical and interested in investigating different subjects. The younger three girls spent the majority of their time outside playing house and riding their bikes. I am sure they were learning *something* during this time. I am just not sure exactly what they were learning.
The children also did not have any interest in investigating anything math related. The few math activities that we completed were totally my idea and did not go anywhere near the level of the math work they had been completing.
This week was a lot more work for ME! I had the preconceived idea that "unschooling" or "child led learning" would be easier on me for the week. I pictured piles of books everywhere and me off taking care of the little ones and keeping the house clean. In my imagination the older girls would sit down and read about all the things that interested them and I would get a break for a week. Yeah right! This week was exhausting! Between finding all the information and books, coming up with projects on the fly, and randomly stopping what we were doing to go into research mode at the drop of a hat.......I was tired! It is MUCH easier to open a boxed curriculum and work our way through the books as listed in the teachers manual.
So what did we decide for the future of our homeschooling journey?
I am not equipped to be an "unschooling" or "child led learning" parent for the long term. I can see the benefits for children and families however. Being able to follow "rabbit trails" and explore the topics that interest you is a major plus of homeschooling in general. As a year round homeschooling family I could see adding in a week of "unschooling" here and there every few months. Maybe at the end of each semester or right before a major holiday. This is definitely something I need to think and pray about for the future.
If you have experience with unschooling I would love to hear about it!
Monday, November 30, 2015
Our Exploration into Unschooling
Our family is your "typical" homeschool family. We use a boxed curriculum and work our way through our assignments as directed by a teacher's manual. I tailored our choice and chose a hands on and laid back curriculum....... but we still have one to follow.
Until now!
Our month was going to be a bit wonky with the holidays and traveling to visit family. Luckily we only needed to complete one last week of work for the fall semester. We could have made our curriculum work for us, that was the initial plan. I however was seeing quite a bit of interest in topics we were not covering. We were so busy learning things we were told to learn that we did not have time to cover the things that our children were passionate about. We decided to change things up and try something new. We decided to try out unschooling!
I am a bit of a wimp and wasn't brave enough to go 100% unschooled. We decided to keep our Bible, Spelling, and Math curriculum as normal. We put the rest of our curriculum on hold and instead went with an child led program for the last week of the semester. I added the twist of needing to complete this month's exploration for free. That has resulted in some unique thinking along the way.
We are excited to really dig into all the topics the kids have been asking about weeks!
So what does that look like? This week we are studying:
American Government
Lions Unit Study
Business Plan for a rabbit business
We spent the first day at the library finding books that covered our topics and peaked the kids interest.
Join us as we give unschooling a try. Let's see if we can pull this off!
Until now!
Our month was going to be a bit wonky with the holidays and traveling to visit family. Luckily we only needed to complete one last week of work for the fall semester. We could have made our curriculum work for us, that was the initial plan. I however was seeing quite a bit of interest in topics we were not covering. We were so busy learning things we were told to learn that we did not have time to cover the things that our children were passionate about. We decided to change things up and try something new. We decided to try out unschooling!
I am a bit of a wimp and wasn't brave enough to go 100% unschooled. We decided to keep our Bible, Spelling, and Math curriculum as normal. We put the rest of our curriculum on hold and instead went with an child led program for the last week of the semester. I added the twist of needing to complete this month's exploration for free. That has resulted in some unique thinking along the way.
We are excited to really dig into all the topics the kids have been asking about weeks!
So what does that look like? This week we are studying:
American Government
Lions Unit Study
Business Plan for a rabbit business
We spent the first day at the library finding books that covered our topics and peaked the kids interest.
Join us as we give unschooling a try. Let's see if we can pull this off!
Friday, November 27, 2015
MFW Kindergarten Unit 24
We are now working on My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 24 "V is for Vegetable".
I know this post is publishing in November....but we actually completed this unit during the middle of our summer living on the farm in Kentucky. We were very lucky that my Aunt runs a vegetable farm and was more than happy to have us invading her farm on a regular basis. Which is great since we turned out to be very bad at growing our own vegetables.
We spent the summer working in the greenhouse planting our seeds.....
working in the garden......
and doing lots of harvesting!
The best of all would have to be eating all of those yummy vegetables!
I would love to hear any hands on activities your family completed for My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 24 "V is for Vegetable"!
I know this post is publishing in November....but we actually completed this unit during the middle of our summer living on the farm in Kentucky. We were very lucky that my Aunt runs a vegetable farm and was more than happy to have us invading her farm on a regular basis. Which is great since we turned out to be very bad at growing our own vegetables.
We spent the summer working in the greenhouse planting our seeds.....
working in the garden......
and doing lots of harvesting!
The best of all would have to be eating all of those yummy vegetables!
I would love to hear any hands on activities your family completed for My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 24 "V is for Vegetable"!
Friday, November 20, 2015
MFW Kindergarten Unit 23
We are getting so close to the end of My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum! This week we completed Unit 23: X is for Fox.
This was a hard week for me to get excited about. We are just days away from our big move back to New Jersey, and we are planning the girls kindergarten graduation party. I am very much "seeing the light at the end of the tunnel". That of course makes our current units a bit harder for me to get excited about completing. I got my act together and found a fox craft for this week.
We made paper fox faces! I had already packed the craft paper at this point. I really don't know what I was thinking. After digging everything back out of boxes this was a very simple craft to complete.
All four of our youngest children got in on the crafting action.
I saw some really cute fox crafts on pinterest for this week. I really wish we had more time to complete a few more fox themed crafts. I do have two younger children who still have to work their way through kindergarten so I am holding out hope for the future!
I would love to hear how your family completed this unit!
This was a hard week for me to get excited about. We are just days away from our big move back to New Jersey, and we are planning the girls kindergarten graduation party. I am very much "seeing the light at the end of the tunnel". That of course makes our current units a bit harder for me to get excited about completing. I got my act together and found a fox craft for this week.
We made paper fox faces! I had already packed the craft paper at this point. I really don't know what I was thinking. After digging everything back out of boxes this was a very simple craft to complete.
All four of our youngest children got in on the crafting action.
I saw some really cute fox crafts on pinterest for this week. I really wish we had more time to complete a few more fox themed crafts. I do have two younger children who still have to work their way through kindergarten so I am holding out hope for the future!
I would love to hear how your family completed this unit!
Friday, November 13, 2015
MFW Kindergarten Unit 22
It feels like we have been working on this unit all summer. My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 22 is "F is for Frog"!
We started the summer by finding frog eggs and raising tadpoles.
Then we were on to catching full grown frogs while playing in the creek.
We were beyond thrilled when my aunt brought us baby frogs!
We even studied frogs at the living museum!
It seems like we have a had a very frog centered summer!
We would love to hear how your family completed My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 22 "F is for Frog"!
We started the summer by finding frog eggs and raising tadpoles.
Then we were on to catching full grown frogs while playing in the creek.
We were beyond thrilled when my aunt brought us baby frogs!
We even studied frogs at the living museum!
It seems like we have a had a very frog centered summer!
We would love to hear how your family completed My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 22 "F is for Frog"!
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Our Review of Brinkman Adventures Season 3!!
I am always excited to review audio adventures. They are always so lively and engage our imagination in a way books and television can never quite reach. This month we were chosen to review The Brinkman Adventures: Season 3.
The Brinkman Adventures follow a large Christian family as they travel around the world acting as modern day missionaries. They experience adventures and hair raising moments as they work to spread the word of God throughout the world. When I found out that the stories were based on a real life family I was intrigued. The adventures within these episodes are based on factual events with some dramatizations made throughout. There are stories from real missionaries woven throughout the episodes which interested our family a great deal. We have read quite a bit about missionaries from the past but have not covered that missionaries are still working and making sacrifices even to this very moment.
The Brinkman Adventures are available in two formats: 4 CDs or a MP3 download. Our family was chosen to receive the MP3 download. I preferred the Mp3 download as we tend to destroy CD's very quickly. Each season of the Brinkman Adventures consists of 12 exciting adventures for a total of 5 hours of faith based adventures.
The episodes include:
1. God's Mule
2. Mountain Mover
3. Silent Ambassador
4. Translating Trouble
5. Man-Up
6. Acorns & Oaks
7. A Saint's Story, Part 1
8. A Saint's Story, Part 2
9. Untouched
10. Busy Bees and a Bullhorn
11. Missionary Tourist, Part 1
12. Missionary Tourist, Part 2
Our children are pretty young: 11, 9, 5, 5, 4, and 2. Although the entire season was appropriate for all age ranges the stories were only really applicable to our oldest two children. The younger children quickly lost interest and went off to play. The older two girls were old enough to follow along with the story lines but tended to fidget and get distracted. Our oldest is autistic and our second oldest deals with ADHD. Sitting still and listening for long times, each episode is about 30min long, was a bit much to ask. To battle the fidgeting and restlessness I brought out our "art class" supplies. These are art supplies that are only allowed to be used while doing a specific art assignment. They were able to use the chalk pastels and paints to create fun projects while listing to the stories at the same time.
As a busy homeschooling mama I have to admit I love any time I can check off two school boxes with one activity! Art and Bible time completed at once!
Would you like to try out The Brinkman Adventures for yourself? You are in luck! The company is offering a download of 3 FREE episodes from The Brinkman Adventures Season 2 through the month of November! While you are there be sure to enter to win an entire season for free!
Would you like to hear what the other Schoolhouse Review Crew members thought of The Brinkman Adventures Season 3? You can click here or on the banner below to see read all about it!
Our Free Classic Literature Units
As new homeschoolers we purchased several different literature curriculums. After working our way through the curriculums I found myself less than thrilled with their content. If I am spending $800 a year on a curriculum I want it to be more than just a list of books to buy and questions to ask. Every day as I read through the assignment I thought to myself "Why do I need a curriculum for this?". After two years I finally had enough confidence in myself to ditch the purchased curriculum and strike out on my own.
Our oldest daughter is 11 years old and completing a mixture of 6th and 7th grade work. Her reading comprehension and fluency is top notch and on grade level. She is the only one of our children currently completing a literature curriculum. Our younger 3 school aged children are working their way through a computer based phonics program to increase their reading fluency.
After doing a bit of research into this age range I found The Classic Starts Series. Each book in the series is adapted from a classic children's story. These include Black Beauty, Little Women, Around the World in 80 Days, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, etc. In total the series has 46 classic books available for children reading at a second to fourth grade level.
I purposely chose literature books at a slightly reduced grade level. My goal is to raise children who have a love of knowledge. Children who as adults continue to pursue knowledge and education not because they HAVE to but because they WANT to. I want our daughter to love reading these classics and come back in future years to read the actual works. That is easiest to accomplish with books that are easy for her to read and understand.
So what makes these books a curriculum? Easy! They have discussion questions at the end of each book! I assign our daughter 2 chapters each day until she has completed the book. We then spend the next 10 school days completing the discussion questions at the end of the book. I assign one question per day and expect a half a page essay answering each question.
After she has completed the essay questions I allow her to choose a project to complete based on the theme of the book. Some examples include a themed dinner, a diorama, a play, craft projects, service projects, etc. The sky is the limit! She however has to come up with an appropriate project, create a written plan, and then gather all of the supplies.
So how do we pull off these literature units for free? The library! Our library has an entire shelf of these books! There are also several books available for FREE on kindle! You do not need a kindle to access these books however. You can download the kindle app for your PC and read the books on your computer. If you prefer actual books (I am a bit biased) you can find them for $0.01 on amazon as well.
We complete one book per month. With 46 books in the series we have our pick of books to read this year. I will be doing quite a bit of research on how to continue our classic literature units for free as her reading level increases.
I would love to hear how you complete classic literature units!
Our oldest daughter is 11 years old and completing a mixture of 6th and 7th grade work. Her reading comprehension and fluency is top notch and on grade level. She is the only one of our children currently completing a literature curriculum. Our younger 3 school aged children are working their way through a computer based phonics program to increase their reading fluency.
After doing a bit of research into this age range I found The Classic Starts Series. Each book in the series is adapted from a classic children's story. These include Black Beauty, Little Women, Around the World in 80 Days, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, etc. In total the series has 46 classic books available for children reading at a second to fourth grade level.
I purposely chose literature books at a slightly reduced grade level. My goal is to raise children who have a love of knowledge. Children who as adults continue to pursue knowledge and education not because they HAVE to but because they WANT to. I want our daughter to love reading these classics and come back in future years to read the actual works. That is easiest to accomplish with books that are easy for her to read and understand.
So what makes these books a curriculum? Easy! They have discussion questions at the end of each book! I assign our daughter 2 chapters each day until she has completed the book. We then spend the next 10 school days completing the discussion questions at the end of the book. I assign one question per day and expect a half a page essay answering each question.
After she has completed the essay questions I allow her to choose a project to complete based on the theme of the book. Some examples include a themed dinner, a diorama, a play, craft projects, service projects, etc. The sky is the limit! She however has to come up with an appropriate project, create a written plan, and then gather all of the supplies.
So how do we pull off these literature units for free? The library! Our library has an entire shelf of these books! There are also several books available for FREE on kindle! You do not need a kindle to access these books however. You can download the kindle app for your PC and read the books on your computer. If you prefer actual books (I am a bit biased) you can find them for $0.01 on amazon as well.
We complete one book per month. With 46 books in the series we have our pick of books to read this year. I will be doing quite a bit of research on how to continue our classic literature units for free as her reading level increases.
I would love to hear how you complete classic literature units!
Friday, October 30, 2015
MFW Kindergarten Unit 21
It is time for our My Father's World Kindergarten unit 21! This unit is titled "B is for Butterfly". We have been blessed to be surrounded by butterflies this summer. There is something about living on a farm in the middle of nowhere that attracts all different types of butterflies.
For our craft project this week I found a wooden "paint your own" butterfly magnet kit at walmart. There were only 5 butterflies in the kit and we have 6 children. I was not about to buy a second kit.....oh the fighting over the "extra butterflies" that would have resulted! I instead found a large wooden letter "B" for our son. I figured it was still the letter of the week, and it was the first letter of his name. Win win in my book!
We also took time this week to find real butterflies and learn about the different types surrounding us. I would have LOVED to have planted a butterfly garden. It however was the wrong time of year. I will have to keep this in mind for this Spring. There is something so cheerful about having butterflies around you each day.
I would love to hear how your family studied My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 21 "B is for Butterfly"!
For our craft project this week I found a wooden "paint your own" butterfly magnet kit at walmart. There were only 5 butterflies in the kit and we have 6 children. I was not about to buy a second kit.....oh the fighting over the "extra butterflies" that would have resulted! I instead found a large wooden letter "B" for our son. I figured it was still the letter of the week, and it was the first letter of his name. Win win in my book!
We also took time this week to find real butterflies and learn about the different types surrounding us. I would have LOVED to have planted a butterfly garden. It however was the wrong time of year. I will have to keep this in mind for this Spring. There is something so cheerful about having butterflies around you each day.
I would love to hear how your family studied My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 21 "B is for Butterfly"!
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Rainforest Diorama
We have spent the last month working our way through My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures unit concerning the Brazilian Rain forest. After a month of science lessons you would think our children would be able to at least answer some basic questions.
Nope.
You would think by now I would realize that our children do not do well with straight book centered work. They need hands on lessons in order to truly understand lessons. This month we decided to complete a diorama of the Rain Forest in order to cement the material into their heads.
I went BIG for this diorama!
Materials:
Standard tri-fold science fair board
4 foam boards (the floors)
7 cardboard paper towel rolls (tree trunks)
Construction paper
Fake leaves
Fake flowers
Moss
Green ribbons (Vines)
Fake fruit
Plastic animals and insects.
I measured the "floors" of the diorama using the cardboard paper towel rolls. At the top of each roll I marked the side flaps of the tri-fold board. I cut through the side flaps to make a slot for the foam boards to slide through. After installing the two floors we taped the bottom and top on as well.
The girls then took total control of the project. They had to research what objects went in each location. This included what animals lived in each level, where the majority of the leaves were located, where fruit would be found, and where that pesky 7th paper towel roll "tree truck" went (the emergent level), what the forest floor looked like, etc.
Listening to the girls work together to complete the research and assembly of the diorama was a blessing to me. I had intended for the diorama project to take 4 days. Instead they worked so well together that they finished in one afternoon. We still have two weeks of Rain Forest lessons to complete and will be using this diorama as a visual aid while completing our readings. This project has been so much fun I think we will have to make a diorama for all of the biomes we are studying this year!
Nope.
You would think by now I would realize that our children do not do well with straight book centered work. They need hands on lessons in order to truly understand lessons. This month we decided to complete a diorama of the Rain Forest in order to cement the material into their heads.
I went BIG for this diorama!
Materials:
Standard tri-fold science fair board
4 foam boards (the floors)
7 cardboard paper towel rolls (tree trunks)
Construction paper
Fake leaves
Fake flowers
Moss
Green ribbons (Vines)
Fake fruit
Plastic animals and insects.
I measured the "floors" of the diorama using the cardboard paper towel rolls. At the top of each roll I marked the side flaps of the tri-fold board. I cut through the side flaps to make a slot for the foam boards to slide through. After installing the two floors we taped the bottom and top on as well.
The girls then took total control of the project. They had to research what objects went in each location. This included what animals lived in each level, where the majority of the leaves were located, where fruit would be found, and where that pesky 7th paper towel roll "tree truck" went (the emergent level), what the forest floor looked like, etc.
Listening to the girls work together to complete the research and assembly of the diorama was a blessing to me. I had intended for the diorama project to take 4 days. Instead they worked so well together that they finished in one afternoon. We still have two weeks of Rain Forest lessons to complete and will be using this diorama as a visual aid while completing our readings. This project has been so much fun I think we will have to make a diorama for all of the biomes we are studying this year!
Friday, October 23, 2015
MFW Kindergarten Unit 20
We have almost completed our My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum! We are on to Unit 20: "J is for Jewel"!
This was an easy craft week at our house. I purchased 6 small wooden picture frames and some fake "jewels". We painted the frames and then glued the "jewels" onto the frames. The kids loved decorating their picture frames and then drawing pictures to put inside them.
We then decided to make some homemade jewelry! The girls collected clam shells all summer and saved them up for this project. Their grandfather helped them drill the holes and we worked together to get them strung on some elastic threads. I think they will be a special keepsake from our summer in Kentucky!
I would love to hear what your family did as a craft for My Father's Kindergarten Unit 20: "J is for Jewel".
This was an easy craft week at our house. I purchased 6 small wooden picture frames and some fake "jewels". We painted the frames and then glued the "jewels" onto the frames. The kids loved decorating their picture frames and then drawing pictures to put inside them.
We then decided to make some homemade jewelry! The girls collected clam shells all summer and saved them up for this project. Their grandfather helped them drill the holes and we worked together to get them strung on some elastic threads. I think they will be a special keepsake from our summer in Kentucky!
I would love to hear what your family did as a craft for My Father's Kindergarten Unit 20: "J is for Jewel".
Friday, October 16, 2015
MFW Kindergarten Unit 19
We are on to My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 19: "R is for Rock".I had a bit of trouble coming up with a craft for this week. I mean....a rock is a rock. I couldn't think of anywhere to visit or anything fun to do. I asked on a message board and we came up with the idea of making pet rocks. I purchased some googly eyes and raided my father's pond for some rocks.
The kids loved getting to paint the rocks and make them into pet rocks!
I would love to hear what your family did for MFW Unit 19 "R is for Rock"!
Friday, October 9, 2015
MFW Kindergarten Unit 18
Time for another fun My Father's World Kindergarten unit! This time we are covering "Z is for Zebra". One of our twins happens to be in love with zebras. We combined "K is for Kangaroo" and "Z is for Zebra" with a trip to the drive through safari!
During the drive through portion of the safari we were able to actually feed and pet zebras!!!
I have never in my life fed or touched a zebra so this was a treat for me as well! The kids were thrilled with the drive through safari! I just wish it was closer to our home we would be there every weekend for quite a while.
We would love to hear how your family completed MFW Kindergarten unit "Z is for Zebra"!
During the drive through portion of the safari we were able to actually feed and pet zebras!!!
I have never in my life fed or touched a zebra so this was a treat for me as well! The kids were thrilled with the drive through safari! I just wish it was closer to our home we would be there every weekend for quite a while.
We would love to hear how your family completed MFW Kindergarten unit "Z is for Zebra"!
Friday, October 2, 2015
Financial Friday
It is that time again! Another Financial Friday post! This month I decided to read a book concerning children and finances. I picked Raising Financially Fit Kids by Joline Godfrey.
I have to say I loved this book! I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when I started reading this book. I was quickly won over however. The author has been teaching financial maters to children for decades. She takes all of her experience with children of all ages to write a "how to" book for ages 5-18. She breaks down financial literacy into 10 steps and then focuses on teaching those financial steps in age appropriate ways through out the child's life.
She begins with a simple three jar system and progresses to checking accounts and having the children be in charge of purchasing their daily needed items. The one point she makes very clear is that an allowance is NOT an entitlement or a salary, it is a teaching tool. It can, and will be, taken away if the child proves they are not ready to handle the responsibility. This helped me greatly. I have always said we would never pay our children for completing work attributed to being in a family. This helped me to make the separation in my brain from allowance for labor and allowance for learning. After all I would have no problem paying $6 a month for an app that teaches my child financial independence. It makes much more sense to pay that $6 a month to my child and help her handle the money in the way we feel is appropriate.
The author gives quite a few hands on activities for each age range. These include ideas for starting investment clubs, scavenger hunts, and charity circles. While attempting to think of financial activities for our girls I came up short. This book definitely helped me in that regard! We are in the process of starting an investment club and a charity circle among our homeschool friends.
I loved this book so much I finished it in 2 days and immediately put her words to action. Our 11 year old daughter now has her own checking and savings accounts. She is responsible for budgeting and paying for her rabbits monthly supplies. She also is in charge of paying for her own new shoes and clothes. I move the money over into her account at the beginning of the month and she is responsible for handling the budgeting and doing the comparison shopping. After teaching her how to use her bank account, ATM card, and budget I am moving to a totally hands off method. She is extremely responsible so I am not seeing too many hiccups in our future. I always stand to be corrected however!
I highly recommend this book to any parent at any stage of raising their children. The author has a straightforward approach and makes the process very easy to understand and implement. I plan to search out the rest of her books in the very near future!
I would love to hear what you have been reading this year! Come on...you know you have been reading something!
I have to say I loved this book! I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when I started reading this book. I was quickly won over however. The author has been teaching financial maters to children for decades. She takes all of her experience with children of all ages to write a "how to" book for ages 5-18. She breaks down financial literacy into 10 steps and then focuses on teaching those financial steps in age appropriate ways through out the child's life.
She begins with a simple three jar system and progresses to checking accounts and having the children be in charge of purchasing their daily needed items. The one point she makes very clear is that an allowance is NOT an entitlement or a salary, it is a teaching tool. It can, and will be, taken away if the child proves they are not ready to handle the responsibility. This helped me greatly. I have always said we would never pay our children for completing work attributed to being in a family. This helped me to make the separation in my brain from allowance for labor and allowance for learning. After all I would have no problem paying $6 a month for an app that teaches my child financial independence. It makes much more sense to pay that $6 a month to my child and help her handle the money in the way we feel is appropriate.
The author gives quite a few hands on activities for each age range. These include ideas for starting investment clubs, scavenger hunts, and charity circles. While attempting to think of financial activities for our girls I came up short. This book definitely helped me in that regard! We are in the process of starting an investment club and a charity circle among our homeschool friends.
I loved this book so much I finished it in 2 days and immediately put her words to action. Our 11 year old daughter now has her own checking and savings accounts. She is responsible for budgeting and paying for her rabbits monthly supplies. She also is in charge of paying for her own new shoes and clothes. I move the money over into her account at the beginning of the month and she is responsible for handling the budgeting and doing the comparison shopping. After teaching her how to use her bank account, ATM card, and budget I am moving to a totally hands off method. She is extremely responsible so I am not seeing too many hiccups in our future. I always stand to be corrected however!
I highly recommend this book to any parent at any stage of raising their children. The author has a straightforward approach and makes the process very easy to understand and implement. I plan to search out the rest of her books in the very near future!
I would love to hear what you have been reading this year! Come on...you know you have been reading something!
Friday, September 25, 2015
MFW Kindergarten Unit: 17
We had a very exciting My Father's World Kindergarten Unit this week! We are on "K is for Kangaroo"! Our 9 year old daughter adores kangaroos at the moment so this week was a fun one four our family.
We took a trip to a drive through safari! While we were there we went into the walking portion of the park. Inside the walking portion we were able to walk inside an enclosure with the kangaroos! No cages involved, just a dainty fence to keep us off the grass.
The highlight would have to be the mama kangaroo with her baby! There was a great deal of oohing and ahhing when they saw the tiny little baby.
Outside of the enclosure we couldn't resist climbing inside the kangaroo sculpture and playing Joey!
I have always found kangaroos to be fascinating animals so I have to admit I was as thrilled as the girls were with this trip. Maybe one day I can convince my husband to take us to Australia to see kangaroos in their natural habitat!
I would love to hear how your family completed MFW Kindergarten Unit 17: "K is for Kangaroo"!
We took a trip to a drive through safari! While we were there we went into the walking portion of the park. Inside the walking portion we were able to walk inside an enclosure with the kangaroos! No cages involved, just a dainty fence to keep us off the grass.
The highlight would have to be the mama kangaroo with her baby! There was a great deal of oohing and ahhing when they saw the tiny little baby.
Outside of the enclosure we couldn't resist climbing inside the kangaroo sculpture and playing Joey!
I have always found kangaroos to be fascinating animals so I have to admit I was as thrilled as the girls were with this trip. Maybe one day I can convince my husband to take us to Australia to see kangaroos in their natural habitat!
I would love to hear how your family completed MFW Kindergarten Unit 17: "K is for Kangaroo"!
Friday, September 18, 2015
MFW Kindergarten Unit 16
Time for our newest kindergarten craft! This week we completed My Father's World Kindergarten Unit 16: "P is for Penguin"!
I hit up my go to site for crafts....pinterest of course! I found these adorable shape penguins and couldn't resist making a set for each girl. I learned very quickly that it is much easier on everyone if I precut the shapes during nap time.
Once the girls woke up and were ready for school I gave them all the pieces and let them put together their shape penguins!
They were so adorable that all the kids wanted to get in on the action!
I would love to hear what you did for MFW Kindergarten Unit 16: "P is for Penguin"!
I hit up my go to site for crafts....pinterest of course! I found these adorable shape penguins and couldn't resist making a set for each girl. I learned very quickly that it is much easier on everyone if I precut the shapes during nap time.
Once the girls woke up and were ready for school I gave them all the pieces and let them put together their shape penguins!
They were so adorable that all the kids wanted to get in on the action!
Our last activity for our penguin unit was to make "icebergs" for the bath tub. The girls were very disappointed when I wouldn't let them get into the bath with their entire bodies. They quickly understood that cold water + large chunks of ice = very cold water. We played with the large chunks of ice and discussed the types of habitats that penguins inhabit. We also learned that cold water is not nearly as cold as ice....and that our icebergs melted very quickly. Over all it was a very educational activity...and a lot of fun!
I would love to hear what you did for MFW Kindergarten Unit 16: "P is for Penguin"!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
