2011-2012 Curriculum Epic

Note: My posts tend to make a short story long, so if you would like the  Skeleton List in lieu of reading and reading and reading… I take no offense :)

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My readers know I like to carry on, so fix yourself a  cuppa coffee or tea, and settle in! 
Here we go!
This fall marks our 4th official year of homeschooling!  I am so incredibly humbled that God has called me to this work.  It is the most difficult work I have ever done, but I am realizing more and more each day that this work is among the more important work that I could ever do.  I am learning that homeschooling isn’t just about educating the children – homeschooling is also about teaching me!  Yes, I believe that God is doing a work on me, through homeschooling…and boy does He have some work to do!  I can be as stubborn as a mule sometimes.  Sigh….

While we are distinctly laid-back CM’ers, I am learning to let go of my hardcore-renegade-unschooling leanings.  It’s just not right for our family.  I studied and really tried to work with Waldorf education, but again – a very bad fit for our family. (Though I will say that I cling to many of the ideas and practices therein)  I returned to my first love, Charlotte Mason education.   My friend, Lecia and I joke about how we are with Charlotte Mason -- we feel like we have two gospels to share: #1 is the Good News of Jesus! I love it!!   and #2 is the beauty of a Charlotte Mason education!
I am like many homeschool moms out there –

I. Love. Curriculum.

I love to read reviews.  Write reviews.  Talk to folks about curriculum.  Talk to myself about curriculum.  I love to fill my online shopping carts with curriculum (B is thankful that I don’t finalize my order, hee hee!).  I . just. can’t. stop. 
I am getting better need to get better at choosing a curriculum and sticking with it.  Because I can’t stop looking!  There is always something else to try! 
But this year, I am resolved to put God at the head of this planning ship, and not make any decisions that don’t involve prayer.
So are you ready to see what I have planned thus far?  It’s going to change a bit, because God and I are still working out the details on history ;)

~ ~ The Students ~ ~

We have three children who will be doing “school” to some degree:

**MG is our oldest daughter, and she is almost 11.  Traditional school puts her at entering 5th grade this fall.
**EK is our 7.5 yo daughter, and she would be in 2nd grade this fall.
**HR is our almost 5 yo son, and he is running and jumping through what the system would call PreK5.
**SA is a two year old juicy bundle of pure energy and mischief  life!  She IS my membership to the Y!

~ ~ The Good Stuff ~ ~

--MG, age 10--

Bible

•  Discover 4 Yourself: How To Study Your Bible, for Kids.  I am super excited about getting this book in!  She really needs to learn how to use her Bible, as do I!
• Apologia’s Who Is God?  This will most likely be done more with me and her dad, but I am so head over heels over this book, and it hits what she’s seeking right now!

Math

• currently Horizons, with Life of Fred: Fractions waiting on the shelf. 

Typing

• BBC’s free typing program.  MG LOVES doing this!  She is moving along quickly…perhaps I need to think about another program….hmm…

Language Arts
Really, this girl takes in the written word like air.  I have to be so, so careful about what she reads, because she can read so well.  Just because she CAN read something, doesn’t mean she should, know what I mean?  For MG, spelling isn’t an issue.  She can see the word and know how to spell it.  She has keen comprehension skills. She has learned most of what she knows simply by reading and then narration (which is simply retelling what she read – and good gracious, does she ever love to do that!)  At first thought, I would say she needs no formal LA instruction.  On second thought, here is what she will be doing:

• Grammar

Queen’s Language Lessons!  I am so excited to get into this with MG!  She will use Language Lessons for the Elementary Child, Volume 1. Queen Homeschool is the best!  Mrs. Queen’s style is gently, yet quite thorough, and the books are lovely!

• Copywork

We are new to this, though I have read about it for several years.  I plan to loosely following the schedule that Lindafay presents at Charlotte Mason Help.  She suggests to make each day of copywork be a different piece, hitting different types of writing: a poem one day, a Bible verse another, and so on. 

• Cursive

I am 95% sure I am going to use Queen’s Pictures in Cursive.  We would start with Primer, then move to Book A.  4% of me wants to follow Nadene's lead and go it alone.  And that pesky 1% yells out to keep looking!!
Science
MG will follow readings for Year 5 of Ambleside Online’s on-line curriculum.  This includes:

• Natural history
• Science Biography
• Nature Study, using the blog Handbook of Nature Study and the book, Handbook of Nature Study

Poetry
She will follow along with Ambleside Online Year 5 and spent 12-ish weeks each on the following poets:

• Rudyard Kipling
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• John Greenleaf Whittier and Paul Lawrence Dunbar

--EK, age 7--
 

Bible
EK will look at Bible storybooks and as she improves her reading, will begin I Can Read God’s Word, a borrowed nugget of gold from her MeMe!

Math  Like her sister, we are using Horizons.
She can also play games, read my collection of math books, and “do math” with her dad!

Language Arts
While she is 7, she is just now starting to express any interest in reading and writing…and it’s not a bunch of interest at that.  She is my artist, happy to have art supplies all around.  I have used a light touch this year, perhaps too light.  We are going to start using the following tools with EK:

• Reading

I am using Delightful Reading, by Simply Charlotte Mason and it is wonderful! 

• Copywork:

This will be a combination of my own selections for her to copy and Queen’s Language Lessons for Little Ones, Volume 2.  Focus is a habit that we will be working on this year.  :)

Science
EK will be following the readings of Year 2 from Ambleside Online.  This includes:

• Nature Study (same as MG)
• Natural History: Burgess Animal Book and Holling C. Holling titles

--HR, age 5(at school’s start)--

I am following My Father’s World Kindergarten program with my guy, though very loosely.  Thank you to Lecia for letting me borrow it!

Bible
We have several story books that he can look at.  Pretty simple for this guy.
Math
Right now, I am not planning anything in particular.  Games, copying his sisters, and a very light touch with My Father’s World Kindergarten’s math component and we’ll call it a day!
Language Arts
As I mentioned, I am going to let my Father’s World Kindergarten guide me a lot.  There is no way I can do everything it suggests with HR, since I have three others that need me, but I can hit the high spots.  We will do the letter of the week component and add in any extra activities I find from around the Internet.
I will also have him do “school” like his sisters with Language Lessons for Little Ones I.  I am quite pleased to get him going on this!

--SA, age 2--
 
Into making mischief of kind and an another! (Really.  Can you get mad at those eyes?  Look at those fingers – nope, she’s protected by the Cute!)

Now, on to the group stuff!

Bible at Breakfast:
I intend to use Leading Little Ones to God  and For Instruction in Righteousness over breakfast.  Why?  We tend to get it in this way – it speaks to the younger and the older – I don’t eat breakfast much anyway – it’s important to start the day the right way! 
We are also going to join the many who use Simply Charlotte Mason’s Scripture Memorization System, along with Seeds Family Worship!  I can’t wait!!
History
I have prayed over our history for a long time.  I REALLY want to do AO’s separate readings, which means Years 2 and 5.  I have most of the books.  This includes:

• Church History
• England’s History
• American History
• World History

So, England’s History, I get, but that’s the first to go if I got too overwhelmed.  And MG can totally handle the book load – no problem.

But.

I have Mystery of History I and I love it.  I also have TruthQuest History: American History for Young Students, Volume I(AHYS) and I love it (ps-look for a gushing review soon!). 
The question I keep asking is, “Can we handle all that history?”  I don’t like it, but we can’t.
So for history, we will either have EK doing AO’s Year 2, and MG doing AO’s Year 5 (with some catch-up) or Mystery of History I and TruthQuest History.  I have time, right?

Science
More science?  Mm-hmm!  I am giddy-happy about this: Apologia Botany!!  Oh, how I love love love Apologia!  I have the notebooking journal for MG and will be ordering the Junior Journal for EK the moment it’s out.  More on this later…

There are other things that we will be doing, a couple that have already begun, and things I am hope to get to…..

handwork: EK on knitting, HR continuing to finger crochet, MG kick up her knitting and add some needlework
music lessons: when we find that extra money laying around somewhere, we would like to get at least MG in piano lessons
Spanish:  I have La Clasa Divertida I and II, but they are VHS and (1) we don’t have a VCR and (2) the stuff my husband got to transfer VHS to DVD is more persnickety than a cat.
Sign Language:  the kids all learned it as babies, and MG has always enjoyed it.  EK is very dramatic and it seems to suit her, but Mama need practice, haha!
Art: We have Drawing with Children and MG has already gotten a taste of it from our doctor/friend/homeschool co-op art teacher, Mrs. Kim (unless we are at the doctor, in which case, she morphs into Dr. Kim).  I would like to work through it casually.
Picture Study: I *think* we will follow Ambleside Online, but I’m not sure.
Composer Study:  Same for this one.
Latin/Greek:  We will use English from the Roots Up.  It’s more for MG, but I know good and well EK and HR will want to be present for at least some of it.

Hmm…..have I missed anything? Let me think…

Oh! 
I wanted to mention that we are moving more and more towards notebooking.  I love the idea of it, and am working on a post about it now.  I bought the Treasury at Notebooking Pages when she was running a sale and WOWSA!  That’s a lot of stuff!!  Jimmie, of Jimmie’s Collage has a notebooking website, The Notebooking Fairy, which has lots of nifty pages, and moms – you have to check out her Squidoo lenses!

            

Thank you for following along with all my ramblings! If you would like to keep us accountable for all this keep up with our listed goingson and more this year, subscribe to the blog in all the fun ways available in the right-hand sidebar and drop me a line in the comments section!

Thanks for stopping by { with eager hands }!

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in the kitchen: blueberry scones

My husband knows his way around a kitchen – I have rarely eaten something he has prepared that I didn’t like!  Not too long ago, Bryan took a look at our pantry, in our freezer, and in the fridge, then asked the monkeys what he can make with that. (Read: he got online and Googled it.)

The two key ingredients in this recipe are lemon zest and blueberries. 

I had never even heard of lemon zest until I became a Pampered Chef consultant!  Gasp!  It is wonderful!  It is so wonderful that we almost always have lemons in the fridge, and and whenever Bryan or I use the juice of a lemon, we zest the fruit, add them to an ice cube tray with water and freeze them.  Easy access for when we don’t have fresh lemon handy!  If you haven’t tried fresh lemon zest in your baking – oh, you must!

The blueberries were picked last year at a blueberry patch not 10 miles from our home.  It’s always so much fun to talk about the memories associated with a food that we are eating.  We recall the kids who followed us around while we picked, watching our every move, the rain that kept coming and going, like someone was turning a sprinkler on and off.  What a great way to connect to your food!

Would you like the recipe? You can click on the link below to see the original recipe, or read on for Bryan’s only-very-slightly tweaked version. (the difference?  Tyler Florence used a microwave, and Bryan used the double boiler method)

<<THE RECIPE>>

ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
  
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut in chunks
  
• 1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones
  
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Lemon Glaze:

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
  
• 1 lemon, zest finely grated
  
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Sift together the dry ingredients; the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
Cut in the butter to coat the pieces with the flour. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and pour in the heavy cream. Fold everything together just to incorporate; do not overwork the dough. Fold the blueberries GENTLY into the batter.
Press the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 12 by 3 by 1 1/4 inches. Cut the rectangle in 1/2 then cut the pieces in 1/2 again, giving you 4 (3-inch) squares. Cut the squares in 1/2 on a diagonal to give you the classic triangle shape. Place the scones on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush the tops with a little heavy cream. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until brown. Let the scones cool a bit before you apply the glaze.
Because we do no have a microwave, Bryan made this simple lemon glaze in a double boiler (i.e. over a pot of simmering water with a heatproof bowl set on top). Mix the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar together, stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon zest and butter. Heat it in the bowl over the simmering water. Whisk the glaze to smooth out any lumps, then drizzle the glaze over the top of the scones. Let it set a minute before serving.

I hope you enjoy!

OBX 2011: The Last Days

The big event during our last days at the Outer Banks was to drive into Manteo and visit Roanoke Island’s Festival Park.  If you ever go to OBX, you must put this on your itinerary!

First, you see what life was like for the Native Americans…

…and then you get to see what life was life in the English settlement…

This nail was forged right before our eyes, and hands to MG!

You even get to board the ship that carried 50+ people   -- and it was incredibly small!!

In the museum, there was so much to see and do to learn about different points in the history of NC and our country – completely hands-on, and designed for kids!

We had a wonderful time, and can’t wait for OBX 2012!

each day

Each day, awakening, are we asked to paint the sky blue? Need we coax the sun to rise or flowers to bloom? Need we teach birds to sing, or children to laugh, or lovers to kiss? No, though we think the world imperfect, it surrounds us each day with its perfections. We are asked only to appreciate them, and to show appreciation by living in peaceful harmony amidst them. The Creator does not ask that we create a perfect world; He asks that we celebrate it. 

~Robert Brault

Women of Faith :: Imagine

Thanks to Booksneeze, I have the opportunity to attend my very first Women of Faith conference, and then share it all with you, my beautiful readers!

-- Singing – worshipping – loving on God with lots of other women --

Here’s a little preview:

 

Thank you, Booksneeze, for this opportunity!  I can’t wait!

God is SO SO good!!

OBX 2011: Wednesday and Thursday

One trip to Kill Devil Hills wasn’t enough, so we hopped back over there to see what we could see.  Mom and Dad wanted to make it to the Memorial, but it didn’t happen this time.

 
Something about Mama making MG run the length of the Wright Brothers 4 attempts at flight or something…. (in my defense, I ran, too)

While MG and I were reliving the ride, EK was busy immersing herself in history her own way!

EK is drawing the replica of the living quarters set up on site. My heart was singing when I realized what she was doing!
Below is a picture mounted on the board, since the pictures I took of it were blech.

And what were HR and SA doing during all this?  Looking in those replica living quarters, running amuck in the hangar, and otherwise trying to keep cool!

After a little break, we decided to go adventuring some more. We went to Pea Island last year, so we moved on past that to see ……

Bodie Lighthouse – only miles from where we stayed, We couldn’t go in, but it was still a great sight!  Our first lighthouse (well, for me and the kids)

~Hatteras~
There were all sorts of requirements and limitations on going up into the lighthouse, so I stayed back with the two Too-Littles.  MG took lots of pictures up there for me, though!

Awesome floors! 

The view from the top

This one makes ME queasy – both the girls were a bit shaky up there (but, shoot, they had to walk up a load of stairs!)

You can’t go a day at the beach without going to the ocean!  On the docket for today?  EK’s Really Deep Hole! 

And I haven’t even shown you Roanoke Island yet!