This is a report that youngest son did on the beginnings of our country today.
"George Washington was the first president. Before that, he was a general in the revolutionary war. Before that, he was a spy and a delegate.
Napoleon was the emperor in France. The Indians were getting kicked out of their own land. People could still have slaves. The presidents were not completely in control. Oh yeah, and the letter J was not a letter."
We went on a field trip to Locust Grove this week (an old house) and the guide told the kids that the letter J was not in a sampler hanging on the wall because it didn't exist yet. I told him I don't think that's true, but he is determined that it is because the guide told him. I need to look that up.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
A few more notebooking pages.
What's cool about notebooking is that you have this book to look through and that works as kind of a review. My youngest is trying to make each page pop up or otherwise be 3 dimensional, so his notebook is a pop-up book.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
How we do our unit studies.
When we started homeschooling, it didn't take long for me to decide that I wanted to do unit studies. All 3 kids can work together on the same project for at least part of the day. That helps when you have 3 different ages. I started with Konos and we did love it. Some of our best memories of homeschooling will be from Konos. I still have the books, although I'm not using them right now, I will probably use them again, maybe after Christmas. I have also been a fan of the Homeschool Estore for a while now and I have gotten some free units from there that I have enjoyed very much. I downloaded a unit from Christian Cottage on the ocean last January and we had a great time with that. Then, I ordered the units on the Americas. We had a great time with South America and Central America but it kind of leaves off after the Revolutionary War. So, what I'm doing this year is using my son's 9th grade American History textbook as a spine and using other activities with it sometimes.
For example, I read the chapters on the American Revolutionary War and the forming of the new government (my kids actually like me to read stuff like this to them). We've watched Johnny Tremain on video. We read The Magic Treehouse Revolutionary War on Wednesday and now we're listening to a book about George Washington as a spy. We've used a map page out of the Christian Cottage unit, we've done coloring pages from Crayola.com and other sites. I searched for and found a lesson plan and song about the Bill of Rights, we've done notebook pages on the 3 branches of government, a crossword puzzle about the constitution, a word search about Benjamin Franklin - all of which I've found on-line, a coloring page of George Washington. We did quilling which is a form of paper art from the colonial period and drew our silhouettes on black paper (see pictures further down the page) which was also a colonial art form.
With the book as the spine, I read a bit, take a few little notes and do an internet search such as 'coloring page George Washington" or "lesson plan George Washington" or "George Washington printable" or "George Washington worksheet" or "art colonial america" or "music colonial america". You get the idea.
I usually plan in the morning for the afternoon, I'm THAT organized, LoL.
For example, I read the chapters on the American Revolutionary War and the forming of the new government (my kids actually like me to read stuff like this to them). We've watched Johnny Tremain on video. We read The Magic Treehouse Revolutionary War on Wednesday and now we're listening to a book about George Washington as a spy. We've used a map page out of the Christian Cottage unit, we've done coloring pages from Crayola.com and other sites. I searched for and found a lesson plan and song about the Bill of Rights, we've done notebook pages on the 3 branches of government, a crossword puzzle about the constitution, a word search about Benjamin Franklin - all of which I've found on-line, a coloring page of George Washington. We did quilling which is a form of paper art from the colonial period and drew our silhouettes on black paper (see pictures further down the page) which was also a colonial art form.
With the book as the spine, I read a bit, take a few little notes and do an internet search such as 'coloring page George Washington" or "lesson plan George Washington" or "George Washington printable" or "George Washington worksheet" or "art colonial america" or "music colonial america". You get the idea.
I usually plan in the morning for the afternoon, I'm THAT organized, LoL.
Notebooking.
We are notebooking American History this year. We use a variety of sources, some are from this site, Notebooking Pages, and some are from the homeschool estore. A lot of times, we just write and draw what we've learned about. I say "we" because it seems to go better if I just join in and make one too. They don't copy mine, but my doing something instead of just sitting there watching them, seems to get them started. Older son doesn't do the notebooking. He's never liked it, so he goes off and answers the questions at the end of each chapter in the book.
What we do and how we do it.
One of my wonderful commenters asked about what we do and how we do it.
We've tried everything in our 3 years of homeschooling and this year, we seemed to have settled into something that works for us reasonably well. It's not perfect. Flexibility is the key. I'd like to get up every morning, gently clean my already spotless home, fix a nutitrious breakfast for my eager-to-learn, whine-free children and begin studies, during which we learn 3 foreign languages, make great works of art and advance science 100 years into the future, but that's not what happens.
On Mondays I print lists for everyone for the week. Youngest son's is something like this.
Morning.
1. Eat breakfast/breakfast dishes to sink.
2. Brush teeth.
3. Exercise. (30 push ups, 30 sit ups, 30 leg lifts etc.)
4. Shower.
5. Chores.
Afternoon:
1. Unit study/notebooking (all 4 of us together. We're working from my oldest son's 9th grade American History textbook and supplementing it a lot. That way he gets a credit for the work and we get something to all do together which we enjoy.)
2. Math. (younger 2 kids and me together. At this point oldest son goes off to do the rest of his high school work.)
3. Spelling.
4. Writing.
5. Reading. (At this point, my daughter goes off to do her own reading and extra assignments while I work on reading with the youngest.)
In the mornings, I work on medical transcription, exercise (hopefully), clean the house (what little it gets), shower, do my blog and get printouts and things ready for the unit study and afternoon activities while the kids do their lists on their own. (Dad is usually home in the mornings and can oversee them a bit.) I don't cook breakfast. The kids are on their own. They generally have cereal or toast. We do lunch between the morning and the afternoon lists. I sometimes cook lunch and sometimes we have sandwiches or leftovers. The two younger kids are in the same spelling curriculum and the same math curriculum. They're at different levels in the spelling, but the same level in the math. It makes it easier.
When school is over, that's when we run errands, usually about 4:00 p.m., although occasionally, we do stay home during this time. The kids participate in our homeschool group for field trips and park day (usually on Mondays), Awana, skate nights and game night at the library.
So anyway, this is what we do and how we do it. I started with easier lists for the kids in August and this month, I've added some more chores. I plan to add to the list a little through the year and get in more art and more science. I use the internet a lot for printables and notebooking (more on that in another post) and use Netflix sometimes for DVDs that are related to our studies. We also use a lot of library books and do read-alouds every night before bed.
We've tried everything in our 3 years of homeschooling and this year, we seemed to have settled into something that works for us reasonably well. It's not perfect. Flexibility is the key. I'd like to get up every morning, gently clean my already spotless home, fix a nutitrious breakfast for my eager-to-learn, whine-free children and begin studies, during which we learn 3 foreign languages, make great works of art and advance science 100 years into the future, but that's not what happens.
On Mondays I print lists for everyone for the week. Youngest son's is something like this.
Morning.
1. Eat breakfast/breakfast dishes to sink.
2. Brush teeth.
3. Exercise. (30 push ups, 30 sit ups, 30 leg lifts etc.)
4. Shower.
5. Chores.
Afternoon:
1. Unit study/notebooking (all 4 of us together. We're working from my oldest son's 9th grade American History textbook and supplementing it a lot. That way he gets a credit for the work and we get something to all do together which we enjoy.)
2. Math. (younger 2 kids and me together. At this point oldest son goes off to do the rest of his high school work.)
3. Spelling.
4. Writing.
5. Reading. (At this point, my daughter goes off to do her own reading and extra assignments while I work on reading with the youngest.)
In the mornings, I work on medical transcription, exercise (hopefully), clean the house (what little it gets), shower, do my blog and get printouts and things ready for the unit study and afternoon activities while the kids do their lists on their own. (Dad is usually home in the mornings and can oversee them a bit.) I don't cook breakfast. The kids are on their own. They generally have cereal or toast. We do lunch between the morning and the afternoon lists. I sometimes cook lunch and sometimes we have sandwiches or leftovers. The two younger kids are in the same spelling curriculum and the same math curriculum. They're at different levels in the spelling, but the same level in the math. It makes it easier.
When school is over, that's when we run errands, usually about 4:00 p.m., although occasionally, we do stay home during this time. The kids participate in our homeschool group for field trips and park day (usually on Mondays), Awana, skate nights and game night at the library.
So anyway, this is what we do and how we do it. I started with easier lists for the kids in August and this month, I've added some more chores. I plan to add to the list a little through the year and get in more art and more science. I use the internet a lot for printables and notebooking (more on that in another post) and use Netflix sometimes for DVDs that are related to our studies. We also use a lot of library books and do read-alouds every night before bed.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
A couple of things.
The Carnival of Homeschooling is up. I always find this interesting to read.
As for us, we're getting back into routine after the weekend. I've printed new worklists for everyone and we are, hopefully, going to get those done. Can't you just feel my enthusiasm? It's palpable isn't it?
As for us, we're getting back into routine after the weekend. I've printed new worklists for everyone and we are, hopefully, going to get those done. Can't you just feel my enthusiasm? It's palpable isn't it?
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