I've added pics to the our nature blog ~ "The Wonders of Creation: Our Family's Outdoor Hour"
Check it out!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Handbook of Nature Study
So, last night, I ordered the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock. I'm planning on using it along with the activities from the Outdoor Hour website in our nature studies as suggested by the writer of Outdoor Hour. I also ordered some field guides to supplement based on her suggestions. I purchased everything at half.com and came away with a lot of books for a low price :) I am so excited! Last week, Brett and I went on a nature walk, which I'll be posting under our outdoor hour link, and we had the best time! I can hardly wait to get started and really focus in on specific details. I even bought a basic art book to assist in sketching things we see into my journal. Brett isn't really old enough yet for that kind of drawing, but it will help me teach him when he is. For now, I'll write what he says and let him draw his best version of what he chooses to focus on. Anyway, I just wanted to share about the books we are getting...I'll take pictures of them and post them when they arrive!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sorting and fine motor skills
Brett was working on sorting skills...he got out his beads and first sorted by shape, then by color. He had great fun...he said he built a city...
Fine motor skills...we always try to work on these. He practices cutting, tracing lines, threading beads onto laces, etc...all very good at strengthening his little wrist muscles for his writing.
This is a cool book he's working in...you choose a picture, peel away parts of it to reveal a sticky surface, then you choose your colors strips from the back, snip them into tiny pieces (there's the fine motor part) then you take the snips and put them on the sticky to fill it in. He really likes them!
Fine motor skills...we always try to work on these. He practices cutting, tracing lines, threading beads onto laces, etc...all very good at strengthening his little wrist muscles for his writing.This is a cool book he's working in...you choose a picture, peel away parts of it to reveal a sticky surface, then you choose your colors strips from the back, snip them into tiny pieces (there's the fine motor part) then you take the snips and put them on the sticky to fill it in. He really likes them!
End of week One
I'm just now posting about this, (six weeks into school!) but Brett had a great first week! As a treat, he got a new Disney Car Launcher set. He was ecstatic!! I just figured, you only start school once in your whole life and the end of the first week was a big accomplishment :) We are so proud of him!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Titus 2
There is a website, Titus 2, that is listed in the sidebar to the right, that you really should check out. On this site, you will meet the Maxwell family. They are a homeschooling family with eight, yes you read that right, eight children. Anyway, their family creed, if you will, is centered around the second chapter of Titus in the Bible. They are firm in their beliefs, a few of which I don't agree with, but the majority of which I do.
What they are most know for is a book they have written called, Manager's of Their Homes. It has to do with scheduling and prioritizing things in your life. Everything is centered around Christ, prayer and allowing God to lead you to what your day needs to look like. It is fabulous!
Terri Maxwell says in the book that as a mother of 8 she had no choice but to learn how to prioritize and schedule, or nothing would be accomplished. However, it is just as applicable to the homeschooling mother of one that I am, as it is to the non-homeschooling family.
This book lays out in a step by step method exactly how to create a God driven schedule for your family. An absolute must for a "free spirited" mom who would much rather be on the go and who is trying to figure out how school fits in somewhere in the day. Through Terri's guidelines, (and a little help from my own mom!) not to mention much prayer, I've learned how to create a schedule that believe it or not, actually frees me and Brett to have more time for fun in the day! In the two weeks we have implemented our schedule, I've gotten more accomplished each day than I ever thought possible. Housework is done, Brett is learning to do chores and be diligent in his work, laundry is up to date, errands are completed and I'm not constantly trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. (Here is where I have to insert an apology to my Mom, who is the queen of organization, that I finally see what you've been telling me for years! Sorry it took so long for this disorganized daughter to see the light!) Seriously though, organization can be your friend!!!
By now you are probably wondering if I'm getting some kind of kick back for my rave reviews...I assure you I am not :) I'm just a regular girl who has finally figured out how liberating a schedule can be. I highly recommend checking out this book if you can.
They offer other books as well, Managers of Their Chores and Managers of Their Schools. I bought (and have read) all of them. I didn't care for the school one as they stress the use of textbooks and that is not the route we are going. It's definitely written for the textbook using family. However, the chores book is great. Their beliefs on some things (more of a mostly work and little play thought process) are a bit over the top for me, but all in all its very helpful.
It covers learning how to set up chores for your children, teaching them to become diligent, having a servant's heart, learning to respect what God has blessed them with and discovering what age certain chores become appropriate. We are using their Chore Pack system and so far it has been great!
Sorry for the long post, but I just had to share these great books with you :)
What they are most know for is a book they have written called, Manager's of Their Homes. It has to do with scheduling and prioritizing things in your life. Everything is centered around Christ, prayer and allowing God to lead you to what your day needs to look like. It is fabulous!
Terri Maxwell says in the book that as a mother of 8 she had no choice but to learn how to prioritize and schedule, or nothing would be accomplished. However, it is just as applicable to the homeschooling mother of one that I am, as it is to the non-homeschooling family.
This book lays out in a step by step method exactly how to create a God driven schedule for your family. An absolute must for a "free spirited" mom who would much rather be on the go and who is trying to figure out how school fits in somewhere in the day. Through Terri's guidelines, (and a little help from my own mom!) not to mention much prayer, I've learned how to create a schedule that believe it or not, actually frees me and Brett to have more time for fun in the day! In the two weeks we have implemented our schedule, I've gotten more accomplished each day than I ever thought possible. Housework is done, Brett is learning to do chores and be diligent in his work, laundry is up to date, errands are completed and I'm not constantly trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. (Here is where I have to insert an apology to my Mom, who is the queen of organization, that I finally see what you've been telling me for years! Sorry it took so long for this disorganized daughter to see the light!) Seriously though, organization can be your friend!!!
By now you are probably wondering if I'm getting some kind of kick back for my rave reviews...I assure you I am not :) I'm just a regular girl who has finally figured out how liberating a schedule can be. I highly recommend checking out this book if you can.
They offer other books as well, Managers of Their Chores and Managers of Their Schools. I bought (and have read) all of them. I didn't care for the school one as they stress the use of textbooks and that is not the route we are going. It's definitely written for the textbook using family. However, the chores book is great. Their beliefs on some things (more of a mostly work and little play thought process) are a bit over the top for me, but all in all its very helpful.
It covers learning how to set up chores for your children, teaching them to become diligent, having a servant's heart, learning to respect what God has blessed them with and discovering what age certain chores become appropriate. We are using their Chore Pack system and so far it has been great!
Sorry for the long post, but I just had to share these great books with you :)
The Boxcar Children
This was our first "sonlight" book to read and Brett LOVED it! We finished it W-A-Y ahead of schedule because he just wouldn't let me stop reading! We are going to fill time until the next novel with Magic Treehouse and Amelia Bedelia. Brett loved learning new vocabulary words and ways of speaking from the characters in the story.
For those of you not familiar with the story, its about four children who are orphaned and afraid to go live with their grandfather. They run away and find an abandoned boxcar that they turn into their home. It is a delightful story and Brett is excited to know that we are going to go the library and check out other books from the series to read.
In other news...School has gone really well for us, considering we are so new to this. Brett is enjoying his work and we are having a lot of fun which is important. We've had some days where not much has gone according to schedule and some days where its been perfectly orchestrated, but I guess that is the nature of the beast in a classroom or at home :) We definitely are settling into a routine and I'm happy about that.
I will say that outside of school life in general has been a bit stressful...it seems our family has been hit with lots of drama concerning people we care about, ever since the first couple of days of school. It's almost like Satan said, "Okay, let's hit her with a bunch of garbage and maybe they'll give in, pack the kid up and send him to school." Well, I've got news for him - I don't give up on what I know God is wanting from us that easily! I've been fighting back with all the scripture I can think of and the Enemy is NOT going to steal, kill or destroy the plans God has laid for our family, nor is he going to take away the joy the Spirit of Jesus puts in my heart!
Okay, I feel better now, thanks for giving me a moment :)The weather is cooling off and we are excited to start our nature study in the next couple of weeks or so...check out the link in the sidebar "Our Family's Outdoor Hour" later in the month and you can see what we are doing.
For those of you not familiar with the story, its about four children who are orphaned and afraid to go live with their grandfather. They run away and find an abandoned boxcar that they turn into their home. It is a delightful story and Brett is excited to know that we are going to go the library and check out other books from the series to read.
In other news...School has gone really well for us, considering we are so new to this. Brett is enjoying his work and we are having a lot of fun which is important. We've had some days where not much has gone according to schedule and some days where its been perfectly orchestrated, but I guess that is the nature of the beast in a classroom or at home :) We definitely are settling into a routine and I'm happy about that.
I will say that outside of school life in general has been a bit stressful...it seems our family has been hit with lots of drama concerning people we care about, ever since the first couple of days of school. It's almost like Satan said, "Okay, let's hit her with a bunch of garbage and maybe they'll give in, pack the kid up and send him to school." Well, I've got news for him - I don't give up on what I know God is wanting from us that easily! I've been fighting back with all the scripture I can think of and the Enemy is NOT going to steal, kill or destroy the plans God has laid for our family, nor is he going to take away the joy the Spirit of Jesus puts in my heart!
Okay, I feel better now, thanks for giving me a moment :)The weather is cooling off and we are excited to start our nature study in the next couple of weeks or so...check out the link in the sidebar "Our Family's Outdoor Hour" later in the month and you can see what we are doing.
Monday, August 24, 2009
First day of School!
Though we started school last week, and were able to begin "counting days" for the State, we did not have our official first day until today. Today is the day we ran full schedule for the first time, adding in all of the subjects of study. Brett chooses his own outfit to wear, so today he picked out his favorite shorts with sharks embroidered on them. Here he is on this first official morning! Can you believe we have a full fledged kindergartner on our hands? It just doesn't seem possible!
Our kitchen is the classroom and we set up a circle time area with a bright rug and beanbags just for a change of pace from the table. It's Brett's favorite spot, so we took his picture there :)
Even though we are at home, Brett wants to bring his lunch in a lunchbox to eat. So we picked out a Star Wars lunch box and he helps me pack a sandwich and veggies and fruit. We add in a snack for our snack time too. It helps him feel like he's really going to school, so I humor him in this area. That's the one thing he's struggling with...realizing that just because we are home doesn't mean its not real school. He'll get it though, its new to all of us!
Our kitchen is the classroom and we set up a circle time area with a bright rug and beanbags just for a change of pace from the table. It's Brett's favorite spot, so we took his picture there :)
Even though we are at home, Brett wants to bring his lunch in a lunchbox to eat. So we picked out a Star Wars lunch box and he helps me pack a sandwich and veggies and fruit. We add in a snack for our snack time too. It helps him feel like he's really going to school, so I humor him in this area. That's the one thing he's struggling with...realizing that just because we are home doesn't mean its not real school. He'll get it though, its new to all of us!
Bubbles!
Bubbles are one of Brett's favorite things, so we decided to do a little investigating :) We learned that bubbles are pockets of air trapped inside a liquid and also that the surface tension in water causes its molecules to cling together so that on it's own, water doesn't produce many of these air pockets. It needs to have more space in between the molecules. So, when you add soap, it breaks the surface tension allowing the pockets to form-resulting in bubbles!
Next, we made bubble art by adding tempera paint to a mixture of water and Dawn soap...then we used "found items" (lids and sponges) to make a book on bubbles...(the last picture shows the pages in his book. )
Next, we made bubble art by adding tempera paint to a mixture of water and Dawn soap...then we used "found items" (lids and sponges) to make a book on bubbles...(the last picture shows the pages in his book. )
Crayons Crayons Crayons!!!!
Everyone loves crayons! I especially, with my freakish love of all things school supplies, think there is nothing better than a brand new box of perfectly sharpened Crayolas :) 
We decided to do a little investigating on crayon techniques, what crayons are made of, neat things you can do with a crayon and what color people prefer most. So....without further ado, here's the play by play...
Working on a Crayon Resist project....
Using his favorite color, Green, to make a book called, My Crayon!
Melting down old crayons to make new swirly ones...
The finished product...(I especially like the one at the bottom that looks like Earth!)
Charting the data collected...
It looks like Blue is the winner of the favorite color!
On a Roll!
We began "practice school" a couple of weeks ago, doing some little activities and science explorations just to practice getting into some type of routine. Then, last week we registered Brett in his Umbrella Program at a local Christian private school. At that point we were able to begin counting our "days." In our state we are required to go 180 days for 4 hours/day. We are following a more traditional day schedule right now, based on the recommendation of my mother (who is a school teacher) so we are actually doing about 5 to 5 1/2 hours of school, but I've found that to really cover everything and give practice time, we need to have more than the 4 hours...especially since we are doing a 4 day school week with a light day/enrichment day on the 5th day.
Here is what our days are looking like...
8:30- Pledge/Bible time
9:00-Phonics
9:20-Circle time
9:50-snack time/break
10:00-Math
10:25-Directed Play
10:40-Handwriting
11:00- Sonlight Read Aloud time
11:30-Lunch
12:30-Science/skill development/Thinking Skills/Art
12:50-break/play
1:00-Sonlight History
1:30-recess (outside time, or indoor games if weather is bad)
2:00 nap/quiet time
Here is what our days are looking like...
8:30- Pledge/Bible time
9:00-Phonics
9:20-Circle time
9:50-snack time/break
10:00-Math
10:25-Directed Play
10:40-Handwriting
11:00- Sonlight Read Aloud time
11:30-Lunch
12:30-Science/skill development/Thinking Skills/Art
12:50-break/play
1:00-Sonlight History
1:30-recess (outside time, or indoor games if weather is bad)
2:00 nap/quiet time
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