Fourth Grade Home School and Lots of Links

Hello again friends!

I've already done two photo posts of our school year so far, which you can find here!

• First Two Weeks of Fourth Grade Home School
• Two More Weeks of Fourth Grade

Here is a subject by subject update of the most recent several weeks of school.

Social Studies

We have been studying Ancient Egypt for the past few weeks, but haven't made quite as much progress as I would have liked. Part of this is because my sweet new granddaughter was born two weeks ago. I actually planned a lighter schedule with less school days, so we just didn't have as much time as our standard three weeks for a unit. 

I have a lot of related resources on my shelf, but we didn't use many of them because it turned out that they didn't suit our purposes. Some of them were a bit much for her interest and comprehension levels, and others just duplicated each other. In the end, I decided to use the Ancient World textbook mentioned in a previous post as our core resource. 

She also enjoyed Tut's Mummy Lost and Found, a Step Into Reading book suitable for 2nd grade and up. We have an older version that didn't have the full color photos as this one available on Amazon. Then we just read a little and looked at pictures in other books like Eyewitness Ancient Egypt. 

This is an example of reducing my reading expectations to fit reality. Rather than getting an in-depth look at Ancient Egypt, I chose to be satisfied with a basic introduction. If she is aware of the main concepts, can recognize visual images, and knows the meaning of basic vocabulary words, that is good enough for me. I also made a word search for her using Puzzlemaker with these words: archaeologist, architect, astronomer, Cairo, delta, dynasty, Egypt, flood, Giza, Hatshepsut, hieroglyphs, Horus, Isis, kingdom, mummy, Nile, Osiris, papyrus, peasant, pharaoh, pyramid, sarcophagus, scarab, slaves, sphinx, Tutankhamen.

In addition to the books, I bought a Jim Weiss audio CD from my friend Jessica Ivey called Egyptian Treasures: Mummies and Myths. We haven't finished listening to it yet, but it's good! Listening in our van while we're out and about is a great way to make the most of our time. (Jessica would like to sell off her stock of CD's that she purchased to sell as a mission trip fundraiser, and I'd be glad to put you in touch with her.)



Science


We are continuing with our Skill Sharpeners science work book. I like to find YouTube videos to go along with the topics. Right now, she is finishing up the unit on earth science so she watched this clip: "What is a Glacier?".

Our history units cover a bit of science, too, such as how a mummy is prepared, or how a pyramid is built. How did the workers get the massive stones to the top of structure? They used ramps, an example of an inclined plane.

Since my daughter also wanted to find out how household items worked, we checked out some library books on simple machines used at home, as well as more general ones on levers and inclined planes that are used in so many modern objects.

Math


I have to get a little creative with teaching math - and let my daughter be creative too.

In our Guinness World Records math book, a word problem about really long lizards asked her to convert 15 feet 7 inches into just inches. I told her that she needed to multiply 15 times 12 and then add the extra seven inches. For some reason, she couldn't wrap her brain around this even though I went through the basic concept with smaller numbers. "One foot has 12 inches. Two feet have 24 inches. Three feet have 36 inches..." and so forth. No deal. I would need to try the hands-on activity approach. My tape measure wasn't in my tool box, but then I remembered a telescoping surveyor's measuring rod that belonged to my late father-in-law, who was a civil engineer. I got it out of the storage room and extended it to about 20 of its 27 foot range. The feet are divided into tenths, rather than inches, but I figured we could work around that. I showed her how long 15 feet was, and reminded her that each foot has 12 inches. I counted by twelves up to 180 inches as I walked along the rod. She started grasping how foot to inches conversion works. 

Then she had the bright idea of getting out her toy car collection and measuring how far each one could roll alongside the rod. If one traveled 7 feet, we multiplied 7 x 12 to get 84 inches. If it went 9 feet, it was 108 inches. Not only did she have a blast, she enthusiastically made a nine minute video on my iPhone of the whole process as she described what we were doing. She got it!

Another recent breakthrough is that I found a whiteboard & chalkboard easel on clearance for $7.50 at IKEA. She loves to do math problems on it and make more iPhone tutorial videos.

One of my main math goals this year was for her to finish learning her multiplication tables fluently. We plugged away at it little by little with flash cards, apps, and web site games. Finally, she was ready for the One Minute Math Multiplication B drill book and now the facts are coming easily for her! On each page, there is a featured multiplication fact. In the photo above, there is a 7 x 8 and an 8 x 7 on every line, mixed with review of earlier facts. She is zipping through them happily. We tried timing the pages, but she gets rushed and flustered that way. It doesn't take her that much longer when I don't time her and it sure is more accurate, so there's that to think about.

Language Arts

We've kept up with our Daily Grams and BrainQuest workbooks, but I realized we were lagging on independent literature and creative writing for a few weeks. Today I told her to pick out a chapter book to read by herself. She chose an adaptation of Little Women and we set the timer for 20 minutes of independent reading. She read two chapters out loud. Yesterday, I told her to write a paragraph on anything, and she chose, "If I Could Have Three Wishes." Ice cream truck anyone? She asked me what I would wish for. I said I would like to have all of my children be happy, well-adjusted, kind, and responsible. She groaned and told me to think of something fun instead. That didn't take long. How about an all expenses paid trip to meander around European art museums and the countryside for a few months? Yep, that would be me. Awesome field trip, eh? Someday - in my dreams at least!

Fine Arts

Talako Indian Dancers

Speaking of art museums... My daughter loves them, too! That makes me a very happy mommy. Last Friday, after watching a performance of the Talako Indian dancers in a park, we went to the nearby Cornell Fine Arts Museum on the campus of Rollins College. It's not a big museum, but it's free. One of the exhibit rooms was not suitable for children due to mature photographic content. Oops! However, in another more family friendly area, they provide clipboards and art materials so kids can sketch sculptures.  

The next day, we went to the Artlando festival. We weren't impressed with the outdoor booths, but the Orlando Museum of Art was offering free admission during the festival. She had already been begging me to go there, so this was a big win! We're planning a trip to the Albin Polasek art museum soon.

Look closer at the detail from the left hand side of "Just Discovered" by Carlos Vega. Stamps!

My daughter took this photo of the Chihuly glass piece.

So we love art appreciation, but she's also REALLY getting into drawing. She found the Art for Kids Hub channel on YouTube and she's been drawing from their lessons every morning. This is such much better than using a how-to-draw book - of which we have plenty - because of the motion and interaction. Art is also good therapy for her. It gets her brain into a calm and creative mode before we start the rest of school. Here are two of her birds, colored with oil pastels.

Blue Jay

Cardinal

I took several hours this week to update her school records with all of the books read and work book pages completed. Then I planned out what we need to work on next, which is a unit study on Asia. I do all of this in Evernote on my laptop, which makes it easy to update from my iPhone Evenote app since the files are synced. I love Evernote for so many things!

That's it for now!

Virginia

Two More Weeks of Fourth Grade

We are just about to finish our fourth week of fourth grade and I can't believe it has gone that fast! Two weeks ago I wrote about the start of our school year. We are doing much the same as we were then, but we've added in a few new things.

The big thing is that I bought an annual family membership to the Orlando Science Center. They have a mega-screen Cinedome theater that is several stories high, and we've already watched the movie on humpback whales, which was fascinating and inspiring. We visited several of the exhibits.


In the weather area, she stepped into a hurricane tube and hosted a mock TV weather report. We are meeting my oldest daughter and her three young sons there tomorrow.



My daughter loves activities and getting out of the house. One of her other adult sisters took her to the beach one afternoon as a belated birthday present. I guess that counts for both nature study and P.E.!



We also switched up our morning schedule a little. She loves to start the day with an informal spelling activity. I've had the book You can Teach Your Child Successfully Grades 4-8 (affiliate link to CBD) by Dr. Ruth Beechick forever. She includes common word spelling lists, grouped phonetically, for grades 4-6 and 7-8. We are working our way through section by section. I read the word to her, and she spells it orally and gives me a sample sentence to go with it. If the word can mean more than one thing (such as band), she does one for each. If the word has a homophone (such as weight and wait) she spells both and gives sample sentences. If the word is a root, we try adding prefixes or suffixes to it. This is casual and interactive, and we have a lot of fun with it.

For math, I found the Guinness World Records Math 4th Grade (affiliate link for CBD) workbook for $4 on clearance at Staples. Each page spread has information and pictures about a world record, which is often science related, so it is cross-curricular. Then the student figures out several word problems using the data in the article. In the first lesson, we did multi-digit subtraction with regrouping, multiplying by 10, rounding, and creating a table, all based on animal eyesight records. This is a practical application supplement to our regular math workbook.


On the computer, we enjoy the YouTube channel Full Time Kid with Mya. She shows how to do all sorts of fun and educational stuff like making brownies in a mug (our home ec class this morning) and multiplying by 9 using your fingers. This is something my daughter can watch when I can't work with her for a while.



We've started our history unit study on Ancient Egypt a few days ago. So far we've read a long section from the Ancient World text, as well as several pages from an Usborne book and several pages from a book about pyramids. I was going to say that we'll rev it up a bit more next week, but then again, it's quite likely that my fifth grandchild (first granddaughter!) will be born sometime in the next several days. I'm prepared to relax our academic schedule next week so we can join in the celebration and new mommy assistance!

How is school going for you so far?

Virginia Knowles

First Two Weeks of Fourth Grade Home School

Wow! It's been exactly six months since I've posted on this blog. My youngest daughter is now two weeks into home school fourth grade. I've been home schooling for 25 years with up to 7 of my 10 kids at a time. She is the only one home with me this year, as she was last year, which makes my job things much less complicated. We were involved in co-ops for many years, but in this crazy season of life, I prefer to be at home with her every day and do what I have planned instead of what a class is doing. 

This year we're working on basic skills - especially math and writing - as well as a heavy concentration on world history. She also has plenty of science, literature, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and art to work on. Added to that, we have speech therapy twice a week.

Our history and geography unit studies this year include Early Civilizations (including Old Testament), Ancient Egypt, Asia, Ancient Greece, Winter Holidays Around the World, Africa,  Ancient Rome, New Testament Stories, Dark & Middle Ages, and Latin America. Next year we'll pick up with the Renaissance & Reformation era up through modern times, as well as the continents of Europe, Australia, and Antarctica. 

I did a huge book purge a few days before school started. Our dining room used to be lined with several bookcases of home school materials, but we're down to this small one with her books for this semester. It's right next to her desk. The others have all been moved to another room. You can see our dining room transformation here. (I am so proud of it! Yay me!)

Here are just some of the materials we've used so far.

Math and language skills:

Multi-subject workbook -
we are only doing math and
language arts sections now

One set with answers marked
and one set with just the problems -
as recommended by our evaluators

Poster for her bedroom -
I like the format better than
the typical multiplication grid.
This is easy for her to recite
by fact group.

She uses this CD-ROM for both
math and language arts -
all sorts of fun lesson!
We also use a phone app called
 Math Fact Master

We didn't finish it last year
and it's about the same as the
4th grade workbook,
so it's good enough for now.

Articulation Station app
recommended by her speech therapist

World history and geography:

Excellent core text for ancient history
which I bought at our local used book store.
It's a little advanced (probably
middle school level?), so I read it with her.

Art appreciation with Bible!

Her daddy had oral surgery,
so while we waited to pick him up, we went to
the Ten Thousand Villages fair trade store
to see handcrafts from around the world.
She listened to international music, too.

Science:

This has reading comprehension
activities for several science units.
We are working on the
human body unit right now.

This is Internet linked, so you can
see videos and other cool stuff
at the web sites listed on the pages.

This is one of the web pages -
with a video of a bug being caught
by a venus flytrap.

Art projects and home ec:

Our first day of school,
we made three tie dye t-shirts
for her in the afternoon!
You can see all of the photos at
my blog post Tie Dye Radiance.

We made healthy snack balls with
oatmeal, peanut butter,
honey, flax, crushed almonds,
coconut, cocoa powder, chia seeds,
and dried cranberries -
then used them for multiplication practice
(How many snack balls? 3x5 = 15
How many cranberries? 15 x 3 = 45)

This is the daily schedule we've started...

	Daily School Schedule
9:00	math drill
9:30	math work books
10:00	world history and geography unit study
10:30	literature
11:00	language work books
11:30	writing skills & prompt
12:00	lunch
12:30	speech therapy appointment on two days, practice on other days
1:00	drive time from speech therapy OR interpersonal communication, health, home skills
1:30	science workbook or textbooks
2:00	finish work or do project
2:30	as necessary: finish work or do project

She is starting to work more independently, which is a very good thing for both of us, but she still wants and needs a lot of personal input from me. She generally gets started with her math drill on her own, though I try to stay near by in case she has a question. Her desk is in the dining room, so I can putter in the kitchen or use my laptop at the table. I work with her on the rest of math, all of world history, some of the language arts skills and literature, and some of the science. When she writes, we come up with a creative topic and she writes up to a few paragraphs. Then we make basic corrections to her work. I sometimes write on the same topic and we share and compare.

We generally follow the daily schedule, but there is some flexibility if we have interruptions or one of us isn't feeling well. I had an extended neurologist's appointment yesterday, so I told her that it was "student's choice day." She could do anything while I was gone as long as it was at least somewhat educational. I think she used her time well with workbooks, web sites, reading, and videos.

We have a lot of old educational VHS videos, but did not have a working VCR anymore. I found a small TV with a built-in VCR at a thrift store for $20, which is now in her bedroom so she can watch the NEST Bible and history videos and some assorted science videos. These are great for times when I can't work with her.

She says she can't wait to start our next unit on Ancient Egypt, because she wants to learn about pyramids and mummies. We already have a whole bunch of books waiting on her shelf, and I know we'll grab a lot more at the library.

That's about it for now, but here are some related posts from earlier school years:

• Eclectic Home Schooling: Gathering Up Bits of the World
• A Week of Home School Third Grade
• A Home School Day with Just One Child
• Synthesizing Your Own Style - and - Duty and Delight
• Math Skills Checklist 3rd-5th Grades
• Oral Language Learning for Young Children
• How to Plan a Unit Study 
• What is the Charlotte Mason Approach to Education?
• The Beauty of Reading Aloud
• How to Read Aloud and Enjoy It

I'd love to hear what you are doing for school this year!

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

Eclectic Home Schooling: Gathering Up Bits of the World

Eclectic Home Schooling: 

Gathering Up Bits of the World

“Gathering up bits of the world and laying them out in an order her children can understand.” What a description of a mother who chooses the eclectic approach to home schooling!  

My third grade daughter Melody went for a speech therapy evaluation at A.LL Therapy Connection, and I spotted this quote on a piece of wall sculpture as soon as we walked into the waiting room. It is also available as a print with a whimsical graphic design. Nearby, I found the mosaic of a woman with children; it's made up of gathered bits and pieces of color. What else can you find in the picture? Delightful! 

My favorite polar bear picture

We loved the therapist and the intern, and were pleased with their thorough assessment. We'll be going back twice a week starting next month, and the appointments and daily practice will be a vital part of her education. As we walked out of the therapy room, I commented to therapist about how observant my daughter is of things around her. Just at the moment, Melody asked me, “What is Polar Bear Day?” Huh? She pointed to a calendar on the wall: February 27, Polar Bear Day. Alrighty. That's a question for Google! It's also a “bit of the world” that I want my daughter to understand. Later in the evening, we enjoyed the awesome polar bear pictures here: Polar Bear Conservation at National Geographic. 

After we left the speech therapy place, we headed to the mall to find an Auntie Anne's pretzel shop. We had a BOGO coupon we'd gotten when they came to do a demonstration at our home school group. We rarely go to the mall, so we didn't know where the store was. Time for some life skills! I had Melody locate Auntie Anne's on the directory list and then on the diagram. Which way do we go? She figured it out and we got there! Yum!

Those are just a few ways this eclectic mama lays out the bits of the world for a little one to understand! What are some other methods we use to gather and present information?

Unit studies: 

In our early years of home schooling with my older kids (now teens and adults), we always used unit studies to cover history, geography, science, literature, creative writing, art, music, and even a little math enrichment. Now that we are no longer in formal academic co-op classes where curriculum was chosen by other teachers, we're back to the original plan! 

Right now we are studying the Civil War and late 1800's era for history. I didn't want to get too much into memorizing factoids or exploring the gore of war. Melody is still in the idea ~ story ~ picture phase of home schooling, and she loves biographies. I loaded up on both chapter books and picture books about famous people like Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mary McLeod Bethune, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Robert E. Lee, Helen Keller, Alexander Graham Bell, and Clara Barton. (We visited Clara's historic American Red Cross home in Maryland earlier this month.) 

We are also halfway through the American Girls series about Addie, an escaped slave. We have lots of the Cornerstones of Freedom series about specific happenings in the time period, such as the Underground Railroad and the transcontinental railroad. 


Are we reading about the actual war? Yes, a little. We're reading What Was the Battle of Gettysburg? by Jim O'Connor, which starts with an excellent overview of what issues and events led to the Civil War. 

Read more about unit studies here: How to Plan a Unit Study and American History Unit Studies at Our House.

YouTube and Google: 

What a goldmine! Any topic we want is right there on-line. I always have my iPod in my pocket, so sometimes when we're reading a library book, we'll look up something related to an interesting fact or a question she has. (Who was the president before Abraham Lincoln? Look it up!) We have the old NEST Animated Heroes videos that my mom gave us years ago, but not a working VHS player. We found a treasure trove of them on YouTube here: Animated Hero Classics. I have her watch these on my laptop when I need to do something else nearby. We also use YouTube videos to explain math concepts like multi-digit multiplication. She likes the ones produced by MathAntics. The new YouTube Kids app for mobile iOS and Android mobile devices – perfect for a child's tablet. I can't try it out yet because it requires iOS 7, but you can find it in your app store.

PBS Kids: 

On TV or on-line, PBS Kids is a marvelous educational resource. On their web site, www.pbskids.org, you can find videos, games, and interactive activities. At their teacher resource site, www.pbslearningmedia.org, it is easier to find the specific subjects and grade levels.

Reading whenever and wherever – and talking about it: 

We don't do all of our learning during formal school hours. The evenings are some of Melody's favorite book times. I'll often grab a book from our unit study pile that I think she'll enjoy, and we take turns reading aloud to each other. We read in the living room, in my bedroom, in the dining room, in waiting rooms - wherever! It is important for children to read aloud so they can practice their diction, vocal inflection, cadence, and expression - which they have picked up from listening to you read aloud. Having them read aloud helps you assess their decoding fluency. Which phonics patterns need work? Are they guessing or skipping or substituting words? I often remind her to read the words slowly, exactly as they are written. If necessary, she can track along with her finger to keep her on the right pace and in the right place. As we read, we also reinforce other language arts skills. This year, we're taking the time to notice compound words, homophones, synonyms, adverbs, and alliteration (adjacent words with same beginning sounds). 

We've also been pointing out words that are particularly descriptive rather than vague, such as “stagger” or "prance" instead of “walk” and “whispered” or "shrieked" instead of “said.” The book If You Were a Writer by Joan Lowery Nixon and Bruce Degen is a great way to introduce this concept. Looking for vivid language in books will help her choose interesting words for her own creative writing projects. We also comment on styles of illustrations in picture books and how they, too, communicate information and mood.

While reading, if there is a concept I want to emphasize, or she has a question, we stop and talk about it. I want her to interact with the information and develop critical thinking skills. We both frequently ask why and how questions about what we see on the page. How does this concept apply to us? I was struck by something we read about how the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads competed to lay more miles of track as they worked from opposite ends toward each other. The Central Pacific got stuck on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, trying to blast tunnels through in the winter. So they sent an extra crew ahead, packing all of their supplies and equipment (including disassembled train engines and cars!) onto sleds and hauling them over the mountain. They were able to simultaneously work on both sides of the mountain, saving valuable time and getting an extra 50 miles of track laid. I drew a diagram of this for Melody so she could understand the concept. Sometimes we have to think outside the box, a valuable skill to model to our kids. There was no rule that they had to work in one unbroken stretch of track from A to B! Then I thought, how can I use this in my own life as a mom? In what ways can I be working ahead and getting more done? So I'm learning a lot from reading aloud with her, too! I wouldn't miss it!

See more here: The Beauty of Reading Aloud and How to Read Aloud and Enjoy It.

Home school co-ops and classes: 

For younger children like Melody, I prefer a relaxed co-op for enrichment rather than for core formal academics, so that's what we're doing this year. I tutor high school and middle school history students at a local co-op. While I teach, Melody goes to a video-based history class. She also takes a current events class there, so she has to come prepared to present a news story she has found on-line. The group is hosting a Geography fair next month. Melody chose North Carolina for her project, so we checked out some books from the library and we'll put together a display board and a speech. 

Taking notes: 

North Carolina notes

Melody decided to take notes as we read about North Carolina. I helped her. We wrote down phrases to remind us of topics to look up again later. We're not very formal or organized about it yet, but even starting small in this practice will help her in later school years. We hope to take a trip to western North Carolina this summer, and we might visit some of the places we saw in the books. How about the Oconaluftee Cherokee village or the Biltmore Estate or the Great Smoky Mountains National Park? Planning a trip adds interest to learning!

Charlotte Mason Method: 

I love the Charlotte Mason approach to education with her emphasis on living literature, art and music appreciation, nature study, etc. She didn't advocate busy work ("twaddle") but we still use some workbooks since Melody likes them and they get the job done. Miss Mason also believed in keeping lessons short, especially for young children. It is rare that we spend more than 15 minutes on a single paper-and-pencil activity. We don't have a schedule set in stone. She has a lot of say in what we do next, though I have the final word. For nature study, we get outside a lot and go visit parks. On the first Monday of the month, our local botanical gardens has free admission, so we're going next week. Read more here: What is the Charlotte Mason Approach to Education?

Termites!

Random life happenings: 

On our way out the door to go to the library, we discovered a swarm of insects on our old tree stump. We went to to a pest control store and confirmed that they were reproductive termites. I decided it would be interesting to check out a book about termites. I had planned to study American Deserts for our next science unit, but switched to insects on the spur of the moment. We also checked out books on ladybugs, butterflies, bees, and ants to supplement what we already had at home. She comes with me to the chiropractor twice a week as I recover from back injuries I got in a car accident a few weeks ago. Dr. Harris showed us a life size model of a spine and explained to her how it worked with the vertebrae and discs.

Songs with borrowed tunes: 

Many years ago, I wanted to teach my kids the body parts of insects, so I came up with this ditty to the tune of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” - “Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen! Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen! Two antennae, six jointed legs! Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen!” Now that we're studying insects, of course I had to teach it to Melody. She loves to get up and do all the hand motions. 

We have also been practicing multiplication tables with skip counting songs. We sing the 3s the tune of “Jingle Bells” - “3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, and 27, isn't counting fun? 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, and 27, 30 and we're done!” We sings 4s to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” - “4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, and 40.” She was having trouble remembering the last four numbers in that sequence, so we took turns repeating them rhythmically to each other several times before singing the song again. We sing these in the van all the time and it's fun for her!

Mobile apps: 

We can easily take along education on my iPod when we're out and about. The main one we use is Math Fact Master. You can choose any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and tell which number ranges you want to use. It is very simple – nothing flashy - but quite effective. You can find more that look interesting here: 10 Apps for Math Fluency. You can find educational apps for all grade levels and subjects.

Tying it together: 

We hadn't finished A Pioneer Sampler during our early pioneers unit study, so we've continued to read it. As we read the story about pioneers finding and harvesting honey from a bee tree, I remembered that we had library books about bees for our insect unit. We read one of them, Brilliant Bees by Linda Glaser. Later, we watched several videos on YouTube about how bees make honey, and how they use the fascinating waggle dance to communicate with other bees about where food is. Here is another one we'll watch soon: Why Do Honey Bees Dance? and one for young children: Do the Waggle Dance.

Weekly worksheet packet: 

Because we spend a lot of time in the van and in waiting rooms, I like to bring schoolwork along to make the most of our time. Until today, we would lug a heavy tote bag full of workbooks that she wanted to use, and I worried about her leaving an important one behind somewhere. So today I took a three-prong vinyl folder and created a worksheet packet for her. I took a week's worth of pages from each of her workbooks – math, grammar, spelling, reading comprehension, and science – and fastened them into the folder. If she loses it, at least it's not the whole workbook. At the end of the week, I'll take out what's she's finished (unless it's needed as reference for a future page) and put in a fresh batch of pages. It also gives her a goal to accomplish, and now she doesn't have to get out several workbooks every day. Whether we are at home or away, she just needs to grab her red folder.

Art supplies: 

I recently bought a set of 36 Pentel oil pastels and a sketch book for Melody. Her artist sister is going to teach her how to use them properly very soon to create more realistic art than with crayons. In the meantime, she's been having fun making her own pictures. She likes to think of a category – fruits, things you find at a movie theater, etc. - and then draw several items on a page. I have been trying to teach myself chalkboard art. When I was working on a larger board that I had just purchased, I let her practice on a smaller one. She picked what she wanted to say: "Love one another with all your heart"! You can see my latest piece at Blessed Are the Peacemakers.

Role play: 

Melody is really imaginative and often dresses up, gathers props, and makes believe she is a movie director, a Chic-Fil-A worker, a teacher, a cooking show hostess, or whatever else her heart desires. I encourage this! It's not a waste of her educational time. She is creating her own scenarios and dialog, and is a form of oral composition. Check out her hilarious "Cream Cheese Toast" YouTube video that she made two years ago with my iPod, when she was only seven! She ends with "Like this video, or just like me! Press the suffocate button, or I'll be watching you!" Yes, that's another way to use YouTube - make your own videos!

What are some of your favorite methods for home schooling your kids? Tell us in a comment below!

Related posts:

• A Week of Home School Third Grade
• A Home School Day with Just One Child
• Synthesizing Your Own Style - and - Duty and Delight
• Math Skills Checklist 3rd-5th Grades
• Oral Language Learning for Young Children
• How to Plan a Unit Study and American History Unit Studies at Our House
• What is the Charlotte Mason Approach to Education?
• The Beauty of Reading Aloud
• How to Read Aloud and Enjoy It

This article link just appeared in my blog feed: Ten Obvious Truths About Educating Kids that Keep Getting Ignored. So many of these have played into the way I try to educate my little one!

And another one from a Facebook link today! On-going Education: 12 Tools I Really Dig by Tsh Oxenreider. 

Virginia Knowles

www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com